Mike, the minimum carry kit you mentioned is almost exactly what I carried
as a journalist years ago. Mine was a Ricoh SLR, 28/2.8, 50/1.8 and
135/2.8. A small auto flash, some rolls of Tri-X and two or three
notebooks. That's about it. Some of my best photos were taken with that
gear, work related and personal artistic stuff. I didn't even own a tripod
back then. Wouldn't have used it anyway, and don't like to use one now if I
can get around it.
If I were a working PJ today I'd probably want some a bit wider, maybe a
20mm, a faster normal lens like a 50/1.2, and a moderate tele-zoom,
something in the 70-150 range. I'd rather keep it small and add a
teleconverter than have to lug around something like a 70-200/2.8. I'd
probably use Vivitar's macro focusing 2x converter to serve double duty for
macro work, unless I really needed to travel light, in which case I'd skip
the teleconverter and take a close up diopter.
I suppose a compact winder/motor drive would be convenient mostly as a grip,
and for the rare occasions when rapid shooting might actually be an
advantage.
Even now I doubt I'd carry much more other than for certain anticipated
shooting opportunities.
A PJ whose work I really admire, Mark Milstein of Atlantic News Service,
does his most dramatic work with a wide angle (20mm I think). That takes a
lot of courage to get into the thick of things for the lens to do its job.
---
Lex
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From: miaim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That recent trip was an interesting learning experience.
I started wondering why carrying what has been lauded as one of the
smallest of SLR cameras was causing bursitis in my shoulder. Clearly I was
doing something very wrong.
At the moment, I can't think of too much that would fall under the category
of routine documentary type stuff that couldn't be done with a battery
consisting of just a 28mm/2.8, a 50 macro, (for those odd occasions) and a
100/2.8.
I'm still very much learning this craft and would appreciate comments from
those who've tried this approach and found it lacking.
Thanks,
Mike Swaim
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