14July2009
My Car Boot Sale Bargain Tripod – The Cullmann 2921
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: accessories; reviews.
I’ve been searching the local car-boot sale for months for a decent tripod. There’s always plenty of cheap ones on offer, but I’ve already got one of those, and I wanted something sturdy and versatile. Then, last week-end, for £20, I got one.
I was wandering around with my Wife, Suzanne, when I came across one of those stalls that gets me all excited. An old camera bag to hunt through, some lenses on display, and what looked like a huge tripod bag at the back.
I actually forgot about the tripod after looking through the lenses, and ran back to the stall when I realised my mistake a few minutes later. I unzipped the bag to find this gorgeous Cullmann 2921 Tripod, I guess over 20 years old because it says “Made In West Germany”. I checked it still had the quick release plate, it all operated smoothly and seemed to be in good condition. I knew right away that it was a good one – the pan and tilt head was silky smooth, the centre column came completely out, and it was heavy. Real heavy.
The lady asked for thirty pounds, I offered twenty and we had a deal. A bit rich for me, but it looked like this Cullmann was just the tripod I have been looking for.
At home I had time to play, and discovered how versatile this beast is.
As I’ve already said, the centre column can be removed, then installed upside down to get really low perspectives or for interesting angles and macro work.
The centre column also splits into two – allowing the tripod to get very low – but also the two halves are joined by a bolt that is the same size as a tripod mount, so you can use the center column as a mono-pod too!
The next feature that marks this Cullmann Tripod as special is that the legs can work independently of each other. This means that you can “swing” the centre column around to all sorts of great angles, both upside down or the right way up:
You can also make the tripod “do the splits”!
I guess you’re thinking, “Well this is all very nice, but what difference will it make to your photography?”
First up, I’ve now got a tripod that can safely take the weight of my Canon Eos 350D / Digital Rebel XT, without having to worry about it collapsing, especially when I’m using the heavier lenses.
The Cullmann 2921 is also very solid – much more so than my old Asda Tripod, so long exposures shouldn’t be a problem, even in windy conditions. It’s also very smooth to pan and tilt the head, making composition a breeze.
I’ve also now got a piece of kit that can put my camera in all sorts of weird angles. This is important, especially for macro work, because I’m using manual focus M42 lenses, often at tight apertures, so the shutter speed will be too slow for hand-held photographs.
One thing I’m determined to try soon are very long exposures (over a minute), and maybe even longer for some pinhole or zone-plate work – so a good, solid tripod will be a definite help.
The downside to all this is the sheer weight of the thing – it’s going to take a lot of getting used to lugging this monster around!
Cheers, Rob.
ps As a bonus (unknown to the seller at the car-boot sale), I also found a mini-tripod, and a monopod in the tripod’s bag, more on them in a later post… 
30April2009
Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT First Look Video
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: reviews.
Apologies for the quality and my ineptitude in showing off the camera – but I just had to share this with everybody!
Cheers, Rob.
5March2009
Video Review: Columbus V-900 Photo Geotagger, Voice Recorder and Bluetooth GPS Track Logger
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: accessories; geotagging; reviews.
You know me, I like to geotag my photo’s, so I was delighted when Joe from BuyGpsNow.com sent me a review sample of the Columbus V-900 GPS Photo Geotagger.
This great little gadget is PC and Mac compatible, stores data on micro-SD cards, runs off it’s rechargeable battery for about 24 hours, can store up to 250,000 waypoints (!), and includes Bluetooth and a voice recorder… so take a look at the short video I’ve put together.
13September2008
Meet My Minolta Manual Focus Film SLR’s
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: reviews; the course.
I thought it was time I properly introduced my two old Manual Focus Minolta Film SLR’s that I’ve bought at the local car boot sale over the last couple of months.
Why bother with a Film SLR? Because there’s nothing quite like the fact that you’ve only got 24 exposures, and its going to cost you £8 to get them printed, to focus your concentration on getting your composition and light correct – unlike a digital where you can happily snap hundreds of photos for no real cost.
4September2008
Hanging Around With The Joby Gorillapod SLR Mini-Tripod
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: accessories; reviews.
I have to admit this was a bit of an impulse purchase – I was killing time in the Photography Section of our local Asda while Suzanne was looking at the clothes for Oliver, and saw that Asda had knocked tenner of the price of their SLR Gorillapods, down to £17.
