Weekend Jobs

I was supposed to be on vacation last weekend. Applied for leave Fri/Mon to get a 4-day weekend so I'd have time to go out of town, enjoy myself and come back with enough leeway to still be rested when I went back to work Tuesday. Instead I had to work.

It was a photo shoot at Lee Gardens Condos at Shaw blvd in Mandaluyong City. I worked from 7:30am 'til 8pm on Sat and 11am to 7pm Sun. Hours weren't bad and the pay was good. It was just sooo damn boring though... It was your typical event coverage with shots of people, opening ceremonies, awardings, stalls (there was a bazaar) and unit owners getting the first look at their new place. Ho-hum...

There were highlights though. Free Starbucks was one. All you can drink brewed, a free Latte on the first day and a free Mocha frap on the second. Whoopee... Oh, I also got to buy some Christmas gifts as well. 4 bottles of Spanish red wine, a shoe bag, a pepper mill, Cheetos, a shirt and some other weird things. Pacs also dropped by with Kharen and took a few shots. I don't think they found anything to buy sicne everything was geared towards people moving into a new place.

So it wasn't a total loss... I got paid too. Well, haven't been paid yet but I will be... soon. I hope.

This whole event made me realize something though. It's been on the back burner for the past few months but after this job, it suddenly came to the fore.

I need a new tripod.

Earth shattering revelation huh? Nah, just practicality. I lugged my Velbon VG-4 tripod around the whole weekend. You might think Velbon Carbon Fiber tripod or Velbon Traveller Lightweight Aluminum tripod... Nope. It was the old-skool Velbon thick as my arm solid billet aluminum tripods that you can use for large format and video cameras from the 90's... This thing is about 8lbs. By itself! This with the D70s (which is no lightweight) and the Nikon Sb-600, well it could be around 15lbs I guess... The result of all this weightlifing is a sore left bicep. Cheaper than going to the gym I suppose but it won't be even with my right arm since I just use that for the camera. =P

So looking around the net, I saw a few models that might fit my requirements. First on the list is the velbon 600RA. It's about Php 6,000 in JT and there's also the 200R for around Php 4,000. The main advantage of the 600RA is that it's abit lighter and has a lower min height (29cm vs 59cm for the 200R). Lower height means better for macro shots or tabletop applications. There's also the Manfrotto 715B going for about Php 5,000 and the Gitzo's, Hakuba's and SLIK's for the same price range. Mind you, these are the "cheap" ones that fit into my price range. The more expensive ones from Gitzo and Bogen hit Php 20k at least... Factor in the heads aas well since my preferred tripods come with them as a package already... A good ball-head or pan/tilt-head wil go for about 5k at least in your local stores... That's too much for my blood so I'll just stick with the packages I mentioned before.

It's time for another shopping spree! =)