IN YOUR BAG 1762 – Olivier Astier

It has been a minute since we had a bag. So we are very happy to see a 3-in-one bag for you all. Olivier is very well prepared for his trip to Italy, lucky duck.
Olivier, based in Paris, France. Long time reader, first time poster. It’s time to share to this community after receiving so much great inspiration.

The bag

The funny thing here is that I don’t have a camera bag anymore.
It took me some time to get rid of camera bags which, well, could not accommodate what’s needed for my life. I finally did it the other way around, I now put my camera stuff in whatever bag best suits my life projects at a given moment.
The pics here show what I brought to a recent trip to Apulia, in Italy, for a week of image hunting for my “Mi ricordo il mare” series.
For a week on my own I usually take my classic Alpine Lowe 30 liters Klettersack.
Then the photo equipment goes into several smaller pouches for protection and accessories, cotton-made “gear bags” from Fjallraven in different colors, and a new add, an ordinary eastpak bumbag worn on my chest, to conceal one camera (usually the Leica) and avoid looking like a curious animal with 2 cameras crossed on my chest, more like a regular tourist. Helps blend into the landscape and get unnoticed.
Total is less than 10 kilograms, including 1.5kg of cameras and lenses.

The cameras

After photographing for several decades, purchasing and working with many cameras and lenses, recent and old, (and selling most of those who don’t work for me, especially the heavy and big ones), I have settled on 2 output formats for my current projects :
– square black and white, with “natural” focal length, akin to 80mm on a Rolleiflex. I found a gracious implementation of this aspiration to be the Fujifilm X100V, with the flip-up screen for the bowing ceremony, and the exact equivalent field from the Rolleiflex,
– 3:2 color, which I shoot more selectively (color is hard !) and slowly. For this, my Leica M4 is the tool of choice, with a 50mm summicron V3, both from my birth year. I use Portra 160, which happens to be the base ISO of the Fuji which I use as a meter.
This said, I may give some more try to square color, but I yet have to find the right camera/lens combination. I would like to try a Mamiya 6, or a modified digital Leica with square frames in the viewfinder (suggestions welcome !) and a 35mm.
I’m also fond of 3:2 black and white, I used to carry a 35mm point and shoot for this (a Yashica T5, sadly passed away), but I find it hard to be serious with 3 cameras.

The accessories

I also usually carry a 35mm V2 Summicron, and a 21mm/4 Voigtlander for special occasions (used respectively for 10% and 1% of shots). The 21mm is originally intended for manual focus work with Fujis.
The small inside pockets of fjallraven bags are perfect for such lenses. A jewel micro-bag seems appropriate for the 21mm viewfinder.
And then of course in the day bag : film, spare batteries, a memory card.
In the bag that stays at the room : more film, charger, SD card reader if I need to transfer photos.
Vintage leather straps were bought on eBay from guys in Ukraine.

Thanks to Olivier for sharing this great setup. If you have something you want to share with us submit yours below.

Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com

Send me a high resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500px across. Please ensure there is a bag in the shot, unless you don’t use one. The more you can write about yourself the better, make it appealing and tell us a story. Snapshots of your gear with a camera phone and no words will not be featured.
Oh and don’t forget your contact details (Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, Grainery et al). Send the bag shots here. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, you are a photographer after all. 

Cheers
– JCH