Tools part 2

So last past I went through the cameras and lenses. This post is for the other things which help day to day quality of life.

Waterproofing. Anyone who has ever had a camera break in the rain can skip this bit.

It’s always best to make some effort to keep your gear as dry as possible. It’s a really bad idea to let any camera get wet if you can avoid it, even if it’s “weather sealed”. Obviously “weather sealed” cameras and lenses can take a bit of rain, but remember sports photographers with the very latest professional cameras all use big rain covers, and they might only be out there for 90 minutes or so at a time. When you see “weather sealed” read “shower proof”, like a shower proof jacket it can only take so much.

So, I have two chamois leather cloths to keep the cameras relatively dry in moderate rain, the key is to keep standing water and droplets off as much as possible. When the chamois wet out the water just runs off them, and they can be used to wipe the cameras down too. For when it’s very bad I have two OpTech see-through bags with drawstrings around the lenses (these are a last resort because water still gets in and can’t get back off without a lot of faff).

Also, its a good idea to keep the silica gel pouches you get with new products, or buy a few off Amazon, and drop a couple of them in all your camera bags and pouches, refresh them with new ones occasionally.

Bags. Generally I find camera backpacks are quite bad. Lots of them are over complicated. Some just become useless bulky foam boxes once you take the cameras out (I've never known anyone to break a camera while its in any old bag, they tend to get dropped when they are out of the bag). Also the bags themselves are often quite heavy, not to mention expensive. Finally, they make you look like a serious photographer carrying lots of expensive gear, which isn’t for the best sometimes.

An alternative is a selection of neoprene pouches for lenses and bodies and a good backpack with side compression straps. You can even copy the old Think Tank shapeshifter with a few cheap neoprene pouches off Amazon, attached to the inside of a good bag with a velcro or molle insert. If you like to use waist pouches when you are working then they are there all ready loaded, otherwise take out the gear, leave the pouches in, and squash the bag with the side compression straps. Your own lightweight budget Think Tank shapeshifter. Buy a mint 5D mark 1 and 50mm f1.4 USM with the savings.

Anyway in short this modular approach is cheaper, lighter and more flexible, and you get to buy a nice normal bag to use outside of photography anyway. Or just buy the pouches and use a backpack you already own.

Another thing is a sling bag. I prefer these to belt pouches. Again, I’m not sure the camera specific ones are any good. I tried a Tenba one but the zip broke in a month and it was uncomfortable. Previously I’d had a 5.11 Push Pack which was much better, I should have stuck to my own advice on camera backpacks. You can get a couple of thicker pouches to put inside, or a little cube of padding with dividers off Amazon that fits perfectly, then it can hold two lenses safely while you work.

So, now after being disappointed with camera backpacks, and now the expensive camera specific Tenba sling bag, I have a 5.11 Daily Deploy Sling Pack (If you can get over the military marketing, I think 5.11 bags are very tough and well designed), and an unbranded normal 25L backpack, along with a few of those soft velcro camera wrap things for the lenses and bodies (Tenba ones funnily enough they are very good). That’s enough to carry two bodies, four lenses, a flash, laptop and accessories, along with a waterproof, water and food, or tea and doughnuts. As a bonus the wraps double as makeshift grey cards for white balance in a pinch etc. A 30L dry bag to fit inside the backpack keeping everything totally dry which doubles as something to sit on in the forest), and a rain cover left over from the broken Tenba sling pack that fits the 5.11 sling pack perfectly.

My tripod came with its own bag which is fine but I'm going to attach a strap to the tripod itself so I don’t need to take it in and out of the bag all the time.I’d still take it to the general location in the bag, again so I don’t look like a photographer.

Camera straps. I like Domke gripper straps with the swivels that mean they never tangle up. Ive used them for 20 years and can’t really get on with anything else. Also they are grippy enough not to fall off, but not so grippy they get stuck when you have to quickly grab you camera for a picture. And they are black with no logos. They are quite expensive, but then they are carrying much more expensive things so I recon they’re worth it. They are quite thick so fold up nicely when you need to use a wall as a tripod and angle the lens right (the chamois cloths are also good for this). Once I have them adjusted right I tape up the sprung releases on the swivels because they look like trouble, and tape up excess strap bits so they never get in the way.

Extra quality of life tools. A thin roll of duct tape. As we all know duct tape can fix more or less anything. This can do things like fix or temporarily replace a broken battery or card door, or even hold the front element on a snapped Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR lens allowing you to keep working. Also if you don’t have a remote release to hand you can carefully do a bulb exposure using a bit of tape and a small stone to hold the shutter down. A small screwdriver for tightening up lens/mount screws. Some single use lens/laptop screen cleaning tissues. A blower for cleaning dust magnet Sony sensors. Spare rear lens cap and body cap for when you lose one. A black bin bag for bulk waterproofing. An umbrella.