Just look how damn good this looks..  This is 1/4 scale footage off of a DSLR..  What the hell?   That is full sweetness right there..  The only thing I can hope for beyond this on the final production model is a 24p mode and shutter speed control.  If they added those I think I’d collapse from pure giddiness.   Shweeet!

Check it out on Vincent Laforet’s blog, he produced this independently from Canon on his own dime..  Although I think he will somehow make much more back 

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So, this is the camera I’ve been waiting on to upgrade my aging Canon 10D.  I love the Canon 5D but I was holding out for its replacement.  I heard the announcement was coming up soon so I was literally checking out Keith Coopers’ website 5 times a day for new information.  His website is loaded with good information and reviews BTW, I recommend visiting.  So when I finally read the specs and unveiling..  well, hot diggedy damn!

The big surprise for me was the fact that the new 5D MK II is able to handle 1080P movies at 30fps.  Being able to do this all the while utilizing all of my lenses, and the camera’s low light capabilities the quality could possibly rival professional HD cameras..  It is amazing.  If the movie quality does hold up, what a pretty big achievement for a DSLR!  Imagine how this could change how people shoot?  Photojournalists, wedding photographers, sports, indie film makers and more.  The ability to capture good quality video while maintaining amazing still image quality whenever needed all in one body simply seems to good to be true, yet here we are with the 5D MK II.

I’ve been following Vincent Laforet’s blog about him getting his hands on the pre-production 5D Mark II model for 72 hours and shooting a short film with it.  He’s absolutely raving about it and his excitement is infectious.  For those who don’t know who Vincent is, he’s an amazing photographer who shoots regularly for the New York Times, and who’s work has been published in “Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, and Life Magazine”.   He’s a very interesting person judging from his work and reading his blog.  Read more about Vincent here.

You can read about the 5D Mark II and all of the amazing specs over at dpreview.com’s hands on preview of the new 5D Mark II.  There are some stills and some video footage there.  Grab a handkerchief, you’ll need it to wipe the drool from your chin.

I have my 5D Mark II on pre-order, they should be shipping in November…  I can’t wait!

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I went out and bought all this camera gear, now I needed a good backpack to carry it all around in. So began my quest. I made a list of the main things I was looking for in the bag.

- must be comfortable for long hikes
- must carry all of my primary gear
- must not advertise “expensive” camera gear to much (hey look, I’m carrying $£$£ worth of camera stuff, come steal me!)
- must be able to take as a carry on at airports- must provide good protection

I soon ended up seeing these oddly named Crumpler bags at a local camera store. They looked good (and not like a camera bag at all), felt good (strong, great build quality), and as a bonus they had laptop sleeves which I wasn’t initially looking for. Seemed like the right match for my needs, but there’s very little information on the web about this bag, so I decided to buy one and give it a test run. By the way, any time I refer to the “back” or “front” of the bag I mean this. The back is the part that sits on my back, where the shoulder straps are. The front is the part of the bag that people behind you get to stare at, wondering what kind of bag has a little crazy dreaded dude as their logo. I don’t know how everyone else refers to the front or back, that’s just how I see it.

From Crumpler’s website The Schrinkle has Chicken Tex fabric with waterproof ripstop lining and removable extra padded laptopsleeve. Features two easy access front zip pockets and an additional zippocket and penholder. Inside there’s a fully removable photopack for professionals, with an adjustable photodivider and security supermesh. Access the photo and computer section via the backpanel which keeps the back of the pack clean when lying on the ground. There’s a dr bodenschatz back hugger which makes light work of heavy loads, and external side loops for pouch and tripod attachment. Plus there’s an extra pleatpocket and super strong shoulderstraps with chest strap for fine adjustment and extra loops for holding pouches. Optional extra waist belt.

I brought the Schrinkle home and started playing with the dividers to fit my gear. I was having difficulty with fitting everything in. Although the backpack was the perfect size on the outside, I couldn’t seem to fit my gear inside the way I wanted to. I also discovered that because my 15″ Toshiba laptop was slightly curved in the front, that would be enough to stop it from fitting into the padded laptop sleeve any more than half-way. I was now on the verge of returning the bag for the next size up, the Brian’s Hot Tub (what the bumba?), but it is a bigger bag and I didn’t want anything larger than the Schrinkle. I don’t like the idea of having to check my expensive camera gear at the airport due to size restrictions. So I decided to try a few more configurations. Low and behold, after some geometric brainstorming I managed to fit all of my key stuff inside, with some space left to boot. As for the laptop sleeve, since this wasn’t one of my main needs to begin with I figured that I could live without it. I am however going to try and get the sleeve custom altered to let my Toshiba fit. Literally all that’s needed to get my Toshiba in is maybe another half an inch of give. (UPDATE: I managed to get my laptop to fit after applying more force, nothing broke and it works fine.. No need for an alteration!) Looking at the Schrinkle’s space, there shouldn’t be a problem closing it after the alterations have been made. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get around to altering the sleeve.

So how does the Schrinkle meet my initial bag needs?

Hikes and city walking
Well I haven’t done long hikes with the bag yet, but it feels very comfortable fully packed on me. The straps are thick and padded well which helps to spread the weight nicely over a large area. The back of the bag is well padded and sits well, in fact it hardly moves on me which is great. If I bend over to pick something up, tie a shoelace etc. the backpack hardly shifts and doesn’t slide up my back. Thumbs up. I’ve taken it to work and walked around London with it and so far it’s felt very comfortable on me. It does however make your shoulders and back sweat, but I think any heavy backpack does this.

Carrying my gear
After I managed to wrangle the dividers around and figure out how to place things effectively I managed to get the following gear in.

Functionality and Looks
The first thing that struck me about the Schrinkle’s design was that you can only access the camera gear by fully removing the backpack. Now for some this will be enough not to consider this bag. For me however, on a long hike this is not a big concern. I’ve gone through temperate and tropical rainforests with my Elan IIe, my shooting habits mean that I usually have some idea of what I’m trying to shoot beforehand. I prepare my camera with a lens that the most suitable for my goals. If I come across something that requires me to swap lenses then I do. But I’m not in and out of my bags all the time, just when I need to be. So now that I’ve touched on bag accessibility here’s what sets the Schrinkle apart from other bags. You must open the bag from the back, the area that sits on your back. This odd design has some advantages. One is that your expensive camera gear is very secure, no one will be able to steal anything from your bag in the middle of a crowd without you knowing. Two, opening the bag on muddy or wet surfaces will keep your back dry when you put the bag back on, because you place the front of the bag on the ground and open it with the back towards you keeping it dry and off the ground. Another nice feature is the inclusion of a safety net on the inside of the bag. Once you open the backpack, there is a protective mesh that prevents anything from accidentally falling out. This extra safety feature again slows access to the equipment a bit but is still a nice touch in my opinion.

Almost everything can be removed from the backpack. The laptop sleeve is removable and so is the entire camera compartment which when removed makes the Schrinkle quite roomy inside. Now you have the option of using the bag as a regular, everyday backpack for your non-photographic needs. All of the camera gear stays neatly in the compartment, ready to sit in the Schrinkle when you’re ready to go. Another note I should make, the Schrinkle has a few loops on the outside of the bag to hook accessories onto, and one loop and strap combo is meant for a tripod. When being worn, it is on my left side, take a look at the picture below to see it. None of the sites I visited for info ever mentioned this.

As for looks, it looks great. The bag doesn’t look like a camera bag to me, it just looks like a nice backpack.

Click image for a larger view

Protection
The inside of the bag is stiff and well protected, it will probably handle some tough knocks and drops with little effect to the equipment inside.. I’ll let someone else test that area with real equipment though. I did however pack the bag with weight (cans of stuff) and dropped it off my shoulder a good number of times to simulate it slipping off. It fell on the front of the bag every time, which is great. That would be the bottom of the camera gear which is well protected. I also dropped it a few times by holding the bag away from me and letting it fall straight down. It bounced slightly (off of the bottom) on impact and rolled onto the front. The design and shape of the bag means that the weight distribution pulls down and away from you, hence the consistent rolling onto the front when the bag is settled. This is true even when standing the bag up, which is annoying. For drops and falls this is good news for laptops as it seems they won’t have to take a direct hit. If the bag falls on a corner (in my tests it never fell cleanly on a corner, the weight shifted the fall towards the front and bottom every time) there’s lots of padding and some space before the laptop would even get hit.

The bag does not come with an all-weather cover. So if you’re going someplace with harsh weather conditions you’ll probably want to buy one.

At the airport
UPDATE: I’ve flown internationally a good number of times now with the Schrinkle, and have not had a single problem bringing the bag on as a carry on. I always have it on my back during the bag checks, and no one has bothered me about it. So the Schrinkle passes my airport travel requirements!

Conclusion
The more I’ve used the Schrinkle, the more I like it. It carries all my gear, is comfortable, looks good, travels as a carry-on at airports and I managed to get my laptop to fit in the end (it just needed some persuasion! ) I like the Crumpler Schrinkle and recommend it.

Nordin Rahhali

Related Links

Crumpler Bags Homepage (very quirky!)
Digital Grin Schrinkle Review

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I‘ve had the G3 for a whole week now and I thought to myself, “By the power of the ‘int-er-net’, I can share my one week worth of experience with the world!”. Why not, information is good and some people might find this article useful. If not then they will at least have a difficult time heckling me in person!

I’m by no means an expert in photography, but someone who appreciates photos as visual memories and as art. I like to use photography as a creative outlet and as such enjoy discovering new ways to explore the world through pictures. This camera is my first venture into digital photography (not including scanning prints, some PhotoCD imaging, and other Digital cameras I’ve used for work) and I wanted to find a camera that had sharp, fast optics, had an excellent feature set and perhaps could use some accessories that I already own. My main camera for the past 4 years or so has been my trusty Canon Ellan IIe, which I love. Since I’m an existing Canon owner, a large part of my decision to go with the G3 was its ability to use my existing Canon 380EX flash. I really don’t like the flash on most cameras, but I’ve had great results with the 380EX flash unit on my SLR. As it turned out, it works like a charm on the G3. My other considerations for going with the G3 were image quality, resolution, controls, and battery life. The G3 hasn’t disappointed in any of these areas, and for some of the quibbles I have with the G3, the good far outweigh the bad. (more…)

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