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What’s in Your Gear Bag?

Good morning ladies and gents! Today I start a new ongoing series called “What’s in Your Gear Bag?” where I ask professionals and up-n-comers alike what it is they keep in their camera bag that they can’t live without. This is intended to help you choose the extra gear necessary for you to complete your job – whether it’s weddings, ballroom galas, red carpet, commercial work – you name it.

It’s only fair that I start us off…I’m not the best, but I shoot a fair amount of freelance work and have a number of commercial projects under my belt. It took me several years to find the perfect two bags for my kind of work (that’s right – you heard me correctly…two camera bags), but now that I found them, its unlikely that I’ll buy another again. My primary bag is for small event shooting. It’s a shoulder bag big enough for my DSLR and main lens (usually my Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8) and another lens, usually my Nikon 85mm f/1.8 D series. The other lens I take sometimes is the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 – that’s the old one…the one before image stabilization. With the 85mm in tow, it leaves me just enough room to fit my Nissin 866 flash, which so far is equivalent to Nikon’s SB-900. If I take my flash, I always take my portable softbox with it. I RARELY shoot that flash without a softbox. And I keep an off-camera extension cord for the flash. The softbox and off-camera extension cord are almost permanently attached to my flash. I do 90% of my flash photography with those two accessories. 

 

 

As for the nick-nacks I keep in my bag, the lil’ guys that help me get the job done, I have the ML-L3 wireless remote, as well as the MC-DC2 shutter release cable if I’m doing astro photography (pictures of the night sky). I also keep several lens cleaning cloths, lens pens and clean wipes in my bag at all times, and even usually sport one on a little clip on my belt loop so I always have the means of cleaning my glass.

Finally, I always take my battery charger with me, as well as at least one extra DSLR battery (usually two), and plenty of  long-lasting non-rechargeable AA batteries for my Nissin 866, and most importantly of all: EXTRA MEMORY CARDS!!!! None of the other equipment matters without the memory cards to capture it.

And that’s just in my shoulder bag….let me spotlight a couple other photographers’ gear bags over the next couple months, and then maybe I’ll tell you what I keep in my backpack for weddings and bigger events. Keep shooting and keep checking in with us as I share what’s in the gear bags of our local pros. In the meantime: Happy Hunting!

 

Macro Lenses for Work and Play

Many people see macro lenses as a luxury item for their gear bag, missing out on the practicality of owning one. A lot of customers ask me when exactly they would use a macro lens, which is something I use in my own photo business regularly. Every bridal session I shoot, I take my macro lens with me. Not only cannot I get a fantastic portrait of the bride-to-be, but then I can turn right around with the same lens and take a picture of her ring that will look like it hopped right out of the catalog and onto her finger! I don’t even have to change lenses! Fast and easy.

A macro lens is a prime lens, which has no zoom, thus macro lenses are almost always super sharp. They can give you that super soft, smooth background that so many portrait photographers search for….even if your macro lens doesn’t have the lowest F-stop available. How does that work, without an aperture of f/2.8 or less? Well, it’s in how the lens is shaped. A macro lens’ glass has significantly more curve to it, so even with macro lenses of f/3.5 or higher can give you that perfect bokeh, something that most zoom lenses cannot do at higher aperture settings.
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How to Pick the Right Lens, Part II

So now that you know how to determine the quality of the lens you’re using, which focal length do you go with? It all depends on WHAT you shoot, whether it’s sports or weddings or landscapes. If you bounce between group portraits and individual portraits, you’ll be best suited with a wide-angle zoom lens, such as Tamron’s 17-50mm f/2.8 VC lens, or the professional version:  Nikon’s 17-55mm f/2.8. What’s the difference between these? The price will tell you. Tamron’s will start around $649, where as Nikon’s (a much sharper lens) will run you $1539.

If you’re more of a candid photographer and want to remain unnoticed by your subject, pick up a low-light telephoto lens, like Sigma’s 70-200mm f/2.8. A higher zoom number like this (70-200mm vs. 17-50mm) will give you more reach; it will make you look a lot closer to your subject than you really are. This ensures that you can get that perfect expression from your model without making them self-conscious. Keeping further distance tends to make people feel more comfortable about having their picture taken. Perfect for shy models, babies and weddings.
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Olympus’ New 75mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Lens now on Pre-Order!

Do you love your Micro 4/3 camera?

Do you love portraits?

Do you love love love shallow depth of field or really great low light capabilities?

If you answered any of these questions with a yes, then you are going to want to check this beautiful new lens out and hop on the pre-order list at our website here: Olympus 75mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital Lens for Micro FourThirds Pre-Order

More pictures and more info after the jump.
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