This is my main camera body, and I love it.  It's rugged, fast, and the large (full frame) image sensor produces amazing image quality.

I personally don't like to use portable flash units, they can create an unnatural looking photo, or unwanted reflections.  Flashes also don't work well for taking candid shots. With this camera, and the fast lenses that I use I can avoid needing a flash.

This is my backup and secondary camera body.  I will often use it along with my main camera when appropriate to avoid having to change lenses. 

For example, I'll shoot with a telephoto lens on my main camera and keep my secondary camera on me with a wide angle lens on it in so I can quickly switch from one to another.

Sometimes I'll be asked what would be a good camera for a beginner photographer, this is what I recommend.  It's an entry level DSLR camera that can take great photos under the right conditions.  It can be operated in a fully automatic mode, a partial automatic mode, or a fully manual mode.

My first Canon DSLR was a Rebel Xti, an earlier model then this one in the Rebel camera line.

Unfortunatly the lens that is included is not very good, but it will do for a while, untill the budding photographer needs a better lens.  They can then choose from the many great Canon EF/EF-S lenses.

This is the best small pocket video camera on the market now.

I bought one for my wife, and she loves the thing.  It shoots great quality video for it's size, and it's easy to use.

If your looking for a $300 compact automatic camera that also gives you manual controls, this is a very good choice.
Note: I don't own this camera, I'm only recommending it.  I'm often asked to recommend a camera in this price range.

If your looking a an all automatic compact camera for $300 this is a very good choice.
Note: I don't own this camera, I'm only recommending it.  I'm often asked to recommend a camera in this price range.

This is a very high quality zoom lens that performs as well as a prime (fixed folcal lenght) lens.  24-70mm covers a great deal of situations from group shots to portrait shots.

I love this lens, it's 3 pounds of flawless glass.  It's fast (f/2.8), and it's perfect for taking candid shots from across a large room.

This is a great little lens, and it is also relativly inexpensive.  It's very fast (f/1.4), and the narrow depth-of-field looks great for detail shots.

This lens is very specialized, and it takes some practice to focus it properly.  But the results can be amazing!  It is somtimes referred to as a photographers secret weapon.

These two lenses can be screwed onto the front of a LensBaby to turn it into a Macro lens, each lens can be used individually for ether +4, or +10 magnification.  Or both lenses can be used together for an extreme +14 magnification.

This is a fun lens to play with, but don't expect professional results with it.
It can only be used with a tripod, and only manually focused.

Focusing is tricky, it takes a gentile touch, and the photos tend to look cloudy (low contrast).  Expect post processing to be required to salvage your photos with this lens.

Using the 2x Teleconverter, on a camera with a 1.6 crop factor makes this 500mm lens essentially a 1600mm lens.

I use this 58mm UV filter on my Canon EF 50mm f1.4 lens at all times.

A UV lens filters is used to protect the very expensive glass of a quality lens with an inexpensive, and replaceable glass.  A $22 UV filter can save a $1500 lens from scratches and minor dings.  They are completely clear, and they should not noticeably affect the quality of the photos taken with them.  I recommend multi coated filters as a non-multi coated filter may cause an internal reflection for photos taken with a strong light source nearby.

Make sure you get the proper sized filter for your lens, it will be listed under the "Filter diameter" in the technical specifications.

Lightroom is an enormous time saver in my workflow.  It excels at organizing and editing large numbers of photos.

I always bring a spare charged battery with me when I'm working.

This is the battery grip for the 5D Mark II.  A good battery grip serves several functions:

• It doubles the cameras battery power but using two batteries at once
• Makes vertical shooting more comfortable because it adds controlles for vertical orentation
• It allows you to use AA batteries in an emergency

I've used a less expensive non-Canon battery grip but it could not match the durability of the Canon one.

Here is the Canon battery grip for the 40D.

Don't buy a can of compressed air to blow away dust when one of these is less expensive, it never runs out of air, and you can travel freely with them through an airline.

This bag stores a lot of camera gear, the straps are comfortable, it fits under an airline seat, and it's very reasonably priced.

If you need a big, and fast SD card... this is an inexpensive one that works very well.

This is a very fast 40MB/sec CompactFlash card, but it is almost 2x the price of the slower 20MB/sec card.  Keep in mind that the speed of a CompactFlash card may not have a big impact when used in your camera.  But the amount of time it takes to import the photos onto your computer will be noticeably different.

This is SanDisk's slower, but more affordable 8GB CF Card.
If your not going to use the Sandisk Extreme FireWire Reader, then this CF card will serve you well.

This is the card reader to use if you're using an Extreme IV CompactFlash card, and your system has a firewire port.

If you will only use slower and less expensive cards, then the USB reader will serve you well.

I use this as my travel CF Card reader, it's inexpensive, and the USB port makes it more flexible then the faster Firewire reader.