What’s in my Camera Bag? (2017)
16-55mm F3.5 -5.6 OSS Kit Lens
This lens came with the a6300 and it’s a great little compact lens. I think the focal distance is a little weak for me at a 55mm. It doesn’t feel like true 55mms and almost acts like an optical zoom rather than a true zoom. But it’s the best pancake lens to keep on the body at all times. It’s my go-to lens for when I’m backpacking since it’s compact and takes great photos.
Canon EF Mount to Sony E Mount Fotodiox Adapter
Since I made the splurge to upgrade to the a6300, I did not have the money to spend on upgrading my lenses. So I bought this adapter that maintains autofocus (as best it can, it struggles), so I can use my Canon lenses on my Sony. There are better quality adapters out there like the Metabones adapter (higher price) and there are lower quality (cheaper) adapters that only work in manual focus. This is a solid in-between adapter which works well while I save money for Sony glass.
Tokina 11-16mm F2.8
My Astrophotography/Wide Angle Landscape Lens. I love the crap out of this lens. I was able to buy it half price and it was such an awesome purchase. I’ve had it for about a year now and I’m always amazed at how much I love the results of this F2.8 wide angle lens. Since I’m on a cropped camera the focal length is actually 16- 24mm but it’s been wide enough for outdoor nature shots as well as astrophotography. It’s sharp and the infinity focus is very easy to use for night photography. It’s on the heavier side (1.2lbs), especially with the Adapter, but it’s well worth it to keep in my kit at all times.
Canon 24-105mm F4.0
The first lens that I ever bought for a hefty $50. This was the only lens I brought with me to Havasupai. The portraits on this lens are great but the adapter does not play well with the lens and makes it hard to use on my Sony. I’ve been using this lens less because of this and I think my next big purchase will be to upgrade to a Sony 24 – 70m since it has a similar focal length. The lens is great for close B roll shots and portraits. It’s great to pull focus with for nice depth of field and all the photos that you see in this blog post were shot on this lens.
Peak Design CapturePRO Camera Clip
I cannot stress enough how much I love the crap out of this thing. After borrowing one for a few months, I finally dropped the money to get my own and I haven’t gone anywhere without it. It’s now a necessity item. It’s SO HELPFUL having your camera accessible to you while you’re hiking. If you’re like me, I need both hhands-freeswhen I hike to help climb up boulders or use trekking poles, so being able to put your camera away, in a place that will not likely swing around on a strap, is great. I prefer having the camera on a clip rather than on a strap because it’s not swinging around while I’m walking. Especially for walking around a city. The camera is in front of me and it’s ACCESSIBLE. I love the camera clip size because it’s universal with my tripod and Gorillapod which means I can swap the camera effortlessly between setups without changing plates.
Tripod: Zomei Z699C w/ Ball Mount
Carbon Fiber build, this 4lb tripod is my travel companion when I want a light and durable tripod. I opted to pay the extra for carbon fiber since I wanted the tripod to last me a very long time. Carbon fiber is great at absorbing smaller motions around the tripod and does not get super cold to the touch like aluminum. There are other carbon fiber tripods that are lighter/smaller but the price sky-rockets substantially so it’s not quite worth it at the moment. I think this guy was a great bargain price and it’s quick lock legs are so easy to use. The ball mount is ideal for slow rotating shots or shooting up at the sky. The Tripod can be inverted to shoot up close macro photography or extreme up shots. Bonus: one of the legs can become a monopod.
Gorillapod! w. X Ball Mount
Freaking useful as hell. The Bendy tripod used by YouTubers and backpackers alike. This bendy little lightweight tripod is so useful from vlogging to shooting selfies. I use it as my primary tripod when I don’t want to bring my bigger tripod. The X head ball mount allows me to use the same camera plate size on my tripod and camera clip! This little guy is worth it for the usefulness and lightweight. It’s always with me on any small hike since it’s basically no additional weight for the utmost usefulness.
Intervalometer & Remote Shutter
An Intervalometer is a secondary shutter release that is handy for time-lapses, astrophotography, and setting up shots in far away places. I usually bring my intervalometer and remote as additional shutter releases. This is my fail-safe when technology fails me, and that will happen. They are versatile and cheap to add on to your kit.
The Remote Shutter is mostly used for Astrophotography. I set up the shot and use this little controller so that there are no outside forces acting on my camera while I take long exposures. This is a great little investment to make sure NOTHING is impacting your photo. The wireless range can be limiting at times and that’s when I swap to the Intervalometer.
Filters!
ND filters are where it’s at! Variable and ND Filters. They are a pricey but necessary item for travel photos or videos. You never know what light conditions you’ll find out in the outdoors. Since you want to minimize the amount of gear you bring, Variable ND filters have a multi-functional use case for long exposure sunsets, streaky waterfalls, and low apertures for filming. Plus a variable filter means that you don’t need to bring several different filters. But make sure you’re willing to pay for the good ones since there can be subtleties in the glass that will show up in your photos/videos. What’s the point of paying for good lenses when you’re going to put a cheap glass on top of it? Every piece of glass should be high quality that you see minimal distortion or color changes when added to your lens.
Step Up Rings
One of the savviest tricks I’ve learned this year revolves around using Step Up Rings. When buying filters you don’t want to buy different sets of filters for different mm sizes. Let’s face it, good quality filters are expensive and you don’t want to buy different filters for all your lenses. One way to combat this is to use step-up rings help you to use your larger filters on any mm size lens. These rings screw on to your lens which allows you to take up the mm size on your lens. For example, you can get an 82mm filter onto a 72 mm lens with a 72-77mm ring, then a 77 – 82mm ring. Virtually no weight and lots of versatility. ProTip!
Although my gear lust is never ending, there are a few pieces that I have my eye on for next year. The number 1 thing that’s been on my mind since the moment it was released is the DJI Mavic Pro. I had the pleasure of taking one with me to Iceland and I’ve never been so happy using a product. They’re pricey but the quality image is mint. On the trip, I used the drone to about 5% of its potential and was so pleased with the results. Iceland may have helped with that, but it was a fantastic first-time drone experience. This compact drone shoots 4K, stunning 1080p, and has multiple shooting profiles like log. It’s small and easy to throw in your bag.
Next up will be lenses. I’m really excited about all the new G series lenses that Sony has put out but I’m still hesitant about them since the beautiful F2.8 comes at a heavy price. Compared to their F4.0 equivalents the price difference is substantial. And they’re heavier which is something to consider for someone like me that wants to use these for travel/adventure photography/videography. I’m still undecided on which lens I want but something from this list:
Definitely going to invest in the FE lenses to use on my a6300 and on a Sony full frame camera. The idea is to use the same lenses and spending a fortune only once instead of twice when I upgrade to full frame.
Gear isn’t everything but it’s been very helpful to see what gear is needed to achieve a certain look. This year has been the year of learning and all of the gear above has a place in my kit because it’s helped me learn more about the craft. I’m excited to do another version of this next year! (maybe even a video version 😉 )
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Hopefully, this was useful for you to see the gear I own and where this passion is taking me. Hint, it’s taking me to more expensive gear!
Nimisha
November 2nd, 2017
