[Kerrowdown]

Gaffer Tape... a solution to all problems.

[biz-engineer]

What is absolutely, positively necessary to carry in your camera bag ?

Depends what I want to shoot. So I have two small bags and long lens bags
- Travel combo: one small bag for camera+L-bracket mounted+lens mounted with 1 spare battery, lens pen, IR remote, and two Allen keys.
- One other small bag (former Pentax bag for the K5), with landscape accessories: CPL filter, ND and ND grad filters, filter holder and lens adapter rings.
- Lens bags for long lenses.

So depending where I go, I take one bag for sight seeing, two bags for landscape locations or two bags for wildlife or people, or three bags for landscape + wildlife.

[TaoMaas]

I have multiple bags, too, so I may move my spare battery and extra SD cards around from bag to bag. But each bag I have has 3 things in them already: a lens cloth, a blower, and a plastic bag that's large enough to cover things.

[WPRESTO]

TWO spare batteries. I have them for all but one of my cameras, and guess what? Once when the battery in the that camera went dead, the spare was dead as well!

[lesmore49]

TWO spare batteries. I have them for all but one of my cameras, and guess what? Once when the battery in the that camera went dead, the spare was dead as well!

A few years ago I was shooting with my K10D, which has a battery grip and an extra battery in the grip. I was at an outdoor event and I remember thinking to myself, boy...I seem to have lots of extra shots from one battery. Well 'that' battery went dead and when I switched over the battery setting from body to grip, I discovered, much to my dismay that I had left the battery power to the body and grip setting and drained both batteries.

[WPRESTO]

A few years ago I was shooting with my K10D, which has a battery grip and an extra battery in the grip. I was at an outdoor event and I remember thinking to myself, boy...I seem to have lot's of extra shots from one battery. Well 'that' battery went dead and when I switched over the battery setting from body to grip, I discovered, much to my dismay that I had left the battery power to the body and grip setting and drained both batteries.

Peter's Principle strikes again! It can be almost as annoying as entropy, gravity and politicians - oops, that's going too far.

[ChatMechant]

other than maybe a spare battery i dont consistently carry anything in my bag except camera and lens. a water bottle or can of beer are probably the most common.

[StiffLegged]

I use one bag only, so everything is in there including the two spare batteries. There are two pockets side by side in the top so charged batteries go in one and any that die are bunged in the other. I know if I've left the tripod behind because it ain't bump, bump, bumping behind.

[frogoutofwater]

I photograph rescued animals (often up-close) at farm sanctuaries and in homes. So my kit includes:
1. Lens wipes (for when animals lick my camera lenses or my glasses)
2. B+W filters on all my lenses (for when birds peck my lenses)
3. Antiseptic wipes (small ones for my hands and face, Accel* wipes in a ziplock bag to wipe down gear, shoes etc). Mosquito-repellant wipes. Sun screen.
4. A tiny fold-up, waterproof sit-upon, so that I can sit on the ground and not worry about getting wet or covered in mud/poop etc.
5. Not in my pack, but where possible I bring a folding step-stool with me (it's about the size and weight of a 1" ring binder), so that I can sit down at "eye level" for many of the animals I photograph.
6. ** A change of clothes (shirt, pants, socks, shoes) and a plastic bag for the clothes I was wearing when I was photographing.
7. From October-May, thin but warm gloves and hand warmers.

* Accel is a Broad-Spectrum bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal disinfectant. Some of the animals I photograph have health issues, so I want to be able to clean up if I'm exposed to something problematic - I don't want to bring it home or expose another animal to it. (Of course, I use shoe baths and protective clothing made available by sanctuary staff, but I like to have my own basic supplies with me, as well.)

** For my own comfort (photography can be sweaty work) and to reduce the risk of bringing something problematic home with me, I'm prepared to change my clothes if I've been photographing animals who may have health problems.

[ChrisPlatt]

Film, spare button cells (never needed), a couple of filters and a 30-year-old package of Olympus lens cleaning tissue.

Chris

[stevebrot]

For my K-3...At least one spare fully charged camera battery, microfiber cloth, and maybe a CPL.


Steve

[kevinWE]

How about a sandwich and a bottle of water? Ya, just never know. :-)

[Aaron28]

battery(s), micro fiber, lens pen, ir remote(s), M42 'tool' in any bag...a red filtered flashlight if I am out at night..typical bag also has colored gels and a stiff fabric 'bounce card' whether I pack a flash or not because they fit without any annoyance

edit~ since I have begun shooting film.....light meter and depending on the light box taken a rangefinder

[rogerstg]

Most times, just a spare battery and lens cloth.

[Wheatfield]

Presuming that basic kit includes the stuff needed to keep the camera running and able to save images (batteries and cards) and isn't considered accessories, then for me it's polarizing and neutral density filters.