DIY bean bag support

Bean bags are a popular form of support it seems, and a lot of suppliers will happily relieve you of about £15-25 for one, for what is basically some fabric and rice or lentils.  I was sure I could make one for far less, so I did.

Initial investigations showed that camouflage fabric was stupid money in the small volumes sold online.  A visit to a local miltary suppliers and I had the perfect bean bag kit.  The large mess bag from HM Supplies was the perfect size (12×10″) and only £2.50.  This is made from water proofed nylon fabric so I can put this down with out worrying that it will soak up loads of water.

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Red Snapper Verso Backpack

After getting my D50 I was pretty skint but still needed a bag.  After a bit of hunting past all the normal cheap bags I found one by UK supplier Red Snapper that seemed to fit the bill.

The verso bag offers 2 modes, it can be used as either a back pack or a shoulder bag.  This combined with the low price made it stand out from the crowd and was quickly ordered.

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Star trail stacking plug-in for GIMP

Star trailI have spent a few evenings working on a new plug-in for creating star trails in GIMP.  When asking about stacking star trails the common answer seems to be use startrails.de.  This is great until you don’t run windows.  The other option is a photoshop action floating about the web.  But this means Photoshop and my trial is about to run out.  So decided to write a plug-in for the gimp that does what the other 2 pieces of software do.

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Op/Tech Utility strap sling review

When I got my D50 it came with the standard Nikon strap. This quickly got on my nerves, I either had the camera bouncing about on my chest but easy to use, or comfortably at my side but a pain to use. Naturally I began to look into sling straps.

After looking at the Black Rapid and Sun sniper I wasn’t overly keen on the tripod mount as it meant I couldn’t leave my quick release plate in place. After a few questions I went for the Op/Tech Utility sling and ordered from WEX for about £35 delivered, which is also cheaper than both the other 2 alternatives.
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