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.

Safari Overview Video

Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

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.

Guide profile: Matt Meyer

May I introduce one of the coolest guides I have come in contact with. Well, we will use the term guide for simplicity's sake, even though they are referred to as rangers at Mala Mala. I met Matt Meyer back in April when I spent four nights at Mala Mala Main Camp, and my friend Al and I had a private vehicle during our stay. Matt was always entertaining, professional and one heck of a good guide. He knew what we were after before we even had to utter the word l-e-o-p-a-r-d to him.

Al Vinjamur and Ranger Matt Meyer. Mala Mala, South Africa, April 2008

If you make it to Mala Mala, be sure to punch Matt in the shoulder and tell him hello from me. Between my visit in April and another friend's trip in September, we have been able to get Matt into photography with a Canon 20D and a 28-300mm L lens. He is in the heart of excellent photography territory, and he is capturing some amazing images. He was shooting jpg when I met him, and is now in the thick of processing raw files.

I look forward to being back in Mala Mala when I return in August 2010 for my African Wildlife Photography Boot Camp. We will be visiting Mashatu for 4 nights in Botswana and also 4 nights at Rattray's at Mala Mala for 4 nights. We have exclusive use of these camps, which means we have all of their vehicles just for our group. Add in some charter air flights between all camps and Joburg, and you have over 180 pounds of weight allowance per person. Yes, that is kind of nuts, but it is the way the numbers worked out. Want to bring your spouse? No problem, as we have 4 spots for a non-photographing spouse for a whopping 50% discount.

Matt, see you at the African Wildlife Photography Boot Camp!

Safari Testimonial: Mark Dubovoy

"Dear Andy-

I am not an amateur photographer. My images are in the permanent collections of more than half a dozen major museums, as well as in numerous private collections and galleries. I am a contributing writer to PHOTO Techniques magazine as well as to The Luminous Landscape web site. I am a consultant, an advisor and beta tester to several large manufacturers.

I have traveled all around the world, and I had been to Africa a few times before I decided to join a workshop to Botswana organized by you.

Why did I decide to do this? The reason is simple, I know enough about adventure travel to realize that it is always good to be with someone that knows the territory and will make all the proper arrangements. Making the proper arrangements, and making sure that everything is done correctly is a difficult task, not to be underestimated, particularly in underdeveloped countries far from civilization.

You do a superb job of making absolutely first class arrangements, and of making sure that everything runs smoothly and flawlessly. I can state without hesitation that you are probably the best trip/workshop leader I have ever experienced.

Andy, you are a great photographer and your people skills are superior. You know when to advise, when to intervene and when to leave people alone. Furthermore, your charming personality and humor are a delight.

I heartily recommend to anyone, photographer or not, to join you in one of your exciting adventures. I am certainly looking forward to my next trip with you."

Here are a few images from our September 2008 Botswana trip together:

Photo of the Day

Buddies

Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, November 2008

I am heading home today after a number of incredible days of photography here in the Churchill area. I am leaving with some wonderful experiences, and hopefully a few polar bear photos. SONY graciously loaned my workshop group a pair of A900 24.6 megapixel cameras to use, along with some excellent lenses. Their 300mm f/2.8 G was the most used, along with their 70-200mm f/2.8 G and 24-70mm f/2.8 Zeiss lenses. I will be posting my mini review of the A900 camera in the coming days. My overall impression is that SONY has entered the professional market with a very nice camera, and I look forward to seeing more from SONY in the coming years.

Photo of the Day

Polar Bears on the tundra, Churchill, Canada

Canon 1DsMkIII, 500mm f/4 + 1.4x, 1/2000 @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Just a quick shot from today's activities on the tundra. Our group is having a great time here, and the weather isn't too terribly cold. This is my first trip to Churchill, and now I know why the area is so popular with photographers. The bear viewing is excellent, and the overall experience is very rich. I am working on my Apple Macbook Air that seems to have lost its calibration on the screen, so I apologize if the image isn't up to snuff. It's like stabbing in the dark when one is working on an unprofiled laptop computer. I will replace the image when I return home with a better processed one.