What’s in My Bag?

The right gear matters. I get a dozen emails a month that start with “I know you don’t like to talk about gear, but…” So let me stop you right there. I love talking about gear.

As long as we’re talking about gear in terms of how it allows us to make the photographs we want to make, and doesn’t involve too much pixel-peeping, I can talk about it all day long, or until I get distracted by something interesting to photograph. So once in a very blue moon (it’s been a long time!) I open my camera bag and have a longer discussion about this stuff. This list is current as of March 2025, and it will probably serve to satisfy your curiosity more than it will help you decide what’s best for you.

In 2021 I realized that the focus of most of my work had shifted to wildlife, and the gear (Fujifilm) that I had been using for many years wasn’t up for the challenges of wildlife photography, so I switched to Sony. Keep that in mind as you look at what I use. This is what I currently own and use as a photographer who focuses on wildlife. Clicking any of the images or links below will take you to Amazon for more details. All links are affiliate links which means if you buy something then Jeff Bezos has to personally send me a couple bucks and I’ll put that towards future shenanigans.

I beg you to pay attention to the sections below titled The Honest Talk because it’s not which gear I chose that will be most helpful to you but why I chose it.

Cameras

I shoot on two Sony Alpha 1 bodies for most of my work. They are fast, perform well in low-light, and are built like tanks.

For my remote work I chose a used Sony Alpha 7Riv, because I got a good deal on it (used) and that’s important when you worry it might get knocked into the river by a bear or stepped on by a rhino. It’s slower than my Alpha 1 bodies but great image quality.

And I also have an Alpha 6600 which I also bought as remote camera. It’s not amazing in low-light but it’s a great compact body and the price was right.

The Honest Talk about Cameras
Let’s not lose sight of what matters here. Cameras are all amazing now. The pixel-peepers will always tell you one is better than another and make it seem like the difference is HUGE. It’s usually not. When I buy a camera I want to know how fast it is (that means focus as well as frame-rate), how durable it is, and yes—how big the sensor is. Too small isn’t appealing to me (less than 24mp) but too large just slows things down. I just don’t need more than 50 or 60 megapixels. For me 24mp was always the sweet spot. The Alpha1 is 51mp which allows me to crop and still have more than enough resolution for what I need. The A7RiV is 61mp, which gives me even more room to crop in if I need to, but it’s slower than the A1.

I want decent low-light performance, so that means a full-size sensor. When I focused on street and travel photography this was less important. I don’t do video so I don’t even consider that.

The most important thing for me, after I’ve ticked the big stuff off my list is this: does it feel right in my hand? Can I get to all the buttons? Does it make sense to me? If you’re buying a camera, get it into your hands. Look through the viewfinder, take it for a spin. How does it feel? For some the Sony bodies are too small for large hands, and that will affect how you handle it. Most of all: know what you need and what you don’t.

A good place to start, because this is probably not your first camera, is this: why are you looking for a new one? What doesn’t your old system do for you? Start there.

Just because I chose the 3 cameras above doesn’t mean they’re the best for you. And it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t choose something different in the future, though the Alpha 1 is about as perfect as a camera gets for my needs and I’d happily shoot with it forever. That’s how much I love it.

Lenses

I have more lenses than I need at any one time. But I’ve found that it’s not so much “which lenses do I own,” it’s why.

I bought the 14mm lens for underwater work. I use it rarely now, but it’s a beautiful lens and if I did astro-photography I’d probably use it more, but I don’t. Gorgeous lens but I don’t remember the last time I used it.

My 16-35/2.8 is my all-time favourite focal length. But the 24-105 is in my bag more often because I have to make choices when I travel and it’s just more versatile. When you can only pack so many lenses, versatility matters and for wider stuff I’m happy to trade the speed of a 16-35/2.8 for a slower but more versatile 24-105/4.0.

I also have a 100-400 I love, but that’s just been replaced in daily use by the 70-200/2.8 and paired with a teleconverter when I need a little more reach. Why? I love (like, I really love) the wider constant aperture of a f/2.8 lens at this focal length, and that combination would be more versatile. Especially when my other lens is more often a 300/2.8 (with or without a 1.4 or 2x).

My big lens is a 600/4.0 which was eye-wateringly expensive (even used, which is how I got mine). It’s a really beautiful lens. But it’s also really heavy. Yes, I can add a 1.4x or 2x to it and extend the reach, but I don’t find myself needing 1200mm very often.

When I got my 600/4.0 there was no 300/2.8 from Sony, but now there is and I would much rather shoot with a 300mm with a 2x, which gives me the same reach (600mm) but at half the cost and probably less than half the weight, which is a big deal when travelling and hand-holding the lens. My 600mm is amazing, but now that I have the 300mm it doesn’t get quite as much use, especially if I’m travelling. This isn’t meant to be a review, but that 300/2.8 lens is astonishing. Incredibly light, fast, and sharp. My favourite long lens. Remember, it’s not only about the quality of the lens but the experience of using it, and what else you’ve got in your bag.

The lenses above are the lenses I own and use. All of them are exceptional, but that doesn’t necessarily they are the best choice for you.

The Honest Talk about Lenses

I know someone is going to disagree with me about this, but the Sony engineers (and Nikon, and Canon, etc) are way pickier than I am about lens sharpness. I’ve never had a “bad copy” and I’ve never tested the “edge-to-edge sharpness.” I am not remotely a pixel-peeper, and I don’t read reviews.

I chose my lenses based on focal length needs, versatility, and how fast and bright they are. My advice on lenses is the same as on camera bodies. Know your needs, your tastes, and your limits. You can’t carry it all, and you probably can’t afford it all.

If I were starting all over again, based on what I actually use, I would buy these three lenses:

• 24-105/4.0 (the 16-35/2.8 or 24-70/2.8 would also be good choices in this range)
• 70-200/2.8
• 300/2.8
• 1.4x and 2x teleconverters.

That gives me focal lengths between 24mm and 600mm, and my best shot at working in low light and cleaning up messy backgrounds. Combined with 2 or 3 bodies that combination fits in one bag, and makes it easy to go from one focal length to another with minimal lens changes and fewer lost moments.

Why not just use a 200-600mm zoom? That’s a great question and one I can only answer with a vague shrug of the shoulders and tell you I just didn’t like that lens. It was super versatile, sharp, and the price was excellent. But it was slow and, here’s the intangible part I can’t really describe: I didn’t love the images. Was it the contrast? I don’t know, but I didn’t love working with it, or the resulting images. I know some people that love it.

Ultimately, buying a lens is a matter of balancing your needs—price vs. versatility, quality, and speed—with your preferences. Do you like the look of the image? Do you like working with the lens? These are not insignificant and your choices will differ from mine. On the plus side, your lenses will last longer than your cameras and are a better investment. If I had to choose, I’d spend the money on better lenses.

What About Weather-Sealing?

If my lens is weather-sealed, I’m happy. But I’ve never bought a lens (or camera) because of it and I’ve never not purchased a lens because it didn’t. In fact, I couldn’t tell you which of my gear is or isn’t weather-sealed. Get a rain cover and keep shooting. Carry a small backpacking towel and wipe things down. Some photographers spend more time worrying about their gear than using it for what they bought it for in the first place. I know it can happen but never once has my gear failed me because of weather. The gear available these days is so good it’s hard to go wrong.

Camera Bags

I use camera bags made by GuraGear. I’ve used them for 15 years and have 7 of their Kiboko 30L Bags (all still in use) and 2 of their Chobe bags (one of them now retired). That’s been my go-to travel kit for over 15 years, and they’ve circled the globe with me. All 7 continents.

GuraGear bags are (very) light, comfortable, and incredibly thoughtfully designed. To my eye they’re as sexy as an camera bag has the right to be. In 2025, after 15 years of abusing their bags I asked them if they’d let me be an ambassador because I love really great gear (they said yes). Click the images below to check them out, and if they look as good to you as they do to me, use my last name – DUCHEMIN – at checkout and it’ll give you 10% off. Anything by GuraGear gets my highest confidence, and the customer service is second to none.

There is no such thing as the perfect bag. Only you know your needs. But for me, for my wildlife and travel work, these hit the spot. Check them out by clicking the links below (you’ll save 10% when you do).

Other Stuff

I use Lexar SD cards. These days I’m using 256mb cards at 1667x. They’re big, fast for what I do (stills, not video) and after 15 years or so Lexar cards have never failed me, which is why I use them, not because of any particular brand loyalty. I just use what has always worked. I bring about 4 TB of cards for a one-month assignment, always backed up to 4TB SSD drives. I carry my cards in a GuraGear Tembo wallet.

I use various tripods and monopods, most of them by Gitzo and Really Right Stuff, but I don’t know which models they are. Some are small and some are large. All of them are carbon fibre and topped with various RRS ball heads because they’re built incredibly well, but I don’t know which models. I can tell you that the Wimberley mono-gimbal head shown above is the best $170 I’ve spent on camera gear. It makes shooting off a monopod an incredible experience and I’ve referred this one piece of gear to more photographers than any other. Hate working with a monopod? Me too! This will change that forever.

For my remote camera work I use the Cam Ranger 2. Light, reliable, and decent range when used with an iPad (iPad has a longer antenna and more range than iPhone). You can read more about my remote set-up here.

Anything Else?

Here’s what else you might normally find in my bag:

• When I’m working, my camera bag almost always has a raincoat stuffed inside
• Some gloves to both keep my hands warm but also protected
• A small first aid kit because I’m that guy
• A protein bar or something to munch
• More lens cloths than I need because I’m always losing them (they surface months later in random pockets)
• I usually carry a very small set of tools – multi-tool, some small screw drivers, hex keys for my tripod and my prosthetic leg
• A rocket blower if I remember
• One garbage bag/bin liner
• A very small headlamp
• Extra camera batteries
• A tick removal tool because ticks freak me out like almost nothing else
• Peak Design Leash camera straps. I prefer the so-called leash style because it’s simple and light and I almost never use camera straps. The only time I really use them is in situations I worry I might drop them, like in boats. Or if I’m going to be walking, but then I prefer something like the Cotton Carrier harness.

A Final Reminder

Good gear matters. But how we define “good” is important and it will differ for all of us. Where tools are concerned, it’s important to understand your needs. What is good for one photographer might not be good at all for you. Hell, what’s good for you for years might not be what’s good for you tomorrow if you change what you do. Don’t lose sight of what’s important. The right camera or lens is what you are looking for, not the “best” camera or lens. No one will ever agree on that, and you should be suspicious of those who use that kind of language. For you the right gear might be the lightest, not the fastest (which is never light!). It might be the simplest. Or the least expensive. No matter what you have, you’ll find creative ways to use it and make photographs that are uniquely your own.

Here’s something I’ve noticed. When I look in the bags of my friends, most of them so-called pro photographers, it’s all the same stuff: used and dirty and beaten up gear they’ve used to within an inch of its life. It’s not clever, their bags aren’t filled with gimmicks and nonsense. Some of it is held together with gaffer tape. It’s definitely scratched up. And no two camera bags look the same on the inside.

Whatever you do, don’t buy your gear just because it’s what others use. I once bought an incredibly expensive 85/1.2 lens. It cost $2000 and weighed a kilogram. It was slow as molasses to focus. And I bought it because all the studio portrait photographers said it was a “money lens” and it was “what the pros use.” Nonsense. For my travel work I needed something lighter, and faster to focus. I sold that lens and went back to the cheap 85/1.8 which served me far better. I didn’t look as cool, but my photographs were better. Can’t decide? Rent it for a while.

Buy it because it’s the right tool for you to do what you want to do in the way you want to do it. Then—this is the important part—stop chasing the gear, and start chasing the shot.

I’m going to leave comments open on this post in hopes that you’ll feel welcome to ask questions, maybe even generate some conversation.