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My Camera Gear 2024 - 2025
My camera gear used to be simple in the early days. One camera with two lenses. As our photography lifestyle evolves, so does our equipment. From cameras, lenses and accessories to our lifestyle behind it, we learn many lessons along the way. Lessons of what gear we need, gear we want and that gear that stays in the camera bag. If it stays in the camera bag for a year and is never used? We already know the answer.
I’m sharing my photography and lifestyle gear favorites below. This includes mirrorless setup, accessories, backups and camera bags.
Please note that these are links taking you to shopping sources where there’s additional product information.
In 2022, I switched from my DSLR to Mirrorless. My first Z lens purchases included the 24-120 and the 100- 400 focal lengths. Over time I replaced older lenses with the new Z lenses. The Z 14-24mm 2.8 was next due to needing a super-wide, big aperture lens especially for night skies.
Just recently, I added my second mirrorless camera, Nikon’s Z8 and the 24-70mm 2.8. The primary reason is a significant amount of my work requires travel. I need to minimize weight, gear and my complete gear now fits into one camera bag.
Additionally, I also need to have a backup in the event of breakage to a given lens. This set of gear completes that criteria.
As many of us carry a backup camera, acquiring two cameras in addition to lenses, adapters, filters, is quite expensive. I continued to keep a backup DSLR minimal set in the event of camera lens breakage. This allowed for a gradual approach to building a backup approach.
The backup DSLR gear set I used (and is going up for sale soon) is also included in the next section.
Previous Backup DSLR Camera Gear
I continued to use my Nikon 500mm telephoto lens with my Z9 so it remained a primary use lens before I acquired the 400 f/4.5 with the 1.4 TC. If issues arose with my mirrorless, the DSLR was ready to go for telephoto .
I kept my trusted backup landscape lens, Nikon’s 24-70 2.8 for my DSLR in my smaller shoulder camera bag. That lens is still awesome today.
Carrying My Gear. Less is More.
Especially when it comes to carrying gear and weight distribution. Plus, when traveling, we need camera bags that offer solid protection and make it easy to carry our gear.
As we hike, pack our campers, SUV’s, room is limited. Bags that hold it all work great for packing, not for hiking. For air and car travel with my mirrorless gear, laptop and external drives, I swear by ThinkTank’s Streetwalker Pro. For my detailed review see: Review of Think Tank Streetwalker Pro. The wheels make it easy to get around. It’s sturdy and easy to carry when it has my basic camera gear.
For hiking, I keep two options. A full-on back pack to carry my camera and a couple of lenses. Or if hiking with a camera with one lens attached, I choose a shoulder bag. Both bags are sturdy and continue to stand the test of time. My Lowepro backpack is revamped with more current options.
The Think Tank shoulder bags and other great options continue to be available in camera shops and at Amazon as well. For pricing, click on the links in the images.