Closeout deal on special batch of Moab Entrada paper

Moab by Legion Paper has some extra paper from a special order they made for customer. It's a 350gsm version Moab Entrada Bright in 24x36" sheets that they are selling for $1/sheet in quantities of 250 or more. This is an experimental weight of Entrada that will not be made again. No returns. With the unusually heavy 350gsm weight, this sounds like an unusually sweet deal to me if you like 24x36" sheets.

Contact Yvette at 800-727-3716 to order.

Nikon equipment

Are you interested in hearing some thoughts about Nikon equipment from a Canon point of view? Well you just might get it on this blog. I recently purchased some Nikon gear to better understand my customers' needs. I was able to buy a decent kit used from one person, so now I have a Nikon outfit along with all of my Canon gear. I am not sure which system I will keep, and that includes looking at some of the Sony equipment.

So why did I make the purchase? A number of reasons come to mind. Let me list the ways:

• I need to understand how the Nikon cameras and lenses work together, primarily for the benefit of my safari customers. Reading a manual out in the field is no fun, and hopefully if there is a question about a button or function, I can help out.
• The Nikon flash system is far superior. Far superior. Have you seen the new SB900? I thought the Nikon Creative Lighting System was incredible with the SB800, but now the SB900 just makes the system so amazing.
• The 200-400mm f/4 VR lens. This is exactly what Canon needs to be manufacturing, and this lens is a wildlife photographer's dream. Sometimes it isn't enough reach, especially out on the open savannah in Tanzania, but that can be overcome in a few ways: buy a 500mm VR (expensive, and more gear), use a 1.5x crop D300 type camera or just put more megapixels on your subject with the new D3x 24.5mp camera body and crop later (if needed).
• Ergonomics. The Canon 1 series cameras right now are so much better than the last generation, but Nikon has figured out the ergonomics game. They feel good in my hand, and some buttons are just where they need to be. Some not, but overall the Nikon ergonomics is pretty hard to beat.

So am I going to switch completely? Perhaps. Perhaps not. We shall see. I need to sell off some of my Canon gear to help pay for the new Nikon equipment, for sure. I leave for a three-week safari in Tanzania next month, and I am planning on taking all Nikon equipment with me. Here is what I will take:

Nikon D300, D700, D3 camera bodies. The 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR and 200-400mm f/4 VR lenses. Oh, and a 1.7x teleconverter. Why so many cameras? Because this was how my purchase planned out. I bought the D300 from a friend just so I could try the camera out with another friend's 200-400mm. Then another friend announced that he was selling his D700. And then the huge package deal was presented to me and I bought a D3 with some amazing lenses. There are some lenses that I am not prepared to keep, such as the 105mm f/2.8 VR macro, 24mm Tilt/Shift and perhaps the amazing 28mm f/1.4, and I will be listing some of these lenses on eBay or an online forum in the coming days. On the Canon side I might sell my 400mm f/4 DO and 24-105mm f/4 L IS.

I plan on writing about my experiences with the Nikon equipment. For those that are thinking of switching from Canon to Nikon, you might be interested. For those who are already on the Nikon platform, you might hear some things of value, as well.

So Andy, what is so wrong about the Canon system? Pretty much nothing, actually. Like I said before, I would like to have more knowledge on the Nikon system for my travelers. Yes, the Canon system needs a better wide angle lens, an update to the ancient 100-400mm lens, also known as the 'Dust Sucker', and a lack of a 200-400mm f/4 zoom. But that is fairly nitpicky.

What I use: MacBook Air

When I am out of the country on a business trip or photographic trip, I grab my Apple Macbook Air as my computer of choice. Why? Because it is so darned thin, lightweight and has ample processing power for my needs when I away from home. I don't need a powerhouse of a machine, actually. I need a computer to do the following when I am on a photo safari in Africa:

• Dowload images
• View, rate and quickly process images in Lightroom
• Run slideshows when connected to my digital projector
• Take daily notes
• Send and receive email and surf the web when I have the luxury

I purchased the Macbook Air when they were announced this past spring, and my specific machine has the 1.6ghz processor and the 64GB SSD solid state storage drive. I really do wish I had more storage space, as the usable space after the room for OSX is around 45 GB or so. I would love to have the newer 128GB SSD drive, but my Macbook Air lost so much value in the past 7 months that it is not worth it to sell my unit and upgrade to the newer one. Perhaps I will wait for the next generation when a larger capacity drive is offered.

I think the MacBook Air's keyboard is quite good, the display is a decent size for a 3 pound machine and the processing power meets my needs. What I don't like about the MacBook Air is the lone USB port on the side. With only 45GB of usable space, I need to augment that space with an external hard drive. I have enough CF memory cards to last many many weeks without having to format any cards, but I do like to backup my files when I have the chance. I typically backup daily, but this often happens in the middle of the day. At the end of the day I find myself rushing to get cleaned up after the afternoon game drive and wish to get to the bar for social hour before dinner.

The problem with the single USB port is that my CF memory card reader is competing with my external hard drive for that single port. My solution so far as been to bring along a small USB port replicator, which works just fine.

I chose to have the 64GB SSD drive for two reasons: data security and speed. Since SSD drives have no moving parts, there is less to go wrong with your data. Additionally, SSD drives have faster read/write times when compared to hard drives. The hard drives offered on the MacBook Air are all 4200 rpm drives, if I am not mistaken. 4200 rpm drives are way too slow for my needs, so the SSD drive it was.

The MacBook Air is one of my most favorite purchases over the past few years, and I prefer to use it on trips if I am trying to save weight. I do have a MacBook Pro that I use as my daily work machine, and a Mac Pro desktop as my dedicated photo processing machine. I really don't need two laptop computers, but I bought the MacBook Pro over a year ago and I still use it quite a bit. It has more horsepower, has a larger screen, and I upgraded the drive to 500GB last month. So my primary storage for everything except photos is on my MacBook Pro.

Do you travel much for your photography? Are you looking for a computer for those situations, and is weight a critical factor? You should give the MacBook Air a try at your local Apple store. You might like it. I sure did.

Polar Bear Trip Report and Sony A900 Mini Review (Long Post)

Now that I am back home and back into my daily routine, I have had the time to reflect back on my latest trip to Churchill, Canada. So where do I begin? Well, from the beginning.

A few years ago there was a conversation around a camp fire at some remote bush camp in Africa, and some of the people at that gathering mentioned that they wanted to go photograph polar bears. Well, there are a number of locations that one can visit, but the most productive, safe and predictable location for polar bears is arguably Churchill, Canada. Churchill is on the edge of Hudson Bay, and the location has a high congregation of bears in the area. I can get into a long discussion of actually why the bears are there, but this is for another time.

The tourist polar bear season last about 6 to 8 weeks each late fall / early winter, and most viewing is done from vehicles that are high off the ground. I presume the primary reason is for safety (duh), as polar bears can stand very tall on their hind legs. These vehicles, sometimes referred to as tundra buggies (and also a name of one of the two operators in the area) have both inside and outside locations from which to photograph from. On the inside, there are slide-down windows from which to put a bean bag and also your camera and lens combination. On the rear of the vehicle there is a platform. There is variability with these platforms, depending on which vehicle and which company you are working with. On our vehicle there was a grate where you could watch a bear go underneath you. Very cool!

The Pirate Ship. Aaaaaarrrrrr.

We stayed in the town of Churchill, and went out on the tundra vehicle during the daylight hours. And one evening we went out for a night ride with wine, cheese and dinner. Oh, and we also saw some wildlife. I must confess that this type of a trip is about as easy as it can get for wildlife photography. The company we used was Natural Habitat, and they did an excellent job at setting up the trip for me, taking phone calls, preparing people for the trip, getting us there, assigning an excellent naturalist / guide to take care of us and pretty much guaranteeing us a good time.

Churchill is a very well known area for polar bears, and for good reasons. I have nothing to compare our experience to, but we certainly had a wonderful time. We had a cast of characters for sure.

The Sony A900 camera goes to the arctic

On the equipment side, SONY graciously loaned my group a pair of A900 24mp full frame cameras, and three wonderful and fast lenses: the 24-70mm f/2.8 Zeiss, the 70-200mm f/2.8 G and the 300mm f/2.8 G. All three of these lenses are very well made, and have a very professional feel to them. I spent some time with the equipment, and I came away very impressed with many aspects. The A900 is a very well-built camera, and reminds me of my old F100 Nikon from the film days. The A900 fits in my hand like a glove and is rock solid. I love the angular design of the prism housing on the top.

The Sony A900 24.6mp digital SLR and 24-70mm f/2.8 Zeiss lens

The Sony A900 and 300mm f/2.8 G in action

The Sony Alpha A900 is a 24.6mp full frame digital SLR, and is one of only a few companies with a full frame sensor inside. Canon, Nikon, Contax (remember them?), Kodak (now discontinued) and now Sony have brought out full frame sensors, but Sony is the king of the hill with a whopping 24.6mp sensor. So only Sony, Nikon and Canon have full frame cameras, and Sony has the upper hand if file size is something you are after.

Sony A900, 300mm f/2.8 G, 1/1000 @ f/3.5, ISO 800

The file size is really nice, and I needed to shoot at ISO 800 for most of the trip, as the available light wasn't enough for a lower ISO value. The viewfinder on the A900 is gorgeous, and is likely the brightest I have seen to date on any camera. The A900, like many of the other Alpha line of cameras, has their SteadyShot anti shake technology inside, and from my limited time with the camera does have some benefit. How much? I am not sure, but it certainly cannot hurt.

In extremely cold environments battery life can be an issue. I had numerous batteries for the A900 on this trip, and even though we were working all day in mostly zero to 5 degrees F, I was unable to draw a battery down more than 50 percent.

Sony A900, 300mm f/2.8 G, 1/1250 @ f/5, ISO 800

There was a learning curve with the A900, just like with any platform change, and I was able to navigate through the menus fairly easily. The rear LCD is bright and detailed, and the menu items are fairly easy to understand what is meant.

All in all it was fun to shoot with the Sony equipment. I look forward to using more of their lenses, flashes and camera bodies. All of the Sony gear was transported to Churchill, Canada in a Gura Gear Kiboko bag, with tons of extra space for accessories and other items.

Here are some other images from the trip:

Shooting off the rear deck of the tundra vehicle. The polar bears get close!

An evening with some of the locals

Smile!

And a larger gallery of images can be found here:

Polar Bears of Churchill

Luminous Landscape reviews my Gura Gear Kiboko bag

Michael Reichmann over at Luminous Landscape has reviewed the Gura Gear Kiboko bag, and his review is absolutely glowing. Here are some snippets worth pointing out:

"..Opening up half of the Kiboko bag is much easier than opening a traditional bag..The Kiboko bag openings just fold over onto themselves..."

"Gura Gear seems to have found the elusive holy grail, a bag this is both well designed for travel and well designed to work out of."

"What I particularly like about the design is that in addition to the required comfort and support, when not in use all of the belts and straps tuck away out of sight so that they can't get caught on airline conveyor system if the bag is checked. Very nicely designed."

You can read Michael's complete review online at Luminous Landscape's web site.

Gura Gear Launches!

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER ANDY BIGGS LAUNCHES LINE OF EXPERTLY DESIGNED PHOTO GEAR BAGS

CHICAGO (November 4, 2008)—Inspired by his extensive travel and career in wildlife photography, outdoor photographer Andy Biggs has launched Gura Gear; an innovative line of camera bags designed to help photographers get the perfect shot. Gura Gear will offer on-the-go photographers a lightweight and comfortable yet highly functional alternative to bulky photo gear currently available to photographers.

The Kiboko bag is the first design from the Gura Gear line. Weighing in at only 4 pounds, the Kiboko is the lightest bag in its class. Designed with the needs of the photographer in mind, the bag allows all photo gear to be safely stored and comfortably carried but also quickly accessed. The Kiboko bag is deep enough to accommodate a pro level SLR camera body, as well as medium format cameras. The bag will also hold up to a 500mm and 600mm lens simultaneously. The Kiboko bag is made from high-tech Dimension Polyant VX-21, a unique and durable water-shedding material made from the same process that is used on some of the fastest lightweight sailboats in the world. The outer materials are abrasion and tear resistant and the interior is well padded, ensuring that the bag and your equipment will hold up regardless of the terrain you’re photographing.

The Kiboko bag can be carried either as a backpack with a retractable, expertly engineered harness system or as a shoulder bag using ergonomically placed handles. The Kiboko also features a convenient butterfly flap access system, allowing the photographer to easily get to multiple bodies, lenses and all their photo accessories. The bag’s interior is also fully customizable to suit the photographers’ individual needs. The Kiboko’s harness system fully retracts for loading into airplanes and can be used as a carry on for most flights. Every detail of the Kiboko bag has been specifically designed, down to the zippers that can be handled even while wearing winter gloves.

Gone are the days where you have to decide whether weight or functionality is more important when transporting your photo gear. Gura Gear is a smart, new way of transporting equipment, designed for photographers by photographers. The innovative design, materials and technology that goes into each Gura Gear bag far exceeds any comparable camera bag on the market. For more information about Gura Gear and the Kiboko bag please visit visit www.guragear.com.

Botswana: What worked and what did not

Yawning Lioness, Vumbura Plains, Botswana

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4 + 1.4x, 1/320 sec @ f/8, ISO 400

The second part of my southern African safari took place in the country of Botswana, and was geared towards 100% wildlife photography. I put this trip together with Michael Reichmann, and we had 11 particpants plus a few non-photographing spouses on this trip. I have to admit that this particular safari was one of my most favorite trips to date, and I want to personally thank everybody who made this trip a very memorable one. The safari was not without its issues for me personally, as I was worried about my family back home. They were hunkered down to survive a direct hit from Hurricane Ike as I was out on a beautiful game drive in the Okavango Delta. Sometimes life throws good things at you at the same time you are thinking of something else or somebody else. My family handled the storm quite well, but I was glad to get back home to be with them when my safari was through.

As this photographic safari was dedicated for 100% wildlife, my equipment mostly reflected this intention. The challenge was my packing for two different safaris in two different countries; Namibia and Botswana. If I had only a wildlife safari in Botswana my equipment selection might have been slightly different. Here is what I took with me:

• Canon 1DsMkIII (x2)
• 16-35mm f/2.8 L
• 24-105mm f/4 L IS
• 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS
• 400mm f/4 DO IS
• 1.4x teleconverter
• Gitzo GT3540LS tripod and RRS BH-55 ballhead
• 116GB of CF cards

Lechwe, Mombo, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. September 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 70-200mm, 1/500 sec @ f/11, ISO 400

We had three different locations on this Botswana safari:

1. Vumbura Plains, Okavangao Delta
2. Private Mobile camping, Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Delta
3. Mombo Camp, Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Delta

My primary wildlife lens on this trip was the Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS. I love this lens, because it is a small and lightweight telephoto lens. It weighs less than the 300mm f/2.8, and is roughly 1/2 the weight of the 500mm f/4. Optically speaking my 500mm f/4 is a better lens, but the larger 500mm is less manueverable when shooting from open vehicles. Why would a 500mm be more difficult? The easiest and most common way of supporting a long lens is by using a monopod. A monopod is a great tool, but requires setting up and getting ready for a shot. I have found that in some situations I can hand hold a 400mm f/4 for my initial shot, and then will put the lens on a monopod for situations when I have the time to sit and wait for the perfect shot.

 

Picnic Lunch, Monopods and Elephants, Mombo, Botswana. September 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 70-200mm, 1/250 sec @ f/8, ISO 200

I did find that many of my photographs were either too tight or too loose from a composition standpoint. So I wish I had some focal lengths in between 200mm and 400mm. Hello, Canon, can you hear me? I love the Nikon 200-400mm f/4, and someday I just might buy a D300 or D700 to go along with it. Am I ready to bail on Canon? Not really, but the 200-400mm is definitely the best wildlife lens on the market at the moment. I value the ability to properly frame a shot, and many of my images as of late tend to be taken with shorter focal lengths. 5 years ago most of my images were captured at 500mm, and these days they seem to be taken between 100mm and 300mm.

Running Elephant, Vumbura Plains, Botswana. September 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4 DO, 1/8 sec @ f/16

What worked?

I think my outfit worked pretty darn well. I absolutely love having a pair of 1DsMkIII bodies, and the lenses I chose worked fairly well. A 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS is a fantastic lens for shooting from helicopters, but given ample light I could also make a case for using the 100-400mm.

What did not work?

I wish I had my 100-400mm zoom with me, primarily because I either had too much lens or too little. Since Canon doesn't make a 200-400mm f/4, the 100-400mm is the next best thing. I typically shoot my zoom lenses between f/8 and f/14, and the 100-400mm lens works well once stopped down a little bit (It isn't that great when shooting at wide open apertures, though).

 

Oxpeckers, Mombo, Botswana. September 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4 + 1.4x, 1/640 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 400

Conclusion

This Botswana safari was filled with an enormous amount of great safari experiences, and I look forward to going back to Botswana in July 2009. I will have a different setup with me, but will it contain some Nikon equipment? We shall see. If Nikon has a camera that captures larger files, that will certainly make my life much easier. I don't like obsessing about equipment, as it does take away from one's capacity to think critically about what they are about to photograph. I enjoy every second when I am out on safari, and that is what I value most: the experiences. I just hope that I come back home with photographs to go along with those experiences, and that those photographs stir my soul. I am just starting to dive into my Botswana images, and I can easily say that some of these images bring a smile to my face.

Adobe Lightroom 2.0 released

For those that have been waiting for Adobe Lightroom to be released, well wait no further! Here is a quick link to purchase a full version, upgrade version or a fully functioning demo.

Adobe Lightroom 2.0

Why do I like Lightroom 2.0? Primarily because of 2 features: local adjustments and much better print sharpening, which sharpens based on the output and resolution of your images. This technology came from the expertise over at Pixel Genius. No more need to run Photokit Sharpener any more.

From Photoshop News:

Photoshop Lightroom 2: Smarter, Faster and More Accurate
The enhanced Library module in Lightroom 2 helps streamline and accelerate photographers’workflows. With the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives, Lightroom 2 and its powerful Library Filter Bar makes it easy for users to quickly find the images they need. The Suggested Keywords feature helps photographers keyword their images by making intelligent suggestions based on their own previous efforts. New dual-monitor support allows users to expand their workspace, giving them flexibility to edit and organize images in a way that maximizes an additional display.

In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust color, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. The new Graduated Filter expands the toolbox in Lightroom, allowing for edits to larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination. Lightroom 2 also helps photographers print more efficiently by quickly arranging photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with flexible and customizable templates to maximize paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster.

Ground-Breaking Innovation in Raw Technology
New raw technology gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer. To minimize surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customized profiles to suit different tastes. Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com) for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw 4.5, along with the DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles.

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.

“One of the big reasons why Lightroom has become such a phenomenon among serious photographers is that Adobe built it with the input of a very vocal user community,” said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). “Adobe really listens to the issues and challenges today’s photographers face and they’ve built a complete solution that not only meets the needs of photographers; it really feels like it was made just for us. The enhancements to Lightroom 2, combined with the power of Photoshop, give photographers the ultimate freedom to produce professional images quickly.”