Category Archives: Gear Review

Gear Review – AquaTech Rain Shield

The AquaTech Rain Shield protects your camera equipment from rain, snow, dust or salt. They come in four different sizes ( i.e. small, medium, large and extra large ). It’s made from three-ply ripstop waterproof breathable fabric for excellent water shedding performance. While most high end cameras and lenses are weather sealed, you need additional protection if you’re going to be taking images in the rain for a prolonged period of time. If you are in a boat they protect your camera equipment from being splashed and ruined by corrosive salt water.

They come with a silicone-sealed window that allows you to see the LCD on the back of your camera and there is also a weatherproof sleeve that allows you access to the controls on your camera. You need to order a AquaTech eyepiece for your specific camera and choose the right size for your lens. I’ve used AquaTech Rains Shields for a couple of years now and I’ve been impressed with their performance in bad weather. They are well designed, functional to use in the field and bombproof if you are shooting images during a deluge.

AquaTech Rain Shield – Extra Large
Collapsible Hood and Silicone-Sealed Window

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MindShift Filter Hive

Even though I’ve only had it for a short period of time I’m very happy with my MindShift Gear Filter Hive. It holds six round filters and six flat neutral density filters. It is colour coded to help with organization and there is room for my filter holder, remote release cable and a lens cleaning cloth.

P1030079

P1030065

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Ansco Shur Shot 20

I found this little treasure, an Ansco Shur Shot 20 box camera, in an antiques store. It’s in excellent condition and even had the original box. The camera was made around 1948 in Binghamton, New York. It has two brilliant viewfinders, which allows for horizontal or vertical composition. There is a fixed aperture of f/13 and it uses 120 film to take 6 x 9 cm images. What I really like is the Art Deco design of the metal faceplate.

DSC_1964

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Breakthrough Photography – Filters

I first heard about Breakthrough Photography through their Kickstarter campaign. They are a group of photographers who have decided to create their own UV, Circular Polarizer and Neutral Density filters. What I like about these filters is each filter is double-threaded which ensures that the lens cap will stay on. There is Multi-Resistant and Nano coatings. They are also very thin which will help to eliminate vignetting. I’m looking forward to taking images with some of these filters.

Breakthrough-Photography-X3-UV-Filter

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Ross Hinged Camera Level

I have been using the Ross camera level this summer and have been generally pleased with it’s performance. This hinged camera level allows you to get your horizons straight when shooting horizontal or vertical images. This is particularly important when you are taking pictures of the ocean. It’s true, that you can straighten the horizon of an image during post processing, but I like to get as much of it correct ‘in-camera’ as possible.

What I like about the Ross camera level is that because it’s hinged, it sits flat and flush to the body of the camera. My previous camera level would often snag when I was putting the camera in or taking it out of my camera pack. As a result, I would have to spend extra time putting the camera level on when setting up my tripod and taking it off when I was finished. With the Ross camera level I just leave it in the accessory shoe, and it’s ready to go when I start shooting images. It’s highly visible and well constructed with borosilicate glass.

© Jens Preshaw

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The Photographer’s Ephemeris

For about six months now I have been using this great app on my iPhone4 for planning outdoor photography trips. It is called The Photographer’s Ephemeris and it allows you to figure out when and where the sun will rise and set when shooting landscape or urban images. You can also determine the time and direction of the moonrise and moonset. There are additional features like phases of the moon and % of illumination etc. The TPE for iOS has recently been updated with some improvements. Any outdoor photographer will find this brilliant app very useful.

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iPhone4 – Useful Photography App

I purchased my iPhone 4 at the end of July when they went on sale in Canada, so I’ve had mine for about eight months. As a photographer I really like some of the useful apps that you can download for free or purchase from the Apple App Store. The iBooks app is free and most people use it to download books onto their iPhone or iPad. What I really like about it is that I’ve been able to download many of the user’s manuals as PDF’s from the Nikon website. On my iPhone I now have the manuals for my camera, several lenses and my flash.

This is really useful when you are out shooting images and you want to quickly check the manual in regards to settings for your camera or flash. The manuals themselves are big, bulky and heavy. You don’t want to be carrying all this additional weight in your camera pack. To have them all contained and so easily accessible on your iPhone is really helpful for any amateur or professional photographer.

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Pixel Pocket Rocket

When I’m travelling or outside taking photos I have always had trouble organizing my CF cards. However, I think I have found the perfect solution, just the other day I purchased a Pixel Pocket Rocket which is made by Think Tank Photo. Mine is bright red (it also comes in blue) and it easily holds ten CF cards. If you don’t need to carry so many CF cards the alternative would be the Pee Wee Pixel Pocket Rocket which is a little bit smaller and can hold four CF cards and three SD cards. You can use the simple method of keeping the label side up (viewable through the window) when the CF card is fresh and storing them label side down when the card is full. It has a roll up design and closes with velcro. There is also a short lanyard that allows you to fasten it to your camera pack or jacket.

©Jens Preshaw

I purchased mine from The Camera Store.

©Jens Preshaw

This camera accessory even has a convenient pocket with a clear window where you can store a few business cards.

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