My "Grab and Go" Camera Kit

My Grab and Go Kit as described below (click to enlarge)

I don't have a point-and-shoot camera of high quality which includes a good lens with an all around capability.  I would buy one as something to carry all the time if I could find one that meets all my requirements AND is small enough not to be obtrusive.  Not being the case, I figured I might as well make up a kit that is larger than a small point-and-shoot camera but covers most of what I may encounter when I am out and about.  I have built what I call a "Grab and Go" camera kit that I can pick up and head out the door knowing that, in the bag, is everything I need to cover 95% of the situations I may encounter.

The "Grab and Go" kit is not for when I am going out to specifically photograph, but as something relatively small and lightweight that I can take and set on the floor of the back of my vehicle so if I encounter anything interesting to photograph, I am prepared.  It could also serve as a small travel kit when space is very limited.  Additionally, I wanted to utilize only items I now own and not have to buy anything additional.

Here is what is in my Grab and Go kit:

Olympus E-M1 Mark II body w/ Peak Design wrist strap
Olympus 12-100mm f/4 lens
Olympus 25mm f/1.8 lens
Olympus FL-LM2 flash (included when purchasing camera body)
72mm circular polarizing filter
72mm 6-stop ND filter
72mm 10-stop ND filter
2 64gb SDXC cards in the camera
2 additional SDXC cards as spares/backups
Upstrap neck strap with Peak Design connectors
Battery charger
1 extra camera battery
L-Plate and hex wrench
2 lens cloths
Giottos small Rocket Blower
Gitzo carbon fiber Traveler tripod (always stays in the back of the car)

All of this is contained in my small, lightweight Ape Case Envoy Messenger Bag which is lightweight, made of nylon, blue and doesn't necessarily look like a camera bag. You can see additional photos of it here or here.

This kit is really pretty small and lightweight but extremely versatile and of high quality. As I mentioned, with this "Grab and Go" kit, I should be able to successfully handle 95% of the situations I may incidentally encounter when out and about.

This kit covers everything (in 35mm terms) from 24mm to 200mm.  The 25mm f/1.8 is so tiny and provides two and a third extra stops of light transmission for low light situations. If I encounter a subject that requires a wider view than than 12mm can provide, I can make two or more exposures at 12mm then combine them.  If I need a bit longer reach than a field of view of 200mm, I can either crop later or use the Mark II's built-in tele-converter mode, which crops the field of view to 400mm, then rebuilds the image file in-camera to full size.  Or I can do both! I've tested this feature and the camera does as good a job as I can cropping during editing and then upsizing the file in Alien Skin Blow Up or in Photoshop.  It really is useful for those few times I need more than the 200mm FOV.

Before I conclude, I need to answer the question that will be posed by some of you.  "Why aren't you using your Fuji gear?"  After all, the Fuji gear is what I call my primary gear. Well, the idea was to utilize gear I already own and not have to buy anything additional. If I owned the Fuji 18-135mm lens, I could probably substitute my X-T2 and that lens for the Olympus body and 12-100mm lens.  I would also be able to substitute my Fuji 35mm f/2 lens for the small Olympus 25mm lens.  But I don't own the Fuji 18-135 so I went with the Olympus gear for this kit.  Absolutely nothing wrong with the Olympus gear.  Nothing.

Additionally, I've thought about buying the Fuji 18-135mm lens but I don't have a high level of confidence that it will be as good as I would want it to be.  I've read numerous reviews and accounts about this particular lens and it gets very mixed reviews.  Some think it is really a good lens and others not so much.  I guess I don't want to go through the trouble of buying one, testing and using it for some time, then potentially having to send it back if it doesn't meet my needs.  Maybe Fuji will either redesign this lens and re-issue an updated version (there is some talk on the web that they have a model with the same specs coming out but with a different product number; but we don't know if it is a redesigned lens or the same lens with a shift in manufacturing to the Philippines) or create a newer, better similar lens that can be used in its stead and serve as an all around lens such as my Olympus 12-100mm lens.

All-in-all, this little kit is serving its purpose well.  In my next post, I will go through each item in the kit and tell you why I chose to include it.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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