Outdoor Stuff
When I was editor of Outdoor Photographer magazine, we would report on all sorts of outdoor products so readers had an idea of what was available. Now I don’t have to talk about “everything”, but only things that I have found useful and that might also be useful to my readers.
I have long had a problem with watch bands when outdoors. Leather ones would get wet, metal ones were too loose for field work and plastic ones just were cheap. I was at a local outdoor store last year and found the EK USA Watch Cat Bands. EK USA is a Utah-based outdoor company that offers specialty gear for the outdoors person. This band is a waterproof strap that wraps around your wrist with Velcro. It is quite comfortable, won’t fall off and getting wet is not a problem. There are also a lot of interesting designs that can go with your watch (even my TAZ watch — the Warner Bros. tasmanian devil cartoon character!).
I liked the band so much that I went back to find another, but the store didn’t have a good selection of designs, so I went online. Lots of stuff at EK USA (www.ekusa.com), so I found a couple of designs I liked. One was the wrong size, so when I contacted customer service, they learned about my work and offered to send some samples of other products to try.
They actually offer some neat stuff that is obviously designed by people who actually spend time outdoors. This is all little stuff that fits a pocket or your camera bag. One product that I found really interesting was the Lens Cleaning Kit. This is not for camera lenses, but for eyeglasses. Since I do wear glasses, I thought this was a great option for a camera bag. It includes a microcloth cleaning cloth, a miniature screwdriver for tightening screws and “Cat Crap” anti-fog lens cleaner. The lens cleaner (I know, the name is odd) works really well, especially in cold conditions that can make your lenses fog. There is also a Cat Crap lip balm (if nothing else, you can impress your friends by using Cat Crap on your lips) that does seem to work well in dry conditions common to winter.
I also like the Key Cats (there they go again with the cats) Key Retainer (a key chain). One of the problems I often face is having a little light for my work when shooting at dusk and into twilight. This key retainer includes one of the best little LED lights I have found because of its size, power and operation, plus it includes a small carabiner clip that makes this great to attach to a ring on a camera bag.
Finally, there is a fleece goggle case. Now I don’t really have much of a need for a goggle case, but it so happens that it is sized about right for a flash, a dedicated flash cord, plus a couple of small accessories, such as a Stofen light modifier or Lumiquest folding modifier. I’ve always had a problem keeping all of that together — this bag does well to hold them conveniently.
So I was pleased to learn more about EK USA and how their products can help an outdoor photographer.
