Compared to my regular camera bag, this is my go anywhere, travel light, inexpensive, featherweight kit. The camera gear and the backpack weigh 4.8 pounds. In addition to the camera and three lenses, there is a spare battery, battery charger, and extra memory cards.
The three lenses cover everything from 10-250mm, in 35mm terms that is equivalent to 16-400mm. I shoot for the local newspaper so I pretty much always have a camera backpack with me. You never know when a great photo op will occur. If I am going to the local movie theater to catch the latest flick, I don’t want to lug a heavy backpack with me, so I take this one. If something unexpected and photo worthy happens on the way to or from the theater, I am ready.
My use of the word “toy” is tongue in cheek. Arthur Morris, the amazing bird photographer, calls is Canon EF 100-400mm L series lens his “toy” lens. It is a serious, high quality, top of the line telephoto zoom lens that sells for $2,400. So if Art calls this his toy lens, what is a serious lens. His 800mm lens that costs over $10,000.
My toy camera kit is capable of taking fine images. See the first two articles linked below. I use it a lot, especially when I want to travel light. Under a lot of working conditions you can’t tell the difference between my toy gear and my serious gear. If I am going to Colorado to shoot wildlife and landscape images, I take my “serious” gear and a longer, 100-400mm, telephoto lens.
The camera and lenses were all Canon refurbished items, so they were relatively inexpensive to buy and came with a full one year Canon USA warranty. How inexpensive? The telephoto lens cost $239 vs the $2000+ it would cost to buy an L series Canon telephoto lens. You can get a Canon camera body and two lenses for less than $500. See the last article below.
Links
Pushing the Limits: $239 lens vs $2159 lens