EPSON P-4000
FUJI FINEPIX F11
FUJI WPFX- F10
VELBON ULTRA MAXI SF
 Nikon 70-200 AFS VR
 Tokina 12-24 IF DX |
I have recently returned from a photo trip to Queensland in Australia, some of the photos are available to view on this site. For the trip I made a few purchases, mainly to reduce my total amount of gear to get through airport security and weight limits fortunately this was before the recent troubles. In this section I will try and give an honest working review of the gear.
First up is the Epson P-4000 a hard disk based storage device with a massive 80 GB capacity.I didn't want to take a laptop with me on the trip as the weight limits on international flights are very strict however I did need some way of downloading my photos from my CF cards to free them up and this piece of kit was excellent. The P-4000 is the big brother to the P-2000. The P-4000 benefits from a massive 80 GB hard drive, 3.8 inch screen, USB 2.0 high speed ports and a built in CF and SD card reader. In the box you get a stand, charger and leads and a very handy padded carry case, plus full instructions should you need them as it is very simple to operate. The P-4000 performed excellently I never had one fault with it and after 3 weeks of shooting still had more than 50 GB of space left. The P-4000 will play MP3, AAC and MPEG4 videos, it has a headphone socket so you can listen to your music while you wait for a train or plane. It can read all formats including JPEG and RAW files even the new Nikon D200 files, and I imagine new formats will be supported by firmware updates available from the Epson website. You can move around the picture using the large control button and also zoom in to the photo to check for sharpness. It took around 10 minutes to download 123 10MB RAW files from my 2 GB Kingston Elite Pro 50x CF card. The battery is good for around 4 hours continuous use which given the size of the very clear screen is excellent, it charges in about 80 minutes. Some reviewers have complained about poor battery life when watching videos, but then what can you expect if you use it for viewing pictures then you should have no problems, I purchased an in car AC adaptor for it from ebay for peanuts this proved very handy when staying in a campervan in the middle of the rainforest where you cant get access to a power point. It weighs in at around 400grams and is around the same size as a Sony PS2. It has a very simple OS system based on folders and you can create a new album or folder when you copy data from your memory cards. Overall the Epson P-4000 was an excellent piece of kit and will definitely be staying in my rucksack. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED For further details click here:
I don't normally use digital compact cameras as most agencies wont accept pictures taken using them but there are certain occasions where you don't want to have to carry a large SLR and lenses. So I did a bit of research on the internet and decided to go for the Fuji Finepix F11, the main reasons for this were the 6.3 MP output and the very short shutter lag time probably the fastest of any of the compact cameras out there. The main frustration with using these compact cameras is the slow speed with which they focus and then take a picture, you know the frustration you compose and expose your shot and then press the shutter the screen goes blank the subject moves and finally the picture is taken. Well with the F11 this doesn't happen, with a shutter time lag of just 0.01 seconds, 1.1 seconds between frames for consecutive shots and just 1.3 seconds needed for start-up it is a very quick camera and with 6.3 MP the quality is excellent. The camera is very easy to use and you hardly need to use the manual. The only fault is that it uses the slow XD cards. The cameras battery lasts for well over 500 shots and charges in less than an hour. ISO runs from 80 to 1600 with an Auto setting, pictures are usable up to A4 at ISO 800 better than my Nikon D200 which is grainy at 800. The camera doesn't have a viewfinder so you have to use the large LCD screen to compose your shot but this is not a problem. For a camera you can shove in a shirt pocket and take out on a night out its excellent added to this it takes great pictures. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. For more information click here: Another reason for choosing this camera was because you can purchase an underwater housing for it. The WPFX-F10 is a polycarbonate underwater housing for the Finepix F11, Specs as follows: Depth Rating: 40m I used the camera and housing on a number of snorkelling trips and found it easy to use, the fast response of the camera being used to its full advantage when used underwater when you have a limited time to compose and take your photo. I intend to use the camera housing on a number of future trips. RECOMMENDED. For more information click here:
The final piece of kit I purchased for the trip was a tripod made by Velbon, the Ultra Maxi SF. I normally use Manfrotto tripods with either a Gimbal or a 3 way head but this was too heavy to include in my 20 kilo limit for the flight. The Ultra Maxi SF was the perfect solution to this problem it weighs in at a whopping 750 grams and folds to 33 cm perfect for putting in a small rucksack. It comes with a ball and socket head which is good for 3-5 KG of support, more than enough support for a DSLR and wide angle lens. For macro work the centre column unscrews allowing the tripod to be used at heights as low 15cm fully extended the tripod reaches a height of 122cm which for me was fine. The tripod comes fitted with a ball and socket head, it doesn't have a quick release plate which would have been a welcome addition but even without this it was still easy to use. The legs don't have the usual clasps to lock them instead they have a rotating mechanism which is both fast and stable and also quiet. The tripod doesn't come in black but in a rather garish gold which I wasn't keen on but I can live with it. For carrying on a plane or carrying up a mountain in a small rucksack there is no competition. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. For more information click here:
Nikon 70-200 AFS VR
Just purchased this lens from Nikon after much thought. The lens is built like a tank and quite heavy I would say it balances on the camera in the same way the Nikon 300 AFS does so straight away is easy to use. The zoom control is nice and firm and feels positive when zooming in and out. The focus speed is lightning fast and only slows down slightly when a x2 convertor was attached. This lens has to cover a wide range of subjects from press and portrait work to aircraft and sports, so i needed a lens that would not only focus in dull overcast conditions but would also keep AF speed with convertors attached. Obviously in slightly duller backgrounds the lens will hunt with a x2 convertor taking the maximum aperture to 5.6 but when compared side by side with 80-400 VR the 70-200 and x2 convertor combination is much faster and you have the benefit of being able to use the 70-200 at 2.8 constant. One small matter not yet mentioned is the VR function of the lens all I can say is that it works and is no gimmic. With the x2 convertor attached giving a lens of 600 5.6 on a D200 I was able to take shots at 1/60 without blur thats clearly an extreme example but the fact that you can handhold a lens at this range is amazing and negates the need for my 300 F4 AFS which has now gone, with x1.4 or x1.7 there is no dicernible slowing down of AF speed and it rarely hunts. The lens close focuses down to 1.5 metres but with a convertor attached this distance reduces as well. The tripod mount is robust and the lens comes with a petal type hood which i recomend is used all the time as there have been rumours of lens flare in bright conditions all in all an outstanding lens and very highly recomended. Read more here.
Tokina 12-24 IF DX
Latest purchase is this excellent little lens. The lens is solidly built feeling mainly metal plastic coated rather than an all plastic design. AF is internal and the front element does not rotate unlike the sigma 12-24 the front lens element will take filters as it does not have the extreme dome shape of the sigma. AF speed is rapid helped by the constant F4 aperture. There have been many reviews of this lens and everyone seems to agree it is as good as the Nikon version, after a few tests I was convinced enough to buy one, I cant see the sense in paying the extra 300 pounds for the nikon. The lens come wth a petal type hood which needs to be on all of the time due to the openess of the front of the lens I would advise purchasing a UV filter just to protect the front lens element.One problem with the lens is that you do get shadow from the hood when you use on camera flash, this should not be a problem if you use a hotshoe mounted flash. My only gripr is that the manual focus ring is a push pull affair it would be betterif this feature was dropped in favour of the standard focus ring, one problem I had is that if the ring is not clicked forward properly the AF motor wont engage, this may only be a problem if you need to move rapidly from AF to MF. All in all a great lens find out more here.
I am always on the lookout for new gear, so if you work for a company that would like their gear reviewing or testing please contact me via my email link at the top of the page.
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