What Gear Does Skateboard & Lifestyle Photographer Leo Rosas Have in His Bag?
Leo Rosas is a photographer of all trades. His main experience and influence are urban sports and young lifestyle. He also shoots portrait, commercial advertisement, product, street, lifestyle, studio, and much more. Leo strives to learn something new every day and keep his mind open to new challenges. Let’s see what’s in his bag.
Leo
For me, it depends on the “purpose and style of shooting.” If it is for personal work then there needs to be a balance between goal and comfort, meaning that if I am shooting on my own I cannot carry much equipment all the time. And if it is for an assignment, there will be a higher emphasis on the purpose of the shoot. The more you understand the basics of how the many different tools work, the easier it will be to decide what is needed to achieve the results you want. I am not someone who will try to push the use of lots of gear if it is really not necessary or helpful to the goal of a shoot.
CAMERA:
I use a Nikon D810 at the moment. It’s perfect for what I shoot most of the time; even for action shots because I prefer to click once instead of shooting in continuous mode and leaving it up to luck to get the right frame and high frame rate.
I also really like my Ricoh GR camera. It is basically an APS-C 16 megapixel sensor that fits in my pocket and works perfectly. The only downside is its poor low light performance, but I can live with that.
LENSES:
Nikon AF-S 70-200mm
Aperture Range: f/4 to f/32, Three Extra-Low Dispersion Elements, Silent Wave Motor AF System
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G
Aperture Range: f/1.4 to 16, Silent Wave Motor AF System
Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art Lens
Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/22, 3 FLD, 3 SLD, and 3 Aspherical Elements
50mm 1.4 and 70-200mm 2.8. I think these two lenses are great and have allowed me to do many of my portfolio pictures, so I love them!
I also like wide-angle lenses and I am really looking forward to Sigma’s 14-24 mm, which is supposed to have minimal distortion!
LIGHTING:
Nikon SB-700 AF Speedlight
Compatible with Nikon i-TTL, Tilts from -7° to 90°
Broncolor Move Outdoor
Move 1200 L Battery-Powered Pack, Weatherproof Power Pack Soft Case
For about 15 years, I have used Nikon speedlights and I love them. Around 2011, I started to work with Broncolor flashes and it was a completely new experience which allowed me to dig deeper into the control of light in studio and on location. For over four years, I have been using primarily Broncolor Move 1200 and Siros L. They are great tools that are worth their weight in quality and they can be heavy 🙂 The quality and reliability of these flashes are outstanding and they are always an option for most of my shoots.
BAG:
I use Tamrac and Lowepro most of the time and I like them quite a bit, but I am looking into new options to compare. At the moment, brands like F-Stop, Cullmann and Pelican look appealing to me.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:
Skateboard, Wacom tablet, memory cards, external drives, gaffer tape, pocket wizards, laptop, card reader, extra batteries, smartphone, light meter, shoelaces (so useful!)
You can see more of Leo’s work on his website and Instagram. Also, be sure to check out our full interview with him, where we talk about the inspiration behind his images and what he prefers more: agency or personal work.
