So, a little journey downtown to help stimulate the local economy was
the plan for the day. While I could give Amazon, B&H or some other
retailer my business, instead, I try to give the local retailers as
much love as possible. As long as I'm not getting ripped off, of
course. Stewart's Camera Store in Anchorage is actually a neat camera
shop that is reasonably well stocked and the prices are generally
pretty competitive.
My Christmas gift to myself this year was going to be a drone, but
several factors and industry unrest (DJI trouble) meant I wasn't going
to get the photography platform I was looking for in a reasonable
cost. So, my plan-b was to get a couple items I've been wanting for a
while.
Several months ago I picked up a $30 Sunpak LED light. It spends most
of its life keeping me looking pretty on all my conference calls, but
is very klutzy and flimsy for field work. I ended up getting the
Phottix M200R RGB Light. This thing is the size and shape of a
cellphone and has a 4000 mah battery, as well as a nice control panel.
Light quality is remarkably good and it's bright. While there are
plenty of pocket light panel options out there, the two killer
features of this one that I like is the remaining runtime (at current
brightness setting), and charge time remaining. At full brightness,
it'll go for over an hour, but at low level, it's 20 hours or so. Nice
set of accessories and adaptors in the box. Light distribution is
typical for most LED pocket lights and has the hot center with
vignetting, but is very smooth from center out, instead of a zone of
brightness with an awkward falloff. The tricolor LEDs are a nice touch
and are NOT the same LEDs as the primary white/amber LEDs. The problem
with the tricolor LEDs is they have extremely poor CRI. I wanted a
light that can slip in a pocket or go with me anywhere and I think I
found a good one with the M200R.
The other item is a carbon-fiber tripod. The problem with tripods is
the age-old issue of never being tall enough, stable enough, and light
enough. Tall ones are always going to be heavy unless flimsy,
regardless of construction. Small ones can be very light, but not
universally usable. I have plenty of tall ones, but I really needed a
new small one. I got this very compact SIRUI AM-223 tripod that is
short, but will be very useful for my hiking. It appears to be
well-built and ticks a lot of boxes, such as a nice little ball-head
with standard QR plate, spreading legs. This tripod is so small it can
fit INSIDE every camera bag I own! It will be my hiking companion for
sure! What sets it apart from most other small tripods is that it's
built for field use. Price was decent, which is a big plus! It's only
a three-section leg, and the leg diameters remain large enough that it
doesn't flex.
So, a good Christmas, indeed.
AG Schnozz
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