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!