EQUIPMENT
thoughts & reviews
I’ve always been a total photography gear nerd, I thoroughly enjoy reading my camera manual from cover to cover. My favourite hobby is trawling the internet to hunt out handy camera gadgets. As I often get hit up for opinions on camera equipment I thought it’d be worth while to write some thoughts and reviews on gear I enjoy. I’ll keep adding to this page and if you have any product in particular you’d be interested in hearing my opinion on, just let me know.
RAMBO'S SONY SECRETS
youtube camera tips
I’ve uploaded a bunch of “Rambo’s Sony Secrets” to YouTube. These are a series of short videos where I get straight to the point and share some of my secret camera tips for improving the usability of your camera when shooting surfing and ocean images.
SONY A7III & A7RIII
surf photography camera setup
I often get asked for advice on camera settings so I thought it could be helpful to put together a guide of how I setup my Sony A7III & A7RIII cameras for surf & ocean photography. Most of the info should also be useful for any type of sports or fast paced photography. There’s no wrong or right way to shoot a photo, with is one of the reasons I love photography. So I’m definitely not saying this is the best way, or correct way, it’s just my way. Also I’m not claiming to be the grand wizard of surf photography, but I love getting deep into tech camera features, so hopefully there’ll be some useful information in here for you, if not enjoy the photos!
PHOTOGRAPHY GADGETS
travel essentials
My favorite hobby used to be photography, but when that transitioned into my full time job my new favorite hobby became trawling the internet for handy photography gadgets. I know that staying up until 3am down the rabbit hole of AliExpress isn’t what most people do for fun so I’ve put together this collection. If you want to impress your photographer buddy with an innovative and impressive gift that won’t break the bank, then you’re in the right place!
SEA FROGS
A7III / A7RIII housing
I’ve used a lot of different surf housings over the years, but since moving to Sony in 2014 I’ve purchased a bunch of Seafrogs Housing models (previously branded as Meikon). The company originally started out making dive housings, but have recently diversified into more surf photography focused housings. I used to shoot with surf housings from Aquatech and Salty but would always have a Seafrogs/Meikon housing as a backup or travel housing. But as the Seafrogs housings have advanced and added features like removable ports and 2-stage pistol trigger I’m now only using the Seafrogs Housings.
SONY ALPHA
cameras & lenses
I’ve been shooting ocean & adventure photos for over a decade. I started with a Canon 20D. At the time I thought the 20D was the absolute business, 8 megapixels 5 fps and it could shoot 6 RAWs before it would hit it’s buffer. So that meant I’d get a lot of photos of guys pulling into the tube and by the time the came out I’d run out of frames.
As my photography progressed I continued up the ranks of Canon DSLR 40D, 60D, 7D, 5D3, 7D2. I had them all and I imagined I’d shoot Canon for life. But then I was planning a 3 month overseas trip and wanted to travel light, so I started looking for a travel camera. I noticed one of my favourite photographers Chris Burkard was shooting with a tiny Sony camera and getting amazing results so I hit him up with an Instagram DM. The guy has 3 million followers, but because he is an absolute legend he took the time to answer back and gave me some advice. I purchased a Sony A6000 and went off on my trip. During my journey I learned pretty quickly that size wasn’t the only advantage of the mirrorless cameras. It could actually do everything my 7D2 did and so much more. The electronic viewfinder was a game changer for travel photography and somehow the sensor in that tiny camera was actually bigger than my 7D2. The image quality blew me away. So when I got home I sold all my DSLR gear and went all in on a Sony mirrorless kit. That was back in 2015 and I’ve been shooting 100% Sony mirrorless ever since.
SIRUI T-025SK
the ultimate travel tripod
A few years back I was searching for the ultimate travel tripod. That’s when I discovered Sirui Tripods. I’d never heard of the brand but from my research I worked out that they were producing the most compact and lightweight tripod that could handle the heaviest load so I took a punt and ordered one. It turned out to be one of my favourite pieces of equipment and I’d never leave home without it. After years of service unfortunately I somehow managed to lose it down in Southland.
SIRUI W-2004
waterproof tripod
Choosing a tripod can be a daunting task. There’s literally 1000’s of options out there. The key features I look for is a tripod that can handle a solid telephoto lens without being too heavy or bulky. The Sirui W-2004 has 5 section reverse folding legs and packs down to only 52cm which is amazing considering it’s max height is 180cm. It weighs 1.8kgs and can handle a load up to 18kgs which is far more equipment than I’d ever lug around.