When people ask me where I learned photography and video, I often tell them that I enrolled in YouTube University. If I had to push that idea further and name one of my professors, I’d have to tell you that Zack Arias was my professor of Photography Philosophy. When you watch him speak you can tell that he takes the craft seriously and, as a result, you take what he has to say seriously, even if it is merely his approach to owning gear.
For some time now, he has documented his pursuit of photography ‘Zen’ by simplifying his kit to one bag of lights and one bag cameras. And it appears that he is nearing that elusive state, but is not quite there yet. Here is the second of his latest series of videos detailing his impressive gear list, answering the ‘why’s’ to the decisions.
[REWIND:Location Lighting Tips | Zack Arias Shares His Bag Of Lights & Tricks]
Zack’s love for the Fuji mirrorless system is well documented, but he has also given into the seductive siren’s call of medium format imagery. For most of us, a happy spouse, home ownership, kids, and the ability to buy food serve as powerful wards against that call and we settle for the “merger” results of full frame or cropped sensor photography.
His primary cameras are:
- X100T (now X100F)
- Fuji X100 Wide Converter
- Fuji X100 Tele Converter
- Fuji X-Pro 2
- Phase One XF100 with the 100MP back.
You can find and complete list of his photography gear over at this blog DEDPXL.
[REWIND: Capture One Tutorial | Bend Capture One To Your Will By Customizing the Display]
In short, he is a Fuji and Phase One guy but, it is his love of the Phase One and the medium format in general that prevent him from committing to a single system. I feel his pain. I too was close to simple once, owning a Nikon D610 and D7200. Everything was simple and easy but, now I’ve gone and blown everything up and switched to Sony, forcing me to start from the beginning. Alas, the struggle is real and neverending it seems.
What would it take to streamline your kit?
