As every year, lets end this one with a photo I took right after midnight on the 1st January of this year. These was a projection of the Slovak flag on the Bratislava castle, and I presume there will be something similar this year. I’m just getting my gear ready and in few hours, it’s off to the city to take few new fireworks shots :)

Hope you all have a great Silvester 2016.

As I mentioned in my article on Kickstarter, I back quite a few projects this year. And just yesterday, one of the project delivered. This one are the new products from Peak Design and since I got three of them, I will share some of my first impressions and some photos of them today. So here goes.

The Everyday Backpack 30L

I’m alway on the lookout for a good backpack, so this time I got the new one from Peak design. This is the 30l version, as the smaller 20l looked very small for my needs. The look and feature here are very similar to the last years Everyday Messenger bag, with the same use of materials.

The bags from Peak Design are probably the only ones where you need a manual when you get them. There are so many things hidden around the bag, small detail, straps, usage improvements, that it takes a while to find everything.

 
The build quality and material are excellent as usually, but I so would wish they checked the bags for loose threads, it just looks so cheap on otherwise quality product. I tried to fill the bag up, with two cameras and 6 lenses (from 50mm to 70-200mm) and it all fit in well, with quite a lot of space left (even with the top flap closed for minimal size). There is also a space for a laptop and also for a tablet, so you can really fit a lot here.

 
I tried to wear it for a while, but I’m not so used to backpacs, so can’t tell yet if it’s good or not. But one thing, when you have the bag straps tight, it’s hart to get to the inside of the bag while having it on one shoulder. Will try to use this bag on my next bigger travels, when I need to take a lot of stuff, to see how it works out. First impression is good, but the question is how comfortable it is.

The Everyday Sling

Also I got the smaller sling. First impression of it is even better than the backpack. It sits well over the shoulder, fits a full frame camera with two lenses easily, and will probably be my goto bag for short trips around the city when I don’t need much gear. Actually the only thing I did not like is that the bottom is not flat, so it does not sit well when placed down.

 
Same as with the backpack, you can expand the sling partially, the front pocked to be exact. I don’t think that it’s something I would use that much, as it involves loosening the two front buckles. But it can be useful sometime. The sling also has a space for a tablet, and I actually tried to stick the Surface Pro 4 in it, and while it’s clearly not meant for a tablet that size, it still fits and can be closed.

Range Pouch Medium

Lastly, I took the Range pouch. This is a lens pouch, you can use to store and also to carry a lens in multiple ways (on the belt, with a strap and similar). The medium one is perfect for a 24-70 f2.8 lens, but not much bigger. I got it more to use inside of the backpack, to house smaller lenses. Will see hot that works out.

Overall the first impression is very positive, let’s see how they stack up over time. I will do a review, but later one, when I had time to use them more. For more info on Peak Design products, please visit the Peak Design website here.

As every year, it’s time for my favorite photos from this year. I visited some new, some old places this time, so there have been some very nice photo opportunities. I did not continue with the daily updates this year, either due to a quite busy schedule during the year, or a need to just stop and do something different after a very long time of doing just this. But even with updates maybe not being so regular anymore, they will definitively not stop :)

So let’s hope for even better 2017, filled with great times, interesting locations and the perfect light. And here are some of my favorite photos taken this year. And since I got the tilt shift lens this year, a lot of them are taken with that :)

Also here you can see my favorites from past years: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010 :)

One more blue hour shot, this one of the SNP bridge in Bratislava during the Festival of light.

This is a blend of two exposure, done in Photoshop. I used a second, darker exposure to darken the light of the bridge.

First of all, please excuse the lack of posts recently. I do edit quite a few photos, but nothing I can share and it’s a bit repetitive, so I’m not in the mood to edit anything more afterwards. But I really will have to try and get back into the flow and start updating more again.

So for today, here goes a photo from Passau. I have a very similar without the railing in front, but looking at it, I like this one more (but I will maybe upload the other one sometime later). The railing gives the photo a bit more sense of the location and fill the foreground quite nicely.

This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.