My Equipment
Here, you'll find an overview of the camera equipment I use to capture the world around me. Each piece of gear has been carefully chosen to help bring my vision to life and create the images you see.
My Camera Body
Sony Alpha a6400 Mirrorless Camera
My first mirrorless camera and the one that kickstarted my photography journey. I have loved this camera and have taken all of my photos on it throughout 2024 and now into 2025. It has performed amazingly well and is packed with features that give a new photographer so much room to grow. I love how compact this body is as well.
The APS-C sensor means that the sensor is smaller than a full-frame mirrorless camera, taking away from low light performance slightly, although I haven’t found this to feel like an issue for me. I actually love how this is an APS-C camera because it provides me with some extra reach on my full-frame lenses (such as the Sigma 150-600) which is helpful for wildlife and bird photography as it allows you to get a tighter shot on your subject without needing to be as close. This camera is also capable of 4k video at 30fps as well which is a nice feature and makes it a great hybrid style camera.
After a full year of using this camera, I’m now considering to sell it in order to upgrade to a Sony a6700 for a few reasons. I’d still like to stay within the Sony APS-C models as I enjoy the extra reach and the lower prices compared to full-frame cameras. Some of the features that are attractive to me in the a6700 that my current camera does not offer are more advanced bird specific autofocus, 4k video in 120fps, in body image stabilization, an extra dial and bigger battery. It’s worth mentioning that these upgrades are particularly attractive only because I focus mainly on bird, wildlife, and action photography and would only be nice luxury additions; otherwise, the Sony a6400 is an INCREDIBLY powerful little beast.
My Lenses
Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports
This is my workhorse lens for capturing birds and wildlife. This has been a fantastic lens and lives on my camera the majority of the time while I’m out in the field. My first ultra-telephoto lens that I picked up in Australia at the beginning of my photography journey was a used Sigma 100-400mm - a very similar lens that introduced me to the amazing quality of Sigma lenses. Although I loved that lens, like any true birder I was yearning for the greater reach of a 600mm lens and decided to go all in and sell the 100-400mm and order a brand new Sigma 150-600mm when I returned to Canada.
Although this is the most affordable lens on the market for Sony e mount with a 600mm reach, it’s still a significant investment. Having said that, I couldn’t be happier with this lens and would encourage any aspiring bird photographer who is on the fence to go for this lens. It’s a lens that grows with you and could easily continue to be my go to lens for years to come even if I upgrade my camera body later on. I’ve been impressed with the sharpness, versatility, and autofocus speed of this lens. Sure, this lens becomes more challenging to use in low light conditions (compared to a much more expensive prime lens), however, there are some tricks and skills to learn in the field that can compensate for this along with rapidly advancing denoise technology in post processing.
Another feature of this lens is that it telescopes in and out, extending as you zoom (unlike the Sony 200-600mm which has a fixed barrel length across all focal lengths). This feature does have it’s pros and cons. People will say that the extending barrel of this lens can promote moisture and dust to get into the lens when extended, however, this has never been an issue for me and I’ve used it in all kinds of unfavorable weather. It doesn’t hurt to take some extra time to dry off the extended barrel once you get home from using it in the snow or rain but otherwise this hasn’t caused me any problems so far. One very nice benefit of the extending barrel is that when the lens is fully collapsed at 150mm it is relatively compact and smaller to pack away in your bag.
I personally think this lens pairs very well with my cropped-sensor Sony a6400. With the APS-C camera, this lens actually gives me the equivalent of a 225-900mm zoom which is something I’m a huge fan of. This extra reach is awesome especially for bird photography.
Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary
This was my first wide aperture prime lens that I bought used while in Australia. My initial motivation for picking up this lens was because I wanted a wide angle lens with a large aperture to try astrophotography on a 2-week road trip to the south-west corner of Australia where the skies are completely clear of any light pollution. Unfortunately on the first night of my trip, as I was overwhelmed by excitement staring at the perfectly clear milky way, I dropped the lens on a beach outside of Margaret River which affected it’s ability to focus for the rest of my trip.
Having said that, eventually the lens started working again and has been great ever since. On the Sony a6400, it’s a very compact overall set up that gives you extremely sharp results with a focal length similar to that on your iPhone camera. It’s a great and affordable wide angle lens for landscape and getting those clear, blurred out backgrounds when photographing a subject, like a flower, up close.
Tamron 18-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD
This is my go to all-in-one lens that I’ll bring with me if I’m travelling light and don’t want to pack multiple lenses. It’s not the sharpest lens out there but it definitely doesn’t mean you can’t get some incredible images with it. In fact, some of my favorite landscape shots to date have been with this lens; especially when using a tripod and stopping down this lens to around F8. You’d be hard pressed to spot the differences in an image from this lens (at the wider focal lengths in particular) compared to an image from a naturally sharper prime lens - especially if you’re just using your images for sharing on social media, etc. Unfortunately, the performance of this lens does decrease pretty quickly when you zoom in to it’s longer focal lengths. You start to loose contrast and the bokeh can become a little distorted and dizzying. Having said that, I have still gotten shots of birds with this lens at 300mm - more so for documentation and identification purposes as opposed to beautiful shots that I am proud of (which is totally fine by me).
What this lens lacks in performance it makes up for in unbelievable versatility. I like to think of this lens as a true birder’s landscape/travel lens. It’s for someone who wants to go take pictures of a water fall or travel light but still doesn’t want to deal with the anxiety of potentially missing out on documenting that rare lifer that just MIGHT fly by while you’re walking back to the car. You can never be too careful…
Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro
I bought this lens used this past summer. I've been experimenting with this lens for macro photography, and it's been an incredible tool for capturing intricate details and stunning close-ups. This lens boasts a 2:1 maximum magnification ratio, allowing for incredibly detailed close-up shots. One con with this lens is that it does not support autofocus, but this isn't a huge deal for macro work since you often need to make fine-tune adjustments manually anyway. Beyond its macro capabilities, this lens also has potential to be a good portrait lens.
Samyang 35mm F1.8
My recent addition to my camera gear is the Samyang 35mm lens, which I bought used. Samyang is a South Korean company known for producing high-quality, affordable lenses. On my Sony a6400, this lens provides an equivalent focal length of around 50mm, making it perfect for various shooting styles from travel to portraits and even landscapes. With its wide aperture, it allows for stunning depth of field and excellent low-light performance. As this is the latest lens in my collection, I haven't had the chance to use it extensively yet, but it’s quickly becoming my favorite lens outside of my sigma telephoto and I'm excited to further explore its capabilities!