Giottos Rocket Air Blaster Small Review (Video)

I review the small Giottos Rocket Air Blaster. This is a great little tool blowing dust off your lens and sensor of your DSLR. I personally find this helpful when I'm bringing a small photography bag (when I don't need my full set up). This tool fits in my small photography bag very nicely. As  mentioned in the video, I always blow off my lens before using a cleaning cloth to get rid of any sand or hard debris that might otherwise scratch the lens. I highly recommend you bring an air blower in your camera bag.

For the review of the large Giotto Rocket Air Blaster, click here.

Warning: Hateful, rude, anti-LGBT comments will be deleted, and you may be banned from my channel.

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Galena Creek/Mt. Rose - Lake Tahoe/Reno 2012 (Part 2)

If you live in the SF Bay Area, you probably know it never snows here. Many people like me who live in the SF Bay Area love snow. The nearest place that does get snow is in Lake Tahoe and Reno. Many of us go there in the winter to go ski and snowboard, but for me, I don't like any of that. I enjoy taking photos of snow and playing in it. :) Here are photos of Lake Tahoe and Reno I took during my trip in Christmas of 2012. I will be splitting them into several parts as I took a lot of photos there. Hope you enjoy.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best Lake Tahoe/Reno/Donner Lake photos from 2012, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 

Before I get started today, I would like to tell you about a great product to add to your camera bag. The product I would like to tell you about today is called the Giottos Rocket Air Blaster. This product is pretty much a rubber air blower. You squeeze on the ball and a big puff of air comes out of the tip. I always use this product on my lens before I wipe to get rid of any big  particles that could potentially scratch my lens. It usually does a good job and I don't even need to wipe! This product also lets me dislodge any dust that have gotten onto my sensor without even touching it. This is usually all I need to bring my sensor back to a clean state. Not only is this product great for cameras, I also use it to dust my keyboard and mouse. Another great feature that sets this product apart from other air blowers is that it includes a patented one way valve that prevents you from sucking up and dust that you have just dislodged! Greatest invention ever and I never regretted my purchase because it is so useful. If you don't have one, you should get a Giottos Rocket Air Blaster now! The company makes the product in 3 sizes: Large (Also Available In Red), Medium, and Small. The company also makes a Q-Ball Version that has a flexible tip that can be angled.

Okay, now let's get started with today's photos. :) These photos are some of the photos I took on the 2nd day of my trip. Most of them are from Galena Creek Recreation Area, I also have 1 photo of Reno, NV from my hotel room, and 1 photo on the drive up to Mt. Rose. The rest of the Mt. Rose photos will be coming next time.

Here is the view of Reno from my Harrah's hotel room.  

Now I being the photos form Galena Creek Recreation Area! :) 

 So much snow!!!

Try out a Giottos Rocket Air Blaster today!

Someone's snowman.  

Here is a bridge. I'm guessing it is suppose to be over the creek? I didn't see any creek though. No water, nothing.  

 Not sure why there isn't a lot of snow on the trees... I though't if the ground is going to be covered, the trees should be too. Weird. 

I think the area is beautiful with the trees and snow.  

Here is a photo of the visitor center half buried by snow. This is all the photos I took at Galena Creek Recreation Area. Sadly, when I was about to leave, saw this car blocking the only way out... I think the ice somehow froze under his tires when he was out taking photos. He was stuck there for quite a while until someone helped install chains on his tires. HAHA Wasn't too long of a wait, but I did get a bit inpatient. Wanted to head to Mt. Rose to get some snow shots! 

Here is a photo of partially up Mt. Rose. See how fast the snow storm came in? I will have the rest of the photos up next time, but look at the mountain in the distance. That is a snowstorm brewing, not fog. It is funny how I still had some sun to lens flare this photo. LOL The snowstorm isn't that far away... 

This is all the photos I have for today. I hope you have enjoyed them! Next time, I will have photos of me freezing in the snowstorm. XD Not kidding. I forgot to bring enough clothes, but I toughed it out and took some photos to show you guys. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Vanguard Uprise 43 Zoom Expandable Sling Camera Bag Review

Backpack reviews are a bit hard to do in text, which is why I made a video on it, but I will do my best to do a summary in text for you guys. :) The Vanguard Uprise 43 Zoom Expandable Sling Camera Bag is a great backpack for your photography equipment. It features several large storage areas with adequate padding to minimize the chance of damage to your equipment, and a door providing easy and quick access to your camera on the go. Caught out in the rain? No problem! This Vanguard backpack comes with a rain cover in a dedicated storage pocket to help prevent water damage to your gear! I have used this backpack for about a year now and it has never failed me, however it is starting to get a bit small on me as I get more camera equipment. As you can see in the video, I have quite a lot of things I wish to bring along, but most beginner photographers will definitely not have that much equipment. It is a great bag, don't get the wrong idea here, and I recommend it to all photographers who have a medium amount of equipment. It is a great starting backpack for beginner photographers! 

Main Features:

• Bright neon orange backing contrasts great against photography equipment.
• Built in rain cover to help protect against water damage.
• Quick access door to quickly access your camera.
• Camera compartment have customizable Velcro dividers. 
• Backpack can be expanded just slightly.

If you enjoy my video reviews, you can follow me on Youtube here. 

What's In My Bag...

I noticed I have only been posting photos recently, and wanted to change things up a bit. For this post, I will be showing you all the photography equipment I have. :) This is most of my equipment and I usually carry all of it with me when I go on vacations to far places. I will usually skip over a few items if I'm only visiting nearby places depending on what I feel like shooting that day. I bring most of them to farther places when I visit because I don't know what to expect! No reviews of the products will be given here, but you can get an idea of what I bring and maybe what you are missing in your photography equipment collection. :) These photos do include the new 600EX-RT flash I purchased recently.

The first photo is of most of my equipment. My camera, tripod, and 1 of my lenses are not in the photo for obvious reasons.

Equipment listed in the above photo (Starting from the left):

• Vanguard Up-rise 43 Zoom Expandable Sling Camera Bag
• Case Logic DCB-204 Camera Bag (The smaller one I use to carry my filters. I attach it to my bigger bag via a stainless steal cable.)
• A red LED flashlight (For finding camera controls at night when doing night photography. Red light won't ruin your night vision.)
• 82mm to 58mm filter adapter ring (Used to adapt my 82mm filters down to 58mm for my smaller lenses. Helps to save some money on my filters.)
• Hoya Neutral Density Filters (9-stop and 5-stop filter).
• B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer
• B+W 58mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer
• B+W 82mm Clear UV Haze with Multi-Resistant Coating (010M) (Was on my camera lens, not in the filter case)
• Fotodiox 6" X 8" Universal Softbox (for my flash)
• Giottos Rocket Air Blaster (Large) (Used to blow dust off my lenses and camera sensor)
• Lexar Professional 64GB Class 10 SDXC Card (backup storage in case my 8GB CF runs out)
• SD to CF Adapter (To adapt my Class 10 SDXC card to the CF slot. It's a really big savings than buying a real CF card. LOL Sadly, it does take the speed down, so if you do get one, take that into consideration, plus the adapter does get pretty warm when in use. Again, I repeat, I only use this as a backup when my real CF card runs out of memory.)
• Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II SLR Lens (I no longer use this one as I have a wide angle L-model to replace it with.)
• Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens (The one I use for bird and animal photography)
• Some lens cleaning cloths including a piece of chicken skin (which I bought in China), some random microfiber cleaning cloths, and a Nikon microfiber cleaning cloth.
• Some AAA and AA battery storage boxes (I read on a forum some guy accidently put some change he got after lunch in the same pocket as his batteries which burned a hole in his pants... Always use storage boxes for the batteries. I bought these at my local Fry's Electronics.)
• RainbowImaging 100 meter 2.4GHz Wireless Remote Shutter Release
• Zeikos Remote Shutter Release (has button locking feature for Bulb exposures)
• Canon 600EX-RT Flash (with carrying bag next to it)
• Flash Filters and Filter holder (came with my flash)
• Studiohut Timer Remote Control Shutter (Remote I use for time-lapse and star trails photography)
• Yongnuo Brand Off Camera Flash Cable (Buying 3rd party really saves money. LOL)
• Some one time use AAA batteries for my different remotes and my flashlight.
• Rechargeable High Capacity 2500 MaH Sanyo XX Batteries (for my flash)
• Extra LP-E6 Battery Pack for my camera.

Surprising how I can fit that much inside such a small camera bag right? LOL So now let's move onto the things that was not in that photo because I had to use my camera for that photo. The last 2 photos was taken using my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Equipment shown in this photo:

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens (What I use for my landscape shots)
• Vanguard Alta+ 263AP Tripod

Here is a photo of the whole tripod with the camera on top. Photos also taken with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

So there you have it, most of the equipment I use and bring along for a photo shoot. :) It is very heavy. LOL Even though I have so much equipment, I can still quickly remember where I put it and quickly locate it in my bag. Sometimes I do hunt around a bit, but I usually don't. As a photographer, it's good to memorize where you store everything so you don't miss the perfect shot! As of right now, I actually don't have any space in my bag to store the flash. Not sure what changes I'll be making for that, but I bring most of these equipment along when I go on trips to far places. I most likely will probably just strap my flash to the outer part of my camera bag, the same way I'm storing my camera filters... If you read carefully, you'd know I usually cheap out and buy 3rd party equipment for all the parts that DO NOT affect optical quality! I never cheap out on lenses, batteries, or flash equipment... It's a very good money saving tip. :) Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Today I have photos of the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). Most of these photos were taken in my front yard (the one with the bird on the grass), and the rest of the photos were taken on Pleasanton Trail (Arroyo Del Valle Trail). Pleasanton Trail is located in Pleasanton, CA. I hope you enjoy!

Just as a reminder, if you love my blog, you can also "Like" us on Facebook. You can also do that in the Facebook box at the top of the right sidebar. This will give you updates on your Facebook feed as I post more photos.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best bird photos of 2012, use this link. To view my best 2012 backyard photos, use this link. To see all of my at home and backyard photography shots of 2012, use this link.

What is that he's pointing at me. o_O

Nom nom nom...

Yummy... Food...

Over exposed. :/

Staring up into heaven. :P

That is all the photos I got for today! I hope you have enjoyed it! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends! Also, if you would like notifications on your Facebook feed when I post new blog posts, you can "Like" us on Facebook here, or in the Facebook box on the top of the right side bar! Thanks for looking! See you next time!

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Today I got some photos of what I believe is a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). If I'm wrong, please correct me. The hawk was spotted on the Pleasanton Trail in Pleasanton, California. So I was taking a walk on Arroyo Del Valle Trail, almost at dusk (that is why the photos look a bit grainy), when I saw a giant bird land on a tree about 500 feet away from me! I quickly zoomed in onto it my camera, and took several shots. Then I kept my focus on it just in case it wants to fly off, but it didn't. So anyways here are the photos I took of it. All these photos was taken using Aperture Priority at 5.6 /f with spot metering. The photos were cropped and watermarked in Photoshop, but not touched-up.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best photos of Pleasanton in 2011, use this link. To see my best photos of bird photos from 2011, use this link. To see all of my photos from Pleasanton in 2011, use this link.

You know what came to my mind when I first saw this photo on my computer? The creepy eyes are staring at you... XD

Good birdy. I was hoping it was going to fly off and I'd get a good photo, but it didn't. Sadly. :( I guess its nest was there, it was pretty late. All the birds were going home.

Final photo of this bird. My other photos had the wrong focus, so I didn't post them.

That's all for today! I still got squirrel photos, bird photos, and Redwood Alliance photos to come! Make sure you check back! Oh yes, I almost forgot, once I get a photo of the full moon, I will be posting those up too! They turned out very very nice! Hope you liked today's post! See you next time. Don't forget to share with your friends and "Like" us on Facebook!

Oh yes, I almost forgot, I recently bought a Nikon Micro Fiber Cleaning Cloth and a Giottos Rocket Air Blaster, I will be writing a review for them on this blog in a few days. I tell you, if you are serious about photography, those two things are a must have! They are cheap and gets your lens cleaned as good as new! I just got it and used them to clean my lens. They were free of fingerprints and dust in a few seconds! If you already have these, use my method of blow, wipe, and blow. Works really well. Please remember to check back for my review! :)