Palouse Gear Bag, With Some Surprise Omissions...

What’s Up?

As noted below, Wednesday, June 1, 2016 was a travel day, MCO to GEG. And then on to Pullman, WA.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks an insane 209 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, have been dropping steadily. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the left side of the lower menu bar above.

• Janet Horton sold her Canon EF 100-400 L IS lens in excellent condition for $549 in late-May 2016.
• KW McCulloch sold his Canon EOS 7D Mark II in very good plus condition for $800 in late May 2016.
• Arthur Morris sold his 1D X in excellent condition for $2199 on May 30.
• Arthur Morris sold his 7D Mark II in excellent condition for $749 on May 30.
• Arthur Morris sold his 5D Mark III in very good condition for $1299 on May 30.
• Joe Subolefsky sold his Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM lens and a 1.4X TC II, both in excellent condition, for $3,899 in late May.
• Robert Doster sold his used Canon EOS 7D body in excellent condition for $419 in early April.
• Sandra Calderbank sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in mint condition for $1599 in mid-April in one day.
• Jim Keener sold a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens in mint condition for $999 in early May.
• IPT veteran Bill Wingfield sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1498 in late April.
• IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
• KW McCulloch sold his used Canon 5D Mark III for $1499 in mid-May before it was even listed.
• Paul Roscoe sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition for $9450 in mid-May.
• The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III is pending.

New Listing

Canon EOS-1D X Professional Digital Camera Body

KW McCulloch is offering a used Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition for $2459. It comes in original box with the strap, the battery, the charger, the front cap, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Shutter count < 54K. Please contact KW by e-mail or by phone at 361/727-2652 (Central time).

I used, depended on, and loved two 1DX bodies since their release several years ago. artie

My Palouse Gear Bag: With Some Surprise Omissions…

I am typing online in the car early on Wednesday morning. And no, I am not driving. I am on the way–thanks to right-hand man Jim Litzenberg–to Orlando Airport en route to the the fabulous Palouse region of Eastern Washington state: tapestries of rolling farm fields dotted with both derelict and restored farmhouses and barns. I am meeting co-leader Denise Ippolito in Denver. From there we fly to Spokane, WA and then drive to Pullman.

What’s in the bag?

My #1 Canon EOS 5DS R will be my primary camera body while another will serve as a back-up. The 5DS R offers huge, high quality image files with mind-boggling fine detail and its full frame sensor offers complete wide and super wide angle coverage.

Both of these bodies have a Wimberley P-5 Camera Body Plate attached so that I can mount the camera body onto one of my Induro ballheads. (Note that both of the lightweight efficient Induro ballheads are still on sale for pennies. Or, if you like, you can get one of the much-too-heavy Really Wrong Stuff ballheads, the ones with so many large knobs so close together that they are difficult at best to work with. Oh, and did I mention that they RWS heads cost at least 4 times as much as the far superior Induro ballheads?) The gnarly rubber on the top of the P-5 plate allows for convenient single screw fastening with absolutely no slippage.

I am also taking my 5D Mark II that I had converted to infrared by Kolari Vision.

I was thrilled and somewhat surprised to learn that the Canon BG-E11 Battery Grip for the 5D Mark III also fits the 5D and the 5DS R. Except when I want to go really light, I love and use the vertical battery grips on my pro-sumer camera bodies; they give the camera a pro body feel and the vertical shutter button and controls are a nice plus when you turn your camera on the side.

After borrowing this amazing super wide angle lens for several big trips I finally broke down and purchased my very own Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM lens. It is killer for interior shots made inside the old houses and barns and it really rocks big skies. I have a few really good images from the Namibia trip that I made with this lens that I need to post here.

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens with Internal 1.4x Extender. I love long glass for landscapes both for their reach and their ability to compress compositional elements. The lens alone gets me to 560mm with the internal TC engaged and to 784mm with an external 1.4X III TC in place. Having the ability to zoom in and out effectively from 200-784mm makes the 2-4 that much more valuable on a Palouse trip. I would not be atop Steptoe Butte without it.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. My well worn copy of this extremely versatile lens will almost surely be my most used and valuable lens on this trip. Be sure to remember to take the tripod collar with a Wimberley P-20 plate in place for low light and perfectly aligned HDRs. The P-20 plate is perfect for most intermediate telephoto lenses and works perfectly with all Arca-Swiss compatible tripod heads (and clamps).

As there are some nice flowers in bloom in eastern Washington and I am leaving the 100-400 II at home, I decided to take the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens along. Ah, I almost forgot that I used this lens a lot last year for close-ups of the old cars and trucks.

The Canon Tripod Mount Ring D for IS 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens is not included as standard with the 100 macro IS, it requires a separate purchase. Bummer on that. Even worse when you buy one and lose it and have to replace it…

I have two Canon Extenders EF 1.4X III and a single Canon Extender EF 2X III in my Think Tank rolling bag. The former will be used with either the 70-200 or the 200-400 while the latter might be used in a pinch with the 70-200mm (when I am too lazy to lug the 200-400 around).

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. A while back I sold my 24-105 and purchased the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens but recently I got myself a new copy of the amazingly versatile 24-105 for several reasons:

1-it is image stabilized.
2-the 77mm filter size is much more convenient for me.
3-it is a perfect fit with the 11-24 and a pretty good fit with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II lens. Note how perfectly the 70-200 meshes with the 200-400.

I have my beloved Mongoose M3.6 tripod head along for use with both the 70-200 II and the 200-400, the latter with the CRX-5 Low Foot mounted so that the lens is centered right over the tripod. This prevents the lens torquing in the wind or when the tripod is set up slightly off kilter.

My Induro GIT 304L tripod is packed in one of my two checked bags. Jim did a fine job cleaning it up after I used it in saltwater on my last DeSoto outing. Those who are finally realizing that the Induro tripods are far superior to the more expensive Gitzo tripods are invited to contact me via e-mail; let me know how tall you are and I will let you know the perfect Induro tripod for you.

The Surprise Omissions

#1: Why take the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II along on a landscape and urbex trip when you own two 5DS R bodies? Ain’t no birds, ain’t no action, and ain’t no reason to take it.

#2: My much loved Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens is completely counterfeited by the 200-400 with the internal TC. The latter gives me a stop more light and 784mm of full frame reach with an external TC added. That as compared to 560mm with the 1-4II and the 1.4X III TC. So that I will not miss the amazing close-focusing capabilities of the 1-4II I am taking the 100 f/2.8L IS macro lens along for flowers and close-ups of the vintage cars and trucks.

#3: Though the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM lens is a great, all purpose wide angle zoom lens that–with IS–is easily hand held, I have all of its focal lengths covered with the 11-24 and the 24-105. For those who do not own the 11-24 this would be my preferred wide angle zoom lens.

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To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

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Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂