For a while now, I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a battery grip for my 40D. Saw one for what I thought was a good deal on a used BG-E2N. Would’ve got the older BG-E2 but the BG-E2N came up first, it was actually cheaper than its predecessor second hand. The only difference between the two is weather sealing which is really just a bit of foam around the battery compartment, cosmetically they’re more or less the same. It did occur to me to pick up a third-party knock-off for less than half the price of a grip brand spanking new, but I figured I’d use it enough to warrant a second hand Canon one.
The build quality of the grip feels pretty solid, the front of it has the same kind of rubbery material as on the body itself, the back is smooth. I wish it was a bit more textured. It adds a bit of weight to the whole shooting rig but I’m not sure if I’ll notice that much of a difference if I’ve got something like the 100-400mm mounted on.
With my recent foray into time-lapse photography, the increased battery life is a welcomed addition. Together with an invervalometer, it makes for a portable time-lapse rig.
Handling wise it’s not bad. It’s kinda squarish and a touch angular. If it were rounder like the grip on the body itself, it’d be easier to hold for those with smaller girly hands like myself. This might be less of an issue for people with larger hands however.
The buttons work as they should but feel a bit springier than on the actual body. It’s quite nice having a verticle grip for portrait shots. It increases stability and puts less strain on the wrist for prolonged portrait shooting. Also, it balances the camera quite nicely then you’ve also got a flashgun mounted and are shooting in portrait.
One of the issues with the BG-E2N that’s frequently popped up on the forums is that you can snap off the internal gears from over-tightening resulting in the inability to remove the grip. To prevent that I stop turning as soon as I feel resistance and it stays on fine. No ratting, no problem. It’s enough to be able to hold the camera by the grip and not have it fall off.
Overall it’s not a bad piece of kit. It’d be nice if it were rounder. I’ll leave you with some pics.
In my recent obsession with making animations/ time lapses/ flicks/ short movies/ creative bits of art/ moving images/ whatever you want to call them, I thought I’d give another video hosting site a go apart from the ubiquitous YouTube.
I’ve seen a few vids hosted on Vimeo and they look so much cleaner and nicer than on YouTube. To test it out, I made a slide-show using some of the pics from my Europe backpacking trip some years ago. I’ve only got Windows Movie Maker as my video editing software at the moment so the quality of this vid isn’t quite as high def as I’d like. Also, the pics I used were only 600 x 400 px (resized for Zoto uploading). Despite these constraints, it’s not too shabby.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the slide-show -
I upgraded the RAM on my Dell laptop from 512 MB (2x 256MB) to 2 GB (2x 1GB). It was a fairly straightforward and easy job. I didn’t think it needed a full tutorial and since I’m in a movie making kinda mood these day, I time lapsed it.
One thing to remember is to ground yourself before starting. Also, it makes the job a lot easier if you have the correct sized Phillips head screwdriver and flathead to lift off the plastic plate by the keyboard.
Performance wise, my computer definately starts up and shuts down faster. It doesn’t seem to have any problems running the usual gamut of software. Photoshop is fine and everything’s just dandy.
After watching an episode of The Simpsons (A Star is Born-Again), I was inspried to make this little film. Benny Hill and tea, apart from draping the union jack in the background, what could be more british??
Leave a comment (click on the little post-it note) and let me know what you think!
Well, on my sojurn to Whipsnade yesterday I took my Primus backpack out for its maiden voyage as it were. It faired pretty well, the harness was as comfortable as it looked and I wasn’t feeling particuarly achey after a few hours of continuous wear. However, I’ll admit that this morning I was feeling a little sore around the shoulders and neck region but far less than two weeks ago when I used my North Face Big Shot. This time round, most of the weight was transferred to the hips. As with most females, whether you like it or not, the center of gravity tends to be around the middle so stability wasn’t an issue here.
The generous padding (as far as it goes for photography backpacks) worked wonderfully, my hips didn’t feel bruised after carrying it. Once filled up with my photography kit, water, food and other bits and pieces, it probably weighed in at a total of 5 - 6 kg.
I liked how the zips are back facing so there’s no issue of putting dirty straps/belt back on after its been laying in the dirt following lens changes or lunch getting. I didn’t bother using the side door.
We didn’t get caught out in any massive downpours so I can’t comment on the extent of its waterproof abilities. There were a few light showers, but nothing major. In the one real rainy period we had, we were inside the elephant house.
It’s been quite a positive experience and I really like the bag. If you can get it for a decent price, it’s definately worth it. A quick google shows that the cheapest price in the UK currently is £99.89 at Warehouse Express, still a bit steep I reckon, but then, you may beg to differ.
I’ll leave you with a pic of the bag on the floor of the elephant house. That’s my Canon EF 100-400mm peeping out of the Primus and to the right of it is Soph’s Pretty Boy backpack by Crumpler. The only reason my bag looks so much bigger is because of the ultra-wide angle lens distortion.
Yesterday, Soph and I went to Whipsnade for a spot of photography. Pseudo-wildlife photography. Since it was out of season, all the kids were back at school and there was hardly anyone around. Fantastico!
The last time I went to Whipsnade was over 10 years ago when I was at school. It was cold, wet and in summer! I don’t remember seeing much. This time round the weather was a bit tempremental, the sun came out here and there, there was some spitting and when it really rained, we were in the elephant house anyway.
When I was writing the blurb for my “About” section, it made me wonder why people blog. A quick google showed that I’m not the only one wondering. Most of the stuff that popped up was about how the blog was the equivalent of the modern day diary. Some people blog in order to impart their “knowledge” (and I use that term loosely) about various things to the world while for others its a place to vent.
Past blogs of mine tended to be about what I thought were interesting things I got up to on a daily basis, it was a bit like a public email which my chums could jump onto and see what I was up to. My last blog was a photoblog because I became too lazy to write and thought how apt it’d be for me, as a photographer, to let the photos to do the talking. I remember that the accompanying text that went with my first few photos were rather long and a friend pointed out in one of the comments how I seemed to be writing more even though the point of it was for to economise on words. Subsequent posts however were usually a few lines or even a few words. I think there was an entry where I just wrote “?” or perhaps it was “??”.
So let me ask those of you who blog - why do you do it??
