Miscellaneous Semi-photographic Things
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Reviews of camera gear are fine as far as they go, but what about the remainder of the myriad things that we use when making photographs?
What follows is a rant-and-rave list of non-camera things that I find helpful (or a hinderance) when engaging in photography.
Wristwatch
I'm a bit of a watch freak, so I own quite a few wrist watches of various descriptions. For photographic use (that is, when photographing in the field) I've found what may be the ultimate wristwatch - the Timex Ironman Triathalon series. I'm on my second - the first finally died after many years of outrageous abuse. They come in numerous models, with differing numbers of alarms, timers, laps on the stopwatch, multiple time zones, etc. My favorite is the model with the Datalink feature, primarily because it offers timers(5), more alarms (10), and you can set the stuff up using a little app on a Windows PC.
These things hit the high points - robust, reliable, cheap, lightweight. They're fairly ugly but you can't have everything.
Rain Gear
After trying boatloads of different rain gear solutions, I've finally found one I like. I'm not interested in raingear that protects you from a downpour; if it's raining hard, I won't be out in it. But light rain, or more frequently heavy fog or mist, can soak you through in a hurry.
Enter Marmot Mountain "Precip" jacket and pants. They're made of single layer GoreTex clone, so they're light and they breath. There are pit zips on the jacket, as well as a reasonable complement of pockets. The hood is sized for normal humans, not for pinheads nor truck-heads. Adjustable cuffs help keep the rain from dripping down your forearms.
The pants are also lightweight, with a GOOD elastic waistband that keeps them from slouching down over your butt. Zips in the calf mean you can pull them on over shoes and even small boots.
They fold up small, and they're even relatively cheap. I bought mine on sale in a climbing gym but they're available in most outdoor shops, and online from the grocery store of the outdoors, REI. (www.rei.com)
Gloves
I'm not talking gloves to protect your hands in sub-zero conditions, I'm talking 40-50F and a stiff breeze. Mittens are too much and you can't work camera controls anyway. Most gloves are too bulky.
The answer (and my current favorite) is gloves with no fingertips, made from Polartec WindBloc. They're breathable but block the wind; the polartec offers good insulation without bulk.
Best of all, they're cheap - $20 at REI.
Thermos Bottles
A while ago I decided that I wanted to be able to return to the car and have something hot to eat and drink. The hot drink part I wanted to have instantly - and the obvious solution was some sort of vacuum/"Thermos" bottle. I spent some time looking around at the smaller variety and found what I think is a rarity - a nearly perfect object.
What I bought is a Zojirushi "Tuff Slim .5 liter vacuum bottle". It looks rather like a artillery shell - a stainless steel outside, about two inches in diameter, with a small cap that doubles as a cup. The vacuum liner is stainless steel, and thus impervious to the knocks and shocks that lay glass vacuum bottles low. This delightful thing is so wonderful that there are a raft of cheap imitators, ranging in price from about $20 to the $35 I paid for my Tuff Slim.
Don't be deceived into buying a different bottle - hold out for the genuine Zojirushi bottle. In particular, it beats the Nissan/Thermos™ bottles hands down; it apparently keeps stuff hotter and certainly has a much nicer stopper. It's worth the extra bucks.
Here's why: it keeps stuff hot. Hot as in "Tea remains too hot to drink for 12 hours" hot. It's indestructible. It's Teflon lined, so it's easy to clean and doesn't get new forms of life growing in it, and it doesn't hold flavors if you put, say, miso soup in it instead of coffee. The stopper is a pour through stopper that not only pours nicely, but also doesn't leak even when there's a bit of pressure inside, and even better, the stopper comes apart for thorough cleaning so it isn't a refuge for nasty bacterial growth. Our lives would be a lot better if everything we touched was as well made, well thought out, and useful as this little vacuum bottle.
Stoves
The other part of the 'hot food and drink' problem I solved by buying a little backpacking stove. The one I selected is a Snow Peak GigaPower butane canister stove. This little gem folds into a miniscule package barely 1.5"x2"x3.5"; the folded stove and a butane cartridge fit easily inside the billy I use to heat soup, boil water for tea, etc. It weighs next to nothing. It has, wonder of wonders, what seems to be a reliable piezo igniter so that all you have to do is screw the stove onto the butane canister, open the valve, press the button, and Presto! the stove is making a merry little roaring noise as it boils your water. It boils water quickly (10,000 BTU), simmers nicely, and doesn't seem to drift in setting very much, so you don't need to watch it non-stop.