What's In My Camera Bag

What's In My Camera Bag... 2025 Edition

My main camera kit for wildlife and landscape photography is the Nikon Z system.  While the Nikon equipment is not the best at any particular aspect of photography, they do offer a number of moderately affordable telephoto lenses that their competitors do not, so I have learned to tolerate Nikon's various shortcomings.  My kit consists of the following:

Nikon Z8 45-megapixel mirrorless digital camera

Nikkor Z 14-24mm f2.8 S lens

Nikkor Z 24-70mm f2.8 S lens

Nikkor Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR lens

Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S lens

Nikkor Z 600mm f6.3 VR S lens

I am also currently using the Fujifilm X-series mirrorless digital cameras for casual hiking photos as well as for focus stacking macro images, since Nikon cameras are not suitable for this type of application (the Nikon cameras all disable the viewfinder when focus stacking, making it impossible to use the cameras hand-held).

Fujifilm X-T2 24-megapixel mirrorless digital camera

Fujinon XF 10-24mm f4 R LM OIS WR lens

Fujinon XF 16-50mm f2.8-4.8 R LM WR lens

Fujinon XF 30mm f2.8 R LM WR Macro lens

Fujinon XF 60mm f2.4 R Macro lens

Fujinon XF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens

Fujifilm also makes a wonderful system of medium-format mirrorless cameras, capable of producing landscape images with stunning detail and dynamic range, but as I'm getting older, I'm less enthusiastic about carrying this heavier gear on my shoulders.

For kayaking and other pursuits that involve water, I still have an older Nikon 1 AW1 mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera, which is completely waterproof to a depth of 15m (and yes I have accidentally "tested" its ability to be submerged and continue operating...).  Unfortunately, Nikon discontinued this system a couple of years ago, and currently there is nothing else on the market like it, aside from a few point-and-shoot cameras with fixed lenses and much smaller sensors.

Other Equipment I Use:

Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer
Gitzo carbon fiber tripods
Arca-Swiss ball heads

Kase, Lee, and Zeiss filters

Dynamic Perception Stage Zero motion time lapse rig (now discontinued...)
Clik Elite, MindShift and ThinkTank camera bags (you can never have too many camera bags... )