Bags and Camera Backpacks

January 6, 2023 by Peter

Early gathering of my camera bags farm as it was in 2012 — Early gathering of my bag farm as it was in 2012

The camera backpack and bags farm

As requirements and needs change over time one accumulates a variety of camera bags and backpacks in the search of that “perfect” one “does it all” bag that does not exist!

I dragged them all out, took a photo of the bag family, and cataloged them all. (Going to have to take a new updated photo some day. Since I made half dozen or so new addition since this one was taken.)

These are the lists of the currently high use bags that head out with me. I have included a list of the entire bag family.

Lowepro seems to be the preferred go-to manufacturer for soft bags. In all my decades of use their products have never let me down!
Though the ThinkTank Retrospective 7 has become a favorite for city wanderings and air travel.
While Pelican (they also make Storm) are my choice for my hard shell cases.

I have replaced both the old LowePro Photo Trekker Classic and Slingshot 300 AW backpacks with a newer design Lowepro Flipside 400 AW backpack. Hoping for lighter weight and less stress on an easy to malfunction shoulder.

The search for a camera bag and backpack that is waterproof, weighs next to nothing, is comfortable and can hold everything including the kitchen sink continues!

The great camera bag reduction of 2022

Near the end of 2022 we gave away, donated or sold many of the bags we had accumulated. Thus reducing the number to the ones that were actually being used. Somehow even after “the big reduction” there remain a lot of bags that I still a need to find places to store them all.

My current in active use bags

Manufacturer	Product	Usage
ThinkTank	Retrospective 7	day hiking, city wandering / urban exploration, travel carry-on
LowePro	Flipside AW 400	field kit, day hiking
Kata-bags	MarvelX-40DL	small vlogging camera
LowePro	S&F Filter Pouch 100	Filter’s and holder rarely used anymore
LowePro	S&F Lens Exchange 200 AW	FlipSide add-on rarely used anymore
LowePro	EX 180	“Strobist” lighting kit
Gitzo	GC3100 Series 3 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Benro	AC1046 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Pelican	1520 case	vehicle gear transport
LowePro	Stealth reporter D400 AW	events
LowePro	Fastpack 200	wife’s taken it for her kit

The entire bag farm

Manufacturer	Product	Usage
Benro	AC1046 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Gitzo	GC3100 Series 3 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Kata-bags	MarvelX-40DL	Small vlogging camera
LowePro	Flipside AW 400	field kit, day hiking
LowePro	S&F Lens Exchange 200 AW	FlipSide add-on rarely used anymore
LowePro	S&F Filter pouch 100	Filter’s and holders rarely used anymore
LowePro	Toploader	day trips to big city
LowePro	Fastpack 200	wife’s taken it for her kit
LowePro	Stealth reporter D400 AW	events
LowePro	EX 180	“Strobist” lighting kit
LowePro	D-pods 30	point&shoot
LowePro	D-Res 20AW	camcorder
Pelican	1520 case	vehicle gear transport
Pelican	1300 case	kayaking – dslr
Storm	model 2500	kayaking – P&S
Storm	keycase	kayaking – car keys
Sigma	EX 120-300 case	came with lens
Sigma	EX 150 macro case	came with lens
ThinkTank	Retrospective 7	day hiking, city wandering / urban exploration, travel carry-on

Top 10 Software I use for editing

January 2, 2023 by Peter

These are the new and just updated for 2023 TOP 10 software packages I currently use for my image and video editing. As well as the hardware I use to run them on.

Surprisingly six of the ten programs can be had FREE for non-commercial use!
While three are subscription model products, and one is free but requires custom proprietary hardware.

Links to all the applications both free and paid are at the bottom of page.

The Software

What I edit still images with:

Name	Description
Adobe Creative Cloud Lightroom Classic	Image developer and catalog
Adobe Creative Cloud Photoshop	Image Editor
Picolay	Focus stacker by Heribert Cypionka

What I use to edit still images

My image catalog database is currently

Adobe Creative Cloud Lightroom (Image developer and catalog)

What I create videos with:

Name	Description
Blackmagic DaVnci Resolve 18	Insanely powerful video and audio editor
OBS Studio	Screen capture and live stream
qDslr dashboard	Tethering and time-lapse
Handbrake	Video converter
Audacity	Audio editor

What I uses to create videos

The Hardware

The Monitors

ASUS ProArt PA248 (Main image editing display)
Samsung S27R350 (Text and control panels)
Samsung S27R350 (everything else)

The rapidly ageing eaters of bits

Custom built Intel I7 system with
- 32Gb RAM
- 2 * 512Gb SSD + 2 * 4Tb sata3 internal drives
- Nvidea rtx 1650 4Gb video card
- Wacom Intuos 3 9*12 tablet
Custom built Intel I5 system with
- 16Gb RAM
- 512Gb SSD + 4Tb sata3
- Nvidea rtx 1030 2Gb video card

Backup & Stability

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (data backup)
A random array of Western Digital external drives (backup medium, on and offsite)
Apc UPS unit(s) (power stabilization)

Here are the links to all the products if you want to get any them

Links will open new tabs or windows.

Paid/subscription

Name	Description and link	Platform
Adobe Photography bundle	includes both Lightroom & Photoshop for $9.99us/month http://bit.ly/2rbDvvF	w m
Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office	(search web for discount coupons!) http://bit.ly/Acronispp	w m a i

Paid software – platform: w = Windows, m = Mac, a = Android, i = Ios

Free!

The following ~~seven~~ six products I use can all be downloaded and used for free!

Name	Description and link	Platform
BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve 18	(video/audio editor) http://bit.ly/resolvepp – non commercial use	w m
Microsoft ICE	(Panorama stitcher) – no longer available	w
Picolay	(Focus stacker, 3d renderer) http://bit.ly/picolay	w
Handbrake	(video converter) https://handbrake.fr/	w m l
Audacity	(audio editor) http://bit.ly/audaditypp	w m l
qDslr Dashboard	(remote camera control) http://bit.ly/2IVppWf Wired, wireless, timelapse, bramping, focus stacking Free on windows/mac and paid app for android/ios	all wmlair
WeMacro controller * * requires wemacro rail	WeMacro Focus stacking rail software https://bit.ly/wemacrosw	w m a i

Free software – platform: w = Windows, m = Mac, l = Linux, a = Android, i = Ios, r = Raspberry

CSC Camera prices. A brief history

January 2, 2023 by Peter

Palantir See All mystic DSLR CSC — Palantir See All, the mystic DSLR

Are camera CSC body costs rising, stable or falling?

* NEW * Table updated January 2023 to include the mirror-less R series!

To answer that question I took a look into the past. Checking in on the mid level CSC bodies from Canon since the introduction of the venerable 3.1 megapixel D30 way back in 2000. I grouped both DSLRs and mirrorless bodies under the CSC umbrella.

I created a table of a brief history of Canon DSLR & Mirrorless introduction dates and their pricing at the time of introduction.
Not including the top end 1D series and low end Rebel series.
Basically cut the top and bottom off, just looking at the middle so called prosumer level bodies.

The table lists the Canon body “Manufacturer Suggester Retail Prices” in the USA at time of their announcements.
Which surprisingly seems to have remained fairly stable over the years for each series of bodies.

If you factor in the ever rising inflation rate the actual cost of the bodies has in fact been slightly decreasing! Right along with the decreasing buying power of the mighty dollar as the years advance.

Body	Month	Year	Suggested Price at introduction	Megapixels	Processor	Sensor Size
D30	May	2000	MSRP US$3,500	03.1mp	–
D60	February	2002	MSRP US$2,199	06.3mp	–
10D	February	2003	MSRP US$1,499	06.3mp	DIGIC	aps-c
20D	August	2004	MSRP US$1,499	08.2mp	DIGIC ii	aps-c
30D	February	2006	MSRP US$1,399	08.2mp	DIGIC ii	aps-c
40D	August	2007	MSRP US$1,299	10.2mp	DIGIC iii	aps-c
50D	August	2008	MSRP US$1,399	15.2mp	DIGIC 4	aps-c
60D	August	2010	MSRP US$1,099	18.0mp	DIGIC 4	aps-c
70D	July	2013	MSRP US$1,199	20.2mp	DIGIC 5+	aps-c
80D	February	2016	MSRP US$1,199	24.2mp	DIGIC 6	aps-c
77D	February	2017	MSRP US$0,899	24.2mp	DIGIC 7	aps-c
90D (end of line for xxD)	August	2019	MSRP US$1,199	32.5mp	DIGIC 8	aps-c
7D	September	2009	MSRP US$1,699	18.0mp	dual DIGIC 4	aps-c
7D mk-ii (end of line for 7D series)	September	2014	MSRP US$1,799	20.2mp	dual DIGIC 6	aps-c
5D	August	2005	MSRP US$3,299	12.8mp	DIGIC ii	FF
5D mk-ii	September	2008	MSRP US$2,699	21.1mp	DIGIC 4	FF
5D mk-iii	March	2012	MSRP US$3,299	22.3mp	DIGIC 5+	FF
6D	September	2012	MSRP US$2,099	20.2mp	DIGIC 5+	FF
5DS	February	2015	MSRP US$3,699	50.6mp	dual DIGIC 6	FF
5DSr	February	2016	MSRP US$3,899	50.6mp	dual DIGIC 6	FF
5D mk-iv (end of line for 5D series)	August	2016	MSRP US$3,499	30.1mp	DIGIC 6+	FF
6D mk-ii (end of line for 6D series)	June	2017	MSRP US$1,999	26.2mp	DIGIC 7	FF
Mirror less R series All EF series discontinued
R	October	2018	MSRP US$2,299	30.1mp	DIGIC 8	FF
RP	March	2019	MSRP US$1,299	26.2mp	DIGIC 8	FF
R5	July	2020	MSRP US$3,899	44.8mp	DIGIC X	FF
R6	July	2020	MSRP US$2,499	20.1mp	DIGIC X	FF
R3	November	2021	MSRP US$5,999	24.1mp	DIGIC X	FF
R5C	March	2022	MSRP US$4,799	44.8mp	DIGIC X	FF Cinema
R7	June	2022	MSRP US$1,499	32.5mp	DIGIC X	aps-c
R10	June	2022	MSRP US$0,799	24.2mp	DIGIC X	aps-c
R6-mkii	November	2022	MSRP US$2,499	24.2mp	DIGIC X	FF
R8	February	2023	MSRP US$1.499	24.2mp	DIGIC X	FF
R50	February	2023	MSRP US$679	24.2mp	DIGIC X	aps-c

End of Chasing the Ever Elusive Pixel?

June 11, 2019 by Peter

Chasing the ever elusive pixel.

I am at the point I don’t know why I am bothering.
It is 2nd quarter 2019 and I have not taken a single image I was actually interested in taking this year so far.
Yes images have been made, but all for others, nothing that I would have dragged out equipment for given a choice.
Maybe it is finally time to hang up the cameras.

Many of the photo cohorts I know have gone a different route.
They run out every now and then to hunt down a few great images, while videoing their trip and process.
Filling up a lot of time with impressive drone shots and b-roll to try to create a compelling video,
then trying to use it to pedal their photo trips and courses.
Basically they have become photo-tour guides who also happen to take images occasionally.
For now it seems to pay well, one of the few remaining areas that still does.
But nothing I currently have interest in doing.

It is said “Never say never”, for me it seems I have reached the end of my interest in the pastime, at least for now.
Who knows maybe I’ll find something to get me going again someday, maybe not.

At the moment I am deciding whether to close out the social media groups, pages and accounts on Facebook/Instagram/twitter.
Many of which seem to have taken rather obnoxious turns, with the slobs hiding behind their keyboards spewing vitriol
at each other in many of what used to be former great groups.
I have already deleted my memberships from the ones that have degenerated the most, now deciding on the rest and the accounts themselves.

Vero, the new Instagram Killer?

March 6, 2018 by Peter

Vero Another social media image sharing service goes hunting to take over the pack in the cloud — Another social media image sharing service goes hunting to take over the pack in the cloud

Moved to Vero yet?

Look for me as “Peter Pauer” on Vero

New: Vero has launched a desktop app with limited capability, so you can now maintain your id stream from a real computer not just the mobile apps!

What is Vero?

Vero is an image sharing social media service similar to Instagram with some MAJOR usage differences!

Vero has (image, video, music, text, several others) post type capability and you can select which you want to see for the people you follow, and you can restrict who can see your post to your connections or followers.

The differences

there are NO AD’s to flood your timelines.
and it has a NO algorithm linear timeline, so you see what people are doing as they post the content.

Rapidly growing

Right now it is experiencing explosive growth. Over the last few days Vero has become adopted by photographers and other creatives who are flocking in droves to set up accounts on the service.

Photographers and creatives who are completely fed up with the crazy things and algorithm scrambled timelines happening over on Instagram.

It’s user base streaked past the 1 million mark to well over 3 million in just the last few days. And its continuing to rapidly grow. This unexpected explosive growth has causing service interruptions as the servers it is on could not handle the new rapid load growth.

Subscription model, a good thing!

Originally the first million users to signup were to have free lifetime access, after which new users would need to pay a small yearly access fee.
However the unintended service interruptions are good news for new people wanting to setup accounts. As they have caused Vero to extended the lifetime free signup access to new users until they get all issues resolved from the high growth rates.

A side benefit of becoming a paid access service might be no or few bots!
After all who is going to want to pay to create automated spam bot accounts?

The App and futures

The app “Vero – True Social” has jumped to #1 in downloads on google store and itume’s. (Currently it is only accessible from a mobile phone platform.)

Will it be successful and knock the ad clogged, scrambled timeline, berzerk rules on who see what post Instagram out?
Only time can tell!
But if Instagram does not wise up and clean up its growing stupidity Vero has a good chance at taking over.

Is it for you? Can’t say. But I grabbed my slot while the getting was good (free) and will see what develops on this new platform.

For more information their website is at https://www.vero.co/

Winter Photography – Minden Wild Water Preserve

February 23, 2018 by Peter

We decided to take a short day trip to go do some photography at the Wild Water Preserve in Minden, on the coldest day of the year so far.

A little bit about the Wild Water Preserve

The Minden Wild Water Preserver Harrington Park is a stretch of rapids
that run along a portion of the Gull river between Minden Lake and Horseshoe Lake.
They can be reached by following Horseshoe Lake Road [County Road 20] from Highway 35.
About a 2.5 hrs. drive north east of Toronto on highway 35.

google map of Minden Wild Water Preserve — Wild Water Preserve

Whitewater Ontario owns and operates the Minden Wild Water Preserve.
The preserve boasts a campground, amenities and hiking trails on the 100 acre parcel of land for members.

The river’s whitewater section is 800 meters long and ranges from Class II to IV rapids with large rocks providing some interesting obstacles.
When kayakers are actively running the rapids, especially in the warmer season, the preserve becomes a very popular and hectic site.

In winter the area is more serene, although the water seems even more wild!

Enjoy a short video

I made of the waters rushing through the Wild Water Preserve during a cold snap (around -25c) of winter.

More information can about Minden Wild Water Preserver Harrington Park can be found here

A mini review of Sky Crystals

January 15, 2014 by Peter

A mini review of Sky Crystals – Unraveling the Mysteries of Snowflakes

Sky Crystals – Unraveling the Mysteries of Snowflakes by Don Komarechka

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book! It is a hardcover printed on a heavy stock that showcases the images very well. The book is divided into 3 main sections, with lots of very well reproduced images.

The first section goes into the science and mechanics of how snow crystals are formed.
The second covers the equipment and how-to of shooting your own images of snowflakes.
And the final section covers post processing the many shots in software to arrive at the final image.

Highly recommended read if you are interested in the science, or photography of snowflakes or even just looking at all the pretty pictures of these short lived wonders.

It was a catalyst in rekindling my interest in macro photography!
Very pleased to have purchased it!

View all my reviews on Goodreads

The book can be obtained from http://skycrystals.ca/

Workflow and library major changes in the works

October 10, 2013 by Peter

Construction equipment

DAM (Digital Asset Management)

DAM is a pain at best of times.
Trying to hammer out workable, reliable and consistent backup schemes, file naming conventions, image workflow, key wording, meta data is not easy.
And as you keep changing things to hopefully simplify your work, you usually ending up with a lot of inconsistencies in the old image archives.

At least until I attended Gavin Gough’s Photo Workflow seminar at Photoshelter and watched his video on Vimo

Conveniently linked for you here:

Workflow changes

The first changes to my workflow include adding a new step to my backup strategy, and completely renaming all my existing image files! Would be a big ouch except it is actually turning out to be a painless process!

Good thing was my existing backup strategy was already good (decades of working as a IT analyst pays off) but even here I added a new step to separately backup all the raw image files automatically as they come in to an external drive using a neat feature of lightroom I did not know even existed!

At the moment all my existing working image files are being renamed to a consistent naming convention (one day at a time, just so I can watch what is happening) and converted to DNG format files.
All being done automatically and being handled by LightRoom itself!
Yes, I did take a full snapshot backup of the entire image library before beginning this process, so reverting in case something “not good” happens would be easy.

This is one eBook package (includes a lot of extra like pre-built Lightroom presets to speed things up) that can really help your workflow especially if you are handling large volumes of image files.

Wish I had found it sooner, going back and converting 10’s of thousands of digital image files to the new consistent workflow format from many years of shooting is going to take a bit of time.

The next step will be to implement the tagging process to keep track of where individual images are within the workflow process.

Pete’s What’s in the bag – My Storm Kit box

June 26, 2013 by Peter

The grab and go storm kit box

What’s in the Bag

The Storm Kit Box

Peek into some of the equipment kit I carry in the “What’s in my bag article” on blogger
http://imagemakersjourneys.blogspot.ca/2013/06/storm-kit-box.html

The “Storm box” was assembled to hold all the small bits.
That might be needed to run after and photograph a storm.
A few of the larger “bits” don’t fit in the box.
But many server dual purposes especially the safety items.
Click the link above to see what is in the box and what the bigger items are that do not fit nicely in such a small Pelican 1300 case!

As with most things, especially storms think Safety First!