Review: Solomon Shoes

I ran across the Solomon shoes on one of my many trips to REI and tried them on just for kicks because of the cool looking laces. From that moment I was hooked. I've always known Solomon as a winter ski equipment company. Who knew they could make a darn good shoe. The best part about them is the laces. The best part about any of the Solomon shoes with these snazzy laces is they just work and work perfectly every time. No more retying your laces to get them just snug enough two minutes into your run. With marketing terms like quickfit, asymmetrical lacing and sensifit how could you go wrong. I have to admit that ever since those velcro shoes came out in the 80's and then the self tying shoes in Back To The Future I've been hooked on easy to lace shoes, and these are the best I've come across yet. I own the cheapest pair of running shoes they make and the aquatic amphibian shoes and love both of them. From what I can tell after looking at the Solomon website the aquatic shoes are being discontinued. Solomon has a low end running shoe and some higher more pricey gor-tex models. I find that the gor-tex shoes don't fit my foot so I stick with the cheap ones.

Review: Patagonia Down Jacket

We have a Patagonia outlet here in Santa Cruz and every year they have some amazing sales. A few years back I picked up the Patagonia down jacket in yellow and I absolutely love it. I shopped around for the best down jacket and by far I liked the Patagonia the best. Not only is the color totally swanky (they don't make the yellow anymore which is a bummer), but the feel of the fabric is awesome. The stuff sack that comes with it fits nicely in an inside zippered pocket. Some down jackets have a reversible inside pocket that doubles as a stuff sack. The Missus has one like this. While it means you can't loose the stuff sack it sure makes it a lot more difficult to stuff. I've used mine in sub zero degree weather and it kept me nice and toasty. There isn't really anything else to say about a down jacket other than I highly recommend it.

Epson Printer Compatibility with Leopard

A while back I talked about why I'm not upgrading to Leopard just yet and one of the big road blocks for me is the lack of printer support. Epson announced today via a FAQ that can be read here that they will be releasing a driver for most of the Epson professional printers including my Epson 4800. You can download a beta of the driver here. That's great news but I have a few friends that have the very expensive Epson 7600 that will not get an updated driver. I'm surprised at Epson considering how much one of these printers cost. I'll think twice the next time I recommend an Epson printer to anyone. Considering the fact that I've had two Epson 2200 printers die and my 4800 has firewire problems I'll think twice about buying another Epson myself. I continue hear great things about the latest generation of HP and Canon printers.

Review: Petzl Zipka LED Headlamp

I purchased the Petzl Zipka LED Headlamp earlier in the year and wish I had bought it sooner. My old headlamp is one of the first generation LED headlamps. It was great then, but it doesn't even compare to what is out there now.

Powered by three AAA batteries the Zipka is tiny. It fits in any pocket or pouch and it is really bright. I've been hesitant to replace my old headlamp because it takes only two AA batteries and I like all my gear, especially backpacking gear, to use AA batteries so I only need to carry one backup set. But now I've changed how I think about this. I've decided to just bring an extra Zipka headlamp for the group because I've had headlamps fail not just the batteries. I've been watching the headlamps for some time now and they all have gone to AAA batteries, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I thought the the retractable mini-band was silly at first. The Missus put it on and the first thing she commented on is it didn't pull her hair. So for people with long hair, this might just be the headlamp for you. I personally like how the retractable mini-band will fit around almost anything; put it on your head, helmet, arm, pack or wherever you need some light. I found it can hang from the inside of the tent providing enough light for the entire tent.

Petzl fixed two of the problems with the previous version; it is now water-resistant and has a button to choose between 4 different modes; high, medium, low, strobe. You can also buy a colored lens kit for star gazing where you require a red lens. I haven't tried swapping out lenses yet. They say it's easy but I don't want to break anything.

So for any outdoors person I highly recommend the Petzl Zipka LED Headlamp, and that you buy it from Amazon because they seem to have the best price.

The Other Equipment

Often times I find the equipment that isn't photographic gear goes unrecognized so I figured I'd write a few posts over the next couple weeks reviewing the gear that I use that helps me take pictures but isn't picture taking equipment. Since Christmas is just around the corner this seems very fitting. Especially since photography equipment no matter how small can have a very high price tag. Many of these items are perfect gifts for any outdoor photographer.

Petzl Zipka LED Headlamp
Patagonia Down Jacket
Solomon Shoes
Kinesys Performance Sunscreen
Kleen Kanteen and SIGG Water Bottles

Field Guide 101: Graduated Neutral-Density Filter

Tuolumne Meadows

Yosemite National Park, 2005

Graduated neutral-density filters allow you to control contrast between two elements of a photograph. Typically this is a forground and background like the photo above. There are a few choices of filter types. I find the one-stop filter to be pointless since there are typically two to three stops difference between foreground and background. For this reason I only carry the two-stop and three-stop soft-edged graduated filters.

When I first started using graduated filters I bought a filter holder and adapters for the different sized lenses I own. I now just hold the filter in front of the lens by the sides. This approach is faster to put the graduated filter in place, easier to adjust the filter and when the light is changing I can swap filters in a flash. Remember to use the graduated filter you need to remove the lens hood.

Using graduated filters can be difficult with gloves so I wear a thin set of glove liners for colder conditions such as when I took the photo above at Tuolumne Meadows after the first snow. I have been toying around with creating the same effect as graduated filters in post processing but I haven't come to a conclusion which produces higher quality photos. There definitely are situations with tree lines where it isn't worth doing in post processing, so Photoshop hasn't completely replaced filters.

Review: Nikon Snap-On Lens Cap

A few years back I was shooting with some Nikon users and noticed that most of them had the slickest lens caps I'd ever seen. These are the Nikon Snap-On Lens Caps. I borrowed one for a few hours and when I got home immediately placed an order for one to test more.

Not only do they have the standard tabs on the edges to release the lens cap, but they also have a larger set right in the middle of the cap. This means that when you go to put on the lens cap or remove it you won’t bump your oily little fingers on the lens element (or filter if you use that sort of thing). The additional tabs also make it easier for larger hand folks to get in there with the lens hood on to remove or apply the lens cap. Also those larger additional tabs make it easier for when you are wearing gloves in cold weather.

I love these lens caps and over time have been replacing my lens caps on my most used lenses with these awesome little lens caps. I typically use B&H Photo to buy camera equipment but I found Amazon to be a little less expensive. So here are some quick links to the 58mm, 67mm, 72mm and 77mm Nikon Snap-On Lens Caps at Amazon.