And we are back in Oz. The trip to/from is brutal but well worth the effort.
A quick note on the kit used since I know there are a few here with interest in the details. I've very deliberately used the Sony a200 (2008 vintage) on account of its size and performance characteristics. The shutter speed and handling aren't as good as the a700's but its smaller/lighter with better low light performance and frankly handles like a dream after using it for some years now. Perfect for landscapes, interiors and general travel photography.
I've taken three lenses, the 16-105 (2008 vintage) which is a real workhorse and with which most images were made. The Sigma 8-16 for the uber wide angle images, useful in the villages, interiors and anywhere that 16mm was not wide enough. And a late substitution, the Minolta 100-300 APO (1993 vintage) in and 70-300G out on size and weight grounds. One is much more compact that the other and from experience isn't used that much anyway. Since I carried the whole kit everywhere, light and compact was more critical then absolute performance and it worked well. I took 4 batteries and only ever needed one. I also too 4 CF cards but only ever needed one.
I also bought a new tripod for this trip:
COMPACT ADVANCED WITH 3-WAY HEAD BLACK MKCOMPACTADV-BK - Compact Series New | ManfrottoNowhere near as solid as my big tripods but proved to be just fine for the times I needed it with the lightweight kit. It is very compact and fairly light with a modest payload. It deploys quickly and it looks like the camlocks are far stronger than the tripod it replaced so its going to last longer without needing repairs. The old one had weak camlocks sadly otherwise it was a good performer for a compact tripod. It turned out to be cheaper to buy the new one than repair the old one making the decision to update easy.
Other gear used, a basic Dell laptop of some sort and Lightroom 6. I was pleasantly surprised when I got home to find the images produced on the laptop to be quite Ok for the most part since the screen isn't awesome. My eyes have had some sort of meltdown while I was away as well, so I couldn't really see as well as I can with the big monitors at home here.
The whole lot fits easily into a pacsafe 250:
Metrosafe 250 GII anti-theft shoulder bag | Pacsafe which also contained all the other stuff one should have in their man bag. It didn't obviously scream "camera equipment" as regular camera bags do which was the reason for getting it.
What might have been better is if I remembered to take the sling for the camera. If you've not seen these before they are a revelation. I've got the double since I mostly use two cameras at the same time. The camera slides up and down the sling which means its out of the way when not in use and easy to bring to your eye when needed. I used the existing camera strap on the a200 in the same way. It doesn't work as well, but was sufficient given the camera is light. For those of you who put the strap around your neck, try it this way - I think you'll find it works better and your neck won't hurt at all after a big day out. Certainly with the BR strap I can carry two big cameras and lenses all day without any issues.
BlackRapid Double & Double Slim StrapsAll up a good working kit and got the job done nicely.
Gear « Keith and Joan's Gallery
