I often get asked what’s in my camera bag.   This is difficult because I carry a lot.  Sure, birds are my primary focus.  But, I’m also interested in several other things.  For example, I like shoot in the studio.  Mostly desktop stuff like the image in this article, but portraits also come to mind.  Other areas include sports, flowers, scenery, and general wildlife.  Clearly, I need to cover a lot of bases.

Methodology

Because of this, I started looking at my system as a whole, rather than a group of significant pieces.  This reduced the number if items that were needed.  But it meant thinking very carefully about each purchase, and getting the most bang-for-the-buck as possible.  As you might imagine, this is difficult.  You loose a lot of opportunity, and flexibility, until you have everything.

Camera Body

This piece is the main component in any camera bag.  I chose Sony for a number of reasons.  Most importantly, it was compatible with my existing Minolta lenses.  But it was also readily available, compatible with my father’s existing equipment, and it was digital.  A no-brainer really.  Here are the pieces I currently own:

• Sony A900 Camera Body (2 because I have a backup)
• Sony VG-C90AM Vertical Grip (2 because I have a backup as well)
• Info-Lithium Camera Batteries (8, 4 for each vertical grip)
• Sekonic L-758DR Light Meter (I don’t use this much anymore as the camera’s light meter is very accurate)
• Sony GPS-CS1
• Sony FA-CC1AM Off-Camera Cable
• Sandisk Extreme III CF Cards

Lenses

The range I wanted to cover in lenses was significant, from extreme wide-angle to long telephoto, given my areas of interest.  As for the numbers, this meant approximately 15mm to 600mm.  Please note that this is actual glass, unmodified (which I’ll talk about in a moment).  The result was the following choices:

• Sony (Zeiss) 16-35mm f/2.8 Lens
• Sony (Zeiss) 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens
• Sony (G) 70-200mm f/2.8 Lens
• Sony 300mm f/2.8 Lens
• Minolta 600mm f/4.0 Lens
• Drop-in Circular Polarizer
• 77mm Circular Polarizer (2 because I often use 2 lenses at once)

In term of modifying my lenses, I want top-quality or no optical affect.  Sony is the obvious choice.  But, Sony doesn’t make extension tubes, hence the Kenko tubes.  They have no optical elements, and as such, have been fine so far.  Here is the list:

• Sony 2X Teleconverter
• Sony 1.4X Teleconverter
• Kenko Extension Tubes 12mm, 20mm, and 36mm

Please note that some of these items can be used with lenses you’d expect, and other can’t.  For example, the 2X teleconverter can’t used (with full features) on the 600mm lens as the autofocus won’t work on f8 and above.  And it doesn’t work at all with the 16-35mm or the 24-70mm.

Flash

You might be surprised to note that I shoot with a flash about 75% of the time.  This is surprising until you realize that I always use a flash for birds.  They aren’t bothered by them like regular animals are, and it produces the catch-lights in their eyes.  My items:

• Sony HLV-F58AM Flash (2 because I often use 2 front lights and 1 rear)
• Really Right Stuff Flash Bracket
• Better Beamer Fresnel Lens & Brackets (makes the flash go farther, and saves battery power)

The Remaining Items

In addition, I carry in my camera bag tripods and monopods from Gitzo, reflectors, diffusors, camouflage clothing, computers, and printers (I’ll talk more about these in part 2).  At times, it seems like the list never ends!

Conclusion

The thing to remember is that you don’t have to get all of this to be successful.  In fact, I recommend against it.  Start modestly, and add new items as your interests, and style, develop.