What's in My Camera Bag

One of my most frequently asked questions is “what do you shoot with?” so I figured I would answer that question with a blog post of what’s in my camera bag!

(AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES.)

Let’s start with the most exciting one…which camera body I use!

I shoot with the Canon R6. It’s one of canon’s newer mirrorless cameras. It’s also pretty steep as far as price goes so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for someone who’s just starting out in photography. As a matter of fact, I had three other cameras before I got my R6. I started out with a Rebel T5i, then upgraded to an 80D, then a 5D Mark III, and then i finally purchased my R6 in 2020. they’ve since come out with newer mirrorless cameras, but if i’m being honest I haven’t done enough research on those to recommend any of them yet. Instead, if you’re a beginner looking for a starter camera that won’t break the bank, I would go with either the rebel T7, the EOS R, or the EOS RP. the t7 is the newer equivalent of the t5i DSLR that I started out with. the EOS R and RP are both more beginner versions of canon’s mirrorless line. while I haven’t used the R or the RP, if my experience with canon is any indication, they will be great cameras as well (as always, be sure to read the reviews before you purchase!).

One note about these cameras, though. With the new mirrorless cameras coming out, it’s likely that canon will be making less and less stuff for their DSLR line (of which the T7 is one). That means that if you expect to be in photography for a while, an R or RP may be a better choice for you.

Now for the lenses

my go-to: canon 35mm f2! This lens lives on my camera 95% of the time. It stays on my r6 pretty much all day at a wedding unless I switch to my 50mm for a little variety. my philosophy is that I can almost always get closer to something but I can’t always get further away if I have more of a zoom lens (50 or 85) on my camera!

The one with the creamy bokeh: Canon 50mm f1.4. This lens is perfect to get a variety of photos compared to my 35mm. Since the aperture is wider, it allows me to get a creamier bokeh (blurrier background). Whenever I use it, I always regret not using it more often. It’s a good little lens that won’t break the bank!

The mini telephoto lens: Canon 85mm f1.8. This lens stays on Ryan’s camera for a whole wedding day if we’re shooting together or if I’m shooting a wedding by myself, it stays on my secondary camera. This allows me to grab closer up photos during a ceremony, where my 35mm lets me get wider ones. It’s a great portrait lens (especially for headshots) and the fact that it’s basically a mini telephoto means there is enough compression for a creamy bokeh even though it only goes down to f1.8.

The work horse: Canon 24-70 F4. during a wedding day, I generally will only use this lens in two situations. one, for details because it has a macro setting and two, if I want a super wide shot (like if my bride wants a photo with everyone at her wedding and I can’t get far enough away with my 35mm). however, it’s a perfect lens for every day use. Taking photos of your kiddos outside? yep. going on vacation and only want to bring one lens? bring this one. It’s a great lens and if I had the F2.8 version, I’m sure I would use it even more on a wedding day.

All of these lenses are EF series lenses. That means they’ll all work on Canon’s DSLR cameras (like the T7). BUT if you get the R6, R, or RP (or another mirrorless camera), you’ll have to get an adapter for it. The good thing, in my opinion, though, is that you can use the EF lenses on mirrorless cameras but you cannot (to my knowledge) use the RF lenses (the mirrorless mount) on a DSLR camera. In other words, the RF lenses aren’t backwards compatible.

And now for the accessories.

my favorite memory cards (aka the only ones i use): sandisk extreme pro 32GB. a 32GB card should be plenty big for a beginner on any of the cameras above. I can usually fit an entire wedding day on a 32gb on my r6 and i’m a chronic over-shooter. (I also have a 128GB of the same memory card that I use in my other memory card slot as a backup).

memory card holder: So the card holder I have (which holds 12 cards—not nearly enough for me now) is no longer sold. buuut this is the one i’m eyeballing when i upgrade—it holds forty.

Cheap flash: Neewer TT560 Speedlite. This thing is a work horse. It very rarely misfires on me and never uses more than one set of batteries for a reception (and like I said before, I way over-shoot lol). If I’m only shooting on one camera—like I usually do at a reception—I will choose this one over my canon flash (below). I Can’t recommend it enough

More expensive flash: Canon 430EX III-RT. If you want a canon brand flash, this is the one i recommend. Like i said above though, I definitely prefer the Neewer and am actually considering buying another one for Ryan to use and selling the canon.

Camera strap: this shoulder strap is what i use when I choose to use a strap. It’s way better than a neck strap because it doesn’t hurt my neck. It attaches to your camera by twisting in to the screw piece in the bottom of the camera (like where you’d put the camera on a tripod). Lately, though, I’ve been just using my camera without a strap, but I always have this strap in my bag in case I’m somewhere like on a dock or a place I really don’t want to drop my camera lol.

And for batteries…In my R6 I use only canon brand batteries because I’ve heard horror stories of people using off brand batteries and their R6 no longer working. But I use these off brand batteries in my Mark III. And these rechargeable AA batteries for my flashes.

And there you have it! Everything that’s in my camera bag at any given shoot/wedding! Is there anything that you think I should have that isn’t on this list? I’d love to hear it in the comments below!