Jon Sienkiewicz

In time for spring and blooming with features, three of your favorite camera bag manufacturers unveil their new lineup. If you’ve outgrown your current carry solution, need a new bag for that new gear or just plain want to try something new, here’s the place to start. Because after all, who couldn’t use another camera bag?

In an age when fast food coffee cups are marked “Caution: Hot” it’s unfortunate that some of the hidden hazards photographers encounter don’t have warning signs. Forewarned is forearmed, as wise men say. Or as I like to say, sometimes the difference between a disaster and a minor annoyance is knowledge, experience and preparation—or accidentally stumbling upon some obscure piece of advice on the internet.

Over the past 72 hours I’ve removed 19-inch-deep snow from my driveway and spent three days and nights without heat or lights. Things were so bad my faithful dog ran an ad in the newspaper looking for a new home. I don’t know what I did to irk the snowplow driver but he neatly sealed my drive with a four-foot wall of solid ice. And did I mention that four of my trees fell from the weight of the snow, one narrowly missing the house? So in the wake of this madness I did the only thing a sane person would do: I made of list of the new camera stuff I want to get if the sun ever shines again in New Jersey.

You need a tripod. If you shoot video, panoramas, fireworks, time exposures, selfies or macro work in addition to general picture taking, you may even need two tripods. Selecting a tripod that matches the way you work is important, and not at all difficult if you approach it in the right way.