Archive for equipment

A Wedding Photographers Camera Bag

There are a few major tools that I keep in my wedding photography bag. They are essential and necessary at every event I shoot. The first one doesn’t fit in the bag but is a necessity especially when you are shooting a large event and that is a qualified assistant. An assistant doesn’t have to be a second shooter but it definitely helps. An assistant can help carry and keep an eye on equipment. At a family member’s event in downtown San Antonio, the photographer’s second camera was stolen in the middle of the ceremony. You can never trust that your equipment is safe and an assistant can help with that. They can also help with getting the wedding party and family ready for the formal shots and can assist with second shooter responsibilities if necessary.

As far as the equipment I carry I try to keep things as light as possible. You have to remember that you will be on the move and the more stuff you have to carry the more likely you will miss a great shot. I take a small Canon shoulder bag. It’s up to you to have two camera bodies. It never hurts to have a backup and while expensive, it can save your job if one goes down during an event. I have my trusty Canon 30D, one 18-35mm Canon EF f3.5, one 70-300mm Canon EF f4, two Canon 430 EXII Speedlites, and one 580 EX Speedlite. I carry at least 30 AA batteries, a spare camera battery, and spare CompactFlash cards. Two slave flash stands. I also carry lens toilettes because you always need to clean your lens, a pen, and business cards. Read More→

Making your first HD DSLR Video – Part II – Must-have equipment

In the first part of this series, I covered some places that you could learn some of the fundamentals that you’ll need to shoot video. Now, we’re on to the equipment. The assumption I’m using is that you have a camera body that shoots video and a lens – that’s it. Now, what do you REALLY have to have to improve that basic platform, and what is the BASIC equipment you need to buy. Not the fanciest, most expensive equipment, but what do you REALLY need? The next thing I’m going to consider is – what can you buy that will have a dual purpose – another words, can you use it for stills AND video?

First, everyone ALWAYS starts with a tripod. Let’s face it, you can spend every bit of money you have on one and not get anything else. One clear thing you don’t want to do, is buy a $79 one at Best Buy. It will not cut it for stills OR video. There seems to be two main differences between a stills and video tripod. First, is the weight. If you look on B&H and just search for tripods, you can spend the better part of a day reading about all of them. I was lucky…I had invested in a nice Manfrotto tripod with a ball head many years ago. One of the great things about investing in a GOOD tripod and head up front is that you’ll really never have to replace it. However, in my case, I was very fortunate because that ball head could be replaced with a fluid head for shooting video. Read More→