5 Things I Always Have In My Camera Bag

Let me start of by saying that I'm a gear nerd. I'm constantly looking at gear online and reading what others have to say. Before I buy any piece of equipment, I generally research and compare products for weeks so I know that I'm getting the best piece of gear that will help me accomplish the job at hand. Also, please understand that I am a college kid and the price of an item plays a big role in my purchasing decision. However, I believe that the 5 items listed below give you the most bang for your buck in terms of price versus quality, and I highly recommend purchasing all of them at some point in your photography career.


Currently I'm a Canon shooter and own the Canon 6D. Some of these products are specific to the Canon system of cameras and lenses, but I'm sure you can find an equivalent piece of equipment for your camera system depending if you're shooting on a Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, or any other type of camera body.

So here it is; my top 5 things that I always have in my camera bag regardless of what I'm photographing:

1. Lens: Canon 85mm f/1.8 ($370)

This lens is probably on my camera body 80% of the time I'm shooting, and for a good reason; it's amazing. Canon's 85mm f/1.8 is fast, quiet, and tack sharp wide open at f/1.8. This is my favorite portrait lens just because of its ability to give me the look I love while saving me a ton of money. Canon also has a more expensive version of this lens that goes for about $1800 and gives you an extra stop of light, but the f/1.8 is 90% of the f/1.2 while costing a fraction of the price. If you'd like to see a comparison of these two 85mm lenses, check out SLR Lounge's video review. So if you're in the market for a new lens, do yourself a favor and buy the 85mm f/1.8.

Shot with the Canon 85mm f/1.8 @ f/2.5

2. Tripod + Monopod: MeFOTO GlobeTrotter (Aluminum) ($206)

Like most beginners, the first tripod I ever purchased was a cheap tripod from a local store that sold camera equipment. I believe I paid about $50 bucks for it at the time and I thought it'd work for a few years, but I was wrong. After owning the tripod for about a month, the head snapped off the center rod (thankfully without by DSLR on it). I ended up fixing it with some part from a local hardware store to make sure that it wouldn't break again. I used my makeshift monopod for awhile until I decided that I was sick of not having something I could stabilize my camera to take landscape photos. That's when I found out about the MeFOTO tripod series via SLR Lounge's review of them on their YouTube page. after doing some research, I decided to buy the GlobeTrotter becuase I felt that it fulfilled my needs. Ever since purchasing this tripod/monopod combo, I haven't looked back. If you need a tripod that is sturdy, light, easy to use in the field, and can be converted into a monopod, go buy the MeFOTO GlobeTrotter.

My MeFOTO GlobeTrotter tripod allows me to compose my shot quickly and take a long exposure without having to worry about the camera moving because it is very sturdy.

3. Speedlight + Transmitter: Yongnuo YN600EX-RT ($120) & Yongnuo YNE3-RT ($80)

Don't get me wrong, I love natural light, but sometimes the sun doesn't like to cooperate with you on a shoot and when that happens, it's nice to have another light source that you can modify to get the shot you want. Speedlights are extremely versatile and are used by many photographers as a way to light their subject without having to be constrained to the time of day they're shooting during. If you can, I highly recommend you purchase a speedlight AND a wireless transmitter that will allow you to take your flash off of your camera to have more flexibility of your light's position. Currently I am using a Yongnuo YN600EX-RT as my primary speedlight & a Yongnuo YNE3-RT as my wireless transmitter. I really like Yongnuo's speedlights becuase they are designed exactly like the Canon speedlights that are 5 times more, and the Yongnuo transmitter can communicate with the Canon version of the 600 series speedlights, so if you decide to upgrade to the name brand speedlight you won't have to purchase another transmitter.

A photo I took with a simple lighting setup of one speedlight on a light stand off to camera left producing a nice side light on the subject.

4. Neutral Density Filter: Syrp 82mm Variable Neatral Density Filter ($165)

Before I go into neutral density filters, I want to recommend that for any filter you buy, make sure that you buy the one with the largest filter diameter that you can and purchase step-up rings for the lenses that you want to use the filter on. WHat this will do is allow you to buy one large filter that you can use on all of your lenses instead of having to buy different size filters for each one of your lenses. Step-up rings are A LOT cheaper than filters, so make sure you keep that in mind when you're buying any kind of filter! Anyway, back to neutral densiy filters...

What a neutral density filter will allow you to do is cut the amount of light that enters your lens (this kind of filter is basically sunglasses for your lens). These filters come in very handy when you're trying to use a slow shutter speed during the day to show motion, but can't becuase there is too much light present to get a proper exposure. There are many types of ND filters that you can buy, but the ones I recommend are the Syrp 82mm Variable ND filter and the Tiffen Variable ND filter. 

Both of these filters will allow you to reduce the amount of light entering your lens by a max of 8 stops, but they're variable so you can also adjust how much light you are reducing. As I said earlier, I highly recommend buying the largest filter you can and then buying step-up rings to attach the filter to your lenses that have a smaller thread diameter than your filter's diameter, so here's my recommendation for a great step-up rings: Sensei Pro Step-Up Rings.

I took this photo right before sunset by downtown Des Moines. In order to make the water look silky smooth while still preserving texture in the clouds, I took one exposure with a fast shutter speed to freeze the clouds and then took another exposure with a slow shutter speed by putting an 8 stop neutral density filter in front of my lens. Both exposures were equal to each other in terms of their histograms, so all I had to do was merge the two exposures in Photoshop.

5. Cleaning Supplies: Giottos Rocket Blaster (~$10) & Zeiss Lens Wipes (~$5)

Lastly, I always keep a couple of cleaning supplies with me inside my camera bag. I'm a big fan of the Giotto's Rocket Blaster to clean my DSLR's mirror when it gets dust inside of it. I think its a good habit to give your mirror a couple shots of air whenever you're switching lenses because it seems like DSLR mirrors are dust magnet. Another thing I like to keep in my bag are Zeiss lens wipes. These things are extremely handy when you don't have anything clean to wipe your lens with and they always make my lens look great after a few seconds.

There it is, my top 5 must have items that I always carry with me. If you have any questions or would like to share your top 5 items that you keep in your camera bag, please leave me a comment!