My Wish-List

The Nikon Nikkor 35mm F1.8 is my next lens I want to get.  As a prime lens at about £150, it is affordable and should give me some great results in a variety of situations especially portraits.

Sekonic do seem to be one of the primary producers of flash meters.  However, these are quite expensive.  This one is currently retailing at £145 which is quite cheap for a flash meter.  The very cheap ones that I have seen have all had pretty poor reviews so I think something like this mid-range one would be a better investment.  It could be the really cheap ones are a false economy.  This would make my high-key photography so much easier.  At the moment, I have to do it by trial and error.

Coloured backgrounds.  The more backgrounds I have, the more versatile the portraits I can do.  They range in price from £40 to £200.  Most are described as photography muslins but there are a number of 180gsm coloured paper roles which seem reasonably priced.  I have a sky blue and a Blue/Pink but there are a wealth of other colours available.

Camera Mount 52mm Macro Metal Reverse Mount Adapter Ring for Nikon.  Available from places like Amazon for about £5.  It would allow me to reverse mount my lens for macro photography.  It would have to be a 52mm for my lens and is probably available in different sizes so need to check that it is for a Nikon and is 52mm.

7PCS Step Up 49-52-55-58-62-67-72-77mm Filter Ring Adapter Set.  Again available from Amazon.  Some are as low as £8 whilst some are significantly more, so it's worth having a look around the site for the best price.  These would allow me to use my existing filters with virtually any lens I decide to use.

MACRO EXTENSION TUBES.  Again picked from Amazon but available at other places.  These range around £10 however the autofocus ones are considerably more expensive.  These would allow me to get closer and thus get increased magnification.

Dream List

I thought I would include my dream-list.  These are the items that I would like but can't justify spending the fortune they cost considering the outcome I can achieve with them compared with the equipment I have already.

The Nikon D3X, currently retailing at £5,629.99 (OMFG!) and the lenses aren't cheap either.  But it's rated at 24 mega-pixel, with good ISO settings and dynamic range.  My main concern with cameras that have separate lenses (besides the price) is dust getting into the camera body.  My other issue is that when something is designed to come apart, there is a better chance of it coming apart.  I'm not too keen on the red bit on the front of the camera and it is very bulky.  My current camera is not very inconspicuous and does a great job already.

MANFROTTO MN501HDV536K TRIPOD AND HEAD KIT - At just shy of £900, this will always be out of my price range for a tripod.  Manfrotto seem to be the brand-leaders but I think I will just have to settle for a sturdy aluminium tripod, however much I would like a nice carbon-fibre one.

Canon Speedlite 580EX Flash - At about £500 each, whilst I would like three of them for doing outside scenes, I can't even justify buying one.  Beautiful design and feature rich, it would allow total control over lighting a scene outside where my studio flashes just can't go (not without a generator anyway)  Small enough to be packed away into a camera bag but able to throw oodles of light around.  Who wouldn't want one (or three).

The Sling-o-matic 30 camera bag.  About £150 and ideal for carrying camera equipment around and would even have room for my lunch too.