So, after months of work and patience, the new blog, same as the old blog but better, is now hosted on my very own site: zeraphoto.com. I'll leave this be for archival purposes, but please visit my site for all the current postings, as this will be my last on this blog, unless, of course, something goes horribly wrong with my site and I'm forced to return to nice, old, friendly, reliable google (this is in case they're looking and want to save some server space by deleting old accounts).
Nice google, good google, that's a good Web conglomerate. Sit. Stay. Stay. Staaaayyy, ....
2010-05-16
iPad update, week four: crappy wifi but a happy ending
So the glamour is starting to wear off a bit, but the iPad is a very capable device. I am officially bummed that I didn't hold out for the 3G version; I seriously thought of the iPad as a laptop substitute so I'd use it the same way, coffee shops, at home, in the office, etc. That, and I couldn't bear the thought of giving AT&T even more money every month—my service plan already costs me $175 a month. When I was in college, that was exactly half a month's rent.
But a slew of new apps, some catering specifically to the needs of an architectural photographer, coupled with an ongoing battle to keep the thing connected to wifi networks, changed my mind about the whole 3G thing. More about that in a bit, though; I've some bitching to get out of my system first.
The wifi problem is weird - my iPad stays connected to a network fairly well when using Safari, Mail, and most apps that only make light use of the connection. But whenever I launch a VNC app or Daylite (third-party calendar/contact manager that uses a shared database) to connect to a computer on the local network, the wifi connection drops; the app, of course, freaks out because it just lost the connection it thought it had and promptly freezes/crashes, and then the *really* annoying part happens: my saved wifi settings get deleted from the global system prefs. In order to access wifi again, I need to go into settings, manually find my local network, then re-enter my password in order to reconnect. Every. Single. Time. Not being able to access other devices across a local network kinda makes the whole wifi thing a lot less useful.
So, after the tenth try at connecting, and instead of satisfying my urge to discover how many times I could skip an iPad across Puget Sound, I took a couple of deep breaths and called Apple customer support. The first rep I spoke with was enormously polite and helpful, and, after walking me through the process of reinstalling the device's firmware, she determined that my issue was most likely rooted in a hardware fault, and would I like to go to my local Apple Store for a replacement? Sure thing, I said, and thank you.
After hanging up, I still had a couple questions, but the second Apple person I spoke with was not nearly as friendly and was really quite condescending. I was actually happy when the only part of AT&T's crappy cell service I can rely on occurred - the call was dropped. I didn't bother to call back.
At the Apple Store, I spoke with a tech who went through the same set of questions and troubleshooting stuff, and arrived at the same conclusion as the phone rep. So, I said, instead of a straight exchange, how about I just pay the difference between my current wifi model and the 3G version? I'd love to see if the 3G version worked better across networks.
"Um, sure," said the clerk, instantly elevating himself to near-hero status. So, here I am—a happy 3G + wifi iPad owner.
And the original wireless problem? Honestly, it's still there, but the 3G model is tons better than my first iPad. I can actually use my local network connection about 75% of the time. The tech at the Apple Store told me that some of the connectivity glitches were known issues that should be resolved in an upcoming firmware update.
Despite these early-adopter pains, I still don't regret getting an iPad. They're awesome portfolio presentation tools, are lots lighter than a laptop, and, with a real word-processor, PDF reader and the ability to ingest Canon raw .CR2 image files, it might yet supplant my laptop for many, many things.
But a slew of new apps, some catering specifically to the needs of an architectural photographer, coupled with an ongoing battle to keep the thing connected to wifi networks, changed my mind about the whole 3G thing. More about that in a bit, though; I've some bitching to get out of my system first.
The wifi problem is weird - my iPad stays connected to a network fairly well when using Safari, Mail, and most apps that only make light use of the connection. But whenever I launch a VNC app or Daylite (third-party calendar/contact manager that uses a shared database) to connect to a computer on the local network, the wifi connection drops; the app, of course, freaks out because it just lost the connection it thought it had and promptly freezes/crashes, and then the *really* annoying part happens: my saved wifi settings get deleted from the global system prefs. In order to access wifi again, I need to go into settings, manually find my local network, then re-enter my password in order to reconnect. Every. Single. Time. Not being able to access other devices across a local network kinda makes the whole wifi thing a lot less useful.
So, after the tenth try at connecting, and instead of satisfying my urge to discover how many times I could skip an iPad across Puget Sound, I took a couple of deep breaths and called Apple customer support. The first rep I spoke with was enormously polite and helpful, and, after walking me through the process of reinstalling the device's firmware, she determined that my issue was most likely rooted in a hardware fault, and would I like to go to my local Apple Store for a replacement? Sure thing, I said, and thank you.
After hanging up, I still had a couple questions, but the second Apple person I spoke with was not nearly as friendly and was really quite condescending. I was actually happy when the only part of AT&T's crappy cell service I can rely on occurred - the call was dropped. I didn't bother to call back.
At the Apple Store, I spoke with a tech who went through the same set of questions and troubleshooting stuff, and arrived at the same conclusion as the phone rep. So, I said, instead of a straight exchange, how about I just pay the difference between my current wifi model and the 3G version? I'd love to see if the 3G version worked better across networks.
"Um, sure," said the clerk, instantly elevating himself to near-hero status. So, here I am—a happy 3G + wifi iPad owner.
And the original wireless problem? Honestly, it's still there, but the 3G model is tons better than my first iPad. I can actually use my local network connection about 75% of the time. The tech at the Apple Store told me that some of the connectivity glitches were known issues that should be resolved in an upcoming firmware update.
Despite these early-adopter pains, I still don't regret getting an iPad. They're awesome portfolio presentation tools, are lots lighter than a laptop, and, with a real word-processor, PDF reader and the ability to ingest Canon raw .CR2 image files, it might yet supplant my laptop for many, many things.
2010-04-30
Two weeks with the iPad, … the good, the bad, the honest.
I've now had the iPad long enough such that I finally feel comfortable writing about the thing.
Initial reaction was good. It's basically a giant iPod touch, so there were no surprises as far as shape, fit & finish, etc. It's kinda heavy, so that, coupled with the smooth glass screen and smooth aluminum case makes for something of a precarious user experience. I'm always afraid that the thing is going to squirt out of my hands like a giant bar of soap. And at $700 for the 64GB model, dropping it is pretty much unacceptable.
Initial reaction was good. It's basically a giant iPod touch, so there were no surprises as far as shape, fit & finish, etc. It's kinda heavy, so that, coupled with the smooth glass screen and smooth aluminum case makes for something of a precarious user experience. I'm always afraid that the thing is going to squirt out of my hands like a giant bar of soap. And at $700 for the 64GB model, dropping it is pretty much unacceptable.
I got a great leather slipcase for it, which is an lovely way to store the thing, but I'm most looking forward to the Apple case I've ordered, which is more like a notebook cover. That style of case seems far more useful. I'm kinda disappointed about just how tough the naked iPad is too hang on to; I don't want to pinch the edges of the screen for fear of damaging some delicate internal stuff, but I want to drop it even less.
Onward. It took all of 10 minutes to set up to my liking, as it's pretty much exactly like my iPhone. There are some nice interface tweaks in the menus, such as settings (pictured), and mail, which I'm still not sure I completely like but they all do work nicely.
All my iPhone apps work on the iPad, save for those relying on GPS or cell-tower triangulation, so Navigon is useless, but it would be really cool to see Apple add GPS to a future iteration so we can navigate from the large screen.
Apps that have not been optimized for the iPad show up iPad size at first, but there's a button labeled "2X" that scales the app to fit the iPad's much larger screen. While this is cool, the scaled app looks like hammered shit; everything is pixelated to the point that it offends my eye so much I go back to the smaller native size.
And don't get me started about Flash not working. I can't view my expensively-designed, beautiful portfolio Web site on my iPad. Well, at least not the Flash portion. I don't really care why Apple is in such a pissing contest with Adobe over Flash. I'm not a developer, I'm not a designer, I'm a photographer who wants to show off his work, and Flash does an amazing job. I rely on my designer to make decisions as to what technology to use in order to provide the best, most consistent viewing experience possible, and he chose Flash, just like the zillions of other designers who've done the same.
From what I've read, the much-vaunted Flash killer that is HTML 5 will be really good, but it's gonna take years, as in three to five years, in order for it to fully supplant Flash. So why pull the plug now, so far in advance? This is the angriest I've been with Apple since I owned a Performa. And not even Steve Job's recent explanation of why he hates Flash can soothe that frustration.
Enough about that. The iPad is a lovely device, filling a niche squarely between my iPhone and my MacBook. The iPhone is a device I would prefer not to be without, like, ever. I'm still not so sure as to whether I'll get to feel that way about the iPad. Perhaps next week when my iPad Camera Kit arrives in the mail next week (it's been shipped; the tracking info shows it as having left Shenzen, China, a couple days ago and it's now sitting in Hong Kong, no doubt awaiting customs clearance). I've spoken with folks at Apple and the kit is supposed to support Canon RAW files, so perhaps it'll at least make a decent photo-storage device/viewer. I'm a relatively deliberate shooter, so it'll take a long time to max out 64GB of space.
Enough about that. The iPad is a lovely device, filling a niche squarely between my iPhone and my MacBook. The iPhone is a device I would prefer not to be without, like, ever. I'm still not so sure as to whether I'll get to feel that way about the iPad. Perhaps next week when my iPad Camera Kit arrives in the mail next week (it's been shipped; the tracking info shows it as having left Shenzen, China, a couple days ago and it's now sitting in Hong Kong, no doubt awaiting customs clearance). I've spoken with folks at Apple and the kit is supposed to support Canon RAW files, so perhaps it'll at least make a decent photo-storage device/viewer. I'm a relatively deliberate shooter, so it'll take a long time to max out 64GB of space.
2010-04-16
iPhone - the best camera to have is the camera ya got in yer pocket
Every now and again, I am fortunate enough to be able to travel for both work and for fun. Being a pro photographer does has its perks regarding having ready access to lots of swell gear, but all that equipment does tend to get heavy and bulky after a while, so it's sometimes nice to leave the big stuff at home and travel light. The old adage "it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools" couldn't be more apt when applied to photography as well.
A camera is nothing more than a tool. Sure, some cameras are definitely nicer than others, but they all really do the same relatively simple thing: transfer reflected light to either a piece of film or a digital sensor. Optics and digital sensor quality aside, the best camera to use for a given situation is the one you happen to have with you, because if there's no camera there'll be no picture anyway.
I may not always have my nice Canon DSLR with me, but I do always have my iPhone in my pocket. Candidly, the 3G's camera is sorely lacking from a technical standpoint, but that doesn't make the thing any less convenient and handy. I actually like the challenge of trying to take a good photo with a middling camera. There are also plenty of free/99¢ apps to compensate for some of those technical shortcomings.
The real magic of photography is, and always has been, content and composition. Technical prowess certainly has it's place, but having technical skills without a good eye will only get you lots of nicely-exposed, boring photos.
This gallery is of panoramic photos were all taken with my iPhone and stitched together with a $1.99 app called AutoStitch, and subsequently enhanced with either the free Adobe Photoshop for iPhone app, or perhaps another free app; I can't always remember which combination of apps I've used for an image. Taking the panos is pretty simple; it just requires looking at a scene as a larger image and then, using a steady hand, photographing the entire scene one frame at a time from left to right, then feeding those frames to the stitching app. Easy, and fun!
2010-04-09
The importance of stability
Stability, .... in this case, I'm talking about camera stability, not emotional stability, which will be addressed in a future post.
Lugging around a tripod can definitely be a drag, especially when it weighs in at 13 lb., but when the wind kicks up or there's heavy traffic nearby, nothing beats a stable platform.
The tripod on the left is a Gitzo aluminum G1415 with a G1527 column and Manfrotto 405 head. It's my favorite working rig, as it's incredibly stable and the head is basically three micrometers on three different axis points to make precision adjustments a breeze.
It definitely is something of a beast to travel with, though, as the tripod and it's padded bag weigh about 15 lb. and need to be checked when flying. Unless it's going to be absolutely necessary for the particular shoot, I usually pack a Gitzo GT2942 Basalt tripod with it's Frankensteinian pano rig: an Acratech leveling base, a Manfrotto QTVR pano rotation head, an Acratech Ultimate Ballhead, all topped off with a Really Right Stuff Precision Plus pano kit. The head assembly outweighs the tripod legs by quite a bit, but it all disassembles and fits quite nicely into my carry-on sized roller bag, which, honestly, usually gets checked anyway but that's only one checked bag even for a week of shooting. I also stick a Benro TRCB069 tripod in the carry-on bag, too; it's awesome to have a back-up tripod, or sometimes I like to shoot with two cameras on their own tripods.
Over the past six weeks I did three shoots that required air travel; I've got the whole packing thing down to a science. My camera and lenses go into the Crumpler Karachi Outpost backpack I've written about before and absolutely love. The laptop and all necessary cables, chargers, manuals, spare hard drives and snacks go into a giant, elderly Timbuk2 courier bag, and both bags go on the plane with me. The camera bag goes in the overhead and the computer goes under the seat. The tripods, clothes and toiletries all go into the one checked bag. Everything essential to the shoot is on my person; worst case is that, if the checked bag goes astray, I can get some T-shirts, a pair of jeans and a toothbrush pretty much anywhere, and even a cheap tripod can be pressed into service if need be. There's a Walmart just about everywhere; I can't say the same about a camera shop that happens to stock a Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5, which is, without question, my most-used lens.
It's definitely tiring lugging all that stuff through airports, especially on a flight with lots of connections, but the comfort of knowing I can complete the job even if my bag gets lost definitely makes it worthwhile. Besides, the extra weightlifting involved helps offset all the less-than-healthy food I inevitably eat while traveling.
2010-03-26
Traveling again!
2010-03-03
Hypera zoilus Kaldari, aka clover leaf weevil, swimming in a dewdrop.
fpz_20100303_MG_7870-2
Originally uploaded by zeraphoto
A short post today, but I just wanted to share something I found in my garden this afternoon.
2010-02-26
Gearing up for traveling to location shoots, Part I
Traveling is always exciting and fun, but traveling as a working photographer adds a lot of logistics that need careful consideration.
Working locally, most of my camera equipment fits in one Pelican 1600 case, which is handy when shooting interiors as all my stuff is visible at once, yet the case stacks nicely on my cart with my other Pelican cases and soft-sided bags (those are full of lighting gear; an explanation of that stuff will be in a future post). It's easy to move everything around on the cart at once, especially when I'm working solo.
The Pelican cases were spendy, but worth every cent, as they're pretty much indestructible, stack nicely, and really protect my expensive gear. Hell, they'll even float when loaded, which is comforting when I'm wheeling everything onto a dock to photograph people working on a dam or to photograph a yacht.
I also take along a Crumpler Karachi Outpost camera backpack, which allows me flexibility to pack the basics into the bag, sling it over my shoulder, grab a tripod, and be lots more mobile, which is handy when going up in a lift or a crane basket to get a higher perspective.
Part II will deal with the pared-down kit for flying; part III will cover lighting equipment.
2010-02-10
The fallacy of free
Free is good, right? Well, not always.
This post has been brewing for quite some time, but I never seem to have gotten around to writing it. The catalyst was last week's discovery of a new online arts magazine, titled, provocatively enough, "Pilfered Magazine" (I'm not going to legitimize their existence by providing a link; you can find them yourself if you want). The site's layout was actually quite lovely, and the photography displayed seemed quite good. The problem was this: all the photos were "found" online, i.e., used without permission, as in, stolen.
Here's a good synopsis of the current state of events, via the Copyright Alliance blog:
http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/2010/02/infringing-site-re-imagining-our-perspective
Now, you're probably aware that there's a growing anti-copyright movement that's been around for a while and continues to gain ground. Folks who promote this seem to be primarily interested in sharing music and video files without having to pay for them, again, stealing. They'll argue fair use, deep pockets on the part of the movie studios, etc., but my guess is very few of them actually have to try to earn a living creating the content they so willingly steal and gripe about having to pay for.
It's very, very, very disturbing to me that many folks out there feel that it's entirely acceptable for me to have spent the last 15 years of my life spending gobs of money on education and equipment, working like a demon, sacrificing relationships, etc., all in the name of perfecting my craft, just so they can have the fruits of that labor for free.
Also interesting is the hypocrisy of sites like boingboing.net and neatorama.com, collators of news that is overall quite fascinating and entertaining, whose writers decry copyright protections when it comes to enforcement of rules when the law is on the side of the record labels or movie studios, but get quite belligerent when one of their readers has a photo ripped off.
Which is it going to be kids - rules or no rules? These self-titled "copyfighters" talk out of both sides of their mouths. Cory Doctorow might be a fine sci-fi writer and has definitely earned his bully pulpit, but I don't agree with him on this one -- there needs to be strong copyright protection law right alongside open source and creative commons, and let the content creators choose which route to follow. Don't undermine the protections afforded to content creators by copyright law just because you're too cheap to spend $12 on a music CD or mp3 download.
I'm willing to bet that the folks who willingly steal music, photos and video online would quite disapprove of my dropping by their homes and stealing the lawn furniture or a nice shirt from a clothesline. Suddenly, the argument of, "Well, it was out there for all the world to see, what did you expect?" doesn't seem quite so legitimate.
Sure, creative commons is a great idea and one that definitely has a place. Sure, fans may get wind of musicians or artists via the work they've put online for free and catapult the artist into fame and fortune, but that happens about as frequently as you see a herd of unicorns strutting down First Avenue farting rainbows.
And who really catapults that fortunate few to prominence? The very record labels and promoters vilified by the copyfight crowd. Why? To make money off royalties so they can run their business, invest in new acts, and, yes, make a profit. No business that expects to stick around for more than a week needs to turn a profit. Even charities turn profits in the form of investment dividends; otherwise they'd quickly run out of money and be able to help no one.
Do not these people understand that, if they undermine a content-creator's ability to own and thereby control their own work, the only work available will be that of hobbyists who have other sources of income, or folks who've made their money via licensing and are now so wealthy that sales no longer matter? The people in the second group will eventually die off, leaving only the hobbyists and trust-fund kids to make cute pictures of kittens in fields of daisies, or, even more likely, mashups of stolen high-quality work from all the now-destitute content creators.
Do I pay for my music? Absolutely. I admittedly partook of a few downloaded mp3s back in the day, but quickly realized the hypocrisy of that behavior and promptly went back to the record store. I pay for my software, ebooks, and movies, too. All of it. That stuff costs real money to produce, and I don't know of any business that will survive by expending large sums of money to give away the resulting products.
Why not then go after the root cause of the profiteering, then, instead of the rule that the profiteers abuse? Seems to me that the music industry has been hiding behind copyright to deflect scrutiny from its Dickensian business practices, and everyone's been trying to flog the copyright protections rather than the folks who are abusing the copyright creators. The labels don't create the songs (well, discounting the Britney Spears music factories), they're distributors who extract copyright from the artist in exchange for access to the sales channels.
Anyway, to wrap up this rant, copyright reform is necessary and welcome; the elimination of protections for content creators is completely unwelcome.
This post has been brewing for quite some time, but I never seem to have gotten around to writing it. The catalyst was last week's discovery of a new online arts magazine, titled, provocatively enough, "Pilfered Magazine" (I'm not going to legitimize their existence by providing a link; you can find them yourself if you want). The site's layout was actually quite lovely, and the photography displayed seemed quite good. The problem was this: all the photos were "found" online, i.e., used without permission, as in, stolen.
Here's a good synopsis of the current state of events, via the Copyright Alliance blog:
http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/2010/02/infringing-site-re-imagining-our-perspective
Now, you're probably aware that there's a growing anti-copyright movement that's been around for a while and continues to gain ground. Folks who promote this seem to be primarily interested in sharing music and video files without having to pay for them, again, stealing. They'll argue fair use, deep pockets on the part of the movie studios, etc., but my guess is very few of them actually have to try to earn a living creating the content they so willingly steal and gripe about having to pay for.
It's very, very, very disturbing to me that many folks out there feel that it's entirely acceptable for me to have spent the last 15 years of my life spending gobs of money on education and equipment, working like a demon, sacrificing relationships, etc., all in the name of perfecting my craft, just so they can have the fruits of that labor for free.
Also interesting is the hypocrisy of sites like boingboing.net and neatorama.com, collators of news that is overall quite fascinating and entertaining, whose writers decry copyright protections when it comes to enforcement of rules when the law is on the side of the record labels or movie studios, but get quite belligerent when one of their readers has a photo ripped off.
Which is it going to be kids - rules or no rules? These self-titled "copyfighters" talk out of both sides of their mouths. Cory Doctorow might be a fine sci-fi writer and has definitely earned his bully pulpit, but I don't agree with him on this one -- there needs to be strong copyright protection law right alongside open source and creative commons, and let the content creators choose which route to follow. Don't undermine the protections afforded to content creators by copyright law just because you're too cheap to spend $12 on a music CD or mp3 download.
I'm willing to bet that the folks who willingly steal music, photos and video online would quite disapprove of my dropping by their homes and stealing the lawn furniture or a nice shirt from a clothesline. Suddenly, the argument of, "Well, it was out there for all the world to see, what did you expect?" doesn't seem quite so legitimate.
Sure, creative commons is a great idea and one that definitely has a place. Sure, fans may get wind of musicians or artists via the work they've put online for free and catapult the artist into fame and fortune, but that happens about as frequently as you see a herd of unicorns strutting down First Avenue farting rainbows.
And who really catapults that fortunate few to prominence? The very record labels and promoters vilified by the copyfight crowd. Why? To make money off royalties so they can run their business, invest in new acts, and, yes, make a profit. No business that expects to stick around for more than a week needs to turn a profit. Even charities turn profits in the form of investment dividends; otherwise they'd quickly run out of money and be able to help no one.
Do not these people understand that, if they undermine a content-creator's ability to own and thereby control their own work, the only work available will be that of hobbyists who have other sources of income, or folks who've made their money via licensing and are now so wealthy that sales no longer matter? The people in the second group will eventually die off, leaving only the hobbyists and trust-fund kids to make cute pictures of kittens in fields of daisies, or, even more likely, mashups of stolen high-quality work from all the now-destitute content creators.
Do I pay for my music? Absolutely. I admittedly partook of a few downloaded mp3s back in the day, but quickly realized the hypocrisy of that behavior and promptly went back to the record store. I pay for my software, ebooks, and movies, too. All of it. That stuff costs real money to produce, and I don't know of any business that will survive by expending large sums of money to give away the resulting products.
Why not then go after the root cause of the profiteering, then, instead of the rule that the profiteers abuse? Seems to me that the music industry has been hiding behind copyright to deflect scrutiny from its Dickensian business practices, and everyone's been trying to flog the copyright protections rather than the folks who are abusing the copyright creators. The labels don't create the songs (well, discounting the Britney Spears music factories), they're distributors who extract copyright from the artist in exchange for access to the sales channels.
Anyway, to wrap up this rant, copyright reform is necessary and welcome; the elimination of protections for content creators is completely unwelcome.
2010-01-04
Tripods, photo storage, clothing, gear bags, traveling, oh my!
So, progress has been made. I've been delightfully busy shooting, but have managed to solve my tripod dilemma, found a laptop-free photo storage solution, decided which camera bag I'll use for my trip, and beefed up the cases for my Profoto lights, something I'll talk about in detail in a future post.
First off, the tripod: a carbon-fiber Benro C-069M8, the smallest in the lineup. It folds down ridiculously small - 14 inches(!) -- weighs just 2.2 lb. with the head, and supports 13.2 lb., and is just shy of five feet tall fully extended, all of which is just enough for my 5D Mark II and 24-70 f/2.8 zoom.
For traveling to India, I have finally come to terms with a minimalist kit: the aforementioned body, lens and tripod, a 24mm tilt-shift and a lensbaby 2.0. For backup, I'll take my Leica D-Lux 4. For photo storage, I picked up a Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA, which has a 250GB drive, a passable viewing screen, is completely user-updatable, and only cost $300 from Adorama. I feel better about having gotten that from them after getting my tripod directly from a distributor in China to save myself $100 over U.S. retail.
I was going to break this out into several smaller posts, but I think it'll be better to roll it into a single travel-photo entry, including clothing options, tips on how to deal with traveling with camera gear, and how to pack it all for a multi-week trip that will take us from the Himalayas to the tropics, all in three weeks.
OK, so the bag I'll be taking is hardly stealthy, but it's relatively compact - the Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home. It's got enough room inside for the cameras, lenses, cords, cables, lens filters, etc. that I'll bring, along with a little extra space for a hat and gloves as necessary.
Notice there's no flash in the kit. I'm an architectural photographer, and I like to use light. Lots and lots of light. If I can't have my Profoto kits, I'd rather do without. The 5DII does remarkably well at pretty high ISO settings, so I can get great stuff with the 2.8 lens and a 800-ish ISO. For really tough light, there's the tripod, which I can jam in on top of camera inside the bag.
To make things a little less susceptible to thievery, another upgrade was to swap out the Canon's garish red camera strap (which came complete with bright white embroidery proclaiming the make and model of the camera) for a plain gray one. Add a couple bits of judiciously-placed black gaffer's tape to hide the logos, and, voila - a much less flashy camera. The Leica benefits greatly from this treatment - covering up the red Leica logo on the body front and the Leica name on the back and lens cap took about 90 seconds and suddenly made the camera look like a run-of-the-mill point-and-shoot. I find that I get much better photos by attracting less attention, and a good way to do that is to avoid looking like a pro.
The carbon tripod is tougher to anonymize, but covering all the logos, etc., with some more black tape made it look a lot less flashy. The camera bag has been coming with me everywhere lately, for no other reason than to get it all scuffed up so it's also not looking all shiny and new.
So, my carry-on will be the camera bag, crammed with all my core equipment - the photo-storage device inside it's Pelican micro-case, the requisite battery chargers, power converters, my iPhone, medicines, a notebook, a paperback, some pens, etc., a battery-powered shortwave radio, and my iPod Shuffle.
The other carry-on will be a standard rolling carry-on bag containing clothing for the three-week trip, along with the first-aid kit and the tripod.
My wife will also have a carry-on, so I think we'll be covered for three weeks worth of stuff without needing to check anything, at least on the international legs. I expect we'll need to check some stuff on the internal flights on smaller aircraft.
All of our clothing is either lightweight wool, polypro, or nylon, so it packs small, and dries fast so it can be washed in hotel-room showers and dried overnight in the room or on a balcony rail (I pack a 15-foot length of parachute cord and some one-inch A-clamps from the hardware store to use as a clothesline and clothespins). Three complete changes of clothing, a rain shell, some long underwear, a wool hat and gloves and a pair of Teva sandals get packed; the heavier shoes go on my feet.
This post is out of chronological order; we returned from the trip a few days ago but I was unable to post this until now. Bear with me, intrepid reader.
First off, the tripod: a carbon-fiber Benro C-069M8, the smallest in the lineup. It folds down ridiculously small - 14 inches(!) -- weighs just 2.2 lb. with the head, and supports 13.2 lb., and is just shy of five feet tall fully extended, all of which is just enough for my 5D Mark II and 24-70 f/2.8 zoom.
For traveling to India, I have finally come to terms with a minimalist kit: the aforementioned body, lens and tripod, a 24mm tilt-shift and a lensbaby 2.0. For backup, I'll take my Leica D-Lux 4. For photo storage, I picked up a Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA, which has a 250GB drive, a passable viewing screen, is completely user-updatable, and only cost $300 from Adorama. I feel better about having gotten that from them after getting my tripod directly from a distributor in China to save myself $100 over U.S. retail.
I was going to break this out into several smaller posts, but I think it'll be better to roll it into a single travel-photo entry, including clothing options, tips on how to deal with traveling with camera gear, and how to pack it all for a multi-week trip that will take us from the Himalayas to the tropics, all in three weeks.
OK, so the bag I'll be taking is hardly stealthy, but it's relatively compact - the Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home. It's got enough room inside for the cameras, lenses, cords, cables, lens filters, etc. that I'll bring, along with a little extra space for a hat and gloves as necessary.
Notice there's no flash in the kit. I'm an architectural photographer, and I like to use light. Lots and lots of light. If I can't have my Profoto kits, I'd rather do without. The 5DII does remarkably well at pretty high ISO settings, so I can get great stuff with the 2.8 lens and a 800-ish ISO. For really tough light, there's the tripod, which I can jam in on top of camera inside the bag.
To make things a little less susceptible to thievery, another upgrade was to swap out the Canon's garish red camera strap (which came complete with bright white embroidery proclaiming the make and model of the camera) for a plain gray one. Add a couple bits of judiciously-placed black gaffer's tape to hide the logos, and, voila - a much less flashy camera. The Leica benefits greatly from this treatment - covering up the red Leica logo on the body front and the Leica name on the back and lens cap took about 90 seconds and suddenly made the camera look like a run-of-the-mill point-and-shoot. I find that I get much better photos by attracting less attention, and a good way to do that is to avoid looking like a pro.
The carbon tripod is tougher to anonymize, but covering all the logos, etc., with some more black tape made it look a lot less flashy. The camera bag has been coming with me everywhere lately, for no other reason than to get it all scuffed up so it's also not looking all shiny and new.
So, my carry-on will be the camera bag, crammed with all my core equipment - the photo-storage device inside it's Pelican micro-case, the requisite battery chargers, power converters, my iPhone, medicines, a notebook, a paperback, some pens, etc., a battery-powered shortwave radio, and my iPod Shuffle.
The other carry-on will be a standard rolling carry-on bag containing clothing for the three-week trip, along with the first-aid kit and the tripod.
My wife will also have a carry-on, so I think we'll be covered for three weeks worth of stuff without needing to check anything, at least on the international legs. I expect we'll need to check some stuff on the internal flights on smaller aircraft.
All of our clothing is either lightweight wool, polypro, or nylon, so it packs small, and dries fast so it can be washed in hotel-room showers and dried overnight in the room or on a balcony rail (I pack a 15-foot length of parachute cord and some one-inch A-clamps from the hardware store to use as a clothesline and clothespins). Three complete changes of clothing, a rain shell, some long underwear, a wool hat and gloves and a pair of Teva sandals get packed; the heavier shoes go on my feet.
This post is out of chronological order; we returned from the trip a few days ago but I was unable to post this until now. Bear with me, intrepid reader.
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