#TravelTuesday with Dave (that’s me) is here again! Starting with the travel before we get into the photography, it’s getting closer and closer to a re-booked flight to Iceland I postponed from late last year. I was due to travel in October but things weren’t looking good, COVID-wise, so I shifted the trip to March. I’m starting to think that maybe I had false hope! We’ll see, only time will tell, but in the meantime I’m looking forward to the Travel Photography Conference next week where I’ll be presenting two classes:
But today I actually want to lay down some particularly useful photo gear advice. Here it is!
There are two pieces of gear which are worth investing in because they support our most important items – our camera and our lens. Those two things are our tripod and our straps.
When it comes to tripods, think of it this way: that three legged thing (see what I did there?) is responsible for holding up our camera and it’s important we choose a tripod that can achieve this without compromise. It needs to be strong, robust, sturdy, and a whole load of other adjectives, so that it meets this goal and performs not only to help us capture the best images whilst being portable and functional, but also protects the gear it carries. I’ve tried and tested plenty of tripods and derivatives thereof, and I’ve landed on the following two companies to ensure my gear is kept safe whilst being all-round awesome when it comes to photography: –
3LeggedThing, and Platypod
Both of these companies are run by people who have a genuine passion for photography and who pay great attention to detail to ensure only the very best quality ends up in our arsenal.
The other item on the agenda, straps, is exactly the same but in reverse. Rather than having our gear mounted atop, it hangs below. The strength, quality, and robustness of the camera strap we choose is incredibly important. Before I made the very smart decision to use BlackRapid straps every time my camera was slung, I made the very silly decision to buy a cheap alternative. It was whilst shooting a wedding some years back that I realised just how silly a decision that was when my camera hit the deck after the low-quality stitching on the strap failed and my camera, complete with a heavy lens and hotshoe flash, dropped a couple of feet. It was only because of the way they fell and the foot they hit that it didn’t cost me a new lens!
My point today has been made, but to summarise:
There are things among our photography gear where it can be effective and worthwhile taking a risk on a lower priced item. When it comes to straps and tripods, do not take this risk! The survival of our most expensive and main tool – our camera – depends on our wise choices with these two things. Trust me.
So for this week, with fingers crossed that the world opens up again soon, that’s me done.
Much love
Dave