As a photography writer for Digital Photography School and Photo Tuts+, I often take products out for a test spin and then write about them. It’s fun work, but still a work. This life isn’t as glamorous as you might imagine. But still fun from a geeky perspective.
For my upcoming trip to India, Oman and the UAE, I will be trucking along a few items that might interest you if you are into photography. And if you are into travel, I plan to review some travel items from this trip right here on The Carey Adventures as well. If you are into cellos, this post will be of no interest to you.
PanoGear by Kolor
This gizmo has been fun so far. You might have seen some of the panoramas I have posted on this site in the past and they were almost exclusively made by handholding the camera. This can be an imprecise process, especially with larger images made up of maybe 50 or 60 images. In the past, that is as many as I would try to shoot.
With the PanoGear I can create gigapixel images, images with more than 1 billion pixels. Do I need to? No, of course not. But some scenes lend themselves well to this technique, such as cityscapes. Most importantly, because the device records the pattern it used, it makes stitching blank areas, such as a blue sky or a smooth lake, nearly effortless because the program already knows the order of images and doesn’t have to guess.
It’s a bit bulky, but smaller than the GigaPan EPIC PRO I reviewed before. In testing I found there is a learning curve and the Bluetooth feature wasn’t working for me, but I’m determined to make it work because it will make my panoramas prettier.
Digital Foci Picture Porter 35
I don’t hate my laptop but I’d sure love to not have to travel with the extra 5lbs it requires. I also want to make sure my images are backed up if a card becomes corrupted or goes missing.
Enter the Digital Foci Picture Porter 35. I had a device much like this in the past but it was rendered obsolete because of larger compact flash cards it could not read. The device has connections for a number of popular camera memory card sizes as well a USB port and copies the contents of the cards to an internal 500GB harddrive. No need for a computer. What’s more, the USB slot allows me to backup the backup device to another, cheaper, 500GB Western Digital My Passport drive.
What this means is I will have three copies of my images (one on the original memory card, one on the Picture Porter and one on the Passport) which helps ensure all the images come back with me. Also, in a pinch, if I run out of space on my memory cards, I am confident in wiping a card clean because the same images are still in two locations.
I love the freedom a device like this will allow. Not bringing a laptop (and using my iPhone for communication instead) will be a nice change and allow me to travel just a bit lighter.
Emirates Airlines
One bit of gear I will be testing on this trip is an entire airline. I have never flown Emirates before but they started non-stop service from Seattle to Dubai back in March and did so while offering a great deal on my overall itinerary. It was about $300 cheaper than anyone else and from what I’ve heard, Emirates offers topnotch service. I will be sitting in coach, as I do for all my international trips (until I get enough frequent flyer miles to do otherwise) so it will be a straight comparison with the likes of Korean, Thai and American, three other carries I have flown to India and Nepal in the past.
Oman Airlines
Ditto for Oman Airlines. New to me but they have the most, and cheapest, flights between Dubai and Muscat, the capital of Oman.
Power Strip
I already have a Monster Power Strip that provides four outlets. The reason I will be acquiring another is the need for more power. MORE POWER!! BWWAHAHAHAHA!!
Sorry. While I am blissfully leaving my laptop behind on this trip, I will have two chargers for the PanoGear, one for my camera battery, one for the Picture Porter and one for my phone. Additionally, my girlfriend will be meeting me in the UAE and Oman and will need outlets as well. I will bring the Monster strip but this additional device will eliminate the need for separate USB adapters for the phone and allow for another few outlets for the power hungry life I have evolved.
I am going with the Tripp Lite TRAVELER3USB. There are a number of options on the market like this: small, 3 outlets and 2 USB connections. I chose this one because it has a surge protector, some lifetime warranty and, most importantly there is a cable. I want the cable rather than one that hangs on the outlet because I have experienced many bad outlets around the world. Hanging a power strip doesn’t work in many places, especially with an adapter on the front of it. An 18” cord will help.
Canon 180mm L Macro Lens
The Canon 180mm f/3.5 L will be following me along with a Canon 5D Mark II, thanks to Borrowlenses.com. I will be using this combination most often with the Panogear to create high quality, detailed panoramas. I also will try it with some macro shots as it will get closer than my Canon 28-300mm L lens.
Arabic Phrasebook
I still don’t’ have one picked out, a phrasebook, that is. I’m leaning toward the standard Lonely Planet version but was curious if any readers had suggestions for books that worked well for them. Not a lot of English is spoken in the rural areas of Oman and it will be best to at least cover the basics. Any suggestion you might have would be appreciated.
Joby GorillaMobile
The GorillaMobile is a malleable tripod for iPhones. I’m hoping to take some time-lapse videos with the phone as well as some regular videos where I don’t want to have to be hand holding the camera the whole time. It can wrap around objects and I have used the normal GorillaPod before with a point and shoot and was happy. I expect the same from this device but I don’t know if I will have to take off the case I already have on my phone to make it work.
M-Plate By Custom SLR
Not only am I getting the M-Plate from these guys, I’m getting the Glide Strap and C-Loop HD as well. What does all this stuff do? The Glide Strap is a camera strap designed by Custom SLR and originally pimped through Kickstarter. They had such great response with that device, that they followed it up with the C-Loop HD and now the M-Plate.
In short, the M-Plate allows a photographer to use a sling strap, which keeps the camera at her side instead of weighing on her neck, while also acting as a quick release tripod mounting plate. Most slings attach to a camera’s tripod mounting hole and this makes it annoying to take the strap off just for one or two quick shots from a tripod. The M-Plate promises to alleviate all this worry. I have never tried a shoulder sling like this and am curious how it will feel after five weeks on the road.
Manfrotto 3001 Tripod and 486RC2 Ball Head
To try out the M-Plate, I needed an Arca-Swiss quick release head or the RC2 type. I had neither on my trusty, old Bogen. And then I spotted what I needed at my friend Jessica’s house. The near exact model I need for the test; a Manfrotto 486RC2 Ball Head. And she’s super awesome by letting me borrow it. I won’t have a formal review, but I’ll probably blab on about it from time to time.
There you have it, the gear that will follow me on a 20,000 miles journey through three countries in 33 days.