Month: March 2018

Think Tank Launches New Affordable Storyteller Bag Series

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Think Tank Photo have a pretty steady stream of new product launches but this one caught my eye due to the low price points. The new Storyteller shoulder bag series features three bags, and prices start at just $64.75 for the Storyteller 5 and go up to $84.75 for the largest Storyteller 10 bag.   The bags look great for a mirrorless setup or a small DSLR with a couple or three lenses. All of them feature an elasticated water bottle pocket on one side, as well as mesh battery and memory card pockets inside the lid. The Storyteller 8 …

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Canon 100-400 IS II – Aperture Vs. Focal Length

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It’s rare that I go anywhere without the Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS II in my bag. It’s a versatile and extremely sharp lens that’s just as capable at capturing detailed landscapes as it is with wildlife. One of the reasons I love it is that it fits such a large zoom range into a relatively small package, although at 5.1lbs you’ll definitely notice it in your bag after a long day. The reason that it’s possible to get such a wide range into a small lens is of course because this lens has a variable aperture. At 100mm, the

Keep Those Feet Dry During Your Photo Road Trips

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Wintery photography road trips in the Pacific North West usually involve a lot of getting in and out of the car at various locations, and trudging through wet snowy forests. Having wet boots and cold feet sucks, so I recently purchased an awesome set of portable Travel Boot Dryers from Dry Guy that can run off the 12v power outlet in your car. This nifty product has a little fan in each heating element and it gently blows warm air through your boots or gloves as they sit in the back of the car or the passenger footwell. Given the

Gear Check: Think Tank Logistics Manager 30 – The BIG One!!

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I’m writing this from a hotel room in the Canadian Rockies, having just pulled in after a 1000km drive from my home in British Columbia. I did the drive in a day, with a few stops along the way to photograph a couple of cool landscapes and a turkey vulture that I found in a tree along the way. It’s alway hard to know what to bring with me on these trips. Which lens will I need? Should I bring a small flash or my big one?  What about video gear? Will I have time to make a video or

Beautiful Metal Prints!

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I recently had some metal prints done by a specialist printing company in Florida called Shiny Prints, and the results were fantastic. I’ve written a much more in-depth post about their services and they results I got over on Shutter Muse, but I just couldn’t help sharing a quick note about them here too. This is the first time I’ve had my work printed on metal and I was really blown away by the final look of the product, particularly the Frame Mount glossy prints that I received. This definitely won’t be the last time I get something from these

Gear Check: UniqBall iQuick Plate

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I came across this interesting ballhead accessory when I was writing a guide about L plates for Shutter Muse. Typically an L plate for a camera is a big bulky thing that wraps around the end of a camera to allow you to switch between portrait and landscape orientation very quickly. One of the disadvantages of the traditional design is that the plates can be quite heavy, so I was intrigued when I found the iQuick plate solutions that are being manufactured by UniqBall. At first glance these iQuick plates appear to be pretty typical universal Arca-Swiss plates for use

New Elinchrom Transmitter PRO = Skyport Plus HS

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Elinchrom launched a battery flash system called the ELB500 TTL. As the name suggests, this is a TTL capable 500w/s portable strobe unit and it’s the first TTL unit that Elinchrom have produced.  I’ve used Elinchrom gear for many years, and currently have an ELB400 in my kit, along with the Skyport Plus HS, which handles the wireless control of the flash. Alongside the release of the ELB500, I noticed that they were also talking about a TTL capable transmitter called the Transmitter PRO. Confusingly, it appeared to look identical to the Skyport Plus HS and for a while I