bomobob

<p>It's not so much the weight, but the linear dimensions of the backpack. Just make sure it fits the envelope for carry-on size.<br>

I find most (all?) photo backpacks either aren't comfortable enough, or don't have the sort of space/pockets I want for non-photo items. My solution is to use the guts from a photo backpack in the bottom of one of my comfortable daypacks. The zipper comes down the back far enough that it works wonderfully as a sling type bag too.</p>

<p>Hi Kathleen,<br>

I think the suggestion of the compact camera was as a backup, just in case something should happen your SLR. If it gets dropped or damaged in some way, at least you'll have some form of backup. It's really a personal choice. When I travel alone, I only take one camera, and have never had a major incident. I like to travel relatively light, so I don't bother with a 2nd camera.<br>

I'm going to India in mid-December for a couple of months, and am bringing an SLR with 2 lenses. Depending on the type of camera you're bringing and the end use of the photos, you might want to consider one of the super zooms on the market, and just bring the one lens.<br>

Depending on how big and/or heavy and/or expensive your laptop is, an alternative would be a netbook. For $200 you can get one that's lighter than a Macbook Air, and surprisingly small. I am bringing one along to backup my photos, but I won't be carrying it around with me all day.<br>

The most important factor to consider is dress. A huge number of western visitors to India dress as they would at home in summer, and that's just not appropriate. Shorts, halter tops, tube tops, and short skirts will generate tremendous unwanted attention, and typically a lot of grabbing as well. It's not about what's right or wrong, but simply about the way things are in India. Long skirts and pants are the way to go. Just look at how covered up Indian women are, and that's a pretty clear indication. <br /><br />That said, as a western woman on your own, you won't be able to avoid the stares and verbal suggestions, but it will be much easier if your dress is conservative.<br>

As far as a bag is concerned, think about how long you'd typically be walking around with it and how much it weighs. You may not want to carry a shoulder bag for that many hours a day. If you haven't already, load up your day bag with all the stuff you're going to carry, and carry it around with you for a couple of days. You may decide a sling or backpack would better suit you. And frankly, they're much harder to snatch.</p>

<p>Well, if anyone is still checking in here, the solution in the end is going to be DIY, and it's better than anything out there.<br>

I ordered the Clik Elite Impulse Sling, and though their hearts are in the right place, it just won't cut it. On the camera side of things, you need to do a lot of cussin' to jam a full-frame SLR into the bag when it's on you. The opening is fine for a 30D or other APS camera, but a 5D is just too big to go in easily. and once it's in, with a 24-70 2.8, there's not much room left over. The top portion is a good size, but doesn't have even a single pocket or pouch. When I travel, I carry my passport, wallet, sunglasses, phone, sunscreen, etc, not to mention a snack, book, and so on. I hate just tossing everything into a black hole.<br /><br />So it went back.<br /><br /><br>

I also looked at the Crumpler Enthusiast. Nice bag, well thought out, a bit tight in the camera compartment, but the show stopper was that since it's such a small bag, it "slings" kinda funny on a 6'-3" frame, and isn't very comfortable for walking.<br>

Sooooo.....it suddenly hit me. I have an old Lowe Rover, but was never crazy about the way it opens. But I took out the whole padded "bucket" in the bottom of the bag, and stuffed it into the bottom of one of my side-opening daypacks. FOR THE WIN!<br>

It's fantastic. I can sling it off my shoulder, zip open a portion of the side zip, and easily grab my camera. It's a breeze to drop back in too, and there's ample room for another 2 lenses. Plus the pack has lots of great internal pockets and pouches, and is of course more comfortable than any camera bag.</p>

<p>I've never found a telephoto to be of much use in any of those places. They're either mostly wide-angle or street shooting sort of locations. You certainly won't need anything that long at the Angkor sites. Last trip there I brought a 30D and a 17-70, and can hardly remember more than a couple of occasions wanting more reach.<br>

I'm heading to India in December, and there's no way I'm going to lug the 70-200 2.8 around for two months. I personally wouldn't bother with the 2X either.<br>

The 24-70 is a great lens, and on the 5D I suspect it will stay on 90% of the time.</p>

<p>Jeff, I don't believe in conspiracy theories in general, but I've always bought into that one!<br>

I think I've solved my problem. I'm only going to bring the 24-70 2.8, as well as maybe a fast cheap 50, or a 70-300 just for fun, and carry them in the Clik Elite Impulse Sling. Looks like a nicely designed bag, and the grey one is pretty low key for a camera bag.</p>

<p>Yes, I agree about the smaller bag seeming heavier. The weight is not as well distributed, and I think that's what makes the difference.</p>

<p>By scanning this forum and talking to couple of people in a local camera store, it's clear there is a market just waiting to be exploited. I have an embarrassingly large collection of camera bags (as do most of us), and they all have their strengths, but for me this has always been a missing link. <br>

You sometimes tend to balance out what you carry with what you <em>can</em> carry, and those compromises often come up short. Rather than carry my 5D, 70-200 2.8, and 24-70 2.8 around for two months in an as yet undetermined bag, I could indeed get a superzoom, or even fall back on my "old" APS-C 30D and get a super-duper zoom, but I just know I'd miss the fast lenses and the sharpness. In fact I even have an ancient Tamron 28-200 for EOS, but I'm well acquainted with how soft it is.<br>

I took a look at a Tamrac bag yesterday which seemed to be a pretty good design, but I wasn't mad about the weatherproof zippers, and it seems they're a sore point for many other people as well. I like that it looks like a plain old backpack, which is something Lowe still hasn't learned to do yet.<br>

I've used the two bag approach for hiking, but for travel I prefer to consolidate. I like to only have to pay attention to one thing at a time. Perhaps being 6'-3" has worked in my favour, but I've never felt unsafe anywhere in the world when it comes to theft. Still, it's always easier to be mindful of just one bag. A Westerner travelling around Asia or Africa will never blend in and always stand out, but something that doesn't scream, "I am a camera bag" always makes me feel better.<br>

I'm at the point now where I'm seriously considering rolling my own, using one of my venerable daypacks and converting it to a hybrid camera bag. I could probably even figure out a way to mount my Lowe Classified sideways into my Kelty Redwing, to allow side access. </p>

 

<p>It's not like I haven't tried. I'm off to India, and will be carrying the bag all day every day. I have a Lowe Fastpack, but it's kind of heavy because of all the padding for the laptop pocket (which I do not need for this trip), plus it's not sized very well for a tall guy (me), so it's not very comfortable for long days. I used it hiking in the Pyrenees, and was not pleased. And the cargo compartment is a bit of an afterthought.<br>

<br />In the past, I've always just dropped my camera and lens cases into my backpack, which is convenient and comfortable for carrying, but a pain in the butt for shooting. Most of the time I end up just carrying my SLR in my hand. I've been won over by the convenience and ease of sling bags. I always thought they were silly until I tried one.<br>

<br />Messenger bags are basically shoulder bags with a different name, and they are not fun to carry around for a really long time. At least not for me.</p>

<p>That's a nice looking bag! Is that upper zippered compartment all for just regular stuff? Looks like a decent size. My problem with a lot of backpacks is that I'm 6'-3", so the hip belt is often of little use, which is why I'm now in love with slings. I'll have to see if I can find this one locally to try out.</p>

<p>Dang, I completely missed this thread, and just posted a similar one. Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels there's a big hole in the market for a dual purpose pack.</p>

<p>I have about 8 camera bags, and though they all have their good points, I still haven't found the ideal travel bag.<br>

<br />Here's all I want: A sling bag (or backpack, if pressed) that will hold and SLR with a couple of lenses, and room for the usual travel essentials, like guidebooks, water, a lunch, sunscreen, etc. Every option I've ever seen pays lip service to anything non-photo related, and it's really frustrating.<br>

The Lowe Slingshots are nice (I have the small one), but even the largest size has a ridiculously small compartment for "travel stuff" at the top. I've found it's a niche in the market - probably a big one - that nobody seems to have addressed. The assumption seems to be that all you carry when you travel is camera gear, but sometimes you need a sweater, you buy stuff, maybe you need to carry an umbrella or small raincoat. <br>

There may be something on the market now, but I haven't seen it. Have you?</p>

<p>Thanks, but I'm not sure I follow the "far enough into the print screen" part. After the normal Photoshop print dialog, sure, I can dig down through the page setup/print & fax prefs/options and supplies/Driver..., but that's not what I'm after.It's not the driver I want to select, but the color profile.<br>

In the Win version of the print driver, you can set the color matching to any icc profile you like, and that function is not present on the OSX print flow.</p>

 

<p>So I got my iMac yesterday, my first Apple, and everything was fine until i tried to print.<br>

Up to now, I've been printing from Photoshop on a PC, using "Printer manages colors", "Proof", and then setting the color matching manually to AdobeRGB. My monitor is calibrated, and every single print comes out perfect.<br>

No such luck on the Mac. No matter what I do, I cannot select my own color matching when I print. If I use "Printer manages colors", the setting goes to Canon Matching, and it's greyed. If I select "Photoshop manages colors", it uses Colorsynch, also greyed.<br>

Is there no way for me to choose my own profile for printing? I read somewhere that the native Canon drivers in OSX 10.6 were the problem, and the file should be trashed and replaced with the latest Canon driver. Doesn't make a bit of difference.<br>

The prints aren't bad, but they really are not close enough to what I expect. So for now I'm still tied to my Windows box.<br>

Isn't there a solution to this?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

 

<p>Yup, though not as frequently as I used to. Visually, nothing comes even remotely close, to my eyes at least.</p>

<p>I have an old Imperial that I picked up at a garage sale, and inside it I found an exposed roll of 127 film.</p>

<p>Here's where it gets tricky. The backing paper in Kodacolor for C-22 processing. However, it also sports what looks unmistakably like a B$H label, which says it's actually Ektachrome 100.<br>

So, would you just roll the dice and assume it is indeed E100, and B&H just reused some old 127 backing paper when they cut 120 down to make 127?</p>

<p>11x14? Dang sure wish <em>my </em> i960 had that secret function! :)<br>

I'd been using Hahnemuhle photo rag pretty exclusively, but for this client I'm using the "German Etching" type. I think it's just dustier than the other stuff, because after using the roller cleaning function along with a damp rag on the end of my finger, the paper feed seems to be back to almost normal.<br>

The weird thing is that if I print 2 of the same photo one after the other, they come out different. Now that's seriously @#$*ed up.</p>

<p>Well, the R1900 has a $150 rebate here in Canada till March, but I just can't believe this thing could have multiple organ failure all of a sudden. I need House!</p>

<p>I'm in shock. Here I am in the middle of a job for a client, and my printer decides to go ballistic on me. I never had problems printing on Hahnemuhle photo rag, the 310 gsm stuff. The printer always loaded it without fail, and with the right drivers and proofs, I could hit the colour every time.<br>

So here I am, printing away, when it runs out of one colour. No prob. Change the cart, and print the next one. Perfect. Then the next one. Paper won't load. At all. I have to virtually force it in to get the rollers to catch it. And then the colours are totally whacked out! I print another, having to jam it in again, and this time the colours are off again, but somewhere else. (this is all the same photo) I did manage to finish the batch, but with a lot of effort and a lot of wasted paper.<br>

Tried for fun (as if it I was really having any...) to load regular photo paper. Same thing, it just wouldn't pull it in.<br>

Soooo.....I wish I had my wits about me so I could formulate a question. I don't want it to be dead, but I think it might be really really ill.<br>

Seems everyone's all over the Epsons these days. Has Canon fallen out of favour? The Epson 2880 is more than I want to spend right now. 1400? 1900? Any good? Any comparable Canons?</p>

Well, while I was there I had her run one through completely uncorrected, right off the CD I gave them. It looked horrible...way too saturated, and way too punchy.

Hi,

 

I print anything up to 8.5 x 11 at home with good success. My monitor is calibrated with an Eye-One, and what I

see is what I get, every time

I just had to get some 12 x 15s printed for a client, and used a local lab for the first time. They wanted TIFFs

in AdobeRGB, but when I asked them if they had an icc profile for their printer, a Durst, they didn't really

understand what I meant. I wanted to be able to soft-proof the files at home, correct them, and have them just

print them.

They had no profile, and asked if I wanted the images uncorrected or corrected. Well, this is where I felt

uneasy. I didn't want a technician mucking with the images to get what they thought was the right look. Sure

enough, when I went to look at the proofs, they weren't what I was expecting. It seems they use the old

trial-and-error method I used to use before I became calibrated. They'd print an image, then adjust it in

Photoshop to correct what wasn't right on the print. I pointed to the screen and said, "I want that. Exactly

what's on your monitor now. That's what i want". well, she had to do all sorts of test prints to finally end up

with a print that matched the screen.

 

Am I expecting too much? Shouldn't a good lab just be able to supply me with an icc file so I can soft-proof

their printer/paper combination at home? Is that how it's supposed to work?

 

Bob

I've been selling photos on some of the online art sales sites, just as a fun pastime...$20-$50 for 8x10 prints,

that sort of thing.

Someone contacted me today wanting to buy 20-30 different photos of a specific theme (old, faded advertising

signs painted

on the sides of buildings..."ghost signs") to put up as posters at their company. BUT, they want to buy the

digital files and print their own poster-sized collages using my pictures.

 

I have absolutely no clue what sort of licensing fee to charge them. None. Nada.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Bob

Hmmm, really. I like the Comet and the Zorki, but don't really care for the Zenit. The Zorkis are all over ebay for 30-80, but not one has a single bid on it. I figured somewhat less than that, but have no experience with either model, either buying or selling. Now I'm even more interested!

There's a local guy selling these 3:

 

COMET NK 135

ZORKI 4K

ZENIT 52 ﾖ 0.75

 

What would you offer for working units?

 

Thanks.

Hi,

 

I bought a MyBook Home Edition, and am using it on the eSATA interface on a Windows box. The documentation says

it will only start up and shut down automatically with the PC when used on a Firewire interface, but mine does so

about 95% of the time. I'm not complaining..it's great, but the WD customer service guy in Bangalore really

couldn't answer or even understand my enquiry as to why it does.

Is anyone else seeing this behaviour?

 

Thanks.

I thought $39 sounded almost criminal for that little part, but he's actually selling a machined aluminium part. Still, it's pretty steep for such a simple machined part.

The part you highlighted in the red box is a little lug that slips into the 35mm film spool, allowing it to fit the 120 film compartment. It's basically a spacer/adapter. The fat part beside it in your photo threads onto the existing post in the camera, on the other side of the film cassette, and togther they hold the 35mm in place.