Why a camera bag

There is good reason for purchasing a well designed, thick-padded camera bag with compartmentalized storage and secure lock-down of equipment stowed in it.  Today, I took two lenses with me and my SB-900 flash.  I wanted to take a few photos of some rooms of a building at work.  Nothing artistic about it--I just need a couple of photos for a project.  So, I brought my lenses and the flash with my D7000 in the picnic-bag-turned-into-camera-bag bag.  I started shooting a room and decided that my bag could be in the way so I lifted it off the table it sat on and moved to lay it on the floor.  As soon as I started lifting the bag, a stomach wrenching feeling came over me.  A familiar sound was heard a year ago today.  My SB-800 crashed into the floor and broke into two pieces.  My SB-900 took its turn today.  It flew out of the bag.  I was relieved after collecting the batteries that got ejected out that except for a minor scuff mark, nothing apparent happened to the flash gun.  I should use a real camera bag.

Your best camera is ..., part 2

CNE Air Show:  F-18

Sure, the best camera is the camera that's with you--obviously, unless you have options to choose.

For the Canadian CNE airshow, I'd say the bigger lens the better.  I brought to the show my Tokina 80-400mm.  I shot the F-18 to the right at 400mm  (i.e., 600mm on a 35mm sensor body) with my then Nikon D300.  It was doing a slow fly-by with all landing gears extended.  It's too bad it was overcast.  It would have been a superb shot if we had clear sky around 7-8pm when the sun would have started to set, highlighting the one side of the F-18 with an orangeish glow.

The shot of the F-16 to the left was also shot at 400mm.  Again, it was too bad we had an overcast sky.

Just the other day, I was thinking of selling the Tokina 80-400mm lens because I wanted to get the Nikkor 70-200mm lens but after seeing some old photos I took with the Tokina, I think I'd keep it for a little while longer.

Lumix DMC-FZ30 flash broken?

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz30-review/

WTF!  That slider below the popup flash of the DMC-FZ30 is stuck on my camera!  It is stuck at the close position so I cannot pop the flash up.  This is odd.  I guess something inside the camera is preventing the physical mechanism from working.  This is odd.  Very odd.

Maybe I accidentally dropped some Krazy Glue into the crack of the popup flash?  When I took it out of my knapsack the other day, I noticed there were some gluey substance on top of the flash part.  Maybe it's the juice from some fruit I might have forgotten to eat and was rotting in my bag and oozing out its juice into my camera.  Eww.

[20 minutes after my initial post...]  Well, I was right.  It took some elbow grease from my finger nails to pry the flash open.  There was some sugary glue on the underside of the flash and there was something else inside the slider mechanism.  I managed to clean most of the sugary glue underneath the flash but the slider mechanism is still very stiff but works.

BTW, this camera used to cost $600+ in 2005.  Wow.

Your best camera is ...

The best camera is the camera you carry with you.  Who said that?  Chase Jarvis?  Anyways, I always carry a Panasonic DMC-FZ30 in my backpack when I go to work.  It's a light camera with fair image quality.  It's one camera that has kept its battery charge for months and has an electronic viewfinder.  I take it out of its backpack from time to time, and catch some few interesting things on the streets of Mississauga and Toronto from time to time.

Camper in Toronto.

Camper in Toronto.

XX0 6TE

50mm

I am starting to get used to shoot with a 50mm alone.  For a long time, I have always trusted my Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens.  I would shoot everything and anything with the 18-200mm.  Coupled with a flash gun, I have a lot of fun with it anywhere and anytime, indoors and outdoors, any time of the day.  I am quite comfortable with it.  I know its limitation and like its zooming capabilities over a wide range, and thus, I never like shooting with anything else, even when I have a 17-50mm f/2.8 lens.

I have to say I am starting to like the 50mm f/1.4 more and more these days, partially because of the f/1.4 (more light, faster, and smoother bokeh), partially because it makes you work harder to get your picture, and partially because it's a good portrait lens on a crop sensor body.

For now, I have it attached to the D90 body.  I try to shoot at ISO less than 1600 with an f-stop around f/1.8.  In most situations, it is a very fast lens at those settings.  The whole combo is small and feels like fun to use.  Over the last couple of outings, I try to force myself to take the D90 around with me instead of the D7000.  I will kick myself in the derriere when I run into this situations that require a wide angle lens though.

(BTW, I should really attach the 50mm to my D7000 and use my D7000 instead of the D90 but because the D7000 has a battery grip that I do not want to remove, the D7000 would feel too big for the 50mm.  I am using the 18-200mm on the D7000 so that the slower lens can be compensated by the higher ISO capabilities of the D7000.)