Four Cameras, Seven Lenses — and Every One Earns Its Place
Why carry three cameras instead of changing lenses?
Sports photographer Andy Chua took one Nikon Z9, two Z8s, and a Z6 III to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. Most days only three came to the venues. The reason is speed: following an athlete through a 70-200mm, the action can suddenly move closer, and even at 70mm the framing becomes too tight.
Another focal length ready lets him respond instantly without a lens change, which matters more in heavy rain. He does not carry three because he needs all three for every photograph. He carries three because he does not know when he will need the third.
What does each lens actually do?
Every lens earned its place through the photographs it allowed him to make. The NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S became one of his most important: 400mm gave him room for unpredictable movement while isolating athletes, and its built-in 1.4x teleconverter switched him to 560mm without removing the lens.
The older AF-S 120-300mm f/2.8 still travels because gymnastics rewards flexibility: a composition that works at one point of a routine can become too tight moments later. The 85mm f/1.2 S, shot at f/1.4, isolated 3x3 basketball players against a busy background, and the 8-15mm fisheye turned track cycling into a wide-angle pan.
What about everything that is not a camera?
The fourth body went out as a remote camera near the finish line, a perspective Chua could not get from his own position. Paris 2024 taught him waterproof trousers are mandatory, and a custom rain cover protected the kit through three hours of athletics in heavy rain. The assignment did not end at the shutter: his goal is to deliver important photographs within ten minutes, with accurate captions. A strong photograph matters, but getting it to the client at the right time is another vital part of the job.
Why it matters for you
The lesson is not the size of the bag. After Birmingham 2022, Chua stopped asking how close a lens could bring him and began asking how much freedom it would give him throughout a competition. Before your next shoot, list the pictures you need — tight, wide, reaction, environment — and assign each one a lens and a position before you leave. One body is fine. Two focal lengths ready beats one lens changed twice.