James Nachwey Equipment

Just saw the Nachtwey doc "War Photographer" and was impressed with

the image quality. Any idea which bodies and lenses Nachtwey uses?

(I suspect EOS 1V with 17-35.)

It is not the equipment. The most important thing that contributes to making good photographs is several inches behind the camera.

 

Think about it.

Thanks, William, for pointing out the obvious. I'm not trying to emulate Nachtwey. I'm just trying to figure out how he works. Like it or not, equipment is a part of tradecraft.

I believe the september 11th stuff was all on EOS 1D bodies... not too sure about the rest though... I would assume since he has been using Canon for quite a while, that at some point or another he has used most every Pro AF body.. ie.. 1, 1N, 1V, 1D

the standard canon equipment for most of the (news-)professionals around the world is: eos 1d (before eos 1n), 17-35, 28-70, 70-200, all 2.8. nachtwey probably uses more ore less the same equipment. some also use the 24/1.4. the extended equipment: see above plus 1.4, 2.0 extender, 400/2.8 or 500/4, monopod. for nikon users just change the camera name to nikon d1x (before nikon f5).

so you see, it can't only be the equipment, that brings out the pictures.

 

rgds

I saw a similar question on a pro forum, someone asking for members to post thier equipment. He got hopped on since it would be redundant after one Canon pro and one Nikon pro posted thier gear. Doubt Mr. Natchwey uses anything wierd (90mm tilt/shift??) or out of place in any pro's gear bag. But a 70-200mm f2.8 didn't win him magazine photog of the year...

Nachtwey had two cameras on him throughout nearly all of the film. I'm pretty sure that the camera we see most was an EOS 1N with a wide zoom -- either the 17-35/2.8 or possibly the older 20-35/2.8, and no lens hood. (The new 16-35/2.8 was not yet available.) The other camera may have been an EOS 1N, 3 or 1V, depending on the time and location. In a few scenes, the name on the camera has black tape over it. At one point he put on what appeared to be a prime lens with a small lens hood, I'm guessing something between a 35 and an 85. I did not see a telephoto zoom or any big lenses at all. The photographs indicate that he shoots just about everything up close & personal. The documentary was shot in various locations over a two-year period, so it's very possible that he used different cameras in different places. And there appeared to be lots and lots of Tri-X film. Of course, the magic was not in the equipment but in his working methods. The documentary was excellent, by the way. The technique of placing a tiny video camera on his camera was brilliant.

Nachtwey uses a Canon EOS-1N with a 28-70/f2.8L lens and TriX film for

most of his photographs. He may carry other bodies and lenses from

time to time, but prefers to work with a simple outfit and get as

close as possible to the 'action'.............................

I believe Muhammad is correct about the 28-70. I forgot to mention it in my answer, but it appears to be the lens JN is using in at least the Indonesia photos, if not many others.