Like a kid at Christmas...

You have no idea how excited I am right now.

On Tuesday I ordered my 5D MkIV and 24-105mm F4L IS USM II. Woohoo! :-D

I'm expecting it to rock up either tomorrow or Tuesday and You can be sure I'll take a bunch of shots with the venerable 700D to a) show off the new rig and b) retire the old one.

I know it sounds a bit weird, but one of the things I'm really looking forward to is that fact that the larger body will feel better in my hands. The 700D looks and almost feels like a compact camera since I have fairly large hands, and its light weight only adds to that perception. The 5D body plus an L lens will take some getting used to, but I'm quite confident it will end up feeling more solid and 'real' fairly quickly.

Look out for the "5D unboxing" album soon!

Finke 2017

The Finke Desert Race has been run and done once again. Each year thousands of competitors and spectators descend upon Alice to experience this iconic event. The town gets a great buzz happening, shops are full, mechanics are booked out dealing with travellers' broken stuff, and all the amazing volunteers run around like crazy making sure it all goes together without too many hiccups.

This year was a frantic one for me - my day job is in the 4WD accessory industry, so you can only imagine how busy we get in the leadup to Finke and just afterwards. One day I'd dearly love to have a chance to get ready early, and head down to scrutineering on the Friday night to wander around taking photos of all the competitors under lights and with huge crowds around. I reckon it'd be a really good opportunity to capture the feel of the event. Unfortunately, with some late finishes at work, this is the 5th year I haven't been able to make it.

Maybe 2018...

Check out the pics in the "Finke Desert Race '17 " gallery HERE

Photography competitions

This morning I had what is sometimes termed a 'shower thought'. One of those half-ideas that isn't fully formed, but could go somewhere if I gave it some proper consideration.

The Alice Springs Show is coming up in early July, and there are several categories in the photography competition where some of my shots might have a chance. It most definitely wouldn't be for the purpose of fame, glory or profit since it's a regional show and the prize money (if I were good enough to get a place) wouldn't cover the cost of entry and printing. It would just be to see if the professional/experienced eye of a judge would consider my shots to be of any merit.

We'll see if I get brave enough to put myself out there...

Dreaming of full-frame goodness

So, as per the 'About' page, I've got my eyes set on upgrading to a Canon 5D MkIV body, and while I have a couple of EF-mount lenses already, I'll need one or two more to make a good all-round kit.

After researching a couple of different possible retailers, it seems that most are offering a body & lens kit for around the $7,500 - $8,500 range. There are two different kits that interest me:

1. The 'Premium' kit, which has the 5D MkIV body with a 24-105mm f/4L IS-II USM lens
   ($7,399 RRP from the Canon online store)
2. The 'Professional' kit, which has the 5D MkIV body with a 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens
   ($8,399 RRP from the Canon online store)

Realistically, the only reason I would look at the 'Professional' kit is if I was consistently using a tripod, since the 24-70mm doesn't have any Image Stabilisation. Given that the vast majority of my shots are hand-held, choosing a non-IS lens doesn't make much sense. Also, the larger range of zoom of the 24-105mm is very appealing from a versatility standpoint. I could quite practically take that lens, and maybe a 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM and that should cover all my bases for most of my trips. That f/2.8 on the 24-70mm though...

It's alive!

So, after much procrastination and faffing around I've finally taken the site live.

Now that the weather is good for camping trips I'm going to make a concerted effort to update the galleries as often as I can. Wish me luck!