Apoorva Prasad

writer / photographer

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Gear
Technology, gear, gadgets, cameras and more

Gear List: Electronics

My current list of equipment to write, shoot and edit on the go:

 

Macbook Pro 15" (first-gen unibody)

A super-slick massive upgrade from my ancient, creaky HP laptop. I'm a recent convert and I guess... once you go Mac, you never go back. I'm still too scared to carry this ridiculously expensive slim aluminium chunk in a backpack with all my climbing gear, but am looking for a good case that might keep it safe if I do. 

I liberally covered it all over with Zagg's Invisible Shield, which isn't as awesome as I had thought. It was a pain in the ass to place (and I'm not particularly bad with my hands) and some of the edges are peeling, or collecting a line of grime.

 

Samson C01U studio condenser mic

Pretty darn good for the price and utility - direct to USB, no XLR mixer involved. 

Lacie 250 GB external hard drive

It's lasted me 5 years now. What more can I say? 

Lacie 1 TB external hard drive (with firewire 800, 400 and eSata)

Just picked it up to store the ever-increasing data I'm collecting on video and photo projects. So far so good. FW 800 is pretty fast, but I still get "frames dropped" messages while editing, and I don't know if it's the HDD speed, the computer, or this bus.  

 

Photo/Video 

Canon 7D body

Canon 400D body

- Canon 50mm F1.4

- Canon 17-40mm F4L 

- Canon 70-200mm F4L

 

Bags

I just picked up a Kinesis bag to try out. Seems pretty good so far.

 

 

Gear review: The Samsung B2100 rugged cellphone


Samsung B2100 front
I picked up the Samsung B2100 ruggedized cellphone, marketed as the "Samsung Marine" in India and the "Xplorer" elsewhere, for about Rs.4800 (€70) in Delhi. The ad was cool - a kayaker drops his phone into the river, before plucking it out, (apparently) as good as new. But that's advertising. In reality, the phone conforms to MIL-STD 810F, which means that it can be dunked in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, and nothing deeper. It's also shockproof, dustproof, and a bunch of other proofs. 
 
Good enough for me, I'm not doing much Himalayan river kayaking (yet). I just want it to survive alpine climbing, snowboarding, plus some monsoon rain, and an occasional conversation in the shower. Calling for rescue in the Alps just got easier!
 
 
 
 
Samsung B2100 back
As the pictures show, the rubber-gasketed battery cover is closed by a 'coin-operated' screw-seal, which should make it pretty water-resistant. The weak point to me seems to be the earphone jack / recharging point, which is just a small rubber seal that seems like it could come off easily. I can't say how resistant that is.
 
As I do with all my gear, I've got a small cord tied off to it. 
 
What's cooler is that it's also got a tiny LED lamp on top, so I don't have to carry my headlamp all the time. Apparently a bunch of new phones sold especially in the developing world have this feature. With my post-apocalypse paranoia, I like it! 
 
After a month of use, it seems fine. It's a little heavy and definitely bulkier than my previous Motorola Razor V3, but seems to be more reliable. Much better battery life. I haven't used it heavily in any serious outdoor pursuits so far, except being stuck in traffic during a 3-day monsoon deluge in Delhi. Back in Paris, it seems like overkill... I'll just have to wait for a good day in Chamonix.  (Samsung's official Baltic site - don't ask why, but Google pulls it up first).