Photography News issue 26

Photography News Issue 26 absolutephoto.com

First tests

A sling bag is a great solution for carrying your camera kit around town as it combines carrying comfort, a high level of security and the ability to get at your kit quickly. This offering from Tenba sells at £79 and has enough capacity for a decent DSLR outfit. I comfortably stowed two full-frame DSLRs with three lenses, spare batteries and some screw-in filters. Holding straps on the side can accommodate a travel tripod or monopod, so the bag has more than enough capacity for most occasions. The internal compartment is one large storage area and it can be divided up as you choose with the supplied Velcro-fitted dividers. The whole compartment can be left divider-free if you want, in case you to carry a fast long telephoto lens, for example. Whatever layout you decide you can get at the whole main compartment by simply unzipping the rear panel. A large tray divider divides the main compartment into two separate storage areas with the top area happily able to take a DSLR with a standard zoom. The bottom compartment will comfortably take a spare camera body and at least two lenses with a high level of protection. More lenses can be stored if they are smaller or shorter. The cover to this compartment has a thin pocket for filters and inside there’s couple of plastic wallets for storage cards. There is another pocket on the back suitable for accessories and the supplied waterproof cover, and on the outside of this is a bungee cord for a water bottle, perhaps, or your own waterproofs. A fully loaded Medium Sling is going to be quite weighty but Tenba has taken this into account with a wide shoulder strap. There is a phone pouch on the strap and if used will mean you are unlikely to miss a call because the phone is right next to your ear. The shoulder strap is padded, though not massively so, but the load is spread out evenly and comfort is good. I enjoyed using the bag, and getting at the contents is fast while protection and security levels are high. If there is a downside it’s that the bag is so spacious that you’re tempted to take too much kit out with you. My normal kit is a full-frame outfit with a body, three lenses, travel tripod and filters and that lot goes into a backpack which obviously spreads the load across both shoulders. This Tenba took this outfit no problem with space to spare. I was happy enough with the load taken just by the right shoulder knowing that I had the benefit of getting at the contents without having to take the bag off or put it down as you would with a backpack. Of course, when the tripod was needed, the whole lot did come off and bag’s rubber feet meant it could be stood upright rather than just lying on the ground. WC Tenba Shootout LE MediumSling £79

Mini tests

DigiPower 4Port USBWall Charger £45 Devices that use the USB interface for charging include phones, tablets and cameras so investing in a charger like this unit makes great sense. It’s a 5V4.2Aunit with four USB sockets that can be used simultaneously to charge your gadgets. The built-in InstaSense technology means that the power needs of your devices are detected and the fastest possible charge delivered. My test, carried out over a period of several months, showed the unit to be totally reliable. It just worked. Often I would have four devices – phone, tablet, two bike lights – being charged at the same time and it just got on with it. The unit comes with UK and EU adapters – they just click in – and as it weighs in at 153g with the mains adapter so it’s perfect for travel. I suppose the only nice extra would have been a US adapter, too. WC Verdict Perfect for home and travel, it worked flawlessly on this test. As tech kit goes power adapters aren’t sexy or exciting but they are essential and this unit is well worth the investment, so highly recommended. intro2020.co.uk Samsung64GBUSB 3.0 flash drive £23.49 Portable mass-storage devices such as USB flash memory drives are incredibly handy to have around, whether for back-up or for moving large files around. Samsung has a new range of USB 3.0 drives and tested here is a 64GB version. Capacities of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB drives are available priced at £11.99, £15.99 and £23.49 respectively. It’s a smart-looking drive and the designmeans it slips onto a keyring with no chance of it being separated by accident. I transferred 15GB of material from my Mac Mini via its USB 3.0 port to the drive and that took eight minutes which equates to write speed of over 31Mbps. Ruggedness is something that is a key feature in the new USB drives so I slipped it onto my keyring and then carried it around for a few weeks using it as a back-up. It’s true that it didn’t get wet so I can’t confirm that makers’ claims to it being moisture proof, but I did put it in the chill compartment of the fridge for two hours and the drive worked fine straight out of the fridge. It experienced lots of day-to-day wear and tear with no read or write problems. WC Verdict A 64GB USB 3.0 drive for under £25 is very good value and this option from Samsung can be highly recommended as being reliable and a respectable performer. samsung.com SamsungPROPlus 64GB £59 Samsung’s range of SD and microSD storage cards has been updated recently with the arrival of PRO Plus and EVO Plus cards. The whole range now consists of the PRO Plus, PRO, EVO Plus and EVO. The PRO Plus SDXC range has 32GB and 64GB capacities and here we tried the SD 64GB PRO Plus UHS-1 Class 10 card. Claimed read and write speeds are 95MB/s and 90MB/s respectively. Performance is competitive but where these cards are really special is Samsung’s five ‘proof’ features, waterproof, temperature proof, magnetic proof, shockproof and X-ray proof. With winter upon us, one quality I was keen to test was the card’s temperature proof qualities. Samsung says the card will operate in temperatures from -25°C to 85°C, so I left the card in a domestic freezer for two hours – home freezers work typically at around -18°C. Before that though, I put the card into a Nikon D800. I got 17 Raws in continuous drive mode and the buffer/card took 17secs to clear. After the two-hour spell in the freezer I put the card straight into the camera and repeated the test. This time, the buffer took about 22secs to clear so slightly slower as you would expect given the cold card but reliability seemed unimpaired. I then submerged the card in fresh water straight out of the cold tap – it was at 8°C – for two hours and, drying it off, did the test again. Again, the card worked fine and this time the buffer cleared in 17secs, the same as the first test. WC Verdict Reliability of storage cards is crucial and it pays to use cards that you know will survive challenging conditions and deliver good write/ read speeds. In our test, the Samsung 64GB proved to be a reliable performer and it is competitively priced with similarly specified premium SD cards. samsung.com

Specs

Materials used Ripstop water-repellent nylon shell, YKK zips, duraflex clips Waterproof cover Yes, WeatherWrap cover supplied Accepts 1-2 DSLRs, 3-4 lenses, or one long telephoto, or even a

portable lighting outfit Dimensions (wxhxd) External: 23x42x20cm Internal: 20x39x18cm Contact tenba.com

The internal compartment is one large storage area and it can be divided up as you choose

How it rates

Verdict The Tenba Shootout LE Medium Sling is a high-quality product that is excellent for toting a good-sized camera outfit about town. It provides a high level of protection and the sling action means you can get at the contents with speedy ease.

Pros Looks, good protection levels, plenty of storage capacity Cons Shoulder strap could be more padded