What's in the Bag? - Sébastien Lavallée

Équipement:

Canon 30D with a Canon BG-E2n grip

Canon 17-40

Canon 70-200 f4

Canon 430EX

Ebay wireless triggers

Pc/Pc cord

Rechargeable batteries

Lithium batteries AA

Canon 30D with grip:

Canon's 30D is equipped with a 8.2 MP sensor that creates nice tones and colours.

The ISO range 100-1600 with a possibility of 3200 ISO.

The price was a major factor when he chose the camera body. the second biggest factor was the acceptable level of noise even at the high ISO. The Canon 30D is a great value body for it's price. The 2.5 inch screen is really a great thing to have to properly view the images for focus and other details.

The grip allows for 2 batteries. Sebastien purchased it after shooting with a gripless Canon 30D and a Canon 70-200 f2.8L lens. He found that the weight of the lens was too much to comfortably hold in balance. With the added weight of the grip, the lenses feel more balanced with the camera body. The grip allows for easy and comfortable vertical shooting.

Canon 17-40L

Purchased not too long ago, Sebastien wanted a sharper lens but he wanted to keep the 17mm wide angle possibility that he was use to with the Canon 17-85 IS lens. The 17-40L lens is a remarkable lens especially for it's price value. The lens reacts very well to flares, CA and is sharp wide open at f4. The 17mm is considered  27mm in Full frame equivalent.  The focal length of this particular lens is usefull for landscape, portrait and event photography.

Canon 70-200 f4L

This lens was selected for it's focal length, natural looking portrait capabilities and for the lighter weight compared to the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens. This lens sharpness is very surprising. It's one of the sharpest in the 70-200mm Canon family. It's lower weight makes it a dream lens for shooting adventure sports and travel. It's construction is perfect and what is expected in L series lenses. He did not chose the Is version of this lens since in the most situation that he would needed IS, Sebastien opts for using a flash.

Canon 430ex flash

Sebastien chose this flash that went well with his budget. He found that the Canon 430Ex was offering enough power for is needs. He finds that this flash does not restrict his creativity. He doesn't like the locking ring of the flash since he cannot install it fast enough.

Vivitar 285 HV

This second flash is only use off-camera as a main light for outdoor shooting (with the Canon 430 as second light source). This flash is really slow while recycling and can't be set à 1/8 power but it works fine when triggered wirelessly.

Ebay wireless triggers / PC cord

These triggers are only used for off-camera lighting with the 285 HV and the Canon 430. They are inexpensive but also not reliable if the flashes are too far. In these occasion, Sebastien will prefer the long PC cord to trigger that far away flash!

Rechargeable and Lithium AA batteries

Use mainly for the flashes, the rechargeable batteries are a must in every photographer's bag! Sebastien have about 16 of them in his bag. He also use AA Lithium Batteries as a reliabla power back up and for long days of shooting with his Canon 430 EX. These batteries allows about three times the life span and without power drop until the end (although this is not the more ecological way!)