Specialist Photography Equipment

---

What is the best drone for photography? The one that gives you the greatest freedom to get the images you need. Megapixels don't count if you can't fly close and get the best composition. My small and lightweight drone kit (sub-250g) means I have the lowest flying restrictions in accordance with CAA rules. It's a rapidly expanding area of creativity for photographers and the DGI Mini 2 is at the forefront for aerial access.

How to photograph 360? There's lots of ways to get an interactive view from all angles with modern software. However, this little bit of kit from Ricoh really makes it unobtrusive and easy to get great results. It won't work in all situations and has much more impact if it's placed close to a point of interest, rather than barren wide open space. Click the circular image to see how I once used it at Bristol Balloon Fiesta.

Are teleconverter lenses any good? What is a teleconverter? Firstly, they are great. Secondly they are effectively a secondary lens that fits behind your 'actual' lens, increasing the focal length. They do fractionally reduce quality, but they offset this by magnifying the subject. This panning shot at 1/125sec @ f/13 was taken using my 500mm f/4 with the 1.7X teleconverter you see here to create a 850mm focal length!

Best macro lens? I don't need one, but I have used lots in my career and they're so gorgeous to use! I do now, however, always have extender tubes in my kitbag I can fit behind my lenses to get really amazing close-up results. The quality does fractionally dip, but as our backyard chicken Dorian will attest, the pic of her eye (and that annoying speck of dirt) is well exposed and super pin-sharp - must change this pic!

Which GoPro should I buy? The best you can afford as the image quality and build has been amazing for a long time now - definitely get the waterproof housing too. Mine is an invaluable bit of kit, when required. The chest harness (see pic) comes in handy when covering protests. The fixings and mounts enable 'impossible' shots like when I wanted an action shot of Eddie 'Eagle' Edwards on a 360 deg swing at Eden Project.