AKA Abraham Bacoln

I’ve had enough people asking about my camera that I figure I should write an update (since not everyone follows me on Twitter and why should they anyway? I just make a bunch of noise and never impart anything useful).

The story in brief is that I sent my lens in to be fixed as it was back-focusing. The first time I got it back it still didn’t work right. I sent it in a second time with a CD with samples of the problem. It came back un-fixed. Canon convinced me to send in my camera body with the lens – WHICH I HATED DOING WITH ALL MY HEART – and eventually it all came back fixed, pretty, and sparkling clean.

So … aside from a few days of anxiety and some irritating conversations with Canon’s repair department, all is well.

Partly related? Tangentially related? Anyway, somehow related if you use your imagination is that I got myself a new non-camera bag. My old and busted bag needed replacing because it was A.) old and B.) busted. Plus it was kind of a stupid messenger bag design with pockets on the main flap, which meant that every time you opened it they tried to spill their contents, even if zipped, and … yeah, enough talking about that. It sucked.

I set out to find a new non-camera bag and came across Rothco’s Classic Messenger Bag in black. If you do a Google search for that item [*] you will find that it is seriously popular because ZOMG IT IS JACK BAUER’S MESSENGER BAG, MOST MANLY OF BAGS EVAR.

I have never watched even one minute of 24 but by the time I finished price shopping across several sites and reading customer reviews I found that many men are convinced that this bag alone will allow them to kill terrorists. Me, I … um … *nervous cough* I ain’t got no terrorists to kill, but this bag does allow me to carry things to and from the office with ease.

Aaaanyway the point here is that some people said, “I even use this to carry my camera gear” and I thought that ludicrous. I have a Lowepro Slingshot 100 that has been my tiny heavy baby for a couple of years now. Okay, fine, it’s not the bag’s fault that it’s heavy, it’s the gear’s fault, but you understand. The Slingshot is like the perfect camera bag. I can’t imagine keeping my stuff in any other. But! Last night I had the strange desire to go photograph drunken tourists on Bourbon Street, something I have never done, and I didn’t wish to carry my conspicuous camera bag. I emptied out my Rothco Classic Messenger Bag (JUST LIKE JACK BAUER USES ON 24 AMIRITE) and put my camera body and two lenses inside. Turns out it did a fantastic job. I got the picture I wanted and I was comfortable during the entire excursion. The interior section was more than large enough for camera + lens, and the smaller pockets are the perfect size for additional lenses. Now don’t get me wrong – I won’t use this as my primary camera bag. All my gear is already packed back in the Slingshot. Should I ever again have a specific need for just camera + lens, though, I will consider the messenger bag.

I think that’s it.

…

Yeah, that’s it. Anything else?

How you been? How’s your camera?

…

Fine? Great.

Listen, I gotta … go … do that one thing. I’ll catch you later.