Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Shopping List for the Solar Eclipse Trip

[Updated on 15th of July, 5th of July, 2nd of July, 19th of June, 17th of June, 16th of June, 13th of June, 6th of June, 5th of June, 3rd of June, 2nd of June, 30th of May]

Since I think that I will be spending less time on the equipments, I can cut a few more items, for detail:-

http://osastrolog.blogspot.com/2008/07/minimalist-solar-eclipse-setup.html

Planning/Pending:-

1. Backpack for 450D, kit, 200mm f2.8L, my Borg 45ED II, Solarmax 40/BF10, a small eyepiece box, tripod and TG-SP II, also my Konica Minolta Z5 DC. Should be usable for daily purpose during the trip, like to keep a bottle of water, some handy stuff, etc.

Target on Lowepro CompuTrekker Plus AW:-

http://products.lowepro.com/product/CompuTrekker-Plus%20AW,1925.htm

Airline portable, around $1200. Seems this one is not too good for daily purpose, but...

--> Now, I want a smaller version to maximize the chance for daily usage, especially during the trip.

Ordered/Coming:-

No item pending.

On hand:-

2. 8G Class 6 SDHC card, around $300 budget

Finally I bought a 8G Verbatim SDHC, the writing speed is less than class 6 despite it claims to be class 6, for reading, yes, it can. Anyway, I'm not very much a fast shooter, like to shoot flying birds.

3. Backup battery for 450D

Third party battery (1280mmAh) ordered from ebay on 2nd of June, $9.18 USD shipped, received on 6th of June.

It looks very nice, even with a very familiar looking battery cover, charging time is similar compared to the original one, and this one is lighter, I guess it has lesser actual capacity, therefore.

I've used this battery for one charging and discharging cycle, it's of very similar capacity with the original one, not bad indeed.

4. Mounting ring for the 200mm f2.8L

--> Ordered from ebay on 3rd of June, $23.98 (USD) shipped on 4th of June (expect 7-14 working days), arrived on 19th of June, pretty slow. The item is not well packed, and its outlook is different from the photograph shown! What I mean is, the design is just different. I got a $5 (USD) partial refund for that, and I tested the ring and it solved the balance issue nicely.

6. Adapter for EOS -> 2" (ScopeStuff), and 1.25" -> T and T ring for EOS, also a longer dovetail plate (8.5")

--> Ordered online on 31st of May, $1152.7 HKD shipped on 3rd of June, should be arrived by 16th of June, but I've no time to fetch it yet; I fetched them on 17th of June, all items very nicely made, I'll write another blog entry for them.

No Need:-

5. Chinese timer remote for 450D (No need now, since EOS utility did it so well!)

7. A USB powered external hard drive, the bigger the better, at least 120G, around $700 budget (no need so much storage now)

8. A Canon 50mm f/1.8

I bought one eventually, but it's not for this trip.

No comments: