In this third (and last) part of the “review” of my photo gear, I’m going to talk to you about a few small gadgets that usually make my (photographic) life easier. And finally, by closing this sort tour of my photo equipment we’ll talk about one of the most essential items of the photographer’s gear: the camera bag.



~Remote release cable

This is a small gadget that you may not use very often, but in certain circumstances, it can be really useful. A remote release is used when you need total stabilization of the camera, so it is used in combination with a tripod. When you’re doing a series of macro shots for example, and you need the camera to be absolutely still and maintain the exact same frame, then a cable release is the only option (since when you’re focusing so close, the slightest movement will change your frame, and this can happen even if you press the release button on the camera body). Or when you’re shooting a landscape, or anything else with a long shutter speed, you need to reduce any vibration of the camera to get a totally sharp image, including the vibrations that your fingers can produce by pressing the shutter speed (in such situations, it’s even better to use the Mirror Lock-Up function too, if your camera has it).



~Cleaning kit

One of the biggest enemies of your equipment is dust. Dust is everywhere, so it’s natural to get on your equipment too. What is important, is to have always clean lenses and of course a clean sensor (for those who use film cameras, you don’t have to worry of course about cleaning any sensors ) Two small things that you must always have in your camera bag is a blower, and a pack of lens cleaning tissues. Get used to clean your lenses with the blower (both the front and the back element) every time you use them, before and after each shooting session, especially if it’s an outdoor shooting. Use the cleaning tissues only when it’s necessary (that is when there’s a lot of dust or dirt on the elements that is not going away with the blower), and of course never touch the elements of a lens with your fingers.

Now for dirty sensors, things are a bit more complicated. What you’re actually cleaning is a filter that is placed in front of the sensor, since sensors are too delicate to be touched with anything! It’s a good habit to clean your sensor with the blower once a week, by using the Mirror Lock-Up for Cleaning function of your camera. Do that by holding the camera with the sensor looking down and by using a full charged battery of course. That way, you’re minimizing the possibility of dust (or any other kind of dirt) to be placed “ermanently” on your sensor. But if that happens (and someday it will happen unfortunately) the only solution is a “deeper” cleaning of the sensor. You can do that by yourself – there are specialized Sensor Cleaning Kits that you can buy in almost every camera store – or if you’re not confident about yourself, it is better to leave the cleaning process to a dedicated service store. It may cost more, but you’ll be sure that your camera will be unharmed.

Except from dust, one other enemy of your equipment can be sea water (for those who are shooting by the beach or seascapes). Sea water contains salt, which can be disastrous for your camera, and especially for your lenses. If your equipment gets wet even with a few drops of sea water, clean the body of your camera with a soft cloth, and wash away the salt from the elements of your lens(es) with a small amount of purified water.




~Camera bag

A camera bag is maybe one of the most important things of your photo gear. No matter how good your equipment collection is (camera bodies, lenses, flashes etc), you’ll never be able to take them out from home safely and well organized unless you own a camera bag!
The bad news is that one camera bag is usually not enough… Not all photoshoots are the same since each one requires different amount of equipment, and while there are times that you’re free to take with you whatever you want, there are also times that you need to move really light.

For the above reasons I own three different camera bags:

-Crumpler Pretty Boy 5500
This is my daily camera bag. It fits an SLR with a mounted prime or short-zoom lens, and there’s also space for a big zoom lens or a flashlight unit (but if you need a bit more of an equipment, you can also squeeze a small prime lens somewhere between). It also has an external front pocket, which will comfortably carry extra batteries, extra memory cards or film, cleaning tissues, filters, a small notepad, and a few other small items too. Or again if you’re desperate for some more equipment, squeeze the batteries and the memory cards/films to the bottom of the pocket, and place a small flashlight or a lightmeter above them.
Although this is actually a small bag, it can really fit more stuff than you can think. I use this bag when I’m just walking around my town (when I do my “hoto-walks”, or when I’m scouting for locations), but I also have used this bag in small trips, when I had to travel really light

-Lowepro NOVA 3 AW
This is my medium photo bag. Again this might seem as a “small” bag, but it can actually fit 2 SLR bodies (with no lens attached), 2-3 small zoom lenses and 2 flashlights. It has an internal small pocket for filters, memory cards, cleaning tissues (or anything else that is small and thin), one small external pocket on the front-top again for the same kind of stuff, one medium pocket on the front for extra batteries, film, and other small bits of equipment and auxiliary stuff, and a pocket on the back that it can fit an A5 sized white/grey card, or your camera manual! Also there are two mesh side pockets, that you can use them for carrying your bottle of water and snack. Yes, you could also fit some equipment over there, but since these are “open” pockets, I wouldn’t do that for any reason.
Finally in the external bottom part of the bag, there’s hidden the All-Weather cover. Strangely enough, it doesn’t cover the whole bag, but it sure will give an extra protection to your equipment when it’s raining or snowing. The only problem with this bag is, that if you overloaded it, is not so comfortable to carry around. It has one padded shoulder strap, but if you feel that your back is getting tired, you just can grab the bag from the handle on the top and rest your shoulder for a while.

-Lowepro Flipside 400 AW
This is a backpack, so you expect that it would fit everything… and it actually does It fits an SLR with a big zoom lens, 3-4 lenses, 2 flashguns, and an extra SLR camera body or a lightmeter. There’s also plenty of room on the front BIG pocket – you can put a medium sized (collapsed) reflector in there, or if you’re not worried about safety, even a small sized laptop! That pocket has also special departments for batteries, film, filters and everything else that is tiny. There’s also a small pocket in the inside department that it can fit a small book, and there are also three small dedicated memory card pockets. On the exterior there are two “open” pockets one at each side (big enough for a bottle of water), a hideaway tripod holder, and at the bottom of the pack there’s again hidden the All Weather cover.
But most of all, this backpack is really comfortable. The shoulder straps are padded, as well as the back part of the pack (the one that is touching your back), and there is also a padded waist belt. With all of these, you can be absolutely sure, that long walks with your equipment on your back can be relaxing and fun!


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That was the “small” review of my photo equipment. Thank you for reading this, I hope that you had some fun. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment!
Alex