Night Photography Gear Blog — National Parks at Night

Chris Nicholson

Tenba Hybrid Roller 21: An Easy Way to Haul Gear

Tenba Hybrid Roller 21

THE PROBLEM

As I got into my mid-40s, carrying all my gear in a backpack through airports, etc., became physically taxing. I’d get on location with my back aching, pop some Advil for a few days, groan through uncomfortable shoots, then repeat the arduous process on my way home. Traveling for photography wasn’t as fun anymore.

THE SOLUTION

I knew I needed a roller bag. I’d grown just a little envious of photographers who were easily pulling their gear behind them. However, I still wanted the flexibility to lift my gear onto my shoulders when I didn’t have a hard surface to roll on.

At Matt Hill’s suggestion, my answer came in the form of the Tenda Hybrid Roller 21. This versatile, weather-resistant bag is big enough to fit the cameras and lenses I bring on most photo trips:

  • two Nikon D5s

  • the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 105mm f/2.8 micro, 80-200mm f/2.8 and Irix 11mm f/4 lenses

  • a bag of flashlights, filter wallet, loupe and folded ground cloth

I can zip the top closed, and be on my way, free of a full day of back strain.

The top flap holds a laptop and has pockets for accessories (such as the bottle of Advil I’m hardly using anymore), and on the side is a pocket and strap for securing a tripod.

When I can’t roll the bag, I zip open the back, pull out the two straps, and hoist the whole package on my shoulders for quick jaunts—as in, over a grass area in a park, or down a short trail, or in the airport when my hands are needed for pulling larger bags to check in.

THE BREAKDOWN

The Tenba Hybrid Roller 21 comes with a TSA lock and is small enough to qualify as a carry-on for U.S. and most international flights.

WHEN THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT TOOL

The Tenda Hybrid Roller 21 is not for backpacking—not even for day hikes. It’s not designed to be ergonomic, so it won’t be comfortable or suitable for long hauls. If you’re looking for a bag for that kind of experience, you’ll be better served by something designed for that specifically.

WHEN THIS IS THE RIGHT TOOL

The Tenda Hybrid Roller 21 is perfect for carting a moderate amount of gear to shoots in locations where your paths are hard: on city sidewalks, down office corridors, through airports and hotels, and so on.

This has become my go-to bag for traveling groan-free to national parks for shoots and workshops.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

PhotoPills: Plan Better Photos

PhotoPills App

The Problem

Night photography is often easier when you’ve scouted your location in daylight. But when the sun is up, you can’t see nighttime things such as stars, the moon, the Milky Way, etc. It’s hard to plan a composition around elements you can’t see.

Night photography can also require lots of math—some of it hard. Even the simpler equations take time in the field, and the more complex ones involve algorithms that most people wouldn’t even understand, let alone be able to memorize or to calculate in the field.

The Solution

PhotoPills is a dynamic app that serves as an all-in-one solution to several of the problems we encounter in night photography, and it also eases some traditional scouting tasks and enables some we never would have thought possible even ten years ago.

The app helps with:

  • determining the location of the setting or rising sun, moon or Milky Way in any scene, anywhere in the world

  • when on location, visualizing right on screen exactly where celestial objects will be in the scene later

  • calculating long exposures based on shorter test exposures

  • determining and visualizing depth of field and hyperfocal distance

  • planning a shoot around a meteor shower, or a solar or lunar eclipse—any shower, any eclipse, any year, anywhere

  • calculating the best shutter speed to keep stars sharp based on any specific camera and lens combination

  • working out all the data needed to capture time-lapses of any length

  • and even more

PhotoPills works on Android or iOS devices. Using it on a phone is more portable and handy; using it on a tablet allows for more screen real estate, which in some cases allows the app to display data differently, making it easier to digest.

The Breakdown

WHEN THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT TOOL

If you’re looking for an at-home scouting tool that you can use on your desktop computer, PhotoPills doesn’t do that—try The Photographers Ephemeris instead.

Also, if you’re looking for a scouting app to master quickly, then PhotoPills might frustrate you—it’s a very powerful app, and with that power and large tool set comes a learning curve. You’ll want to invest time into mastering this.

WHEN THIS IS THE RIGHT TOOL

It’s an amazing tool for proactively planning more productive and consistently more successful on-location shoots based around anything going on in the sky—which pretty much describes any landscape photography. If you want to plan better, and plan better photos, then this app can help immensely.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Coast HP7R: A Serious Light Painting Tool

HP7R Flashlight

The Problem

While technically you can light paint with any ol’ flashlights off the shelf, they’re not all equal for the task. Most flashlights fail in these regards:

  • Their color temperature is “off”—usually too cool for the white balances we use in night photography, and sometimes just too weird-looking at any white balance.

  • They’re too broad and diffused to be useful for lighting anything that’s not close.

  • They have a hot spot in the center of the beam, which makes it hard to focus the light where you want.

The Solution

The Coast HP7R is a professional-grade solution to many light painting issues.

Its LED-technology color temperature is very close to Daylight, which makes it easy to control how it looks no matter your white balance. Shooting at Daylight white balance? Use it as is. Shooting at a warmer white balance? Use it as-is for a cool effect, or use the optional LF100 filter holder to add a gel to warm it up a bit. (For instructions on the latter technique, see our Flashlight Filtration Guide e-book.)

The beam itself is either broad and diffused or tight and intense, whichever you want—because the flashlight has both high- and low-power modes (300 and 30 lumens, respectively), as well as a brilliant slide-focusing mechanism built into the lens casing. When zoomed out, there’s no hot spot—the illumination is equal from one edge of the beam to the next, which makes it very easy to control how much light you’re adding to elements of your composition.

Moreover, the HP7R is built solid—very solid. It’s impact-resistant and water-resistant, features a nearly unbreakable LED, and has an anti-roll protrusion on the barrel that keeps it from wandering down a slope. While you can insert four AAA alkalines, it comes with its own Zithion-X lithium ion battery that you can recharge without even removing it from the flashlight.

The Breakdown

The Grandstand, Death Valley National Park. Photographed with three Coast HP7R flashlights—one from each side, and one in the middle pointing to the sky. Nikon D5 with an Irix 15mm f/4 lens. 25 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400.

When This is not the Right Tool

If you’re looking to light something close to the camera at a high ISO (say, 6400), then the HP7R is just too intense to control well. In those cases, look for something with very dim illumination, such as a panel light that can be dialed way down (e.g., the Luxli Fiddle).

At 7.2 ounces, the HP7R is also slightly hefty for a flashlight—not enough to be a burden in most situations, but this might not be the flashlight you’d want for backpacking. For a similar flashlight in a lighter profile, check out the Coast HP5R.

When This is the Right Tool

The HP7R is perfect for light painting large or far-away subjects, or for when you’re working at lower ISOs (say, 100 to 800). If I’m carrying just one flashlight, this is the one.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

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