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By Root 149 0

’s fastest capability, they will download into your computer as fast as your drive will transmit. You can never have too much speed or too much storage in the digital world. I always tell my participants to bring as much storage as they can. They are often surprised at just how much they do shoot and are glad that they heeded my advice. Memory and storage are cheap compared to all the money you have invested in your equipment and the expense to travel to a location. I rely on my cards to capture images and store them safely until I can download and back up the images. That’s why I only use name-brand cards. Your camera may take CompactFlash (CF) cards (Figure 1.16), SD media, or some other format. Make sure you know the correct size and buy extras! Cards are inexpensive, and your memories are priceless! My father instilled in me a long time ago that film is cheap in comparison to the expense of returning to a location. Not only that, but there will never be another right now! So, when you see that special shot, don’t think that you can come back. It will never be exactly the same.

Figure 1.16 Compact Flash cards come in a variety of capacities and speed. By buying the biggest and fastest cards, I can shoot hundreds of images to one card without having to change at the peak of action, and the download time is reduced for a more efficient workflow.

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Note

Rob Galbraith has done extensive testing and research on the best cards and their performance as well as reliability. You can read about it at www.robgalbraith.com.

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Tip

Even the best cards can fail. The best $29 you will ever spend is on PhotoRescue software from DataRescue (www.datarescue.com). If you ever need to salvage deleted images from a card, it’s PhotoRescue to the rescue!

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Backpacks and Fanny Packs

There are as many types of bags to get your equipment to and from location and into the field as there is equipment to fill them. Those who venture off the beaten path use backpacks and fanny packs. Because I travel from one end of North America to the other on a regular basis, I need a bag that will not only work in the field, but one that I can also carry on an airplane. Nowadays, you must consider the type of bag that you can use in the field as well as the logistics of getting your equipment to location by air, bus, car, boat, and so on. And let me tell you that it’s not getting any easier because of size and weight restrictions, and baggage charges. It’s getting progressively harder to even bring your camera bag onboard a plane anymore. That’s why I use the backpacks that I do. They range from a Moose Peterson MP-1 to the MP-3 or MP-7 (Figure 1.17), depending on the equipment I’m bringing with me. They will fit in even the smallest overhead compartment on small commuter jets. I simply state with confidence that the bag will fit. If I get questioned, I ask if I can at least try and offer to relinquish it if it won’t fit, all the while knowing that it will fit! I’ve not been refused yet.

Figure 1.17 Venturing farther afield and needing more gear, such as a second body with a mid-range zoom, wide and macro lenses for capturing the landscape from intimate detail to sweeping panoramas, teleconverters, cards, batteries, gloves, and assorted odds and ends, requires a larger backpack to hold everything and distribute the weight evenly on my shoulders. (An AquaTech rain cover protects the camera and lens against the elements.)

In the field it’s essential to have your hands free to carry your long lens and tripod, and to be ready to set it down and start shooting at a moment’s notice without being hindered by extra gear getting in the way. I prefer a backpack in the field because it evenly distributes the weight on my shoulders, allowing me to go for hours with fairly significant weight packed in it. On shorter forays, I carry a small fanny pack (Figure 1.18) with extra batteries, cards, lens cleaning supplies, a teleconverter, and other small miscellaneous items.

Figure 1.18 When my primary focus is wildlife,