What's In My Bag - My Daily Photo Gear
In my recent camera buying tips post I mentioned you should ask your friends what they use and like. To follow up on that I thought I would share what I typically use in my bag.
My daily kit does change depending on my goals for the day. For example I usually don't take my Rode Videomic or 300mm lens when I only plan on shooting portraits, but altogether this is the workhorse gear that covers 95% of my work.
Cameras
Nikon D750 and Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 G2
Nikon D750
The main thing that is always in my bag is my Nikon D750, which I picked up when Nikon released it in September 2014. It is a fantastic do-it-all camera. Picture quality and low-light performance is outstanding, and it has very workable video in a pinch. I love this camera and even being almost 4 years old I would still recommend it.
Panasonic Lumix GX85
My secondary digital camera is the micro four-thirds GX85. It's been a very capable camera with honestly incredible image stabilization(both in-body and in-lens). While great I am actually in the process of selling this camera to put money towards something more video focused. That said the 4k video on this is great, but it doesn't have a mic jack.
Panasonic GX85 and 12-32mm kit lens
Nikon F100
Nikon F100
My main film camera is a Nikon F100. If you want to get hands-down the best value film camera available, find an F100. This will take modern auto-focus lenses and all the way back. If you have experience with a DSLR it is extremely easy to pick one of these up and start using it.
Zenza Bronica SQ-A
When I'm feeling especially artsy and hipster I'll pull out the Bronica SQ-A, a medium format square film camera. It's really something special to check out a medium format negative, and it's really hard to describe the experience of shooting one of these and seeing the tangible results.
Zenza Bronica SQ-A
Photo from the Bronica SQ-A
Polaroid Land camera
Polaroid Land Camera
My last camera on this list is my polaroid camera. I've talked extensively about these cameras in this blog post and I certainly recommend you give them a try!
Lenses
I go through moods with my lenses, and I'll start favoring one over the others for awhile. All of them have their place in my bag, but if I had to nail down my absolute favorites right now it would be the following three:
Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 G2
Nikon 85mm f/1.8 G
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 ART
As primarily a portrait photographer, these 3 lenses fit almost every portrait situation I normally encounter. The rest of my kit includes:
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G
Nikon 300mm f/4.5 Ais
Nikon 40mm f/2.8 dx micro
Rokinon 135mm f/2
Accessories
I carry around my gear in a black ThinkTank Retrospective 40 camera bag and an Amazon Basics camera backpack. I record audio on a RØDE VideoMic, xoom h1 handy recorders, and an ATR3350iS lav mic. I use an Induro travel tripod on the go and an Amazon Basics video tripod when I don't have to move far. I usually always keep lens cleaning pens, batteries, a notebook, and some 5-in-1 reflectors handy.
Have any gear questions? What's in your bag? What would your dream bag look like? Let me know in the comments!
