What’s In My Bag?

Since I’ve had numerous queries (and not just from my cats!) about the cameras, lenses, and other photo gizmos I’m using these digital days, here’s a look at what’s been in and out of my bag most recently.

I hesitate to dwell on this stuff because, for starters, I’ll just say: It ain’t about the camera. You really don’t need a pile of gear. I’d probably be more-than-fine walking around and viewing the world through a 24-70 lens alone…or maybe with a classic 50. Might even be good for me!

But, that being said, I’m really liking the flexibility and range of what’s now out there, and I try to take advantage of those varied lens expressions and push and pull things a bit at both ends. On the other hand, I like to keep it pretty simple, pretty compact, and not just a distraction. So, there isn’t a ton of stuff here.

OK, any gearheads still with me? If so, read on!

My main camera: Sony a7rV. I was a longtime Nikon user from my earliest film days, and not just in 35mm land—several of my view-camera lenses were Nikkors, too, and they were also quite good. When I started shooting digitally, my mainstay cameras for several years were the Nikon d800e and d850 dSLRs. But then I switched to mirrorless in 2020, and that meant Sony. And though I’m also exploring Fujifilm’s medium-format gear, my standard knockaround kit at present is still full-frame, mirrorless Sony.

On paper, the a7rV looked much the same as the a7rIV I had at first…but it’s surprisingly better. The RAW files seem cleaner and sharper. The electronic viewfinder and LCD keep getting better. And the articulating LCD screen that now works for verticals, too, has saved me from untold neck strain when kneeling!

So, how about that a7rVI that just came out?  Well…I rarely use autofocus; I don’t want a bunch of fancy exposure modes; I don’t need instant processing speed; I rarely do exposure or focus bracketing; and I don’t shoot video. So, most of that is tragically lost on me. I’m mostly interested in pushing the envelope on just four things: 1) Resolution; 2) Dynamic range; 3) Color; and 4) The best electronic viewfinder I can get. (Oh, and did I mention resolution?) I’ll be checking out the a7rVI’s image quality and viewfinder, for sure.

Since I use a tripod 90% of the time, I always fit my cameras with a Really Right Stuff L-bracket to switch seamlessly from horizontal to vertical mode and back again…I can’t imagine not having this.

Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 GM. Lenswise, let’s start at the wide end—really wide.The 12-24 GM is a very cool design, and blazingly acute, but it’s big, and I don’t tend to “see” this wide all that much. So, it’s the first lens that gets left behind if I’m stripping down weight for a longer hike. But when you need it, you need it. (For example, see my image “Live oaks & boulders,” shown above. I’d wrestled with this shot for years.) And I’d like to get back to that near-far world a little more often…

Sony 24-105 f/4 G. This is my Swiss army knife, walkaround lens, or bread and butter, whatever you want to call it. It lives on the camera until I need something else. The “slow” f4 aperture is just swell with me; I always stop this one down to at least f8, anyway. Granted, this is now an older design (Note to Sony: ‘bout ready to update this one?), but mine’s still a pretty darn good lens. Maybe not as nice as the 24-70 GMII (see below), but…

Canon 90mm TS-E tilt-shift f/2.8L Macro. A tilt-shift (T/S) lens is designed to mimic a view camera’s front tilt and shift, enabling you to expand—or even limit—the exact plane of focus. Sony doesn’t make any T/S lenses, but this Canon design is amazing. A Canon lens mount on a Sony body? Nope. How about with a Metabones V adapter? Yep. I’ve had zero problems with the electronics and metering and readouts from this combo. The lens is manual-focus only, but that’s fine with me. I also toss in a pair of Canon extension tubes, maybe a 12mm and a 25mm, which can be stacked. And while it’s great for closeups, I use this lens for lots of other shots, too.

Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM. This guy covers the long end of my landscapes…and then some. I don’t use it at 400mm much, but it’s there if I need it. And it’s really about the same size as a 70-200 f2.8…and quite good optically.

I do wish this lens had internal focus, as it racks out pretty far, but I haven’t noticed any creep or shake because of that. You may not want to aim it straight down…but I don’t do that, anyway.

I replaced the Sony foot with a lower one from RRS that is dovetailed for the now-standard (except in Sony land?!) Arca fittings on my tripods.

OK, those are my current “big four.” However…I’ve also been known to swap out the 24-105 and 100-400 combo for a 24-70 and 70-200, both stellar GM designs, which I really enjoy using. BUT…I often seem to shoot just on either side of that 70mm seam, which means lots of lens changes, and the 24-105 rolls right through that zone and straight on to the longer 100-400. Plus, 200mm is not all that long for me…and I’d rather not rely on tele-extenders. (Or pack yet another lens!) So, I keep switching back.

I’ve also tried the 24-70 and 100-400 combo, using the 90mm T/S to help bridge the gap between them. That sorta works, too. Yes, I can often use my feet to get closer or farther away when framing, but sometimes I can’t easily move, or doing so alters the angles and relationships within the frame.

I don’t like to “think cropping” from the get-go; I really want to see and “feel” the image through the viewfinder. I also try to preserve as many pixels as I can get. So, I guess when it’s possible, I prefer my lens options to be seamless.

I have a few other part-time companions, too…

Sony 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G. This newish lens was certainly designed with birding and critters in mind, and maybe even some sports, but it’s also perfect for my longer wavescapes. (Before this, I used a 200-600mm.) Throw in a 1.4x tele-extender and the reach goes to 1120mm, full-frame!

I don’t lug this beast around on a regular basis. Instead, it’s part of my 3-lens “wave” kit that also includes the 24-105 (minimally used here, mostly for “beach” details) and the 100-400. Plus, I do carry that 1.4x tele-extender for very tight or ultra-distant views.

Again, I replaced the standard foot with an Arca-compatible profile—this one’s from Kirk Enterprises.

Canon 50mm TS-E tilt-shift f/2.8L Macro. If I’m primarily stalking wily wildflowers or other details like rock art or tree bark, I’ll add this guy, with another Metabones adapter, to complement the tighter 90mm T/S. It gives me a bit more breathing room, a little less compression. This 50mm also works quite well as a general landscape lens, especially with those tilt movements. In fact, whenever this is in my bag and I find myself in the “normal” range, I’ll weigh putting it on the camera in place of the zoom.

Sony 100mm f/2.8 GM Macro. I’ve also just done a couple sessions with this new Sony macro lens, and hmmm…it seems pretty sweet. I can’t adjust the plane of focus like with the Canon 90mm T/S, but it’s smaller and lighter (and needs no adapter), and focuses much closer (to 1.4x) with no extension tubes at all…then goes closer yet with a Sony tele-extender, which it’s designed to pair with. It seems especially handy for hand-holding flower abstracts. No hassles. (The only problem here, though, is that as you get tighter and tighter to the subject, the lens itself starts to block the light. So the jury is still out…)

“Well, cool, so what anchors this stuff?”

Gitzo 1348 carbon fiber tripod. My tried-and-true Gitzo is getting old and cranky—just like me. Too many beach sessions. Too much salt and sand and water and muck. So, I’m overdue for a new one. When it comes to tripods, taller is better; and “lightweight” is not the point here—stability is. I don’t use a center column, so setting the exact height can sometimes get tedious, and the column would be admittedly nice for low-level, tight details, where tiny moves make big changes…so, maybe next time…

Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head. I recently switched to this popular head after many years with an Arca B1 ball head. The Arca was surprisingly bombproof for its size, but it kept freezing up, so I’m trying the RRS. For some reason it’s hard to get enough “brake” on the drag set knob—even when it’s set pretty tight. I want it to move smoothly but largely stay put as I sight and adjust…before then fully locking things down. It may just be operator error!

That aside, my main complaint is that, for some reason, the BH-55 has two drop notches for aiming the camera down (or sometimes up, too!), but neither one is a straight-ahead drop, they’re both off to the sides, which means that your controls—which you really get used to operating by feel, not by looking—are now offset in a wonky way…and not so quick to find. It’s a head-scratcher and drives me crazy—so crazy that I may have to go back to an Arca.

“And what do you carry things in?”

My camera packs. I moved from shoulder bags to camera backpacks with padded, movable dividers a long time ago. For years, I used a gargantuan LowePro Super-Trekker to schlepp my view camera and six or seven lenses, plus film holders, but in the digital world—and especially now with mirrorless—I’ve been able to downsize quite a bit in the pack realm, too. So, my main “home base” at present is a pretty compact Mindshift Backlight 26L in a bright, hangover-curing, “tree-frog-green” color. I also use an older, even smaller ThinkTank Streetwalker Pro to house my 3-lens setup for wavescapes.

Both those packs are great, but they’re not super-comfortable on longer hikes (plus there’s the weight of all those lenses!). So if I’m really stripping things down, I’ll go to the Sony plus a couple compact lenses inside a LowePro Trekker Lite, and I’ll then shove that small bag into another pack—an Osprey—that includes my hiking stuff, water, lunch, etc., and that has a full-blown yoke system. I’ll then either carry my Gitzo in one hand or maybe go to a lighter, more compact tripod that rides inside the Osprey, too. (But that’s another saga!)

“Anything else in the pack?”

Remote release. Ever since I got my first view camera, I’ve almost always used a tripod and cable release to damp vibrations while tripping the shutter.  And I love my little Sony wireless remote that talks to the a7rV via Bluetooth. It lets me stand several feet from the camera, giving me a better view of incipient breezes or changing light, and maybe keeping me from casting a shadow, or, sometimes, letting me cast one intentionally—and I can also leave my hand in my jacket pocket on chilly mornings and trip the shutter from inside there. I’m not Mr. Techy, but this is much, much better than a wired cable release!

Filters. In my film-only days, I used to travel with a slew of color-correction filters. But now, since I usually adjust my RAW files in Lightroom and Photoshop, I don’t need filters all that much. I still keep a couple in the bag, including a Breakthrough circular polarizer, which I rarely use, and a Breakthrough 3-stop neutral-density (ND) filter. One added bonus of the 24-105/100-400 combo I sketched above is that both take the same 77mm filters, and my 90mm T/S macro and 50mm T/S do, too. And that allows me to add the lens hood for each lens right on top of the filter…no step-up rings required.

Batteries. I have a pile of identical Sony batteries, and most bounce around in the truck. I usually put one fully-charged spare in the pack in addition to the (hopefully!) fresh one that’s in the camera. They can be a hassle to recharge on the road, but when I need to, I now use a Neewer USB charger, not the stock Sony, and plug that into a compact Jackery power pack that I’ve started carrying for those other little, annoying electronics we all have these days.

Memory cards. I stick with Sony Tough SF-G SD cards. Two live in the camera’s twin card slots, which are set to duplicate the same RAW exposure on both cards—pure backup there. Then I have another pair in the pack (they weigh like nothing). I mostly use 64GB cards. I don’t “run and gun,” or shoot in bursts, so I don’t really need today’s huge-capacity (and hugely expensive) cards, and I actually prefer not to load too many images onto a single set—I’d rather switch them out of the camera at a certain point on a longer trip and stash them.

Odds and ends. I tuck some final stray items here and there in the pack: A microfiber cloth for casual cleaning; some fingerless gloves; a couple packets of hand warmers; lens tissues that I never use; a compact headlamp…and my ever-present viewing card (see “Frame Your World”). Maybe some water, plus a petrified, forgotten Clif bar or Probar. And/or a light jacket. There’s a Giottos rocket air blaster and some lens cleaning fluid back in the truck. I should probably have some sensor swabs there, too, but I don’t.

OK, FWIW, that’s a blow-by-blow of my basic gear lineup—at least for this week!

But after all this, I’d whisper one more time: It’s not really about the stuff, it’s about the seeing. Yes, seek out what gear speaks to and for you—but then just let it go, like a butterfly in the breeze…and get out there!

By Scott Atkinson

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