Photography: Gear
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It's all about Point-and-Shoot for the convenience, and even with it's size and weight with all those accessories, Digital SLR for the possibilities. BOTH are certain to be in Da Guy's present and future. Here's his current line-up (click the pictures for links to more information)
Canon EOS 7D Digital -- 18 MP SLR. The single word describing this one is WOW. Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens (107°30'-63°30')
Canon EW-83E Lens Hood -- All guys should put a hood on it. You do too, don't you? Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens (78°30'-27°30') Canon EW-83J Lens Hood -- Got this one covered too Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Telephoto Lens II (34°-12°)
Canon PowerShot SD3500IS -- The newest Point-and-Shoot in Da Guy's line-up since February 2010 when it hit the streets. This 14.1 MP ZSLR has new touch panel LCD controls, a 5x wide angle optical image stabilized zoom, and shoots 720p HD video. It's great so far, but we'll see how well the touch panel holds up over time. It's a bit on the squishy side, making Da Guy wary if an invisibleSHIELD can be applied to the LCD and still operate the controls, and uneasy about putting it naked in his pants pocket without a case as he has for years with his SD850IS. (That's the whole reason Da Guy loves his Point-and-Shoots -- portability!!!) Canon PowerShot SD850IS -- Da Guy's workhorse since 2007 -- Now his Point-and-Shoot backup. A terrific 8.3 MP compact ZSLR, replacing his trusty PowerShot S70. This has had an invisibleSHIELD over the LCD since the day it was purchased, and there is not a scratch on the LCD to be seen.
Check out Da Guy's suggested places to buy your gear on his Photography Resources Page.
B+W 77mm Slim Circular Polarizing Filter with MRC. It's sure hard to beat the German B+W quality. A Canon 580EX II Speedlite will get you out of the dark. It's the one all the others compare against. A Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Bag holds his DSLR with mounted lens and another lens or flash for those round-about-town shoots and when he's touring the Parks. Be sure to take along a shopping bag or trash liner to cover up in case of a rain downpour -- the material is only water resistant with no rain hood. Da Guy thinks it's practically perfect otherwise, from this firm in jolly 'ol England. Check out their untraditional web site.
...oh, and if your gear is a bit heavy and that strap digs into your neck or keeps falling off your shoulder, Da Guy loves mixing it up with the addition of a Domke USPS shoulder pad. A bit heavy, but it does the job really well!
Crumpler Thirsty AL Bags for his Point-n-Shoot cameras. One for the camera, an extra battery and spare SD card; another for the charger and a copy of the camera sales receipt (you do keep receipts with you for your bigger-ticket items when you travel internationally to avoid any customs questions, don't you?) A Domke J2 is the bag that holds most of Da Guy's gear these days. The J2 is a lot bigger than his Crumpler, with water repellant ballistic nylon so you won't need a garbage can liner in a down pour or ever worry about it wearing out. Add an optional USPS pad and your shoulder will thank you. This one works great storing his stuff at home as well as taking it on a plane. It's not the bags fault, but the weight when it's packed does not make it Da Guy's choice when trying to travel light-footed (hence the Crumpler that sometimes travels empty to the destination in his check-in luggage). The only thing Da Guy does not like about this bag are those annoying, old-fashioned, and hard-to-open clips for the top flap on the front. It's great this bag is modeled after the original design some 20+ years ago, but what happened to using some current fastener technology like they did for the pockets on the ends?
Collecting camera bags for some photography enthusiasts must be similar to how some women collect shoes. Check out the
site for great end-user comparisons when you're looking around. Da Guy has gone through a number of bags in his days -- namely Tamrac and LowePro in his former SLR years. Since getting into DSLR, there have been a lot of others. Da Guy started with a LowePro SlingShot 200 AW which he never quite got used-to, even though it could hold most of his hoodless stuff. Even with that neat swing-around design, his days using a backpack must have ended when he was a teenager, oh, so long ago. Da Guy loved his Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Bag until he ran out of space as his collection of photographic gear kept expanding. He considered a gi-normous Crumpler Brazillion Dollar Bag as a replacement, but at more than double the price, he didn't make that move. Given Da Guy does not prefer bags that scream "I have a camera in here", he ordered a Think Tank Photo Urban Disguise 40 which may have been pretty good except it was perhaps a bit small and the one he received from the factory had major components that were not sewn properly -- it was returned and Da Guy didn't ask for a replacement given that quality experience.
...so, today, the Domke J2 holds all of his gear along with essential accessories. Da Guy keeps his tripod and head in a Gitzo GE11 bag (along with a Tech Snoot Boot over that big-bucks head for added protection), and uses his Crumpler 5 Million Dollar bag when he needs just a couple of pieces of gear and accessories to be toted around.
...and tomorrow, well, you never know with camera bag collectors and boys with their toys.
Gitzo GT2540L Series 2 Carbon Fiber Mountaineer Tripod - 26.5 lbs max capacity, usable height 11.4" min/68.9" max, 3.3 lbs carrying weight. Terrific, and hopefully will last a lifetime! invisibleSHIELD from ZAGG is a super little product with a lifetime guarantee to protect your LCD from scratches ...and they have them for just about any other gadget you can imagine Really Right Stuff has superior machined accessories for your photographic needs like this B7D custom plate for Da Guy's Canon 7D -- ballheads, Arca-Swiss compatible camera plates, and more. Designed, manufactured and sold from California! Really Right Stuff Ballhead-55 with Lever Release Really Right Stuff PCL-1 Panning Clamp with a PCL-DVTL dovetail to fit into the lever release when needed
Get the speed and reliability you expect with a SanDisk Extreme 32GB UDMA 60MB/sec CompactFlash. Do you really need that speed? Probably not if you're only shooting single JPGs, but you'll appreciate the offload time from your DSLR on those occasions when taking multiple RAWs in succession or capturing 1080p video.
For the somewhat lower demands of Da Guy's Point-and-Shoots, but where reliability and quality are still a concern, check out a SanDisk Ultra II 16GB Class 4 SDHC.
Da Guy carries a PhotoBert CheatSheet in his photo bag instead of lugging the manual around ...and no, they're not from THIS Guy, but another Bert. A Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly does the job perfectly when you need to perform the delicate task of cleaning your DSLR sensor Da Guy likes his WhiBal Reference Card (pronounced "wee-ball") to make White Balance corrections super simple once you get back home. Check out the useful tutorials on the RAWWORKFLOW.COM site.
Check out Da Guy's suggested places to buy your gear on his Photography Resources Page.
We all have wish lists of toys we would like to have some day. Here are some of the things Da Guy is dreaming about while he saves his shekels:
None right now. It's time to get out there and shoot with what he's got!
Check out Da Guy's suggested places to buy your gear on his Photography Resources Page.
