What’s in my bag?

So what do I have in my bag on a basic shoot? It depends on the complexity and budget associated with the particular shoot, but for an average £500K property, here is a list of everything that I carry to make sure the job gets done: Here's a picture of the general stuff laid out on my dining room table:

Nikon D4 Pro SLR - with XQD and CF Cards Nikon D3 Pro SLR as backup Nikon D800 with Lockport adaptor for elevated work

Nikon Z6ii Mirrorless Camera Nikon 14-24mm f2,8 Lens Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 Lens Nikon 24mm PC-E tilt shift lens Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens

5 Fully charged Godox AD200 flash units

3 Nikon SB80 DX flash guns 

2 mini soft boxes, & 3 mini-grids for the flash heads.

Manfrotto 055 ProB Carbon Fibre Tripod fitted with a Manfrotto Pro Geared Tripod Head.

Manfrotto ultra-light monopod with flash holder fitted.

2 x 3m light stands fitted with Flashgun and brolly holders plus 1 x 1m mini light stand.

2 white, translucent shoot-thru brollies.

3 x Pocket Wizard radio flash triggers and spare sync cables.

2 x Gorillapod Pro flexible mini tripods.

Camranger 1 & 2 remote control units with cables.

Polarising Filter.

Lee Filter holder, and neutral density grad filter set.

24 AA nicad batteries.

24ft Manfrotto Giant Stand.

Camranger motorised pan and tilt tripod head

Lastolite shoot-through diffuser/reflector

Notebook and 2 spare pens.

256gb iPad Pro with USB SD card reader & hand strap.

4gb iPhone 6s Plus with hand strap. Unlimited 4g data and calls.

Set of colour correction filters for flash – to match tungsten and fluorescent light sources.

iOS Apps – Lightrac, Fuji Cam Remote, Cam Ranger, Lightroom,  Weather Radar Pro, Parallels Access, Dropbox.

Peli 1510 Waterproof case with foam inserts & accessories net in the lid cover.

4ft folding step-ladder.

Transparent door wedges

Gretag Macbeth colour calibration chart card. (How can a bit of cardboard cost £100?)

Rubber bands, string, small spring-clamps.

£2 million public liability insurance, and £50K professional indemnity insurance.

The main bits of kit like camera bodies and handheld devices require replacement usually very 3-4 years, and flash guns (and rechargeable batteries) need replacing every year or when damaged. This gear is being used for sometimes thousands of shots every day. Take powerful desktop computing and associated software into account, and you’ve got a shitload of paid work to do before you can even think about drawing a wage to live on.