The Gear

I SUFFER FROM NAS:

Nikon users often say that they suffer from NAS or "Nikon Acquisition Syndrome".  In early 2008 I switched from a film based Minolta camera system to a completely digital realm.  I bought the best camera body (Nikon D80) and kit lense (Nikkor 18-200 3.5-5.6AF-S VR DX) that I could afford to get started.  After several months the NAS bug (more like a virus) was running rampant in my system.  I soon found that not only did I need camera gear but computer gear as well.  The following is a list of gear that I have accumulated since then.

CAMERA GEAR:

1. Nikon D3S Full Frame (FX) Digital SLR.    (My Comments)
2. Nikon D80 (DX) Digital SLR w/ Nikon MB-D80 Multi-Power Handgrip
3. Nikorr 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 AF-S VR Zoom
4. Nikorr 70-200mm 2.8 AF-S VR Telephoto
5. Nikorr 35mm 1.8G AF
6. Nikorr 50mm 1.4D AF
7. Nikorr 85mm 1.4D AF "Cream Machine"
8. Nikorr 10.5mm 2.8 AF Fisheye
9. Nikorr 14-24 2.8G AF-S Zoom
10. Nikorr 1.7x Teleconverter
11. Nikon PB-6 Bellows w/PK-13 Extension Ring, BR-2A Reversing Adapter, and BR-3 for Macro Photography
12. (2) Nikon SB-800 Speedlights
13. (1) Nikon SB-900 Speedlights
14. Nikon SU-800 Speedlight Controller
15. Honl Speedlight Light Modifier Pro Kit
16. Gary Fong Lightsphere for SB-800's
17. Gary Fong Collapsible Lightshere for SB-900
18. Nikon Remote Releases and TTL Sync Cords
19. Photek Softlighter 60" Shoot Through Umbrella kits.
20. Photoflex Large LiteDome Softbox's
21. Photoflex Octo-Dome Modifier
22. Lastolite 30" Tri-Grip Diffuser
23. Pari of Lastolite 6'x4' Oval Collapsable Reflector in Sunfire/White and Gold/Silver
24. Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit
25. Canon 500D 72mm Close-up adapter.
26. Canon 250D 50mm Close-up adapter.
27. (5) GB SanDisk Extreme IV SD Cards.
28. (2) Lexar 600X UDMA Compactflash Memory Cards
29. Tamrac Expedition 5x Camera Backpack for Travel
30. Tamrac Expedition 7x Camera Backpack for Complete Carry
31. Gitzo 3540LS Tripod w/Markins M20 Ballhead
32. 77mm expodisc for accurate whitebalancing.

IMAGE PROCESSING AND ARCHIVING:

1. Adobe Web Premium CS5 (Photoshop, Illustrator, DreamWeaver, Acrobat 9 Pro, Fireworks, Flash Catalyst, Flash Professional, InDesign)
2. Adobe Lightroom 3.3
3. onOne Perfect Photo Suites 5.5 (Resize 7, PhotoTools 2.6, PhotoFrame 4.6, FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, Mask Pro 4, Perfect Layers 1)
4. Nik Software Complete Collection(HDR Efex, Viveza 2, Silver Efex, Color Efex, Sharpener Pro, Dfine)
5. Topaz Labs Bundle (Adjust, Simplify, DeNoise, Detail, Clean, Remask, InFocus, DeJPEG).
6. SiteGrinder Web Development Plug-In ver 2.0
7. Imagenomic Noiseware Professional
8. Photomatix Pro HDR Processing
9. Microsoft Expression Web

COMPUTER HARDWARE:

1. Intel i7 950 3.06 Ghz 4-Core 8 Thread Processor
2. MSI Big Bang X-Power Motherboard w/24 gb of DDR3 Ram
3. Corsair 1200AX Gold Series Power Supply
4. Silverstone RAVEN Full ATX Tower Case
5. (4) OCZ Solid State Drives for OS, Software, Recording, Photoshop
6. (1) 2 TB Caviar Black HD
7. Twin EVGA NVIDIA GTX 295 Video Cards driving Twin Gateway 24" HDMI Flatscreen Monitors
8. Windows 7 Professional 64bit Operating System
9. Wacom Intuos 3 Pen Tablet
10. Data Robotics eSATA Drobo S w/7.5 Terabytes of Seagate Barracuda Storage
11. Bytecc Firewire/USB adapter with Texas Instruments Chipset driving an M-Audio Firewire 410 Audio Interface
12. Pair of Transformer Isolated Yamaha HS50M reference monitors
13. Optically driven Alesis THX Surround Sound System w/Sub
14. HP CP2025 Color LaserJet

PROFESSIONAL IMAGE PRINTING:

1. HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Printer
2. Spyder Studio 3 - Pro Color Management System.
3. MPix Professional Printing Service for large format.

Most of the photography gear above has been purchased from Adorama,  B&H Photo, and locally here in St. Louis from Schillers.  Software and plug-ins purchased and downloaded on-line.  Computer Gear and components purchased from MicroCenter in St. Louis.  In the future, as I acquire more gear, I'll try to put some reviews and tips here on the blog.