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My kit as it evolved over the years
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General Information

Nr. of Lenses
9
Nr. of Cameras
1
Nr. of Flashes
2
Nr. of Spare batteries
3
Well, Jack Jack "dared" me to post an image of my equipment. I had never seen it laid out side by side like this. Some of this equipment has been with me for over 10 years, other stuff is newer. Some of it sees near-daily use, other stuff I just happen to need twice a year. I rarely purchase something new unless it really expands my "photography envelope" or is a giant step-up in image quality.

I'll go over the bits and pieces and try to explain what I use them for.
  • Top row from left to right: the L-bracket and wireless trigger, the Sigma 85mm/f1.4 HSM for landscapes and portraits, the Yongnuo 585EX and Metz 58 AF-1 flashes and the Falconeyes diffusor.
  • Next row down: the remote controller for the trigger, the Pentax K-P body, Qstarz GPS tracker, mini softbox.
  • Next row: Lensbaby Burnside35/f2.8 (for swirly bokeh), puffer flash for the KP's pop-up flash, Samyang 8mm/f3.5 fisheye, Pentax HD-DA 1.4x converter, Tamron 90mm/f2.8 macro, Pentax 55-300mm PLM fast-focusing telezoom, Pentax DA*50-135mm/f2.8 "stack-o-primes" telezoom, Pentax DA16-85mm standard zoom, Kenko Pz-AF 2x converter, Sto-Fen bounce diffusor.
  • Last row: Lensbaby composer with 35mm and 50mm optics, Haida ND filters (from 3 stops all the way to 12 stops for dreamy landscapes and milky water), Nisi macro stacking rail, Sigma 8-16mm for architecture, interiors and landscapes, the Gary Fong lighsphere diffusor.

I'm sure I've forgotten some minor bits and pieces (polarizers, wired remotes, battery chargers etc.) but, in general, this is my kit.

Tripods and Monopods

Tripod or Monopod ?
Tripod
Brand
Mantona and Redged for travel

Miscellaneous

GPS tracker for geotagging my images when traveling, various flash modifiers like a Sto-Fen bounce diffusor, a Gary Fong lightsphere, a nameless mini-softbox that came with my Yongnuo flash and a Falconeyes macro diffusor. A wireless trigger/timer with remote. L-bracket for panos, puffer for the pop-up flash to trigger the Yonguo and Metz flashes setup as slaves. a Nisi stacking rail with 0.0125mm precision for macro.
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Comments

Jack
You have great collection of lenses. I wish I could build more to my collection as well. How long took you to build the equipment? Also, did you had any issues regarding the kit you had for more than 10 years ?
 
MikeB
Jack said:
You have great collection of lenses. I wish I could build more to my collection as well. How long took you to build the equipment? Also, did you had any issues regarding the kit you had for more than 10 years ?
Click to expand...
The DA*50-135 has been with me since 2008 and they will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands, never going to let it go. It is one of the sharpest, fastest-focusing lenses in my lineup and it has gorgeous bokeh too.

The Kenko Pz-AF converter I bought off a Japanese member of the PentaxForum in 2010. Those two lenses are my oldest currently used items. Over the years, I sold off lesser-used items or lower-performing lenses to replace them with a step-up quality version.

So f.i. the HD 55-300mm PLM WR I purchased last year because it has PLM (=very fast) internal focusing and is weather-resistant and it replaced one of the first variations of that lens, the cheap DA-L 55-300 with plastic mount, screwdrive focus (=loud and slow) and no WR.

Similar to the above is the HD DA 16-85 which replaced my aging Sigma 17-70mm last year. Again for reasons of faster focusing and WR, not to mention far better sharpness across the image than the Sigma.

Most of my kit is now fully WR and I can shoot in pouring rain, sleet or snow without worrying. Only exceptions would be the Sigma UWA, the Samyang Fisheye and the Tamron macro. For that reason I've been considering replacing the Tamron with the Irix 150mm (which all-weather) but it is heavy and bulky while the Tamron is small and light (and very sharp too). I'm still on the fence about it.

My only issues with the kit I've always had is the bulk and size of the Metz flash and its reverse-engineered implementation of the Pentax TTL (PTTL). That has caused me to use the flash less than I could have over the past 9 years. I tried to sell it many times but never succeeded. Lucky because now it serves my macro setup as a slave flash.

Old stuff that went the way of the dodo would be my Pentax 18-55mm standard zoom, Tamron 17-50mm with a broken zoom mechanism, Arax shift lens.
 
Jack
MikeB said:
The DA*50-135 has been with me since 2008 and they will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands, never going to let it go. It is one of the sharpest, fastest-focusing lenses in my lineup and it has gorgeous bokeh too.

The Kenko Pz-AF converter I bought off a Japanese member of the PentaxForum in 2010. Those two lenses are my oldest currently used items. Over the years, I sold off lesser-used items or lower-performing lenses to replace them with a step-up quality version.

So f.i. the HD 55-300mm PLM WR I purchased last year because it has PLM (=very fast) internal focusing and is weather-resistant and it replaced one of the first variations of that lens, the cheap DA-L 55-300 with plastic mount, screwdrive focus (=loud and slow) and no WR.

Similar to the above is the HD DA 16-85 which replaced my aging Sigma 17-70mm last year. Again for reasons of faster focusing and WR, not to mention far better sharpness across the image than the Sigma.

Most of my kit is now fully WR and I can shoot in pouring rain, sleet or snow without worrying. Only exceptions would be the Sigma UWA, the Samyang Fisheye and the Tamron macro. For that reason I've been considering replacing the Tamron with the Irix 150mm (which all-weather) but it is heavy and bulky while the Tamron is small and light (and very sharp too). I'm still on the fence about it.

My only issues with the kit I've always had is the bulk and size of the Metz flash and its reverse-engineered implementation of the Pentax TTL (PTTL). That has caused me to use the flash less than I could have over the past 9 years. I tried to sell it many times but never succeeded. Lucky because now it serves my macro setup as a slave flash.

Old stuff that went the way of the dodo would be my Pentax 18-55mm standard zoom, Tamron 17-50mm with a broken zoom mechanism, Arax shift lens.
Click to expand...
Some lenses are heavy and bulky, but then you get get good results instead as us full with glass inside.

I also having problem with my equipment when travelling, as some of my lenses are heavy. What backpack do you use for your equipment?
 
MikeB
Jack said:
Some lenses are heavy and bulky, but then you get get good results instead as us full with glass inside.

I also having problem with my equipment when travelling, as some of my lenses are heavy. What backpack do you use for your equipment?
Click to expand...
I'm atypical in that I do have a Lowepro Flipside 400 which can contain 70% of my gear but it is just far too heavy. Mostly I chose 2-3 lenses for the day or when we travel on vacation which then go into my laptop backpack's front pocket. The stuff that normally sits there (mouse, charger, external HDD, cables etc.) is then moved to my suitcase to make room. Camera with one lens around my neck, a couple of lenses in the laptop bag and I'm good to go.

On vacation, I use the "golden duo" of lenses which are light and have a versatile range: the 16-85 and the 55-300 in the backpack, the heavier 8-16mm (which is a must for small Mediterranean streets, church interiors, architecture etc.) on the camera around my neck. When traveling, the GPS goes in my shirtpocket to generate both visible trails for documenting as well as a GPX file to geotag my images.

Here's an example of a typical vacation day back in 2017 on the beautiful island of La Palma. This is the map visualization of the GPX coordinate file out of my tracker which I used at the end of every exhausting day to tag my images.
Screenshot_20170307_195640.jpg
 
Jack
MikeB said:
I'm atypical in that I do have a Lowepro Flipside 400 which can contain 70% of my gear but it is just far too heavy. Mostly I chose 2-3 lenses for the day or when we travel on vacation which then go into my laptop backpack's front pocket. The stuff that normally sits there (mouse, charger, external HDD, cables etc.) is then moved to my suitcase to make room. Camera with one lens around my neck, a couple of lenses in the laptop bag and I'm good to go.

On vacation, I use the "golden duo" of lenses which are light and have a versatile range: the 16-85 and the 55-300 in the backpack, the heavier 8-16mm (which is a must for small Mediterranean streets, church interiors, architecture etc.) on the camera around my neck. When traveling, the GPS goes in my shirtpocket to generate both visible trails for documenting as well as a GPX file to geotag my images.

Here's an example of a typical vacation day back in 2017 on the beautiful island of La Palma. This is the map visualization of the GPX coordinate file out of my tracker which I used at the end of every exhausting day to tag my images.
View attachment 13260
Click to expand...

That's stunning, are you driving or just walking these locations ? As seems very long distance. I also want to buy a lowerpro bag, but not sure if the brand is good or no.

I usually don't take all equipment with me on trips, depending on what I want to shoot and how is the weather outside. Mostly I take my 70-300L and wide angle lens with me.
 
MikeB
Jack said:
That's stunning, are you driving or just walking these locations ? As seems very long distance. I also want to buy a lowerpro bag, but not sure if the brand is good or no.
Click to expand...
Most of this was with a rental car but if you were to zoom in you'd also see bits where we walked in nature. The Lowepro bags are pretty sturdy and good quality. Not sure I'd buy a big backpack again today.
 
MikeB
Jack said:
I want to buy

Lowepro ProTactic 450 AW II​

But not sure if it's worth the money.
Click to expand...
It's about €179 in the Netherlands, too much IMHO for a backpack. But it does pack not just the camera but a laptop as well so if that is a feature you really need...
 
Jack
MikeB said:
It's about €179 in the Netherlands, too much IMHO for a backpack. But it does pack not just the camera but a laptop as well so if that is a feature you really need...
Click to expand...

Here in UK is around £190 which is really expensive. Having laptop compartment is really useful in my opinion.
 

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