My Camera Gear

You don’t need fancy gear to get into photography. I started out taking pictures on my iPhone and didn’t decide to buy a professional camera until September 2023. I still use my iPhone to record videos most of the time. I do use my camera more to take pictures, but this is only because I carry it with me on all my trips, so it is easily accessible. If you only have your phone with you or can’t afford a camera yet, that is perfectly fine! Using your phone helps you to practice taking pictures and videos. If you are looking into getting a drone or a camera, I’ll share what gear I use to give you an idea of where to look. I bought a majority of my gear on Amazon, but feel free to look around on other sites or at your local camera stores.

I shoot on the Fujifilm X-T5 that costs over $2,000 if you purchase the body and one of the kit lenses. I was influenced by TikTok to get a Fujifilm camera, but I did months of my own research and compared different camera brands, so it was far from an impulse buy. The reason I went with Fujifilm is because of their film recipes that give you the ability to produce an old school style film look with your photos. I talk more about film recipes here, but the reason I love them is because they allow you to customize how you want your photo to look without having to spend hours editing on a computer. You are able to tweak white balance, clarity, and so much more directly in the camera itself to match the style you are going for. But, since I am focusing on my gear for this post, let’s talk about what I use.

• I bought my Fujifilm X-T5 on Amazon, but you can also buy it directly from Fujifilm. I purchased the 18-55mm lens kit option. This lens is a fantastic starter lens and is still the one that I use the most to this day. There is also the 16-80mm kit lens option, which is another great choice. The only reason I went with the 18-55mm is because I wanted my camera sooner rather than later for a trip I had planned around the time I bought my camera.
• I have two additional lenses to complement the focal range outside of what my 18-55mm can cover. I purchased the Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS and the Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS lenses used from KEH. In my opinion, it is best to buy lenses used from a trusted source because you can purchase them in nearly perfect condition for hundreds of dollars less than you would pay if you bought them brand new. Both of the lenses I bought from KEH were in pristine condition and I saved a lot of money buying them used.
• To protect my lenses, I always have a filter on them. Lenses can be hundreds of dollars while filters are as cheap as $35. So, it is a good idea to keep a filter on your lens, even if it is just a simple UV filter. I purchased all of my filters from Moment. I use a 20% diffusion filter to make pictures more cinematic by creating a “glow” effect. For when I want to shoot at a lower aperture on a bright sunny day, I use the 6-9 stop Variable ND filter (I want to buy the 2-5 stop soon). The filter I use the most is the Antiglare CPL filter. I shoot mostly in nature, so this filter allows me to cut through reflections on leaves, lakes, rivers, ect. I usually keep the CPL filter on my lenses but will carry the others with me in this filter case.
• I carry my camera around in this camera case from Amazon most of the time. If I need a larger case for my larger lens set up, I use this case.
• I carry my lenses around in these camera pouch bags since I want them to be padded and protected in my backpack. I use the medium one for my 55-200mm lens and the small one for my 10-24mm lens.
• If I don’t want to carry my camera around using the strap, I have this camera clip that attaches to my backpack.
• To add more protection to my camera and shutter button, I bought this cute blue case (it looks like they stopped making them for now, but Amazon has plenty of others to choose from) and this plain black shutter button (I tried to use a cuter one from Etsy, but it kept falling out and I didn’t like the quality).
• I use a basic 128GB SanDisk SD card in my camera to store photos. I don’t need a larger one because I upload all of my photos to my iPad the same day that I shoot them (I have a 2022 11-inch iPad Pro).
• To transfer photos from my drone and camera to my iPad, I use a USB C Card Reader. Speaking of my drone…

I purchased my DJI Mini 3 Pro drone in early 2023. When I bought this drone, it was around $1,000 but the price has gone down significantly with the release of the new Mini 4 Pro. If I had known they were going to release the Mini 4 Pro in 2024, I might have waited. Regardless, I have gotten fantastic footage on my Mini 3 so far and it has been a trusty part of my gear collection. It is able to capture gorgeous images and videos and is very easy to handle. I don’t see the need to update quite yet.

• I bought my DJI Mini 3 Pro drone with the DJI RC remote directly from the DJI website. I went with the DJI RC remote because I wanted a dedicated remote for the drone that I didn’t have to attach my phone to.
• I got an extra set of propellers from the DJI website. I have crashed my drone twice and have broken a few propellers, so I carry a couple of extra ones now just in case.
• As with using a filter on my camera lens for protection, I also like to keep a filter on my drone’s lens to keep it safe. I bought this CPL and ND filter set from Amazon. This set comes with many ND filters that cover a wide variety of conditions from cloudy to super sunny.
• Batteries on drones can drain fast, especially in windy conditions. I carry three with me at all times. I use the basic battery that my drone came with and purchased two intelligent flight batteries that have a longer flight time than the standard battery. I carry all three batteries this charging hub that allows me to charge them all at once and store them together.
• I carry all of my drone gear in this waterproof case that fits into my backpack.
• To help keep the batteries on my drone and camera charged on longer trips, I bought this portable power bank.