In your bag No: 1231, Michael Barrett
Michael carries a lot of gear, but each camera serves a different purpose. Come and check out this whopper of a bag.

Here is my carry around bag as it stands now.
I have been shooting on and off for 15 years, I started with film and did the whole camera club thing , then started to study Photography in night school.
I sort of lost my way a bit when as usual the personal politics of camera clubs showed its head and my busy day job took a hold of my free time.
Unfortunately the amount of jobs for Photographers was starting to dry up and unless you liked weddings and event photography you were out of luck.
This all added up to me stopping shooting and packing up my dark room and not touching a camera for many years.
Until my first trip to Tokyo in 2007 I had no interest in shooting. At the time of my trip I felt digital had come a long way and I bought my first DSLR Nikon D40x.
I loved shooting again, on that first trip I shot 4000 photographs and I was enjoying the control with RAW post processing .
It seemed like I had found my happy medium.
Wrong!

Since 2007 I have been back to Tokyo four times and have upgrade my camera six times –
Nikon D90 (not bad)
Nikon D700 (I loved this camera, I think the best DSLR made)
Panasonic Lumix G something ( I want something lighter)
Nikon D800e (Fantastic image quality but my wallet is still hurting after replacing lenses)
Fuji X-Pro 1 (Loved the style and feel but it’s way to slow)

The more I got into it again more technical I was getting , I started shooting Macro which I love and the D800e with Nikkor 200mm f4 Micro is the perfect combination for me.
Over time I was finding with each camera purchase I spent more time in menus or post. I also found I wanted to expand and shoot street and landscape ect.
The bag was also getting heavier now I’m lugging 10+ Kg so I can cover every possible thing.
This year was the most surprising realisation , a majority of my final product was reproducing old technics, I liked the look of older lenses everything didn’t need to be tack sharp.
It also hit me the enjoyment and the art of paying attention to my surrounds as I was shooting was disappearing. Like most people I started to shoot more and cherry pick the best shots, which is fine but I don’t think this is a good technique to improve and develop.
I then found my Grandfathers old Kodak Brownie and decided to shoot a roll. At the same time I started to listen to the Film Photography Podcast and found the Japan Camera Hunter site because the first thing I do when I go Japan is gear hunt.
So I slowed things way down and I’m happy with going back to basics Aperture, Shutter speed and Film Speed, Yes, I did used to do this with my digital shooting but it was too tempting to chimp every shot and shoot 64 Gig , now I have to think more and plan.

This years trip to Japan will be the first time I will not be taking a digital camera, I can’t wait.

I havent shoot that roll in the Brownie (yet) but I have bought 15 vintage and old film cameras (more to come).
Found some good film suppliers and bought them to home develop.
The films I like to shoot are
Rollei Ortho 25
Rollei 80s
Rollei RPX 100 and 400
Kodak Double XX

So down to the Gear in my bag.
I carry three bodies at a time.

Cameras –
Pentax Spotmatic 50mm f1.4 (1966-67) – Got this for $45 and gave it a clean and service.
Nikon F3 (1983) – My first real camera had it for 15+ years hasn’t stopped.
Nikon S2 Nikkor 50mm f1.4 (1955?) – Love this camera.
Leica lllc Nikkor 50mm f2 (Camera 1946-47 Lens 1955) I’m so happy with this I’ve always wanted a Leica M but cost has been an issue got this service by a guy in Japan and it’s like new.
Fuji W690 (1990?) – this is a beast with a massive 6×9 neg.
Kodak Stereo Camera (late 50’s) – Just getting into old style Stereographic.

Lenes –
Skink pancake pinhole and pinhole body cap with several custom made pinholes and slits.
Nikkor 85mm f1.4 D – a great lens.
Zeiss Plannar 50mm f1.4
Nikkor-S 35mm f2.8

Orther –
Minolta lVf lightmeter
Zeiss lens cleaning kit with lens pens
Cable release
Note books
Black rapid strap
iPhone

Bag –
Lowepro

Thanks for the great site and community.

Cheers
Michael Barrett

Thanks for sharing your back with us, Michael. Next time share your links with us too.
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Japancamerahunter