LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello how the hell are you? If this is your first time here thanks for stopping by.  In this blog we are going to talk about the best Landscape Photography setup for long hikes that you might want to take.  Now I say long hikes because you want to be able to get those epic images so that means that you are going to have to hike to get to them.  I am only going to cover the camera equipment in this blog and in a later blog I am going to cover the hiking equipment that you will need.  

The first item on the list is going to be a good camera body.  This is going to make or break the hiking and the photography.  If you get a body that is too heavy like the Canon EOS 1DX then you are going to have a heck of a time out on the trails.  The body that we are going to talk about today is the Canon EOS 5D Mark iii (5D3). This is the best all around camera that you can buy and if you shop around you can find it for $350 dollars.  Now this is going to take up the bulk of the cost for you on this and that is why you want this camera is that good for the money.  

The image quality (IQ) of is still holds up today with its 22mp which is perfect for landscape images.  The dynamic range sucks and there is no other way to put it but if you bracket your images then you will be fine and not have to worry about it.  The best feature about this camera to this day is the long lasting battery life of it. This means that you can stay out on the trails longer and it means that you can get more images.  The one feature that I cannot live without is the joystick on the darn thing.  This allows me to change the AF points so fast and move around the photos after I take them.  The iso noise levels are so good that you can be shooting at iso 1600 and still use the images.  

With the good camera you have to get good glass because that is either going to make or break the images that you take.  The glass that I am going to recommend is much older but it packs a punch when it comes to IQ.  I love the light weight foot print of the first lens. The Canon 24-85 f3.5-4.5 USM this lens is sort of hard to find and it took me over a year of going to the site and looking but I found for $100 dollars and the IQ is just as good as my favorite lens the 24-105 F4.  Now with a fstop of f3.5 you are going to have a better chance at capturing the night skies with that lens with little trouble at all. The one down side to this lens is no image stabilization to it.  This means that you will have to crank up the iso in order to get a sharper image.  

The long lens that you are going to want is for getting those small snippets out of the landscape that are far away from your location.  This lens has to be sharp and come with image stabilization.  The reason for that is you want the images sharper when shooting hand held.  The cost of this lens is only $125 dollars so that means that you are going to be getting a lot of bang for your buck.  The Canon 70-300 f4.5-5.6 IS USM which is so sharp for the age of the lens and the amount of money that you pay for it.  Now you need to know that the lens itself is old but still very good for hiking around.  

My whole reason for writing this is all about saving money and still getting great images with your gear.  I am recommending this setup because I have used it in the past and it is also what I am currently using for my everyday shooting that I am doing. I love the fact that I am getting great IQ from the gear.  Now with all this being said you need to hear the downside of all this gear.  The camera is older so that means that you will be missing some key features for landscape photography.  IE you will not have timelapse built in nor will you have focus stacking built in.  You will also be missing the fact that it is a heavier camera but the lenses make up for that in my opinion.  The lenses are older and they are not at the levels of the top of the line L series lenses but they are sharp enough for you to print the photos at a 20×30 and no one will be able to tell that you used such old glass.  

With all that I have told you the total cost is going to be $595 dollars and that means that you are going to be getting a great hiking setup as well as a great all around setup for shooting just about anything that you want.  This is a great setup for a beginner as well and will keep you shooting to earn the money that you need to get the better gear.  The whole purpose of my blogs is to show that you don’t need the top of the line gear to be getting the best images.  The gear is only about getting a photo that you are proud of.  Enjoy from St Johns AZ y’all