Wednesday, March 07, 2012

drawing a line between weight and photo quality

I've been struggling with this a little bit. On a long walk I don't want to be encumbered by weight and bulk, but at the same time I've been feeling the need for higher-quality images.

I've been using a Sony bridge camera for the last two or three years. It's close to an slr in its features, has a huge optical zoom and it's very light. But I've been seeing its limitations, so I've moved to a dslr, which is obviously much heavier. I've gone for a bumbag case so that I can carry it reasonably comfortably with easy access to it and no space taken up in the rucksack.

I'd love to take a tripod around with me, especially on dull days, but even my fairly light and portable one is out of the question. I've just invested in one of these: Which I bought as a monopod but is clearly a combined 'pod, walking stick and handy weapon!

I won't use it as a walking stick, I know that some are designed for that but this one isn't. But it will travel happily in or on the side of the rucksack.

If I can carry these things comfortably on a long walk, that should allow me to capture more professional-looking images without hampering my walking too much.

How do you manage to tread the line between portability and quality?

1 comment:

Peter said...

Hi Shiela, I like this website of yours. I have just been reading about your monopod. Interesting. However, have you thought about using a Stringpod? That gotcha didn't it?
To make one (in your case, EASY) plait a length of string so the length is a tad longer than from the sole of your footwear to your eyes. You will need a bolt that has the same thread as your camera bush. (I used an old piece of camera equipment to get the screw) fix the string to the screw. To use: screw the thread to the camera , stand/kneel on the bottom of the string & pull up to eye level, compose your shot then shoot. Simple
Here's a site which will give you an idea of what they look like.
http://professionalsnapshots.com/blog/archives/79