My photographic equipment

Other
Written By Nick Dale

AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR

When I started out as a professional photographer back in 2013, I didn’t even own a camera!

I had to spend thousands of pounds building up my current collection of camera bodies, lenses and accessories.

I started off with a bridge camera called the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V for my first trip to Kenya, but when I saw the Nikon DSLR belonging to one of the other guests, I immediately developed camera envy!

Back home in England, I went to the London Camera Exchange on The Strand and bought myself a used Nikon D800 camera body together with a Nikon AFS 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR G, a good, all-purpose lens.

Over the years, I’ve upgraded both cameras and lenses, experimenting with cheaper Tamron SP AF150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD and Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM telephotos before finally settling on Nikon for everything.

I now have two main camera bodies, the Nikon D810 and D850, and I usually pair them with my Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF-S and my AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR, but I also have a few other lenses covering most of the usual range of focal lengths.

That’s an awful lot of equipment, and insuring it all is not cheap, but I got a good deal from the Alan Stevenson Partnership.

Here’s a quick summary of my kit.

If you’d like to support my photography career, you can buy any of the linked products on Amazon, and I’ll receive a 3% commission. Thanks!

Camera bodies

Lenses

Filters

Computer

Camera bags

Other accessories

If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.

If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.

Nick Dale
I read English at Oxford before beginning a career as a strategy consultant in London. After a spell as Project Manager, I left to set up various businesses, including raising $5m in funding as Development Director for www.military.com in San Francisco, building a £1m property portfolio in Notting Hill and the Alps and financing the first two albums by Eden James, an Australian singer-songwriter who has now won record deals with Sony and EMI and reached number one in Greece with his first single Cherub Feathers. In 1998, I had lunch with a friend of mine who had an apartment in the Alps and ended up renting the place for the whole season. That was probably the only real decision I’ve ever made in my life! After ‘retiring’ at the age of 29, I spent seven years skiing and playing golf in France, Belgium, America and Australia before returning to London to settle down and start a family. That hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve now decided to focus on ‘quality of life’. That means trying to maximise my enjoyment rather than my salary. As I love teaching, I spend a few hours a week as a private tutor in south-west London and on assignment in places as far afield as Hong Kong and Bodrum. In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis, writing, acting, photography, dancing, skiing and coaching golf. I still have all the same problems as everyone else, but at least I never get up in the morning wishing I didn’t have to go to work!
http://www.nickdalephotography.com
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Camera set-up for Nikon D810 and D850
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My top 10 birds