The Problem
I shoot both stills and video which often requires me too carry both a fluid head and a ballhead in the field. Not wanting to carry two tripods, I very quickly realized that it took far too much time and frustration to swap the fluid head for the ballhead under any sort of time pressure (as is often the case in the field) and guessed there had to be a better way.
The Solution
I have always been a fan of Really Right Stuff’s products. They are the photographic gear equivalent of a high-end german car – engineered to perfection. As soon as I realized my problem swapping tripod heads in the field, I began combing their product lineup for some ideas. What I found is a solution so elegant, I wanted to share it. Continue reading How to use the same tripod for video and stills →
Overview
Just under a year ago, I received a call from my friend Dewitt Jones telling me I needed to check out this cool new camera bag he was using. “It was made for you!” he exclaimed. The bag Dewitt was referring to was the new MindShift rotation 180 Professional and anything that Dewitt takes the trouble to give me a call about, I take seriously.
I have been kicking the tires on my new rotation 180 pro for the last week and am thoroughly impressed. I would venture to say it is the greatest leap forward in camera bag technology since the Domke F2.
Here is why…
Continue reading The Ultimate Bag for Adventure Photography? →
In 2002 I was a freshly minted graduate from Brooks Institute, and had just received the opportunity of a lifetime – a one year contract to move to India and teach at a newly opened photo college. To facilitate a quick departure from the USA, I took all my possessions and in a feat of amazing, Herculean and smart packing crammed everything into a 6’×10′ storage unit in Santa Barbara, California. In my mind, I envisioned living and teaching in India for a year, then returning to southern California with tales of adventure and glory and picking up where my life left off.
This is not what happened.
Continue reading What I Learned from Five Years in Mini Storage →
Note: As a follower of The Nomadic Photographer, you are eligible for a 10% discount on all Peak Design Products. Use the coupon code “kingston” at checkout or simply follow this link to have it automatically entered for you.
I am a huge fan of Peak Design’s CapturePro camera clip. After my first trip using it to carry my Nikon D4 in various Alaskan conditions, I knew I could never go back to a using standard camera strap during extended assignments. The CapturePro saved both my neck and my wrist while carrying my heavy rig for days on end. One of the things I appreciated most about the system was the ingenious Leash safety strap that rapidly adjusted to any length and doubled as a bracing /stabilizing strap when running and gunning video on the fly. The width of the leash strap never bothered me because it never carried the full weight of my camera for any extended period of time thanks to the CapturePro system.
Fortunately or unfortunately – not all my assignments are extended affairs. For short shoots and grab shots where I didn’t bother putting on the CapturePro camera clip – I found that the leash strap was somewhat lacking in the comfort department. Shortly after this realization, I contacted Peak Design to beg them to design a wider strap that used their pioneering Anchor system. As if I had rubbed the proverbial genie bottle, the next day a note appeared in my inbox from Peak Design letting me know that a wider strap – called Slide – was already under development and that they would send one my way when it was finished.
Slide arrived on my doorstep the other day and I have been kicking its tires since. In a nutshell Peak Design has broken new ground with Slide. In my opinion it is the best camera strap on the market for the following reasons: Continue reading Hands-on review of Peak Design’s new Slide camera strap →
Jonathan Kingston Explores the World in Search of Images and Insights
