I find most "gear sections" on other photographer's websites make me extremely jealous.
The more you shoot, the more you will realize how little you actually need.
So here it goes.
I have a love hate relationship with this camera. I LOVE the image quality, but the biggest downfall is the crappy LCD screen on the back. Once you learn to trust it, and yourself, The LCD becomes only a small problem. I guess we have to keep in mind that this camera is 6-7 years old. I consider this camera to still be in the top 5 best image makers in canon's EOS line. It is great for the type of stuff i shoot, and the full frame sensor is something i will never be able to give up after using this camera. You can find one of these used for about $1000 bucks these days, sometimes cheaper.
If you are in the market for a camera i would HIGHLY suggest the Canon 5d II. It is much newer and pretty much everything is better about it. Plan on shelling out at least $2,000
Before i used the 5d i was shooting a Canon T1i. A plasticky feeling, smaller, consumer camera. When viewing pictures at any realistic size you would have a hard time telling the images apart. I would recommend the rebel series by Canon to anyone on a budget. Plus, they hold value pretty well and you can always sell it towards an upgrade when you are ready.
-Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
This is probably getting buried with me sometime in the next 50-60 years. It is a workhorse and i don't think it will ever break. I wont get into details but you can find reviews on this lens everywhere. There are many many lens choices and most of them are REALLY expensive. This just happened to cover the range of what i shoot the most. If you are a hardcore enthusiast and want your first "L" quality lens to be an all around knockout, check this one out. I especially like it's field of view on a full frame sensor. (more on that later)
Yes, i have the pink one. This is a cheap way into the "powerful Strobe" world when you compare prices with other brands. If you really want to do the plug-in light thing i would buy one of these and the biggest ebay softbox that has an Alien Bees adapter ring (within reason, dont go any bigger than 45"). You will also need a heavy duty light stand which Paul C Buff makes as well.
If you are on my site, there is a good chance you may not own anything but a camera yet. Here is some advice for your first light purchase. Save up and buy either this flash or a 580 Ex II (or whatever the nikon equivalent is, if you shoot nikon).
Chances are you will be shooting with the flash attached to your camera at first. You NEED e-ttl (auto flash metering) and i dont care what anyone else tells you. unless you have the ISO flash chart memorized, you can judge distance by a quick glance, and can operate your camera blindfolded, you are going to screw shots up and miss them all together if you dont have an e-ttl flash.
DO NOT BUY A CHINESE MADE E-TTL FLASH....Seriously, this is one item you don't want to be cheap about. The problem with the cheap ones is they are usually ONLY e-ttl. This means when you want to shoot this light off camera you have no control over how bright or dim the light output is. Why not just buy a flash you will be able to use for everything?!
Let me clarify that this does NOT apply to a static, off camera lighting setup. (shooting a portriat seesion of a friend) This applies to situations like birthday parties where you are running around trying to make photos of hyper children (this is the most important photography of all if you think about it!)
Having a flash that meters automatically allows you to turn it on, set your aperture on camera, (i shoot Av mode when using on camera flash in an event type situation) AND SHOOT!
And remember, you will also be able to incorporate this flash into your off camera lighting setups later on.
So yeah, when i'm shooting the dreaded on-camera flash, i use one of these. :)
(there are alternatives to trigger lights. Check out this article on my favorite website Strobist)
This is the the link between the lights and the camera. You put one on your camera's hot shoe (where the flash would go) and plug one into whatever light you are shooting with.
This is a newer toy for me. I say toy because the other system i was working with was doing the job. These just happen to be more reliable. In fact, these are the "industry standard" and you are going to pay the price. Two of these bad boys are going to cost you at least $340 pretty much any way you look at it, and you need at least 2 to play ball. Buying more units after the initial purchase of 2 stings a little less and these will scale to as many units as you can afford. This will come in handy when you start photographing the Black Eyed Peas with 10 studio lights.
-YN-560 x2
These are cheap , but powerful manual flashes. I prefer shooting with these compared to the "big lights" because they are portable. I prefer shooting outside and these are the ticket. You can get two of these for about $120. You can do A LOT with just 2 lights. You can buy little softboxes for these on ebay for about $25 each.
-28" Recessed Front Apollo Softbox
I usually use the cheapest light modifiers i can find on ebay. After all, it is essentially a sheet. "We will talk about soft light later."
This softbox is the exception, and a dream come true for me. I started using umbrellas, but hated the uncontrolled light that bounced wherever it wanted to. The soft box i use on my "big lights" requires about a 10 minute, finger snapping assembly. You can leave the thing assembled but it takes up the entire trunk of my car.
The Apollo is basically built like an umbrella. It takes me less than 10 seconds to pop this thing up, leaving me more time to focus on shooting. (insert joke here) This is perfect for use with the YN-560's (see above). The grand finale is the fact this will work with my AlienBees strobe too!
you can buy this softbox in a kit with a lightstand and the flash mounting bracket for ~$140. If you bought 1 of these kits and 1 yn-560 you could be shooting pro looking portaits for under $200!!
-Accessories
Memory cards, Macbook pros, cables, gaffer's tape, extra batteries, ...ugh..
Filling the rest of this stuff out will be done later. There is so much depending on how prepared you either want to be or need to be. The stuff i have listed above is the core stuff i use each day. Alot of the times when im out and about i just have my camera.
-Camera Bags (protect that s**t)
If im traveling or moving a bunch of stuff around for an on location job i bring this. It holds all cameras, lenses, flashes, and accesories. You can even force fit a 15" Macbook pro in the laptop sleeve, but i dont. The big lights have their own cases.
This bag is a 9/10 as far as protection goes. The only thing better would be a hardshell case of some type.
If you go with the Tamrac bag first, you will immediatly feel like a huge dork lugging around a camera studio on your back.
My favorite bag, and possibly my favorite possesion is my Domke bag. These are made for walking around comfortably. They are awesome for accessing your camera with the bag still over your shoulder. (try THAT with the Tamrac bag) Great for on the go lens changes.
In this bag i typically carry just my camera, a 430ex II and an extra battery. I shoot with 32 gig Cf cards and i rarely ever take over 150 photos on any outing. Sometimes i will bring the "Nifty Fifty" along
I love the way these bags feel and look. On a bigger guy like me it is actually pretty inconspicous (although somewhat hipster looking). These bags are notoriously popular in the press world and even the great Dave Hobby uses one.
Thats it for now...