There was only a trace amount of rain in all of October, a single day in November (11/3/2024, 0.47"), zero days of precipitation in December, and just 0.15" so far in January (1/8/2025).

It is the driest winter I can remember, and even a brief January storm felt like something to celebrate, to witness. The Ruiz Trail in Saguaro National Park, at the northwest corner of the Rincon Valley, offers some rather good views and I was lucky enough to be there at the right time to create a few images to celebrate the storm and the winter light. I hope this won't be the only storm this month; I would love nothing more than to return to a boringly normal schedule of winter storms.

Not reviews, not recommendations - just the what and why of the gear I'm using at the start of 2025. In every case below, there are many great alternatives that I haven't owned or tested. All of the photographs in this post were taken in Southern Arizona in 2024 with the gear listed on this page - 2024 Photographs has more of my 2024 photography. Even if you don't particularly like my photographs, I have been hiking with and thinking about photographic gear for over a decade, and you might find some of the details below interesting.

Top Concerns

In addition to loving beautiful, high-quality gear my current concerns are:

• 98% of my photographs are taken on hikes and the size and weight of every piece of gear matters.
• When possible I like gear in a cost range that means it isn't a tragedy if it is dropped/damaged/broken - 100% of the photography gear I buy will be used outside, on hikes, often in conditions that are not ideal (and usually when I am tired and 'not ideal' myself)
• I work primarily in Southern Arizona

Body

A7rIV - phillipreeve.net with Kirk Photo Universal Small L-Bracket: Pixel count and sensor size are secondary to your own photographic vision and abilities - but for large prints, image quality and ability to crop while still retaining a meaningful number of pixels the full frame 61MP sensor on the A7RIV is the key detail. I'm very happy with the A7RIV and hope to keep mine for many years. If I replaced my body today I would look seriously at the a7CR to save weight and space while staying at Full Frame 61mp. B&H. Owned for 3+ years.

Lenses

I lean heavily on prime lenses because of the balance of cost+quality+size+weight(+maybe durability in some cases). I will generally carry 1 to 3 of the lenses below. For a day of local exploring when I don't think there will be many opportunities for photography I may just take the Tamron 35mm - for the Grand Canyon Rim I might take the Sony 20mm, Sony 50mm Macro and Tamron 70-300mm.

Over the years my favorite lens review site has become phillipreeve.net. In addition to the individual reviews the Guides and the Sony FE lens list are good resources although they may not be fully up-to-date. Be aware that the reviewers produce quite good images even when they give a poor review to a lens.

Every Day

I nearly always have one of the lenses below, and it is often on my camera.

Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 - phillipreeve.net - I don't need a fast lens and this 35 offers good image quality, an astoundingly low price ($249 new - 1/2/2025), helpful hood and a bit of extra close-up/macro performance (minimum focus distance 5.9", maximum magnification ratio of 1:2). Not the smallest 35mm, but relatively light. The Philip Reeve review puts focus - both manual and AF - in the cons column for this lens. I wouldn't disagree, but in the field for landscape work I haven't found it to be a problem. B&H. Owned for 4+ years.

Review: Sony FE 40mm 2.5 G - phillipreeve.net: Small size, lightweight, great controls, beautiful build, excellent image quality. It seems like an obvious choice for a prime lens loving photographer, but the Tamron 35mm (above) takes excellent images for half the price and the Sony 50 Macro (below) offers good Macro performance and more varied focal length. The only real justification for this lens is fun, joy and variety. Everything the Tamron 35 lacks this lens has - great feel, beautiful controls and good autofocus. I suspect that the image quality is technically better than the Tamron 35, but I haven't done side-by-side comparisons and haven't noticed it in everyday editing. B&H. Owned for 1+ years.

Review: Sony FE 2.8/50 Macro - phillipreeve.net: I enjoy the 50mm focal length - more subject-focused, less grand landscape, imho a good description of many of the photographic opportunities I see in Southern Arizona. With good macro performance and overall good image quality this small/lightweight lens is an interesting choice. B&H. Owned for 9+ years.

Zoom

This is my most frequent 2nd lens choice.

Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD for Sony E-mount | PetaPixel: The magic is the weight and size - the Tamron 70-300 is less than half the weight of the smallest/lightest classic 'white' zoom lens, probably half the volume and many times less costly. I've been very, very, happy with the image quality and having a 70-300 that is reasonable to carry creates a lot of photographic opportunities. B&H. Owned for 4+ years.

Wide

Wide lenses are a staple of landscape photography - but you need the right scene and the right landscape to take advantage of a wide lens. In Southern Arizona I use/carry this lens less than you might expect.

Review: Sony FE 20mm 1.8G - phillipreeve.net: The build quality, controls and image quality is excellent - I wish the price and weight were both lower but considering the outstanding performance it seems worth it. I own a Laowa 15mm 2.0 Zero-D for Sony FE - phillipreeve.net and have found that 15mm is too wide for almost everything I want to do. B&H. Owned for 3+ years.

Macro

Review: Sony FE 2.8/90 Macro G OSS - phillipreeve.net: The Sony FE 2.8/50 Macro is a nice lens - the Sony FE 2.8/90 Macro G OSS is in a completely different class. The 90 is not light, small, or inexpensive but its outstanding macro performance means I will carry it occasionally (wildflower season!). B&H. Owned for 6+ years.

B&H

For convenience there are links to B&H in this post. These aren't affiliate links - just plain links - and included as a way to support B&H's Photography Podcast and other content. Sadly, I am not aware of a great local Sony shop to support in the Tucson area. So I choose to make many of my purchases from B&H because they produce content that I care about. Reclaiming a Natural Landscape, with Jade Doskow & Cal Flyn is a favorite recent episode of the Photography Podcast!

It is the last day of 2024 - another warm dry winter day to end the year - and it seemed like a good time to put together a collection of images from the year. The images are mostly local - hyper-local even - and I hope that perspective comes thru in the photos.

I was tired from travel and meetings - Lovelock, Winnemucca - missing home a bit - Battle Mountain - and headed east - Elko. I turned south still not sure about the decision to drive hundreds of miles for 2 nights - and then the Ruby Mountains came into view... From 227 the high, rocky, snow covered peaks are spectacular and, to me, unexpected. I didn't come prepared for the snow covering the trails and wasn't able to do all the hiking I had imagined - but immensely enjoyed seeing the range for the first time!

During my visit the range was dominated by the sound of water - coming from Tucson it was especially spectacular to hear and see water ... everywhere. This recording was made in Thomas Canyon - not too far from the Thomas Canyon Trail, late in the evening on a long summer day. Water dominates but the bird song is also a constant - listen closely and you can hear an occasional insect, some vehicles on 660 making their way thru Lamoille Canyon, and a hiker's poles on the trail.

The paragraphs below are excerpts from History of the Humboldt National Forest by Fred P. Frampton, Humboldt National Forest Cultural Resource Series #1, June 1992 (reformatted July 2008):

The Humboldt River and, presumably, the East Humboldt Mountains were named by John C. Fremont after his surveying expedition into the Great Basin in 1843. Fremont named the river and the mountains in honor of Baron von Humboldt, an early-day scientist who probably never saw them. Many people wonder, when they see the name East Humboldt Mountains, where the Humboldt Mountains are. An 1869 map, made by Cadwallader, of the route to the White Pine mines on the current Ely Ranger District names the Ruby Mountains the Humboldt Mountains. It may be that both designations "Ruby" and "Humboldt" were interchangeable in the early days and that "Ruby" eventually came into more common usage. The name Ruby comes from early settlers, soldiers, and travelers finding garnets on the southeast end of the range.

Overland Pass, on the south end of the Ruby Mountains Ranger District, was the route of the ill-fated Donner Party, as well as of the Pony Express and Overland Mail and Stage.

The Ruby Mountains region was the first to be impacted by trappers, explorers, emigrants, settlers, and the military in northeastern Nevada. Some of the highest density of ranches in the state of Nevada occurs surrounding the Ruby Mountains Ranger District. Residents include descendants of Mormon pioneers who were sent to settle the area by Brigham Young, as well as descendants of people who developed stagecoach way-stations and ranches beginning possibly as early as the 1850s. Still others may be descendants of those who occupied Forts Ruby and Halleck

In 1913, a hydroelectric plant was constructed near the mouth of Lamoille Canyon at the site of the Powerhouse Picnic Area. This hydroelectric plant furnished power to Lamoille and to Elko for many years but was abandoned in late 1971 after a fire destroyed the power generating plant. The flume to this plant is visible along the north canyon wall above the Lamoille Canyon road extending from the vicinity of the Lions Camp to the Powerhouse Picnic Area. The only small hydroelectric plant found in Nevada still exists on Trout Creek on the north end of the East Humboldt Range. This functioning plant, constructed in 1927, originally supplied all the power to the town of Wells and surrounding areas.

Residents of Elko and Lamoille petitioned the Humboldt National Forest in the early 1920s to construct a road into Lamoille Canyon. No progress was made to this end until the late 1930s when the Lamoille CCC camp constructed a road and campgrounds. The road was widened and paved in the early 1960s.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was active on this District building roads, fences, and campgrounds, fighting fires as well as Mormon Crickets, and constructing numerous Forest facilities. The Lamoille Guard Station, formerly the Ruby and Lamoille Ranger District Office, was constructed and landscaped by the CCC in the mid to late 1930s. The Lamoille Guard Station is one of the most picturesque on the Forest, if not in all of Nevada. They also constructed a Guard Station at the Terraces in Lamoille Canyon and another in Clover Valley. The Terraces structures were removed, probably because of avalanche danger, and the house is now at the Supervisor's Compound in Elko. The building from Clover Station was moved to Ruby Guard Station.

Because of the unexcelled beauty of the Ruby Mountains, the Ruby Mountain Scenic Area was established on January 19, 1965. The scenic area covered 40,720 acres in the heart of the Ruby Mountains from Ruby Dome and Verdi Peak on the north to the heads of Long Canyon and Mayhew Creek on the south.

On December 15, 1989, the Nevada Wilderness Bill created the East Humboldt Wilderness of 36,900 acres and the Ruby Mountain Wilderness of 90,000 acres. These two areas account for approximately 33% of the Ranger District. The unparalleled hiking in the Wilderness areas, as well as campgrounds and easy access in Lamoille Canyon, makes the Ruby Mountains Ranger District the most heavily used recreation area on the Forest.

From Forgotten - A Story About Discovering Abandoned Ski Resorts in Well-Known Zones. Teton Gravity Research:

Dear Sirs, In going through some of mom's pictures, I came across some photos of the Ski Lodge the boys had built above the turn around in Lamoille canyon. Three young men around 1956 decided to build a ski resort. They hauled all the lumber up the canyon. It had a large fire place. They bought a drug Store Fountain with a counter & stools. At the time it would have been one of the longest ski runs in the US. They had tried to get backing from the Local hotels & various other places. They had a long lease from the Forest Service. Then several years later a man who worked for the Forest Service decided he was going to do the same thing, so the boys unable to put their plans into operation had to remove the ski lodge. In looking at your brochure, I thought maybe something could be put on spot or mentioned regarding this. We were born and raised in Elko & still go to the canyon. - Beth Salls Moore