Thoughts on a few new items
Over the last several months, I’ve been rather judicious in accessory purchases for the camera. I’ve chronicled the Wolverine GPS and I have reiterate that it is a great option for the wilderness photographer.
I’ve also purchased two other rather inexpensive items. The first is the Seculine Twin 1 R3 UT wireless shutter release. The second is the Delkin SD to CF Adapter. Overall, great little products.
Seculine Twin 1 R3 UT Wireless Shutter Release
The Seculine shutter release was recommended by one of the staff at Le Camera in Lawrenceville, NJ. At first I was a bit skeptical about it, mainly because I had not heard of the company before. But I decided to take a chance on it and see what it could do. On the downside, it does use the ten-pin remote terminal. So you need to make a decision which is more important GPS information or remote shutter release. Usually this remote shutter release wins in low light situations.
Regardless, I appreciate this product because it is functional in several ways. First, it is both wired and wireless. Thus, depending upon what you are taking pictures of, you have options, especially if you don’t want to rely on a self-timer or you need some freedom to move around the subject without the potential for getting tangled in cable. I also appreciate the little utility flashlight that is included. It is great for seeing just enough to dismantle a lens and it helps for spotlighting a subject.
Setup is simple with little more than a few turns of the locking wheel to make sure either the IR receiver or wire are connected. Once you have your camera’s settings ready, the remote offers a half-way position to allow you to confirm your settings before actually taking a photo. Once you are comfortable with the settings, the remote also offers a continuous shutter mode where you can actuate the shutter up to the usual 11 fps with the battery grip.
All-in-all, this was an expensive purchase at $50.00 with good results so far.
Delkin SD to CF Adapter
A member of the NikonCafe.com Forums site actually brought this little product to my attention through a post on the site. The member mentioned how he had a number of SD cards from his times using point-and-shoot cameras and consumer DSLRs. He had seen this product in a local camera shop and wanted to know if anyone had experience with it. I was intrigued by it because I, too, have a number of SD cards from San Disk and other manufacturers that were sitting around with nothing to do now that I was shooting with the D300 which required CF cards.
I contacted Delkin to get more information on the specs for the product. Specifically, I wanted to make certain this was a through-put device and not one that had a limitation because it was converting information or the like. I honestly did not expect the speed of the response that I got. Nor did I expect the courtesy I received. My email went in around 9:30 AM and I had a response by 6:30 PM that evening. The email was concise an confirmed the adapter was a through-put device. This means whatever the camera is recording is written directly to the CD card at the maximum speed the SD card can handle. That was great news for me as the SD cards I had were mostly SanDisk Extreme III cards.
So I ordered one direct from Delkin. Keep in mind that Delkin is not Belkin. This is a separate company that makes its own products. Anyway, The order went in on a Friday. I had a shipping confirmation on Monday and the package arrived the following Friday. (They use UPS Ground from San Diego, CA.)
the item itself is solid-state. No moving parts, just the small space for the SD card to be inserted. So I gave it a run with one of the 16GB SDHC cards I have. I was able to hold down the shutter and actually take about 8 to 11 fps with no problem. There was no significant lag in the write time as long as you don’t make the mistake of trying to look at the pictures while the camera is still writing to the card.
In all another great little product.
I’m sure there will be more accessories. There always are. It’s just a matter of figuring out which ones work for you and which are impulse buys. Of course, no lens is ever an impulse purchase… That’s just NAS.
