What’s in my bag

I do think that most of the photographers out there like to discuss camera gear and at least implicitly compare the own gear with that of others (although everyone knows you shouldn’t do that). So here is a list of what I carry with me mostly and how it changed over time.

I had times when I owned a lot of equipment for my Canon DSLR and packed it all in a rather large and rather ugly – typically black – camera backpack. But I realised that I rarely used all of the stuff that I carried around and decided to get rid of all the unnecessary weight. I do not even own a camera backpack any more. Instead I replaced it by two different models of the stylish ONA camera bags. By coincidence I own one of these bags in two different colours and just can’t decide which one I like to keep. The two models are of different size and in 90% of the time I use the smaller version. But of course the equipment you own and the amount of gear you carry around heavily depends on the type of photography you are into and how much you can afford money-wise. Often I don’t even take a bag and just grab my Leica. But if you are a sports photographer you certainly have other needs in terms of number of lenses and focal length as someone who is interested in people or street photography.

Please note that all linked equipment just reflects my very personal taste and that these are no affiliate links. I am not making any money with my blog, do not intend to change this and just like to document my personal photographic journey and hope that some other people might be interested in joining me.

Stuff I usually carry with me

My usual setup for the smaller bag is:

• ONA bag “The Bowery” in black/leather or smoke/red
• Leica M (262) with Summarit-M 35mm f 1:2,4 ASPH
• Barber Shop brown leather wrist strap
• Leica Flash SF 40
• Filter stack with circular polariser filter and a set of neutral density filters (ND 0.9, ND 1.8, ND 3.0)
• Extra fully-charged battery
• SD card case with several SanDisk SD cards
• Lightning SD card reader
• Cleaning cloth

Though this is already a minimalist approach I could most of the time even do fine without the flash and the filter stack. If I need to pack an additional lens or other essentials I rely on its bigger brother, the ONA bag “The Berlin II” that was specifically designed for Leica.

In case I just grab my camera I do not always feel fully comfortable only with the wrist strap. Especially if it is supposed to be a longer photowalk it is sometimes more pleasant if you can just hang your camera around the neck and have it ready at any time. I just recently got myself the Peak Design Slide Lite that perfectly satisfies my needs and is versatile enough to be used as a sling, shoulder or neck strap. I think especially the type of strap you chose depends on your personal taste and there are so many beautiful modern and retro designs available in all different types of material.

Nearly as important as the gear that I carry around is what I leave at home and why.

Stuff I leave at home

A laptop is definitely something essential for your post-processing and publishing. But I see no point in carrying it with me when taking photos. Even if I am out the whole day I would not switch it on during a coffee break to have a look at what I captured so far. At least to me this is something I am always doing at home or in the hotel room when I am done for the day. A great but physically little replacement to a laptop is a SD card reader that can be connected to your smartphone.

Tripods can be really useful for certain shots but they automatically add a lot of weight. I currently own two different tripods and in case I might need a tripod I would pack the light Joby GorillaPod (340g), a flexible tripod with a ballhead. If I know for sure that I will make use of the tripod I will pack the Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 that, even though it is made from Carbon, already adds 980g of weight. And honestly: tripods are more useful for city or nature shots but not for street photography.

For outdoor cleaning purposes a regular camera cleaning cloth should be fine. All other cleaning can be done at home, so there is practically no need to carry a cleaning pen, blower or screen protection foil with you. Make sure your camera is in good working shape when you leave home and do the cleaning before picture hunting.

The same is true for a charger: make sure your main and additional battery are fully charged and you do not need to carry the extra 200g. I have no exact figure how many shots are possible with one battery load but so far I never had to worry with two packs. Also I regularly check on the battery level of the flash unit and do not carry extra batteries with me. Normally these should also be easily available in a supermarket nearby.

As I am using the flash unit on the camera and never unleashed there is no need for me to carry the flash stand.

Considering all the equipment that I leave at home I can reduce the weight of my bag by at least 1.700g or up to 2.800g.