Heavy Duty Gear Protection

I recently traded one of my lesser used backpacks for a used Pelican 1510 rolling case with dividers and lid organizer. This Pelican cases is watertight to 30 feet, airtight, crushproof and dust proof. It will float in salt water with a 64 pound load.

The 1510 [1514 with the divider set] is the size of the largest carry on bags allowed by the FAA. And it's no problem to gate check it if on a small plane as it can be tossed around without worry. You can read more about this case at Adorama here.

The case I acquired did not have all of the divider sections but I was able to find a used set on Amazon. After playing around with different configurations, I was able to fit almost everything I carried in my Tamrac Ultra Pro 13 and more than I could fit in my thinkTANK Photo Streetwalker Pro backpack.

One drawback is the weight. The case alone weighs a touch over 15 pounds. Filled with gear, the case weighs in at 33 pounds. Definitely a storage solution rather than something you'd lug around on a hike. Without a doubt, gear will be transferred to another bag for almost every shooting occasion.

Here is an iPhone photo of how I finally managed to set up the case with my gear. I'll list the contents of each compartment in clockwise order beginning in the lower right with the camera bodies.

Pelican 1510 case with padded dividers [1514] with 1519 lid organizer

Canon EOS 7D with battery grip and two batteries, OP/TECH pro loop connectors.

Canon EOS 7D with battery, OP/TECH pro loop connectors.

Canon 430EXII and 270EXII Speedlites, lens shades for 70-200mm and 24-70mm lenses, Canon 500D 77mm close up lens in case, Rocket blower.

Sigma 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens, 16 Eneloop AA batteries in Tamrac battery case, business cards.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, OP/TECH Utility Straps (2).

Hoya Digital Pro 1 CPL and UV filters (77mm), Tiffen 3 stop ND filter (77mm).

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens and Canon Extender EF 1.4X II connected with OP/TECH double lens mount cap.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens.

In the lid organizer starting with the top left are:

Jar opener for filters, extra CF cards, lens mount caps, anti-fog eyepiece.

Spare LP-E6 battery, AA magazine for battery grip, Bower 52mm to 77mm filter adapter, swab and cloth for anti-fog eyepiece.

Canon Raincover.

Zeiss lens wipes (for filters and LCD screens), Microfiber cloth, OP/TECH Gotcha wrist strap.

Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3, Canon flashlight, self defense spray.

In addition, I lay a Rogue FlashBender (large) and Bounce Card/Flag on top of the lefthand portion of the dividers.

UPDATE - 6/13/14: The only refinements I've made so far is to switch from the OP/TECH straps to the original Canon straps to save space and I keep my 40mm pancake lens on the 7D body without the battery grip.

Prom 2014

Yesterday I used my new kit of only EOS 7D bodies at a high school prom. I used a 7D with grip and the EF 24-70mm f.2.8L USM lens which has the field of view of a 38-112mm lens on a full frame digital or 35mm film camera.

I used a Canon 430EXII Speedlite as fill flash and had the camera mostly set at 100 ISO. Here are some results:

And finally, I played around with a feature on Zenfolio which embeds a slideshow of a gallery with music on a web page. You can make the slide show full screen after it starts playing.

A Slow Spring

Well, here we are into the month of May and things are barely starting to turn green here in Upstate New York. I haven't been shooting a lot lately but that should change soon. Coming up, I have a musical production dress rehearsal, Waterford Canal Fest, a High School prom with maybe some sports thrown in.

I'm still adjusting to my two EOS 7D setup and so far am content with the decision to sell my 5DII and trade my EOS-M kit for a second 7D body.

Here are some shots along the Canal Trail North of the Village of Waterford along the old Champlain Canal. I've shot this scene before but not this time of year and not with this equipment. These are all three image HDR files, bracketing 1 1/2 EV over and under the normal exposure. This time I processed the files with Canon's DPP software rather than Photomatix Essentials.

Yes, I know there's only one decent shot here but it's been a while and I needed to fill up a blog post. Exposure information in the captions is for the normally exposed file.

EOS 7D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM at 24mm, f/5.6, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 Fisheye, f/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 Fisheye, f/5.6, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 Fisheye, f/5.6, 1/180 sec., ISO 100