In the Bag
On any given day, whether I’m up shooting in the mountains, exploring a canyon in the desert, or roaming the streets of Santa Fe & Taos, I will typically grab my camera and just two lenses, and hit the trail. Over the years I’ve owned a lot of equipment and I’ve hauled it with me into the wilderness, but nowadays I tend to shoot with one camera body and a couple lenses. Why? In my opinion carrying too much gear leads to too many choices typically resulting in the photographer spending too much time trying to decide what lens he or she is going to shoot with; the end result is that you miss the shot.
You may notice that I own several camera bags. Well, I’m a confessed camera bag junkie. Ideally I’d only own one “perfect” bag, but there’s a problem with that. There is no perfect bag. Rather there are bags that are perfect for a certain job, shooting style, or situation.
Vertex 200AW bag & gear
> My equipment lineup as of January 2008:
- Canon EOS 5D
- Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
- Canon EF 1.4x Extender II
- Canon EOS Speedlight 430EX
- Singh-Ray graduated neutral-density filters
- Slim circular polarizers
- Compact flashcards & hot shoe bubble level
- RS-80n3 remote switch
- Assorted gels for the flash
- Dust-Aid
- SOG ParaTool
- Headlamp and LED flashlight
- First-aid & Survival kit
> Everything else that’s not shown above:
- Canon 45mm TS-E f/2.8, Tilt-Shift lens
- Canon EF12 II Extension Tube
- Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
- Gitzo GT-3540LS Carbon Fiber Tripod
- Kirk Enterprises BH-1 Ball Head
- Feisol CT-3401 Carbon Fiber Tripod
- Lowepro Vertex 200AW ~ the main bag
- Lowepro Flipside 200 ~ for travel photography
- Lowepro DryZone 200AW ~ for very wet conditions
- Canon Powershot G9
- Lenspen