Cleaned my gear

[olivermoss]

So, have a 'what's in my camera bag' post. Just camera phone pics of it. I used to do glamor shots of my gear every few years. It's been ages. I may do like fancy shots at a point.





Very stripped down load-out, I know. But this is all I've got 99% of the time:

* Olympus OMD 5 mii camera

* 45mm prime lens

* 12-100mm zoom lens

* My travel utensil kit with straws, chopsticks, spoon and spork, and also a napkin stolen from Virgin Atlantic (I do have a few so I can switch out when being cleaned)

* Lego Legolas and Lego Gimli with the tiny pouch I keep them in. I almost never pull them out, but they live in my bag.

* My shooting locations notebook with mechanical pencil. I bought the journal at a stationary pop up that is apparently like a big deal? I've had people try pay me to pick up items from them? Also, considering how weird people are about shooting locations, the fact that I've had some of my notes stolen and had a person recreate one of my shoots shot for shot it feels like The Precious. Must keep it secret and safe... even if it's starting to show it's wear

* A composition book and pen

* SPF lip balm. Being without lip sunscreen is the worst. I don't care that I mostly shoot at night these days. My bag will not be without.

* An extra SD card just in case. I've never needed a back up SD card, but I keep hearing horror stories of failed cards so, I carry it.



Close up of the wear and tear on my camera body after all these years. I am proud of how much use it's gotten.



Front of bag. I love my PD camera bag a normal amount. The pin is from Denali National Park.



Back... or is this the front? How does that work with backpacks?

You can't see the Capture Clip, because I stuck my PEN on it. I thought it was better to show what it does than show it. That's were my poor camera just sits for hours in the rain, on my shoulder, two inches below my collarbone.

I aired out the bag today because I keep sticking wet gear in it. I usually leave it open at home, but I opened it all the way up and pulled the dividers for a bit. Bag looks brand new because PD bags refuse to show wear. I bought it in late 2016, use it for photo walks and hiking, and it looks like that.

The prime is ... new-ish? I picked it up in 2019 to, uh, learn portrait photography? Be around people and shoot them? Timing! Everything else is 2016 or older and has seen a lot of use.

I have some other lenses and also another bag that I might shoot separately. But the above is what I've got on all those photowalks. I've been using that set up, or a close variation, for several years.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

Your gear is all in great shape for as much use as it gets, so kudos to you for taking care of it properly!

...someone stealing your notes and recreating your shoot is fucking weird, wtf. It sounds like the photo community is just Like That sometimes, with how weird people get around it... but what the hell.

That is funny about the notebook being a bigger deal than realized. Congrats, lol.

I love that utensil set!

[olivermoss]

People are intense about locations. I've had people flip out on me for not sharing. I walk a lot to have unique galleries. I'm not going to just tell randos where the Wendigo statue is so they can copy my shots... again.

It's United by Blue. I love it. It's so nice to have when out and about.

[mistressofmuses]

Right? People get really weird about that kind of thing. But being really open about locations leads to at the very least copycats, and at worst, vandalism and things like that. (I remember similar weirdness when I was in a few urban ex spaces.)

[olivermoss]

The subject of the shoot really effects how cagey I am about the location. Abandoned buildings? Nope. I don't want people to tag it and burn it down for Insta engagement. Weird yard art? Not with how much I walk to find it. I don't like being cagey about info and share it when I can, but like... it's mostly people with more engagement than me who want to use my work to get more views than I can. Feels bad, yo

[mistressofmuses]

Absolutely understandable. I hate when an interesting location gets "discovered" and then absolutely trashed and destroyed.

And damn right, you work for that shit! If other people want to find it, they can work for it, too!

It's a super shitty feeling to have people try to copy your shit in order to rack up their own views and accolades, to get recognition without doing the work you have.

[falena]

I loved getting a look at your gear! I've always liked 'what's in my bag' memes, it never occurred to me that it can be done with a camera bag, huh, but of course is even more interesting this way!

I'm going to ask a weird question, do you know how much you backpack fully packed weighs? I'm curious. I've got a bad back, which is one of the main hurdles between me getting into photography properly again.

[olivermoss]

My backpack is just shy of 9 pounds with those exact items in it. But lemme give you a bit more of a breakdown.

* My zoom lens is a beast. I actually call it Beast. It weighs over a pound on it's own. Most of my camera gear is very light, as mirrorless tends to be. My PEN body with a smaller prime weights almost nothing.

* My PD backpack is heavier than some other camera bags. It weighs in at a whopping 3.66 pounds. However, it was the only camera bag I could carry after I was in a car accident. I had to use a backpack to even out the weight across my back instead of using a shoulder bag, but most backpacks have the straps at a set angle. PD shoulder straps are jointed and conform to your back. Also, you don't need to take it off to get at your gear. It's meant to constantly, easily convert into a messenger style carry and can open from either side. Most other backpacks make me look like a flailing muppet when trying to access my gear or water bottle. This bag just easily slides into a messenger-carry.

The bag is expensive, all PD stuff is. But it's so comfortable and even across my back it's literally the only bag I could carry for two years after my accident and how I got back into photography. Also, these bags are meant to be very 'buy it for life'. It may be the wrong back for you. You might do better with a lighter and cheaper bag, but I wanted to explain a bit about the bag since I typically spend a year considering a bag or gear purchase.

If you are a giant bag nerd like me here is a 30 minute video on the bag. That's actually the V2 version of the bag, I have the original.

Sorry for the very long reply, hope it helped some :)

[falena]

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation about your backpack, which looks totally awesome, btw, and worth splurging for. I need to have any weight spread evenly across my back too. Hence why I've been using backpacks exclusively since giving birth to my second child (pregnancy and motherhood did a number on my already wonky back). I love the fact that with your backpack you can reach for your gear from the side without taking it off your back. I'm actually very much interested in a 'buy for life' item. Because I'd rather spend more for something high-quality and then have it last forever. For once, I get attached to things, and secondly it's important for the environment, to reduce waste.

So, yeah, I'll definitely keep PD backpacks under consideration.

[olivermoss]

Yay, I'm glad all that was useful. I am a bit of a bag nerd :)