Ok, time to talk about camera gear.

Like usual, the D90 made an appearance, and performed as I’ve come to expect.  I can see how photographers get attached to their cameras - when you use a tool that often, and rely on it that much, you come to respect it.  For its features, its durability, and the things it allows you to create.

Surprisingly though, the fisheye only made it out of the bag a couple of times, and only produced one photo that made my final cut.  Am I done with that phase, or did this trip just not provide many opportunities to use it? Who knows.  But there was a surprising underdog.

My version of the Tamron 28-300mm is so old, I couldn’t even find a decent picture of it.  And this link will take you to a review of the stabilized version.  I got mine as part of a trade several years ago - it’s not stabilized.  And I’ve hardly used it.  I’m normally not a fan of superzooms, so this one sat in a box for quite awhile - I brought it along as a backup, but a combination of factors kept it on my camera a lot more than I would have expected.  It actually produced better images at long range than my usual telephoto lens, and offered a lot of flexibility without having to swap lenses.  It made me reconsider both superzoom lenses, and getting a real telephoto lens, especially if I’m headed back to a national park.  As for downsides, well, it’s still a superzoom, which means it’s useless in low-light situations.  28mm isn’t really wide enough for a lot of my photos, and lack of active stabilization makes shots at the 300mm end a little difficult.

The photo in the header here was taken with this old friend.

I’ve had this Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 for a couple of years now, and it rarely lets me down.  Something about the layout of the park didn’t look right through the fisheye — it had lots of straight lines and sweeping vistas that I wanted to capture without (much) distortion.  The review I linked to mentions only a couple of problems with this lens - inconsistent sharpness (yep) and distortion (yep).  I can live with both of these, mostly because this lens was about $400, and the Nikon equivalent is 2-3 times that.  It’s a solid performer, and one that I use constantly.

Next: Photos.

Step 1

Coat completely in salt.  Let sit for 40-60 minutes.  Rinse, dry, grill to 130 degrees.

Step 2

Step 3

Slice.

Step 4

Serve!

For my birthday last year, Krysta gave me a coupon for a river rafting trip.  Neither of us anticipated how busy our summer would get, and the end of the season rolled around with it still gathering dust on my desk.  About a month ago, a friend mentioned that he was putting together a rafting trip, and we jumped at the opportunity.

Our host was Blue Sky Outfitters, a well-known outfit based in Seattle.  They supplied boats, paddles, wetsuits, PFDs, drytops, and our guide, Chad.  He was awesome.

After the safety briefing, we split into two boats and hit the river.  Even though they supplied the essentials, I still needed some gear.  Starting with a base layer.

A synthetic base layer can make a wetsuit more effective, especially if you don’t get wet.  Mine are midweight, made by REI. 

The North Face Apex Bionic jacket made another appearance.  I wore it under my drytop for the pockets and warmth.

Naturally, half the reason I went rafting was to take pictures.  I think my camera is “weather-resistant,” which doesn’t cover immersion in water.

Enter, the Dicapac.  A waterproof camera bag of dubious origins, which claims to keep a camera safe down to about ten feet underwater.  Early tests in the bathtub didn’t reveal any leaks, and it ended up working great.

I also needed somewhere to keep my miscellaneous gadgets.  Dry bags are nice, but not as durable as I’d like.

A Pelican case worked great to keep a spare battery, memory card, and granola bar dry and uncrushed.  I also brought along another fun toy that I borrowed from a friend - the Kodak Playsport.  It’s waterproof (really), dustproof, and shockproof.

It spent most of its time strapped to Krysta’s PFD, which turned out to be a bad place for it, because I ended up with lots of footage of someone’s back.  But it performed wonderfully, and survived several direct wave hits. Like this.

I brought along a few other things, but mostly left them in the car.  Turns out I don’t have that much rafting gear.  And it never got dark enough to use night vision goggles.

What worked:
The camera bag definitely pulled its weight.  I got splashed countless times and nearly dunked once, and it held up great.  Also, when the raft almost flipped over and everyone but me and the girl in front of me fell out, the guide caught himself by my camera strap.

The water was really cold, and it wasn’t exactly sunny out, so the base layer was great too.

My softshell definitely worked.  It got a little damp around the edges, but remained dry inside, despite a few splashes that made it past the drytop.

What didn’t work:
While the video camera did what it was supposed to do, and held up well to water, I just didn’t have it in a good location.  Next time I’d like to attach it to either my head, a paddle, or my camera, so it captures everything from a better vantage point.

The pelican case, likewise, did its job.  But I never opened it.  There really wasn’t time on the raft, and I never ran out of battery or memory on the camera.  Everything inside stayed safe though.

The part of the camera bag that covers the lens tended to get in the way (you can see it in most of my photos).  I’ll definitely tape or zip-tie that out of the way next time.

I was wearing Smartwool socks, and although I stayed warm enough, I think I would have been better off with something waterproof.

Overall, rafting = 

I love vests, especially tactical vests. But people tend to look at me funny when I wear them in public.  So this is seriously awesome. Skillers took the concept of a toolbelt/tool vest, and combined it with the form factor of a tactical vest, producing a utility vest that looks awesomely functional, and snazzy enough to wear…well…if not on the street, at least camping.

The Flexi Tool Vest is available in a whole range of sizes (from S to 3XL), which is great compared to most vests, which either come in one size, or a range of L-XL and typically take a lot of fiddling to get down to my dimensions.  My only reservation is that there’s no picture of the back, so I can’t see what their adjustment system looks like.

I could definitely see using one of these for photography, possibly with one or two of its add-ons.  Or camping, where I could just throw it on over whatever I’m wearing and have all of my various camping gadgets (mmm…camping gadgets…) at hand.

Ok, I guess I have one more reservation about getting one.  They’re $69.95.  That’s not outrageously expensive or anything if the quality is superior, but I’d have to see it in person.

Conclusion: I want one.

Speculative rating: