We managed to have a scheduling conflict with our 18-200 lens, so I decided to take a stab at renting a substitute.

On Saturday Feb. 21st, I placed an online order for a Nikkor 70 - 200 F2.8 (the lens itself is a subject for another post) with LensRentals.com.  The confirmation page said that they would confirm my order the next business day.  Within a couple of hours, I got a confirmation email from Kristin @ LensRentals.com (yes, I assume a real person.)  I requested delivery on Thursday.  On Monday, I received an email from them saying it had shipped FedEx 2-day.  They included an explanation about wanting to ensure I got it on time, but that my rental would not start until the day I requested it.  This is also when they charged my credit card.

FedEx attempted delivery on Wednesday (unfortunately we missed it.)  The hang tag they left said that they would reattempt delivery on Thursday, or I could pick it up after 5:30 at the distribution center.  We expected to miss them again on Thursday, and I couldn't go that night, so I gave FedEx a call.  I talked to a very nice AMERICAN lady, and worked it out so that I would pick it up the next day at the distribution center.  Picking up the package was uneventful.

When I got home from picking it up, I had an email from LensRentals.com saying that my rental had been delivered.  The lens itself was shipped in a box appx. 6"x8"x12".  On top was a piece of 1" open cell foam.  Beneath that was the lens inside a Nikon CL-M2 lens case.  Beneath that was another piece of 1" open cell foam.  The whole thing was well packed, and I suspect they rarely have lens damage, unless the box itself is damage.  Also inside was the return shipping label.  Included with the lens was a stock hood, and a Really Right Stuff tripod ring (I assume the Nikon one was lost or broken at some time.)  After using it for a few days, I repacked it, and took it to my local FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinkos.)  Another nice thing about FedEx, is that they gave me a receipt saying I dropped it off.

I've just now received an email saying that they received my return shipment.

Overall, I was very happy with my rental.  The process itself went very smoothly, and I found the price to be reasonable.  I can definitely see using them again if I need a specialized lens, or think I want to buy something which is really expensive.

Recommended.

For most of a year, I’ve been searching for the perfect vacation bag.  I wanted something which could hold our Nikon D70 with the 18-200mm (aka the walkabout) lens attached, plus one or two other lenses, a flash or two, etc., plus a laptop, and other stuff (novel, sunglasses, etc.)

 

Lowepro has the CompuDaypack, which seemed perfect, except it won’t hold the D70 with a long lens.

 

I finally found the Kata KT DR-467.  It has all the features I was looking for, and the D70 with the longer lens fits.  I’ve already ordered it, and will post pictures when it comes.

Now I just need to take a trip to see how well it actually works.  8-)

Carl has been pining away at lenses over the last week due to the fortune of getting a rather nice Amazon coupon.  The unfortunate thing is he can't figure out what size lens to get.  Not that I think that our photographic usages will be similar, but just as a point of comparison, I decided to see what lens length makes sense for me.  Using ExposurePlot, I analyzed all the photographs we've taken since April of this year.  This plot shows the 35mm effective focal length of both our D70 and SD630 shots.

click for larger view

Obviously this is somewhat skewed by the selection of lenses we have 18mm-70mm and 18mm-200mm actual on the D70, and 35mm to 105mm effective on the SD630.

I've also uploaded the chart for Aperture, which is also interesting.

or the search for the ultimate bag.

Like Carl, I've been looking for the ultimate camera bag.  Hopefully, he can learn something from my mistake.

I've not found a bag I really like.  Ideally, I'd get a backpack with room to hold the DSLR with lens, a couple of extra lenses, external flash, camera battery charger, extra battery (or two), extra compact flash cards, card reader, MacBook, MacBook powerbrick, and GPS.  Extra points for a novel or two.

This past week, we went camping (pictures will be posted soon).  And even though we've done this several times, I still managed to forget a couple of crucial camera things.  First off, the original battery for the D70 finally seems to be dying.  I charged it prior to leaving, however we got to the hill country with a dead camera.  Ok, no big deal, we specifically got a campsite with electricity for this very problem, except the camera charger is no where to be found.  Luckily we also had Mary's P&S so she could get some shots that day.  Our trip had no schedule, so we decided to take a trip into Austin (about 40 miles) to visit the Texas Capital and a Best Buy.  Well it ended up being three trips to Best Buy because the first one didn't have any chargers in stock, and the second one they sent us to had the charger but no batteries, so it was back to the first one.  Upon arriving home, we found the camera charger tucked away in the drawer where we keep chargers.  Yes, we paid too much for the charger and battery, but now we have them.  Now all I need is a place to keep them.

Mary was snapping pics with the P&S most of the whole way, and it would be nice to see those on a map, but that leads me to forgetfulness item #2.  I managed to misplace the GPS.  It actually went with us, but I couldn't find it either.  It ended up getting shoved under those novels I mentioned (which never got cracked.)

I guess the bag search will start up again in earnest to prevent this in the future.