Outdoor Photo Gear » bean bag http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog Great Photography Gear and Accessories for the Wildlife, Landscape, and Nature Photographers Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:24:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 How to Photograph from an Open-Roof Safari Vehicle in Africa http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/how-to-photograph-from-an-open-roof-safari-vehicle-in-africa-7558 http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/how-to-photograph-from-an-open-roof-safari-vehicle-in-africa-7558#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:59:49 +0000 Andy Biggs http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/?p=7558 Editor's note:  Welcome Andy Biggs to the blog! Andy has been a long time supporter of OPG, and is the designer and manufacturer of the wildly popular Gura Gear Kiboko bag.  In addition to running Gura Gear, providing commercial stock images and teaching workshops, Andy conducts incredible photo safaris to Africa.  Andy heads overseas six or more times a year, covering nearly every accessible part of the African continent.  Having traveled with Andy myself to several stops in southern Africa, I can tell you that Andy's safaris are first class, and that you'll have the photographic experience of a lifetime.   You can find out more about Andy, see his images and learn about his safaris at his website www.andybiggs.com.  We look forward to more articles and videos from Andy in the future! --Chris

There are many different types of safari vehicles in Africa, and this is the first in a series of videos to try and explain what the vehicles are like. This video specifically describes what the pop-top, or open-roof vehicles are like in east Africa. There are other vehicle types in east Africa (Tanzania and Kenya), however this video specifically addresses the open roof type. I'll shoot similar videos in Botswana and in Kenya later on this year, and my goal is to use these videos to visually explain what the vehicles are like before travelers get to Africa.

You can find the Kinesis Safari Sack described in this video in the OPG Store here.

]]> http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/how-to-photograph-from-an-open-roof-safari-vehicle-in-africa-7558/feed 0 Review: Apex Bean Bag from Essential Photo Gear http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/review-apex-bean-bag-from-essential-photo-gear-54 http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/review-apex-bean-bag-from-essential-photo-gear-54#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:30:05 +0000 Juan A. Pons http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/?p=54 [/caption] Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to use and test the newly released Apex Bean Bag from Essential Photo Gear. I have used bean bags for quite some time and find them indispensable when shooting wildlife from a vehicle. I have found bean bags to be a superior solution for in-vehicle mounts for several reasons, but most importantly because they provide a significant amount of vibration isolation compared to hard mounts, and for their versatility, you can use a bean bag in multiple situations not just when in a vehicle. For the past 5-6 years I have been using a nice and simple bean bag from Kinesis, and it has served me well. It is of a decent size and has some useful features such as grip pads at the bottom and a strap to secure the bean bag to the vehicle. I even recommended this bean bag to the participants of my most recent photo workshop "Winter in Yellowstone". However, I was disappointed to see that the strap that is so essential to securing the bag to the vehicle is no longer included in their "updated" design. A very regrettable omission. Although traditional bean bags have worked well for me, I have often wished for a better design that provided both a more stable platform as well as multiple lens mounting options. This would be a bag that I would use mostly at those locations where I expect to use the bean bag a significant portion of the time; in places like Yellowstone and Pocosin Lakes NWR.]]> http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/review-apex-bean-bag-from-essential-photo-gear-54/feed 0