What's vital for my last accessory for the trip?

What is the most vital piece of equipment I can buy right now for the trip?

Since I will be taking a old canon tripod for some West Palm Beach sunset shoots I don't need a tripod.

I'm thinking a light meter I can use for the trip so I can get the best shots!

What do you gentleman and ladies think?

Spare batteries and memory cards would be my best guess. Maybe a Circular polarizer for each of your lenses if you dont have one already.

When are you leaving? If not for a while yet you should get this http://www.dealextreme​.com …s.dx/sku.14865~​r.58547694 since I didnt see a battery grip listed on http://geotagger.wordp​ress.com under your gear. Bought this exact same grip from them and I love it. Even the guy at a local camera shop (the shop wasnt one of the cookie cutter camera shops like Ritz Camera) said he was impressed with it, especially since it wasnt an Official Canon battery grip.

Eldorf_Dragonsbane wrote in post #6394809
Spare batteries and memory cards would be my best guess. Maybe a Circular polarizer for each of your lenses if you dont have one already.

When are you leaving? If not for a while yet you should get this http://www.dealextreme​.com/details.dx/sku.14​865~r.58547694 since I didnt see a battery grip listed on http://geotag.wordpres​s.com under your gear. Bought this exact same grip from them and I love it. Even the guy at a local camera shop (the shop wasnt one of the cookie cutter camera shops like Ritz Camera) said he was impressed with it, especially since it wasnt an Official Canon battery grip.

Hey Eldorf, I'm leaving this coming Wednesday. and I don't have a po lens filter.

And I could get the battery grip but seriously whats the purpus of the grip though? and I have 3x 4 gig memsticks I think I'm fine in that department and I have 2 x batteries with a lot of double aa's for the flash.

Anything else?

Derek- The battery grip preforms a few different functions, 1) Provides extra battery power since you can use two battery packs in it at once. 2) Allows you to use AA batteries to power your camera (using the AA battery magazine). 3) Allows for more ergonomically use when shooting vertical shots (since the grip in the link above has a shutter button for vertical shots). 4) Adds more bulk to the camera so that your last finger (or two fingers) on your right hand arent being tucked under the camera, they are now actually being used to grip the camera, providing more support.

As I already mentioned a Circular Polarizer, they actually preform more then one function. A Circular Polarizer will cut down reflections on the surface of water or water like surfaces, it will make your colors more vivid (ie blue skies will be bluer), and it will also help protect the glass at the end of your lens.

Since you said you have 3-4GB cards memory might be fine, though If you have a way to backup your photos while down there that will be a plus. If you have the money to spare something like the Epson P-5000 http://www.ritzcamera.​com/product/EP6389213.​htm would be nice. The P-5000 is a portable media reader so that you can back up your photos, and you can also view them on the readers LCD screen. The P-5000 is about $700 and it has an 80GB capacity. There are brands other then Epson that you can get. Just using the Epson as an example.

Every time I meet up with Jon he has something I want or think I need. I hate him for it, but love him for making my gadget collection insane. If you have unlimited money, which I don't, but I love my Epson P-2000, which I use as a viewer and an external download drive. It is so beautiful that I can sort through the images quickly or put the few that are amazing on a SD card and show everyone. So, that's my first recommendation if you have money to spare and want a neat toy to play with.

The best things to buy before a trip are tools to organize your stuff. For instance, Jon gave me some old Sucrets boxes I use to put batteries in. Wow, that helped so much. And then he showed me his filter wallet, I have a few filters, they were still in their original boxes, which got ridiculous in my bag for space, and that helped a lot. Now all are in that wallet and I can just keep track of all of them at once. So, things like that, to make your equipment easier to locate and store are key for traveling.

Eldorf_Dragonsbane, $701 is a little too much for me I only have $2000 to spend on the trip and I want something I can "USE" on the trip to make the shot better and I wouldn't have to guess as much.


SuzyView, Thank you ma'am or sir, but I have a camera bag I use for all that good stuff but I'm going to buy a sleeve so I can protect my camera against the waves and rain.

The P-5000 was just an example of a portable media reader. You can find them cheaper if you look, and you can also purchase some readers that do not include a hard drive so that you can use your own (I believe they mostly use 2.5" drives a.k.a. laptop hard drives). A portable media reader would allow you to take more photos, when one card gets full pop it into the reader and start copying the pics, while you are shooting with another card. That way you can then reformat the first card when you are ready to use it again.

Another item that might be helpful is a light meter. If you get a good one you can tell it what ISO you want to shoot at and it will tell you the aperture and the speed to shoot at. Though for one of these your looking at a at least a few hundred bucks (approx $200-$500 depending on the model you get). If you want a professional recommendation I can tell you the one Scott Kelby uses and recommends in his book "The Digital Photography Book Vol. 2," he uses the Sekonic L-385 which retails for about $250-$280 depending on the retailer.

Again these are just suggestions on what may make your life easier based on the recommendations of others that I have received or that I have read either online or in books.

If you haven't got a CP, you need one at least. After that, a tri- or monopod. Even if you have a good bag already, smaller holders for batteries, cards, and the like will make it much easier to grab what you need without looking. That's also one of the advantages of a well-organized photo vest.

Thanks guys and Jon, What s a cp? "newbie alert"

DerekRob wrote in post #6399502
Thanks guys and Jon, What s a cp? "newbie alert"

CP
CPL
Circular Polarizer

FlyingPhotog, Oh duh. now I feel really dumb lol.