Canon 1100D

Well we have been on the road now for two months and covered quite a lot of shooting ground. Mosques and mausoleums in Iran, Desert and bright white buildings in Turkmenistan!  Now here in Uzbekistan (just started at Khiva). The 1100d has proved itself so far a tough customer. It has it’s scratches underneath now from where I have set it down during extreme heat for a rest in some pretty extreme temps, or even when doing self-timer shots at the Kaluts in Southern Iran. (One of my favourite scratches).

As far as Heat goes it doesn’t seem to drain the battery (like extreme cold), and as far as running and taking pictures go, it’s not had any problems whatsoever. Yes it has felt very warm at times, but I have made sure that when that has been noticed I try and keep the camera under shade when not in use, just to reduce any adverse would be side effects.

Pictures have been the same solid faithful reproduction as in normal conditions. I will be posting some soon of Davarza Gas craters, daytime and night time shots, which I was very pleased with. The night time video was a real bonus at Darvarza. I really didn’t think it was going to work very well at all.

I have adjusted user settings too take into account the bright light (sunshine) glaring down on various buildings etc. There have been some “on the hoof” adjustments that have needed to be made as I have gone along, but on the whole the camera has performed as I wanted it too. Colours and contrast are still holding out well, and I have been extremely impressed by the no flash auto, which has been used a lot inside buildings and museums, again the all-important exposures have been pretty spot on, making some pictures look better than they would have by naked eye.

I have as always taken care to clean my camera at the end of every days shoot, paying particular attention to the lens filter and removing it and brushing out gently tiny specks of dust which no matter how hard you try, still manage to worm their way through to the lens! I have brought with me a small spray bottle of lens solution which I use sparingly and spray directly onto the cloth after brushing

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The Tamron 70-300mm zoom has come out a few times, but not as many as I thought I would! It has handled well too, and pictures from it without any IS have come out very well even though it does feel a bit heavy once on. good hand positioning does stabilise it, but I do wonder whether i should have bought the 18-200mm lens sometimes.

The neoprene case cover has been a life saver, both weight wise and protecting the camera, it has been a godsend for jeep dashboards, and backseats of cars, and of course the daypack. It is also brill at keeping excess sand and dust off the camera.

I know all of this may sound boring to some of you, but I think I would have liked to know how my camera was going to hold up whilst on heavy travelling. One tip I did get, if in the desert and you are very worried about getting sand in your camera, cover it in cling film and this should reduce the amount of sand/dust that could possibly enter the camera body, along with protecting it from sand blasting during storms!