Hi everyone,

I’m not on this occasion referring to the love of my life although of course that’s perennially true 🙂 . Some time back I bought a tiny 20 MP Nikon Coolpix A100 camera as a backup camera that I could use on holiday and for the evenings when I just wanted to wander around, chill with a nice meal and a beer (or two) 🙂 without being in any way weighed down with gear. It really is a shirt pocket fitting camera. Independently I bought an equally tiny Joby Micro Tripod For Compact Video Cameras https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005HY4TXS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 intending to use it on one of my other cameras. As it turned out I’ve never used it much but it’s a great match for the A100. As this camera is very light and it has a tripod bush on the very end of the camera it more than supports the weight and, importantly, it allows access to the camera’s battery and card compartment which is located on the bottom plate at the opposite end to the tripod bush and thus it can be left fitted at all times. The micro tripod has a ball head allowing positioning and for style gurus (not me) 🙂 cosmetically it’s a good match. Apologies for the poor picture quality, these were taken in poor light with my G10 but they serve the purpose.

Kind regards,

Leigh

Hi everyone,

As I think that most of you know I like to carry an absolute minimal amount of photographic gear and I’ve been giving some thought to why I always pack some things with me. Now bare in mind that I’m not embarking on a month long trip up the Amazon River or suchlike and I’m always within, at the most, a few hours of civilisation, why do I, for example carry two or three spare batteries when one fully-charged spare would almost certainly do? as the only time that I can remember flattening three batteries in a day was some years ago in Rome. Likewise why do I carry several “spare” memory cards when one would surely suffice?. Then there’s other accessories like filters, sure I very occasionally use one but is it worth habitually carrying one or two when the 99.9% or more of my shots aren’t taken with one. Lastly there’s my lens shade for my LCD, it’s very useful in bright sunlight when travelling in hot countries, that’s why I got it, but otherwise it’s not required and, anyway, I very rarely use the LCD as I much prefer the EVF and I never CHIMP. Okay these items aren’t unduly heavy or bulky but do I need to pack them?, nine times out of ten or more I most certainly don’t. For my photographic interest all I typically need is a small, lightweight camera, a few small, lightweight lenses, a spare battery and memory card that’s about it. Basically all I’m doing, albeit somewhat late in the day, is applying my long-standing logic regarding camera and lenses to everything else in my bag. Once one let’s go of the notion that one “simply must” carry these things around, “just in case” then it becomes quite liberating.

Kind regards,

Leigh

Hi folks,

Well one’s got to do something to pass the time in lockdown. 🙂

Stay safe, kind regards,

Leigh

PS. I did a quick ready-reckon and for genuine Olympus lens hoods to fit five of my M.Zuiko lenses it came to just short of £190 whereas their cheaper equivalents came to less than £80 so a huge saving. I can and have bought a lens with that saving!.