This is the world’s smallest and most portable photo office
May 27, 2016
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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I sometimes worry that I’m moving from being a photographer into simply being a collector of photography equipment. You just accumulate so much stuff over the years. A good deal on a camera here, a lens there, or you bid on a complete outfit on eBay because the final price is worth the one item you actually wanted.
Swedish commercial and travel photographer Jens Lennartsson is taking a much more cut down approach these days, minimising the amount of equipment he takes on his travels, allowing him to shoot more, and worry about gear less.
Having a small and lightweight portable option can be a great way to work. It also helps you to push the limits of both yourself and your equipment to see exactly how far you can take things.
Here’s a list of the gear Jens shows us in the video.
- Camera: Fuji XT100
- Notebook: Leuchturm 1917 Softcover Pocket Blank
- E-reader: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2
- Keyboard: Flyshark Foldable Bluetooth keyboard
- Power Bank: EC Technology 22400mAh 3 USB
- Phone: iPhone 6 64GB
I often find myself also just taking out a DSLR with a 35mm or 50mm, my iPad, my iPhone and a USB battery, leaving the vast majority of gear at home. With a camera connection kit or Eye-Fi card, I can get my images from the camera to the iPad, do some basic processing with Lightroom and beam them straight up to social media.
Testing one’s limits with minimal gear can be a very liberating experience, and it’s certainly a lot easier in your back.
Do you try to take out as little as possible when you go out to shoot, or do you take everything but the kitchen sink? Let us know what’s in your typical shoot day’s bag in the comments.
[via ISO1200]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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9 responses to “This is the world’s smallest and most portable photo office”
Funnily enough, this is almost exactly the same kit I bring with me when I travel.
• X100T
• Nexus 5X
• 12000 mAh Mophie battery
• Perixx Folding BT Keyboard
• Moleskine Volant Notebook
And that’s it. No e-reader, as I rarely have time for reading anyway. I also don’t use the keyboard for writing blog posts; rather, I write in the notebook then just take a photo of the pages and upload those (see http://vagabondvivant.tumblr.com for examples). My most recent trip was walking the Great Glen and West Highland ways in Scotland, and the lightness of my kit was a godsend.
Uploading photos of your notebook pages is a very neat idea. If my writing were legible to anybody other than myself, I might consider doing the same. :)
What I love most about it is that I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time sitting in front of a screen. I can scribble my day’s thoughts anywhere I can find a flat surface and then only have to spend a few minutes getting it online.
As far as legibility goes, my plan has always been to come back to my posts at a later date and transcribe the journal entry. I don’t always get around to doing it, but I’ve done it a couple times. I’ve flirted with the idea of paying (or bribing) a friend/family member to transcribe it for me, but never gotten around to it. That’s always a possibility, though.
Torn on the small-kit vs. large kit debate for travel. Totally see the benefit in the kit described and I have a similar kit that I use from time to time; I trade out the kindle and folding keyboard with an ipad and keyboard-case, and a Canon G-whatever. But the small cameras are limiting depending on what you shoot. Small kit for people/street shots works well. Landscapes and shooting “things” not so much. I like to do big prints and you definitely see the difference between a small camera and a big one like my D800. The raw files you get from each are night-and-day different. Again if you’re in close shooting people who cares even at large print sizes. But if you’re shooting a 30-second exposure of a wide cityscape from a parking garage at night you can definitely tell when you print it to 36″ wide.
You can make a reasonably portable big-camera kit if you stick with primes or even sneak in an ultrazoom if shooting during the day. I shoot a lot in the city here in Chicago. I have a classic Domke but the ergonomics of that thing aren’t all that great. I prefer a shoulder-slung messenger bag that I picked up years ago. Big central compartment that can hold a surprising amount of stuff and a wide support strap. If I’m shooting during the day I’ll go with just two lenses – the Nikon 28-300 (which works quite well if you stay in the sweet spots) and a 20/2.8 to cover the wide. If I’m shooting at night or want to go really light then it’s the D800 with 20/35/50/85 primes. For support I have a small desktop tripod and occasionally I’ll take a superclamp with a small ball head on it for clamping to railings, bus chairs, etc. Throw in the ipad and it’s not a bad kit to lug around. Not as small/tight as the kit described but not the huge monster kits I’ve seem some folks roll with, either.
Photography is a lot like guitar playing in that the gear choice is as much about personal connection and vibe as it is function. You see great guitar players using nasty old guitars with odd pickup concoctions because it just “feels” right to them. They could afford better/newer/etc. and play well with such a beast but the “vibe” just isn’t there. I’m kinda the same way with some of my setups. Sure I can shoot the hell out of something with a smaller format camera, but the “vibe” isn’t there and I feel much more at ease with my D800 and 35/f2…which helps me stay in the moment.
It is very true
I’m currently about to reduce the amount of gear I carry to a Surface Pro and a Fuji X-Pro2 and a couple of primes, the Surface I use pretty much constantly to take notes with OneNote and I can grab a quick behind the scenes shots and annotate it with notes about the lighting, scene and other details. The other advantage is that the SP4 is my office, it allows me to handle any business needs in the field without returning to the studio plus it’s one of the most colour accurate display of all the tablets.
The X-Pro2 will be my walkabout and go to camera instead of using the 5D III. There also some external powerbanks available if I need them for the SP4 or I’ll get a car charger.
Ruthy’s kit EDC is not far off:
X100t w/ MHG-X100, black
iPad Mini3-3G with SD-card reader and LR installed (no keyboard case)
3x after market battery
3x 32GB SD cards
iPhone SE
Moleskine notebook and Mont Blanc black slim rollerball.
Manfrotto Nano clamp with Manfrotto mini-ball head
B+W Slim MRC Circ pola and 4xND filter
Anker Astro E7 26800mAh powerbank (It can even charge an x100 battery)
Leatherman Wave
Fenix LD200 flashlight
Beessential Orange Ginger Lip Balm and other necessites.
All in a ThinkTank Retro 5, black
As mentioned elsewhere this is his travel kit. He also uses a d800 and desktop regularly.
Carry an Olympus XZ-2 for street and Fuji X-E1 with 14mm/2.8 for architecture/landscapes.