The Things I Carry

After being inspired by another blog (which I highly recommend btw), I decided to do a posting of the contents of my camera bag.  This is mostly what I travel with, since my camera bag pretty much goes everywhere I go.

It doesn't seem like that much when it's in the bag but when its laid out like this, it looks like a lot.  So I'll start in the upper left hand corner and work my way around.  Do try to keep up.

1.  The manuals for my camera.  I don't normally need to look them up but when there is something different that I want to try, they are always nice to have.  Given that I just got a new camera (I'll get to that in a bit), there are some new features that I need to learn about anyway.
2.  A dog-eared copy of the 2012 Know Your Ships.  This is a nice little reference when asked about ships and there are other people around.  I have newer copies at home but the dog eared copy looks more traveled.
3.  A bottle of pain killers.  A few years ago, I flew to California and I had a cold.  I couldn't get any aspirin on the plane, so I figured it would always be good to have a bottle with me.
4.  A pair of wild flower identification books.  They will occasionally come in handy when I feel like identifying the wild flowers I take pictures of.  The lower one breaks them down into the various shapes.
5.  Some cleaning materials for the camera.  There is micro fiber clothe for the lens.  There are also tissue papers.
6.  The maps are Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania.  I know that maps may seem outdated in the age of the GPS but I still like to have them with me.  It is sometimes easier to get the idea of a location when I see it on paper.  However, if you look in the lower left corner, you will see my trusty GPS (or as I call it, the Yuppie Plastic Jesus).  Besides, the official state maps have information that a GPS will not give you.
7.  My 175 to 500mm lens.  This is pretty useful for taking football pictures and pictures of distant ships.  However when taking pictures of ships, sometimes they are hazy.
8.  Just below that lens is my Bomba.  It is very useful for blowing dust off my camera.
9.  Speaking of which, here is my first picture of my new camera.  It is a Canon 70D.  It is close enough to my old 50D that I don't have much of a learning curve but there are a couple things it can do that my 50D can't.  One of the new features that I like is the fact that I can connect through WiFi with my camera so that I can post quick pictures to facebook.
10.  Above the camera is a shutter release.  If you are going to do night pictures, a shutter release and tripod are very important because typically these use long exposures and both will reduce the amount of motion from the camera.
11.  To the left of the camera is a radio scanner.  I've avoided buying one for years because it is fairly easy to get information on the travel of ships.  However, since I've started to follow trains, it is much easier to track trains.
12.  Next we have M-Hat VI.  It pretty much goes everwhere I go.
13.  Below the hat, we have my other two lenses...the 75 to 300mm and 55 to 250mm.  Of those two, I am starting to like the 55 to 250mm more.  I think it is a little more versatile.
14.  I don't carry the Amtrak blanket with me everywhere, but I do prefer Amtrak to other modes of travel.

So there you have it.