Quote from SpruceBruce on February 23, 2022, 10:56 pm

Wow! What a portfolio!  Alberta Canada is a dream to travel and road trip across one day.  Those shots are phenomenal, like Nat Geo magazine worthy.  Welcome to the forums!

Quote from JBP on February 23, 2022, 11:08 pm

Welcome to the forums! Love the collection, that Sigma glass is something else. I recently got the 17-50 and yeah, it's insanely sharp at every focal length.

Those photos are next level. And so is your XJ! *Jeep wave*

Quote from grover on February 24, 2022, 12:01 am

Thanks for the kind welcome!

The Jeep and the camera go hand-in-hand. If not the Jeep, then I'm riding my mountain bike with my camera ( like snappy ).

Quote from James Warner on February 24, 2022, 1:57 am

Awesome pictures, @grover! You have some really nice stuff in there. Those alpine lake shots look unreal. Makes me really want to go hiking a little further north than where I am now 😄

Super collection too. Do you still have your A100? I can see a lot of the minolta glass but didn't see the body. That's a really fun old camera to shoot with. I've found the colors straight from the camera very satisfying to work with. And I see your little Ricoh action camera which is just the funniest little camera. It looks like a GPS watch or something, haha. What do you use it for?

Thanks for stopping by and welcome 🙂 It's a good group we got going on over here.

Quote from grover on February 24, 2022, 2:57 am

Thanks. I'm pretty fortunate to have some beautiful landscapes nearby. I'll be heading south in April ( Utah and Arizona ) for a few weeks. Can't wait for that. Sometimes it's fun to photograph something beyond your backyard!

I still have my A100. In fact, my mother and brother have one as well. I have more camera gear kicking around that isn't shown above (including Minolta glass). I get a kick out of finding neat lenses. The problem is, I rarely get rid of anything. My brother has an A900 which is an incredible camera. It's a shame the A-mount is now dead. I've had my K3-II for two years now and honestly never felt so content with a camera for this long. The K1 grabs my attention but then I just don't think I'd find a better all-around package than what I have now (lenses included).

The Ricoh WG-M1 action cam... I found it at a thrift store for $10 new in box. It's so nicely made, it gives me a funny feeling just holding it. I've used it on my mountain bike and Jeep. Great little cam. I could probably write a review on it.

Quote from James Warner on February 24, 2022, 8:13 pm

Quote from grover on February 24, 2022, 2:57 am

Thanks. I'm pretty fortunate to have some beautiful landscapes nearby. I'll be heading south in April ( Utah and Arizona ) for a few weeks. Can't wait for that. Sometimes it's fun to photograph something beyond your backyard!

I still have my A100. In fact, my mother and brother have one as well. I have more camera gear kicking around that isn't shown above (including Minolta glass). I get a kick out of finding neat lenses. The problem is, I rarely get rid of anything. My brother has an A900 which is an incredible camera. It's a shame the A-mount is now dead. I've had my K3-II for two years now and honestly never felt so content with a camera for this long. The K1 grabs my attention but then I just don't think I'd find a better all-around package than what I have now (lenses included).

The Ricoh WG-M1 action cam... I found it at a thrift store for $10 new in box. It's so nicely made, it gives me a funny feeling just holding it. I've used it on my mountain bike and Jeep. Great little cam. I could probably write a review on it.

That will be awesome and hopefully really nice weather for it too. What are you hitting up while you're there? I've been to almost all the national parks in that area and they are great. I miss the mountains out west but can't linger on that for too long 🙂 We have some cool trips planned this year as well, including somewhere west though not sure where yet.

What a find for $10! I'll pick your brain with the mountain biking and cameras - what bag do you use to carry your camera gear, and do you like it? I've really liked my setup of putting a camera insert into my Osprey Raptor 14, but I've had a few trips now where I wanted to bring another big lens and it really only fits one. Maybe I shouldn't be bringing too much nice gear on my back while mountain biking 😄 (I usually take it off before trying to session some interesting spot where I might crash). Just curious what other people use.

Quote from grover on March 2, 2022, 9:43 pm

Quote from James Warner on February 24, 2022, 8:13 pm

That will be awesome and hopefully really nice weather for it too. What are you hitting up while you're there? I've been to almost all the national parks in that area and they are great. I miss the mountains out west but can't linger on that for too long 🙂 We have some cool trips planned this year as well, including somewhere west though not sure where yet.

What a find for $10! I'll pick your brain with the mountain biking and cameras - what bag do you use to carry your camera gear, and do you like it? I've really liked my setup of putting a camera insert into my Osprey Raptor 14, but I've had a few trips now where I wanted to bring another big lens and it really only fits one. Maybe I shouldn't be bringing too much nice gear on my back while mountain biking 😄 (I usually take it off before trying to session some interesting spot where I might crash). Just curious what other people use.

Late reply... been heavily distracted by world events 🙁

Not sure exactly what my travel plans will be. It will be fairly impromptu. Moab, Grand Canyon, Tucson....

The ideal means of carrying a heavy camera and some number of heavy lenses while riding a mountain bike off-road is a life-long pursuit. I currently have two Lowepro backpacks. One large (400AWII) and one small (can't remember model). In both cases I use a Peak Designs Capture Camera Clip. I was hesitant to buy the clip, let alone use it while riding a bike. However, I must say it works incredibly well and I've found it to be money well spent. The camera hardly moves and just hangs off the front side of my shoulder. I thought this would suck and bounce around badly but as it turns out, I don't give it much thought while riding and barely know it's there.... even with a heavy tele-photo lens. I take a lot more pictures when riding with the clip because it's just so easy to stop-snap-go (vs take off backpack, unzip, etc). After a couple summers, I have fortunately not crashed while riding with the camera hanging from the clip.

Allow me to nerd out and post a pic of my bike:

 

 

Quote from James Warner on March 3, 2022, 1:57 am

Quote from grover on March 2, 2022, 9:43 pm

Quote from James Warner on February 24, 2022, 8:13 pm

That will be awesome and hopefully really nice weather for it too. What are you hitting up while you're there? I've been to almost all the national parks in that area and they are great. I miss the mountains out west but can't linger on that for too long 🙂 We have some cool trips planned this year as well, including somewhere west though not sure where yet.

What a find for $10! I'll pick your brain with the mountain biking and cameras - what bag do you use to carry your camera gear, and do you like it? I've really liked my setup of putting a camera insert into my Osprey Raptor 14, but I've had a few trips now where I wanted to bring another big lens and it really only fits one. Maybe I shouldn't be bringing too much nice gear on my back while mountain biking 😄 (I usually take it off before trying to session some interesting spot where I might crash). Just curious what other people use.

Late reply... been heavily distracted by world events 🙁

Not sure exactly what my travel plans will be. It will be fairly impromptu. Moab, Grand Canyon, Tucson....

The ideal means of carrying a heavy camera and some number of heavy lenses while riding a mountain bike off-road is a life-long pursuit. I currently have two Lowepro backpacks. One large (400AWII) and one small (can't remember model). In both cases I use a Peak Designs Capture Camera Clip. I was hesitant to buy the clip, let alone use it while riding a bike. However, I must say it works incredibly well and I've found it to be money well spent. The camera hardly moves and just hangs off the front side of my shoulder. I thought this would suck and bounce around badly but as it turns out, I don't give it much thought while riding and barely know it's there.... even with a heavy tele-photo lens. I take a lot more pictures when riding with the clip because it's just so easy to stop-snap-go (vs take off backpack, unzip, etc). After a couple summers, I have fortunately not crashed while riding with the camera hanging from the clip.

Allow me to nerd out and post a pic of my bike:

And now for the clip on my backpack. Obviously not my riding attire but that's the pack/clip I ride with. The camera, nor the lens rub or annoy me while riding trails.

Yes, the events happening in Ukraine are dreadful and just terrible news every day. I get you there. Took me out for a day in depression.

For your trip: If you're passing by grand canyon area anyway, and potentially venture south, stop by or pass through Sedona. I was really impressed with the quality of trails in that area. I really want to go back and do more. Just the drive through town was very pretty.

Thanks for the reply about the gear! I do have a capture clip as well and have found the same you have. I brought it with a Pentax K-5 and 18-135mm strapped to it through a trip to Big Bend and Mexico and it was awesome. Biking it works well too, unless I'm doing super crazy stuff, but when I do I usually take my backpack off as well just to be extra safe with my gear.

I've been eying the Atlas Athlete bag for when I want to take more lenses, but man is it pricey. I'm sure it's a great bag from all I've read, it's just a matter of putting off other stuff and saving for it. Maybe in the meantime I go for a used Lowepro. Some of the more common models are pretty cheap on the second hand market.

Oh, and I have a Trek now too. A 2019 Roscoe 8 for the last six months, an upgrade from the 2011 little GT I had. I really like it, but I think I want to go 29" and thinner tires. The 2.8" are cool for making you feel like a monster truck and bouncing over stuff, but I think it's a little much. I miss the more precise feeling of thinner tires. But I'm not complaining and just having fun with it until I find the right deal 🙂 Still not full suspension yet, maybe one day.

Quote from KankRat on March 3, 2022, 6:33 pm

Wow, what amazing photos!.  Those are really great.

For some reason I can't see the bike pics.  Interesting what you guys are doing biking and shooting.  I have a pretty nice Gunnar Rockhound that I built. It's an old school steel frame, but where I live the landscapes are okay but nothing like that.   The trails are pretty great though.

And yeah, Ukraine.  this is a really, really bad situation.