What I Pack –

This is the kit I load at for the Oregon desert, a wedding reception in low light, or a documentary video shoot that needs cinema-grade footage. The work spans stills and motion, digital and film, rented glass and owned bodies. 

I use a lot of used gear. The Nikon D4S and the Canon 5D Mark III bodies are roughly ten years old. I have not adopted modern mirrorless systems from either brand — because the gear I have is professional-grade equipment that still does exactly what I need. The limitation is not budget alone anymore. It is weight, redundancy, and the gap between what I own and what the specific job actually requires.

Some of it is new. Most of it is used. All of it was chosen after years of moving between systems, trying different bodies, and figuring out what I actually like to shoot with. Overall, I prefer Nikon equipment.

Camera Bodies

Nikon D4S

This is the body I reach for when the job is moving, unpredictable, or professionally unforgiving. It is a 2014 flagship DSLR — 16.2 megapixels, 11 frames per second, 51-point autofocus, dual card slots with CompactFlash and XQD. It was built for photojournalists and sports shooters. I use it for weddings, events, and any assignment where I need to hammer out frames without worrying about whether the camera will keep up.

The low-light performance is among the best Nikon has shipped. The battery lasts thousands of frames. The trade-off is weight: the body alone is over 1,300 grams, and after a full day of shooting, you feel it. It is also a DSLR in a mirrorless world, which means I am carrying a system that the industry has largely moved past. I do not care. It works.

Canon 5D Mark III

I bought two of these in the fall of 2018 after selling the Sony A7R. One came from Bend for $1,000 flat — barely used, rubber in fantastic shape, only scuffs on the tripod plate. The other came from a Portland real estate agent who had bought it new for $2,600, shot fewer than 1,900 frames, and decided they wanted a Sony instead. I got it with the box and the receipt for under $1,500.

These bodies are my workhorse pair for family portraits, lifestyle work, and backup coverage at weddings. The 5D Mark III has dual card slots — CompactFlash and SD — which matters for redundancy. The 61-point autofocus is reliable. The 22-megapixel sensor is not the newest, but the files edit cleanly and the color rendering is consistent. I have put more than a thousand frames on each in a single day. The limitation is the 6 fps burst speed, which is fine for portraits but slower than the D4S for action.

Canon EOS C300

This is the video body. I use it for documentary work, interviews, and any project that needs cinema-grade footage. It is a Super 35 cinema camera with Canon Log, built-in ND filters, and XLR audio inputs. It is not a stills camera. It does not go on every trip. When it comes, it is because the job requires motion, like a documentary, not because I want to carry the big bag.

The C300 shares the EF lens mount with the 5D Mark III bodies, which means the same glass works across both systems. That interoperability is why the Canon bodies stay in the kit.

Sony A7R (original) — No Longer Owned

I sold it on eBay to fund the Canon switch. But it is worth mentioning because it taught me what I actually need from a camera. It was 36 megapixels, genuinely strong in low light, and small enough to hike with. It also had a 1.5-to-2-second EVF lag after every shot, autofocus that would hunt and fail even in adequate light, and a battery system so small and power-hungry that I would run through multiple cells on a wedding day. I shot weddings on it and called the lag a mirrorless workflow feature to clients. The sensor was the feature that made me keep i. 

Nikon D3 — No Longer Owned

I bought this used, loved it, and sold it on eBay when I moved to Sony. It was a full-frame professional body that handled everything I threw at it. I returned to shooting Nikon professionally.

Nikon D2H — No Longer Owned

My first professional body, bought on eBay around 2009 for student newspaper work. It was already antiquated when I bought it — a 4.2-megapixel crop-sensor camera that was not even full frame. It had a ton of features and I learned on it for years. I used it until around 2013. It is the camera that taught me how to work with a professional working camera system.

Nikon D40 — No Longer Owned

My first digital camera, bought in 2007. Entry-level DSLR. I sold it years ago. It was where I learned the fundamentals.

Film Bodies: Nikon F4S, Nikon N80, Nikon FG-20

The F4S is a 1990s professional body, the N80 is an autofocus film body, and the FG-20 is a compact manual-focus entry-level camera from 1984. I have shot film across all three. The F4S has unusual battery requirements and the kind of heft that makes you commit to every frame. The FG-20 is light, simple, and runs on button cells.

I bring film bodies on every trip, I keep them because film is still the cheapest entry point into a different way of seeing, and because I have a range of Nikon glass that works with them. I have also looked at Canon EOS film bodies — the EOS-1N from 1994 and the EOS-1V from 2000 — so I could use my EF lenses on film. I have not bought one yet.

Why This Made the Bag

For my work, the main question is not whether a camera wins a specification chart. It is whether it gives me reliable files in the conditions I am actually working in.

The D4S made the bag because it focuses in near-darkness, runs all day on one battery, and has dual card slots that let me sleep after a wedding. The 5D Mark III bodies made the bag because they are dependable, the files are consistent, and the EF lens ecosystem is broad enough that I can find what I need without spending flagship money. The C300 made the bag because some jobs need video, and renting a cinema body for every documentary project is more expensive than owning one if the work is regular enough.

The Sony A7R did not make the bag because reliability matters more than resolution when you are being paid to deliver. The D2H did not make the bag because 4.2 megapixels is no longer enough for most client work. The film bodies did not make the bag for digital jobs, but they did not leave the shelf either.

Lenses

I group lenses by the job they perform, not by brand. I have owned and used glass across Nikon, Sony, and Canon systems, and I rent when the job calls for something I do not own.

Wide and Documentary Lens

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM. I bought this new for about $520 to do real estate photography, where the client needed frames between 17 and 20 millimeters on full frame. It has since become the lens I use for environmental portraits, tight interiors, and any situation where I need context more than compression. It is not the fastest lens at f/4, but it is sharp, weather-sealed, and inexpensive enough that I do not worry about it in the field.

Everyday Zoom

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. I own two copies of this lens — one from Eugene, one from Portland. One is in better condition than the other. The more-used copy has wear that I can feel when racking the zoom, but the optics are still clean. This is the lens that lives on the 5D Mark III for portraits, weddings, and general coverage. At f/2.8 it is fast enough for most reception lighting.

The trade-off is weight: it is a heavy lens to carry on a long hike, and it stays in the car when the day requires more walking than versatility.

Telephoto

I do not own a telephoto that makes sense for daily carry. When I need reach — for bald eagle winter migration, for compressed landscapes, for distant ceremony details — I rent. The rental is about $45 per day, which is easier to justify than a $2,000 purchase for a lens that would stay in the bag on most hikes.

For the D4S, I have rented Nikon telephotos when the job required it. For the Canon bodies, I have considered the EF 70-200mm f/4L USM at around $599, but I have not bought it yet. The f/4 version has no image stabilization, which is a limitation for handheld work, but the price is right.

Portrait Primes

I have accumulated 50mm lenses across multiple systems. The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 was the first good lens I owned — I saved up $150 in college to buy it, and it lived on the D2H for years.

On the Canon side, the EF 50mm f/1.4 is $299 new, and the EF 85mm f/1.8 is also $299. I own both. The 50mm f/1.4 is my go-to for low-light portraits and detail work. The 85mm f/1.8 lives in the bag for tighter headshots and compressed environmental frames.

I have learned that f/1.4 is not always usable — at that aperture, depth of field is so shallow that a subject two inches in front of the focal plane is completely blurred. For group shots or anything where I need more than an eye in focus, I stop down to f/4 or f/5.6 anyway.

Rental Habit

I rent lenses for specific gigs rather than owning everything. This keeps the bag lighter and the overhead lower. A $45 daily rental beats a $2,000 purchase for a lens I might use twice a year.

The Trade-Off

A faster lens is better at night, but a smaller zoom is more useful on a long hike. A telephoto produces stronger compressed frames, but it can stay in the car if the day requires more walking than reach. The decision is always a balance of image options, physical weight, weather, and time.

On most trips, I carry the 24-70mm and one prime. The 17-40mm comes when the job requires wide context. The telephoto stays home unless it is rented for a specific assignment.

Carry System and Protection

I do not use a single dedicated camera backpack for all trips. I have two bags that serve different roles.

Lowepro Magnum 200 AW

A shoulder bag designed for pro DSLR kits. It carries a body with a 70-200mm attached, plus three to four additional lenses. I use this for wedding days and portrait sessions where I need fast access and do not want to kneel to unzip a backpack. The rain flap and locking zippers keep gear dry in light rain. The shoulder strap is padded enough for a full day, but the weight adds up — this is not a bag for long hikes.

Lowepro ProTactic SH 200 AW

A more compact shoulder bag with a FormShell molded top for discrete access. It fits a pro DSLR with a 70-200mm attached, two to three extra lenses, and has a dedicated laptop compartment. I use this for travel assignments and urban shoots where I need to carry a computer and keep the profile low. The MOLLE-style straps let me attach a compact tripod externally.

The Truck Canopy

For landscape and camping trips, the truck is still the primary storage. It leaks in three spots. The check engine light has been on since March. The cooler from the last Alvord trip is still in the back. I organize gear into pouches and grab a smaller bag for the hike, leaving the bulk in the vehicle.

Tripod: Manfrotto

I use a Manfrotto tripod for landscape work, long exposures, and any frame that requires stability. It is not the lightest carbon-fiber travel tripod on the market, but it is rigid enough that I do not worry about wind or vibration. For video work with the C300, the tripod is non-negotiable.

Field Support Kit

The Part of the Kit That Keeps the Photo Trip Going

These items do not make photographs directly, but they protect the ability to keep making photographs.

Sleep System

A 15-degree synthetic sleeping bag. The rating is for survival, not comfort. Actual comfort is closer to 35°F. At 29°F, I am surviving, not sleeping well. I knew the ratings overstate comfort by about 15°F when I bought it, and I bought it anyway because it was $40 cheaper than the zero-degree bag I actually needed.

The ground under the tent is rocks. I wake up at 2:15 and again at 4:10 to re-inflate the mat. It becomes part of the nightly routine. After this trip, I am considering a two-or-three-bag system — stacking two 15-degree bags or adding a foam pad under the inflatable.

Heat and Power

A portable propane heater with a ceramic pad and green canisters. It is legal in fire season and movable a hundred yards out, though I have not moved it in two months. It keeps my fingers working through winter night-sky sessions.

I also carry extra camera batteries and a USB-C power bank. The D4S battery is robust enough that I rarely need a spare on a stills job, but the 5D Mark III bodies and the C300 burn through power faster on long days.

Light

A headlamp with red-light mode for night work. Red light preserves dark adaptation. When I am focusing to infinity in absolute darkness, fumbling past the mark on the focus ring, the red light lets me see the barrel without ruining my night vision.

Navigation and Safety

A paper map — sometimes a gas station receipt from 1998 with pencil additions marking campsites my dad and grandpa knew about. Now I am the one keeping the inheritance. I also use offline maps on a phone, but the paper map does not need a battery.

A small first-aid kit, gaffer tape, and zip ties live in the truck. So does a rain shell and spare socks.

Storage

Memory cards and a portable SSD. The D4S uses XQD and CompactFlash. The 5D Mark III uses CompactFlash and SD. The C300 uses CFast or SD depending on the model. I carry cards organized by body and format. The SSD is for field backup, not primary storage. I do not format a card until the files exist in at least two places.

Software and Backup

The camera gear gets the attention, but the real job is not finished until the files exist in at least two places. My field workflow is built around getting cards copied to a working drive, mirrored to a second drive, and organized before I start editing. A good photo trip can still become a bad business decision if the only copy of the images lives on one card in a camera bag.

Ingest and Organization

I use a date-based folder structure. The names are self-describing: year, month, day, location. Metadata is hard-coded into XMP, IPTC, and EXIF fields, not locked inside a proprietary catalog.

I have used Adobe Lightroom for years, but the fear that drives migration is real: leave the ecosystem and your own captions stop existing. I have experimented with digiKam paired with MariaDB as an open-source alternative, and with Apple Photos, which has been a recurring disappointment. For now, the field ingest happens on a laptop with whatever software is stable that month. The folder structure and the metadata are what matter. The application is replaceable.

Backup

Triple backup in the field. Card to SSD, SSD to second drive, and the second drive stays in the truck while the first comes to the tent. When I return, the files go to a working drive on the Mac Pro, a second local drive, and a cloud tier.

I have used Amazon Photos via Prime as a cheap cloud storage layer, as part of the 3-2-1 philosophy. DNG is my final format for cold storage. I do not rely on Lightroom’s catalog for long-term organization. The catalog is for editing. The folders and metadata are for preservation.

Editing and Delivery

The daily quota is 75 to 100 images if I want to be an effective photographer, which is a lot, and it is probably too much. I do not hit that number in the field. The field is for capture and backup.

The editing happens at home on the Mac Pro, whose fan has not stopped in six days when I am batch-rendering video or converting years of file formats. I use Final Cut Pro for C300 footage and 360 video work. For stills, the editing software changes. The principle does not: edit from the backed-up files, never from the cards.

What I Left Behind

I own more than I carried, and I have sold more than I kept. The Sony A7R is gone — sold on eBay to fund the Canon bodies. The Nikon D3 is gone — sold on eBay when I moved to Sony. The Nikon D2H is gone. The D40 is gone. The Canon film bodies I looked at — the EOS-1N and EOS-1V — never made it into the bag because I have not bought them yet. The 70-200mm f/4L stays on the wish list, not in the kit. The metal detector stays home because this is a photo trip, not a rockhounding trip, though the line between them is thin.

I also left behind the idea that one system is enough. I now shoot Nikon for action and low-light stills, Canon for portraits and video, and I rent what I do not own. That is not ideal for muscle memory — switching between button layouts is one of the hardest parts of changing systems — but it is honest about what each body does well.

Final Reminder

The right kit is the one that lets you stay outside longer, move through the location safely, and make the photographs and films you came for. For one trip, that might mean a D4S, a 24-70mm, and a bag that can take a beating. For another, it may mean a C300, a Manfrotto tripod, and a sound kit. For a third, it may mean one film body, one 50mm prime, and the willingness to wait for the light.