Gear used yesterday.

So as I said in my blip yesterday, ill be uploading a photograph of all the gear i took with me, this is all i took, plus a backpack with 2 bottles of water, sandwiches, crisps and fruit.

SO exactly what i took was:
Sigma DP-1
Spare battery (a must with an sigma DP camera)
DP-1 filter adapter
hoya 46-49mm step up ring,
circular polariser
cokin filter holder
array of cokin filters (though main one used was grad filter)
Giottos Tripod

Some of you may wonder why when I have a canon dslr with L lenses am i taking a sigma compact with a fixed lens to shoot landscapes?

Well there is a number of reasons, 1) its much smaller and lighter, 2) far less stuff to worry about 3) no messing about with lenses in the poor weather 4) and most importantly it gives me equally good image quality.

The sigma has a sensor basically the same size as the canon, canon has 1.6 crop sigma 1.7, its a APS sized cmos foveon sensor, meaning that it captures RGB at every pixel, meaning it gives more detail and much nicer and more realistic colours, the files i get from my DP-1 are IMO nicer than those i get out of my 40D, the rendition really reminds me of slide film. The only problem with the DP-1 is that it is only technically a 4.7 megapixel camera meaning images cannot be blown up as much, however due to it sensor type it resolves like a 14mp normal sensored camera would.

I usually take my DSLR gear out for landscapes when ive planned ahead, checked the weather etc, where as when i went to Ribblehead it was completely spontaneous. So i hadnt planned exactly where i was going and wasnt aware of the weather so didnt want to risk being caught in the rain with a bag full of gear, instead have a zip lock bag ready to throw my DP-1 if the rain did come.

As you should always do when shooting landscapes i took my tripod, it a giottos cant remember the exact model, but its extremely rugged though quite heavy, also i took a polariser, a cokin holder and some cokin filters, which can be used without obstructing the lens due to the fact i use it on a step up ring. Filters are very useful for shooting landscapes particularly graduated filters.

I was wandering around Ribblehead for about 3 and a half hours then retreated to the pub but if i had had all my heavy dslr ear i wouldn't have lasted that long in the windy weather and in my soaking wet trainers (bloody boggy!).

Anyway hope someone somewhere has found this a relatively interesting blip.