Camera Bag

[HockeyMomNH]

As has been said before - if you DO mind looking odd, then perhaps photography's not the hobby for you anyway

One thing that usually is mentioned (but has not been yet in this thread) is that the camera does not go in the bag once we get to our destination (or maybe ever). Cameras in bags take poor photos and take up space, keep the camera out and use the bag for other things.

Fwiw I carry a Crumpler $4M for lenses and things (but not the camera).

That's a good point. I hadn't thought of that.

I am also wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to put personal info on your camera and or bag. Luggage tags?

 

[NLD]

This is the bag I used for our September trip, and it was practically perfect for me personally:

National Geographic Eart Explorer Small Shoulder Bag

(Click for link to Amazon)

It held a Nikon D60 with 18-105 kit lens attached, and a 35mm 1.8 as well. Plus extra memory cards, microfiber cloth, spare battery. Oh and credit card, Key to the World card, chapstick, compact face powder, cell phone, and cash.

Usually the camera was around my neck, and in those times I'd often have a water bottle tucked in the main compartment of the bag, where the camera body and attached lens would have been. (It didn't close completely with the water bottle sticking up, but it almost did.)

Now... that's all it would hold. No room for an external flash. No room for a third lens. Just the body and two small/medium lenses. So if you're taking more gear it wouldn't work.

For that really light set-up though, this was great. Lightweight, small, never felt like it was in the way. I didn't use a purse, just the camera bag, so that's all I had to carry.

When I took my tripod at night I'd just sling that over my shoulder in its own tripod bag. Didn't drag the tripod around during the day. (And only used it on a couple of the nights.)

 

[NLD]

I am also wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to put personal info on your camera and or bag. Luggage tags?

Vinyl badge holder plus caribiner clip. Can purchase at Staples.

Badge holders

Caribiner clip



This is actually what I used for my Key to the World card (and Fastpasses). Clipped the badge holder on the bag, put the KTTW card in the badge. Easy access to the KTTW card.

 

[Snappy in OK]

That's a good point. I hadn't thought of that.

I am also wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to put personal info on your camera and or bag. Luggage tags?

I ordered a couple dog tags online (I think they were 2 for $7, or something like that). I put one on my camera bag & the other on my camera strap. (We also got one for DS & DD in case they got lost.) I still have them on my gear, and we still use the kids' when we are out & about.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Crumpler $5 Million Home...LOVE IT! I have an XSi, 50mm f1.8, gorillapod SLR. Also lots of room for charger, memory cards, etc. Excellent bag IMHO.

Yep For what you plan to carry this is a perfect bag. I have way too many bags and for a light kit this is still my favorite bag. I've had it for almost 4 yrs now. It has made many Disney trips with me. I now use a backpack due to the fact that I have added a monster lens to my collection. However, I still prefer a messenger bag for easier access. The backpack bag I use is a Kata 3N1 30. It can be worn as a backpack or a sling. However, as a previous poster has stated, slings are not the best option for women. They just don't fit right. I have been very happy with this Kata bag. The 30 is too big for what you plan to carry, but they also make smaller bags in the same series that may be closer to what you are looking for.

 

[Pugrpooh]

I have the Kata 3n1 10 and wear it as a backpack most of the time. When we're traveling, I'll often take my backpack purse though and then use the Kata as a sling and just hang it off of one shoulder.

I've had other sling bags for WDW just for all my other stuff and found that they would get uncomfortable after a while. Backpacks are much more comfortable.

I also have a Crumpler 6 million dollar home and I can't imagine carrying that around for a long time. In fact, I'm probably going to sell it since I don't really use it any more.

 

[SrisonS]

That's a good point. I hadn't thought of that.

I am also wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to put personal info on your camera and or bag. Luggage tags?

One cool idea I've come across recently, is to take a picture of a piece of paper with your info written on it. Then, just lock that picture on your memory card. This would help if the whole camera, or just the memory card itself gets lost.

As far as the bag, you could write your info on a note card and stick it in there. It'll be like if someone finds a purse, they just search it for info.

 

[Groucho]

You could also try the Lightroom 3 beta 2, which claims to have significant performance boosts when browsing around the catalog.

I don't have an SSD drive, but if I did - the paging file would be the first thing that I'd put on it. Even with lots of RAM, your PC hits that a lot and it's often the type of action that an SSD drive would improve the most.

From a quick glance at my activity light while bopping around Lightroom - the slowdowns are CPU-based, not hard-drive. I only get brief blips on the drive when going from photo to photo in the Loupe view as it renders the "Larger Preview" - this is even more apparent in 100% view.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

I ordered a couple dog tags online (I think they were 2 for $7, or something like that). I put one on my camera bag & the other on my camera strap. (We also got one for DS & DD in case they got lost.) I still have them on my gear, and we still use the kids' when we are out & about.

Do you have any idea where you got the dog tags?

One cool idea I've come across recently, is to take a picture of a piece of paper with your info written on it. Then, just lock that picture on your memory card. This would help if the whole camera, or just the memory card itself gets lost.

This is a really great idea. Thank you!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I love to get Lightroom 3, but I'm not so excited that I'm going to start using a beta verion as my production photo tool. At it's heart, Lightroom is a database and I'm not a fan of using beta databases for anything other than testing.

I went ahead and ordered an SSD (and a faster CPU, more memory, and a faster video card), so I should see some improvements. If I'm ambitious, I'll play around with various components and see which matter. My main purpose for upgrading was video editing related, not Lightroom. Lightroom performance is fast enough, but it would be nice if it were faster. My video encoding times, particularly for Blu ray, are too slow to meet my commitments this spring.

It looks like Adobe is making a major overhaul with their video rendering. They are introducing a new engine called Mercury that is supposed to be phenomenal as it leverages the GPU. Hopefully it will work on mainstream video cards and not just their workstation variants.

 

[pjacobi]

For desktops, the 10K VelociRaptor still beats out SSD, especially in write performance, capacity, and cost.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=494

Perhaps in another year, SSD may eventually take the lead.


-Paul

 

[DebºoºS]

Hi Lynn

This is an example of my memory card pic that I lock into the card. I put my info on it before each trip and after I've formatted the card. You can use a business card or plain piece of paper. I like looking at my Einstein when I'm away from home

The same goes for the inside of my bag. I use a small pic from home put my info on it and set it in the front mesh compartment.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

There's no question that the Velociraptor is cheaper per gig. You could look at storage as a continuum from large, slow, cheap drives to small, fast, expensive SSDs. The Velociraptor is in the middle - not that large but not that small; not that fast, but not that slow; not that cheap, but not that expensive. For my needs, I like the idea of a small (256 gig) boot/cache/LR catalog drive) and a larger set of slow, cheap media drives.

In this review of the SSD drive that I ordered, here are the speed comparisons with the Velociraptor:

SSD vs Velociraptor
Max Transfer (r/w): 383/227 vs 130/131
HD Tune Random IOPS (r/w): 627/357 vs 82/111
Iometer Random IOPS (r/w): 1070/1069 vs 34/38
Everest Benchmark (r/w): 332/215 vs 103/102
Crystal DiskMark (r/w): 363/226 vs 136/130
HD Tach Bandwidth (r/w): 320/214 vs 108/99

As you can see, the SSD is much faster in both reading and writing in all tests and by a very wide margin. Add to that, the extra reliability and durability, and I'm happy with it. I can definitely see others going with the much cheaper, tried-and-true, still high performing VelociRaptor.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

My problem is that I format my card every time that I dump it (which I usually do every night). On the other hand, one of my rules is to always take a shot after I've gotten my gear together and before I've walked out the door. Maybe I should have a card with my contact info and take a picture of it for my test shot. I do the test shot as a way of confirming that I have a battery and CF card in my camera and that it is in working condition.

 

[DebºoºS]

My problem is that I format my card every time that I dump it (which I usually do every night). On the other hand, one of my rules is to always take a shot after I've gotten my gear together and before I've walked out the door. Maybe I should have a card with my contact info and take a picture of it for my test shot. I do the test shot as a way of confirming that I have a battery and CF card in my camera and that it is in working condition.

Even if I don't dump I'll take a pic before I start the day. Keeps me from shooting in the previous nights settings. Been there done that

 

[boBQuincy]

SSD vs Velociraptor
Max Transfer (r/w): 383/227 vs 130/131
HD Tune Random IOPS (r/w): 627/357 vs 82/111
Iometer Random IOPS (r/w): 1070/1069 vs 34/38
Everest Benchmark (r/w): 332/215 vs 103/102
Crystal DiskMark (r/w): 363/226 vs 136/130
HD Tach Bandwidth (r/w): 320/214 vs 108/99

As you can see, the SSD is much faster in both reading and writing in all tests and by a very wide margin. Add to that, the extra reliability and durability, and I'm happy with it. I can definitely see others going with the much cheaper, tried-and-true, still high performing VelociRaptor.

Not me, I am ready to go with SSDs just for the speed. *If* we defragmented our hard drives frequently (like every day) the speed would be better but with fragmented searches & loading they really get slow. With SSD it hardly matters how fragmented the file gets.
As for the reliability of SSDs it should be just great yet the manufacturers often only give a one year warranty. The manufacturers even hype the reliability, that's really walking the talk!

 

[Docarino]

I'm seeing a lot of people excited about the new version of Lightroom- I've never used Lightroom and wondering if I should give it a try. My typical workflow is to sort through and rank all my pictures in Bridge, edit all my select images in Camera Raw, and then further process about 10-20% of my best image in photoshop. Would lightroom replace Bridge and/or ACR? What would lightroom add to my workflow?

Thanks

 

[VVFF]

I'm seeing a lot of people excited about the new version of Lightroom- I've never used Lightroom and wondering if I should give it a try. My typical workflow is to sort through and rank all my pictures in Bridge, edit all my select images in Camera Raw, and then further process about 10-20% of my best image in photoshop. Would lightroom replace Bridge and/or ACR? What would lightroom add to my workflow?

Thanks

Lightroom is a combination of bridge and camera raw. It will be a bit faster at processing many RAW photos than your current setup. Lightroom beta also includes the latest version of ACR in it so your processing should look better than editing it in photoshop.

 

[Groucho]

Lightroom is essential IMHO because of...

1. cataloging - all your photos in one place, easy keywording that will be consistent across various photos, all thumbnails in one place, while still being able to use whatever file organization formats that you like (ie, it doesn't lock you into storing your actual files the way it wants you to)
2. non-destructive editing - it's easy to undo anything or go back and forth between settings
3. all-in-one - I find having Camera Raw a separate tool from Photoshop itself to be very clunky; Lightroom makes processing raws and basic Photoshop-style tinkering into one fairly seamless process

 

[DisneyDad64]

Give lightroom a try. I found it saved me a lot of time in the overall work flow. All of the edits are non destructive and you can take a set of common edits and copy them from one photo and have them applied to a group of other photos. I also have started to use apeture 3. Both are great for overall edits but apeture is better is orginization with places and faces.