I am writing this in response to a request from a long-time follower of my blogs who wanted me to do an update to an old posting which was, in turn, an update to an even older one.

Back in January 2009 I had been freelancing again for just over four months and I posted what I called the “obligatory bag shot” and went on to detail the kit that lived in my everyday camera bag. At the time that was a Lowe Pro Steath Reporter 650AW – a bag that I still own and use from time to time. These days I am more likely to either have a Domke J3 (with less kit) or a Think Tank Airport Take-Off rolling bag (with slightly more kit) and I wanted to compare notes on what I had in the bag back then compared to now. As a direct comparison I am going to talk about how I load the Lowe Pro when I use it:

2009                                       2018

2 x EOS5D MkII                 2 x EOS5D MkIV
2 x 580EXII                         2 x 600EX RT II
16-35 f2.8L lens                  16-35 f4L IS lens
24-70 f2.8L lens                  24-70 f4L IS lens
70-200 f2.8L IS lens           70-200 f4L IS lens
ST-E2 transmitter             ST-E3 RT transmitter
2008 15″ MacBook Pro           2017 15″ MacBook Pro
8 x 8Gb CF cards                   8 x 32Gb CF cards
2 x  LP-E6 batteries               2 x LP-E6N batteries

I don’t know about you but that looks like a mirror image with everything updated and the lenses reduced in weight being replacing the f2.8Ls with f4Ls. Image stabilisation has become part of my life now and I am slowly replacing the primes with IS versions as and when they become available

There are lots of other accessories and batteries in the bag too – including lighting gels, Lithium Ion AA batteries, flash modifiers and a notebook – but the biggest difference is that I rarely pack the same kit two days running. Some days I will use the prime lenses and on others I will leave out either the 16-35 or the 24-70. I rarely carry a laptop in a shoulder bag any more and I almost always have the iPad Mini ‘just-in-case’. I finished the 2009 posting with the following: “I’ve written before about the search for the perfect bag and all I can say is that the search continues.” It still continues but I am closer today than ever before.

Proof, if proof were needed, that everything changes but nothing really changes!