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Adventures in Digital Cameraland II
As I mentioned in a previous story I finally after much consternation purchased a DSLR camera (on Ebay) and have started building a basic kit of equipment to suit my needs. It started with the Nikon D50 (1) purchase which came with the standard 18-55mm kit lens(12), but also included in the package a Tamron 70-300mm with Macro function(2). I have since purchased a 50mm 1.8 lens (3) (used from Ebay) for use in low light hand held situations. The lens I have is the non-D version available from the mid 80's until the late 90's. It works perfectly and the missing D features as far as I can see have little real purpose. To carry all this around I use a Lowepro Off Trail 1 belt pack (9) -- actually in the green as shown. It has room for the camera with the kit lens attached in the main compartment, the Tamron lens in one of the detachable lens cases and room for the 50mm lens in the other (along with a few extras like a spare battery, the remote control and various extra caps and things). For support I obtained a SunPak Fieldmaster tripod (4) -- it is small, light and seems to provide the support I need. It came with a pan head as well as a Compact Ball head (6). As well as the tripod, I have also purchased a Manfrotto 676B Monopod (5), also small, compact and lightweight. I use the ball head on the monopod. Collapsed the monopod can be cinched to the Off Trail bag, providing a compact easily carried package (either over the shoulder or as a belt pack). The tripod though is a bit more clumsy and has to be carried separately (even though it is as compact and lightweight as I could find). I also have a Nikon ML-L3 remote control (7) which works nicely -- and a spare EN-EL3 battery (8) -- an off-brand version that cost less than $10 on eBay. Both fit nicely along with other stuff with the 50mm 1.8 lens in one of the bag's lens cases. I am slowly learning how this camera works. The number of adjustments and options is mind boggling. I have started a flickr site with some of the pictures. I have also added to the kit a Nodal Ninja 3 (10) tripod jig -- for taking picture series that are suitable for QTVR creation as well as the Peleng 8mm Fisheye lens (11) basically for making 360/180 QTVR "pictures". I have some early samples posted here(using a Java viewer) and here(a QTVR requiring Quicktime installation).
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