Clothing wise, dress for warmth. I go with layers, and lots of them, thermals, cotton T-shirt, jumper and then a waterproof jacket.  Footwear wise I went with my battered Nike Free runners, but I really should invest in some surf boots as these would keep my feet much warmer.

Why am I talking about clothing when your all probably more interested in the photographic gear used? In short, you want to be mobile so therefore you will need only the bare essentials. In my case it is the Nikon D300 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, tripod and Grad ND filters. I chose to use my Lowepro Inverse200AW so I didnt have to take off my bag to get to my gear. My Tokina 10-17, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and Tamron 70-300mm also came for the trip but weren’t used.

In filters I look for a few things:

• high quality glass
• thin rings to reduce vignetting
• high quality multi-coating

This lead me to the B+W MRC XS-Pro UV Haze, Nikon NC, Rodenstock HR Digital and Tiffen Digital HT. All of these filters are premium grade filters with immense reputations, and most importantly, reasonably available to me. However the solid brass rings and Schott glass combined with the UNCONDITIONAL LIFETIME WARRANTY (offered by the Australian Importer/Distributor) of the B+W filter won me over. I ordered a selection of sizes, 77mm (possibly to replace the Marumi on my 24-70, but mostly as a spare), 67mm (so I could move my Hoya HMC to my new 16-85VR and have the B+W on my Tamron 17-50), 62mm (for my 60mm Micro) and a 52mm (for my 35mm f/1.8 DX).

The 77mm and 67mm filters arrived today and it is amazing how these filters simply ooze quality. Having used and handled Marumi DHG, Marumi Super DHG filters, Hoya Pro 1D, Hoya HMC and Nikon NC filters I didnt expect a German made filter to be much different. Somehow they have a very different feel, must be that brass! I cant wait until my other filters arrive.

However it is still to be seen how they wear, but then again so many other people cant be wrong, right?

Being roped into helping out on a trip like this meant that I packed fairly light, restricting myself to my Nikon D60, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 and Sigma 180mm f/3.5 Macro. This kit was joined by my Phottix Duo Cable and Nikon SB-400, all in my Lowepro Inverse 200AW. As a result I had a lightweight, comfortable and versatile load that let me be both mobile and compact, unlike some of the other attendees.

In short the soonest we should get:

• D4 – Q311
• D3Xs – Q410
• D4X – Q412
• D700X or D700s or both – Q310
• D800 – Q312
• D400 – Q111
• D90s or D90 replacement – Q310 or Q112
• D5000 replacement – Q410 but this troubles me
• D3000 replacement – Q111

Want to see why? Have a read of the full article to find out.

Nikon DSLR Map, July 2010

This was a slightly different weekend away for me, I was very gear heavy, lugging the Kitchen Sink, thus having more options than usual. However, I feel rather stupid when I bring items with me that I dont use, but in this instance I made use of every lens I brought. So what was my Kitchen sink this weekend?

• Nikon D300 + MB-D10
• Nikon F80 + MB-16
• Tokina 10-17mm fisheye
• Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
• Nikkor 60mm Micro
• Nikon SB-800
• Cokin ND Grad filter kit (ND4, ND8, holders, adaptor rings)
• C-Pol filters
• Dell Wasabi Zink Printer
• Phottix Geo One

The F80 was loaded up with a roll of Ilford Delta 3200, which I am still finishing but I hope to get this processed and scanned in the near future.

So what did I get up to?

First off it was off to Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park for a day of light hiking. Having just written a post about going back to basics I was feeling a bit guilty about that poor D300 sitting around not doing too much so I lugged that and a few lenses for the day. Also in the bag for the day was my reliable Tamron SP 17-50mm f /2.8 as well as a few other lenses. Most importantly I decided to grab my Cokin filter set (ND Grads). We did two hikes, neither being very long, but the most rewarding photographically was the short 1km walk down the America Bay, where we were treated to a spectacular view that is not typical Australia.

The next day, instead of sleeping in and resting we headed out to La Perouse, to explore Bare Island and then headed onto the Henry Head Scenic Walk. I am less happy with the photos from the day, but it was still great to get out there and take pictures. I took the D60 and the 16-85mm VR with the Cokin filters (which I didn’t end up using) and didnt actually feel like I was restricted at all. In many ways I feel that I am now more in tune with the D60 than I am with the D300.

By this point in time, any sane person would be headed home to rest before having to go to work the next day, but not me. I got a call from a friend who had not been able to get out to Vivid Sydney, and it was the last night of the festival, so I could not refuse the invitation. Now I have mentioned Vivid Sydney a few times, but have yet to share photos. In short I have been collecting my photos from the festival until the end before bombarding you with a few of my favourites. As a whole I have to admit that the festival was not as good as it was last year, but it did have some highlights for me. Over the last year I have managed to accumulate a few lenses that and skills that I didn’t have last year so the pictures are not at a loss. That Tokina AT-X DX 10-17mm Fisheye certainly has proved its worth.

Now most people would head to the Gold Coast in search of the thrills of the various theme parks up there, but this is not what I found myself doing. Instead I visited Springbrook National Park and Burleigh Heads National Park. Although both these trips were short ones, I did manage to get a few images worth sharing. There were countless points in time when I wished I had lugged up my D300 and associated lenses, and other moments when I wished for my tripod and graduated ND filters, but I made do with what I had.

Firstly, I would like to share a few images from almost a fortnight ago, when I went back to Cockatoo Island for another round of shooting. This time I restricted myself to only bringing and using my FujiFilm FinePix F100fd instead of one of my usual Nikons.

This camera has had a bit of a workout lately, being pressed into some low light work (which for a compact is not bad for) as part of my daily run to work.

Finally, I am both happy, and not so happy, to welcome another new lens into the family. This time it is the Zoom Nikkor AF-S DX 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR. Why have I bought a consumer lens? The truth is that I would not have really considered this lens which causes me two large issues, a lack of FX compatibility and a the overlap with the other lenses I already own. However it does fill a void for me, it provides me with a very useful range, with reasonable image quality that will AF on my D60. As I will be travelling LIGHT very soon (next weekend) it has been welcomed into the family. Here are some of the shots I took with this lens.

Taken using Nikon D300 + Micro Nikkor AF-D 60mm f/2.8, lit by SB-600 and SB-800 using CLS.

The final spec is:

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 125 TDP
• Noctua NH-U9B SE Cooler
• ASUS M4A89GTD PRO /USB3
• 8GB OCZ Gold Low Voltage PC12800 DDR3 RAM
• XFX ATi HD Radeon 5850 Black Edition
• Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD
• Seagate Barracude 1.0TB HDD
• Samsung SH-S223 SATA TruDirect DVD Burner
• Corsair HX 850 Modular PSU
• ANTEC Nine Hundred Case

I am now the happy owner of a AF Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D. This lens is a welcome addition to the kit bag and will probably mean that my Sigma 180mm f/3.5 Macro will spend even less time out and about, but it will mean I now have another, lighter, macro solution.

Another piece of news to be shared is that I am in the process of upgrading my main computer. My venerable AMD Athlon X2 4200+ system is about to turn 5 and is starting to show its age, so it’s successor is in the process of being built. What will it be? For all those nerds out there:

• AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 3.4GHz 125TDP
• Noctua NH-U9 CPU Cooler
• ASUS M4A89GTD Pro USB3
• 8GB OCZ Gold Low Voltage DDR3 1600 RAM
• XFX ATi Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition GPU
• Antec Nine Hundred case
• Corsair HX 850 PSU

This DRAGON system has proven to be hard to assemble with parts trickling in (still waiting on that Noctua) but I couldn’t help but to unbox the XFX. So here are some of the first shots from this lens (mounted on my D300, lighting provided by SB-800 and SB-600 using CLS).