Page 3 of 12 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 117

Thread: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

  1. #21
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    6,286

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    Cold-weather gloves
    Lunch
    Money for coffee
    Cigarettes

  2. #22
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    Fond du Lac, WI, USA
    Posts
    8,944

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    Like someone else mentioned, a light of some kind is very useful. For example, if you're photographing in a cathedral, focusing can be hard. I use a small mag light. If you set the light in the scene, you can focus on it. I've also heard that a laser pointer can be useful in such situations by focusing on the dot, but I haven't tried it.

    I have a viewing frame, which is much faster to use than looking through the camera for compositions. It has a string with knots commensurate with the hyper-focal distance of my various lenses at f22.

    I have a chart for focusing based on the distance needed to change the standards to get both the nearest and farthest scene elements in focus.
    There's also a reciprocity chart for the film I use.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  3. #23

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    Oregon now (formerly Austria)
    Posts
    3,392

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    I've got my kit divided into two parts. One is the kit I carry in the field, the other is a bag and cooler that lives in my 4x4 and has lots of spare parts, etc. You will see from the list that I like to be away from civilization for long periods :-)

    In the field, in addition to camera, holders, filters, tripod and meter, I always have:

    a small flashlight plus an LED light or two (good for hiking out after sunset...)
    a small roll of gaffers tape
    a dentist's mirror for checking the camera levels when the camera is set up too high
    a pair of 40 inch shoelaces for tying back trees, etc. or replacing one on my hiking boots
    a pair of polypropylene liner gloves (for cold weather camera adjustments)
    a pair of roofers gloves when I'm canyoning for sharp rocks (usually on my hands)
    a notebook with exposure records, bellows ext. factors, reciprocity adjustments, etc.
    a handheld GPS (I got lost once at sunset and almost had to spend the night in the high desert in winter... since then, I make a way point for "car" or "camp" so I can find my way back. I have a tendency not to keep track of where I'm going when photographing.)
    a Swiss Army knife with screwdrivers and corkscrew (for back at camp...)
    a large black plastic garbage bag
    a homemade waterproof nylon drawstring bag that fits over my camera, can be filled with rocks/sand and used as a tripod anchor or, in a pinch, a collapsible bucket.
    a homemade darkcloth made with white Gore-Tex on the outside, which is big enough to function as a poncho in an emergency and sure nice to toss over the camera when that unexpected breaker hits the rocks just below you.
    10x loupe
    a Ziploc-type bag with an extra cable release, spirit level, extra magnifier (a flat one in a leather cover in case I lose the loupe), string, a flat shutter ring wrench and twist ties
    microfiber cloth for lens cleaning
    a (now hard-to-find) Voss folding filter holder/lens shade
    business cards
    4.0 diopter reading glasses, clip on, for focussing
    clip-on sunglasses (for when I'm not focussing)
    I also usually wear a large white bandanna and a cap, which function as everything from lens shade and emergency dressing to their intended functions.
    a homemade collapsible cover that just fits over the end of a film holder. This was cobbled together from black Kodak film boxes and goes over the end of the inserted filmholder after the darkslide has been pulled to keep the light out. I also use my hat and darkcloth for this, but for shots where I have to wait a long time for the exact right moment for the wind, etc. to stop moving and need the darkslide out for a longer time, this really does the job well (and doesn't flap around or blow off).
    Oh, and one pocket of my photo vest has a few interesting sea shells I've collected. I especially like these in the desert :-)

    This isn't really a lot to carry. The items are small and most fit into pockets on my vest. My entire kit (5 lenses) fits in a fanny pack, short fly-fishing vest and over the shoulder film pouch and weighs in a less than 25 pounds (I think).

    My in-car kit contains:
    an extra light meter and meter batteries
    extra tripod leg-locks and tripod head lock knobs/screws
    adhesive nylon patch material
    duct tape, gaffers tape and masking tape
    more flashlights (mini-mags)
    extra exposure records, paper punch, scissors
    extra notebook with extension factors and recip. info (in case I lose my other)
    the lenses I'm not carrying (I make some decisions before I set out)
    more cable releases
    extra dark slides
    extra film holders and film (in a cooler, for extended trips I take 50 holders)
    Mido holders and clamshell (for extended, lightweight hikes)
    blower brush
    extra 10x loupe
    jeweler's screwdrivers
    miscellaneous other junk that I can't recall now...
    extra tripod and head (I lost one once and had to make a long trip to buy another...)
    I now carry a second field camera as well, with more extension for shorter hikes or close-to-the-car shots requiring longer lenses.
    I often toss a couple of portfolio cases into the car for road trips as well, just in case.

    I don't use all this stuff often, but, all of it is there for a reason, usually because I've needed something at one time or another and then stocked up so I didn't have to put up with a missing tripod head knob or the like in the future.

    Heroique: Good thread!

    Best,

    Doremus Scudder

  4. #24
    Brett Simison bsimison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Middlebury, Vermont, United States
    Posts
    247

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    A few non-photographic items that always live in my camera bag:

    - LED headlamp
    - 500ml water bottle
    - Compass, sometimes a GPS...but always the compass
    - Ibuprofen (regular and "PM" varieties), Imodium, and Benadryl tablets
    - A few assorted adhesive bandages
    - Bandanna
    - FotoSharp.com waterproof camera cover
    - Microfiber lens cloth
    - GoreTex lightweight raincoat

    The rest of the gear changes according to the demands of the situation.

  5. #25
    Preston Birdwell
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Columbia, CA
    Posts
    1,587

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    Small sticky notes to flag the transition on ND Grad filters.
    Piece of twine
    Small penlight
    Black trash bag
    Grey card
    Extra light meter battery
    The bellows extension factor tool mentioned on the LF Info site
    Hyperfocal distance chart
    Reciprocity data chart
    Microfiber lens cloth
    Matches
    and...last, but certainly not least...
    Toilet paper

    Depending on where I'm going, how far and...
    Topo map and compass
    First aid kit
    Extra food and water, and a water filter.

    Lots of good ideas in this thread!

    --P
    Preston-Columbia CA

    "If you want nice fresh oats, you have to pay a fair price. If you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through the horse; that comes a little cheaper."

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Dec 1997
    Location
    Baraboo, Wisconsin
    Posts
    7,697

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    One of those things you attach to the stems of eye glasses so they hang around your neck. Without it I have to hold my eye glasses between my teeth when I get under the dark cloth to look at the ground glass.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  7. #27
    Vaughn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Humboldt County, CA
    Posts
    9,206

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Ellis View Post
    One of those things you attach to the stems of eye glasses so they hang around your neck. Without it I have to hold my eye glasses between my teeth when I get under the dark cloth to look at the ground glass.
    Good idea. One of these days I am going to drop my glasses and lose them down a cliff or something. It will be an interesting walk out of the hills if I do!

    Perhaps a spare set of glasses is something I should add to my list of things to bring. I can make a pinhole using my thumbs and two fingers and get some focus that way in an emergency. I have done that to find my way back to my towel after body-surfing. I suppose I could carry the 8x10 set up with a lens on it, and look thru the camera to find my way out, but that would be a bit awkward (and confusing.)

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    1,176

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    A super bright pen-sized LED flashlight, much brighter than conventional flashlights with D batteries and even smaller than a mini-maglight. If you are still using "old tech" flashlights, it is worth the upgrade. Mine has a dim and bright setting. The dim setting is perfect for looking at lens settings. The bright setting is perfect for shining out onto railings or anything else that I want to make sure is NOT in my city night shots in the corner of the frames.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings View Post
    National Park Service photography rules, for the benefit of over-zealous rangers who don't know their own rules.
    Along the same lines, a copy of an email exchange I had with the New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting saying that it is perfectly OK to use my large format camera on a tripod without a permit.

  9. #29
    Louie Powell's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Saratoga Springs, NY
    Posts
    865

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    A small plastic "A" clamp - used to attach a darkcloth to the camera so that it can shade the back during an exposure in bright sun that might otherwise cause a light leak around the holder that could fog the film.

  10. #30
    Dave Karp
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    2,960

    Re: Useful items in your bag (that other smart photographers forget)

    Pretty complete lists above. Learned some new things. I love this forum.

    A couple of additions.

    I have a pair of progressive glasses with the distance vision way at the top (so I have to tip my head down to see far away. This puts the close up portion of the lens close enough so I can comfortably work up near the camera and use my glasses to focus on the GG. I just switch them for my regular glasses (most of the time) when I pack up and move on. I read on this forum years ago that some people flip the progressives so that the distance is on the bottom and the close up is on the top.

    A much less expensive device is one of those paper holders that you attach to your computer monitor. It has two clamps, one on each end, and a flexible arm in between. I use it by clamping one end to the front standard and using the other to hold my small gray card. Then I maneuver it to block light from hitting my lens.

Similar Threads

  1. Photoshop for (LF) Photographers
    By Danny Burk in forum Announcements
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 26-Apr-2009, 14:16
  2. Night for Emerging Photographers at Project Basho
    By Tsuyoshi in forum Announcements
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 17-Sep-2008, 15:06
  3. View Camera Magazine suggestions?
    By Micah Marty in forum Resources
    Replies: 88
    Last Post: 15-Jul-2008, 11:32
  4. Bag bellows versus recessed lens board
    By Scott Kathe in forum Lenses & Lens Accessories
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 15-Dec-2007, 11:54
  5. Historical Photographers
    By William Lindley in forum On Photography
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 28-Feb-2000, 15:32

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •