Packing Your Camera Bag, Intelligently

I cannot tell you how many times I have stared into my camera bag and pondered whether or not I was taking the right lenses along. My main concerns are:

• Bag weight - How long and how far will I be carrying around my camera bag around while shooting?
• Subject matter - What will I be shooting and is there any lenses or accessories in my bag that I can leave at home? Is there anything that is not in my bag that I need to consider bringing along?
• Length of stay - Will I be away from home and do I need to bring a charger for my camera or flash batteries?

The first bulletpoint topic won't apply to you if you only have one lens. In today's world, consumers having only one general purpose walk-around zoom lens is not abnormal at all. Most advanced amatuers do have a few lenses and if you are obsessed like I am, you have more lenses then will fit into your bag even without a camera body occupying it. If you are shooting indoors at a birthday party or a baby shower for example, a standard zoom will suffice. My "normal" lens is a 28-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor. It's wide enough to use inside but also is long enough to tighten a shot if needed. I would feel comfortable enough bringing strictly this lens and leaving all others at home because it's a great range; a common range that in most circumstances works quite well. If I have never shot at a location previously, I would also consider bringing something even wider. A large group of people in a confined space requires an even wider lens because once you zoom out all of the way, you have to start physically backing up. My goto lens in this circumstance is my 15-30mm. Notice that right now I am not bringing any lens with a focal length longer than 70mm. You just do not need to bring a large lens ( high focal length mm ) with you to an indoor occasion such as a birthday party, etc.

In regards to bag weight, if I know that I will not be lugging around my camera all day, I feel more comfortable packing the bag a bit heavier knowing that I can either set it down somewhere or I can leave it locked securely in my car's trunk. You can now buy bags that are suitcase style and have wheels to make moving your gear around even easier. Most of these feature locks and even cables to secure the bag to a much bigger object so that your gear does not grow legs of it's own and disappear. ThinkTankPhoto offers a great selection of these type of bags. I have always used LowePro for my camera bags. They offer a great selection of sizes and have always built quality products.

There are certainly days where I leave the house and really don't know where I will end up shooting but also don't want an overly heavy bag. On these days, I pack the following:

• Nikon D200 camera body.
• 28-70 f/2.8
• 70-200 f/2.8
• 1 Flash
• Spare Memory Cards
• Camera Connection Kit for my iPad

You might wonder why I am so concerned about bag weight. Early in my photography shooting life, I shot an entire Formula 1 race weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Having not been there before, I brought absolutely everything with me that I could fit into my bag and brought my heavy ass tripod to boot. I had my Nikon D1h body, 3 spare batteries, a very beastly 80-200mm AF-S f/2.8 Nikkor, 28-70mm f/2.8, 15-30mm Sigma, and my 50-500mm Sigma. My inexperience at the time had me switching lenses left and right without learning to use the best aspects of one lens and sticking with it. I enjoyed the fast focusing and quality of the 70-200mm, but the reach of the 50-500 was unparalleled. Did I use the 28-70mm? No. The 15-30mm? No. It was simply dead weight that I got to lug around that ENORMOUS racetrack all day with not a single shot using either of those lenses. Knowing that for the following day, my camera bag was lighter having only brought the 70-200mm and the 50-500mm.

Spending a few minutes thinking about what you will be shooting and which lenses to bring will make your back and shoulders thank you later in the day!

The third bullet point is simple. If you are staying overnight somewhere, pack your camera battery charger and if you plan on using your flash, throw that charger in your overnight bag as well. If you don't use either one, so be it. But if you do need it, you will have it handy.