There is always much tech talk about what is the best camera or in the past what is the best film and developer combination and so on. I have always been asked these questions for years. The answer is simple; What works best for you and what you can afford will give you the best results. Learn your tools! In other works learn what they can do and more importantly what there limitations are or what they can't do and work with in there bounds. Going back to my early days of film and developers I standardized on Kodak Tri-x and D76 developer. Two different development times for two different ASA's. For what I was doing at the time this was all I needed and I could focus on content technique and not have other variables like film and developer combinations. 

The same principals hold true for the digital age. I settle at a few ISO settings, generally close to the native ISO, and one Raw converter, my developer. I shoot with Nikon either the D700 and a D800E. My Raw converter is Capture One 8. Why Nikon? Well I just like the feel of the controls and ease of use over the years. Reliability is big on my list as well. Canon, Sony and other are great systems and give great results. Nikon just fits my hands! Capture One to me works and feels like technical photography to me. I started with version 3 and just felt at home. I don't have a good feeling working with Photo Shop's UI and to many tools in to many places. Just doesn't fit my hands! Again use what you feel productive with and not what everyone tells is the best.

One additional tool I use other than a tripod is a CamRanger. For interior shots that need detailed composition the CamRanger allows you to do a tethered connection to the camera and use a iPad to do a live view for composition. What a great tool. This allows me to look at the composition with a large view and set focus and camera settings in detail. For example some of the work I do I need the camera elevated and flat to a wall not allowing me to use the view finder. Being tethered allows better camera placement thus better results. 

More on equipment later,

Hope this helps,

Bill