In this blog post I will allow you to take a quick look inside my bag. Although I’m in no way an obsessed gear geek and I don’t need the latest toys (who really does), I can’t control my curiosity when other photographers show their hardware. And yes, I do support David duChemin’s motto “Gear is good, vision is better”, but still, I have to peep inside other photographer’s bags when such an opportunity occurs 
The gear below fits nicely in my Think Tank StreetWalker HardDrive which I can check in as carry-on luggage. I have been using it for two years now and I’m still very satisfied with this bag.
- 1. Nikon D3
- 2. Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.4G
- 3. Nikon AF-S 50mm f1.4G
- 4. Nikon AF 85mm f1.8D
- 5. Nikon AF 24mm f2.8D
- 6. Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket with Compact Flash cards (2x 8GB, 2x 4GB, 2x 2GB, 2x 1GB)
- 7. Hoodman loupe
- 8. Nikon SB-900 Speedlight + additional AA batteries
- 9. Nikon SC-28 TTL flash syncro cable
- 10. Fuji X100
- 11. Think Tank Cable Management 10, which holds an iPod with headphones, some medicins, firewire and USB cables, etc.
- 12. Moleskine Notebook
- 13. Rosco Strobist Gel Filter Collection for Speedlight Flash
- 14. Nikon D3 spare battery
- 15. Nikon GP-1 GPS Module
- 16. Spare body and lens caps
Not shown in the image above but also packed in my carry-on luggage, either in the front or side pockets, or the laptop compartment:
- Apple MacBook Pro 13″ + charger
- Western Digital My Passport 320GB external hard drive
- Sandisk Extreme Firewire card reader
- Zoom H1 Handy Recorder + headphones
- Cleaning cloth for body and lenses
Sometimes I do take a Wacom Intuos4 S pen tablet, California SunMover, flash umbrella, or the Lastolite Ezybox with me. It depends on the project or assignment. For some of these occasions, I also need a Manfrotto Nano Stand with an umbrella swivel. These extra accessories as well as some chargers are packed in my check-in luggage.
As you may have noticed, I don’t use or possess any zoom lenses. Although I really loved both the Nikon 24-70/2.8 and 14-24/2.8, I sold them almost two years ago when I decided to switch back to lenses with a fixed focal length.
The Fuji X100 has been a great investment and is certainly a valuable addition to my setup. I do hope that manufacturers keep developing such cameras. I’m curious what the future will bring in this segment, as I’m quite sure that I won’t be using a heavy and obtrusive camera body forever.
Any thoughts regarding my setup?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Why the gps-unit? Really necessary?
“Any thoughts regarding my setup?” . . . . . . yeah, not enough Canon gear!
If you could only take 2 lenses, which would it be?
@Thomas: the GPS-unit is always in my bag, it’s small. I do use it on some occassions in order to locate the place where the image was taken. The GPS-coordinates are imported into Lightroom and with a simple click it opens that location in Google Maps. The coordinates also show me the altitude which is not really needed but it’s always informative.
@Mark: I would definitely take the 35/1.4, and the 50/1.4 or 85/1.8. Not sure about the latter.
how much weight is hanging from your shoulders ?
@Ruud: during my last trip to Rwanda, the backpack had a weight of 10kg.