It should be noted the type of camera or the quality of the gear does not make a photographer, but we still have our favorites to use. State News photographers are free to checkout company gear, but we also like to use our own. Below is a series of some of the gear we take on assignment, and why we like to use it.

Matt Zubik

For my personal gear, I keep things very simple. I always keep a Canon Rebel SL1 with me, it’s a basic crop sensor camera that I’ll combine with one of two prime lenses. I use a 24mm f/2.8 as a wide-angle and a 50mm f/1.8 as a portrait/long lens. Not overthinking gear is something that I think is really important, you can make great photos with even the simplest setup. For fun, I’ll keep my grandpa’s Kodak Retina 1a on me, as well. It’s a 35mm manually-focusing film camera from the early 1950s. I use it sparingly, but it creates really unique images that a digital camera could never recreate.

Di’Amond Moore

I shoot with a Nikon D3500 when out on assignment. My go-to lens is an F-mount 18-55mm, but I also use a 70-300mm lens for distance shots as necessary.

Matt Schmucker 

MacBook

Hard drive (I don't know the brand)

Canon 80D that I use for both photo and video

24-70 f/2.8 lens: The best, most versatile news lens in my bag.

70-200 f/2.8 lens: A good lens that works for sports, or any other situation when I can't get close to a subject.

50 f/1.4: A good portrait lens that I used to use as my standard news lens before I got my 24-70. This is also the first lens I ever bought for this body.

A plastic bag: Essential to keep in my bag to cover my equipment in bad weather.

Annie Barker

In general, I really only shoot with a 24mm f/2.8, but I’ve recently taken to using a 50mm as well on my Canon 77D (my 50 is not pictured as it is currently out of commission and needing repair). From time to time, I’ll carry a long lens 70-200mm which comes in handy when I can’t get up close to what I want to shoot. Also, I always have a notebook and pencil on hand to write down names. I’ve tried to use my phone before to take notes, but it’s usually glitchy and then it gets awkward when I have to keep the person waiting. For me, the less equipment I have the better so I can move around easier and not have to worry about keeping track of it while out on assignment.