Some images of the gear I’ll be taking and how it’s all packed. I think I’ve swapped bags two-three times now but I believe this will be the final configuration. Keep in mind this is a 10-day ROAD trip except for three days when I’ll be on a boat and an island. So, for those three days, since there is no electric all the chargers and other stuff in the red pouch and probably the laptop stays in the car or on the mainland hotel room. The camera gear, and one of the drives, probably the primary, will come with me in addition to all my gear and food I’ll need for three days.
Next year, I’ll be spending several weeks in Alaska. That will require a flight I’m guessing that I’ll probably ship via UPS most of my gear including the tripods and clothing, and only take on board the aircraft the camera gear. I did this the last time I was shooting out in the Southwest and it worked out perfectly!
On a quick note I do plan to post images here daily except for the three days when i won’t have any cell, or wi-fi service. In addition I’m thinking about showing which lens was used on that day. Of course these will be gross numbers at first, not based on keepers just total shutter presses.
PLEASE PARDON THE IPHONE IMAGES. NOT SHOWN: Stack of Business cards!
The Bag that I’ve decided to take as the primary carry-all camera gear bag: the Gootium 21218 Canvas & Leather Cross Body Messenger from Amazon. $29.99US. ONE OF THE BEST BAGS I’VE EVER CARRIED CAMERA GEAR IN PERIOD! So many pockets and nooks and crannies I love this thing! It has SIX, count ’em SIX outside pockets! Each one has a purpose which I’ll demonstrate as we go through the gear.Outside Pocket ONE. Not closable. Giotto Blower, Flashlight (Torch for our overseas friends) Rotroring Pen. Deep Inside: Tripod Plate. Moleskin Notebook. Fuji RR90 Remote. Right next to this pocket, Pocket TWO I keep my Tiffen Filter Pouch which I’ll break down in another image further down.Pockets THREE AND FOUR: These close with a tab. Here, I keep those items that I won’t be accessing on a regular basis. In my case: Thinktank SD/CF Card holder with 394Gigs of 32 and 16G cards in pocket #3. In Pocket #4, four extra batteries in a Thinktank battery pouch. Again since I don’t have to access these items as much as the others the pockets will be clasped shut.Inside the bag, in order to give it some structure, is another Amazon Item – the Jill-E Design #340993 Camera bag Insert in Black with three dividers (it comes with more) And yes it’s filthy with sand, and dirt. It needs a vacuuming out. Inside is a zippered pocket that will hold wallet, keys, phone whatever you can throw in there.Clockwise: Rotring Pen & Moleskin Notebook. Zeiss 12mm F2.8 no lens shade. Fuji 35mm F1.4 w custom lens hood. Giotto Blower. Pen camel Hair Brush. Tiffen Filter Pouch (open) with two Polarizers in top pockets. Bottom two pockets contain step-up rings to bring ALL lenses up to my 77mm filter size. 77mm Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer. Tiffen 3-stop ND filter, B+W 10 Stop ND filter. Think tank SD/CF card holder with 394G of SD Cards. Four spare batteries. Fuji X-T1 with the 18-55 lens and custom lens shade. Fuji 55-200 with custom shade. 23mm F1.4 with custom shade. 16mm 1.4 no lens shade. Sirius Tripod Plate for full-size tripod. Also packed a smaller plate for my folding travel sirius tripod. Fuji RR90 RemoteCamera and Lenses left to right: Zeiss Touit 12mm 2.8. Fuji 16mm 1.4. 23mm F1.4. 35mm 1.4. 55-200. X-T1 with the 18-55 lens. Yes, that is a Nikon lens cap on the 18-55. I go through lenscaps all the time so I buy them by the pound. I don’t care what it says on the front. Whatever is cheap. All the lens shades/hoods are custom. They are all screw-on, and the lenscaps all fit.The loaded messenger bag zippered and buttoned down for travel. Again: this bag is amazing. I’ve owned it for two/three years now and it goes with me wherever I travel. At each end of the bag are two more pockets. Number FIVE and SIX. Pocket Five – which clasps shut securely contains my Zeiss 12mm F2.8, and Pocket Six contains the 16mm F1.4. Inside are the rest of the lenses and the X-T1 with my go-to lens, the 18-55This Lowepro Exchange Messenger Bag has three dividers. It’s very deceiving as it also has very slim pockets on the outside – and one of them has a zipper for car keys, documents, etc. I am folding this bag up and taking it in my luggage as a bag I’ll use when I want to walk around and travel light with the camera and a couple of lenses. This bag is from Amazon, though currently unavailable I think it was like $30.00Ditto. Same as above. It has the two squeeze clasps for the top lid that covers everything including the outside pockets. Very inconspicuous.In a separate medium size LL Bean pouch – which is water resistant outside, and soft thick protective sheepskin inside I carry the following Two USB3.0 Cables. AData 1TB Travel Backup Drive. AData 1TB Travel Primary Drive. iPad SD card Apple connector (may stay behind if I don’t take the iPad) Cigarette lighter adapter for the Wasabi Battery chargers. Wall plug with two USB ports for phones and other use. Phone charger cable – this in addition to the one I keep in my car to charge on the road. SD/CF LExar USB3.0 card reader. Two Wasabi Battery chargers. 11.6″ Macbook Air, 256SSD, 16G, with identical software that I have on my desktop and other laptop. I also have presets that upon importing images from the SD cards they go to the primary external HD. At the same time, a duplicate copy is placed on the backup drive. One drive will always be with me at all times, the backup will remain in the vehicle, or the hotel safe. The MacAir has an identical pouch but larger for it to fit in.
Well I use to own 14 different bags. This brown/green Amazon find is freakin’ amazing! I gave up all my bags even my Retrospective 7, 10, and 20 for this, and the LowePro.
Thank’s for this post. I’m currently looking for some filters for my X-T1’s lenses (Samyang 12, xf 23 and xf 90). I think buying one polarizing and one 10x stops that fits the largest filter size thread of the lenses, but I’m afraid that the filters would create some vignetting. Also what do you think of slim filters models?
Thank’s a lot for your answer,
Stéphane
Hi Stephane, Thank you for commenting. I do in fact use the 77mm step up rings. I use a 67mm to 77mm step ring with a regular polarizer – not even a slim polarizer and I’ve had no vignetting. As proof, this image here was taken with the Zeiss 12mm and a regular polarizer. No vignetting. It’s always a safer to go with a “thin”filter if you can, but I have both and neither gives me any issues.
Thank you for your feed back, I may finally also take a bigger filter size in order to avoid any shades, especially if I wanted to stack filters together… Anyways thank’s for your blog, and good continuation.
Stéphane
Stephane,
If you are going to stack filters (which is almost never a good idea with wide-angle lenses) then you do need to try for thinner filters, as well as “thinner” step up rings. I own a couple of step up rings that are the same diameter but the thickness of one is much more so than the other. But if you go to larger (and more expensive) filter sizes than 77 then you may not have a problem
Take care, and thank you
Adventures with the Fuji X System 
I’ve been in search of a good bag – this was a nice find, thanks.
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Well I use to own 14 different bags. This brown/green Amazon find is freakin’ amazing! I gave up all my bags even my Retrospective 7, 10, and 20 for this, and the LowePro.
Thanks!
J
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Hello Jorge,
Thank’s for this post. I’m currently looking for some filters for my X-T1’s lenses (Samyang 12, xf 23 and xf 90). I think buying one polarizing and one 10x stops that fits the largest filter size thread of the lenses, but I’m afraid that the filters would create some vignetting. Also what do you think of slim filters models?
Thank’s a lot for your answer,
Stéphane
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Hi Stephane, Thank you for commenting. I do in fact use the 77mm step up rings. I use a 67mm to 77mm step ring with a regular polarizer – not even a slim polarizer and I’ve had no vignetting. As proof, this image here was taken with the Zeiss 12mm and a regular polarizer. No vignetting. It’s always a safer to go with a “thin”filter if you can, but I have both and neither gives me any issues.
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Thank you for your feed back, I may finally also take a bigger filter size in order to avoid any shades, especially if I wanted to stack filters together… Anyways thank’s for your blog, and good continuation.
Stéphane
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Stephane,
If you are going to stack filters (which is almost never a good idea with wide-angle lenses) then you do need to try for thinner filters, as well as “thinner” step up rings. I own a couple of step up rings that are the same diameter but the thickness of one is much more so than the other. But if you go to larger (and more expensive) filter sizes than 77 then you may not have a problem
Take care, and thank you
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