Ok, my "to buy" list...advice please people!

[TonyHetherington]

Hi chaps and chapesses!

One of the things I wanted from the weekend trip was to come back with a list of things to buy myself. Not really knowing anything available other than "camera" and "lens" I wanted to know what other tools a photographer uses, and I now know at least some of them.

So could I have some advice please on...

-Appropriate ruck sack style camera bag, possibly one with small laptop space too?
-Filters. More specifically, polarizer. I have nothing (no mount, no existing filters etc)...so what is the best place to look? Ian (Megy) you mentioned an ebay location? I think I'll be looking at a half grad and a polarizer to begin with - does that sound sensible?
-Battery pack. Where's the best place to go? Is the official canon one the correct way or are there better options elsewhere? And what about for the second battery itself?

Much appreciated everyone, thank you!
Tony

[nick_bbb]

TonyHetherington said:

So could I have some advice please on...

I'll answer with what I have:

Lowepro Mini Trekker AW - You might want the Computrekker as it has a laptop pouch.

Cokin P Series. I have the normal and wide angle holders and adaptors for my lenses. Circular polariser, ND Grad and I've got a orange grad too but not used that yet.

I have the Canon battery grips on my 300D and 5D, I much prefer the weight with them on. I have 5 batteries in total 3 are Canon and 2 are cheap ebay ones I've had no problems with any of them.

[megy]

TonyHetherington said:

Hi chaps and chapesses!

One of the things I wanted from the weekend trip was to come back with a list of things to buy myself. Not really knowing anything available other than "camera" and "lens" I wanted to know what other tools a photographer uses, and I now know at least some of them.

So could I have some advice please on...

1)-Appropriate ruck sack style camera bag, possibly one with small laptop space too?
2)-Filters. More specifically, polarizer. I have nothing (no mount, no existing filters etc)...so what is the best place to look? Ian (Megy) you mentioned an ebay location? I think I'll be looking at a half grad and a polarizer to begin with - does that sound sensible?
3)-Battery pack. Where's the best place to go? Is the official canon one the correct way or are there better options elsewhere? And what about for the second battery itself?

Much appreciated everyone, thank you!
Tony

1) Crumpler-Brians hot tub is mine, from warehouse express in the sale, phone them and they may be able to do a deal, lowepro do something similar, but not cheap, not sure if Tamrac do any, warehouse express have a good stock of these

2) Filters, will mail you the link to the place i bought my Cokin 3 grad set from, and also send you the links to the ebay sellers that can supply the adapter rings, also, search for Hoya circular polariser, 77mm is the better size to go for and then buy step up rings so that you can attach them to smaller thread lenses.

3) As far as i know, Canon are the only makers of the grips, and you will be able to get these from the normal Canon stockists, again, warehouse express are as cheap as anywhere else. Batteries, DONT be tempted to go for the £5 ones on ebay, the Cannon ones will be about £55 but Hahnel are equally as good(yet with a higher capacity), these are available at most camera stockists at about £30 although you may be lucky and find some on ebay.

By the way, I have nothing to do with warehouse express, just a recomended place i knoow of

[Famous Graham]

nick_bbb said:

I have 5 batteries in total 3 are Canon and 2 are cheap ebay ones I've had no problems with any of them.

Conversely, I had 2 Canon and 2 generics and developed charging and fitment problems in my 300 with the generics. I'd just get one to go with the supplied Canon one for now in a battery grip. I don't know if there ARE 3rd party grips to be honest. Even if there are, I'd go for the proper Canon one.

[megy]

nick_bbb said:

I have 5 batteries in total 3 are Canon and 2 are cheap ebay ones I've had no problems with any of them.

Hi Nick, there have been many cases where these batteries(if the really cheap ones) have reduced the capacity of the genuine Canon batteries, i believe DP review ran a big section on this, basically if you use them along with a genuine battery then they will drain the genuine one in such a way that it will drastically reduce the charge capacity. Canon have done a lot to remedy this with the 511A batteries over the origional 511.

[matthew_h]

There's a company called Opteka who do third party battery grips. No idea what they are like as I have only had the Canon ones but there is a big thread here about them:

www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=275799

[Podie]

I've got the Canon battery grip on my 300D - much prefer it, and makes portrait shooting easier. Got mine second hand for peanuts - so search around a bit.

Battery wise, the Jessops own jobs I've got outperform the Canon ones... by a long way.

[nick_bbb]

megy said:

...stuff...

OK thanks Ian, they rarley get used only if I'm going away. I'll make sure I use them in isolation

[TonyHetherington]

Thanks alot people!

Right I will get myself shopping this evening...Warehouse express and ebay are going to love me tonight, I think

Thanks again - I'll do some investigation and sure to have more questions again hehe

[mr noble]

I hunted a lot for one and went for the Tamrac Expedition 5 backpack.

Its great, looks more modern than others, is weatherproof and is a lot cheaper than Lowerpro too.

http://tamrac.com/home.htm

[EmmaP]

Soft brush for getting rid of dust on lens and Giotto Hurricane blower (£10 ish from Calumet) for helping to get rid of any unwanted dust on the chip.

I find the vertical grip very useful and actually prefer using heavier cameras. A spare battery pack is a real essential too.

Graduated neutral density filters are useful too though I have personally never used them.

Lens hood.

[Podie]

Which camera are you using TH..?

This is quite a tempting solution - www.fotosense.co.uk/Hahnel_HC-350D_Power_Grip_with_2x_N-2LH_High_Powered_Batteries_for_Canon_350D_400D_SLR.asp?productID=2809&tabID=3

[TonyHetherington]

-camera bag
-Filters.
-Battery pack
-Soft brush
-Giotto Hurricane blower
-Lens hood




Nice one Em - I had completely forgotten about the hood and the other bits are essential too (as I found out!)....thanks!

Pods.....I have a 20D

[Podie]

TonyHetherington said:

Pods.....I have a 20D

www.fotosense.co.uk/shop_details.asp?productID=4365

[TonyHetherington]

Yeah just been having a look around...the official one is only about £40 ish more I think so I may go for that (always nice to have the kushdi stuff!)

I'll look at prices for the proper one tonight and take it from there - cheers Pod my man!

[baz7175]

On the battery front always compare the mAh rating as well as the price, as the higher the mAh the longer life you'll get out of each charge, most cheap ones run 400-700mAh, standard equipment tends to be in the 700-1000mAh region and then above that you normally pay a little more due to the larger capacity

[jac-in-a-box]

www.digitalmediastore.co.uk are good for batteries. Ordered a couple of Hahnel BP511 equivalents (£32.00/pr) on Friday afternoon, arrived in 16 hours (Surrey to Scotland) - not bad at all. Same or slightly better capacity than the Canon originals.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Surrey-Photo Just as good service for Hoya Pro-1 filters.

Warehouse express are doing price matching - spent a lot (but a saved a lot!) last week.
Use this site to get best current prices: www.camerapricebuster.co.uk

[TonyHetherington]

You star - great info, thanks!

[megy]

Here is the link to the Cokin P filter set with 3 grads. search ebau for a p series CPL an it will fit(you need to get the rings to fit your lenses though)

www.thedigitalcamerashop.co.uk/product_details.php?id=2513

[stuart b]

I have a Lowepro Slingshot 200 bag. It's not big enough for a laptop (in fact it's not a big bag), but it's advantage is that it slings over your neck shoulder with one strap and can then be swung around front for very easy/quick access to your camera. So it depends a bit on what type of photo. you do but I find it great as a go everywhere bag.

Holds camera with medium zoom, case with filters, another lens, flash plus lots of other bits and bobs.

I just bought a 72-77mm step-up and a Hoya Pro1 Digital circ. polarizer. Both from ebay. Relevant links for these and Cokin bits below. Note also though that I just checked in my local camera store and some of the bits are the same price so always worth a look. The new Hoya circ. polarizer seems to be better than my Jessops own brand circ. polarizer. I haven't checked for resistance to ghosting and flare which is where the better filters are mean to have an advantage, but I'd say from limited testing that the polarizing effect is better/more prnounced on the new filter. It's also "wafer-thin".

The Cokin P filters (ND4 and ND8 ) grads work well for me but I believe they are grey rather than true neutral filters which may or may not matter to you. Kood is a cheaper alternative compatible system. I've never tried their stuff, but my recent research reading was enough to convince me to stick with Cokin (which is very reasonable anyhoo)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Crooked-Imag - I've ordered twice and both times delivery was super quick. He has a non ebay store www.crookedimaging.co.uk/shop also.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Filter-Fanta - polarizer was delayed by about 10 days (she had a supplier problem), but she shipped the other item and offered refund. Price on the polarizer was great (Hoya Pro1 Dig 77 mm for £44).

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/photovalue - very fast, no problems at all.

These are all UK based suppliers. Hong Kong ones can be cheaper for some things, but obviously it's slower, and you may get hit for duty. The difference wasn't big enough for me so I stuck to these ones.

Stuart

Stuart