Hi all,
My holiday is almost over but after two trips in as many weeks I'm about
ready to settle down for a while. My back is still sore and my shoulder never
wants to see another tripod with an RB67 on it ;)
I returned yesterday from an interesting trip to Dunedin (about 6 hours drive
south of Christchurch, where I live). It's the first time I've been there and I
was most impressed with the old buildings there: I was a little disappointed
that I didn't get the opportunity to photograph it: we could only book a tour
through the Speight's brewery at sunset so we had to prioritise. I hope you
all understand that a bit of history and a free tasting are far more important
than some boring building pictures ;)
While I was visiting Larnach Castle I had a minor disaster. While cleaning
my glasses I dropped the cloth and instinctively tried to catch it before it hit
the ground. I missed the cloth, because the plastic hood of the FA*24/2.0
got in the way of my rapidly moving arm.
The hood is now in 6 pieces: the main part of the hood, the bayonet fitting (a
plastic ring), a metal ring with springy bits on it, and three screws. The
knock broke the plastic from around the screw threads in the bayonet piece
and the whole thing fell apart.
Now I just remembered I'm out of super glue so I'll have wait until tomorrow
to fix it.
On the way home we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders again (see
http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/photography/gallery/moeraki.html for a
photo I took a year ago). The tide was higher this time so I ended up
standing in water between ankle and knee-deep, waiting for the dozens of
other tourists to get out of the way so I could get a few pictures. A larger
wave came along (while I was looking through the viewfinder, of course) and
splashed not only myself but also my camera bag. The pocket I had my
(expensive) light meter in got soaked; fortunately I got the meter out before it
the water had soaked through.
A couple of lenses got splashed because I didn't have the zip closed up on
the bag (Lowepro Nova 3), but I had the flap closed so all I had to do was
wipe a couple of drops off two lenses (FA100/2.8 macro and M200/4). One
corner of the bag got wet but for the second time in two weeks it saved the
gear inside from a swim. I need to shop for a larger bag and I know what
brand I'll be looking at first.
The first time the bag saved its contents was at the Devil's Punchbowl
waterfall at Arthur's Pass, last week. 131 metres (iirc) of vertically-moving
water was kicking up a ton of spray so the Z-1p stayed in the bag while I
used a K2, combined with the 15mm lens (the only way I could get the whole
scene in the frame). This is one sh_t of a lens to keep the water off (at least
this was fresh water).
Facing away from the waterfall (and wind) between shots to keep the
camera and lens dry (and wiping them between shots) I was turning around
for long enough to meter and/or shoot, then turning back. On my way back
to the path I remembered the bag full of lenses on my back. It was zipped
up this time, and even though the outside was soaked the inside remained
dry. Despite all this, I had lots of fun. I'd give up my day-job in an instant if I
could make a living out of this. To think I spend my days behind a desk.
After I got home from Moeraki I discovered exactly why the "better" tripods
are expensive. It's because they're good. Armed with a 5/16" socket I took
the legs to bits and washed out the sand and salt, put it all back together
and re-tightened the leg-locks, and now it's as good as new. BTW, I now
know why Manfrotto put those plastic tabs on the nuts of the leg-locks. It's
to stop them from continually coming loose, as I found out after I lost one :(
Then I came home to exactly 500 emails. It's nice to see the list active, and
not a single flamewar!
Cheers,
- Dave
David A. Mann, B.E.
email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
"Why is it that if an adult behaves like a child they lock him up,
while children are allowed to run free on the streets?" -- Garfield
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