Tag Archives: review

In the Queue

Having returned from my nine-day Sierra Nevada pack trip last week, I’m up to my eyeballs in photographs to review and work on. I’ve now picked off all the low hanging fruit (the photographs that seem to have immediate, obvious potential) and I’m now engaged in the more laborious task of going back through all of the images again and looking more closely at photographs that seem to have potential but which will take more thought and work.

I’ve posted a few of the backpack photographs already, and more should begin showing up here near the end of August.

A bit later I will post another product review. I’ve had the chance to use the Lowepro Nova 200 AW bag a few times this summer, and I’m anxious to use it a few more times so that I can post my report here. (This bag is designed more along the lines of a traditional camera bag, so it wasn’t part of my arsenal on the recent pack trip.)

Canon EOS 5D

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

Lowepro Toploader AW

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

Lowepro Inverse 200 AW

It seems like no matter how many camera bags you have, you never have too many. I have quite a collection, ranging from some rather large ones that I use for travel (Thinktank Airport Acceleration) or for serious photography on the trail (“Lowepro Rover Plus AW”) to smaller bags like the “Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW” and one of the Lowepro Topload Zoom bags. Each of these has a relatively specific role in my photography.

Even with all these bags there has been one sort of situation for which I’m ill-equipped: carrying minimal gear on walking/hiking trips, perhaps just the camera/lens or perhaps with the addition of one extra lens, water, and a few small non-photography essentials. I’ve used non-photography lumbar packs and small backpacks, but they don’t really work the way I like for photography.

I recently had a chance to use the Lowepro Inverse 200 AW bag, and it seems like it may fill this gap for me. Continue reading Lowepro Inverse 200 AW