What do you use to carry your lens on your person?

[Jeff Cook]

I have been using a porta brace fanny pack. Are there better solutions? Has any used the news wear products or shoulder lens carrying slings. I would like to store around 4 lens plus my 6d body.

[Adrian Tan]

I think once you're talking four lenses, shoulder sling bag might be the best solution. It's how a lot of photographers do it, and there's lots of bags to choose from. If you run around with a small backpack, that's another way as well, though obviously the lens changes aren't going to be as fast.

If it's just one or two lenses, attaching to a belt is possible, though personally I find belt + lens bags a bit unwieldy. Feels like my pants are going to fall down, and also feels like I'm more bulky and can't move as fast, and I often have to walk sideways through doors. I'm also much more inclined to take the belt off, because I find it annoying, which defeats the whole purpose. (In terms of which belt, well... There's the Porta Brace pack you're already using. Lowepro S&F and their bags, including their specially designed lens exchange bags, is one option. Quikdraw camera belt is another, though it scares me. Just any "bum bag"/traveller's belt that's large enough to hold a lens is another. Or there are even more makeshift solutions -- like taking the bag for a 70-200 and hanging it off your actual pants belt, and this actually works surprisingly well.)

I actually like photographer's jackets a lot. Often the pockets are big enough to fit lenses, though we're talking small to medium, not 70-200. If you just Google for photographer jacket, you'll see what I mean. Some jackets have hooks to which you can attach lens bags.

I've seen some people carry lenses in their jackets with both rear and lens caps removed so they can change lenses fast. Photographers often do this with their shoulder sling bags as well, though usually with a lens hood on the front. The idea is that you drop the lens into the bag with front element facing downwards, and the lens hood protects it from scratches; then the lid of the bag, and the fact its facing upwards, protect the back element from dust. (I think the photographer Jasmine Star has a video about how quickly she changes lenses with this method. Unusually for a photographer, she carries just one camera body rather than two.)

One more idea: either a spider-type holster where you carry a whole extra body plus lens, or a shoulder strap, but both will involve some fiddling as you detach the extra body to reattach to your tripod/monopod/etc.


Edit: At the moment, I usually don't carry more than one lens. But when I do, I'm using a photographer's jacket, and I seldom carry more than one spare lens on me + camera. So it's usually one wide plus one close, and that's it, instead of trying to cover all focal lengths.

[Malcolm Debono]

I use the Retrospective Lens Changer 3:
Retrospective? Lens Changer 3 (Black) Shoulder Bag - Think Tank

[Steven Shea]

I use the GH2 and I can usually carry three lenses. One on camera + 1 in each front pocket. They stick out and make my pockets look a bit silly but it works.