It’s travel season or, time to get ready for travel season. I know this with the emails coming in asking about moving gear around the globe. Traveling with camera gear can be a stressful proposition that can be made less stressful when selecting the right camera bag. The Gear Locker has a number of camera bags, and I select the appropriate one for the project at hand. The selection starts with booking flights with the overhead bins required for the gear I want to take. Then my selection in bags comes down to my mode of transportation one on site. For example, if I’m working with long glass out of a vehicle, I’d like to use the Think Tank Airport Security V3. Or if I’m working out of a plane, boat, etc, I’ll grab my MP-1v2. Then if I’m going after landscapes, I might grab the Think Tank Urban (pictured below).

I pack the bags with just gear, no chargers or cables, just lenses, bodies, and filters, those tools I need in the field to make photos. The rest of the “stuff” is in other bags in the belly of the plane. But here’s the deal, you have to come up with the strategy that works for you, your gear, and your comfort level. If you want to get an idea of the bags I use and for what projects and how I pack them, this link is the search on my site for Think Tank. It will display the bags I use and how I back them. You’ll come up with your own best plan thinking through the camera bag and my strategies.

I love my Profotos for two main reasons, their light and ease of use! The Big guys get used all year, mainly doing pilot portraits and product shots. Now is when the amazing A10s come out for one simple reason, color! In the spring, birds don their best feathers, fresh, new, and full of color. The feathers of birds are designed to reflect light, and if they are in a green world like the one you see above, they reflect that green color. That green color cast “alters” their amazing spring duds, and that’s where the Profoto A10s come into play. The Kelvin color of the A10s is set to just clean up colors and not for exposure. That’s to say, I want the brilliance and not the shadows to open up. The Profotos make this all so simple. I don’t hesitate to use them. If you head to my YouTube Channel, you’ll find videos on the A10, telephoto flash, and my Hummer Rig. For me, Profoto is for spring!

“Just how much weather can your gear take?” Being known for being out in the worst wx shooting (cause it can make for some of the best shots) I get asked this a lot. My answer is pretty simple, if I can take the weather my Nikons can take the weather. Here’s an example from a couple of months back, a shot of rams I’ve long wanted which meant I stood out in the “blizzard” (the snow is blowing almost horizontally). As you can see, the snow is piling up on me and the gear (keep in mind, this is not recommended!). What I don’t do in this scenario is first, blow off the snow! My warm breath will instantly turn the snow into moisture and that can cause issues. Second, I don’t wipe my gear with my hand, nothing. They don’t move from where you see them so they keep that part of the gear dry and don’t warm up some other part with snow on it. Lastly, I have an exit strategy. I leave the truck with a dry spot for myself and my gear to come back in to take care of myself and my gear. I have multiple white towels and I use them to “snap” the snow off the gear, NOT wiping it. Wiping will force moisture into crevices it shouldn’t go. Once the gear is dry which includes the felt on the inside of the shade, it is placed back in the photopack. This how I’ve operated in adverse wx forever and I’ve never had my gear go down. Just keep in mind when it comes to wx, if you can take it …

A Nikon spotting scope was there when I started this photography adventure decades ago. We’ve not had one sadly for quite some time though and missed it sorely. We feel very fortunate to now have the Nikon Monarch 20-60 angled Spotting Scope and man, it’s not like our old scope! We needed a spotting scope for two reasons, to watch critters around the homestead too shy to come into our feeders, and for Sharon to aid in my finding critters in the field and to observe them (she has great eyes!) That’s why we got the angled version (cause they have a straight model) making it easier for us to share the scope when looking at one subject. Its 82mm eye relief is huge, and I mean huge and so bright! With the zoom eyepiece and that brightness, it’s real simple to find a subject and then zoom in to observe with the Monarch. Its waterproof ruggedness permits it to be out in all conditions. And it’s the perfect compliment to the Z600f4TC so Sharon and I can spot and watch the same biology at the same time. Of course, that’s when Sharon can get me off the scope cause it’s so much fun to watch birds. It’s an important tool that was missing that we are so happy to have back in the locker. Spectacular! The Nikon Monarch Spotting Scope.

Proper handholding and long lens technique works best when you have a firm grip on the camera. Whether you have little or big hands or, big hands with arthritis starting in your thumb, gripping smaller camera bodies like the Z 6III might be a challenge. It was for me but the solution was not only simple, it paid dividends. I called up Bedford’s Camera and two days later the MB-N14 arrived. As soon as I attached it, my thumb started to feel a whole lot better, and my grip, back to secure. Even better was now a vertical firing button is available. Boy, I love that feature! It gets even better with the ability to hot swap the battery. And the Coup de grâce is the ability to charge both batteries right in the grip by simply plugging the MB-N14 into USBc directly. Whether handholding or attached to the Z600f4TC on a tripod, I just know my grip is secure and my thumb feels great!

This is the next in a series of videos, some simple advice that might help move your photography forward. It’s like any advice you might receive, you gotta take it in and decide if it works for you. If it does, perfect. If it doesn’t just forget it and continue on :-)