We talked to commercial, food and wedding photographer, Quintin Mills, about the gear he always carries around, and a couple of cost-effective tricks he might know of.

TechSmart: What piece of gear never leaves your camera bag? Also, is there a cheap solution that you use on a regular basis? 

Quintin Mills: My Canon 5D MkIII and the 24-70mm f/2.8 L II lens. These are always in the bag no matter what the assignment.

With regards to a cheap piece of equipment, I have a few things I make sure I keep with me.

1. Plastic sandwich bags and hair elastics. Putting a plastic bag over a flash on a stand or light stick with the elastics holding the bag closed, allows me to happily use that flash in the rain.

2. I also have some cardboard squares which I use with the elastics to attach to my Speedlight flash head to prevent the light spilling onto a wall or ceiling if the flash is a bit close to it.

3. A torch is fantastic to help you focus in low or nearly no light. For this I usually get my assistant to shine it on the area I want to focus. This definitely helps in less than ideal low light conditions.

For more of Mills’ photography, head over to his website.

If you would like to read up on more advice from professional photographers, check out the rest of the Canon Series of articles.