Whats in my bag??

As a professional wedding photographer one of the most common questions I get is “what gear do you have in your camera bag on a shoot??

The main thing you need to take with you on shoot is your imagination and willingness to go beyond to get the image. Everything else is there to help you capture the best image.

I have 3 main bags on a wedding shoot. The first in a Lowepro wast belt, this mainly has lighting equipment. They are filters, light modifiers, external battery for flash, Plus extra strobes I’ll go into more detail of items later in article.

The second bag is a Lowepro sling bag, this bag holds my spare lens and lens filters.

The third bag is my additional lighting and stands including my grip. This bag normally stays in the car until I need a particular item.

Ok so what’s in each bag, starting with the sling bag of lens.

I use Nikon D2x, D3 and D300 as a backup camera. The D3 holds my 70-700 f2.8 http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=88-38b05c950e This is a beautiful long lens, I use this for intimate image, shooting what I call bust shots. These images are intimate between the bride and groom. As a Photojournalistic photographer I capture natural images and I want to stay back and watch the action. The 70-200mm catches that sneaky little look the bride gives when the groom first says “I do” its great for zooming in on the ring exchange.

I use the Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=1185-0ceca47364 for the wide shots of the church and family shots. I will use this to get full detail. This is a great Lens on either the FX sensor on DX sensor.

And finally my work horse. The one that generally stays on the D2x all the time, the Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=1186-03ebd2dfce I would take over 500 images per wedding with this lens, its supper fast, clear beautiful pictures and great focal length on the DX chip. If I was using the FX chip all the time, I would consider using a 17-35mm f2.8 http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=75-d8aa3b9508. All of these lens are f2.8, This is as small as I will go as I like to be able to shoot at f4 and get that nice creamy out of focus look in the background.

I also carry my trust 105mm VR macro lens http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=880-7ee2b83643 for the close up images of the rings, buttons and cufflinks. This will come out for portrait images where I need the VR as I might be in low light. Most of the time when I’m in low light I will use my 85mm F1.4 http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=107-3e8edf34f0 or 50mm F1.4 http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=105-89d080c1a2 The 50mm F1.4 mainly sits on my D300 and I love this combination. Light weight and beautiful images.

I also have a sigma 120-300mm F2.8 that mainly stays in the car, only comes out when I need extra long length.

In my Lowepro belt I have 5 SB800 strobe lights units and a SU800. I will use these to create extra light where I need it, lighting up whole rooms using the Nikon Creative lightings system, or pocket wizards. These are great lights and I use Lumiquest light modifiers http://www.lumiquest.com/ my favourite been the quick bound and Promax system http://www.lumiquest.com/products/promax-system.htm

I carry a DCB battery's http://www.digitalcamerabattery.com/ to run one or two of my stobe lights and find this smaller unit is all I need to get me through a wedding shoot. The larger unit is a bit heavy to carry but it works great on the off camera strobes.

Also on my belt is a 72mm Expodisc http://www.expoimaging.net for measuring whitebalance.

In my third bag I carry a Gitzo carbon fibre tripod with a manfrotta head. Plus many other manfrotto accessories including clamps and stands. These are used in a unique situation where I need to get a camera or light into a hard to get to location to take a shot.

I also carry in my car a couple of Lastolite reflectors and a small step ladder.

Hope this helped anyone who has asked themselves the question and equipment. I’m not by any means saying I’ve got it right, this is what works for me. I have seen beautiful images from a D5000 and a 24-120 VR lens.

For examples of work, visit www.PremierImages.net.au and www.WowPhotographySA.com

Thanks

Christian Whamond
Pro Photographer SA