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Say Cheese: Meet the Gear Patrol Staff’s Favorite Cameras

We polled the GP team’s resident shutterbugs to see what kinds of cameras they love to snap pictures with.

collage of three camerasAmazon, Adorama, Ebay

By Gear Patrol

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Here at Gear Patrol, much of the staff shares a love of photography. But there are different levels to that love, of course. Some of use shoot for work. Some of us shoot film on weekend. And some of use carry a point-and-shoot camera simply because, well, it’s just a bit more fun than shooting with our iPhone.

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So, in celebration of our devotion to shooting stills, we all huddled up and rounded up some of the cameras that our staff — professional photographers, jubilant amateurs and just about every skill level inbetween — use to capture the world around us and make art, both on the clock and off. We also asked our resident shutterbugs to tell us about why they love these cameras so much, and what they’d like to upgrade their photography kit with next. Check it all out below.

Fujifilm X100V

Jack Seemer, Executive Editor

How long have you had your camera? Three months.

What do you like about it? This guy’s new, and despite the unbearable hype that surrounds the X100V, it actually wasn’t something I sought out. The camera previously belonged to a friend, who forced my hand by selling it for pennies. (His subtle way, I think, of telling me to shoot more.)

Nonetheless, I’ve had an absolute blast with it. The X100V is my first personal camera to carry a prime lens, eliminating a lot of the decision fatigue I experience with DSLRs. I can just focus on capturing shots instead of manufacturing them — or missing moments altogether.

I’ve also enjoyed digging into the film-simulation “recipes” from Ritchie Roesch over at Fuji X Weekly — a rite of passage for any new X100V owner. I’ve never been a black-and-white guy but his Kodak Tri-X 400 recipe might be changing my position. (For the Fuji heads: I shoot most of my color photographs with Reggie’s Portra, which keeps the white balance on Auto.)

jack seemer
Shutter speed: 1/2900, Aperture: f/2.8, ISO: 320
Jack Seemer

What’s your aspirational piece of camera equipment, and why?

Does a solid state hard drive count as “aspirational?” In any case, it’s the next thing on my list. My editing workflow is overdue for a full-blown rethink, with something like Lacie’s Rugged SSD at the center of it.

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Fujifilm X-T10

Ryan Brower, Senior Commerce Editor

How long have you had your camera? Since 2016.

What do you like about it? This is the first digital camera I’ve ever owned. Up until this point, I’d only owned a handful of film cameras, even though I had done plenty with DSLRs over the years for school and work. But once mirrorless cameras started to become more accessible, I knew that was the route I wanted to go. I jumped on the X-T10, which was a weird in between model that got outmatched by the X-T20 and didn’t have the weather-sealing of the legendary X-T1. But what appealed to me was that it was cheaper than the X-T1 while still sharing the same sensor and processor.

Over seven years in with the X-T10, I’m still extremely happy with it; it more than meets my needs for work purposes and most personal uses. I’m still a creature of habit when it comes to traveling and wanting a film camera in hand (there’s just something about finding the perfect POV and angle that engages me more than digital), but I’ve had plenty of great trips with this camera.

ryan brower
Shutterspeed: 1/350, Aperture: f/10
Ryan Brower

What’s your aspirational piece of camera equipment, and why?

I’ve always loved shooting landscapes, and a few years ago my wife and I bought a house in South Jersey in the middle of a wildlife refuge. I’ve known that a telephoto lens would be a must for getting some of the sunset, bird, bayscape and moon shots I’ve been planning in my head. The Fujifilm XF 70-300mm telephoto that came out in 2021 really seems to fit exactly what I’m looking for, and does it for under $800. It’s one of the best Xf telephotos Fuji makes … and it’s continuously sold out at all retailers. I’m probably going to pull the trigger with the next restock, which is seeming like it’ll be sometime in the second half of 2023.

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Yashica-Mat

Eric Limer, Senior Editor

How long have you had your camera? About three years.

What do you like about it? I love shooting film because it slows me down and makes me think, and shooting a TLR just takes that to the max. Medium format means each negative is big and beautiful but also expensive, so it really forces you to think about your composition.

The waist-high viewfinder is way less threatening than holding a camera up to your face, especially when you’re shooting around in public, but the way the image is mirrored also makes framing your shot productively hard. That, plus fully manual controls, makes for a gratifyingly brain-tickling experience when you’re trying to set up a shot. You can’t just mindlessly shoot a Yashica-Mat.

eric limer
When asked about shutter speed and f-stop, Limer replied, “No idea.”
Eric Limer

What’s your aspirational piece of camera equipment, and why?

I’d love a Hassleblad XPan. I find the cinematic aspect ratio to be incredibly inspiring, but if I’m going to get a panoramic camera, I want one that uses all the celluloid. Yeah, I could just buy a Pentax that creates a panoramic aspect ratio by cropping in on the frame but it’s just not the same.

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Sony A7C

Tucker Bowe, Associate Editor

How long have you had your camera? A little over a year.

What do you like about it? I’ve always gravitated towards Sony cameras. I’ve had one of their little pocket shooters, the RX100 Mark III, for years and years. But when we started working remotely and I found myself shooting more photos of the products I was reviewing (mostly speakers, headphones and earbuds), I decided to upgrade. And the Sony A7C is a quite a big upgrade. It’s a full-frame mirrorless camera that packs a big sensor in a little(ish) body. I’ve paired it with a Sony FE 50mm f/2.8 macro lens, and it’s just a great camera for what exactly photo I need: product photography.

tucker bowe
Shutter speed: 1/160, Aperture: f/4, ISO: 1,250
Tucker Bowe

What’s your aspirational piece of camera equipment, and why?

To be honest, I’ve very much an amateur photographer — I dabble shooting with aperture priority, but admittedly still shoot Auto most of the time — and the Sony A7C more than enough camera for me. If I were aspirational and became a much more skilled photography, however, I guess I’d aim for any even nicer (and larger) Sony mirrorless, like the Sony A1.

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Ricoh GRIII

J.D. DiGiovanni, Managing Editor

How long have you had your camera? Two years.

What do you like about it? I got the GRIII during a period when I was trying to “de-tech” my life. I didn’t want my phone on me so much, but I didn’t want to leave the house without a camera.

What’s ended up happening is I’ve continued to be addicted to my phone, but now I also have the GRIII with me at all times. Despite its size, the camera is excellent at capturing really high-quality images. I really dig that I can shoot both raw and JPEG, the latter of which I process in-camera with its filmish settings. What’s more, I love the fixed 28mm focal length. It’s forced me to be more thoughtful about composition and use my feet more.

j d digiovanni
Shutter speed: 1/40, Aperture: f/16; ISO: 10,000
J.D. DiGiovanni

What’s your aspirational piece of camera equipment, and why?

I was fortunate enough to take some classes taught by Michael Lesy in college. He completely changed how I think about images and research. I’d consider myself lucky to get the first edition of his book “Wisconsin Death Trip” on the shelf.

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Sony A7III

Hayley Helms, Associate Editor

How long have you had it? 4 years

What do you like about it? My partner and I invested in this camera four years ago for our freelance work at the time — he’s a creative director by trade and I’m a writer, and we collaborate often — and haven’t looked back once since going with the A7III, which I pair with a FE 24–105-mm F4 G OSS lens. It’s reliable, has incredible image quality and in our minds, is the middle-of-the-road workhorse that can handle high-end photo work while also being affordable enough to make an upfront investment in. I think of the A7III as the Goldilocks of cameras: not too complicated and expensive, not too cheap and unreliable — just right. I shoot film as a hobby, but for all work-related projects, this is the set-up I’m grabbing every time.

hayley helms
Shutter speed: 1/3200, Aperture: f/4.0, ISO: 400
Hayley Helms

What’s your aspirational piece of camera equipment, and why?

If I’m being honest, I’d most like to repair my Pentax K1000. I bought one five or six years ago and love shooting on it. It’s been around the world with me, and a couple years ago the light meter went out. I haven’t gotten it repaired yet – just been shooting off the hip and seeing how things work out. But rather than something shiny and new, I’d rather give my trusty little Pentax some attention and love.

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