Camera Nerd Blog ‘O The Week: What’s In My Bag, Concert Edition
I recently had a couple of photo gigs–photographing vintage dolls and doing some promo shots for the very talented Karen and Shawn Galvin of New Music Raleigh–that involved so much gear I elected not to do a “What’s in My Camera Bag?” because the logistics were too tiresome. There was a ThinkTank Airport International bag full of stuff, and THEN lightstands, Alienbees strobes and modifiers, and lighting accessories. Given enough time, I’m sure I could have figured it out, but suffice to say, it was a lot of stuff.
Sometimes (maybe even most times), less is more. In stark contrast to the kit I brought to the previous shoots is the kit I am bringing with me to tonight’s New Music Raleigh performance of Beck’s Song Reader at King’s Barcade in Raleigh. This kit is dictated by the venue and by the lighting I am likely to encounter–i.e., standing-room only and pretty dark. Though I may have access to a very difficult-to-reach upper perch, most of my photographs will likely be taken from down amongst the crowd. I will need to have the full kit on me as I make my way through the crowd, which dictates having a smaller bag and a lighter, smaller kit than I might otherwise bring. Lighting dictates fast zooms or, even better, fast primes, which have the added advantage of generally being smaller and less obtrusive than their zoom peers.
I will note that you should always have a backup camera if you are shooting something professionally. In this case, I will have the 1DmkIII that I used to make this photo, but didn’t picture it because it will likely be left somewhere where I can access it if needed, but it won’t be part of the working kit.
So here’s what I have in the bag (a Tamrac Adventure Messenger 4) and why:
- Canon 5DmarkIII–I elected this body over the 1DmkIII because it is smaller, has better high ISO performance, and has comparably good autofocus. I don’t need super high framerates, weather-sealing, or fast flash sync for the show.
- Canon 24-70 f/2.8L (I have the original version of this lens) — An absolute workhorse lens and likely to do a lot of the heavy lifting tonight. Sometimes I sub a 16-35 f/2.8L here, but I find that the extra reach on the long end is often more valuable than the wideness you lose on the other end.
- Canon 35 f/1.4L — This is one of my favorite lenses, and one of Canon’s best. If the light is really low, and/or I want faster shutter speeds or lower ISOs, a “wide normal” prime will help get me there. Since I should have pretty close access to the stage, this lens is likely to get some action, as well.
- Canon 85 f/1.8 — This lens is tiny and fantastic. I used to have the super sexy 85 f/1.2L, which was a great lens and the king of low-light telephoto primes, but the lesser lens is well-built, has very fast AF, and good sharpness. It is a no-brainer to bring this in place of the cumbersome 70-200 f/2.8L IS. While the zoom would probably work well for this application, it is large, heavy, and more likely to crack concertgoers over the head and block their vision–not good. If I knew I were going to be stuck in one spot, I might bring the zoom, but even then I would seriously consider shooting what I could and cropping the 22mp 5DmkIII images later.
- Extra batteries for the 5DmkIII — I’m not likely to need more than the one in the camera, especially because none of the lenses I’m bringing have image stabilization, but it would be silly not to have a spare, just in case.
- CompactFlash and SD cards — in the standard tough, weatherproof case I like.
- Microfiber cloth — for my glasses as much as the lenses, since the eyepieces tend to get smudges on my glasses while shooting.
