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Equipment bag
Update...
Although the equipment seems to change on almost a weekly basis! Two very powerful Quantum Q flashes with Turbo power packs are the latest additions to the camera bags along with the very impressive 17-200VR lens, 50mm F1.4, 30mm 1.2d and some f1.8 prime lenses. Quantum power to the Nikon SB600 and SB800 Speedlights compliment the Q-Flashes and four new Elinchrom BX400 and RX400 studio lights for portable location work. These are able to talk to each other courtesy of Quantum FREExWIRE radio remotes
Having recently got my hands on a Nikon D200 I wish I'd done so years ago! ahh... yes, ok, "They didn't make them years ago" is a small but critical point! Although the controls and interface are similar enough to the D70 series to catch you out, the level of control is truely amazing! The first thing that you notice when looking at the images on screen is the clarity... 10 megapixels v 6 megapixels.. you wouldn't believe the difference that it makes...
Also got my hands on a continuous ink system for the Epson R2400 A3+ printer. Finally bit the bullet on that one... more on the printing page! The good news is that it is stunningly excellent. Paper and ink wastage is almost zero, less then 2 pages on a 60 page of A3+ print run! Dye sublimation printers are used for mobile printing requirements.
The camera equipment I currently use is by Nikon. A D70 and a D70s backup the D200, D300 and D3x they are great for a majority of the work I do but having recently been using a Canon 5d I have to say that I am, less than happy with the performance of the Nikons in ultra low light. aurora hunting type light! So that might change! OK, we are not exactly comparing like for like here, you can buy perhaps four D70's for the same price as a 5D. But as more and more of my work is done at low light levels, the Canon(s) seem able to use high ISO values without the noise levels that the Nikon has splattered all over the image by then! I'd much rather be taking pictures than spent the time working on a keyboard to resolve the problems afterwards! I've been using the 85mm USM f1.2 Great in low light but the AF system coupled with razor thin depth of field causes some "adjustment" to my style of working, score one to Nikon!
So, a quandry! My choices for software manipulation also score in favour of the Canon, they include for free what Nikon charge for (correct at the time of writing) And the thought of tethered shooting from inside a vehicle in the arctic appeals to me more than standing around in the cold! Score another one to Canon.
On the topic of software, if you are thinking of purchasing the Bibble Pro software from Bibble Labs, you might want to wait until the bugs are sorted before you do, although that might well be several versions away on their current form! It is, by their own criteria a "RAW conversion" program NOT an image manipulation program... Regardless of the pedantic minutia, crashing 150 times in 6 months seems a trifle excessive for software that has the word "PRO" in the title!
It does look like a great piece of software and it certainly has potential. But currently I cannot recommend it as I have already mentioned, it has crashed over 150 times, I've not had a single session of using it that hasn't had a crash. There are major bugs in it from a user viewpoint and while it maybe worthwhile for a hobby photographer without any time constraints, but to call the software "PRO" I infer that to mean "Aimed at professional user", it falls over far too easily to warrant the use that title. Bibble 5 was due to be released in December 2008, it's STILL NOT OUT! Give that one a miss completely!
The market still waits for the killer application that will do what the hobby and professional photographer requires, Nikon NX doesn't do it for me either, the beta that I tried is slow and obscure in it's methodologies. It was an appallingly designed piece of doggy doo! It may well do the job for you but if you want to shoot while tethered, then that will be extra 150GBP please Mr Nikon Customer. As mentioned above, Canon takes a different view on this transaction and I have to grudgingly admit Canon out performs Nikon on that one too.
I have heard that the Nikon D300 doesn't have the same noise problems as the D70 and D70s I have not tried this model. If you have, please let me know.
Having said all that, the model of camera isn't going to make great images... The phtographer is!
more to follow....
Lenses
Nikon 12-24
70 - 200 f2.8
update; 1/11/06
Bibble pro have just released an update... (bug fix)called 4.9d some of the problems it addresses are;
Added Shooting Info back to PS plugin (Shift-f10)
Added: Support for Leica R8 + DMR
Added Photoshop Elements 5.0/4.0 install
Fixed bug in Noise Ninja support that could cause crashing
Fixed black line on right side of image when Noise Ninja is enabled
Fixed problem with PS Elements plugin "unsupported file"
Fixed import of IPTC info in photoshop plugin
Fixed DPI when using photoshop plugin.
Fixed missing ARW files in PS plugin.
Fixed bug that caused two JPEGs to be created when RAW+JPEG support is enabled (Linux)
Fixed bug preventing deletion/rename of Sony A100 files.
Fixed bug that vignetted heal spots in the preview image.
Fixed bug that caused the D70s not to be recognized by lens correction.
Fixed bug with selecting "close" Noise Ninja profiles when the exact profile isn't available.
Fixed bug with spot cursor mode and selecting the white/gray/black points.
Fixed bug with HR slider not updating the image preview.
Fixed bug with batch queue JPEG settings and German language translation.
Fixed bug with tool reset not being saved if the reset was the last correction.
fixed gallery bug: safari and Row style, no horz scroll bar
fixed gallery bug: IE and Row style, occasional jump back to first image
fixed hotkey issue: had to press CTRL+O twice to open
fixed localization issue: Batch Settings panels not fitting in translated versions
fixed localization issue: Many additional translation strings added
Fixed bug when batch queue destination was "relative" and path had a drive letter (Windows)
Fixed memory leak and crash related to generating thumbs.
Fixed memory leak related to BlackAndWhite plugin (even if not used)
Fixed D2HS FW2.0 camera white balance
Fixed black line on 400d xti
Fixed memory leak/crash related to Sony A100 files
Fixed problem with D200 Fw2.0 cams.(And probalby d2x as well)
Fixed problem with Sony A100 and Leica DNG files on Macintosh.
Lens Correction:
Added Pentax K100D and K110D cameras
added Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 LD
Thats a very long list of serious bugs for a MINOR update... I wonder when they'll get around to the important things like an "UNDO" command or the huge memory hole that causes crashes??
Still NO sign of bibble 5 11 months after it was supposed to be released!
:-)