Toys for Bryce/Zion

Mike Lane

Okay, I don't have much to take with me but here goes.

Canon 20D
Canon 17-40 f/4 L (yet to be delivered )
Sigma 50-500 Bigma - For all my 50mm to 500mm needs
Canon 17-85 EF-S IS - Uh, I guess because I don't have 40-50mm covered otherwise
580EX because why not?
PD70X - yet to be purchased
Laptop w/ photoshop - keep me busy when I'm not shooting
velbon tripod and Gittos ball head - gets the job done
Crumpler Backpack

Possible equipment purchase between now and then...
Expodisc. How useful would this be?
Uhhhh... Okay any other useful camera gear?

Dee

Yes, they are coated inside

pathfinder wrote:

I actually thought briefly about using a film changing bag to change lenses in - and then decided against it. Most of them are cloth and I have concerns that swapping lenses on a DSLR inside a changing bag may end up getting more lint and fibers on the sensor. Are any of the film changing bags smooth plastic inside, like polyethylene??

I guess people who were loading film in and out of their cameras didn't want lint on the inside of their cameras or in the developing tank either.

B&H has them, a quick search will answer questions as to material and size.

I didn't know people threw dust into the air to assist the light beams... good idea, bad idea right?

NHBubba

gluwater wrote:

Most of the filter threads I have seen on here have been for ND or Graduated ND filters. Would these have any use out in the desert? I know the Graduated ND's probably would but what if you don't have a straight horizon?

I'm too poor (cheap?!) to buy a decent set of graduated neutral density filters's. Instead I play tricks in post by bracketing and/or over and under 'processing' RAWs and compositing the results. I've found that I can emulate a graduated ND pretty well. What's better is I can then manually adjust the mask to suit, accounting for odd-shapped horizons. Luminous Landscape has a great tut on this. The only difference is that for most cases where I'm trying to emulate a grad ND I just use the gradient fill tool instead of painting or copy/pasting the mask. I went through it in this thread. I've still got a lot to master.. but it works.. and it's paid for!

pathfinder

Bob Bell wrote:

Wow those are great colors in that landscape. So could you have gotten the same sky colors with a normal Circ Pol?

The colors with Blue n Gold polarizer tend to look yellow-green or turquoise, whereas the standard circ polarizer tends to darken skies and make colors more saturated, deeper.

Out west in the Rockies or the desert, the skies are much bluer than in the east anyway. I do not always remember whether I used a polarizer as it is not recorded in the exif data, just the sloppy wet memory bank in my head.

This was not with a polarizer but a simple P&S Kodak - from an 1150GS


Shot with a 10D - September 2003 - no polarizer - from an 1150GS.


March 2004 St Francis de Asis Taos NM - Probably used a polarizing filter


Polarizing filters ( circular variety ) are worthhwhile to lug around. I always carry one in my bag:): There are very useful to shoot green vegetation also.

pathfinder

Dee wrote:

I guess people who were loading film in and out of their cameras didn't want lint on the inside of their cameras or in the developing tank either.

B&H has them, a quick search will answer questions as to material and size.

I didn't know people threw dust into the air to assist the light beams... good idea, bad idea right?

A little lint was less of a problem in film cameras, because it only affected one frame and then moved on as the film was advanced. Whereas it tends to be electrostatically attracted to a sensor and stay put, and thus affect every frame. I have not idea what film changing bags were made out of, cotton, silk, linen, nylon, etc But I don't think that is where I would prefer to change my lenses - just my opinion - I have very little in the way of facts here:D

Dee, I didn't say that I approved of throwing sand in the air, just that I observed it being done several times. Frequently for shooters with 4x5 cameras, or by tourists with P&Ss. It can help define a light shaft wonderfully, but it is not the best thing to breathe lots of.

I always wonder if they ever heard of hanta virus....

gluwater

Mike Lane wrote:

Okay any other useful camera gear?

I'm sure you were planning on bringing these just didn't list them:

Extra battery
Extra CF cards
lens and sensor cleaning stuff
Snacks?

That's about all the necessary stuff I can think of.

David_S85

Sunscreen will be a must. Be careful though - many types of sunscreen have chemicals that can eat away at the plastic and markings on lenses and camera bodies. So keep it off your fingers. Bug spray is even more toxic to plastic.

Water. You'll need a way to bring water along. A Camelback type bladder, or a fannypack with a bottle holder will probably do.

Ziplock bags. May is the rainy season in Utah, although rain is unlikely most of the time.

gluwater

pathfinder wrote:

Nick, I have a Sing Ray Blue N Gold polarizer that you can borrow if you need to. I think it is expensive but you know me.........77mm diam

Jim your great, I'll take you up on that offer all my lenses but 2 are 77mm so that will work out just great.

pathfinder wrote:

Was the blue on the rocks solely due to the B&G filter?

pathfinder wrote:

This is exactly the type of shot I was thinking of with the B&G filter. Thanks for posting these Jim.

gluwater

NHBubba wrote:

I'm too poor (cheap?!) to buy a decent set of graduated neutral density filters's. Instead I play tricks in post by bracketing and/or over and under 'processing' RAWs and compositing the results. I've found that I can emulate a graduated ND pretty well. What's better is I can then manually adjust the mask to suit, accounting for odd-shapped horizons. Luminous Landscape has a great tut on this. The only difference is that for most cases where I'm trying to emulate a grad ND I just use the gradient fill tool instead of painting or copy/pasting the mask. I went through it in this thread. I've still got a lot to master.. but it works.. and it's paid for!

Thanks for the links. I have seen that tutorial on LL and I use similar things. I just figure the closer I can get the shot in camera the less post I will have to do.

pathfinder

gluwater wrote:

Jim your great, I'll take you up on that offer all my lenses but 2 are 77mm so that will work out just great. Got a step up ring?
Was the blue on the rocks solely due to the B&G filter? No
This is exactly the type of shot I was thinking of with the B&G filter. Thanks for posting these Jim.

No Problemo :

Mike Lane

If anyone is going to be getting a portable storage device, and you're considering the PD70X, you should really look at the HD80. The HD80 is the exact same device but is apparently just rebranded and the 40Gb version sells for $199 instead of the $215 for the PD70X and you get free shipping instead of having to pay $22 for the PD70X.

HD80 found here.

Oh yeah and right now they're backordered until the 19th of April. Because of that they're giving away a free set of 4 rechargable batteries and a car charger.

pathfinder

Stormdancing wrote:

Oh I would love a Midwest shoot. We have quite a few of us on Dgrin.
Let me know!

How about setting up a date for this fall?? First or second week in October, maybe?? The best shooting in the mid west has to be fall I suspect.

I know Nick is always interested, USAir might also show up. And it sounds like Davids85 is also. Probably several others. Greaper is a mid-westerner.

I plan to spend two weeks in the Rockies somewhere if possible in Mid-September, and the colors don't change that early in the mid-west Somewhere near water maybe??

Lake Monroe, Bloomington, Nashville. Or even Park County for covered bridges again. Garden of the Gods in Illinois and along the Ohio River towns.

David_S85

There's about a dozen or more Ill./Ind./Mich./Wisc. Dgrinners here. Plenty to make it worth it. The Arboretum (literally out my back door more or less) or the Chicago Botanic Gardens (not actually in Chicago) are naturals for IR pics. That could be a summer event. But hey, let's get the Utah thing behind us first. All my energy and income is being poured into that trip.

We almost did the Ill. Garden of the Gods the past two years, but things came up that doused those trips in the Fall. I hear it's relly the place to be for fall colors. I'd also like to stop at Olney to get some white tree rat shots.

pathfinder

You don't have rats of the air along Lake Michigan??

gluwater

pathfinder wrote:

I know Nick is always interested

Am I that obvious . I actually just bought a step up ring last night, along with a 17-40 f/4 .

Thanks for the info on the storage devices Mike

pathfinder

Yeah, you are.:D

And you are beginning to aquire a real set of gear in your SiG also.:):

gluwater

pathfinder wrote:

Yeah, you are.:D

And you are beginning to aquire a real set of gear in your SiG also.:):

Now I just need to add talent to my sig and I'll be set

gluwater

I have put a list of items suggested in this thread to the first post. I'll keep it updated if any other items are suggested so it's easier to view. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, hopefully people are finding this thread useful.

David_S85

Nick, knowing how you like to tote every lens you own around with you, if I add the necessary and nice to have item lists up by weight, I get 128 pounds. I think you'll also need a larger backpack, or 2 llamas to carry it all.

gluwater

David_S85 wrote:

Nick, knowing how you like to tote every lens you own around with you, if I add the necessary and nice to have item lists up by weight, I get 128 pounds. I think you'll also need a larger backpack, or 2 llamas to carry it all.

Ha ha very funny. I don't own all that stuff, I haven't bought the bottled water yet :moon

ian408

pathfinder wrote:

I plan to spend two weeks in the Rockies somewhere if possible in Mid-September, and the colors don't change that early in the mid-west Somewhere near water maybe??

Lake Monroe, Bloomington, Nashville. Or even Park County for covered bridges again. Garden of the Gods in Illinois and along the Ohio River towns.

The Rockies in September are cold and oh so pretty. Change is everywhere.
Especially in the higher parts. Rocky Mountain National Park is a great place
to hang out then.

pathfinder

I've try to spend a week or two in late September or early October in Colorado or New Mexico.

I let the weather determine my longitude:): Frequently there is frost on my saddle in the morning at higher elevations.