I'm a Nikon man, I have used Nikon equipment for nearly 30 years. I had an FM, FE, F801, F4, F100 and a D100. At the moment I am using a D200 and if the Gods are willing, I will be using Nikon for the next 30 years as well. That doesn't mean I have never used anything else, but when I did it was always on the side, I never stopped using Nikon. I have used a Bronica SQ medium format camera for a few years and liked it very much. It had a viewfinder which was a lot brighter than the one on a Hasselblad and the results were very pleasing. I did a lot of portraits in those days and medium format is perfect for that task. The Bronica did not have a lightmeter built in, so I used a Gossen Lunasix F, which also had a flashmeter built in. And the Metz 45CT1 did a perfect job as my main flashgun. But I got tired of the Bronica, compared to a 35mm SLR it was just not flexible enough. So I sold the lot and kept on taking pictures with the Nikon. A few years later I got the opportunity to buy two old Rolleiflex medium format camera's for a very good price. Both were in mint condition and had a Carl Zeiss Planar twin lens, one with a 2.8 lens and a built in light meter, the other with a 3.5 lens without a meter. The first year I took a lot of photographs with these camera's, but after that it dried up ... I still have the camera's though, I just look at them as collectors items!

And of course there's more than just a list of what's already in the bag ... I also have a list of things I would really like to have, who doesn't! This is my Wishlist:

• Although I like the optics of the Nikkor VR 80-400mm, it is a slow lens. I mean f/5.6 at the far end is definitely a problem sometimes! And I usually use it with manual focus, because the autofocus on this lens is very sluggish on a D200 body. I can live with the manual focus, but the f/5.6 is beginning to annoy me more and more! It's time for an upgrade to a Nikkor AF-S 500 or 600mm f/4.0. The only problem is that a lens like that will cost me as much as a small car, and since I'm not making a living out of photography ... I don't think my wife would approve of me buying this lens, in fact I'm pretty sure about that. So I've been looking for a second hand one, but I've not come accross a good one yet. They're either really tatty looking, or very expensive. Oh well, for the time being I'll just rent one now and then!

• I've been chasing birds in flight lately. Never thought I would do that! Using the VR 70-200mm or 80-400mm gives me some nice results, but on the tripod the results would be better. I know that for a fact because I tried the Arca Swiss B-1 ball head and Wimberley Sidekick combination a couple of times. I was amazed by the quality and ease of use. I want it!

• I wouldn't mind a second body ... I really hate changing lenses all the time! So I'm saving for a Nikon D300 body ;-))

• The Bresser 10x42 binoculars I am currently using are optically very good, but I need something a bit more powerful. I'm thinking about the "Canon 15x50 IS All Weather", with built in Image Stabilizer ... quite nice!