Love these myself, so any chance I get to share…… .

A week off and all my gear in one place has allowed me to have a fresh look and change a few things.

The image above shows my basic “day” bag for the paper. It is comprehensive and capable, but a smidgeon too heavy fully loaded.

The core is the EM1.2, 12-40 f2.8 and 40-150 f4. If I am in a hurry and know I will use lights or know for sure I will not need to, these are the three items I go with. If I know I am going into a poor light, fast movement location and lights may be problematic, I will pack the 25 (not pictured), 45 and maybe even switch the 40-150 out for the 75 f1.8.

The G9 body* removes the need for lens changes, and the 12-40 gives me instant manual focus over-ride for video, except I have to get used to the more natural feeling rotation again after switching my video kit to the Lumix direction for consistency. The G9 suits the short lens ideally, but they can interchange.

The 9mm adds a fast wide, semi macro option. Occassionally I will drop the 12-40 if the job can be covered by the 9 and 25.

Light is handled in this order;

• Natural whenever possible or,

• a 60cm diffuser/reflector or,

• a small LED panel or,

• a Godox flash (off camera). I will leave the fash if I can becasue it is the heaviest single thing in the bag!

The Sennheisser mic has seen little use, but it weighs so little I am fine with having it handy.

The bag is the Domke F2 ballistic, bought to purpose.

*

The second bag is the sports/event kit.

This kit is modular, being drawn from and added to from the day kit as required.

The pair of EM1x’s* are the backbone, one with the primary lens (300 or 75 or 40-150) and the other with the “support” lens (8-18, 40-150, 75-300).

I rareky carry all of this becasue each sport has more specific needs.

Cricket for example is often handled by one camera and the 75-300 alone or with the 300mm (and T/C) if light or reach may be an issue.

Football (AFL) and Rugby gets the 300 on one camera and 40-150 f2.8 on the other. On nice days, I will take the 40-150 f4 zoom to save weight.

Hockey is usually the 40-150, sometimes with the T/C. The pitch is smaller than a football ground, which makes coverage easier.

BMX etc can be covered by either 40-150.

Basketball and Netball in good light get the 12-40 and 40-150 f2.8’s, but in low light I switch to the 75 and 25/45 primes. This is often the same venue, just sometimes better lit by sport.

Equestrian is handled perfectly well by the 75-300 or 40-150 f4 zooms.

The list goes on, but you get the idea and I have found that if I am caught with only my day bag, the 40-150 f4 and 45mm have been adequate to get the feel of any sport.

The second EM1x* did not add much as the second body that the EM1.2 did not do perfectly well, but that camera has been switched to video duties and it is nice that I always have an EM1x at hand even if some time in the future one is down. It is also nice to have two identical bodies when working fast.

The bag is the Lowe Pro Pro Tactic 350 AW, a bag I have a love-hate relationship with (maybe love is too strong a word). I also use the Domke f804 or Photocross 10 whenever I can.

*My intention is to drop the G9 and shift it to video only, using a second lighter EM1.2, also possibly replacing the second EM1x that I may then use for stabilised video (and have up my sleeve for sports). This would mean I only have one battery type at work and the well used EM1.2’s can do the Lion’s share of the work. I would have effectively a whole EM1x as surplus or for video. This means 2x EM1.2 and 1 EM1x for work.