My most recent photography purchase is the excellent Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod which came with the Manfrotto 486RC2 Ball Head. I have just received the tripod so I haven’t had an extensive play with it but what I have used I am extremely happy with.

I have had a few tripods so far and all of them(with the exception of the gorillapod, which is also excellent :-)) are, to put it crudely, shit. Firstly I should mention what makes the other tripods crap and lambaste them before I offer the benefits of the Manfrotto.

I have been wanting a wide angle lens for my 400d for quite a while now, problem is that they are not that cheap.  In Australia they retail at around $760 in the shops so it is quite an investment to make.  If you choose to go for a canon model then add a few hundred extra to that price. As I am going home to Northern Ireland in the very near future for a holiday I decided that now is the best time to get one.

The deciding factor was when I checked out the price in the US.  The Australian dollar is very strong against the US at the moment and makes it ideal to import. A strong dollar and the fact that the US has it a lot cheaper than here, $260 cheaper to be exact made this an easy option to make. Within a few days of placing an order in the US my Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 HSM DC arrived and I must say I am really impressed.

I have been thinking lately of creating a photoblog, well not really a full blog but more of an experiment.  There are a few reasons for these thoughts creeping into my head, the first one being; I enjoy building websites so I want to build another one. Although I do this all day at work, there is nothing more satisfying than being able to create something that is specifically for you and also being able to use the latest technologies on it.

I have been getting restless lately and trying to find the time to take some photos. I am not usually that motivated to go out after work so I have been trying to take my camera with me in the mornings and take a few shots.

The problem is that my camera bag just does not meet my needs when carrying my camera too and from work.  When I bought my camera (Canon 400d), I bought it with the lens kit. This included the standard 18-55mm lens and a 70-300mm lens. I also got a 2 Gig compact flash card and a lowepro ex160 bag. I also had a canon ef 28-105mm lens from my previous camera, this all had to fit in my bag.

The ex160 bag fitted all my gear but there was no room for expansion and room was rapidly running out. What’s more was that the bag had quite a thin, no padded strap which was quite sore on the shoulder when carrying the bag for a while and it just plain gets in the way. 

This brings me to my new purchase the Lowepro slingshot 200 AW .

The clocks have changed here in Victoria and that is the end of the summertime.  Now when I finish work the sun is not far off setting and I have been witnessing some really nice sunsets in the past week.

The weather is starting to get a little chillier and I must say I’m looking forward to the Autumn and Winter.  A change to wrap up warm, low sun in the sky, naked trees and much better colours instead of just a harsh sun.  Much better photographs to be taken so in hope that I will be taking more photos(good or bad) here is one that I took while waiting for the train.

In the past few weeks I have purchased a new digital camera, to replace my ageing brick of a camera.  Although my older camera, the Fuji s5000, has a few more advanced features, it is massive and not really that easy to carry around for everyday snapshots.  I decided to get the Ricoh R6 as it had a few features that caught my eye and is also minuscule. So what’s the verdict?