About What Camera Gear
One Question. Every Photographer.
There is a question that every photography enthusiast has asked at some point: what camera does that photographer actually use?
It sounds simple. In practice, it is surprisingly hard to answer. Information is scattered across old interviews, forum threads, manufacturer profiles, and monograph footnotes — often contradictory, often unverified, always time-consuming to track down.
What Camera Gear exists to answer that question properly. For every photographer featured on this site, we research and verify the specific cameras, lenses, and film stocks they actually used — and only include gear for which there is positive evidence. If there is doubt, we leave it out.
What You'll Find Here
The site now covers more than 175 photographers, from the founding figures of modern photojournalism to contemporary masters working today. Each profile includes:
- Verified gear: cameras, lenses, film stocks — sourced from interviews, manufacturer documentation, and first-hand accounts
- Style and technique: how they work, what distinguishes their vision, and what their equipment choices reveal about their practice
- How to shoot like them: practical guidance for photographers who want to study and apply their approach
- Post-processing tips: how to replicate their aesthetic in editing software, including Pixlr
- Books and legacy: the essential works and context for understanding their contribution to the medium
Beyond the photographer profiles, the site publishes in-depth buying guides and technical articles — including format comparisons, gear recommendations by discipline, and authoritative pieces on topics like how current digital cameras compare to large format film quality.
The Photographers We Cover
The roster spans the full breadth of photographic practice: street photographers and photojournalists, landscape and wildlife photographers, fashion and portrait masters, documentary photographers and fine art practitioners. From Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams to Susan Meiselas and Daido Moriyama. From the founders of Magnum to contemporary voices redefining what documentary photography can be.
The common thread is not genre or era — it is seriousness of practice. Every photographer featured here made deliberate, considered choices about their tools, and those choices illuminate something about their work.
Our Editorial Standard
The most important rule on this site: we only reference gear we have positive evidence a photographer used.
Photography sites are full of confident-sounding equipment lists that turn out to be speculation or aggregated myth.
We go back to primary sources — the photographer's own words in interviews, manufacturer documentation, published monographs, verified accounts from colleagues and editors. Where the evidence is ambiguous, we say so or we omit the claim entirely.
This is harder and slower than simply repeating what other sites say. It is also, we think, what makes the site worth reading.
Buying Guides and Technical Articles
Alongside the photographer profiles, What Camera Gear publishes technical buying guides grounded in the same rigorous approach. These include:
- The best camera gear for street photography, documentary, landscape, and portrait work — based on what working professionals actually use
- Format comparisons: digital medium format vs. large format film, sensor size hierarchies, pixel-shift technology
- Affordable alternatives to the cameras and systems used by the photographers we profile
- Field guides for specific shooting disciplines
A Note on Post-Processing
Many of our photographer profiles include a section on how to approach their visual style in post-processing. Our recommended tool is Pixlr — a powerful, browser-based editing platform that makes professional-quality editing accessible without expensive software subscriptions. It is particularly well suited to the kind of nuanced tonal and film emulation work that studying great photographers inspires.
The Index
Every photographer featured on the site is listed in the full A–Z index, searchable by name, camera, collective, or photographic style. If there is a photographer you would expect to find here and don't, we are likely working on them.
Contact
What Camera Gear is an independent publication. If you have a correction, a suggestion for a photographer to profile, or a question about the site, you are welcome to get in touch via the contact form.