What equiptment do you find essential?

[stone_family3]

I'm starting to build a decent size arsenal and am looking for some suggestions.

When going out to shoot in general what equipment do you take other than your camera?

What do you recommend for a newb to have?

 

[white]

50 or 28 mm prime and flash.

 

[bigtwinky]

Depends on what you are shooting

Portraits? 50-150mm focal range lenses (whatever ones I have that fall in there), flash, way to get flash off camera, flash diffuser

Landscapes? wide angle lens(es), shutter release, tripod, polarizing filter, ND filters

Sports? standard telephoto (24-100), telephoto and super telephoto (70-200, 300+), lots of memory cards, monopod

In all cases, I guess I always have extra batteries, memory cards, a bag, uv filters / lens hoods...

Really, it depends on what you shoot.

In terms of budget, put more money to lenses than to your camera body. You can do great photos with a basic body and pro lenses compared to crap lenses and a good/pro body.

 

[Derrel]

Going out to shoot "in general" is awfully vague and broad...it's so broad that giving a specific answer is almost impossible. There are so many types of photography that the answers are going to be very different; if you're going to be shooting landscapes, I think a tripod is absolutely essential, but at many stadiums, tripods are not allowed at field level, or anywhere but the press box area. Equipment other than the camera??? Sometimes a monopod, with a heavy long lens. A monopod is a big help on lengthy shoots that last 2,3,4 hours. I like to have a good,clean microfiber cleaning cloth with me in a plastic bag, and plenty of CF cards.

For a "newb" I think a circular polarizer is a nice accessory to have for many outdoor shooting situations. It really depends...for people work a reflector is a great accessory, for nature work extension tubes are a great accessory, and for many things a quality flash unit is a nice accessory to have.

 

[Overread]

Derral and Twinky had really summed up the major point that what and how you shoot (Even when generalist) really does help to craft what ends up in your bag and why - its easy when you start to just take it all (because your bag is not that full or heavy) but after a while you slowly start to have to choose what to take and what not depending on what sort of shooting one will be doing.

I'd say of everything a good flash of the camera makers brand (eg a cnaon or nikon flash) is something that can sit in almost any photographers bag and (with practice and understanding) be usefull in almost any area of photography.

 

[ghache]

my eyes

 

[bigtwinky]

A good pair of eyes, so get yours checked every year!

This public service announcement was brought to you by the letters B and T

 

[Hardrock]

All my equipment fits in my backpack so I always bring everything. My wife thinks Im nuts but Id rather have it than wishing I would have brought it. camera , 4 lens , monopod, 4 cf cards , 1 flash , 2 flash diffusers, wireless flash trigger, cp, extra batteries, and microfiber lens cloth x2.

 

[Dallmeyer]

I tend to share White's simple ideology. Plus also a netbook, w/internet dongle, a lenshood, circ po, ND4 perhaps. All in a helmet bag (as picture but with a shoulder strap). I might take a monopod too. Depends.

 

[DerekSalem]

I have the Canon backpack and inside of it I have extra battery, memory cards, every single cable I could need (including card reader, charge cables, USB, HDMI, and plugs for iPad), iPad (the "plugs" are the SDCard reader and USB slot) for viewing pictures, 70-200mm f/4L IS and 50mm f/18 lenses, microfibers and hoods, CP and UV filters, T2i body. Sold almost all of my other stuff so now I carry it all with me when I'm out.