Monday, 4 January 2021

K&F Monopod

K&F Camera Monopod,4-Section 67"/171CM Compact Portable Travel DSLR Monopod.

Ok, it’s arrived.

Really looking forward to reviewing this, just keeping a log of the gear I purchase and the pros and cons so that I can look back and see the change for better or worse in my gear choices.

Keep watching the BLOG, i will be updating as I progress through the new partnership. It won’t be the most adventurous BLOG as we’ve just gone into a full lockdown, so I will have to be inventive.

On opening the box all looks very neat and tidy. Excellent packaging and very vibrant and engaging.

So, out with the goods . Again looks are good, case is well made and fit for purpose. Now the shoulder test, ok great for over the shoulder but a tad tight if you were to wear it in a bow style position. But this maybe just nit picking as i would most likely have it attached to the side of the rucksack, so 8-10 for the case.

Time to reveal the new acquisition, looks very neat smooth and operable. First impressions, love the handle it’s big and chunky and I have fairly BIG hands so this is a plus. Straight away I am thinking comfort, but also how would it function in wet conditions this is going to be a section to return to. By wet conditions I mean how does the handle/foam perform. Some foams loose grip and become spongy so I will report back on this on in BOLD TEXT underneath later.

Ok, to be honest I’ve not been out in total wet conditions but it has got damp and it hasn’t caused any handling issues. Updated 18th Jan 2021

So, question for K&F is the strap merely a hanging attachment or a hand attachment. What I mean by this is on a standard walking pole the loop is designed to allow the hand to pass through and the wrist apply a downward pressure to give stability when walking which this pole is clearly designed to be used as such a unit. So if this is the case I would like to see an adjustable strap giving more room for the hand and possibly glove to pass through.

I have noticed K&F have chosen the routered slot in the tube design which I feel is a nice touch, prevents rotation and slippage whilst adjusting.

Cam locking device times three down the shaft, nice and robust with a strong positive locking action again will report back on this based on camera and person applying downward force and how that reacts in the field, but looks very solid. Last but not least, love the rubber foot. This transforms from a rubber foot to a steel point which is ideal for alternative terrain positions.

UPDATES TO FOLLOW

UPDATE No TWO TUESDAY 5th JAN 2021

Open space

Today is our second day reviewing the K&F monopod.

I have discovered a few interesting points today, one I can attach the monopod directly into my camera shoulder strap base plate giving security and balance in one package without effecting movement or shoulder placement. Two I can operate this quite easily even whilst holding onto my trusty companion bailey the dog who travels with me on all my photographic journeys.

I must admit, at present I cannot understand why I hadn’t made this purchase sooner. The whole concept works so well for my style of spontaneous photography.

The extension clips are easy to operate and control the decent of the individual legs well, easy to re adjust as required once elevated to the desired position. This allows for more controlled captures and most importantly the ability to lower your shutter speeds and still have complete control. I have taken several captures today and have been really pleased with the results, so it’s time to do a little bit of work in Affinity to bring out the best in today’s work. Keep watching and see how I progress with this great piece of gear from K&F.

Today Jan 18th

Today I will close my review on the K&F monopod.

This is an amazing, but simple piece of essential camera kit especially if you wander the land as I do. I took this image below as my final test piece and it came out as a superb capture, made so much easier by having the monopod to hand.

Pros& Cons

Pros- sturdy easy to use and very versatile with a quick and solid telescope design. Price is awesome, value for money.

Cons- only one niggle and it’s just me, not a lover of the little strap gets in the way but that’s so small not really worth mentioning.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Filters, and not the water kind.

K&F Concept filters

rolling BLOG which will be updated as the journey continues.

I recently purchased a set of the K&F concept 40 in 1 square nd lens filters. Ok, why buy such a large range of lens filters. Well i wanted to get into my B&W captures in more detail and the kit offered a wide range of colours. Red,Yellow,Orange,Blue,Green all being the standard starting point for B&W images plus many more inc GNDs and NDs.

The filters themselves are made from "Optical Resin" and the ring adapters are constructed from high quality anodized black aluminium. The adapters are of a sturdy construction with an easy to thread system in place, so no BIG surprises there.

I've resorted the K&F Concept filters into selected pouches which came with the kit to give me a greater ability to use each filter for specific tasks and increase the ease of use whilst out on the hill.

The first image i took was of the gritstone roofs at the back of my house here in Derbyshire (Peak District) which had a fully blown out sky and really dark stone roof tops, not ideal. So a quick test shot with the first ND grad filter which gave me a 1 stop difference between the sky and the rooftops. To be honest, i was impressed it gave a nice smooth transition between the two elements without any harsh lines. No big setup around the shot, just wanted to see the result so went for a nice simple basic capture.

The second capture was in the early morning of the 1st Dec as the sun was rising on the horizon. Again i used the K&F Concept ND grad 2 stop which gave excellent results. Not much time to use the full range but i would expect the same quality result from each one if i had.

The lens in use is a 77mm diameter filter ring size which came in the kit with the appropriate ring adapter. The filter holder is made from sturdy plastic and can hold upto three filters. The kit also includes the standard hood which easily clips on and off as required. The whole kit comes with 4pcs filter pouch units, which i must say are well constructed and stack nicely into the camera bag plus they look good as well.

Today Dec 5th 2020

I decided to add further insights into the use of the K&F colour filter system, again i am just randomly using these filters to see what effects i can achieve. Today i just took some shots in the middle of the day with fairly average light, i am no colour filter expert and i am still bumbling my way through he best practice cycle.

So simple rooftop landscape shot with lots of varied light.

K&F Concept Purple grad filter which gave me about 1.5 stops to achieve a balance between the sky and ground. Nice shot and a slight colour change to the sky which i found quite pleasing.

Second capture was taken early in the morning as the sun rose up above the horizon using a K&F Concept magenta filter.

So all in all whats my honest opinion.

Effects, good results with no surprises.

Construction, solid neat and simple to use.

Colours, more than you will ever need.

Packaging, excellent.

Value for money, without doubt excellent value for money, no quibbles.

There can always be improvements in all products, but i'll be honest they are well worth the money and a great cost effective way to enter into the filter capture scene.

Today is Dec 14th 2020

I've just come in off the hill after capturing what i would like to think of as an awesome image.

I took this hand held with a Canon EOS 6d mark 2 at 24mm using a K&F Concept Polarizing filter.

I got down as low as possible to get the right angle on the lens to draw the clouds in. All in all a nice capture, very pleased with the result and the filter quality.

Dec 15th 2020

We headed out onto the moors this afternoon to re test the K&F polarizing filter. I was looking for lonely object when i came across two old gate stumps, these made a very nice capture in the setting sun inc a similar image of the adjacent hillside.

Dec 16th 2020

So today was a little wet and windy with lots of water soaked ground. I decided to head up to the old cricket club were the state of the building is what one may called old and derelict. The building is old and damaged with a tin cladding exterior, this gives some fantastic textures and of course broken bits as the picture shows.

I used a 24-105 mm canon lens with a K&F polarising filter to bring out the depth of the colours.

The old cricket

club

Dec 17th 2020

It was getting late when we headed off down into the Goyt valley in the Peak District national park with around one hour of good light left to photograph a waterfall i had been looking at for some time. It had rained heavy in the night and all day which would turn the water peaty brown, excellent for slow water images. I took several images using the K&F Concept @kentfaithint ND 1000 stop filter for both images. Superb results, very pleased with the final images.

Goyt valley Derbyshire

Dec 19th, saturday.

Woke up this morning to a varied sky full of cloud. Suddenly a static object appeared in the sky, wow it was amazing. I grabbed the camera and popped the K&F Concept Polarizing filter on to highlight the image and snapped away. Then as the cloud opened up it disappeared without moving into the horizon, just flipped from view.

Setting off down the canal i stopped at an old industrial site to capture this black and white. K&F Concept Polarizing filter used to dull the glare.

The last #winch awaiting the #doors to #open but never will. #blackandwhitephotography #Canon 

@kentfaithint

 polarizing filters #Derbyshire #streetphotography

Then we headed for the canal to carry out a random photoshoot on the towpath.

A fantastic looking barge, just had to go B&W on this one.

Capturing this image from under the road bridge.

Dec 20th 2020

Up and out onto the lane to catch the sunrise over the Derbyshire landscape.

50 sec f8 bracket bracket bracket those captures and i ended up with some amazing images with help from the K&F Concept polarizing filter.

Photo credit to K&F Concept

Sunday, 8 December 2019

Shooters clough to Errwood hall

Shooters clough to Errwood hall

We set off for an afternoon run over the Goyt valley to shooters clough, we headed past the little chapel in the dell below the Street and onto the Hall.

The beck in slow motion

The little beck above Errwood hall

Passing the ruined hall, we move on up the zig-zags to the top of Shooters clough which is a steep climb.

Errwood hall

Trackway to Castedge farm

The track moving away from the hall enters into the woodland on the left of Castedge farm and on up into the clough. It's well worth a stop at this point to see the old footings of the farm and take in the surrounding heritage.