My sis arrived from the US last week and we had a little get together dinner last night. The stuff I had ordered are now with me:

• Sto-fen Omni-bounce
• Manfrotto 684B (Neotec) Monopod
• Manfrotto 322RC2 grip action ball head
• Canon off-camera shoe cord
• Cap Keepers

Though I’ve packed my 300D back in the box (I’m selling it), I just had to try our the monopod and off-camera shoe cord. So I took out the camera [hopefully] for one last time and made the most out of it.

Pics and details down below…

Neotec baby!

I dig the way the labels are now “engraved” on the metal unlike my first stick - which had that icky sticker.

This stick is amazing! Works as advertized (obviously): You simply pull it and it will extend. It won’t contract unless you press the release handle. Now that I have it, any indication of “how” it might work still seems to elude me. Some amazing construction and technology was certainly achieved with this monopod.

The only drawback is the rubber foot. It’s NOT interchangeable with those spiked thingies and others. I don’t want to even think about what would happen if the rubber wore out.

Moving right along…

The head and other head

Here you see the release handle/head. As well as the connected grip action ball head. Just holding the stick with the head makes me wish I already had a 20D and start shooting like crazy.

Let us continue…

Don’t leave home without them

Just to get this out of the way - these are the cap-keepers in action. The picture in the link/site are pretty confusing with regards to how big the buggers actually are. The shot above should put them into perspective.

Last, but not least…

Tricked out flash!

Here we have my Sigma flash finally with a Sto-fen Omni-bounce flash diffuser which I could never find in the country. Also connected is the off-camera shoe cord which allows the flash to operate physically disconnected from the camera’s hot shoe. Such a gadget allows your flash to maintain vertical orientation even if you tilt the camera (provided you have those flash-brackets, which I intend to get soon). If you don’t have a bracket, it’s still pretty useful for unorthodox shots like this:

Now you can take a picture of your flash while using it

post updated on July 4, 2006 @ 11:55AM