Skai's Photography Equipment / Gear

About My Photography Equipment

My equipment plays a vital role in supporting me throughout my portrait, event and interior projects.

In the world of photography, the importance of having the right gear cannot be overstated. Whether you're a budding photographer or a seasoned professional, you're well aware of how essential the correct equipment is in translating your creative visions into captivating images. Lighting, in particular, holds a prominent position in shaping the narrative of a photograph, and it's no wonder that professional photographers allocate a significant portion of their inventory to lighting equipment.

For many of us, myself included, the journey to build a comprehensive kit of essential gear for professional photography has been both rewarding and challenging. It's a journey that demands dedication, hard work and, at times, financial acrobatics. I've personally invested countless hours in photoshoots, not only to hone my skills but also to generate the funds required for purchasing and upgrading my equipment. There have been instances where making ends meet meant dipping into my savings. Additionally, it's important to note that every photoshoot also takes a toll on the lifespan of the equipment and some projects carry a higher risk of potential damage. Consequently, a significant portion of the income from each assignment often needs to be reinvested into acquiring new equipment or covering the repair costs of existing ones.

There were times when I could only consider acquiring new equipment after securing an assignment, and even then, it often took several more assignments to recoup the initial investment. I vividly recall a situation where I purchased a camera tripod just before embarking on my first interior photography assignment. Unfortunately, the fees earned from the project didn't entirely cover the entire cost of the new equipment. Similarly, my second portable studio strobe became a part of my kit just before a large-scale indoor corporate group photoshoot, resulting in expenses that surpassed immediate returns.

While my collection of photography equipment may not boast the most prestigious brands or accessories, I take immense pride in the fact that these limitations have never deterred me from pursuing my passion and creating exceptional work. My journey has solidified my belief that outstanding photography can be achieved without relying solely on top-of-the-line gear, although it might necessitate a bit more time and effort. There's a unique satisfaction in producing high-quality work that rivals that of equipment owners with far greater resources.

So, whether you're here to seek equipment recommendations, share your experiences or simply find inspiration, I extend a warm invitation to you to immerse yourself in the realm of photography gear with me. Your determination, creativity and passion are the driving forces behind extraordinary images and the right equipment is here to bolster your artistic journey.

My Photography Equipment

Camera and Lenses

- Canon 6D (full frame)
- Canon 6D Mark II (full frame)
- Canon EF 24-70 F2.8L II lens
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L USM lens
- Canon EF 50mm F1.8 II lens
- Canon EF 50mm F1.4 lens
- Canon 650D (1.6x cropped)
- Canon EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 II lens
- Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 VC II lens

Retired
- Sony NEX F3 (1.5x cropped - Mirrorless)
- ~~Sony SEL50F18 (50mm F1.8 lens)~~
- ~~Sony SEL1855 (18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens)~~
- ~~Sony SEL16F28 (16mm F2.8 lens)~~

Lighting / Strobes

Strobes
- Godox MS300
- Godox AD600BM
- Cononmark B4

Retired
- ~~Cononmark I6M~~
- ~~Godox SK400II~~
- ~~Godox DP600III~~

Speedlite
- Canon 430 EX-II
- Godox TT685IIC
- Godox V1C
- Godox V860III

Retired
- ~~Canon 600 EX-RT~~
- ~~Yongnuo YN560 EX-III~~
- ~~Yongnuo YN560 EX-IV~~
- ~~Godox V1C~~
- ~~Godox V860III~~
- ~~Godox TT685C~~

Continuous Light
- Meking LED Ring Light 26cm dimmable

Flash Triggers

- Godox XProII-C transmitter
- 2x Cononmark radio triggers transmitter
- 2x Cononmark radio triggers receiver

Retired
- ~~3x Yongnuo RF-603 C II transceiver~~
- ~~Godox XPro-C transmitter~~
- ~~Godox XPro-C transmitter~~
- ~~Godox X1T-C transmitter~~
- ~~Godox X2T-C transmitter~~
- ~~Yongnuo YN560-TX Manual Flash Controller~~

Light Modifiers

- AD-H600 split lamp
- 40" inches 2-in-1 Shoot-through/ bounce umbrella
- 43" inches 2-in-1 Shoot-through/ bounce umbrella
- Parabolic Umbrella Silver 75"
- Parabolic Brolly 60"
- Brolly Reflective 40"
- Selens deep Parabolic/Hexadecagon softbox 190cm
- Selens quick setup Parabolic/Hexadecagon softbox 120cm
- 2x Godox Softbox 80 x 80cm with grids
- Godox Softbox Octagon SB-UE 80cm with grids
- Godox Softbox 80 x 120cm with grids
- 2x Godox Softbox 30 x 120cm with grids
- Fomex Strip Softbox 30 x 120cm with grids
- Fomex Softbox 75 x 100cm with grids
- Beauty Dish 21" Silver + Honeycomb grids and diffuser
- Neewer 7" (18cm) standard reflector with 20/40/60 degree honeycomb grid
- 2x Godox 7" (18cm) standard reflector
- 3x 7" standard reflector's sock
- Photo Lite 5-in-1 Reflector 120 x 80cm
- Selens 5-in-1 Reflector 200 x 150cm

For speedlite only
- Flashbender
- Stofen for Canon 430EX-II
- Stofen for Yongnuo YN560
- Speedlite Honeycomb x 5
- Selens magnetic speedlite Honeycomb Grid + Gel holder + Band
- Selens universal rubber gels-band x 3
- Godox AK-R16
- Godox V-11C colour filters gels

Retired
- ~~2-in-1 Reflector 120 x 90cm~~
- ~~43cm Universal foldable speedlite ring light modifier diffuser~~
- ~~Godox AK-R16~~
- ~~Stofen for Canon 600EX-RT (also 600EX, YN-565EX)~~

Tripods and Light Stands

- Sirui T-1004X tripod stand
- Manda light stand
- Manda light nano stand
- 2x Manda HeavyDuty 2.8M Air cushioned light stand
- Meking L-2800FP 2.8M Air cushioned light stand
- Selens SLA-2800 Air cushioned light stand
- Meking Heavy Duty 5M 16'4" M-3 boom light stand
- 4M light stand with cross arm
- Selens FL-240 nano light stand
- Selens 78-138cm boom arm
- Heavy duty clip clamp C / U Type
- Godox SA-01-BW 144mm Diameter Mounting Flange Ring Adapter for Bowens
- Xiletu MT26 + XT15 mini metal tripod with detachable ball head
- Zhiyun Smooth X Gimbal

Retired
- ~~HPUSN B5 nano light stand~~

For speedlite only
- 3x speedlite bracket
- 2x Godox S2 S-Type Speedlite Bracket
- S-type bracket handheld grip

Retired
- ~~Godox S-type bracket S mount holder~~
- ~~S-type bracket handheld grip~~
- ~~U type bracket~~

Backdrop

- 20" (50cm) Light tent cube Soft box with 4 backdrops
- 3m x 2.8m portable studio backdrop
- 1.5m x 2m (lowest 76cm) backdrop
- 6m x 3m white backdrop cloth
- 2m x 3m white backdrop cloth
- 3m x 4m black backdrop cloth
- 2.5m x 5m brown backdrop cloth
- 1.5m x 2.1m nature green grass backdrop
- 70cm x 130cm PVC backdrop paper - Orange, coffee, ash, white, pink, red, green, blue, black
- 6x Andoer plastic clip clamp

Carriers / Bags

9 - AD600BM PB-600 carrying case
- ThinkTank Airport Essentials backpack
- 70cm Selens waterproof studio bag
- Selens 105cm light stand bag
- Meking 109cm light stand bag
- Manfrotto light stand bag MBAG90PN
- Prowell Shoulder Bag DC21439
- 125cm Light stand bag
- 90cm Light stand bag
- 75cm Light stand bag
- Mini hand truck 3KG
- Tripod shoulder strap

Retired
- ~~Trolley bag (internal: 74 x 24 x 20cm, external: 83 x 33 x 29)~~
- ~~ThinkTank Production Manager 40 (High-capacity rolling gear case)~~

Memory Cards

- SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I card 64 GB class 10 170MB/s
- SanDisk Extreme SDHC UHS-I card 32 GB class 10 60MB/s
- SanDisk Extreme microSD XC I V30 A2 128 GB
- SanDisk Ultra SDHC-I card 32 GB class 10 30MB/s
- SanDisk Ultra SDHC-I card 8 GB class 10 30MB/s
- SanDisk Ultra SDHC-I card 8 GB class 6 30MB/s
- Sony SDHC card 8 GB 15MB/s

Other Equipment

- Digi-Cabi 30 litres Dry-Cabinet
- 16Ft (5M) USB 2.0 A Male plug to Mini B 5-Pin Male leads cord cable
- 5Ft spiral coiled USB MINI 5-Pin right angle Male to USB 2.0 A Male plug cable
- 3-in-1 White Balance card
- PowerEx MAHA MH-C-401FS Class 2 battery charger
- Nitecore D4 4-slot battery charger
- 12x PowerEx 2400MAH AA battery
- 12x Panasonic Eneloop 1900MAH AA battery
- 8x PowerEx 950MAH AAA battery
- 3m black wedding veil
- 1.5m Lace edge bridal veil
- IR Wireless Remote Control
- RC-6 IR shutter remote control

Computer

- Intel i7 11700F 8C/16T LGA1200 Processor
- MSI MAG B560M Mortar LGA1200 MB
- G.Skill Rijaws V 19200/2400MHZ 8GB x2 (16GB Kit) LT
- ASIS 24X SATA OEM DVDRW
- MS WIN10 PRO 64Bit
- MSI GTX960 4GB Twin Forzr V O.C Gaming PCI-E
- Seasonic M1211 Evo Edition 850W MOD PSU
- Corsair 300R Compact PC Gaming ATX Casing
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Cooler
- 2x Cooler Master Sickleflow 120mm LED 1x Fan (Blue)
- Samsung S27D590PS/XS 27" LED monitor

Accessories
- Logitech K360 keyboard
- Ugreen 1m USB Hub 4 port with micro USB charging port
- Ugreen 2 in 1 card reader USB 3.0 SD TF OTG Type C
- LS7-1200Mbps long range AC1200 dual band 5GHz USB3.0 WiFi Adapter
- Logitech G102 Prodigy Gaming Mouse
- Chuyi vertical ergonomic mouse (black)
- Pen mouse (red)
- Wired condenser microphone audio studio microphone
- Ergonomic mouse pad wrist rest
- 40x90cm mouse pad

Retired
- ~~Intel I7-6800K (2011) CPU~~
- ~~ASUS X99A II (LGA2011) Mainboard~~
- ~~Cooler Master Hyper 212X CPU Cooler~~
- ~~Logitech MK200 Media Desktop~~
- ~~Logitech M585 Multi-Device Wireless Mouse (Graphite)~~

Harddisk

- Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5" SSD
- Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SSD
- 4TB WD My Book
- 5TB Seagate Backup (Blue)
- 5TB Seagate Backup (Black)
- 10TB Seagate Expansion Desktop USB 3.0

Retired
- ~~3TB W.D Black 64MB 3.5" SATA3 HDD~~
- ~~3TB W.D Elements~~

Wish List

- Permanent photography studio
- Canon EOS R6 II
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III
- Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM
- Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
- C-stand x 4
- Maha PowerEx MH-C980
- Fresnel
- Armaggeddon SMK-12R Mechanical keyboard
- Logitech MX Ergo
- Deleepow AA batteries

Donation/Sponsorship is always welcome!

History of My Equipment

First digital camera - Samsung Digimax 50 Duo

In the early 2000s, coming from a very poor family background, I paid $180 for my first digital camera. In fact, I hesitated for a few weeks and was worried that my mum would nag at me for spending the money. The neighbourhood shop owner must have thought that I was very pathetic. The camera could only produce 0.3-megapixel photos and it came without an LCD screen. A digital camera with an LCD screen would cost around $100 more during that time.

Semi-pro cameras

When prices of digital cameras started falling, my elder brother got an Olympus 10x optical zoom camera. I put it to good use for many years. Then my younger brother got a second-hand Sony compact camera later, which was eventually drowned during an overseas trip when the third party water casing decided to play punk. Later on, we got an Olympus Tough, which was shock and water-resistant. I last bought a Fujifilm semi-pro 20x optical zoom camera during an IT fair and regretted due to the quality and sold it away soon. After many years of photography experience, I had only worked on composition (framing of the photo).

Mirrorless camera - Sony NEX F3

My real photography adventure started in the year 2012 when one of my buddies, Nat Neo, who was working at Sony persuaded me to get a better camera. I decided to live my life more meaningfully by striving towards my passion and thus I bought my first cropped body camera, which was using mirrorless technology. I started shooting my friend, ET, on the stage during the Sunsilk Academy Fantasia competition. I did my first portrait test shoot with my buddy, Constance Huang when I knew nothing about photography techniques. I continued exploring by watching more YouTube videos and eventually got a hang of it. My ex-polytechnic classmate, Benson Lin, was far ahead in the trade and kindly guided me along. However, it was not easy to communicate when our levels were too far apart. Often, the toughest problem was that I did not know what was the problem.

DSLR with speedlite - Canon 650D, Canon 430 EX-II

After doing a few photoshoots with very nice friends who did not mind working with a new photographer without a solid portfolio, my thirst for photography knowledge grew more. I learned to use depth of field and shutter speed to play with mood. My knowledge of post-production work also increased. As I started to learn more about lighting, I began to realise the limitation of earlier technology of mirrorless cameras - slower in autofocus - while my NEX F3 did not come with a hot shoe to attach an external speedlite (flash) on. I knew I had to do something about it in order to progress further. With the encouragement of Benson and Nat Neo, I bought my Canon 650D, also known as Rebel T4I. I also bought a speedlite (Canon 430 EX-II) and other equipment for a portraiture shoot.

"Every step is a learning progress. Even though I do take a longer route sometimes, I have actually experienced and learned more."

Canon 650D was the most popular model in the year 2012. It was great except for in certain aspects, it was a "downgrade" of equipment after switching from Sony NEX F3. Canon's entry-level cameras have only a 1.6x cropped factor while others, including Sony NEX, have a 1.5x cropped factor, making Canon slightly "lousier" for the body of the same range in terms of image quality. Sony's NEX portrait lens 50mm F1.8 was designed by or made of Carl Zeiss glasses, which shamed Canon's 50mm F1.8 lens badly. Sony's LCD screen was sharp and beautiful, and thus it was difficult to get used to Canon's LCD screen. Besides, the mirrorless camera's electronic viewfinder was a great privilege when dealing with constantly changing lighting.

Right after switching of gears, my indoor event photography work improved tremendously with the aid of light by my flash. However, the portraiture shoot started wrecking me. At first, I suspected my new camera was faulty, but soon, I realised my new gear's limitations. I also realised it was easier to learn to see light by playing more with indoor shooting. By then, my expectation of the quality of photos, autofocus speed and accuracy had increased so fearfully that I knew I had to really upgrade my equipment in order to progress further but money was a wall of fire...

As my photography skill improved, time became tighter but I tried hard not to reject friends who did not give me big problems during the previous photoshoots. I also continued to do volunteering event photoshoots when I was available. Through all these non-profit shootings, I benefited as well for I got to test my equipment and different styles of shooting. However, I soon realised after being lectured by many friends that I had to stop being too soft-hearted when my saving and equipment were depleting and wearing off. I knew I needed better equipment in order to bring me to higher levels.

Professional photography - Canon 6D, Canon 24-70mm F2.8L II, Canon 600 EX-RT

Not long later, I upgraded to a full-frame camera - Canon 6D - to begin my professional photography journey. The low light capability and faster focus speed were much needed. A friend lent me his Canon 580 EX-II speedlite and soon, I purchased my own Canon 600 EX-RT when I thought it was necessary. Using all this equipment and Canon's sharpest lens (24-70mm F2.8L II), I managed to cover most jobs, although more equipment was required for me to be more creative. Meanwhile, I also purchased and upgraded other equipment and accessories, especially for lighting.

Incredible lighting - Cononmark B4, I6M

Striving to improve on my photography, I started playing with portable studio strobe-like Cononmark B4, which was more powerful than most speedlites. At the same time, the cost, weight and bulkiness of my equipment increased a lot. My ability to battle with the sun improved and I could also produce softer light to make people look nicer. Cononmark was not the top brand for strobe, however, was more than sufficient to produce the light that I needed. Eventually, for a large corporate group shoot, I needed another strobe and thus I bought a more powerful one (Cononmark I6M). I started purchasing even more light modifiers.

FAQ

Why is DSLR necessary when phone cameras can do reasonably good job?

When lighting condition is good, actually phone cameras can produce quite good photos especially when you only need the photos in small resolution for web purpose. You can judge the difference in the quality of photos when you enlarge them or print them out, because the sensor size is much smaller. Overall, DSLRs have physical buttons to change the settings.

Do you regret not buying an advanced camera earlier?

No, working with the more entry-level cameras help me to know the limitation and thus allow me to pick up the basics. If I had begun with one of the best gears, I won't have learned so much.

Can I borrow your equipment (camera, lens... etc)?

No. I may need them any time, including the spare ones, and it's going to make things very difficult for me if anything happens to them.