Whats in the kit bag?
I wanted to share with you all my kit list along with how I use each item and its pro’s and con’s. This is all opinion based on the knowledge I’ve accrued over the years. If you have any questions or queries, feel free to ask in the comments at the bottom or drop me an email.
In addition to this kit I do hire other items from time to time for commercial gigs. I am lucky enough to be based in London, so many places to hire equipment, but I often use Fat Llama; a peer-to-peer rental company, you can list your own kit and have people pay you to hire your kit, or you can find most equipment to hire locally from other photographers. Lenses can be as cheap a £10 a day, so in the case I need something special for a job; like a specific macro lens, I’ll hire for the job.
Cameras
Panasonic Lumix S1R
Use: This is my go-to for pretty much all things commercial, its my main camera body. I’ve been using it 6 months now and found very few flaws with it. For me one of the most important things is how the camera feels, the ergonomics, how easy it is to change settings, etc. The S1R feels great in the hand, it feels like a DSLR (and a lot larger than its competing mirrorless bodies, such as Sony). Some may prefer the smaller bodies, but I find they feel odd in the hand and less sturdy. That said for every day life it is a little too large, I can’t swing it on the sounder for a short walk around…well I could but equipped with lenses it is pretty sizeable and weighty…and for that reason I have the Leica Q (below).
Pros: Great ergonomics - feels great in the hand, and easy-to-use (touch) menu system. 47MP sensor, meaning you can take some ridiculously detailed/sharp images, there is even a high resolution mode allowing you to shoot a 187MP image…thats insane! In-body and in-lens stabilisation meaning you can shoot at a 5th of a second, possibly longer if you have a super steady hand, this means you don’t really need a tripod in most instances and can be out shooting into blue hour without any issues. It is built like a tank; fantastic weathering, and I’ve already put it through all kinds of environments. The EVF (electronic view finder) is awesome; coming from an optical view finder (previously I have the Canon 5D mark IV) I guess it can be a little strange when you are used to looking through a mirror, but the EVF allows you to see the exposure in real-time and nail it, every time. The Lumix S1R (and S1) have an EVF resolution of 5.76 million pixels - the sharpest/best on the market, when looking into it your eye can still tell its a screen you’re looking at but it has an insane amount of detail.
Cons: A bit too bulky to use casually/out on the street but not impossible. Continuous AF can make the EVF
Leica Q - Full-Frame Compact Camera; fixed 28mm f1.7
Use: This is my baby, I love it, its a full-frame and small, I can fit in a jacket pocket or throw it in any backpack, its an absolute pleasure to use also and the images it creates (I think down to the lens are just beautiful and flawless)…and looks pretty awesome I think! Whenever I head out I have this with me, if I go hiking i’ll have the Lumix S1R in the bag, and the Leica Q around my neck or shoulder ready to shoot if I don’t have time to take the Lumix out the bag. If I am shooting Events I have this around one shoulder as a 2nd body, and have the Lumix with either the Lumix 50mm f1.4 or Sigma 85mm f1.4.
Pros: It’s small, its full frame, it has a super fast and perfect lens, it’s simple to use, it has a macro setting, it’s EVF is super sharp, and detailed.
Cons: It’s a compact so you can’t change lens, but 28mm f1.7 is good for me, and you can crop in to 35/50mm equivalent in the camera settings.
Lenses
Panasonic Lumix 24-70mm f2.8 S PRO
Use: I tend to use this for commercial work or if i’m out hiking or an adventure. It’s a stellar lens, super sharp corner to corner. I love the range 24mm being pretty wide without too much distortion and 70mm a good crop in, perfect for detail, portraiture or even just bringing the background into the image a bit more.
Pros: Perfect glass, corner to corner; so so so sharp! In-lens stabilisation, when combined with the in-body stabilisation of the S1R, and its awesome ISO really allows you to shoot into low light with no hassle. Good range 24-70mm.
Cons: Not great when shooting fast moving subjects in low-light…for this I would use a prime lens (below)
Panasonic Lumix 50mm f1.4 S PRO
Use: Pretty much portraits and really low light imagery. The bokeh from this is insane. Out of all my lenses this creates the nicest images! It brings to life it’s subjects, no idea what they put inside it but it works hard for you and its the sharpest lens I own!
Pros: Low aperture, super sharp, beautiful and outstanding bokeh.
Cons: One of the most expensive prime lenses on the market.
SIGMA 20mm f1.4 DG
Use: This is my widest lens; I use for a variety of things - basically whenever I need a super wide shot. Landscapes, astrophotography, some architectural shots…but in this instance I usually hire a 16-35mm.
Pros: A wide lens, with a wide aperture meaning you can shoot in very low light; really perfect lens for shooting the stars or blue hour landscapes without a tripod.
Cons: A bulbous lens, meaning you need to buy an additional fitting should you ever wish to use a filter. Also for this same reason it can lead itself to being more exposed and potentially scratched.
SIGMA 85mm f1.4 DG
Use: I do love this lens; incredible bokeh, pretty much all the Sigma Art Lenses are Bokeh beasts. This is a go-to for Portrait photos, I find when taking a headshot the perspective feels very natural; almost how the viewer would see that person should they be there. I use this lens quite a lot when shooting events as well; I find it’s great at bringing the viewer into a scenario; for example if a 3/4 people are chatting and laughing, or one is telling a story; it’s really nice to shoot them between the others in the group or over their shoulder. I will also use this lens commercially for a similar reason. Also in the field when shooting I sometimes use to bring the distance forward; a really good way to create scale and set a scene (depending on the setting I will use the 85 or the 135 (below) for that.
Pros: Dreamy bokeh. Fast lens when shooting at f1.4; super sharp too.
Cons: Heavy (1.1kgs), and bulky; with the lens hood on its 20cm in length
CANON 135mm f2
Use: I usually use both out in the field and at events intermittently when I need that extra bit of reach.
Pros: Light, and fairly small. Fairly affordable now
Cons: Not as fast at f2 (but still faster than a zoom lens :) At the moment I am using a SIGMA Canon to L-Mount lens adapter for this lens and the autofocus isn’t great on this, but I use manual focus for this lens on the S1R which it so precise its not too much of an issue. At some point in the future I’ll look to acquire a L-mount 135mm.
Drone
DJI MAVIC 2 ZOOM
Use: All arial photos and imagery; I chose the Zoom over the Pro as I really liked the idea of the zoom function, as for some aerial images I can zoom into 48mm and take multiple images and stitch them together to make one large image. As it only supports a 12MP sensor this really helps to make a more detailed, larger image.
Pros: Zoom function, offering a photographer a whole new range of angles they could never achieve before. Drones still baffle me; what incredible bits of technology!
Cons: Not as good in low light and a smaller sensor than the Mavic 2 Pro
Film Cameras
I am not a big film photographer but do enjoy it from time to time, and something I want to pursue further. I have these two film cameras that I can use together; the Konica 50mm f1.4 - great in low light, and incredible bokeh, and the Olympus 35mm f2.8. They’re just a bit of fun!
KONICA S2 - Compact Camera, 50mm f1.4
OLYMPUS OM-1, 35mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4
Storage
STORAGE SET-UP:
WESTERN DIGITAL - MY BOOK 12TB
The mothership, my main storage, all photos from 2011 are on here, and give me access to everything I’ve ever shot. RAW files from events (not weddings) are deleted after a few years to ease up a bit of space, but otherwise all is here. It’s fairly full so probably need to re-think this before the end of 2020.
WESTERN DIGITAL - MY PASSPORT (Various Sizes) X4
I have always used WD Passports, and (touching wood) they have never failed me; the only hard drive to have failed me was a Seagate in 2018. I keep one of these with all my essential projects and images at my parents house, then I have 2 that are full; covering 2011 - end of 2018. Then the one I currently use with all of 2019, and 2020 on. I take this with me in a case on all my trips, and backup as I shoot, usually at the end of each day if I can, leaving the images on the memory cards as well. When I get back to my house I back-up the WD PASSPORT to the WD BOOK.
GOOGLE DRIVE
Full of all files; personal and business, no (very few) photos.
DROPBOX
Full of images; I do categorise into projects/trips, sometime I store RAW images, but most of the time it is just final edits of JPEGs.
Flash System
GODOX TTL XPRO
A wireless trigger that attached to the hot-shoe of your camera and allows for my camera body to communicate with both TT685’s and AD360 (below)
GODOX TT685 (X2)
2 speedlite flashes I use; sometimes I use one on the hot-shoe in an event, sometimes I use both remotely using the trigger; maybe in a portrait or a product shoot, they actually create a surprisingly large amount of the light; if used with a good softbox you can create some really beautiful soft light portraits.
GODOX AD360TT
This is a little larger in size and power; I tend to use for portraiture shoots as it creates a lot more light, and can use in a larger softbox. It fits inbetween a speedlite and a studio flash.
SOFTBOXES: 100cm Octobox, 70cm Octobox, 50cm Octobox
I love the soft light the 100cm Octobox creates when using it with the GODOX AD360. A real premium portraiture look. The 70cm Octobox with a Speedlight in the ring also creates nice light, I take this set up travelling sometimes if I plan to take a few portraits, it can be a real space-saver set up, the oxtobox folds down to a 40cm tube, and a ring, then the flash is the size of a lens.