SLR camera essentials

[pby]

+1 for sandisk ultra II

[brammers]

a nice fast USB2 card reader, Lexar do a pretty good one for about 20 quid, thats when your nice fast cards will really come into play when you're downloading your GB worth of photos and don't want to wait upto 40 minutes for a 4GB card to copy

Good idea - but first check that your camera has a slow enough transfer rate to warrant it:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra900/page13.asp

[Saracen]

skimming?

Nope. Agreeing with and reinforcing what you said. Though in my case, it wasn't Everest I made the mistake of trying to drag my (heavy-ish) tripod around. It was some remote parts of Scotland which, while beautiful, isn't quite as exotic as the Himalayas.

What I was trying to get at is that I regard a tripod as absolutely essential for best results. But in my case, I ended up with two tripods - one heavyish for normal stuff, and one much lighter for when I've got to lug it about.

Or actually, strictly speaking, I ended up with three tripods, 'cos I've got about a 30 year old Velbon as well, but that's got a video head on it. Remarkably well-built, too, consider what I paid for it. It wasn't dirt cheap, but certainly wasn't the price of some modern brand name tripods, like Manfroto, let alone Gitzo.

[kopite]

Just been reading and the transfer from the camera itself is pretty poor so i`ll pick up a card read.

Looking at 2 SanDisk Extreme III cards (4GB ones)
Spare sony battery(found them for 35 quid for the official one)
Clearning kit suggested by HSK
A bag of some sort. (lowepro ones do seem really good value) I`ll prolly get a backpack style one so that I can carry around extra lenses when/if I get any.
Tripod i`ve been looking around and there does seem to be a daunting amount out there. The limit of 50 quid My brother and i have set on each other wouldnt cover a decent tripod so i might have to buy that for myself. Reading some stuff on the web ppl talk about getting a tripod and ball head separately. is this only for high end ppl or would it be an idea for a beginner to go that route? Also what are your views on monopods?

[Flibb]

have a look on ebay for tripods, lots of people sell older models when they upgrade. I picked up a used slik black diamond with pistol grip head for £8.50.

[unreal]

A good place to get a fast Sandisk card, if there's no offers on, I found is Play.com Playtrade - I got a new 4gb one off there with damaged packaging for incredibly cheap.

[Bobster]

Good idea - but first check that your camera has a slow enough transfer rate to warrant it:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra900/page13.asp

plugging your camera in all the time is a pain in the rear, having to open and close the door all the time to swap out 6 cards? using that extra battery power... sod that, id rather just plug in a card to the reader thats always connected to my workstation and go

[Flibb]

Another plus point for card readers is that they avoid the situation of your nice shiny camera sitting on a desk with a dangling lead attached to it, just takes a brief lack of concentration and it ends up on the floor.

[kopite]

Just ordered one of these as the card reader
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/IcyBo...t-Panel-Silver

Might be a bit overkill but it also gives me the extra ports at the front of the case and makes things neater IMO.

I have also got a Sandisk extreme 3 card.

Im also thinking of getting this as a bag
http://products.lowepro.com/product/...-AW,2034,4.htm

I was looking at just a bag for the camera and kit lens but thought that if I do upgrade to another lens in the future it would be best to have the bigger back now instead of buying a bag that i`d prolly stop using after a few months

tripod wise i`ve been looking about but think i`m gonna wait till after christmas and see if anyone gets rid of anyrthing decent on Ebay