I came to Magee Marsh with the perfect rig, Z 9 w/180-600 wZ1.4x w/Profoto A10 on tele bracket attached on the Benro SupaDupa. I practiced with the rig at The Ranch last week, walking around photographing birds, and yet … mud! The one thing my practice didn’t take in was the dense riparian forest of Magee and the birds darting about. For the life of me, for the whole morning, I felt like I was always behind and not making the shot. It was a sick feeling to see all the great birds and not getting them in the viewfinder. By the afternoon, I was getting quicker, but still slow. Argh. I should have thought deeper about what I was practicing, which would have truly helped. I didn’t like the feel like I’m working in mud.

The Z180-600f5.6-6.3 has come to fill a hole in my system so perfectly that it is with me a majority of the time. Quite often, it’s just a body/lens and that’s all, and while it could ride easily in a roller bag or photopack, that’s a lot of case for just a body and lens. I went cruising the ThinkTank website looking for a single bag solution for just this combo. That’s when I came across the DigitalHolster 150v3. A few days later, the bag was in my hands with the Z 9 / Z180-600f5.6-6.3 snug as a bug inside. It’s like it was made just for that combo! It comes with a strap to carry it over your shoulder. You could attach it to a pack, roller, belt, and it will stay dry with the killer ThankTank custom rainshell for the holster. The outer pockets hold batteries, Z26f2.8, cards, and all you need for an outing. It’s just a killer kit now well protected with everything easily accessible in the DigitalHolster 150v3

Big size, great speed, and in time for all my work with the Z 6III 240P, the new 1TB ProGrade SD is a great addition to the kit. It just works, great, what else do I need to say. One thing I love about ProGrade, besides their products, is the biodegradable packaging. The SD comes in all cardboard protection. Nice! Remember that when you usethe MoosePro code when you check out, you will save real money on your ProGrade purchase.

I’ve had the new Nikon 12×25 Stabilizer bins for a few weeks now. I just love them! Along with being so small, so light, and so bright, with the stabilizing engaged (you can use them without it turned on), I can one-hand scan with them. This is huge to me! It gives me a free hand to like swing the Z600f4TC onto the subject or use the Merlin app on my iPhone. All while keeping the subject in sharp view. I just love that!! I made one big mistake though, one I regret I’ve made twice before. You see, my lovely bride doesn’t always remember to grab her bins when we head out, so she borrows mine. That’s not the issue, I don’t mind sharing with her. But what has happened twice before when I got new bins, she falls in love with them, and I don’t get them back. Looks like that’s happened again, I gotta order another pair, my pair of 12×25 Stabilzer bins, looks like history repeats itself!