Two Beers and a Pretzel

Being an amateur photography buff, a lot of my co-workers and friends end up asking me questions about camera gear. I bought a Canon 20D back in 2005… not because I’m opposed to the Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon or any other brand, but simply because I liked the way the 20D felt and really liked the user controls, and wanted 8 megapixels.

I started with the 18-55mm kit lens (3x zoom) and quickly upgraded to the 17-85mm (5x) image stabilization lens, added the 100mm macro, 50mm, 10-22mm superwide, and 70-300mm tele-zoom with image stabilization. Of all the lenses, I think the 17-85 is the only one I currently want to upgrade, but for an around the world trip, I’ll stick with it.

I thought about upgrading the camera for this trip to either the 10 megapixel Canon 40D, or the new 15 megapixel Canon 50D. I decided against both. I don’t like the button layout of the 40D, but the anti-dust features would be nice. The 50D… well, I shoot RAW whenever possible, and I’d eat up a lot of memory on those large images. Considering the max full frame equivalent focal length of my rig is 480mm (300×1.6) I really don’t need the ability to crop.

My photography related goal for this trip is to get better at framing a shot through the viewfinder. A new camera is always fun, but I’d rather improve my technique and take better pictures than rely on the newest technology.

With that in mind, I did splurge a little bit and bought a used Canon 10D (6 MP) and sent it to LifePixel.com to have it converted to Infra-red. It’ll be specifically for landscapes, but I’ll try some artsy shots, and some astrophotography. I can’t wait to get this thing back in a week!!

The one thing I’ll be leaving behind will be my 15″ MacBook Pro. I really like the Aperture 2.0 application for categorizing and editing photos. Nothing against Adobe Lightroom, but I just preferred the layout of Aperture. Either way, I won’t have it with me on my trip, so I’ll rely on a cheapo Ultra Mobile PC loaded with PhotoShop Elements and some portable USB hard drives. I think I’ll miss the multitouch trackpad the most.

Oh yeah… to keep it all safe, I got the LowePro Flipside 400 AW (all weather). It has a very comfortable waist belt and waterproof cover. You spin the pack around your waist to your chest, then it lays like a table attached to your belly. You open up the side that was formerly against your back, so it’s very secure (at least from pickpockets). it also looks more like a backpack or large daypack than a camera back, so you hopefully don’t look like a typical tourist carrying expensive camera gear.