Your everyday gear?

On the post just below this, I made this comment:

<p><p>

<i>Photography doesn't have to be a goal in mind, such as, "I'm going to this

place today to take pictures." Bringing a camera with you should be as natural

and automatic as taking your car & house keys every time you leave the

house.</i>

<p><p>

Now, I'm curious. How many of you actually carry a camera with you everywhere

(or most everywhere) you go? And if you do, what do you use?

<p><p>

I do, and carry with me a CV R4A with a CV 21mm/4 (usually with HP5+ or Tri-x).

Like many other photographers, I like equipment just about as much as I like photographs taken by them. Lately I have been grabbing a nikon fm3a and 50mm lens on the way out the door. I carry a 20mm lens in my shoulder pack.<div></div>

My D50 and assorted lenses goes every where, My wife calls it my man pack! (She won't let me take it to the mall)

After having missed 2 occasions I bought a Panasonic LS-60 and put it in my coatpocket. Since then I haven't found an occasion to use it. Murphy I guess.

I always try to grab a bag when going out the door. My problem is that I always want to grab too much....just in case. I'd like to pick up a Leica M and a couple lenses to have with me but can't afford it. I picked up a small OM system that serves the purpose for now.

I keep an overhauled Pentax ME super / 50mm 1.7 in my car with some Plus X, PanF, and XX. I also carry a Fuji F10 in my pocket Monday-Friday. (for work)

 

I use the Fuji on VGA mode (as the photos are only E-mailed) and have forgotten to bump the resolution up on a few ocassions. Now I just grab the Pentax.<div></div>

When I was younger I used to have a Nikon FM with a 28 mm lens mounted on the dashboard

of my Jeep with a quick release mount. Now I am carry a 5D with three lenses and a flash in a

backpack.

D200 and 18-200 go with me most places. That lens is too slow for some situations, so depending on the bag, the 30/1.4 or 50/1.8 might be in there, too. And maybe a speedlight. And some batteries. And that ultra-wide, just in case. And, you know, if something really exciting breaks out, the 70-200. And cables and the laptop - you never know. What the heck, the other speedlight, too. And the macro lens. Damn, my back hurts.

 

The worst part is that I'm only partly joking. But I will say that the Crumpler pack I'm using does a great job with the laptop, the camera, and a several odds and ends, lens-wise. Very comfortable, and I frequently just sling it over one shoulder, and look very non-photographer most of the time. There's even room for a donut in there, to make up for the calories I burn carrying the pack.

Widelux FV and some b/w and some color neg film.

 

Or a Nikon point-n-shoot digital if in the car.

 

Or instead of the Nikon, an Olympus weather-resistant Stylus if on the motorcycle instead of the car.

Either a small backpack (an old 16 litre bullet pack from Mountain Eqquipment Co-Op) with an SLR (could be film or digital at a whim), flash & 17-40 or 28-135

 

or

 

a Casio Exilim P700 (nice 7 MP digicam with PASM modes and PC port). Nice and compact but very limiting.

 

I always carry a flash...surprising how much I use it.

 

Cheers! Jay

Matt - Ouch! That is a load!

 

But then again, you never know when something like a rare endangered raptor might cross your sights, so you should also probably pack that 500mm/4 along with the Gitzo 3540 and Wimberley Gimbal head for support. :-)

I usually have a Nikon camera of one sort of another in the car with my digital work cameras. For the past year or so its been my S2 Nikon RF with a 35mm lens with Tri-x in it.

Keith: I'm crazy, but not that crazy. Of course, if could afford that 500mm bird lens and a Gitzo w/ gimbal... nah. In real life, most days that I actually get up from my telecommuting buddha-like position, it's just the body with one lens mounted, another faster lens, and maybe the speedlight. It's a pretty good recipe, since (given my line of work), I'm never without a substantial laptop and other items anyway. I just have to remember to switch shoulders sometimes, to avoid the Quasimodo effect.

I almost never carry my camera with me. I tried for a while. But, for the sort of work I like to do, I was never happy with the results (i.e. I'm sure I might feel differently if I shot 'street'). I found that in the rushed pace of day to day life I never had time to do an interesting subject justice. Or, with my landscape hat on, I found that the fleeting light would be gone before I had stopped, set-up and found a foreground. Over an extended period (6-months to a year and off and on since) I didn't get one portfolio worthy image out of having my camera 'with me'. So, I stopped.

 

I also like to be in a certain psychological space clear of daily thoughts when photographing and I can't turn that on and off instantly. Even when I am interested in photographing people, the city, or the urban environment, I still set aside a day or specific times to do that in and don't work 'on a whim'.

 

But, I'm always thinking and framing and seeing photographically as I go through a day.

When unsure of what I'll be shooting, I put TX or XP2 in a Leica M with a 50 if I'll be outdoors or a 35 if I'll be indoors; if both, then usually the 35.

 

If the Leica is too large, I carry a Contax T2.

 

I used to carry a Minox C all the time. Now that was a camera that could really go anywhere!

When my back pack filled up with "must have lenses" I realized I was packing a real theft prize around in the car, so I left it home and take the Nikon digital P&S everywhere for the odd opportunities. Since the days are getting longer here, there are a few photo opps for some particular low light morning and evening scenes that I won't want to miss, so I'm going to risk carrying my DSLR and lenses around with me to get those shots. When that's accomplished the P&S goes back into the car till I see yet another "can't miss" photo op.

"Now, I'm curious. How many of you actually carry a camera with you everywhere (or most everywhere) you go?"

 

I do.

 

"And if you do, what do you use?"

 

It depends. I always have a small camera w/ TriX, usually the XA2, and either the G6 or FZ30.

I keep a little Canon A540 in the car, carry my 20D/70-300 and 40D/24-105 on the weekends

One more thing I forgot to mention. I almost always have a tripod in my car. Never know

when I have to shoot a sunset. When I go to the bar (pub for some of you) I carry a Canon G9

just in case of something exciting.;-)

Ricoh GR1, usually with HP5. Or a Canon Powershot S70.

Sometimes I take along a lunch-box size padded case that holds 3 digital P & S cameras: Olympus 770SW 7Mpixel, Samsung S730 7Mpixel, and a Samsung S630 6Mpixel. They are so easy to pull out and shoot with, and they dont make you look like a pappa-razzi. :) They can also be used to make on-the-spot video, and the 770SW and S730 can do this after dark with little lighting.

Always. An Olympus XA3 lives in my glovebox.

Almost always. My carry everywhere no matter what is an old Fuji E550. Otherwise, and especially on weekends it's a 30D with a two lens kit and flash.

 

The E550 has a few agrivating faults and I hope to replace it with a G9 in the near future.

Varies a bit, but currently most often Ricoh GRD.

Usually either a Rollei 35 or a Coolpix digital PoS -- er, P&S.