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Digging the Crumpler Industry Disgrace

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Add another accessory to my DSLR Camera Starter Kit. That would be the Crumpler Industry Disgrace neck strap. Yeah, so your DSLR camera comes with a neck strap already, but it sucks. It’s stiff, it’s rough, it cuts into your neck, and when slung over your shoulder, it slides off too easily. Trust your beaten skin, a replacement is in order.

The Industry Disgrace in Brown

That’s where Crumpler’s Industry Disgrace comes in. A little pricey especially if you get a cool urban camo print, but it’s worth the comfort. The Disgrace is softer and comfily padded (yeah, if comfy is a word so is comfily). There’s a real soft neoprene strip right where the weight of the camera meets your neck so instead of the edge of the strap digging into your neck, all you feel is that soft cool padding.

And stylistically done is Crumpler’s name on the underside of the strap, providing grip. Instead of coating the entire underside with grip (for too much traction), only Crumper’s logo-ed name is the grippy part. Nice.

So yeah, get the Industry Disgrace, and you definitely won’t be disgraced wearing it.

Blinging Up

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Not as snazzy as the brown camo design that’s unavailable from Amazon, but this brown Crumpler “The Industry Disgrace” looks comfy and slip proof.

Not quite Starter Kit material, but this extra purchase should prevent some aches and scratches.

Traveling with a Lowepro Fastpack 250

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After going on a short jaunt with my new Lowepro Fastpack 250 backpack, here are a few things I noticed.  

Tough

The bag is tough, providing enough protection for all the gear inside.  It also has a semi-rigid structure to help retain its shape and not cave in on your equipment.

Big but small enough

At first glance, the 250 is large.  Bigger than I had imagined.  It’s not necessarily the right size for casual toting of your DSLR equipment, but it can hold it all.  The 250 has a laptop pocket which is more than spacious enough for a 15-in MacBook Pro.  The MBP slides in easily without worrying about getting scratches from the bag’s zippers.  This laptop space is also good for a notebook since it can’t fit anywhere else.  The bottom half of the bag held my camera and gear and a bunch of chargers, cables, GPS, and other junk.  I put the easily accessible items in the top half of the 250, stuff like my iPod, earphones, snacks, and reading material.

Although the Fastpack 250 is big, it easily fits in the airplane.  The bag has lots of room in the overhead bins and slides in nicely under the seat.  Because the bag is a semi-rigid and retains its shape well, it’s easy to stow without spilling over.

Comfort

Even fully loaded, the Fastpack 250 was comfortable to wear.  I more or less wore the backpack everywhere, not wanting to leave behind my equipment. Still there were no straps cutting into my shoulders and no backaches.  I didn’t use the waist strap, instead using it like a bumper against the small of my back.

The simple pleasures

What makes the 250 a solid pack are its simple pleasures. The adjustable side pocket for water bottles – excellent! This pocket can accommodate small or large (1 liter) bottles of water. The side zipping access for the laptop and camera are are more useful in my opinion.

All in all, I’m happy to travel with my Lowepro Fastpack 250.

Seriously, I Can’t Control My Camera

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I’m still learning how to control my Canon Rebel T1i DSLR camera.  While it takes great pictures, sometimes, it does things I don’t want it to do.  The main thing I’m working on is focusing on the right subject and getting the right depth of field.  Here are some examples of my untamed photography.

Like the detail of the crouton but the soup is blurry
How much detail of breadcrust do you need?
Depth of field issues
Focus on the burger
Focus on the entire plate
My uncontrollable camera thinks that's Ann Kobayashi in the back

DSLR Camera Starter Kit

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So I’m no photo pro, nor do I aim to be. I just take a bunch of pictures and wanted an upgrade to the point and shoot world. The digital SLR world is huge with so much to learn but yeah, I’m more the automatic-mode-picture-taking kind of guy. 😉

After doing some research, here are some items for a DSLR camera starter kit. Some factors for picking these items:

  • Lower cost for entry level learning. Like I said, I don’t aspire to be a professional photographer, so I don’t want to spend the bucks.
  • Amazon availability. These items are sold through Amazon which ships to Hawaii for free. I would have picked other products sold by third party vendors but the additional shipping was cost prohibitive.

A little more about this list:

With this gear, check out these simple, short, and extremely useful Canon tutorials. Most of these are 3 minutes long and explain topics in easy to understand ways. Here’s one on choosing lenses. Fantastic!

Looking for a Camera Bag

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On the hunt for a camera bag to hold a DSLR, a lens or two, and a bunch of other stuff.  The ability to tote a laptop is probably a good idea in the long run since at least you have the option rather than carrying a second bag.

Nothing too fancy or expensive either.  The two contenders are the Lowepro Fastpack 250 and the Kata KT DR-467.  The Kata looks way cooler and has well thought out additions to the bag, but it looks like the DR line is going through a line up change with “i” revisions.  But finding the new 467i model ain’t easy, especially in Hawaii.  Amazon doesn’t yet offer the i models and in general, the Kata bags are sold through 3rd party vendors without the free super saver shipping, increasing the cost by around $20-30.

So it looks like it’ll be the Lowepro which has excellent reviews and an interesting side access panel to easily pull out your DSLR. Both bags are bigger and bulkier than I had wanted, but it’s the obvious trade off of wanting to carry more or less in the packs.

Thinking of a Flash

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Looking to get a beginner’s flash to go along with my DSLR camera. The Canon Speedlite 430EX II looks good enough for me and is on sale at Amazon through January 16.

Subject change: the LinkWithin related posts and images are so random.

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