Tag: camera bag

Photographic Gear – Miscellaneous

I’ve been using the pretext of touring my camera bag to carry on a general discussion of photographic gear. So far we’ve covered the camera bag, the camera body itself, lenses and filters. In this installment we will cover miscellaneous items.

If you haven’t seen the previous articles, here are the links:

Photographic Gear – A Tour of a Photographer’s Camera Bag

Photographic Gear – the Camera Body

Photographic Gear – Lenses

Photographic Gear – Filters

To complete the camera bag tour let’s look at some of the accessories we accumulate to support our passion for photography.

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Cleanliness

Let’s begin with that little pouch in the upper right hand corner. It contains, among other things, a microfiber cloth. It is used to clean lenses and filters. It’s important that we keep everything clean including the front elements of our lenses and/or the filters we place on them.

clip_image004The microfiber cloth is designed to clean without scratching. It can clear away dust and smudges. But I prefer a no-contact method and for that I use my Giotto Rocket. It’s designed to blow dust from our sensors but it blows dust from the front of lenses equally as well. So that’s my first choice for cleaning the lens. If that doesn’t get all the dust I reach for the microfiber cloth to finish the job.

But, as good as those two things are, neither of them can clean water drops from the lens. This of course can occur when you’re photographing near waterfalls, or the surf on the ocean or, in the rain. For these situations, a small square of chamois is perfect. It doesn’t scratch the lens but it soaks up the water.

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Photographic Gear – A Tour of a Photographer’s Camera Bag

What’s in your camera bag?

I thought it might be interesting to share with you the gear I use to make my photographs. In other words, to give you a guided tour through my camera bag. But before we start the tour I’d like to share with you the approach I’ve followed in bringing together my gear.

There are a lot of photographers who take a great deal of satisfaction in keeping up with the latest technology and it certainly does progress very rapidly. Many of these photographers make really great photographs as well. I prefer a different approach.

For me, my photography gear is a means to an end., the end being to follow my creative vision. If my gear supports my creative vision, I’m quite satisfied with it. If it doesn’t, then I need to consider an upgrade. Here’s an example.

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Be Prepared

Don’t be caught without that one piece of camera gear you need to get the shot.

Often times when out shooting with other photographers I hear them say, “I wish I had brought my grad ND filter.”  Or maybe they didn’t have the lens they needed.  “Where is it?” I ask.  “It’s back in my hotel room,” is their response.  “Why didn’t you bring it with you?”  “I didn’t think I would need it,” or “It’s too heavy.”

Truth to tell, I don’t understand the rationale of selecting the gear you think you might need when going out on a shoot.  Why not take it all?  I suppose if you have 20 lenses (I exaggerate) you can’t take them all with you.  But a normal complement of gear that gives you the flexibility you need isn’t that hard to pack and carry.

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