Tech Thursday: My Updated – Basic System

What is a basic system? If I run to the car to go out and shoot for the day and I’m not sure what I will run into, I need a basic kit that will cover all the bases. I want to shoot wide, medium range, pull subjects in from far away, or crop tighter. I want to make nice portraits with nice out of focus backgrounds, and I definitely want to move in and do close-up to around life size reproduction ratio. I also want to carry as little gear in the smallest package and lowest weight possible and still fulfill those stated goals. As a photographer I’ve spent a lifetime trying to work out this little puzzle. I’ve changed the solution from time to time as new cameras and lenses are released.
As of today, February 17th, 2011 this is my latest answer to the riddle.

For today, my everyday go to FX sensor camera of preference is the D700. I love the D3s and feel it is the single best camera overall, but it weighs a lot more than the D700, which is close to it in performance. The D3s is far better at High ISO low noise, but the D700 works great out to the ranges I need most often. Just for the record, not pictured, I always carry in a separate bag, the new Nikon 7000 DX sensor camera so I can extend the range of all the lenses by a factor of 1.5.
I find the image quality from both of these cameras to be absolutely superb.

So let’s go through the new members of the traveling bag.

(1) The bag is the Lowepro Stealth Reporter AW 400. It’s a great size shoulder bag that when fully loaded with the system pictured above weighs in at only 14 pounds. If I’m flying I will travel with all this plus laptop and hard drives in the Think Tank Airport Security 2.0 or the Lowepro Pro Runner AW X400 for slighter smaller loads of gear. Once on site at assignment where lots of walking is involved I use the Think Tank Component belt system.
(2) Nikon D700 camera body.
(3) Nikon 24-120 AFS VR f4 Nikkor mid range zoom lens. Replaces the 24-70 f 2.8 because it has great range, is slightly lighter, and has VR. It will act as a 36-180 range on the D7000. Even though it is fractionally less sharp than the 24-70, it is still razor sharp. (the 24-70 is the sharpest midrange zoom ever made by Nikon)
(4) A set of automatic Extension tubes for close-up work.
(5) Nikon 16-35 AFS VR f4 Nikkor wide angle zoom lens. In my opinion the sharpest wide angle zoom made today.
(6) Nikon 70-300 AFS VR f4.5-5.6 Nikkor telephoto zoom lens. My favorite long lens in the system because of it’s size, weight, and extraordinary performance. With the D7000 it serves as a 105-450 equivalent focal length lens, in terms of images size.
(7) Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF Nikkor, moderate telephoto lens. I’ve long loved and prefer the 85mm f1.4, but it costs four times as much as this lens and is much heavier and bulkier. The f 1.8 version is super sharp, and much easier to pack, and only 2/3rds of a stop slower. In out and out performance the nod would go to the new 85 F1.4 AFS, but this little fellow will meet my needs fine.
(8) 67mm polarizer to fit the 70-300.
(9-10) 77mm Polarizers to fit the 24-120 and 16-35 lenses.
(1) 77mm Diopter close-up lens for use on the 24-120 (not shown but packed is the Nikon 5T Diopter in 62mm size that can be used on the 70-300 with a 67 to 62 step down ring. As a side note Nikon used to make four extremely high quality diopters, the 3T & 4T (52mm) and the 5T & 6T in (62mm). If you can ever find some buy them up, they are rare and worth the purchase price. My 77mm diopter is not made by Nikon (Nikon has not made a 77mm diopter yet, fingers crossed!, but is of very high quality.
(2) Nikon Remote Electronic Release, Model MC-36.

* Note shown, but always there are: Lens shades for all four lenses, a Swiss Army Knife, Micro Fiber cleaning cloths, lens cleaning swabs, extra batteries, spare memory cards, lens pen, eye drops and Extra Strength Tylenol.

* Also not shown, stored with the backup D7000 body is a Nikon 12-24 AFS f4 lens. Actual combination used to shoot the illustration above.

I own a number of other lenses and accessories for specialized work, but that’s another Tech Someday?!

This exercise may seem a little over the top, but it is an important part of how I work, the less I have to think about ht equipment the more I can think about the image, and after all that is what photography is all about…….

God Bless,

the pilgrim