WD TV Live

Few months ago I've purchased great disk array from Iomega. During xmas I started wondering how to display digital data stored on it to my plasma tv. I came across some multimedia players from Iomega and other vendors, but unfortunately they turned out to be crap. Finally I found WD TV Live from Western Digital. It has great opinions and reviews and was rather cheap (below 400 PLN). It has GE and HDMI and few USB connections, so everything I need.
I've ordered it and connected to the tv over HDMI, to LAN hub over GE and to my Onkyo stereo receiver over optical cable. Now I can watch hi resolution (1080p) digital content on my tv, listen to flac, mp3 and other files on my home audio at the highest possible quality and even browse photos stored on Iomega with tv remote - really easy.
I must say this device is awesome! I recommend it to everyone.

My new NAS

Pictures take a lot of space. More pictures take even more. I had so many mobile hard drives that I usually don't know what to find where. Moreover I've every hard drive doubled. Recently I've started to getting lost in my storage space spread over the flat. Decided to sort it out once forever (or at least for 2-3 years). I've bought NAS array from Iomega (EMC). It appeared to be great stuff. In raid5 I've about 6TB space to allocate and I can use my old hard drives for archiving and off-site backup. It seems we have at home what few years ago we had in the office. Time flies, live changes, prices go up. This is the only direction if you want to seriously approach picture storage...think of it. Buy Iomega!

Dream Lens announced!

Canon just anounced EF 200-400/f4 IS lens! It's dream lens for wildlife and sport photographers. Moreover Nikon had such lens for many years and Canon had only 100-400. Of course this 200-400 will be expensive! I expect it to cost about 6.5-8k USD, so it's not for amateurs, unfortunately :(
Link
Actually I've figured out that this can be called EF 200-560/4-5.6L IS lens, because you can turn on 1.4 extender on 400 and you got 560/5.6L IS!!!! They made few lenses in the one! Only the price is unknown and probably not very low...

Kirk L-Bracket

I've just received my first L-bracket from Kirk Enterprises. And I must admit I'm thrilled with this stuff! Now altogether with my arca-swiss ballhead I can easily use my camera in vertical orientation. I don't have to be figuring how to set my camera to get the proper frame. Now it's really easy! I just switch L-bracket to vertical orientation and have the whole flexibility of setting camera! Strictly recommended photo gadget. I must also say that this arca-swiss standard is something really well chosen one. Manfrotto is also not that bad, but much worse in design and flexibility. Arca-Swiss is #1 for me and I'm happy that I switched to it. Really recommended to everyone who is still complaining on Manfrotto.
One interesting thing is that I ordered this L-bracket directly from US Kirk store and because it was below 150 EUR I avoided paying duty. Unfortunately they forced me to pay VAT :(
So I can confirm that you can order anything from US that is below 150 EUR and it's duty free!

Headlamp for the trip

On Saturday I went to Sherpa store and bought a headlamp for the trip. I hoped to buy some more stuff, but they hadn't good choice of backpacks or shoes and finally I left the shop with only headlamp. I decided to take Petzl Tikka XP. This small and flexible headtorch is able to work in 5 modes: economic, optimum, maximum, boost beam and flashing mode. In economode you can use it for up to 120h as Petzl informs on their webpage. But what was the most important in decision taking was its weight - this lamp is very light and weights only 95g.
Yesterday I had a practical chance to make a baptism of fire. It was rare situation when blackout happened in my part of the city and for about an hour I hadn't power in my flat. First thing I did was to unpack the new headlamp, put batteries and start using it! It was great - I could walk through my home with lamp on my head and have to say it's great solution not only for trips to deserted regions of the world, but also for everyday situations. It definitely passed the test and is ready for the trip!

Tamrac Adventure 9

Finally I've it. As mentioned before, Adventure 10 is not available in Poland and it seems it's also not available in Europe, so I decided to buy version 9 for testing during my nearest trip to Spain. Originally I wanted to take my LowePro MiniTrekker, but it lacks space for additional stuff - it's typical photo backpack and has only one compartment. I also own LowePro CompuDayPack, but photo compartment in this rucksack is definitely too small, so having my Adventure 9 I'll for sure sell CompuDayPack. Don't need it anymore (Maybe you wanna buy it? It's as good as new!).
Look how much stuff I can put in Adventure 9:

It's EOS40D with attached 17-55/2.8 lens+hood, 70-200/4L+hood, Speedlite 580EX flash (under 70-200), spare battery, charger, 2 filters, 4 cf cards, card reader, remote switch and I still have a lot of space. Of course upper compartment is empty and you can put even 400/5.6L into it. Besides we have a pocket for 17" laptop! Mine is only 11" so I'll have additional space for books or something. Below you can see a little zoomed image:


What's worse I was in the shop, bought Tamrac, but still had the problem with Off Trail 2 - can't decide if I should buy it and if it's good when you already have big backpack on your back!

Safety in Sevilla, water shoes in Poland

This week I plan to begin my short trip to Spain. It means I'll finally reach Sevilla among others. Browsing the internet I came across very interesting link about safety in this old city. You may also consider this link interesting, so I decided to mention it here:

Sevilla Safety

And getting back to my US phototrip I still have a lot to arrange. One of such thing are water shoes. Till yesterday I was sure it's not possible to find such shoes in Poland, but it appeared that's not true anymore! You can find two models in Intersport chain - they've Salomon Techamphibian and Merrell Gauley. Of course my first choice was Teva, but we don't have a serious Teva dealer in Poland. It seems that I'll have to stick to Merrell. Salomon Techamphibian doesn't look well and my first impression was neutral. Or the other choice is to wait and buy water shoes in US - the only problem is time. We'll arrive late evening and the next day we've to get to Page - over 500km. It means time for shopping is very limited.
And what's all the buzz about water shoes? The problem is with two expeditions - one to Subway part of Zion NP and the other to Beaver Falls (see picture on the left) in Havasupai - never been in the first one, but lack of proper shoes was the main problem in the last one during my recent visit. Trail from the Hilltop parking to the campground is rather dry and you can use plain hiking boots until you want to take few pictures of famous Navajo Falls. The only way to get close to the waterfall is to wade through the water, put your tripod on the bottom of it and start taking pictures. You've to stand on very stony bottom all the time and if you're barefoot, it can be a bit tricky. I know it's much better to have some shoes that'll allow you to feel more comfortable. Of course you can't just use your hiking boots. You need something more specialized. One of the answer are water shoes.
The other trail, where water shoes are the must, is the path from the campground to wonderful Beaver Falls. To get there you have to cross creek many times and take your shoes off and putting on all the time. This is very time consuming and annoying process, so I definitely don't want to get through it again! With water shoes you just go and take pictures. Moreover you are on the not so easy trail, so you must have water shoes and hiking boots in one. I hope that with Vibram sole I'll feel safe and stable on the trail and in the water.

Backpacks, Jerez and Sevilla...

As promised I visited torbylowepro.pl shop this week. I spent there over an hour watching different bags and backpacks, then I went out even more confused. It appeared that Orion AW is good in pictures, but complete disaster when you see it live.
I checked Off Trail 2 very carefully and it seems to be final solution for trip to Havasu Falls and maybe some other trips, but I still think it's not a perfect solution for day hikes, like one to Wave or Subway. My decision is getting closer to Tamrac Adventure 10, but it's unreachable in Poland. Maybe Tamrac Adventure 9 will do, although it's a bit smaller and I still don't know how to attach tripod to it. Maybe S-113 will help?
I should harry up with choosing my new backpack, because wanted to put it to the test during the trip to Spain.
And talking about Spain, I must brag about my hotel reservation in Jerez de la Frontera - I had luck to find quite a nice looking place with parking and breakfast included in price. The hotel is called Guadalete and is close to the city center and Bodegas - places where sherry is produced. Now I want to find some good place for Flamenco show and a good hotel for last night near Sevilla. Hotel Don Paco looks nice, but price is a bit too high - over 100 EUR including parking! If I don't find anything better, I'll reserve it. At least it's not far from the city center - as reported by maps.google.com it's in the walking distance:


View Larger Map

Bags, backpacks and toploaders

Imagine that you're preparing for a hike to the mountains and have to take tent, sleeping bag, foam pad or mat, clothes, food, water, drugs, etc. It means all of this stuff will finally be on your back. Now let's assume you are an amateur photographer and photography is the main reason to hike. You have to take a tripod+head, camera body, two or three lenses (10-22/3.5-4.5, 17-55/2.8 and 70-200/4L), filters, spare batteries, memory cards etc.
Of course you can't put it in the main backpack, because it's not designed for fragile equipment and it's not very handy to take off your backpack every time you want to take picture. You also can't take your regular photo backpack, because you have only one back!
What's the solution to the problem? I still don't know. Maybe you have any hints?
As for now I have two ideas. I had three, but one of them didn't work on my recent trip to Havasu Falls (see picture on the left). Aforesaid idea was simple - put your photo backpack into main backpack. Unfortunately it wastes a lot of your space and is even less comfortable to use your camera - it takes at least 5 minutes to take it out and next 5 minutes to pack it back. Waste of time and space. It didn't work.
So I have two ideas left. First is to buy one of LowePro TopLoader bags with special harness and put it on your chest. I have to go to the shop and check how it works. Of course it allows you to put only camera body and main lens on the chest and the rest of stuff must land on your back in special pouches. Advantage of such solution is easiness of using your camera - you can use it without taking your backpack off - until tripod usage is not considered. It might be my final solution for upcoming Phototrip.
The last idea is to buy LowePro Orion AW backpack - it's very smart piece of equipment that allows you to use it as a regular backpack or a beltpack. On the way to Havasu Falls I'd have used it as a beltback - unfortunately it can appear that I'll have a conflict with the belt from main backpack.
I don't have final answer to this trivially looking question, but this week I plan to visit torbylowepro.pl shop and see all the stuff with my own eyes.

Unsuccessful workshop

Today we woke up before 4 AM and went to the suburbs of Warsaw to take some pictures. Unfortunately it appeared that weather forecast, as usual, was incorrect and we haven't seen any sun :(
We went to the Bug and Narew rivers to find some photo spots and maybe birds, but had no luck. The only picture I managed to get and I'm brave enough to show you is something like this:


Of course we've taken many of such crappy pictures and get back home. I hope we'll have more luck in States...

First entry...

Hello everyone!
At last I've decided to start my own blog. I think it's a good idea to set up some rules at the beginning.
So I'll write my blog in English or Spanish. No, not because I'm native English or Spanish speaker! I'm native polish speaker and that's why I have to continously improve my ability to communicate in these languages. Besides if this blog will be in english, more people will have a chance to read this, but of course speaking honestly - blogs are usually for the author, not for the readers :)
Now, let's explain why I decided to start blogging. Main reason is that me and my very good friend are preparing our first "Photo Trip". It's very important event for both of us and we spent a lot of time in the preparation process. I came up with the idea, that it would be nice to share our experience with others. The easiest way to share is to have a blog. Of course I don't want to stick to this very narrow topic - I will also write about my professional experience - it is IT business and other gadgets and stuff.
I want to keep my entries short, so that's all for today. Or no! I would like to ask you one favour - please, please, please fix all my grammar or vocab mistakes! This is the only way I can fix my ability to use foreign languages. Please! Thank you!