More than tools: camera gears that shaped my style

All this will be yours (shot taken with Nikon D3300 + Nikon 18-140mm)

Ok, if you arrived at this point you might ask: but what camera gear does this guy use to make his photos? That’s a fair question and I’ll give you my straightforward answer (at the end of the day I’m not an influencer promoting any product, nor I’m an ambassador for any of the big brands out there).

Some photographers have their almost religious brand loyalty, but in my case the truth is much simpler and much less poetic: I’ve always used Nikon, but not for a specific reason. Well, probably the simple reason is because Nikon was the first “serious” camera I ever owned long, long time ago. That’s it.

So, back then it was a compact camera (I don’t even remember the exact model, which already tells you a lot about how little I cared about specs at the time). I had almost no clue of how to take good photos and very little understanding about the technical aspects of the cameras. Anyway, I bought it, practiced with it and I stuck with that brand.

When the passion started growing few years later, I upgraded to my first DSLR, so it felt natural to stay with the same brand: I’m still not sure whether that was the right approach, or if switching brands to explore the differences would have been wiser. Anyway, my first DSLR was a Nikon D3300, which came in the kit with an 18–55mm Nikkor lens, but I felt it was a bit too limiting, so instead of buying that, I decided to take a 18-140mm instead.

With my first DSLR I started to learn the real photography “discipline”. I remember my first attempts being super blurry, mostly because I hadn’t yet learned how to properly handle ISO, exposure, and aperture (…at the end of the day I upgraded from a “point and shoot” camera), so it took quite a bit of time to handle it. However, when I started understanding more about my camera, a new world of possibilities opened up.

Among the various shooting modes (aperture priority, shutter priority, and so on) I quickly found myself using full Manual mode. It’s definitely the hardest one to master, but probably also the one that forces you to learn the fastest.

China Ferry Terminal (shot taken with Nikon D7500)

A few years later came the Nikon D7500 and that’s when I started experimenting with multiple exposure, which I never did before. Few years later the big jump: I switched to full frame. To be precise, the big monster: the D850, one of the best Nikon cameras on the market. Yes, it’s heavy and demanding, not super easy to handle, but at the same time extremely rewarding. I’ve been using it for years now, and most of my multiple exposure work has been done with this camera.

During these years I normally paired it with the Sigma Art 24–105 f/4, which is a fantastic lens: sharp, reliable, versatile enough and somehow always ready to play along with my ideas. When it comes to unleashing my multiple exposure creativity, this is the lens I normally use. Yeah, I know that prime lenses are technically better than the zoom ones, but since I like experimenting with my camera, then a zoom lens gives me freedom. For example I like zooming in or out while shooting, which would be impossible with a prime lens, so that’s the reason why during my shootings I normally prefer that lens.That doesn’t mean I don’t use prime lenses: in my kit there are also the 50mm and the 35mm and, last but not least, the 85mm f/1.8, which is one of the latest lenses I’ve bought. As you may know, it’s tailored for portraits, which is exactly the reason why I bought it: I wanted to improve my portrait skills and this lens does a fantastic job, it’s almost like a brush and I love it! I also used in an “unconventional” way for my photo experiments and still, it always delivers it.

Night shift (shot taken with Nikon D850 + Nikon 85mm, f1.8)

Wide lenses, on the other hand, never really clicked with me. I tried once using the 14–24 f/2.8 (I bought it second hand in Hong Kong). Yes, a good one, technically speaking, nothing to say. However, wide angles are not my cup of tea. Even when I travel with an 18–140mm, I barely arrive at 18mm. Instead, I tend to zoom in, not out, I like isolating, compressing and layering. Probably says something about my personality, but who knows.

Then the infamous years of Covid came and when (after a looong period) finally, traveling resumed, a harsh reality hit me: traveling with a Nikon D850 and a Sigma Art 24–105 is basically a gym workout: together their weight is almost 2 kg and take up so much space that they almost fill half of your trolley!

So I bought a mirrorless camera (yeah, that’s the trend now…), but not as a replacement of my beloved D850 of course. I bought a Nikon Z50, definitely more compact and practical. Compared to the heavy machine, it feels like another world: way lighter and smaller. It’s good for traveling, where my focus shifts more towards shooting memories than building complex artistic constructions. That said, even while traveling, I often indulge in multiple exposure experiments. Old habits die hard.

The solitary sentinel (shot taken with Nikon Z50 + Nikon 18-140mm)

There’s just one thing about Nikon mirrorless cameras that still drives me slightly mad. For reasons that remain completely mysterious, you can’t save the RAW file of a multiple exposure result. You can save RAWs for the single shots, but not the final multiple exposure, only JPEG. Why? Who knows…I even wrote Nikon about that, but their reply was as mysterious as the question running in my head. Why. How. Who decided this. It’s an unexplainable policy that makes absolutely no sense at all, especially for a system clearly aimed at advanced users. I still hope someone at Nikon wakes up one morning and fixes it.

In the end, though, tools are exactly that: tools. My photography style wasn’t born because of a camera or a lens, but it grew through them.

Now I’m curious. Which piece of gear has shaped your photography style?