cameron_bowser

<p>I use a garbage bag taped to my lens hood. That way, I get protection for the camera, lens, and some "shade" from rain drops when shooting in the rain. I also have the added benefit of detaching my hood when it stops raining and being ready for dry shooting again.</p>

<p>I personally think the idea of the 283/285 replacement shoe with a gallon jug screwed to it is very clever as well, I'm going to give that a try. In my experience, shooting in wet conditions has less to do with protecting the camera and more to worry about with the front element getting wet anyway.</p>

<p>I own the 1550T. It's fabulously light weight and goes up and down quickly. My only gotcha is the ball head attached, I think it's awful.</p>

<p>Looking at the specifications side by side, the Gitzo is 2 inches shorter when folded. It's .05 pounds lighter. It's almost a foot taller when extended. The Gitzo holds about twice the weight. The Gitzo has a swappable tripod head, the Manfrotto is permanently attached. If that's worth the extra money, go for it.</p>

<p>Back to the gotcha. I generally use a Nikon D700 with a 14-24mm attached for landscapes. I've found with that and similar set ups, the ball head has terrible creep when either vertically and horizontally aligned. I do plan on getting a better head for it but that potentially negates the whole "lightweight, all-in-one, tiny" tripod I spent the big bucks for.</p>

<p>I'd imagine the Manfrotto (and many other setups with the ball head) has a similar issue with ball heads, and it would not be swappable if that's the case. Just my thoughts, hope it helps.</p>

<p>-Cameron</p>

<p>I picked up one of these for a Nikon mount from a great photographer out in Reno. I've found the lens to have some flaws to it, when abused and shot wide open with no filters. It has a lot of vignetting on the corners, an odd bokeh, and some strange chromatic abberation that I find pleasing to the eye, especially when shot in black and white. A 6 foot close focus is ridiculous, but you can focus much closer using the macro ring.<br>

All in all, when abused I found it's got some awesome qualities I've yet to find in any other lens. I don't have many examples up on my page yet, but here's one I took yesterday. I've enjoyed using this lens so much, I found a second on Ebay for $12.50 and bought it too.<br>

<a title="The Soligor Effect by neroburnsme, on Flickr" href=" title="The Soligor Effect by neroburnsme, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3767850624_ae5388285b.jpg" alt="The Soligor Effect" width="333" height="500" /> </a><br>

-Cameron Bowser</p>