I went to Ireland a few months back using a combo backpack, photobag and laptop carrier. I bought a Tamrac Adventure 9 combo unit and while it fit the MBP, the D80, 18-135 lens, flash, gels, card readers, various AC adapters and whatnot, it had a fatal flaw. After wearing the stupid pack through a couple of airports for several hours, the straps were cutting off the circulation to my arms by digging into the arm right where it joins the chest. That meant I had to carry it sideways or by the handle which really defeated the whole point of straps. It did fit under the seat on the airliner.
But since then I have found out about a Mountainsmith pack called “Parallax“ which one of my fav photographers just raves about. You can read it here at FlyingwithFish.
Now, the good news is that this same pack is on sale at Sierra Trading for about 70 percent off from the normal price. That makes it about 80 bucks and change. Spend 100 dollars as a new customer and get another 10% off which means I got the pack and a new watch for cheap.
Merry christmas to me was a couple of used lens off eBay. A Nikon 12-24mm F4 and a 17-55 F/2.8 Nikon rounded out my treats to myself. Both of these cost me less than either one new if you added in the sales tax. I also got a couple of 10% off eBay coupons so the prices were very good indeed. I have to say while I am a HUGE fan of my 100 dollar 50mm VR lens, the 12-24mm is soooooo much sharper overall. There is something to be said about using a heavy piece of glasses (or pieces). I have to say I was surprised at the difference. Another photographer pointed out in a post that while VR is nice, when you shoot in low light, you are shooting the VR wide open which is it’s worst for sharpness. The F/2.8 on the other hand, shooting at F4 which is the equivalent of the VR, puts you within spitting distance of the sharpest focus of the lens. So VR is really not buying you any sharpness but costing you sharpness. It can buy other things but when everything is equal, the hunk of glass will be sharper.
My bro kicked in for a D80-90 battery pack so I’m for all intents and purposes kited up to shoot weddings now. Now I just need to get some practice under my belt. I have been watching and reading tutorials on wedding shooting and posing so I’m getting the general ideas in place.
