Category Archives: Equipment

Equipment

Photo Kit on the Trail

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danwithtoploadtripodwhitney200808111

Dan Mitchell on Mt. Whitney. Sequoia National Park, California. August 11, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

I have written elsewhere on this site about the gear I use, including the setup I use for backpacking, so I thought it might be interesting to show a photo of the gear in action, so to speak. This photo shows me on Mt. Whitney in August 2008 with the whole basic kit: Lowepro Toploader AW containing Canon EOS 5D with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L and a few other small items such as CP filter, remote release, extra batteries. The tripod is a Velbon 540 carbon-fiber unit with 4-section legs to which I’ve attached the Acratech Ultimate Ballhead. In more typical situations the tripod rides on my backpack, but here we had left backpacks a couple miles back so that we could go light to the summit. (Yes, the tripod makes a serviceable walking stick if necessary… ;-)

We reached Mt. Whitney not from the usual east side Whitney Portal route but rather via a nine-day trip from the west across the Sierra from Crescent Meadow in Sequoia National Park. This followed my route from the first time I ascended Whitney 30 years earlier. I have been up in a few more times in the interim. Ironically, a year earlier this 2008 trip I had finally decided that there are so many other fine things to see and do in the Sierra that continuing to repeat Whitney climbs no longer appealed to me – and then my buddies contacted me and said, “Want to do Whitney from the west?” Sucker than I am, I said “yes.”

And how about that stylin’ hat, no? ;-)

(Thanks to my buddy, Owen Lee, for using my camera to make this photo.)

Equipment, Ideas, Technique

Wide Angle Lenses and Image Stabilization

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I often hear people claim that image-stabilization is only of value on normal to long focal length lenses, and is not useful on wide angle and ultra wide angle lenses.

The photograph posted earlier today was shot handheld on a full frame DSLR at 1/25 second at ISO 800 and 32mm. (32mm on full frame is equivalent to using a 20mm focal length on a 1.6x cropped sensor body.)

I had just finished a session of tripod-based landscape shooting on the summit of this dome, had packed up, and was heading down when the lone hiker crossed the ridgeline below me just as some lovely post-sunset light gently illuminated the landscape. Having no time to set up a tripod – hiker and light would have been gone by then – I dropped everything, pulled the camera with image-stabilized 24-105mm lens from the pack, made some quick seat-of-the-pants exposure calculations, and got of three quick frames before the scene was gone. Without IS I simply would not have gotten a usable version of this photograph – a photograph that has since been licensed for use in a print journal.

Even as one who often shoots from a tripod – and almost always carries one – I have found the notion that IS has no value at shorter focal lengths to be a myth not born out in actual practice.

Equipment

Canon EOS 5D

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Having used my Canon EOS 5D extensively for about two years, I figure it is about time for me to write up something about my experiences with and impressions of this camera. Rather than try to compete with the existing camera review sites and post a bunch of technical specifications and test results, I’m going to focus on aspects of the camera that may give a better general idea of its strengths and weaknesses and of situations for which it is best adapted. Continue reading Canon EOS 5D →

Equipment, Technique

Lowepro Toploader AW

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I do a lot of backpacking photography, frequently going out for periods of many days or even a couple weeks and carrying camera equipment across high (occasionally trail-less) passes in the Sierra Nevada range. There is a whole range of issues to sort out when you do this sort of back-country photography including:

  • How much gear to take — what do you really need and how much weight are you willing to lug?
  • How to keep the camera and necessary accessories reasonably accessible.
  • How to sufficiently protect the camera equipment from weather and from other dangers.
  • How to integrate systems for carrying camera equipment with those used for carrying regular backpacking gear.

I’ve described my current backpacking photography setup in detail elsewhere, so here I’ll focus on one key element in my solution, a Lowepro Toploader AW bag. (Mine is a slightly older model – a “TLZ AW.” The current incarnations have a slightly different name. The last time I checked they were the “Lowepro Toploader 75 AW Camera Holster Bag” and the “Lowepro Toploader 65 AW Camera Holster Bag.”) Continue reading Lowepro Toploader AW →