silverorange stuff

This is a continuation of my review of the Think Tank Urban Disguise 50 (UD50) and how it compares to the slightly smaller Urban Disguise 35 (UD35). They are very similar bags but yet feel very different in use.

The company description:

The Urban Disguise shoulder bags allow you to travel in style and protect your valuable equipment without attracting attention to yourself as a photographer. Holds SLR and up to a 13.3” laptop. This is the perfect size for photographers on the go, since it holds up to a 13.3” laptop with a standard-size SLR or up to a 10” laptop with a Pro-size SLR with lens attached. It features a large opening for easy access to equipment and can be attached to a roller. It can be used as a backpack with the Shoulder Harness (sold separately).

This is part 4 in the search for a perfect camera bag. Read part 1: Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW, part 2: Lowepro Computrekker AW and part 3: Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home. The company description:

The Urban Disguise shoulder bags allow you to travel in style and protect your valuable equipment without attracting attention to yourself as a photographer. This will hold more gear than you ever imagined, and a 15” laptop! (Check dimensions for exact size of the compartment). It is very similar to the Urban Disguise 30 except that it features the added rear compartment. The front compartment will hold a wide angle with a hood attached, a 24-70 2.8 with the hood, a 70 -200 2.8 with the hood reversed, AND two pro-size SLR’s in the expandable front pockets (without the lenses attached). A regular size SLR with a lens attached can also be put straight down inside of the bag. Strobes fit into the side stretch pockets, as well.

A tripod can be your best friend or that annoying friend. For the most part, a tripod takes away any hope of traveling light and it dramatically affects the speed, convenience and sometimes fun of photography. However, without one, some shots are very difficult to capture hand held.

Keeping a tripod in the car is easy but when traveling, I rarely check any luggage and I'd prefer not trying to take my Manfrotto (22 inches folded) as carry-on (let alone carry it around all day). This is where either my GorillaPod or lately the Giottos GB1060 comes in handy.

Two of us at silverorange own R-Straps. The RS-1 and RS-3. As demonstrated in this video, the concept is fairly straight forward. Instead of the camera strap being attached to the top of the camera and around your neck, this strap is connected to the bottom of the camera and is used like a shoulder bag.

Mpix is a division of Miller’s Professional Imaging. Miller’s was founded in 1939, and is the largest professional photography lab in the United States. The company has production facilities in Pittsburg, Kansas and Columbia, Missouri.

I have only known of Mpix for about a year but with all the recent hype, it was time to give them a try. Keeping this review reasonably short, here are my first impressions from both Mpix Prints and Mpix Press. Surprisingly for a print company, shipping, packaging and customer service are my areas of focus.

I'm not a fan of camera neck straps. I've tried them and find them irritating, so for the past couple of years I have been using a messenger style bag and free holding my camera when in use. I suppose you could consider this a risk with a high chance of me dropping it.

Recently I have been using Op/Tech's wrist strap and have been loving it. It may not be the nicest or best built but it's strong enough to provide that extra security and small enough to not get in the way. It also costs less then $10.

There is not much to be said about it. On one end there is a loop you slide your hand in and on the other is a slipknot connection to your camera. The two sides are attached with a quick release buckle.

It's as simple as wearing a wristband that quickly attaches to your camera when needed.

Buy this product from Amazon

This past week I was warned that my backup drives were out of space and my primary storage had less then 15GB. I could add more external drives to the stack while maintaining the headache, or I could stop dreaming about it and just buy a Drobo.

I had many concerns about Drobo and after reading a number of opinions, I took my chances based on the positive reviews and ordered last years first generation USB model.

Most other reviews are based around the general specs and how it's this new and fantastic data robot. I'll not repeat that.