December Adjustments

The only gear change since my last entry here is that I traded in my RF 85mm f/2 IS STM lens for cash. I did get the 24mm and 35mm versions of the lens on the Black Friday refurbished sale from Canon, and used them once, but found that six prime lenses and the 24-240mm zoom lens was too much for a single camera body. 

I could have returned the two new lenses but the sale was so good that by including the 85mm lens and a backpack I was no longer using, I received significantly more from MPB than just the return credit. The trade-in process with MPB is also infinitely simpler than returning something to Canon.

I now use a couple of Case Logic Kontrast series bags with the prime lenses and a small flash in one bag and the 24-240mm lens in a holster. The camera body can be attached to a lens in either bag although it normally is in the holster with the zoom lens. Here are the two bags.

The Case Logic Kontrast series is discontinued and I am actively looking for the Kontrast backpack which would hold all the gear and be useful for longer hikes. Here is the backpack. [UPDATE: I found a backpack through Poshmark.com]

A Final Gear Alteration

Having doused the desire for a second camera body to accompany the EOS R6, I decided that I would exchange my two zoom lenses for a single super zoom to eliminate the need for lens changes. Gone are the RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM and RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM lenses. Arriving is the RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM lens, a lens I have previously owned but sold when the software it requires for lens corrections no longer worked on my MacBook Air.

Although I lost money on the 100-400mm lens by missing the return deadline at Best Buy by a couple of weeks, by including my EF to RF adapter and a Think Tank bag in the sale to MPB it was not so bad. I had purchased the 24-105mm lens used from lens rentals and I actually received more than I paid for it. The 24-240mm lens is a refurbished lens purchased directly from Canon. It was manufactured in July of this year.

I have had the lens for a while now and it remains on the EOS R6 except for when I want a very small setup, more light gathering ability or a shallow depth of field. Here are samples of the focal length extremes of the same scene followed by a couple of intermediate focal length samples and a shot of the gear in the bag. This bag setup weighs 13.8 pounds.

24mm

240mm

65mm

150mm

A Slightly Heavier Bag

The gear is now back in the Think Tank Airport Essentials backpack. This bag is not something I hike around with but instead is a storage and transport bag. I put what I'm going to carry around either in a smaller bag or on a strap and in pockets.

This setup weighs 13.8 pounds.

[UPDATE: I'm thinking of adding an EOS R10 body to the kit for use with the 100-400mm lens. The camera would stay attached to the lens and take up the space where the 85mm hood currently is.]