Peter Read Miller Sports Workshop: Gear Part 3
This post describes a LOT of gear. Photography isn’t just cameras and lenses, there’s a ton of other, ah, stuff that has to come along to make a shoot work well. All those odds and ends? Here they are!
1. Nokia Lumia 1020. This is my portable camera and GPS for the trip.
2. Monster Outlets To Go 4 Outlet Travel Power Strip. Before y’all go hating me for owning a product from Monster hear me out. This only costs $10 and is so small you can slip it into any bag and never know it’s there until you find all the receptacles in a room are full. Whip this little guy out, plug it in, and voila. Plenty of places to charge up.
3. USB cables. Two of three that come on the trip, since I need a USB A-Micro, USB A-B, and USB 3.0 cable. Sigh.
4. Canon battery chargers. Two of them since I have just a few batteries along for the trip.
5. Enloop AA batteries. Eight backups, to go along with the 10 that are installed in the flashes (more on the flashes later).
6. Lenspen. In case I get schmutz on my lens.
7. Nokia Lumia 1020 charging plug.
8. StarTech.com USB 3.0 card reader. When Windows 8 first came out this is the only USB 3.0 card reader I had reliable success with.
9. Canon batteries. Six of ‘em for three cameras.
10. Storage. Three 32GB CF cards, two 16GB CF cards, and a couple of 8GB SD cards just in case. These will get dumped after every shoot to the laptop and backup drive, and then formatted.
1. Honl Speed Strap. One on each flash to attach either gels (4) or the softbox (6).
2. Canon 600EX-RT flashes. Two of them. These suckers are expensive but are worth every penny. The wireless radio feature is fantastic.
3. Canon ST-E3-RT transmitter. Without this the wireless feature of the 600EX-RT flashes wouldn’t do much.
4. Honl CTO gels. I rarely use these but they take up no space in the bag so I always keep them around for when I need a splash of orange. Don’t panic about the full CTO! I have some 1/4 CTOs at the bottom of the pile.
5. Flash feet. They come with the flashes and take up no space in the bag. They’re kinda handy on occasion, to be honest.
6. LumiQuest Softbox III. I’ve used this, uh, never. But it fits perfectly in my bag so I always carry it. Someday I’ll learn how to use it properly.
1. Lenovo Yoga 13” Laptop. My travel workhorse for image editing. Running Windows 8.1 with a dedicated internal 256GB SSD for images, Photo Mechanic, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Nik Silver Efex Pro and Nik Color Efex Pro. I love this laptop.
2. Power cord for the laptop. Very important!
3. Earplugs. Also very important when shooting sporting events.
4. Business cards. I get mine from moo.com.
5. WD Passport 1TB USB 3.0 drive. This is my travel drive that I can lose with no issue. It contains all the Seattle Storm photos I’ve shot in the last three years as well as my landscape work for the last 3 years. But not the only copy. Just a travel copy. It will also serve as my backup device to ensure I have a second copy of my photos during the week. This drive does not travel in my camera bag. It stays in an independent bag from my laptop, just in case I forget the bag with the laptop somewhere.
Not pictured in the above photos are three other important pieces of gear for the trip:
1. Black Rapid Double-Strap. This is how I carry two bodies with me when I’m shooting sports. I love it. Love love love it.
2. Gitzo GM2940 monopod. For supporting a long lens during football games. At least, that’s what I’m told it’s used for. I’ve never used it for that, and only used it once at a basketball game before I gave up since it’s so unwieldy.
3. Really Right Stuff BH-25 PRO ballhead. How I attach the camera/lens to the monopod. It may be small but it is sturdy and can easily handle the 5D Mk III/300mm combo.