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| Colonial Parkway, Virginia. |
www.dennismook.com
This is a continuation of the series of posts about preparing, photographically, for a multi-week road trip. After asking myself the questions I previously posted, along with some others that concern backing up my images, I have made my choices as to what gear I will take and why.
My overall goal is to be prepared, not for anything that may present itself to me as an interesting image, but have the tools I need to make images of the things I have researched as well as most of the unexpected. Additionally, my goal is to go light and fast. This upcoming road trip is not a primarily a photography trip, so I may be shooting quickly. Lighter, easier, faster and stress free--the only way to go!
-I needed a sturdy, but lightweight bag of just the right size. The Think Tank City Walker 20 is perfect. MY perennial favorite, an original Domke F2 that I bought from Jim Domke in the mid-70s is still an option, but I am liking the CW20. the F2 has gone with me to almost every state in the Union.
-A tripod is a necessity. My old Gitzo Carbon Fiber GT2540 with a Markins ball head is perfect. It is much smaller than my big Induro, is lightweight and travels well.
-I refuse to go on a trip without a monopod. It is perfect when I need some stabilization but really cannot use a tripod due to time or circumstance. My old Gitzo Carbon Fiber G1568 with a Manfrotto #236 swivel head fills the bill.
-I always take a rain cover for the bag as well as a cheap hotel shower cap to protect the equipment if caught out in the rain. Next time you are in a hotel, pick up one of those cheap plastic shower caps with elastic around the edge. Works well. Pick up two, in fact.
-The X-Rite Colorchecker Passport is highly desirable for white balance as well as setting calibration for the images I import into Lightroom. I never leave home without it.
-Gaffers tape, small Giottos Rocket Blower, Sensor Swab, LensPen and 2 lens cleaning cloths. Ongoing cleanliness and maintenance is necessary. Don't neglect your tools.
-Nikon D800E with 2 lenses and hoods. The D800E has a Really Right Stuff L-plate permanently attached. The lenses are the Nikon 28-300mm G ED F3.5-5.6 G VRII. This will be my general purpose lens. It is not the best lens I have, but it covers a wide range of focal lengths.
I have a couple of strategies to get the most out of it. First, I have used software to test this lens with this camera body and have adjusted the micro-focusing feature to maximize sharpness. Second, I have also used software to ascertain which aperture is the sharpest with the D800E0 as well as which apertures are in my acceptable range for quality. Finally, I have found through some experiments, that if necessary, downsizing my files to 16-24 mp (the native size of the D800E files are 36.2mp) size, any lack of apparent sharpness, blur due to camera movement or aberrations are reduced in size, thereby giving the image an appearance of greater sharpness.
The second lens is the Nikon 16-35mm G F/4 VR. I expect to be photographing in tight quarters such as old diners, interiors of old cars, etc., and need the extreme wide angle. This is a nice piece of glass.
I have the Nikon 24-70mm F/2.8 lens, which is stellar. If it is a better lens, why am I not taking it? Taking it and the 16-35 would leave me with no focal lengths longer than 70mm. Since I anticipate needing focal lengths longer, only those two lenses are not an option. I also have to take the Nikon 70-200mm G ED F/2.8 VRII, which is superb. If I add that to the 16-35 and the 24-70, we are getting into too much weight, too much bulk, too much equipment and too many things to juggle. So, my compromise is to take the 28-300 and use my best technique to squeeze every bit of image quality out of the lens.
-One Nikon EL-EN15 battery in the camera and two spares along with the charger. The charger will stay in my suitcase and the batteries will be recharged at night in the hotel room.
-Two filters--a high quality circular polarizer and a high quality 6 stop neutral density filter, both 77 mm, which will fit both lenses.
-A Think Tank card wallet with 176 potential gigabytes of storage to supplement the 64 that are already in the camera. I shouldn't run short. The memory covers both CF and SDHC cards. I always use my newest and fastest cards first, then work my way back to slower, older and smaller cards.
-Nikon SB-800 strobe, diffuser, filters, remote cord with one set of rechargeable batteries in the strobe and one spare set. As we will be going through the desert southwest with bright, hot sunny days, a pop of fill flash is often necessary to lighten the shadows. The cord is for always getting the flash off the camera and the filters can warm skin or match ambient color. I'm not taking a battery charger as I'm taking a weather alert radio (we will be going through tornado country during the peak month) that uses rechargeable AA batteries and I can charge all of them through the radio's system.
-A remote shutter release. Corded is fine. It doesn't have to be cordless. This one is a cheap knock off and it works fine.
-The rear lens cap for the lens that is mounted on the body and the camera body cap. You need those if you ever decide to transport lens and camera separately.
(Note: Always clean your body cap and rear lens caps before mounting them. Dust in those caps, as well as on the rear lens mount is the easiest way to get dust in your camera body and sensor.)
-Finally, a large, zippered heavy duty plastic bag for taking gear in or out of the cold, dry air conditioned inside to the hot outside as well as sealing your gear from dust.
As I said, everything is a compromise. This kit will allow me to capture 95% of what I expect.
What if the D800E malfunctions? That is where the contingency plans come in. Here is a photo of my backup gear. If the D800E fails, I'm dead in the water so I must take some duplicate gear that will well serve my purpose.
My backup kit is even smaller, lighter and easier. I plan to keep this gear in my suitcase and only use it for 1) in the case of a failure of the D800E and/or, 2) if I decide just to walkabout for snapshot type shooting.
-Olympus OMD E-M5 Micro 4/3 camera body with grip and Panasonic 14-45mm F/3.5-5.6 lens and hood. I cannot recommend this camera enough. Also, the lens is the sharpest normal zoom I found when researching available lenses.
-Small Joby tripod for use by my traveling companion as well as impromptu steadying the camera against a wall, chest or other solid object.
-When I bought this camera there were no Olympus brand spare batteries available. So, after reading some reviews, I purchased two Wasabi batteries with their own charger. The upside is I saved money (they work well but are not quite as powerful as the Olympus) and was able to obtain additional batteries, but the downside is that they will not charge in the Olympus charger, therefore I have to take two chargers. The Wasabi charger plugs right into the wall but the Olympus forces one to carry and use a long cord. Olympus--make one without a cord--please!
-A spare 16gb memory card to go along with the 16gb that is in the camera. Of course I have several SDHC cards in the card wallet as the D800E uses both CF and SDHC cards. Both cards are state of the art Sandisk cards. I recommend only brand name cards. I use only Sandisk and Lexar. I've never had a failure since I started shooting digital in 2001.
-A high quality polarizing filter for the Panasonic lens.
-Finally, a plastic bag with the rear lens cap, body cap, Really Right Stuff mounting plate and a couple of covers for the electrical connectors between the camera body and grip.
That is it. Between the two, I am fully covered for opportunities that I expect as well as the unexpected. I am trying to keep gear to a minimum but still be able to fulfill my photographic goals.
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What other photography related gear will I take and, at the end of each day, what will my procedure be to backup my photographs?
I will take a small, 12" laptop with Lightroom 4 installed as well as two USB 3.0 500gb tiny hard drives. The laptop really is inadequate but it works. Small, lightweight and takes up little room. I will probably replace it within the next 12 months.
The Nikon D800E has slots for two memory cards in it. I can utilize those dual slots in a variety of ways. I can use the second one as an automatic backup for the first, giving me two copies of the images immediately. I can use the second as an overflow when the first fills. I can capture raw to the first and jpeg to the second or I can capture raw to the first and video to the second. Typically, I set the camera so one card backs up the second immediately, therefore ensuring I have an image, even if one card fails half way through the day.
In the evening, I will turn on the laptop, connect one hard drive, open Lightroom, and import the day's images into Road Trip catalog I have created on one of the external hard drives. The images go on the external hard drive, not the laptop's internal hard drive. As I import, I will set Lightroom to automatically copy the images to the other external hard drive. Additionally, I will keyword them, attach name and copyright metadata upon each import. When I return home all the tedious work will have been done.
When I confirm that the images are on both drives, as well as the two memory cards, I will reformat the CF card to be placed back into the camera, but keep the images on the SDHC card. I will put a new SDHC card into the camera. That gives me images in three locations. Two places is not enough. You may corrupt a drive, then copy the corruption to the other drive by accident, thereby losing images on both drives. Hence, keeping them on one of the memory cards also.
When I return home, I merely open Lightroom on my desktop and import the Road Trip catalog into my main catalog.
The plan is to not keep any of the three storage devices in the same location for safety in case of theft, damage, fire or other loss.
Additionally, I will be posting to this blog each evening so I plan to edit a couple of the day's images to export to the blog for your reading and viewing pleasure.
That about does it. That is the equipment and the planned process for ensuring safety for my images. I guess it is good to be a bit paranoid about losing one's hard earned images. I think I have found a nice compromise that allows me to make good images and ensure that I bring them back home.
Enjoy!
Dennis Mook
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