New Gear

After telling myself I wasn't going to buy any new gear this year, I did. But, it was all warranted in my eyes. The 1st thing I purchased was a Haida magnetic 6-stop ND filter. While I have moved away from extreme long exposures, and minimized my filter kit to only a 3-stop ND and a polarizer, a 6-stop has come in handy in the past. A new filter made its way into my bag. The old filter kit with about 10 different filters and a filter holder system will likely be going away. The magnetic system just works so well.

Second on the list of new gear is a new Leofoto LM-364C tripod with a carrying strap. My current go-to tripod is a Sirui AM-284-US which I take hiking and on all of my trips. It's great with one exception, it is short. Since I have owned it, it has been all over the country, New Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, and all places in between. It packs up easily in my luggage, and has performed flawlessly. But, when fully extended with a camera atop the ballhead, it's not quite 5 feet tall. I am 6 feet tall, and as I have gotten older, I like my tripod to be comfortably level with my eyes. Enter the Leofoto LM-364C. It folds down to fit in my luggage, and when fully extended with a camera atop the ballhead, it is 6 feet in height. This will be what I take on all future trips!

And lastly, I upgraded my almost 5 year old Acer laptop to a Dell XPS 13. The Acer laptop has performed excellently as a travel laptop. It allowed me to do all my necessary surfing (streaming, banking, and email) as well as performing Lightroom edits on the go. But, it is big and bulky. The Dell XPS 13 is considerably smaller and lighter, with enough horsepower to handle not only Lightroom, but Photoshop. I haven't decided what I plan to do with the old laptop as it still works great, but used technology is difficult to resell. With a home PC as my workhorse, and 2 work laptops, I don't need anymore computer systems to maintain.

Now, I think I am squared away with all the gear I need! Or so I say.