Dylan Goldby

Portrait, Travel | Last Updated: April 4, 2024

I’m an Aussie photographer based out of Seoul, South Korea. Here I focus primarily on family photography with some corporate events and couple sessions filling in the remainder of my professional work. My personal work focuses on tribal facial tattoos, travel photography, and documenting the changing face of my adopted home, Seoul.

For the longest time, I was a Nikon shooter. I started with a Nikon D50, then moved on to a D200, D700, D800, and finally a D750. I chose Nikon in the beginning because the camera felt good in my hand and that never changed. Nikon makes some phenomenal cameras.

After a while, I picked up a Fuji X100S as a walk around camera to get myself shooting more candidly. The small size, great image quality, and 35mm equivalent focal length had me sold. I used that camera for a few months and then found myself wanting other focal lengths in a smaller camera. I traded it in and picked up the Fuji X-T1.

Gradually, I started using this as a second body to my Nikon D750. Eventually, I picked up a Fuji X-T2 when it was released and found myself finally not noticing a difference in usability when switching between the Nikon and the Fuji. This made it the perfect backup body.

After I while, I noticed that I wasn’t taking the Nikon D750 with me any more, even to my commissioned work. I checked back through my Adobe Lightroom catalogs and found that I hadn’t used the Nikon body in three months! It was at that point that I decided to sell it and purchase a second Fuji X-T2. I’ve been a Fuji shooter ever since.

[See Shotkit’s Fujifilm X-T2 review here]

I’m a prime shooter. I love fast lenses. I love that each one has its own unique rendering. Thankfully, Fuji is known for their amazing lineup of prime lenses. My kit started small, but over time I’ve picked up quite a few of the lenses in the Fuji lineup.

Usually I take a mix of three or four lenses at any given time. I take with me what I need to get the job done. With Fuji, the difference in focus speed between older and newer lenses is significant and can affect what I take with me.

When it comes to a family session, I’ll pack the 16mm f/1.4, 23mm f/2, 35mm f/2, and 50mm f/2. Sometimes I’ll take the 50-140mm f/2.8 if there’s a specific shot I want to get, but otherwise it’s just more weight than I need when I’m working with kids.

When it comes to my personal work, like the Tattoos of Asia series, I have much more time, and will work with the nicer (and slower) lenses in the kit. That kit is usually the 16mm f/1.4, 23mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, 56mm f/1.2, and sometimes the 90mm f/2.

In terms of flash equipment, I have recently moved from Nikon SB800 speedlights to Godox AD200 units for the extra power and Fuji high speed sync support. High speed sync is important in my work as I often work in broad daylight and want narrow depth of field. This saves me carrying filters and/or step-up rings to make all this happen. It allows me to move quickly and set up with ease. The AD200 units also put out about the power of three speedlights, making them extremely versatile while on the road.

Finally, there’s the support gear. The Godox AD200s live on Manfrotto Nano Stands and are usually inside a Photek Softlighter II. This provides a great quality of light in a very small package. My camera will perch on a Manfrotto 055 Carbon Fibre tripod when support is needed. All of this gear packs nicely into my F-Stop Gear Loka UL or F-Stop Gear Satori EXP with either a small or large ICU depending on the kit I’m taking with me.

For on-the-go edits and backup I use my Dell XPS 13 9360 and a pair of SSDs for file storage. One is a Samsung T3 500 GB and the other is a Caldigit TUFF 1 TB SSD.

I also often find myself in remote locations without electricity, so I have a portable charging setup for my cameras as well. This involves a small foldable solar panel with USB power output and a couple of Wasabi Power dual chargers. These allow me to get four Fuji NP-W126 batteries charged in around 90 minutes in good sun. I also have a small card reader/file manager by RavPower called the Filehub. This allows me to make backups using my phone when I’m in the middle of nowhere.

Gear List:
Fuji X-T2
Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS
Fuji XF 16mm f/1.4 WR
Fuji XF 23mm f/1.4
Fuji XF 23mm f/2 WR
Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4
Fuji XF 35mm f/2 WR
Fuji XF 50mm f/2 WR
Fuji XF 50-140mm f/2.8
Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2
Fuji XF 90mm f/2 WR
Fuji X70