What gear do we use?
the material we use, and why we use it, we will first list below. Later we will go into it in detail.
Lenses
We always take this lenses with us. We both have the 14-24 which we use the most. Shooting is small places needs a wide angle lens. This lens I tried a few other lenses but non of them I was satisfied. We also have the 24-70 that we use in places we don’t need the 14mm the reason why I choose this lens is because it gives me diversity and functionality. The 24-70 gives me enough wide angle and also give me the opportunity to make closeups and portraits. The benefits of this lens are priceless. It’s a lens every photographer must have. And last but not least. Probably the cheapest lens Nikon have in there product range. Is the 50mm 1.8 I don’t use it that much but when I’m shooting abandond cars. I’m always use this in most cases. It’s so small but also so sharp. It’s a really good lens that have to use more.
The Cameras
I’m photographing abandoned places for over 18 years now. So in the past I had different can’t of cameras that I used. But me me talk a about the one we use now. My wife is photographing with the Nikon D750 which is a full frame camera with 24.3 megapixels. In combination with the D750. Great camera and perfect for what we do. I’m using most of the time my Nikon D850 which is a camera with 45.7 megapixels that give brilliant resolution. So why do I still have this two other cameras? Good question! Let me explain you why. This full frame cameras working like vacuum cleaners. And because we are visiting places that is full of dust I don’t like to change my lenses. That why I use the 50mm on my D3s and the 24-70 on my D800. In most of the places my 850 in combination with the 14-24 is more than enough. We visited places that is most of the time too small to use the 24-70 or 50mm. And I can always go back to the car to change my camera. The GoPro. We bought this for 2 reasons. First of all, we bought it for ourselves. We climbing over wall, climb into basements. Or whatever it takes to get into this abandoned places. So it’s fun to be back home and watch this movies again. On the other side we also have a passion for making films. So that why we bought this GoPro here 5. Because making films are great with the GoPro. We decided to buy also a drone. For our traveling trips we use the Mavic pro. It’s really compact and we can put him even in our camera bags.Which take this videos to a whole other level. The air. We combining this drone for video and pictures. Now we can make outside shots from really cool angles. And making videos of the abandoned places which we gonna upload soon on our YouTube Chanel. We can use them also as a really expensive selfie stick.
Tripods
The tripods that we use the most are the two from Benro.These are collapsible and very compact. They are made of carbon and offer the strength and stability that we are looking for.
The second reason we use these tripods is because we can easily put them in our camera bag. We use the tripods of manfrotto mainly for filming or for landscape photography. these are heavier and more robust. for long exposures we need a little more stability. We also use other tripod heads for this. The geared head of manfrotto works very precisely. The Manfrotto 785B is a video tripod that we use for the GoPro. We have also recently purchased the FeiyuTech G6 Gimbal for smooth recordings.
Our camera bags
If I had to design my own camera bag, it would be definitely this one. The Lowepro sport 200 AW. My tripod, my camera, my extra batteries, my lenses and my drone. Everything fits into this bag. It unbelievable. I have everything in one bag. I do not need to hold my tripod the whole time when I’m walking. I have free hands when I have to climb. This bag is so perfect. I I compare it with the other bags I use for non urbex. Every urban explorer must have one of this. But sadly the do not produce them anymore. They’re is a newer version of this bag but is smaller and it’s only designed for mirrorless cameras.
The two other camera bags we use for landscape photography are the Lowepro fastpack 200 and the 350. are just the same camera bags, only the 350 is bigger. They are very handy and you can also very quickly at the camera without having to put down your bag. The droneguard is a small bag where the drone, 2 extra batteries, extra propellers and controllers fit and provides enough protection.
DJI Mavic Pro
Because we take the plane 10 times a year, we decided to purchase relatively compact Drone that we can take with us. After spending many hours on the internet and having compared everything that was eligible, we decided to purchase the Mavic Pro. Making movies in 4K and shooting in RAW is the standard for the leader in drones. Dji is described as the best of the best. But is that also true? I can say yes, yes! DJI is the market leader in Drones and the mavic pro is the drone for us. setting up is very fast and within a minute the drone is in the air. For this drone we also bought a “Drone landing pad”. This ensures that the drone can take off in a dust-free manner. If we were to take off from sandy surfaces, there might be dust on the lens and to avoid this we have bought a landing pad. very compact but once expanded a 77cm wide.
Some of the accesoiriees we us the most
In this photography a good flashlight is a must. By default we use the Fenix tk12 and the Ledsenser T7. We also use the TK12 in combination with a diffuser. So that we have even light. In my pocket I always have the Fenix PD35 TAC, so I always have a flashlight on hand when needed. We also use the LED sensor H7 headlamp so that we can climb when we have little or no light.
Because we need a lot of memory storage, we use the Caruba cards holder. What a perfect holder for both the SD cards and the micro SD cards. The card holder is also waterproof.
When we make long exposures such as night photography or ND photography, we use the Hähnel Giga Tpro. Very compact and does what it should.
Travel
We travel a lot. Must go to places where no one has been for years. Unstable surfaces. Apart from that, we sometimes sit in the car for hours. Good shoes is something that we certainly do not save on. We use shoes from the brands: Merrell, Belleville, and Haix. I will go deeper into detail. The Haix tractor pro s3 SRC is a very sturdy but still quite flexible boot. and is also completely waterproof. The Belleville 790V is a military boot that is completely waterproof and slightly lighter. Making them extremely suitable to wear at high temperatures. Then we still have the Merrell Moab 2 GTX. These walking shoes are naturally also provided with a goretex layer which makes them also waterproof. but are also the ideal walking shoe. We do not just spend hours in the car, but we also travel quite a few kilometers per day. To reach unreachable places. This Merrell Moab is the ideal walking shoe.
The gloves are not unimportant. You can not invest enough for this. We use the cut-resistant tactical police gloves of the brand Turtleskin. They are agile enough and, at the same time, they offer us the perfect protection. If we have to climb through a broken window, this glove offers the perfect protection.
I use the military pants from Carhartt. these are less likely to get dirty or you see the dirt less quickly. It is only how you see it.
They dry very quickly which is very important to us if we have to walk through high wet grass, for example.
Furthermore, we wear almost only jackets from the Northface.
And of course what is indispensable for us is our VAN. You can find more about this here