We are preparing for a long trip to Mexico, followed by a short visit in Denver, and another long trip later this summer to Montana, a really wanted to find something a little “cooler” than our big hiking boots.

This is what we got:

Vibram Five Fingers- $80/$85

We LOVE them!!

They are the most comfortable shoes we have ever worn, next to just being barefoot.

And -

No, surprisingly they do not make your toes feel uncomfortable, although the first time you put them on your toes really don’t have a clue what to do, but after that – It’s Cake!

I’m not going to waste you’re time listing every little piece of equipment we own but I will tell you what we mainly use.

We both use:
Canon 7D bodies
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Canon EF 2x extender
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 wide angle
Canon Speedlite 580EX II flashes

For backup: (We used our XSi to take these photos.)
Canon XSi body
Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Accessories:

Think Tank Carry-On Bag

Lowepro bags

Manfrotto tripod

I’ll post later about some of the neat gadgets and other gear we like.

Feel free to comment on what you like to use,we’d love to hear from you!

On December 11th, the photo of the day was one that Ryan took of me with my new Canon EF 70-200 Lens; this photograph is one that I took of Ryan that same day, at Silver Lake, using his new 70-200 lens.

As I promised on the 11th, there will be a review of these amazing lenses coming soon!

My first time shooting with my new Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM Lens! Wow!!

I will post more about the AMAZING qualities of this lens soon!

PS- If you see Ryan, ask him how I got that burn on my right hand. 

(It’s about time I get one, since Ryan claimed the other one we have!)

As soon as I got a battery in the camera, a young shopper saw our tripod set up in the floor at the perfect height for him and kindly asked to use it. 

So, I placed the new camera on the tripod and let him fire away.

He took this photo of me:

(The first photograph taken with the new 7D)

 And I took this photo of him (with Ryan’s 7D):

Isn’t he adorable!

He’s 3 years old and knows exactly how to work that camera!

We chose this bag for multiple reason.

It could hold our camera, multiple extras lenses, and still had room for all of the other random stuff we may need to take along.

You can easily rotate the bag off of your shoulder to access your camera gear without having to take it off.

A mono-pod will fit perfectly on the front of the bag

It has a built in raincoat, which we have had to use on multiple occasions during surprise downpours. You can read about one here.

AND, It  is really great to carry and has fantastic ratings.

We love it.

BUT, we purchased a Manfrotto Tripod light enough to take on hikes, and then the 7D.

So, we had a dilemma, we needed two bags, so that we could both take a camera with us everywhere we go, and we really needed a bag that could hold a tripod.

So, we looked and looked and looked.

And we found that Lowepro is the only camera bag manufacturer whose bags are really made for using.

We had simple parameters for purchasing another bag:  It must hold a tripod, have a raincoat, and be carried on your back. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask for, to me.

The Lowepro Primus was our bag.

It has everything we need, plus some.  And, if you are a big fan of using recycled materials, this bag is made  of  100% post consumer recycled fabric.  In fact, it contains approximately 22 soda bottles!

We  purchased the perfect bag, and it just happens to be Green!

Yesterday we took the bag with the tripod on a hike for the first time.   We were both shocked to find that it perfectly molds to your body and the weight of the tripod disappears! It is a great bag!

It also has an easy access pocket so that you don’t have to take it off to get your camera gear. Although, if your camera is any bigger than the 7D you may have trouble getting it in and out through the side pocket, it is a little small.

Our local Canon Store had one on back order for a customer and when it arrived the customer didn’t want it. What were they thinking??

We went to pick up within a couple hours of them calling and saying they had one unclaimed.

We love it!

We spent the weekend back in West Virginia, taking lots and lots of pictures, and very quickly got accustomed to using the new camera.

We found NOTHING that we didn’t love about it.   It blows our XSi off the map.

I am going to tell you the two very minor issues we had FIRST, and then tell you the unlimited reasons why the 7D is worth it’s weight in gold.

SO, the two tiny tiny issues:

• The 7D takes compact flash cards instead of SD cards.  We had to invest in $90 worth of compact flash cards.  No biggie, in the long run.     We got two 8gb cards, which will hold about 300 RAW files. I KNOW the files are HUGE!  That’s what 18 MP will give you!
• When we uploaded our first batch to the computer we couldn’t view the files.  After a very brief panic, I realized that Adobe had a Camera RAW update available, I downloaded it and all was right in the world.  (You won’t have this problem if you shoot JPEGs)

That’s it. Those were the only issues we had with the 7D.

So that I don’t bore you with a list 5 miles long of things I love about it.  I would just like to say the camera is awesome and the picture quality, especially color, is AMAZING.

To prove it, I will be posting pictures here and on smugmug ASAP!

Please let me know if you have any questions about the 7D. Or about the 7D versus the XSi.

PS- To negate the one negative comment that I continue seeing about the 7D:

It is heavy, heavier than the XSi, and to me, to us, that’s great!

The extra weight makes it feel better in your hands.  It is not too heavy.

So, the next day he went to our local camera shop to check out tripods, with a plan to buy a small lightweight tripod that could be easily set up close to the ground.

This is what he ended up with:

A Manfrotto tripod, that has an adjustable camera mount arm that allows you to move the camera to the left or right of the tripod.

We took advantage of this feature when shooting the beach from the balcony of our condo in Myrtle Beach.  We used the stability of the tripod and the adjustable arm to take pictures, including 30 second night-time exposures, down the beach with the camera over the balcony railing!

The other awesome thing about it is that the legs will lay flat, meaning you could use the tripod’s stability with the camera an inch from the ground! The next time I am set up to take pictures of flowers or bugs, I will photograph the set up to show you. It is cool!

A Manfrotto tripod ball head, an absolutely necessary tripod accessory!  This head allows you to rotate the camera in basically any direction.  You can follow a bird across the sky while the camera is on the tripod with ease!

He also got a quick release tripod mount for the camera, no more time wasted screwing the camera on each time!

This set up is amazing!

PS- We do love Manfrotto, we also have a Manfrotto monopod that is super light weight and doubles as a walking stick when not in use.  AND, we have had NO problem taking the monopod through the airport as a carry on! We attach it to the outside of our camera bag and take it right through security!

If you have any intention of ever getting into Macro or wildlife photography this tripod is a must have!

We have only had it for a little over a week and it has allowed us to take photographs that we never could have by holding the camera in our hands or with our heavy traditional tripod.

No, we are not endorsed by Manfrotto. I wish we were! We would be great Manfrotto sales people

Happy belated Birthday Baby!

I didn’t even have to think about what to get him, I knew exactly what he wanted; which is awesome, because he is usually very difficult to buy gifts for.

It was a little expensive, but I knew he wouldn’t complain.

I got him a Macro Lens, a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens.

A Macro Lens is used for close-up shots because the lens actually magnifies what you are shooting.

Fantastic for bugs and flowers!

He loved it, it was exactly what he wanted.

Here is a close up of the anatomy of a hibiscus flower I took with the lens while we were in Myrtle Beach.

It is Awesome!!

Yes, I love it too!

The funny part of the story is that, as I said, Ryan’s birthday was August 29th, but I gave him the lens on August 20th, because on August 18th, I accidentially told him what I got him. . .

It went something like this:

Ryan is holding the camera and I say, “You’re going to love your birthday present.”

Ryan says, “I am sure I will.”

I respond, “It is something you want and I think I might give it to you a little early.”

“Why?”

“Because you might want to use it!  You will want to use it!”

“Okay.”

“Did I just ruin it, do you know what it is?”

“No not yet, I have an idea, don’t tell me.”

“Well you may know it’s a lens but you don’t know which one! Oops! Damn it! I am not saying anything else about it.”

“Hahaha, you can’t resist can you?”

“I am not telling you anymore.”

Then Ryan begins talking about lenses and which ones he wants and I say, “I decided to get the Mac. . . shit. Well now you know, I don’t have to stress about trying not to tell you anymore.”

So, when it arrived in the mail two days later, I gave it to him.

He was happy!

Click the link below to see a couple of the first pictures we took with the new lens:

http://dumbyoungins.smugmug.com/Photography/Flowers/9392464_eRzpF#629070392_PJvP8

Our choice was the EOS Rebel XSi by Canon.

We LOVE it!!

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You can see pictures we have taken with it here, and here; and I’m sure we will take plenty of pictures in Vegas this weekend!