Specifications

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the floor. It’s lightweight, despite all of its features and compartments, and has comfortable straps for
easy carrying without overloading one shoulder or your back.
When you are working with larger scale shoots and equipment, for example, if you need to carry your
lighting kit as well and have assistants to help, then you may want to look into hard cases with wheels.
These hard cases offer maximum protection and can store multiple cameras, lens, accessories, etc.
Additionally, hard cases are safer for flying as there wouldn’t be possibility of other luggage crushing
your cases. You will, however, want to make sure that your case clasps are secure and also bound with
a strap to prevent accidental opening.
Lens Cloth ($0.99-9.99)
A very nice option for a lens cloth would be something like this “Stuff-It” Microfiber lens cloth ($5) by
Carson. It is a nice soft lens cloth with a little carrying bag attached that you stuff the cloth back into
after use. It also has a clip attached, which is great because lens cloths are one of those things that
always go missing and it’s such a simple yet crucial tool when you need it. The worst thing is to have to
resort to trying to wipe your lens with your sleeve as delicately as you can without scratching or
smudging the lens.
A proper lens cloth will cost less than $10 and as low as $.99 with free shipping if you were to purchase
on eBay.
You can get a six-pack of lens clothes by MagicFiber for only $12.99 on Amazon or 30 of them for $24.99
by the same company, which would bring the cost per cloth to only $0.83.
This is a nice Nikon lens cloth with carrying case for $5.95.
Gray Card
A gray card is a simple tool for ensuring that your white balance is set appropriately. The reason for
setting a white balance is because the camera cannot differentiate proper colors without a frame of
reference. In other words, your camera cannot pinpoint exact white or exact black but will effectively
“guess” as best as it can with its internal auto-balance.
Now, ideally, within your targeted photo area the colors of white and black are represented, whether in
the background or foreground. However, often this is not the case and you must help your camera
distinguish blacks from whites and using a gray card is the most effective way to get the most accurate
color balance.
Color balance is significant when going into post-production on your photos. It is much harder to tweak
and modify colors, especially skin tones, without a defined and accurate white balance. Likewise, it is
much easier and more accurate to color correct when a definite white point exists from which to
contrast other colors. If your white-point is not exactly white, then all of your other color settings will
be adjusted against the non-white and thus, all colors will be off a bit.
A gray card typically has solid black, white, and gray color sides. To set your white balance with a gray
card, use your camera’s “custom white balance” setting and take a photo of the gray card in front of
your targeted shooting area or using your photo subject to hold the card for you.