A photo journey in Arizona

UnHip Gear part 1

Posted in General by Chris Mann

No doubt many of the visitors to this blog will be fellow photographers – let’s face it, nobody else has enough free time to read this stuff – so I feel I should give you all a complete geeky technical rundown of the camera gear I will be using on the UnHipRoadTrip.

In all fairness I should warn those of you that might be of a nervous disposition that in keeping with the spirit of the event I will be using gear that is Extremely UnHip. Read on if you dare…

Okay here’s the scoop. I will be shooting with none other than the famous Canon 20D, beloved of Uncle Bobs everywhere. Now to be fair, in its day the 20D was actually slightly hip, until the 5D came out at which point it became less hip than a snake’s elbows.

Why the 20D? Well, I could say it’s because it’s an old friend that has served me well over the years, and I am used to its flawless ergonomics and stunning performance etc. etc., but in fact it’s just my personal camera as opposed to the 1D Mk2N I use at work, which belongs to Tropical Imaging. If I drop it down a crevasse I’m not going to have to explain to my brother why I dumped three grand’s worth of company kit into a hole in the ground.

Now the eagle-eyed among you, and those who have been sitting reverently upright and paying close attention, will have noticed that perched on the front of the camera is another fine piece of UnHip™equipment – viz the Sigma 28-70 F2.8 zoom. Stop laughing, you at the back. I bet it’s sharper and doesn’t back-focus as much as your twice-the-price Canon 24-70 f2.8 L thing.

At this point I should concede that some Hip Glassware will be used, in the form of the Canon 135mm F2 L, which is so Hip most people haven’t heard about it yet. So on street cred let’s call it a draw. I’ll also be lugging along a 17-40 F4 L and maybe a 50mm F1.8, two more UnHip™ lenses.

Extreme UnHip™ camera support will be provided by a Slik tripod so old I have no idea what its model number is. Seriously, I’ve had it since the late ’80s. It’s basic, made of aluminium not carbon-fibre or basalt or granite or sandstone or feldspar or whatever the latest rock-du-jour for tripod construction is, but it’s lightweight, fits in my suitcase and holds a camera at eye level.

Flashguns? Yep. A Canon 550. This is actually in danger of becoming Hip again since the Canon 580 mk2 is such a piece of junk, but since mine has velcro pads on it to attach the very UnHip Elincrom SkyPort receiver I think it’s still in the UnHip zone.

I should of course have one of those leather cases for the camera where the front flips open, but there are limits to how far I will go to retain my UnHipness.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the gear saga where we will cover the Video Stuff (oh lordy!)