Let’s start by saying the obvious and setting the expectations….
– the best camera is the one you have with you when you need to shoot; just learn how to use it to get the most out of it
– and yes, we would love to have access to a wide range of the latest gear and goodies, be that a body, lens or funky doodad

The reality is that we are not full time professional photographers, neither are we sponsored (yet – hey, get in touch!) by every gadget manufacturer. So what we use every trip is what we have bought at our own expense. Conversely, what we don’t use anymore is also what we’ve had to buy at our own expense….only for it to fall by the wayside….grrrrr!

Putting your hand in your own pocket instills a whole different perspective of bang for buck, or not…

– some wise and penniless ‘tog


What we will talk about here, is our experience and, necessarily, why we made some of the gear choices we did – not just because of financial implications.

We’ve recently (2022) added a second 5DSR body for MrsFaceless – having been Canon centric for many years (15+), with a rotating selection of EF mount lenses, it made perfect sense.

We considered moving to mirrorless but simply couldn’t justify the expense at this time, as well as the feeling that Canon are not quite where they should be….yet. I sense that in the next couple of years we will be ready for an upgrade and a wholesale change to medium format will be a strong contender.

Our main shooting subject is landscapes and whilst there are certainly drawbacks in certain situations with the 5DSR, we have found it to be a fabulous camera that suits our needs very well. I’d been shooting with it for several years and MrsFaceless was particularly happy about the relatively familiar menu from her previous 2 Canon bodies, foregoing any steep learning curve which would impact the enjoyment and ease of picture taking. I particularly like the extra megapixels allowing me to review my compositions at a more leisurely pace and crop accordingly, without degradation in final picture quality.

The default lenses for each of us are the Canon EF 24-105 F4 and the Canon EF 24-70 F2.8; both of these are absolutely tack sharp copies that really do work very, very well and can produce some stunning images. For wider field of view we have a Canon EF 16-35 F4 and a Samyang/Rokinon 14mm F2.8 prime each for the rare occasions we get to try astro/milky way and the stars, literally, align (we live in an area of terrible light pollution and it seems like we have been thwarted more often than i’ve had hot dinners by rain, clouds, smoke from wildfires, illness, strikes..the list goes on!). For the telephoto options we have a Canon EF 70-200 F2.8 which is simply amazing and a Sigma 150-600 F5.6 which is really good, albeit quite a lump to take on a hike.
To top that off are some extenders to add a little extra reach should it be needed.

MrsFaceless has a selection of screw on style ND filters and circular polarizer. I have the Nisi V5 system. Both work absolutely fine….until MrsFaceless over tightens the stack of filters. For those repeat situations, yes – more than once, we have filter wrenches and a whole different vocabulary depending how difficult it is to get them apart.

Sometimes on a hike we will shoot handheld. The big issue is having the camera ready to capture the moment. To solve that we each have a Joby sling which works great and means on a shorter hike we don’t even have to take a backpack – camera with sling, then water and snacks in the pocket with a spare battery….job done.


For the more considered shot we default to our tripods. Now, much has been spoken about buying super expensive tripods and, yes, we eventually got there. But it took time….and more expense than we could initially justify. With our travels many years back we were limited on space in the suitcase so had super small travel tripods. They worked, but weren’t the sturdiest….what they did do was fit in the suitcase and didn’t weigh the same as an elephant’s leg. As we got more advanced we wanted and needed a better and more sturdy platform to shoot from. A long discussion ensued and we decided to bite the bullet and purchase carbon fiber tripods. I went with the Induro CLT303L and MrsFaceless, who is more vertically challenged than i, opted for the Induro CLT104 which, apart from being slightly smaller, is also slightly lighter….so she feels better when she makes me carry it on long hikes. She’s lovely like that.
Both tripods are paired with Induro ballheads featuring Arca Swiss plates and the camera bodies all have L Brackets for quick mounting. Other than one lost rubber foot the tripods have been impeccable, with just minimal maintenance.

As times goes by we’ll do an update to what we think, issues we’ve had, or any new gear we’ve got and like……..