Well, today I got my order, thanks Adorama. First of all, the Manfrotto Carbon One monopod is a beauty. I can't complain about it not going high enough, it's over my head and I'm 6'4". Seems very well built and easy to deploy.
I got a new model 2X Canon Extender. Nice, very nice - 800mm, woohoo! I got a 550EX flash, finally bit the big bullet. Now I might see BETTL syndrome for myself. At least I can turn it to TTL only. Only complaint is the battery door. It seems to move slightly to open with a slight touch. I mean it doesn't open, just slightly moves from the closed position when touched. I got a 77mm Moose CPL warm filter, I'll report back on that one later when I see what it does. It actually was one of the cheaper CPL filters anyhow. Interestingly, along with the polarizing effects, the colour temperature changes when it's rotated. This will be for landscapes and stuff, I'll be shooting at slow speeds with this on the 100-400. I'm hoping it works on my EF 20-35 USM without vignetting too. Finally, the bag. The Lowepro Topload Zoom Pro AW is a real nice bag. It's slightly smaller than I pictured, but will work for me. I got the belt to go with it and I really like the way the belt takes the weight off of the shoulder strap, which might have been wider where the padding is. I don't know if I'll use the chest harness that much but it would be good for sports. The other thing is the shoulder strap's pad does not move, so if the bag is behind you, the padding is ineffective. Therefore the belt. The bag is designed to hang beside you or in front of you slightly to the side. The EOS 55 with 100-400 and 2X on it just barely fit inside. The padding adjusts very nicely but the side pads are a bit short if you ask me. The edge of the hood on this lens drops just below the bottom of the pads, and snags on them taking the camera out, unless you velcro the pads out at the bottom and move them down slightly. It's fine after adjustment. There's not much space in the front pockets to hold anything except small stuff and a few films, so I got the large S&F wide angle lens pouch to go with it too. I can't understand how it's supposed to attach, except going through the belt. I expected it to clip to the side of the bag, which would be great. However, the pouch is a good size, wish I'd ordered two. It actually holds the 550EX if it's folded to 90 degrees. Or my EF20-35 USM with hood reversed. Unfortunately, the pouch they ship with the 550EX has no belt loop slots, so I can't figure out how to carry both if I wanted - anyway it's not padded. For the price of this flash, it should have had a nice padded belt pouch. Likely if I was doing a big shoot, I'd have an extra bag anyhow, this Topload Zoom is for walking or hiking around with the long lens ready to go and I like it for that. I have in mind day trips with the wife, so she can carry the flash. I think the whole Topload Zoom will fit in the tankbag of my motorcycle, so I'll be fine there. It's not a huge bag, is quite narrow at the bottom. Looks like all I need now is a Better Beamer, and extension tubes, and likely a belt bag that'll hold a bunch of stuff. How do you guys find using chest straps to hold the bag? Besides feeling like the ultimate camera nerd that is... * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
