Scout Images

This morning I met up with some of the members of DSLRusers.com for one of our 2×2 meets. Today’s meet was a walk from Bondi through to Coogee, and the weather was not really on our side with intermittent rain that varied from light drizzle through to moderate showers. On the plus side the overcast skies allowed for great lighting.

Gear wise, I chose to bring along my trusty (and weather sealed) Nikon D300 along with the Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 and the Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8VR all inside my Lowepro Vertex 200AW. This gave me a weather resistant solution that would cover many needs even in demanding light. Also in the bag was my Tokina 10-17 fisheye and SB-800 flash, neither saw any service.

Lowepro describes this bag as “a premium backpack for the serious adventure bound photographer or sports journalist” being “made for the outdoors”. This is my main bag and having used it for over a year does it deliver…more

I was just preparing for another shoot (for tomorrow night) this is once again for Alley Cabaret, but this time it is for an actual performance, I have it confirmed unlike last time when it was a last minute call up. There are a number of important things to keep in mind here:

• low light
• action
• audience

This means that I will need a kit that will allow me to be mobile and not disturb the paying audience. Low light and action means I will have to be ready to tackle the giant problem of needing to balance the ambience and the movement to deliver good photos.

To address this situation will be bringing out the big guns:

• Nikon D300 + MB-D10 – my workhorse; provides fast and accurate AF and good high ISO performance
• Fuji S5 Pro – my backup; provides dependable colour accuracy and good high ISO with good AF
• Zoom Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 – my main lens; fast,  silent, sharp and bright with a good range
• Zoom Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR – my long lens; fast, silent, sharp, bright and has the extra reach for when I cant get close
• Nikkor AF-D 50mm f/1.8 – just in case; sharp and very bright this prime lens is always close at hand
• Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 – for the wide; sharp and bright this lens will allow me to get the wider shots and backs up for the 24-70 in the unlikely case of equipment failure
• Nikon SB-800 – provides extra light and aids AF
• Nikon SB-600 – provides extra light and aids AF

This will allow me to enjoy the convenience of two cameras and give me the insurance of having at least one camera in the unlikely case that I have equipment fail on me. In order to get the gear to the venue I will be carrying it all in my trusty LowePro Vertex 200AW. When I get to the venue I will unpack and set up my cameras and spend most of the night roaming with a camera on either shoulder, heading back to my bag to change lenses as I need them.

It is great to have a good excuse to go and take some photos, tonight I will be going to snap away for a group of friends performance at a local pub/hotel. It will be indoors, lighting will be questionable and I am not sure what to the stage setup will be like. Due to the short notice I have not had the opportunity to scout out the venue. My solution:

• Nikon D300 + MB-D10 – my workhorse, good at higher ISOs, great all rounder
• Fujifilm Finepix S5 Pro – my backup, good at high ISOs, unrivalled for colour
• Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 – fast and reliable it will cover me for anything that is shorter
• Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm F/2.8 VR – fast and reliable it will give me the reach that I will possibly need
• Nikkor AF-D 85mm f/1.8 – just incase I need that extra light gathering ability (thanks Brian for lending this to me on such short notice)
• Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 – fast, light and most importantly wider than my 24-70 this lens will come out if I need something wider.
• Nikon SB-800 – for when I need that extra light
• Nikon SB-600 – for when I need that extra light
• Manfrotto 680B + 234RC – if I need some extra stability

All carried in my Vertex 200AW, not the best event bag, but it lets me carry everything securely and comfortably.

Fingers crossed all goes well and photos will come up in the next few days.

Just an example of what I have done with a simliar kit.