Any Photographers Camera bag is their Holy Grail. It's the bag that has some of the most expensive items I own in it, as well as holding pretty much everything that I need to obviously shoot, which of course is my profession. I think it's something I'd love to keep track of, and see how my kit may grow, or downsize as I go on in Photography.
My Bag(s)
It's only recently that I've started to pay more attention to my bag. I think an incident with a cracked UV filter with a lens jammed very tightly into my previous bag made me think about just HOW important a decent bag is. Especially when you spend so much on glass, and a body that to put it into a too small bag just seems really kinda stupid.
So, I got the Lowepro Nova 200 AW, pictured below. By far is it the prettiest bag, it's much too big for me as a person (I'm 5ft 3!) BUT it protects my kit pretty damn well. I can hold all of my lenses, without them banging together and that's what I need.
Previous to that, I had the Lowepro Nova 180 AW, pictured below next to the Nova 200 for size comparison. I much prefer the Nova 180 because the size is pretty perfect for me. However, my kit has grown recently which lead to me cramming as much as I could be in some form of denial that it would all still fit (It didn't. Hence the UV filter incident!)
I just wish, as a female photographer there was a little bit more of a wider, affordable and size friendly option of bags.
My baby. Excuse the awful photo, my iPhone was the only available tool! The only thing I've done to this is put a screen protector (like on a phone or tablet) to stop the LCD from scratching.
Lenses
I love glass. I think it's so important to get good glass that people just over-look it as some unnecessary cost.
50mm 1.4
The nifty fifty. I love this lens. For the price, it's fantastic and optically pretty damn awesome. I tend to use this more for Commercial or Personal work as it's a little too wide for my style of Portraits but the f1.4 has been fantastic in low light.
85mm 1.8
Up until recently, this was my favourite focal length. I'd sell a kidney for the 85mm 1.2L (next on my list!) but this is a lovely length for Portraits. I think I've shot nearly all of my Fashion Editorial books on this lens.
24-70 2.8L
The heaviest lens I own - I can't use this lens for more than an hour without getting arm ache. I really love it optically, but I just don't like using it. I want to, I really do for the money it cost me, but I just don't.
I'm really not a Zoom kinda girl, Prime lenses have my heart so using a Zoom is just boring... I always feel less inclined to move around when I use this lens, so I see it as my 'safety blanket'
135mm f2L
The 135mm is the newest addition to my kit. It's taken me around 5 months to pluck up the courage to bite the bullet... all I can say is I wish I did it sooner!
I am smitten with it. It's just brilliant and SO under-rated. It's the longest focal length lens I own which has completely made me re-evaluate the way I shoot Portraits.
Flashgun.
If I can, I will always use Studio lights. I just don't like using flashguns as main lights, so I have this Jessops 360 Flashgun which is pretty cheap and cheerful, but it does the job should I need it. I also grabbed this diffuser off of Amazon for a few quid to just lessen the harshness of the light.
Triggers.
These Calumet triggers have done me perfectly for the past 2 years. I know I could get some super fancy ones but right now, they do the job just fine.
The 'Rest'
Other things I keep in my bag; spare body cap, a micro fibre cloth, USB leads, 4 mini clamps, as many CF cards as I can shove in and a spare battery. This is only a Hanhel one I picked up on Amazon so not AS good as my Canon one, however a spare battery is a spare battery and I cannot stress enough how important I have one!
So, my kit as it stands in Jan 2013. I also keep my lens caps (for both L series lenses) on the camera and the lenses inside the grey lens bags they come with now, the main point of buying a big enough bag was to be able to take these lens caps out with me - never much use sat at home, when you're on location in the bright sun..
I apologise for the lengthy post, I forget how much kit I have! I may possibly do one of my studio kit in the future...
