Packing List - Photo "Day-Pack"

My "Day Pack" needed to be comfortable, small, secure, capable of caring needed photo and other items, and provide 15 second-or-less shooting capability. I couldn't find all of these in one pack (...there's a product idea here somewhere), so I had to find the right elements and modify them to fit my needs.

My Photo "Day-Pack" is an "REI Boarding Bag". You can find on REI's website here.

More pictures of my setup are here.

First of all, what to carry:

• Bag - REI Boarding Bag
• Bag Strap - Op/Tech Classic Strap (a neoprene cushion strap)
  (replaced webbing with 1" REI webbing)
• Camera - Nikon D90
• Hakuba LH Camera Grip Hand Strap (a)
• Lens - Nikon 18-200 VR w/B+W UV Haze filter (b) (c)
• Filter - Moose Warm Polarizing filter **
• Lenspen - Large (for cleaning lenses)
• Lenspen - Small (for cleaning viewfinder)
• Microfibre cleaning cloth (for cleaning glasses)
• Prescription reading glasses
• Prescription sun glasses
• Pen (for writing things down)
• SD Cards (5 of them)
• iPhone 3G
• Bandaids
• Chapstick
• Tic-Tacs
• Hat (REI - Outdoor Research "Sun Runner Cap")
• Euro - Small change and smaller bills (say 80 euro max)
  
  ** would carry the Vari-ND filter next time.
  

Wide Angle Option: Add the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X if you want to shoot wide. This was helpful for museums and other venue's where I needed to capture scale.

Low-Light Option: Nikon 35 f/1.8. Very sharp and helpful for places where you can't use flash.

(a) Hand Strap. Hakuba LH Camera Grip Hand Strap here at B&H Photo. The hand-strap is the way to go. Yes, this is a strap for the right-hand even though the product description says "LH". Don't ask me why.

Get rid of the neck-strap! With this setup, I had my hand on the camera, power on, out of the bag and ready to shoot in seconds (2?). It was a breeze to take it in and out of the bag. Walking around with the camera in your hand (which I did alot) is much easier on your neck and sholders than the neck strap. And you are more likely to get the shot because you are ready. Also, you avoid the need to continually "wad" the neck-strap up to put it in some other type of bag.

On our 2nd to last night in Rome we ate a nice 2 1/2 hour dinner on Campo d' Fiori which is a good size public square (normally called a "Piazza"). I had a front row seat to watch all sorts of different camera bag setups, with neckstraps, etc. being used by dozens and dozens and dozens of people. There was no shortage of people walking around with really nice camera gear.
I thought my setup was pretty darn good just based on my experience over the prior 2 weeks. After watching all of those people in the piazza fiddle with their camera bags and gear, I can say that I am 100% certain that this setup is head-and-shoulders above any "normal" setup.

(b) Lens Cap. I took it off at the start of the day and stored it in the bag. With the UV Filter on the front, and the ability to quickly get the camera in and out of the bag, I didn't need the lens cap slowing things down (or getting lost).

(c) Lens Hood. I took Ken Rockwell's advice and left it at home. It's just another impediment to getting your camera into action quickly. I can't say that any of my photo's really suffered for not using it. As a side note, I did see a whole lot of people walking around with their lens hoods revered on their lens and shooting pictures. My theory is that after 8 hours of touring, walking and shooting in the 85F-90F weather, those shooters just decided that it was more bother than it was worth to reverse the hood and take the shot. There were a couple of times I had to use my hand, or someone else's, to shade then lens and prevent flare, but I never regreted not having to carry it around.