Camera Bag
I am sure like me, you have more than one camera bag. I have several favorite ones for different occasions and/or systems. For general purpose and air travelling, I prefer bags from Tenba's Traveller Series. These bags usually provide excellent protection and quick access to the equipment inside. The biggest one I have is the 675. It holds my Nikon F4s, F2AS, SB-24 and 6 more lenses. Unfortunately, the 80-200mm/f2.8 AF or 300mm/f4 AF will not fit inside without major rearrangement. That is the major reason that I only take them with me when I am travelling by car. My new favorite Tenba is the Traveller 513. It is a slim bag that looks more like a laptop case than a camera bag. I can carry two M6's with 4 lens and still have room to spare. I can also use it with one SLR body and several lenses as long as I do not attach a motor drive to the body. In an emergency, I can unzip the bag and expand it by 3 inches to hold more gear or a laptop.
For the times that I can afford to slow down, nothing beats the Fogg bags. Fogg may not be a well known name to many photographers because they are very limited production items. They are handmade by a husband and wife team in France (Nigel Fogg and his wife). Every bag is made by either one of them and no one else. Each bag has its own serial number and they are distributed only in the USA and Japan as far as I know. In terms of look, they are more or less in line with Billinghams. Similar material (i.e. rubberized canvas with leather trim) but built with a much higher quility. Their dimensions also fit the bigger Leica R lenses better than the Tenba bags. I use the Matriarch to carry two Leica SLR's with six lenses and a flash. My M6's go into the Bumble Bee with room for other things such as brochures or magazines.
I still have not found a good bag for my medium format system yet.
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Flash
After starting with the Leica cameras, I developed a tendency to avoid using flashes. I prefer the smooth and natural look existing-light photogrpahy gives me. The tonality in the shadow areas is what attracts me to the Leica lenses. In general, I use flash in less than 5% of my photos.
After saying all that, I have two Metz 40MZ2 for my Leica SLRs. I like this Metz for its compactness, power and functions. It is also TTL-controlled by the R6.2, R7 and R8. The other Metz I have is a potato-smasher, 45CT2 which provides plenty of power.
For the F4s, I am prefectly happy with the SB-24.
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Slide projector
I am using a Leica Pradovit P2002 projector with 2 lenses: Super Colorpan-P 90mm for glass-mounted slides and Colorpan-CF 90mm for cardboard-mounted slides. By using Leica optics on the slide projectors, it maintains the Leica look from picture taking to viewing. My current screen size is 70"X70".
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Point-and-shoot camera
I carry a Leica minilux with me wherever I go. I like it for several reasons: strong and good-looking titanium body, fast (f2.4) 40mm lens, provisions for manual focus and aperature selection. The lens is what attracts me most to this camera. It lets me take existing-light pictures indoor during daytime without using the built-in flash. This camera has the same Leica quality even though the whole thing is made in Japan (by Panasonic).
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If you want to know more about my Leica systems, please visit my Leica page
If you want to talk to me about your favorite accessories, please contact me via e-mail.
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