Phodo Gear Guide 2011

Tis the season for a wrap-up of all the great things we bought this year, and to let people know what you can pick up others to make them temporarily happy, all while reducing your own personal wealth through “mandatory” giving.

Humbug you say? Fine, you want to buy something for the photographer in your life, and here’s a list of #phodo things that they will undoubtedly love:

Hasselblad H4D-60

Every Photographer needs a camera, and what’s better than getting the best camera possible? Considering the lenses themselves aren’t cheap, I chose a package to get you started. An 80mm lens is perfect for portraits and the 60MP sensor will make sure you don’t miss a lick of detail. At $42,000 USD you can guarantee you’ll be qualified in an elite group of professionals and wealthy amateurs and nobody will miss you while snapping photos on vacation – you could probably print those shots out life-sized. Invest in some extra storage space too though hard drives, memory cards – those files won’t be small.

200 mm f/2 Lens

If you found the Hassy a bit pricey, you can take a step back and stick with the camera system your photographer already has. If they’re any good, they’re probably shooting Nikon or Canon (ha!). One thing us photographers can’t get enough of is long fast glass – it’s a penis thing really – theses $6000USD lenses are sharp wide open, big as hell, and would make a great surprise gift under the tree!

Broncolor Location Kit

I’m a big fan of location lighting, and this kit is one of the best available – three 1500 WS lights will make sure you won’t care if there’s a bright sun, or even where it is. We don’t need ambient light where we’re going kid. While you’re at it, you might as well pick up the economically priced 10.8′ (FOOT!) Parabolic Umbrella for a cool $11,000 USD (Canadians will have to pay duty & tax)

Logistics Manager

For my final, and budget conscious item, I chose the Think Tank Photo Logistics Manager. Sure, it’s no Pelican case – capable of withstanding bomb blasts and far easier to wipe baby-puke off of – but it’s by a company I truly adore and respect. I have several of their products already and I’d accept this in a heartbeat. Not only could you fit all your new fancy gear from above, but I’d wager a two-four of beer near the bottom to weigh it down too. I’m actually fairly confident that, if I were on location, I could use it for a quick nap and nobody would know.

Anything I miss on this list? What are you hoping to get this holiday season? Or what don’t you have a chance of getting – but kind of want anyway?

Posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 at 11:57 am. Filed under: Photography Rant Tags: Gear RSS 2.0 feed.