Friday, January 23

Essential supplies for a photographic day trip – what's in your bag?

I usually forget one item every time I get on the train for a photographic day trip, so I just made a useful definitive list. It can all fit in a Lowepro Slingshot 100AW bag, with the exception of newspapers, which can be carried in a carrier bag and discarded en route.

Here's the list:

Supplies
– Bottle of tapwater – 500 ml
– Some food, including banana

Medicinal
– Plasters – in case of blisters
– Diarrhoea tablets (any brand) – you can't be too careful, can you?

Camera stuff
– Blower brush – currently lost
– Lens cloth
– Digital SLR (Nikon D90) plus kit zoom
– 28 mm lens
– Spare memory card

Et cetera
– A big pile of really old newspapers that I never got round to looking at. For reading on the train, and useful for creating that mad-person-on-the-train vibe.
– Map (if I have one of the place I'm visiting). Very important – an index of possibilities.
– Mystery item
– MP3 player. Sometimes. I like music but don't like listening to it on headphones, so it’s mainly for emergency use on long journeys; for example if the train carriage is invaded by pissed-up Pompey supporters or someone with an even louder MP3 player.

Footnote. If travelling on First Great Western trains from Weymouth to Bristol, extra equipment is necessary, such as a torch for when the lights fail, extra food in case of delays and, in winter, emergency clothing for when there's no heating. Tools can come in useful when bits of the train fall off, as in my last journey where the door between the two carriages could not be opened as the guard had kept the door handle for safe keeping. Also the one toilet may be out of order for the 2.5 hour trip, so a large bottle can come in handy in emergencies...

I think that's it.

2 comments:

J. Karanka said...

Paul, usually I only use my jacket.

Outer bottom right pocket: Olympus XA, usually with flash attached.

Outer top right pocket: extra flash and filters for the flash (you never know).

Outer bottom left pocket: random stuff, Olympus XA1 or lately Olympus Pen.

Outer top left pocket: spare batteries for flashes.

Inner bottom left pocket: exposed film rolls.

Inner top left pocket: unexposed film rolls. Important small pieces of paper.

Inner right pocket: notepad, book, pen. Sometimes another camera.

On top of that I can always take with me a rucksack with a mamiya rb67, a pentax spotmatic, a spare lens, a flash unit, food, more books. (Rarely the mamiya, though!)

BennehBoy said...

Paracetamol is a useful extra.

At least it is now that I'm also shooting 10x8.

A typical outing includes:

Peli Rolling case containing:
* 10x8 Sinar P2 camera - dismantled.
* 300mm f/5.6 lens (heavy bugger)

extra large laptop bag containing:
* dark cloth
* loupe
* light meter
* spirit level
* Shutter trip device
* filters
* collapsible hood for lens
* various lens cloths
* 5 * 10x8 double dark slide film holders

balanced precariously on peli:
* Sinar Pan/Tilt Head attached to:
* Slik 4 heavy duty tripod

back pain is par for the course.