What's In My Camera Bag? | Andy Beel FRPS

What’s in my camera bag?

From the feature shot above I am very glad this is not a picture of my camera bag. To carry around all this gear for a day would put me in hospital with an aching back and shoulders. Who ever you are and of what age, you must be comfortable with the weight of your bag.

I bought a small Lowepro backpack when I changed from Canon to Fuji nearly three years ago. At that time I went to Jessop’s in Bath to try out bags to carry one body and two lenses. The lenses I had at the time were the Fuji 18-135mm and the Fuji 10-24mm. These lenses were bought specifically for travel as I could in 35mm terms go from 15mm to 200mm in two lenses.

I have always used two camera bodies so in time I bought a Fuji XT-10 to go with the Fuji XT-1 I got at the start of my Fuji experience. Both of the bodies and lenses fitted the Lowepro backpack.

Times they are a changing to quote Bob Dylan (who told him he could sing?)

I still have the same small Lowepro backpack that gets filled with differing lenses depending on the type of pictures I want to take.

I have two sets of lenses:

1 – Fast maximum apertures Samyang primes for limited depth of field, these lenses will usually be fitted with a 4 stop neutral density filter to ensure the shutter speed wide open is below 1/32000 sec.

2 – Fuji zoom lenses for mobile slow shutter speeds – these lenses have five stops of image stabilisation built-in.

As a safe guard of being in the right place with the wrong lenses in my bag, I now have a lens bag that will be in the car just in case a lens is needed that I do not have with me in the backpack.

My current system contains

Bodies – Fuji XT-1 & XT2

Samyang Primes – 8mm f2.8, 10mm f 2.8, 35mm f1.4, 85mm f1.4, 135mm f2 mm 300mm f6.3

In 35 mm terms 12 mm Fisyeye, 15mm ultra-wide-angle, 50mm, 135mm, 200mm, 450mm mirror lens

Fuji Zooms – 10-24mm f4, 18-135mm f 3.5

In 35mm terms 15-35mm and 28-200mm

Peak Design – Camera Strap System

On the road south to Elgol – Isle of Skye 2016, Samyang 8mm Fisheye lens at f2.8

A few thoughts

The amount of all photographers equipment increases and hence the weight. You could try a contrarian thought, reduce the size of your bag to a size that you are prepared to carry fully loaded all day. I have a client who regularly complains about the weight of their camera bag. I offered the solution of a new smaller bag with a bridge type camera inside, problem solved. Has it been acted upon? not yet.

Techno-wizards

Equipment isn’t everything – a simple camera in the hands of a master photographer will always make a communicative shot, than a techno-wizard will all the best gear and without a clue what makes a picture.