I’m flying off to Europe next week! How am I packing my photo equipment? What equipment am I bringing along? How am I going to haul those equipment for a whole day out in Europe? How can I travel light without putting much weight on my shoulder? The answer is here: Lowepro Inverse 100AW beltpack. Click HERE to get it from Amazon for only USD62.39 as of the date of this post being written.

In case you still don’t know by now, I have been carrying Lowepro Cirrus TLZ15 on my waist since Nikon D60 until now Nikon D7000. It is still the best waist belt bag to carry around my D7000 when I go shooting around town with my kids and family, or shooting a photo project with only one lens needed. I even used only this little Lowepro for my whole trip to Europe last year. Yes. It is that good that I could walk a whole day out without feeling any burden on my shoulder or waist and both of my hands were absolutely free to do anything from climbing up ladders to hugging Jean when we saw the romantic scenes in Venice!

Off course, there is still weakness of it. The only draw back of using this waist bag was that I could only bring one camera body with 1 single lens attached. However, I need a slightly bigger bag for this year’s Europe travel to fit in extra 2 lenses on top of my Tamron SP10-24mm Ultra Wide Angle lens attached to Nikon D7000. So I decided to buy another waist bag.

Then I bought this Lowepro Inverse 100AW beltpack (as shown in photos above and below). I know Think Tank Speed Demon is more preferred by some of the professional photographer, but I chose this Lowepro Inverse for its lighter weight (only about half of Speed Demon’s weight).

Lowepro Inverse 100 AW camera beltpack offers a full set of thoughtful features to help you capture the moment with ease; protection and ultra comfort.  A detachable and padded, 360-degree shoulder strap adds a comfortable, additional carrying option. SlipLock attachment loops let you organize your gear to suit your needs.

The 3D contoured mesh lumbar belt distributes weight evenly and offers cushioned support and helps wick away moisture.

The quick-access top lets you work out of your pack with minimal effort. From top you can see 2 adjustable divider inside the bag. I put my charger at 1 side, Nikon D7000 at the middle compartment and 2 extra lenses into another side.

Underneath the top cover are 2 small pockets for my SDHC memory cards. I have to fit in 6 of them inside these 2 pockets.

Mesh side exterior pockets are found at both sides of this Lowepro Inverse 100AW

A patented All Weather Cover is provided for serious protection from rain; sand and dust.

Measuring 7.9 x 10.1 x 8.8 inches and weighing 1.7 pounds, Lowepro Inverse 100AW is not actually a small bag but still reasonably easy to be maneuvered around my waist. There is also a padded  swivel shoulder strap included for an alternative carrying solution or for an extra security measure to prevent the beltpack from dropping accidentally.

This is Lowepro Cirrus TLZ15 on my waist, if you wish to know how much size difference between TLZ15 and 100AW.

The above photo shows how big is Inverse 100AW if compared to Nikon D7000 camera body attached with Nikkor 18-105mm lens.

Putting a D7000 body at the middle compartment, I have a small space at left compartment for a flash, and a bigger right compartment for my extra lens.

Click HERE to view more high resolution photos of the beltpack via Flickr.

I’m still experimenting the ease and usefulness of carrying this Lowepro Inverse 100AW beltpack on my travel. My initial feeling after using it for half a day in town was quite pleasant. While it is much bigger and heavier than its little brother Cirrus TLZ15, it is still acceptably compact and manageable. With this gain in size, Lowepro Inverse 100AW beltpack manage to fit all the photography stuff I plan to bring along my Europe trip next week. The best part is I still have both of my hands free to wonder around town in Barcelona and cycling in Copenhagen!

The only problem I found out from using the beltpack is that it could be very heavy to carry it on my waist if, too much unnecessary stuffs are squeezed into the bag! If you are thinking to put also your wallet, city maps, note pad, bottled water, batteries, flashes and glasses into the beltpack, make sure to use the padded shoulder strap together to reduce your waist burden after a full day out!

What’s my initial thought? It’s an useful beltpack for traveling light, but just don’t put too much stuffs in it even though it fits.

What’s my conclusion? I will tell you once I got back from my 2 weeks trip to Europe. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog

Year end is around the corner. Traveling during this period has become many people favourite in Malaysia as public holidays and festive seasons at this period of time are relatively long and we could enjoy a longer holidays, just like the summer holidays in western countries. Their popular travel destinations include countries around Asia such as Indonesia, or exotic holidays such as Cambodia, Sri Lanka etc. I’m no exception. If time is allowed, I’ll be flying to Bali this December.

Whenever I travel overseas, apart from the top 5 packing list items, the next thing I will definitely bring along is my mobile phone. Not to act like a local in overseas, taking my phone with me helps me stay connected in whichever part of this world. Off course, it never meant for chit-chatting with friends at home. Thanks to the International Roaming service, my mobile phone actually acts as a top tool to make and receive emergency calls when there are security issues such as riots in overseas, incidences at home, flight delays, weather warning and so on.

Telecommunication International Roaming service is a valued added service provided by telecommunication service provider to allow travelers to use their mobile phones even in overseas by using the local service provider network. This is an important service for me as I’m traveling overseas quite often and still wish to stay connected every day. With international roaming, I could also connect to internet with unlimited data roaming internationally as well. It really ease the pain to look for internet connection or WIFI availability overseas. I could share about the places I’m visiting, the exotic food I’m having, the nice people I’ve been meeting instantly with my loved-ones at home. Besides, with the convenience of nowadays cheap international roaming rates, I could always contact my family or my children during long vacations if I miss them too much. Off course, for businessmen, international roaming is even more crucial as traveling is part and parcel of their jobs and daily reports and updates to their home offices are essential.

Thanks to the telecommunication service provider giant in Malaysia, Celcom, I could now call home at the LOWEST RATES ever! From 1st November 2010 until 28th February 2011, all Celcom customers will get to enjoy the lowest roaming rates when they travel to selected countries such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh and   Cambodia. For example, if you’re a Celcom customer traveling in Indonesia and make a call home to your family in Malaysia, all you need to do is to choose to roam with XL and you’ll enjoy a low rate at ONLY 35sen/min. That’s the lowest roaming rate you can find! Here is the list of roaming network you could choose to enjoy this low rates:

• Sri Lanka – Choose Dialog Telekom PLC;
• Indonesia -  Choose XL;
• Bangladesh -  Choose Robi, and
• Cambodia -  Choose Hello

What’s more, travelers to Malaysia from neighboring countries such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia & Bangladesh will also enjoy special rates in Malaysia whenever they choose to roam with Celcom!

Captured below is the low rates Celcom users could get during the promotion period.

Why I use Celcom as my cellphone network provider? With its widest coverage, fastest speeds, clearest voice, best rates and service provided, Celcom is all about the customer’s peace of mind. It is their stand, positioning and the one thing that sets them apart from other telecommunication service providers in Malaysia. Celcom is part of the Axiata Group that spans over10 countries in Asia, so travelers get to enjoy the widest coverage even when travelling, due to Celcom’s wide network of partners in the region. Axiata Group is an emerging leader in Asian mobile telecommunications with extensive operations and businesses in 10 Asian countries (Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Iran, Pakistan and Thailand). It is also one of the largest telecommunications companies in the region, providing a range of mobile communication services to a combined base of over 94 million subscribers.

So, make sure you activate the international service and bring along your cell phones next time you travel. I will remember to search for XL network when I travel to Bali next month! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog

I don’t own a D300s. My friend John who is flash-packing together with me to Europe next month does. My brother who offered to loan me his camera does. But I turned down his offer. John regretted of upgrading his D90 to D300s just before our trip. Nikon D300s is not for backpacking. D300s is not for budget travelers. Why?

No doubt Nikon D300s is an excellent semi-pro DSLR. It is also Nikon’s current flagship camera for APS-C format or DX format sensor size with crop factor of 1.5. With an inclusion of new HD video shooting capability, improved 7fps continuous shooting burst mode, dual slots for both Compact flash and SDHC cards, D300s is a subtle but significant upgrade from its predecessor model D300. Other features brought forward unchanged are its 12MP resolutions, full customizable menus and controls, best ability so far in image quality and noise control for its sensor size,  flash light commander and auto focus ability. Most attractively, with intense competition from newer technological Canon 7D, Nikon D300s selling price has dropped more than USD300 from its introduction price of USD1800 (this is what made my friend upgraded his D90 to this heavy body).

However, for budget traveling especially backpacking, with these 5 reasons, D300s sucks!

1. TOO HEAVY! Weighing a KG for body only. Attaching a Tokina 16-50 f2.8 pro lens to it will load a whopping 1.7KG to your baggage! My Nikon D60 with kit lens weighs less than 1 KG! For backpacker who walks more than stay on travel, carrying 2KG on your neck for hours isn’t as easy as you think.
2. TOO BIG! It is almost double the volume of a D60 which make it impossible to fit into any camera waist bag comfortably.
3. TOO COMPLICATED TO GET USED TO! With such a short time from its introduction, John couldn’t get used to it easily in terms of its performances and all setting before our Europe trip next month. Though he has been using D90 before, D300s is a lot more difficult to master its operation.
4. TOO DEMANDING FOR ACCESSORIES! Top notch DSLR require good accessories. Pro lens is much heavier. Solid tripod to support D300s and lens is much heavier. Both cost a lot more off course. How much is your budget?
5. TOO RISKY! Wearing a D300s on your neck is too risky in tourist spots. It’s the same thing like wearing your money porch around your waist.
6. BONUS** TOO EXPENSIVE FOR BUDGET TRAVELERS! All in all, from camera, backpack, lens to tripod, this combo weighs almost 5 KG! Apart from the owning cost, baggage cost is also increased! What’s the weight allowance of hand carry luggage for your budget airline? 5KG? 7KG?

After all these 6 reasons, there is still ONE reason why you could still carry a Nikon D300s on your travel…. THE PASSION IN PHOTOGRAPHY! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog.

Since now is still the first fresh month of Year 2010, I still have 11 months to realise this, hopefully. This is just part of my wish list this year for contenting my craving on travel photography equipment. If possible, I hope my wish could become reality before this May. Why? Because I would be better equipped by then. So what? SO I COULD TOUR THE TOP 5 EUROPE CITIES IN MAY! To be exact, I have only slightly more than 3 months to grab them into my packing list to travel! Can I? Let’s check my list first…

What camera system do I need to take with me for my photography travel? Firstly, what camera system do I currently own? As a budget traveler who prefers to travel light, I have a Nikon D60 body. Though it’s not perfect but it’s still good and light to carry around travel. For lenses attaching to it, I have the “3 lens combo for poor man” which includes a Nikkor 18-55mm kit lens, a Nikkor 55-200mm zoom lens and a 35mm f1.8 prime lens. For capturing day in day out travel photos under good ambient lighting, 18-55 and 55-200mm lenses are good enough. Whereas my 35mm fast lens are normally used to capture indoor or night scenes under available light, which is brilliant (you can see my Chinese New Year photos indoor). I have plenty of 4GB SDHC memory cards and 1 spare battery which should be enough (Europe is using the same power socket as Malaysia, so charging battery there would not be a problem). I’m currently using my only Lowepro Cirrus TLZ15 waist bag to fit in my camera and a single lens. For night scene long exposure (like my shot of Genting Highland), I would bring along my tripod. That’s all my camera system currently.

What else do I need? For a budget traveler with limited budget on travel photography, Nothing else I need. I don’t need a much more bulkier and heavier camera body like D300s to burden our rucksack eventhough though its metering and dynamic range is much better. I don’t need a ultra wide angle lens to capture the whole scene of Coloseum where I could still stitch a few photos up as panorama. If budget is my biggest concern, I don’t need a telephoto lens either. Out of 100 travel photos that I’ve been shooting, only 10 or less photos are telephoto. So I’ll miss only 10% of all photography opportunity.

However, To have a more complete camera system for better travel photography (but also heavier bag and heftier budget), and to ease my craving as a hobbyist photographer, I wish I could own these 5 camera components as listed here:

1. Wide angle Nikkor AF-S 10-24mm f3.5-4.5G ED DX lens costing USD 800. This is the lens for capturing landscape with more impact! I want this first!
2. Midrange Zoom Tamron AF 17-50mm f2.8 SP costing USD 449. This is the lens to replace my kit lens for travel. It’s fixed aperture make it a lot more flexible in shooting indoor and outdoor!
3. Telephoto zoom Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G ED VR, costs USD 540. If budget allows, this lens can help you to capture those statues on top of the roof at St. Peter’s Square and PS can’t help you on this!
4. I need a much bigger sling bag preferably the Lowepro Slingshot 350AW sling bag, cost USD115. It will fit in more camera staffs on travel, and can be treated as a backpack cum waist bag, and
5. Finally, if budget allows me to do so, I wish I could upgrade my body to Nikon D300s which cost USD1,500 or RM4,950 only now! It’s tremendously good value now if compare to its original list price of USD1,800!

Other than the above, I would also get ready some ND and polarizer filters for some effects. What are the total cost of all 5 items?  USD3,404.

However, I haven’t got any of the above. I wish I can get some of them (or at least the first 4 items) by end of April so I could fully explore my photography travel to Europe. Or can you think of anyway to support me on this please?

The title may sound ridiculous. Yes. In terms of overall image quality, my Nikon D60 still has the edge. However, in certain aspect and under certain circumstances, my 15 month old Panasonic Lumix FZ28 is no doubt better than my DSLR, or even most of the DSLR in the market. “Are you sure?”

I’ve been using both compact camera (FZ28) and DSLR (D60) for more than a year now. None of the reviewer will review the same camera again after owning them for 1 year. Most of them don’t even own them in the first place. So, they can’t tell you the actual experience of 1 year usage. Not even 3 months (that was why I did also a confrontation test over these 2 cameras before). Nobody can tell you the actual advantages of using them after that long (or maybe there are?). Since I own these 2 gadgets, and I don’t have plan for upgrade yet, I might as well note them down here.

Since there are still people searching through the web (also this blog) for FZ28 and D60 reviews, I decided to disclose these advantages of an ultra-zoom compact camera (FZ28) over the DSLR (D60) here.

1. Live Histogram. Lumix FZ28 (or most of the compact’s) has it and D60 (or most of the DSLRs) hasn’t got it. Histogram is a very important and useful feature of digital cameras. It tells you the actual key tomes and exposure of your photo. Don’t rely only on your camera LCD.  It’s not accurate. It shows the JPEG image processed by your camera to suit the LCD viewing. Slight under or over exposed shot could not be seen from the tiny LCD until you download it to your computer. The only way to know from your camera whether the photo you just taken has the optimum or desired exposure is from the histogram feature (if you haven’t seen the histogram, check it out by pressing the joystick of FZ28 or the navigating down button of D60. You will see a histogram to show you the amount of lights captured by the sensor. Towards the right are highlight and towards the left are shadows). Both FZ28 and D60 has this feature. The difference between them which is important for fast action shot or ‘one chance only’ shot is the Panasonic has it LIVE on LCD when you compose shot. The Nikon can only check the histogram after the shot. If you shoot under complex lighting and your camera’s metering couldn’t get it right on spot, and you found it to be much under or over exposed, you have to compensate your exposure and shoot again. Off course, this doesn’t cause any hassle if you are shooting landscape or buildings. Imagine this, if Beyonce or Barack Obama is posing for you once for only 10 seconds or so, can you shoot, check histogram and tell her to pose for you again?
   
2. Shooting Macro. Don’t bombard me first. Off course DSLR can shoot macro if you have a dedicated macro lens costing no less than USD500 like the Tamron SP60 or Nikkor Micro 85mm. But the flexibility and easiness to shoot macro with a compact camera is still better. Macro photography is all about sharpness and Depth Of Field. Image has to be sharp and DOF has to be adequate to reveal much details of the object. Thanks to its puny sized sensor, FZ28 can shoot macro anytime with ease. You don’t have to have plenty of lights to capture it but still able to get sufficient DOF. Even I use my D60 attached with Tamron SP60, I’ll need strong sunlight and small aperture up to F22 to capture the same object as with my Lumix FZ28 without exotic lens and sunlight and wide open aperture of F3! The end result of compact camera could be as sharp!
   
3. Ultra tele-zoom up to 18x or 486mm!! Do you know how much is a Nikkor 300mm F4 telephoto lens? USD1,400!! It weighs over 1.4kg and measures 222mm long!! Even if you use cheaper option of fixing a teleconvertor lens to extend your existing lens by 2, you still need to pay USD500! A brand new FZ28 (current model would be FZ35) camera cost me only USD420 a year ago!!

These are the critical reasons why I’m still using it alongside my Nikon D60 after 15 months. However, other than these 3 aspects (Yes. Only 3), I still love my DSLR. Under most circumstances, DSLR is still better in producing crisp, clean and nice images, as long as you spend enough money to invest some excellent lenses and accessories, and very importantly, spend enough time…  – Travel Feeder.