Photography Equipment – What’s in my Camera Bag?
This is a question that I’m asked often and it’s a hard one to answer. When I travel I tend to “travel light”, often only carrying one body and 2 lenses plus assorted other paraphernalia. When I have the luxury of travvelling by car or boat I tend to carry more, closer to what I have listed below. So, here’s my rant about what’s in my bag. Any comments?
To start with, I use Nikon cameras. I’m often asked why I use Nikon rather than Canon and the answer goes back about thirty years when I first started doing photography seriously. A friend had a Canon F1 with a Motor Drive and I had a few simple Nikon F’s, no meter, just the basic cameras. What struck me about the Canon was how heavy and bulky the package was. Now, this is nothing against Canon as the equivalent Nikon at the time was likely just as heavy and bulky. Being on a shoestring budget for many of my early years I acquired a large quantity of used Nikkor lenses and other miscellaneous Camera System components.Years later Pentax came out with a fancy little professional camera, the Pentax LX. The lenses were good and sharp, everything was lighter than the equivalent Nikon equipment and I sold all of my beat up Nikon gear and temporarily switched to Pentax. While I thoroughly enjoyed using the Pentax equipment the set-up suffered from lack of development and the bodies had a tendency to have their shutters crack at inopportune moments. It was time to switch back to Nikon again.
With the digital age it was clear that Nikon or Canon would get my business. In most ways it was a no brainer for me, I had all these Nikkor lenses, why reinvest in a completely new system? That’s why I’m still using Nikon. Is Nikon better than Canon? My guess is that any of the modern cameras can produce great images with a good photographer operating them. All these systems can also produce terrible results with an incompetent photographer operating them. As well, I have started using many third party lenses that can be purchased for many different systems. I guess it really comes down to personal preference.
So what’s in my bag? I’ll start with the weird and accessory items:
Toshiba notebook (only if required, a few days away from computers is healthy), I’ll tell you what’s on the computer at a later date
Cable Release
USB reader
2 USB cords (I either lose them or they are a little finicky)
250 gb hard drive
160 gb hard drive
Garbage bags (lots)
Band aids (these are useful for more than just patching up my body)
Lens cleaning fluid
Lens cleaning paper (in truth, I almost always use my shirt or other old clothing, underwear (clean) etc, I know….)
Permanent marker
BC Ferry schedule (may not be useful to many of you)
An old magazine or two (for the road, usually something other than photography like Air & Space or Vintage Motorsports)
Lightweight gloves
Super duper LED flashlight
Visa card, “can’t leave home without it”
A few leaky pens and,
a pair of small scissors and a knife (that I have to remember to remove before boarding an airplane).
Camera Equipment:
Nikon D300 body
Nikon D2X body
Sigma 10-20mm
Nikon 17-55mm
Sigma 30mm f1.4
Sigma 50-150mm f2.8
Sigma 150 macro
Nikon 300mm f4
Nikon 85mm f1.8 (not used often anymore)
Battery chargers for two cameras and flash unit. (why these can’t be compatible boggles my mind, in a perfect world…)
Nikon SB800 flash
Manfrotto monopod
Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod
Manfrotto Head
4 – 8gb Compact Flash Cards
2 – 4GB Compact Flash Cards
2 – 2 GB Compact Flash Cards
There you go, nothing fancy and all totally abused. Am I missing anything? Well, a 500mm lens sure would be nice, maybe a fisheye, donations are always accepted.
Achieving low-noise video in low light conditions with a Pentax Kx
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Pentax Rapid Charger w/4 AA 1,800mAh Batteries $23.75 Pentax has been a leader in the photographic field for many years. Many Pentax innovations have become standards in the industry. Pentax’s enthusiasm and devotion towards the development of high-quality products have thrived over the years and continues to be stronger than ever. Primary InformationPower Device Type : Battery charger Battery Capacity : 1800 mAh&… |
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Kingston Digital 16 GB Class 10 Flash Memory Card SD10G2/16GB $16.98 The Kingston SD10G2/16GB Ultimate X SDHC Flash Card allows users to easily capture sequential shots that used to be a challenge due to the speed limitations of memory cards…. |
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Kingston 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card SD6/8GB $37.99 Starting at 4GB, SDHC cards offer larger-volume data storage and optimized recording performance with support for FAT 32 file formats. In addition, Kingstonâ?TMs SDHC cards use new speed “class” ratings known as Class 2, 4 and 6 that deliver a minimum data transfer rate for optimum performance with SDHC devices. Although identical in size to todays standard SD card, the new SDHC cards are designe… |
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2GB SD MEMORY CARD FOR PENTAX OPTIO CAMERA T10 T20 W10 [Office Product] $2.77 Shipped and sold by ABACUS 24-7, PATRIOT MEMORY AUTHORIZED RESELLER! Patriot Signature Line (SL) Secure Digital memory cards offer a convenient solution to securely and conveniently transport, access and store digital information. Signature Line SD memory cards provide the ultimate flexibility and storage expansion for digital devices such as digital cameras, PDAs and MP3 players…. |
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NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Light, LED Light for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic,SONY, Samsung and Olympus Digital SLR Cameras $35.01 This super lightweight 160-piece-LED video light can be used in video taking. either for lights setup or supplement, the light intensity can be changed to offer professional effects. Specification: Input: DC 7.2V~8.4V |
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Neewer TT560 Flash Speedlite For Canon/Nikon Digital SLR Cameras $36.36 1. M Mode Press the MODE key to M Mode. In this mode, you can set TT560 On to your camera hot shoe or speedlite trigger hot shoe to trigger the flash unit. When shooting, adjust the flash power and press the camera shutter, the flash light will flash under the camera synchronous signal. ? 2. S1 Mode (1) Press the MODE key to S1 Mode. The Mode is applicable for slave flash in order to create man… |
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NEEWER® CN-160 DIMMABLE LED VIDEO LIGHT Ultra High Power 160 LED Digital Camera / Camcorder , for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic, Sony, Leica , Samsung and Olympus Digital SLR Cameras!!! $38.13 This super lightweight 160-piece-LED video light can be used in video taking. either for lights setup or supplement, the light intensity can be changed to offer professional effects. Specification: Input: DC 7.2V~8.4V maximum Power: 9.6 W Color Temperature: 5400K (3200K/filter) Average Service Life: 50000 hours Luminous flux: 660 lm Runtime: 70-90mins Size: 141x62x150 mm Weight: 430g (with… |
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Pentax 8x 21mm 62209 $58.21 Pentax 8x 21mm 62209 |
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Pentax 16x 50mm 65793 $96.41 Pentax 16x 50mm 65793 |
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Pentax 10x 50mm 65808 $169.48 Pentax 10x 50mm 65808 |
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Cable Switch 205 for *ist D/DS, *ist 35mm & ZX-L, K-x Camera – 3.5′ $34.95 Pentax 37248 Cable Switch 205 for *ist D/DS, *ist 35mm & ZX-L, K-x Camera – 3.5′ |
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The Switch $9.99 The Switch |
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Switch $13.99 Switch |
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Welch Allyn Pentax Adapter $253.13 Pentax Adapter for use with Welch Allyn RL-150 Rhinolaryngoscopes. |
