Whats in your bag?

So, on other forums I frequent, this is a topic many find helpful (more helpful than item xxx will die and product yyy will vanquish them ALL!). Long story short, whats in your bag?

Start with a quick description of you and how you use your gear, then if possible post a pic of the bag sealed up, a pic of the contents with description, then a pic of it packed so everyone can get an idea of what others carry regularly and how.

I'll go first.

I come to photography from a long background, I used to help my sister shoot weddings, but never really got my own real camera. Various point and shoots etc. Last few years I've been doing lots of mini vacations with the kids and wanted to do a better job recording them than what I was able to on various cell phone cameras. This got me to start trying to cover all aspects of the trips, from the shots you often cannot get to the more standard and typical. I come from a background in IT, with backpacking as a major hobby so more with less and light and compact is a major theme of my gear, and theres really no fear of tech....

Below is my bag.

And the contents

left to right, front to back

DJI Spark drone with gimbal protector, remote and extra battery.

OTG cable, various USB charging and data cables.

Action camera (Eken H6s) with a few accessory mounts, floating handle extra battery and charger, mini tripod/handgrip and frame case..

behind the drone, lens mount covers, an extra sd card (32gb U3), macro tubes (10MM and 16MM), extra battery and charger for main camera

Main camera Panasonic G7 with kit lens 14-42 f3.5-5.3, (128GB U3 SD card not pictured), 25 f1.7 42.5 f1.7 and panasonic 45-150.

Zhyiun Smooth Q gimbal and case.  Last but not least behind the lenses sunscreen!

Lastly how I pack it

....  So, whats in your bag?

Usually too much, which is wide I needed to buy a wide angle lens.  The only way I could capture it all. 

You are much more tolerant of weight and size than I am!  I stuff my gear into a Lowepro Slingshot 150 which looks like this:

On the outside I strap my MeFoto tripod (if needed) and slip in a bottle of water (always needed).  If it looks like rain, I'll ditch the tripod and strap on a small umbrella.  In the back pocket (under the tripod in the photo) goes my 7" Nexus Android tablet.

In the main compartment (easy access when you rotate the sling) goes my EM5II with Pana 12-35/2.8 mounted along with the Pana 35-100/2.8 and the EM5II mini-flash.

In the upper compartment goes my Oly 17/1.8, Pana 45-200/4-5.6 (if needed), cleaning cloth, extra cards, extra battery and sun glasses.  If I don't think I need the long lens, I change out the 45-200 for my EPL5 body, just in case.

So here's the whole kit when fully loaded:

Love this bag.  Small enough to be manageable on public transportation and just big enough for everything I need.

See, that's a great example of what I was getting to.  I consider myself fairly light and fast for a video centric "do it all" kit

If I didn't value the options the drone and action camera give me, our sets wouldn't be that different

I could be wrong, but I guess (at age 70) that my valuation of weight vs flexibility is a bit different from yours:-)

Badwater wrote:

Nice bag. It fits a lot of gear. Do you carry a second bag for the other stuff like food, water, and clothing?

So for a backpacking trip, because "ounces become pounds and pounds become pain", I don't carry all this, more likely the action camera in its waterproof case and the mini tripod and the G7 with the zooms, then an extra battery for each. These would then go in a backpacking pack that would carry all my stuff (gear, clothes, food, etc).

This is more the "Main" camera bag for a trip. Ex. one of my daughters and I went from Lansing MI to the Wisconsin Dells.

Action camera was on the dashboard for the drive doing a time lapse (1 shot/second) of the drive. Got to our destination, drone did a fly through of some of the dells formations from a near by park.

Main camera went with us on a duck boat tour, and shots around town. Action camera joined us in the water park, for fun in the pools, etc.

Weird, this cut off half my post.

Another trip with another daughter, we went to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Same action camera time lapse on the dashboard, drone did areal footage of the campsite, campground and surrounding woods/lakes. Main camera got some awesome shots of Tahquamenon falls, Oswald's bear ranch, Mackinaw bridge, and Castle Rock.  Action camera joined us for some fun in Lake Superior.

That all said this is less about whats in MY bag (although I am happy to answer questions, that is also kinda the point), and more about whats in YOUR bag.

My bag:

Content: GX1 with LVF2 viewfinder, 14-42PZ, plus a vary selection of my other lenses (7.5mm samyang, 12mm f2, 17mm f1.8, 45mm f1.8, 45-150 f4/5.6). Plus spare tubes, rain gear etc.

Mark Thornton wrote:

My bag:

Content: GX1 with LVF2 viewfinder, 14-42PZ, plus a vary selection of my other lenses (7.5mm samyang, 12mm f2, 17mm f1.8, 45mm f1.8, 45-150 f4/5.6). Plus spare tubes, rain gear etc.

Cool. What bag is that? I'm aware only of the Mantona Biker's bag that attaches to the saddle post. I have two of them.

Rich K wrote:

I could be wrong, but I guess (at age 70) that my valuation of weight vs flexibility is a bit different from yours:-)

Sounds like it I'm still chasing little ones at 39. With them though the trips get interesting, and I want them to have things that they can use to show the trips and remember the details. Four girls, oldest is almost 14, youngest is 2.

Being they are all part of the "YouTube generation", if its not in video and not online it basically didn't happen, hence the heavier use of drone and action camera.

Here's what I'm carrying today:

GX8 and my favorite trio of lenses: Voigtländer 17.5mm, 42.5mm and 75mm f2.5 Color Heliar (L39 mount).

Two lenses go into a small Mountainsmith Zoom bag. The Zoom goes into a Patagonia Atom Sling 8L bag. There's an extra battery, glasses and iPhone 7 in the bag. 1L of water lashed to the outside. Camera is out and ready.

Nice and simple.

A carradice barley bag using the sport support (attaches to the saddles rails, not the seat post). I can't use seat post attachment due to the carbon fibre post (also it is an odd shape).

Mark

I'm impressed that so many of you can get by with 1 bag. I use more than half a dozen bags, depending on whether I'm just going to to the office, riding a bike, hiking, walking around the city, etc., and I switch out gear according to my needs and whims.

Gary Martin wrote:

I'm impressed that so many of you can get by with 1 bag. I use more than half a dozen bags, depending on whether I'm just going to to the office, riding a bike, hiking, walking around the city, etc., and I switch out gear according to my needs and whims.

Same here. I keep all my lenses in separate lens cases and put them into a variety of bags. Dexter biking hydration packs (3 L water!!!), Mountainsmith Classic Tour Lumbar pack, etc..

Here's my main travel bag, a Patagonia Atom Stealth 15L fly fishing bag.

I use the same small Mountainsmith Zoom bag with 2 lenses and add a 7-14mm f4 in it's own case, often attaching it to the sling bag's strap for quick swapping. When flying, I stuff an iPad Pro 9.7" inside. Passport, cables, UltraPod II, a monopod strapped to the outside (sometimes), battery pack for iPhone, binox (sometimes) etc. The bag is big enough to fit a 100-400mm, with a couple other lenses. GREAT bag!

Gary Martin wrote:

I'm impressed that so many of you can get by with 1 bag. I use more than half a dozen bags, depending on whether I'm just going to to the office, riding a bike, hiking, walking around the city, etc., and I switch out gear according to my needs and whims.

Mind sharing a few specific setups?

I'd love to have more examples