How do you handle your gears at an event?

[terence_tong1]

Hi,

I am by no mean trying to be a Wedding Photog at my current level but i am

trying to get a feel for how you guys handle your gears during an event; of

which i might apply to myself while shooting my kid at say a public park.

 

My 1st question is, how do you swing 2 cameras with lens attached? For

example, while you are shooting one with wide and need to switch to the other

body with the tele, hung over your neck?

 

2nd question is i am currently using a tamrac adventure back back, very very

useful in my situation over shoulder bag, especially when you have to get down

on all four on the grass. Do you leave your gear unattended ever? if you

cannot (or will not) leave them unattended, you you carry them with you? along

with 2 bodies??

 

Yes, i saw a few threads on belt systems, makes me think of military load

bearing vest (which isn't a bad idea) :D

 

Thanks

TT

[errol young]

I carry 2 D70's on me most of the time. One in a snakk bag with a 50mm 1.8 as a backup and for low light. The other with the kid lens does most of the work with an sb800. Extra cards, cleaning, business cards, ear plugs etc in the small bag.

 

I am thinking of getting a 12-24mm that would be on the second body.

 

Works well for me.

 

Simple. I can concentrate on the shooting.

 

I never leave stuff unatended. Sometimes I take my niece as an assistant to watch over stuff and to shoot kids.

 

Errol

[picturesque]

Many posts re this. See the one below, plus another one I cited on the inside of the thread. Also look at the contribution by E.J. Sadler re a belt holster for the camera.

 

Never leave any gear unattended unless you want it stolen. Just how much gear do you need to photograph your kid at a park? I would think one backpack and 2 bodies on you is plenty.

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Gc8y

[picturesque]

By the way, if you really need to leave a bag unattended, at least consider a product such as the Pac Safe mesh wrap. It would take a thief a while to figure out how to get at the bag with one of these. At least you would slow them down considerably.

 

http://www.pac-safe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=detail&id=11

[annealmasy]

At weddings, we hire an "assistant" whose primary job is really just to keep our gear

organized, at-hand, and SAFE. It's worth $100 to have a college student make sure our stuff

is protected at all times!

[daydreamsart]

The Pac Safe is a good theft deterrent. I have one and I use it at weddings if I'm working alone. You could get a lens through the mesh, though. I have small padlocks on the bag's zipper pulls so a thief would have to cut through the bag to get inside. If the bag is in a public place, then it would be harder for a thief to be inconspicuous. The shooting you're talking about, like of your kid in a public park, I would not lay the bag down. It's easy (at least for me) to get so into the shooting that I forget I even set it down. I did it once. I laid my back pack down and forgot about it. Fortunately, we were the only ones in the park at the time. Now, when I do engagement or senior portrait sessions, I use one camera, flash, and lens (24-70). An extra card or two in a little key ring pouch, and that's it. Everything else is locked up in the car. Works for me! If you look through the archives, you'll find Nadines horror story and others. Never leave your gear unattended.

[todd frederick]

I work very simply: One digital camera, one all purpose lens, a flash bracket, and flash. I keep a back-up system in my bag. I keep all memory cards on my belt in a card pouch. This past weekend I was a wedding guest, not a photographer, and the big studio photographer did exactly the same. He also had an assistant to keep track of the images taken and to watch the equipment. I try to keep everything very simple.

[gerald_donnelly]

I hire an assistant. I also carry most of the gear in 1 Pelican case. It's easier to keep track of that way.

[al_kaplan1]

It was a big hassle years ago when I shot medium format. Maybe that's why they got the name HASSLEblad?... and I carried a Rollieflex TLR as back-up. Now I carry 3 Leica M bodies, usually set up with a 21mm f/3.4 and 35 and 85mm f/2 lenses. Extra film, light meter, a pair of Vivitar 283 flashes with one Stofen Omni-bounce, spare synch cords and batteries all fit in a soft canvas shoulder bag on my left shoulder. One camera is over each shoulder and the third has a couple wraps of the strap around my right wrist where it just hangs when I'm shooting with one of the others. I sometimes do a fast two hands at once lens swap between two bodies if one runs out of film, then reload when the action slows down. I'm sure glad I'm not trying to carry two huge DSLR's with autofocus zoom lenses.

[fotografz]

"How do you handle your gears at an event?"

 

One camera and one lens at a time.

[darrin ballman www.crossl]

"One camera and one lens at a time" - Amen....

"I hire an assistant." - double Amen!

[jmichaelc]

80% of the time either a 50 1.4 or 100 F2 on my camera body and the other in my pocket. Main backup case which contains all the essentials is in best possible secure location. Mobile shoulder bag for lenses/extra camera body is at nearest drop off location which could be anywhere and is usually within 50' or so. Since all my stuff is insured, i really don't worry about leaving my shoulder bag here or there for the sake of not having to drag it around and for the sake of being where i need to be with just a camera body in-hand. I've tried many things in the past and keeping it simple works the best for me. In my other pocket? One 4G CF (Transferred to P2000)and 1 change of 4 rechargable AA's.

[em1310]

My friend is my assistant or when she shoots i am her assistant.

 

and if i dont have her i use my husband.. (he was a body guard for Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi before his IT career).

 

Emily

[iwong]

Last weekend I did a wedding with 3 cameras. One Nikon D200 with 17-55/2.8DX lens on my right shoulder. This is the camera I used most often. Left shoulder is a D50 with a 70-200/2.8VR. This is the camera I used least often. On my neck is a Contax 645AF with a 80/2.0 prime lens, with the add-on battery grip. This camera is most bulky and awkward in shape (due to the prism and battery grip) so it must be worn on the neck and camera towards the front.

 

This is my "outdoor" setting as I don't use external flashes. Extra batteries, memory cards and film are in my pants pockets.

 

If indoors and ext. flash needed, I leave the Contax behind and use the two DSLR's only. The SB-800 is mounted on the D200 and the SB-600 sits in a belt pack on my side. The D50 with the 70-200 will be worn cross-shoulder/neck way with the camera on my left side.