I’m very excited to announce that Tamrac has donated an Adventure Messenger 4 (in your choice of red or grey) for our April prize!! 
I was SO impressed with all of the thoughtful answers you gave to last month’s question about what you could do for your business if you dedicated 15 minutes a day. Because this month’s prize is a bag designed to hold your equipment, I want to know which piece of equipment is your favorite and why. It doesn’t have to be just a lens… it can be anything at all that makes your life as a photographer better or easier! Leave a comment with your answer to be entered to win the Tamrac Adventure Messenger 4.
OK .. can you delete my last post .. even though my camera is GREAT and going to outer space .. but seriously .. the best piece of equipment .. would have to be MY HEART .. I just had a HEART ULTRA SOUND done .. scary! .. But seriously .. I can’t take an image without seeing with MY HEART .. my images wouldn’t exist without this very special piece of equipment! I shoot with my heart and my images show that!
My favorite thing in my bag…well first off it’s my sweet fanny pack that I have used for 5 years now that has a pouch for a water bottle that I use for my 50 mm or. Fisheye. It majes for a great icebreaker when i meet the groomsmen at a wedding and ask that the please ot make fun of my “sweet fanny pack” or to “not be jealois of my sweet fanny pack.” But inside that fanny pack I have…Smarties…there are a lifesaver and not jus for the kiddios either!
You know – I don’t think the thing that makes photography easier/better for me is a “thing.” I think its my personality, and the choices I have made in my careers leading up to photography. I have worked a lot in retail and radio – two things that you have to have an absolute impeccable demeanor with people. I feel like I can talk to just about anyone, anywhere! This helps with MOB’s and groomsmen, grandmas,aunts and “Uncle Bobs.”
Without my ease of conversation I don’t think I would get as natural of reactions in my photographs 
Susan Uston is sooooo right. I was going to say my eye, and then I read her post. I always tell people when they ask how to take better photos that they should shoot with their heart. And here …I didn’t even think of it!!! DUH!
Well…the eye is important too. No matter what the camera, the eye is what you have as a constant. Eddie Van Halen once said, “hand me any guitar, and I will still sound like me.”
I have a eye cup that I really cannot shoot without. It is soft and wraps around my eye and really let’s me focus on my subjects. I eve have 2 spares just in case one pops off my eyepiece. LOVE THEM!
I would have to say my iPhone for keeping me connected to the world of knowledge and inspiration. I can see it actually being integrated into future cameras at some point! For too handy!
I have to say my 50 1.4 lens. I really have fun shooting with it and love the images I can create with it.
I would have to say my Tamrac Backpack is the piece of equipment that makes my life better as it keeps everything I use together. Except that it is a little outgrown, because the 70-200 2.8 VR lens doesn’t fit in it properly( I have to pack it up top)
Right now I would have to say my favorite piece of equipment is my 4GB SD Plus Card. I can shoot to it and then take it out and plug it right into my USB port and download the images, no card reader needed!!! It is the greatest time saver not only at the reception when making the slideshow but also when you have small shoots to do. No need to carry card readers and take up space in my gear bag. It is a must have if you shoot with the 1D series.
For those interested, here it is….
http://tinyurl.com/d34kkv
Well, being a “newbie” in the business, my equipment bag is limited. Very limited. You’d probably laugh if you saw what I take to a shoot. I’d have to say that the one thing I appreciate the most at this point in my career is my uncle, who is also a photographer and who is willing to loan me equipment whenever he can to help me in my burgeoning business. He is amazingly helpful and if I could stick him in a bag and take him with me on shoots, I would!
I hope I can more than pay him back someday…he definitely makes my life better!
I have already answered but just to say what a cool bag this is
Picking just one piece is hard, I try to love them all equally. My absolute fav has got to be my 50mm 1.4 (please don’t tell my 85 or 24). It is almost always on my camera and everything/body i shoot with it just seems to be better. The other thing I love is my Jill-E bag and my Shootsac. It’s nice that someone is bringing fun to women’s camera bags. Then there’s my iPhone just plain coolness. OK back to my first one my 50mm lens, yeah that’s my favorite.
My favorite piece of equipment is a handy dandy dual flip mirror. I take this little guy with me on every shoot. When I start to see the anxiety rise in my clients eyes I pull this little mirror out which is self concealed in fun purple fabric, to not give itself away to quickly. A quickly confidence check and I’ve just gained the trust of my clients. The rest of the shoot becomes a breeze and we both score with super relaxed images. The art of taking photographs is catching expressions without words. I wouldn’t leave such a valuable piece out of my bag.
Since you specifically mentioned equipment that goes in the bag, I’d have to say my lens pen. It keeps everything else in the bag clean and ready for action. It gets the smudgy fingerprints off (yes, I’ve been known to space out and change lenses without having the caps on) and my sanity intact.
I would have to say my family and friends who support me all the time especially when I feel challenged, and my great husband who assists me, and my Mom & Dad who think everything I photograph is “wonderful”.
Not going for any of the obvious “camera” or “X lens”, I’d say it’s my Rocket Blower. Not only does that bulbous guy keep my CCD clean, I use it to get dust off my computer screen, crap out from in between the keyboard keys, and blowing air in my wife’s ear—she hates it!
Seriously, cannot live without it.
My favorite piece of equipment is my Nikkor 1.4D prime lens. It is great for so many things! I can get great portraits, great close ups, blur backgrounds, etc.I don’t go anywhere without it or my 18-200VR. Love that lens too.
My favorite piece of equipment is my Hoodman Loupe. I cannot work outside in bright sun without this wonderful addition to my camera bag.
I know this isn’t an actual piece of equipment, but I’d have to say the LCD screen on my camera. As a newbie to the photography world, I check my screen every few minutes or so to make sure my clients aren’t coming out with green faces or anything
. Also, the LCD is perfect for when clients want instant gratification and want just a sneak at what the picture came out like. 
My favorite thing in my bag is not my 5D (though I love it), not my 50 1.2 lens (awesome!), but a picutre of my 14 month old son. I carry a picture of him in my camera bag at all times. When I’m gone for the day shooting wedddings, I often think of him and start to miss him terribly… his pointing at things… blabbing stories to me… and saying ma-ma. Carrying his picture with me and being able to bring it out at a moments notice is worth more than any piece of equipment I could ever carry in my bag.
I don’t know if this is technically a piece of equipment but I would say my second shooter, aka my husband. He gets the shot that I don’t, then angles and views that I don’t get or don’t see. He enhances my photographic style.
He won’t fit in the bag.
My son. He’s who I take the most pictures of, and he brings magic to every image.