So, after lots of decisions and changing my mind SO many times about what I was going to upgrade to, I finally decided to stay safe and continue with Canon! I was very tempted by the Olympus set up and was nearly persuaded, after conversing with photographers David Tipling, Rebecca Nason and also Chris Knights. I was quite taken back when Chris told me on the phone, that he had ditched all his Canon gear four years ago and has gone over to Olympus! Its cheaper than Canon overall, but for me it may have been a stretch too far, learning a new system at my grand old age I decided! Plus I can use my existing Canon lenses.
I have spent far too many hours in the Wex showroom and spent far too much dosh. I have had a humongous spending spree with some of my inheritance! I decided that life is too short, you never know how long you have left, seriously! I still have funds to move to Shetland, should I ever make that decision!
I purchased a Canon 7D Mark II 2nd hand from Wex and a Canon EF 300mm f4 L USM (to replace my old one) 2nd hand from MBM. I still need to try and set this up properly before I go away. This will be my spare set up. I bought a brilliant Peak Design Slide Camera Strap from Wex, which was recommended to me by Rob Holmes, who also uses this strap – the grip on this is far superior to any Canon strap and actually stays on your shoulder.
I'm on a HUGE waiting list for the new Canon RF 100-500 f4.5-7.1L IS USM Lens, which I'm told by Wex, that I'm unlikely to get before Christmas. There are over one hundred people on their waiting list! All other retailers are in the same boat. So whilst I wait for this lens, I decided to purchase a Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens, 2nd hand from WEX and yes I did purchase one a few weeks ago and returned it, as I decided it was too heavy, but I really want more than a 300mm lens for the Autumn migration and Shetland trip, so will have to put up with the weight. I will then more than probably sell this lens, when I eventually get the RF 100-500.
I will use the EF 100-400mm lens with the Canon EOS R5 camera which I extravagantly purchased, or with the 7D Mark II, if I haven't got to grips with the R5, which is unlikely, as I have not even taken it out of the box yet! The SanDisk 64 GB CFexpress Extreme Pro (1500MB/Sec) Memory Cards x 2 for this are an insane price and also purchased a couple of spare batteries. The Canon EOS R5 came with a "free" 3 Legged Thing Legends Ray Carbon Fibre Tripod, which I will use with the new gear – its an excellent freebie!
I'm really hoping that in the three week trip, I might be lucky enough to see the Northern Lights and have always been interested in getting into Astro photography. So, I purchased a Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM Lens (purchased direct from Canon), which will be brilliant for landscape shots too and a Canon BR-E1 Remote Controller from Wex – my old controller is not compatible with the new R5, no surprise there! I've even bought a Black Diamond Equipment - Cosmo 300 Headlamp - Octane from Amazon, which has a red or white light for viewing the viewfinder at night! Plus this will be useful in the cottage I am staying in, when taking gear out of the car at the end of the day.
I also purchased from the Canon store, a Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R which allows me to attach EL and old lenses to the EOS R5 camera – this was extremely difficult to get hold of and I got very lucky one day, when I noticed it for sale on the Canon website. Wex don't have any and neither do lots of the other main retailers. Thinking ahead – when photographers eventually get their hands on the RF 100-500mm lens, they will be buying the Canon Extender RF 1.4x, so I bought this too, before that goes on a waiting list!
I've updated the camera bags and bought a new Lowepro Pro Trekker BP 350 AW II Backpack (updated version of one I have already) for storing spare camera gear etc. My main new bag is the Gitzo Adventury 30L Backpack which Wex did not have in stock, but their Milton Keynes store did, luckily – this backpack is khaki green and is a seriously good bag – it includes a roll top section for other gear, eg food, snacks, drinks etc.
My very ancient Western Digital 1 TB hard drives are both full and its been on my list for a long time to get a newer and bigger external hard drive, so I bought a SanDisk Professional G-Drive 6 TB from Wex.
I obviously need to protect my new gear and bought LensCamo Covers for the Canon RF 100-500 and for the Canon EF 100-400mm lens from LensCamo.
Wex did not have a decent (in my opinion) reader for the new CFexpress cards, so I purchased one from Amazon with excellent reviews, a CFexpress Type B and SD UHS-II Dual-Slot Memory Card Reader by ProGrade Digital.
From the Apple Store in Norwich I bought my first iPad, an Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch display in Space Grey, 1 TB Wi-fi and an Apple Pencil 2nd Generation – "Ruby", an extremely helpful member of staff even price matched it with Amazon! I got a bit of discount off the pencil with my new NHS Blue Light Card, but no discount for the ipad with this scheme. I will be using this to take videos, storing pictures and doing creative stuff etc. Purchased an Otterbox Defender Series Case for this from Amazon – arriving this week.
A few weeks ago I bought a new sat nav, as my very old TomTom is totally out of date and you can't upgrade it anymore. I bought a Garmin DriveSmart 55 MT-S U from Halfords in King's Lynn and I have to set this up too before I head north. Finally, I'm next on the waiting list for the Swarovski NL Pure 8 x 42 Binoculars from CleySpy, but the estimated delivery date is the 27th September, so may not get these before I leave. Phew! The biggest spend, I have ever done, I could have bought a new Skoda instead! I need to stop now. My new gear will see me out until the end of time – it will have to, as I won't be able to spend any more, ever!!!
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