gregpphoto
8th of September 2008 (Mon), 13:29
Recently I bought a Tamrac 517 tele-zoom top loader, and augmented it with the tamrac chest harness. The result?
When I hike, I have no problem stopping, swinging my pack off, getting my gear and shooting, as long as the subject makes it worth it. But when it comes to your less-artistic, more documentational (that's not a word?) snapshot kind of photo, I can't always arouse my interest enough to want to go through that process. So I figured if I could have the camera right there in front of me at all times, but still protected from the elements, I'd be set to take those photos more often, just to have them to look at. I probably have less snapshot photos of myself of my hikes than I have fingers and toes.
So now, I have a way to keep my camera dry and away from dirt and rocks while I hike, and snug to my chest so it wont swing around. It'll hold the body and a 70-200 2.8 attached, which is the biggest lens I own. Combined with lens pouches worn on my belt, I now have a more modular and segmented version of your common camera bag, complete with two Sea to Summit Dry Bags to waterproof the whole package should the weather turn extra sour. Instead of three, four, maybe five pounds (my Lowepro Dryzone Rover is about $225 and 5lbs), you wind up with maybe two to maybe three, plus lenses.
Try it out, for $60 you get the harness and 517 and a lot more photos to show for it.
When I hike, I have no problem stopping, swinging my pack off, getting my gear and shooting, as long as the subject makes it worth it. But when it comes to your less-artistic, more documentational (that's not a word?) snapshot kind of photo, I can't always arouse my interest enough to want to go through that process. So I figured if I could have the camera right there in front of me at all times, but still protected from the elements, I'd be set to take those photos more often, just to have them to look at. I probably have less snapshot photos of myself of my hikes than I have fingers and toes.
So now, I have a way to keep my camera dry and away from dirt and rocks while I hike, and snug to my chest so it wont swing around. It'll hold the body and a 70-200 2.8 attached, which is the biggest lens I own. Combined with lens pouches worn on my belt, I now have a more modular and segmented version of your common camera bag, complete with two Sea to Summit Dry Bags to waterproof the whole package should the weather turn extra sour. Instead of three, four, maybe five pounds (my Lowepro Dryzone Rover is about $225 and 5lbs), you wind up with maybe two to maybe three, plus lenses.
Try it out, for $60 you get the harness and 517 and a lot more photos to show for it.