March 29th, 2004:

I’m looking for a bag. You know, something to put stuff in. I have too much stuff, and I want it with me all the time. So, it only makes sense that I would spend more money on a bag to hold the stuff that I shouldn’t have spent money on in the first place.

I’m looking for something that can be worn over one shoulder or, for those longer treks, as a back pack. I’m hoping that’ll it’ll be casual and durable enough that I can take it anywhere, yet stylish enough that I can drag it to work without looking like a tool.

It must have enough space and padding to hold a digital SLR and a few lenses. Additionally, I’ll want room for maps, notebooks, reading books, cds, cables, etc, etc. Unfortunately, most of the bags I’ve seen fall into one of three categories.

a) It’s a camera bag. It holds camera stuff plus a few extra things. There isn’t really a place to put anything large that isn’t a camera.

b) It’s not a camera bag and therefore has no accomodations for a camera. In order to carry a camera, you just throw it in the bag like everything else and hope that you can find it and that it’s not being smashed to death by the copy of the OED and your hiking boots that you’re also carrying.

c) It’s both a camera bag and storage bag. Everything is well laid out. There’s plenty of room for all of my stuff. BUt, it’s only a backpack, has way too many straps and clamps to help you hold the weight that only get in the way when not in use, and it wears awkwardly over one shoulder.

So… do you have any suggestions. I’m hoping to stay under $150. I’d prefer that it be something I can buy locally so I can go touch it and play with it and make sure it’s going to work before buying. Thanks, in advance.

Either Jess caved, or I caved… or both. But, one way or another, I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D70.

The image you see in this post was taken with it. I’m using a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 fixed lens, as that is all I own. Taking into account the smaller size of the D70s sensor (as compared to 35mm film) that’s about a 75mm equivalent.

I’m very happy with the camera. Aside from the obvious difference in construction (metal vs. plastic on the D70) it feels very much like the D100. It’s a bit faster, and a bit more featureful. But I don’t really notice those things because I don’t really use those features.

I’m sure you’ll see more from me in the future as I learn all of the exciting new thises-and-thats about the camera. Until then, you can enjoy this one image. It’s not my best work, but I was in test mode, playing with the camera more than I was contentrating on getting a good image.

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before, so I’ll do so now. When I edit photographs, I work in a gamma corrected environment to ensure that my photographs will print as I expect them to and that the results of that printing will be as close to what I see on my monitor as possible. If you’d like to see the images properly, you most likely need to gamma correct your system. If the images appear darker than they should be, your monitor is most likely not corrected. Most macintoshes are. Linux is easy to correct. Windows is a bit more difficult and it all depends on what type of graphics card you have. Good luck with that if you’re a windows user. Providing an “uncorrected” version wouldn’t do much good as without proper gamma correction, there’s no way to ensure that what you see will be what I see (since I have no way of guessing what type of monitor and graphics card you have). That being said, this image, in particular, looks very dark on Jess’ monitor.