Canon EOS 5D Mark III 22.3MP SLR Camera

So far this is the most expensive piece of gear I’ve ever purchased. You can bet I agonized for quite a while knowing that by getting it I was extending my mortgage for six months. But how often do you get the chance – and the time – to tour New Zealand?

My Canon 50D was starting to show a lot more grain in photos than I remembered seeing when I bought it. I don’t understand why; maybe some kind of sensor degradation after thousands of photos. Or maybe I was just expecting more from the camera. When I got the 5D I swapped my old lens onto it and took a walk around town shooting photos at night, and the grain was completely gone. In fact, the difference was as big as the difference between my old camera and my cellphone. This thing absolutely devours light.

After thousands of photos in New Zealand and elsewhere, I have only one small regret: It’s still a chore to add GPS data to photos from this thing. It still requires an extra step, instead of happening automatically and with no secondary device. That aside, I would confidently take this thing around the world, knowing that with the right accessories I could get exactly the shot I wanted, any time, any place.