We’re talking bags, folks.
Camera bags.
Gear listing, laid out, thought about, comfort factored, camera bags.

The event I was packing for was SXSW with a mix of panel shooting, music, and event coverage.
2 Year ago I ended up shooting a BBQ /Book Signing for Guy Kawasaki!
Day/night, interior, exterior; you can pretty well run the gamut of photo situations over a 10 day run.

Watcha gonna bring ?

The base bag, ThinkTank Airport International does most of the heavy lifting:
Nikon D800,
24mm-70mm, 2.8
70mm-200mm, 2.8
20mm 2.8
Nikon SB-900 speedlight with Pocket Wizards and Light Modifier (Fotodiox Mini Soft Box, or Rogue FlashBender)
GoPro Hero3
Rechargeable batteries
Looxcie HD Streaming Camera w/mount
Card Wallets
Extra cameras (Lytro and Samsung WI-Fi Compact)
Hard drives
X-Rite color chart
Lavalier mic
Digital audio recorder
LitePanel Micro LED light
USB Card reader
I can always add a tablet to the front pouch to be grabbed before placing in overhead.

In the zip cover:
spare mic., rec/transmitter
Cables
Business cards
small tools
GoPro remote
USB Thumb Drives
Lens cleaners

In the back pouch (see why we love this bag?) some phone charging cables, phone/tablet charging battery block, cinnamon gum, business cards, earbuds.

A lot right?
Then we pack the ThinkTank Urban Disguise 50:
Nikon D700 with our “crop duster” lens- 28-300, 3.5-5.6
13″ MacBook Pro
power cord for laptop
mesh bag with flash bracket(s), SB-29 flash cable(s)
Bag of Bongo Ties (elastic bands with wood stoppers)
DSLR Gorillapod
S’well, non-sweating, thermos (hot or cold).

And the 2 bags stack together, with a neat flap of material that the Airport International slips into.
Brilliant.

Into the suitcase goes the tripod/monopod, chargers for all ( now organized on a CoCoon board by Grid-it) Mesh bag with extra cables, mini power strips with USB inputs, and the actual working bag:

The ThinkTank City Walker 20.

This pup folds pretty darn flat, and is lightweight saving weight in the checked luggage, and weight on my back.
Above , it’s packed with Nikon D800, 70-200, 24-70, 20mm 2.8, Nikon SB900 speedlight, Fotodiox softbox, card wallets, extra batteries, power bars, assignment sheets, small gorillapod, and the lovely S’well thermos that doesn’t sweat. Key point there.

And always in my pants pocket? Canon S100. 2.0 lens, shoots RAW, ISO to 6400. Sweet.

Oh yeah: as you are packing your checked bag, you may be tempted to load in a lot of the heavy pieces.
Take a Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale – for $25. I’ve used mine for years, and it save embarrassment, and money at the gate. When it says 49.5 lbs, it has been just that.

There you have it. A working array of bags and gear for changeable events.

Whenever I go on one of these trips, extra gear for review comes along, so when you see a write up here, it’s because the gear has been put to use.

One question you may have is “why carry the sound gear?”.

If I know there will be specific interviews going on, the Canon XF100 comes along, plus a shotgun mic, ThinkTank Modular belt or the Media Bag, a Manfrotto video head, and perhaps a different monopod.

With gear in the bag, I can cobble together what is needed to get the job done in a pinch.

What’s in your bag?

NB: The CityWalker 20 has become my bag of choice in NYC walkabouts.
Fits the 13″ MacBook Pro, Body and cropduster lens, or I can go small, like a Sony NEX with a coupla of lenses.
It’s now always with me, even if I’m not on a shoot.
In NYC, backpacks aren’t quite the thing.
As someone said to me, “School’s Out”.

Cheers
damon webster

Coming on the heels of D7100 announcement, Nikon continues to push on through with some new compacts and a sweet zoom lens, with the DX users in mind.

First up is a curious point and shoot The new CoolPix A

Incorporating a large DX sensor, this pocketable camera has a fixed, 28mm equivalent 2.8 lens.
It does take the Nikon wi-fi module, WU-1A, keeping inline with the rest of the current Nikon line-up of DSLRs.
Sporting 16.2 megapixels, this unit should produce outstanding images.
A full size hot shoe, so it’ll take any of your Nikon speedlights, it also shoots 4FPS for speed.
Yes, it does shoot RAW.
If you want an optical viewfinder, be ready to fork over another $450.
The unit itself is about $1100.

So the top price for a compact camera seemed to be reached with the full frame Sony RX-1, at about $2800.
AT 60% less, it seems like a big savings. Smaller sensor, less megapixels, but wider lens. Slower, but wider.

Or the similar player is the Sony RX100: zoom, slightly smaller sensor, built in flash, zoom lens. About $650.

Well the manufacturers have hear that people want smaller, yet high quality. Let’s see if everyone is willing to pay for it.
Should be doing some comparisons in the next coupla months.

Next cool new release from Nikon is an 80-400mm 4-5.6 zoom lens. It’s an FX, Nano Crystal coated lens.
20 elements in 12 groups, shift to DX format to go 120-600mm.
At $2700., it’s a great deal, especially when you start the extended range.

and now for the official story:
Continue Reading »

We go to our fair share of photo trade fairs, consumer electronic shows and email blasts upon email blast of new gadgetry promising the path to glory. Or the path to the perfect photo.
Sometimes it does feel like the comics I read a kid, with the claims running rampant.
Those sea monkeys never did have crowns, nor carried tridents.

So when we first found our way into the tweet-up room ( kind of a press preview ) the rows of new products draws you in. Who’s got the right pitch? Which product should we be sharing with you, and perhaps making your photographic life, just that much better?

Lots of clever ideas that help solve problems we all have: carrying gear, lighting subjects, and keeping subjects attention.

One item broke through all of that: CamRanger

What the heck is this?

Basically it is a wireless controller for your DSLR. It creates an ad-hoc wi-fi network for your camera.

Using your iPad, iPhone, and the free app., you can adjust not only the exposure settings like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, White Balance, HDR, you can touch focus your camera from the tablet!.

And how about an intervalometer? yep, it does that, too.

Here’s an amazing trick feature: auto layered focus, called Focus Stack
What the what?
OK , if you have shot a product shot where you were lighting it just right which called for a certain f/stop, which in turn gave you a certain depth of field.
With this app, you can shoot a stack of images wirelessly, with slight refocus so when the single shots are layered together, you have a front to back focus. And since you do not touch the camera, your chance of vibration is minimized if not gone.

So you see all of the control on the face of the tablet. You can even touch screen your focus point on the tablet.
OR
You can lock out all of that info, and just have the shots show up clean.
Like if you have a client. Let them take the tablet where they want and be comfortable, while they watch the shoot.

All of this is great, but there is one more major feature: it will work in movie mode!!
Yep, you can change your focus point, while in movie mode.

An important point: you are saving RAW images on your camera’s media card, while displaying jpegs on the tablet.
You do have to adjust the SIZE of the jpeg, so a shoot can be handled full screen for display. Took a bit to find that out.
But don;t worry. It’s a small company with amazing support

This was truly the most innovative new product I saw at PhotoPlus Expo 2012.

It comes with a cable for your DSLR, either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0, charging block, and the simple directions.
One thing it doesn’t have is a hot shoe connection or a 1/4″-20 tripod socket.
You are relegated to using the included neoprene pouch, with a caribbiner. attach to a neck strap or tripod.
We have been told that a solution for this is coming.

What blew me away was the software. Robust, well thought out, and seemed to have all of the functions I would need, plus more.
And we know that this company is going to keep upgrading. They have just made the app for MAC OS.
Check the app in the iTunes store and see what you think.
MSRP about $300.
Highly recommended.

CamRanger

But we’re not done with the subject of triggering your camera.
Not by a long shot. We’ve been testing a range of units, each with it’s own set of specs made to fit your needs and wallet.
Stay tuned.

Just as I was packing a travel bag, this happens. Gotta buy. $99. per unit
Pocket Wizard Plus X
OK, if you shoot flash off-camera AT ALL, you may already have some of the earlier iterations.
Speedlights, monoblocks, full studio flash: why would you be mired in wires?
The prices have been a little bit up there, but this new unit is compact, comes with a variety of cables, and keeps the operation simple.
Trigger your camera, remote flash, or use in combination with your other pocket wizards.
For us, it’s the size. Shooting an event on the fly makes you look at each piece of gear very carefully, and deciding on its place in your bag.

Sure, you’re sitting at your local coffee shop, the skinny jeans and droopy wool caps are designing the next cuppa joe. Their pens are poised to rewrite “On The Road”.
But you…..
You are ready for some digital artistry. Right in the palm of your hand.
Yeah, there are apps. Go Ahead. Make my instagram. Poser.

You’ve got some grown-up work to do. Photoshop type work.

OK, lets’ get real.

Adobe has just announced a new phone only version of Photoshop. With the powerful tool in your pocket (watch it!) you can get started on working out your ideas on your phone and thanks to the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can start on the phone, go to the tablet or tower with your work intact.

Much like the tablet version, Photoshop Touch for phone has core Photoshop features like layers (max3), advanced selection tools, adjustments and filters, and you can work on files as big as 12mg.

You can also post directly to Facebook or Twitter, so you can be sure that the images that have your handle attached, come with a quality pedigree.
Photoshop. The system you use, know and trust, is now a full rocket in your pocket.
For only $5.00.