Monday Musings: what's in your bag

Posted May 2nd 2006 11:29PM by Jay Savage
Filed under: Editorials

Once again, not exactly Monday anymore, but I was thinking about this last night, and apparently again tonight. I don't want to start any flame wars here, but I've been thinking about brands a lot lately: who's staying, who's going, which underdogs are going to jump into the game. In the last six months or so, we've seen a lot of upheaval in the photographic world. Konica-Minolta selling their camera business to Sony. Mamiya selling their camera business to an IT firm. Pentax and Samsung working on joint projects. We've seen several lines stake their high ends on EVFs, not DSLRs. And even the race for the lead in the professional DSLR market isn't much of a race, Nikon seems to be perpetually a year behind Canon, even though their sales don't entirely reflect it.

But the headlines are one thing. What people are actually carting around with them is another and I think it's time for an informal census. So my question here is two-fold: What are you shooting? And if you've invested in lens system, are you comfortable with your investment

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. I'm shooting with two canon 20d's, Canon:28-105 f/3.5, 75-200 f/4, 100 macro f/2.8,, 50mm f/1.8 (cheapest lightest and my favorite street shooter) Sigma: 20mm wide angle f/1.8, canon 580EX flash, bogen tripod and head, 3 2gb kingston pro, 1 512 extreme II, recently sold my hasselblad since the film developing is costing me too much... I love my 20d's but i would really prefer the full frame I recently tried out the 5D and immediately fell in love with the smooth reflex of the shutter and the beautiful images it produces.... but sadly not in my budget....yet

Posted at 11:55PM on May 2nd 2006 by Charles

2. Rather than rewrite it here, I'll point to a recent blog entry of mine discussing my equipment: http://www.dogcaught.com/2006/01/31/my-camera-gear/

Posted at 12:45AM on May 3rd 2006 by Aaron B. Hockley

3. I am currently shooting with a Canon Rebel XT using the 18-55mm kit lens and the 28-90mm kit lens from my Rebel T2. I have ProMaster 5750DX Digital flash for my flash and a 4 gig microdrive for my memory card. The other stuff in my bag is a couple of filters (polarizer and UV), a bunch of extra AA batteries for the flash, a hot shoe PC sync adapter (the fact that I need this is one of my biggest complaints about the Rebel), an off camera TTL sync cable for the flash, a remote shutter release cable, an extra battery, the battery charger, USB connection cable, and lastly a small spray bottle filled with water (useful for misting flowers or letting clients with misbehaving hair use to stop fly-aways).

Posted at 1:09AM on May 3rd 2006 by Twist

4. I'm shooting with a Canon EOS 20D using the following lenses: ef-s 18-55 (kit lens), ef 16-35 f/2.8 L (wide angle), ef 24-105 f/4 L IS (zoom lens), ef 50 f/1.4 (portrait/art lens) and the ef 75-300 f/4-5.6 IS (telephoto zoom).

The 'L' lenses in particular have been pricy, but I've been able to get some fabulous shots with them, so it feels well worth the price.

Posted at 3:07AM on May 3rd 2006 by Michael Huang

5. I'm shooting with a Canon 5d (with an old d30 as a backup). The main lens most likely on my camera at any given point these days is a Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8 lens. I've also got canon's 50mm f/1.8 and 28mm f/2.8 that i keep in my bag pretty much constantly - and canon's 75-300mm usm II (or III? I forget) that i'm looking to replace with a 70-200m f/4L some time in the near future. I've also got canon's 28-105 USM lens that I don't carry around in my bag anymore now that i've got the Tokina and I'm bidding on a 17-35mm wide angle lens to add to the mix.

In the support roles, i've got 2 1 gb flash drives, a compact drive 70x 80 gig portable drive/flash reader, a 580ex flash, a small mini tripod as well as a full sized calumet tripod (need a better head for it, though) and tend to carry most of my gear around in one of two domke satchel bags.

I'm fairly happy with my canon setup, and don't see myself changing any time soon. Though, that said, I would love to start playing with medium format at some point. And i'm really interested in getting a bellows rig to put my camera body onto.

Posted at 6:37AM on May 3rd 2006 by Daniel Garcia

6. I'm shooting with a Nikon D50, kit lens (18-55) and a 70-300 Nikor zoom. I also have a Canon S50 that I've used for years. (I travel to the Middle East several times a year and also shoot a ton of DV-use a Canon XL 1.) I just bought the Nikon last year, the S50 was a little slow in the autofocus dept.-shooting vido and stills at the same time demands fast focus, and I like it a lot. I'm looking at a Speedlight. I use a Velbon tripod and also have a couple of Bogen/Manfrotto's that I use as well.

Posted at 8:13AM on May 3rd 2006 by R. Higbee

7. I'm shooting with a D70 with a Nikon 12-24mm f4, a 60mm f2.8 Micro, a 35mm f2, a 28-85mm f3.5-4.5, a 24mm f2.8 (that I'm probably selling), and a 50mm f1.4. I'm also using a Nikon F3HP with a Minolta Scanner to bring my black and white images to the internets.

Posted at 9:51AM on May 3rd 2006 by Brian Short

8. Bodies:
Nikon D200
Fuji FinePix S2 Pro
Yashica Mat 124G
Powershot s45

Lenses:
Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AIS
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 DX
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D

If you don't mind DX or like cameras smaller than minivans but with good build quality, Nikon certainly isn't a behind Canon at all. They both do excellent, but slightly different, things with their current models.

Posted at 10:01AM on May 3rd 2006 by carpeicthus

9. A Mamiya 6 w/ 50mm and 75 mm lenses, a Canon 5D with the 28-105,and a Zeiss Super Ikonta III; a Vivitar 285 and an old Canon Speedlight (pre dedicated flash era).

Posted at 10:25AM on May 3rd 2006 by ford

10. Nikon D70 with Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 (kit), Nikkor 35-80mm f/4-5.6D, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 & Nikon SB-600.

Posted at 2:05PM on May 3rd 2006 by Stanley

11. Bodies:
Canon 20D w/ BG- E2Battery Grip
Canon Powershot S70

Lenses:
50mm f/1.8
17-40mm f/4 (w/83D-II hood; better for 1.6x factor)
28-70mm f/2.8 (Sigma)
70-200mm f/4

430EX Flash w/ Omnibounce
Canon Off-camera shoe cord

In the digital media dept.:
1GB Lexar 80x card
2GB Lexar 80x card
Wolverine 40GB field backup harddrive/card reader
Lexar Firewire Compactflash Reader

I would love to upgrade the 17-40 to 16-35 or the new 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens and the 70-200 to a 2.8 IS.

Posted at 8:46PM on May 3rd 2006 by Gabriel Ortega

12. I'm using a Sony F717. Not the latest and greatest, but revolutionary when introduced in 2002. 5MP, sharp Zeiss lens, IR, it's slow shot-to-shot but does what I need it to do very well. The twisting lens feature is indespensible, allowing me to use different angles with ease, like over my head or down low, while still seeing the LCD.

Posted at 3:34PM on May 6th 2006 by KeithAlanK

13. Im using a D70s and 18-70 AFS ED DX , also a old 70-300 ED , last year sold my Mamiya 7 and lenses , so lower image quality , but more fun and much cheeper to run , true nikon seam slower than canon , but they bring out some amazing products

Posted at 12:12PM on May 7th 2006 by dylan garcia

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