For Canon I use OEM batteries and third party. The third party are cost effective back ups. 1/4 the price and about 3/4 as good. Often a 3rd party battery seems to go from 50% charge to zero way faster then the Canon. For my Sony I have found the 3rd party better then Sony batteries!
For video I always use an external 7” Ikan 4K monitor on an arm. I also use this for product shots. It helps with manual focus.
Their will always be a market for a product that outperforms the others. To get the extra relatively small percent better is always disproportionately expensive.
I use the Peak design Clutch wrist strap and the Peak design strap. The system is secure and permits rapid removal for tripod use or to use their fast catch. It comes with a proprietary acra Swiss base plate that works with their gear. Very functional and versatile.
I really like my Jobu design jr3 that I use on a Gitzu series 3 systematic tripod with lenses up to Sigma 150-600
Of my 7 cameras. My favorite camera is my Canon 5D IV, amazing IQ and low light ability. For those times I want no weight and a shirt pocket camera my Sony RX100 mark IV. This tiny Sony has a super fast lens for low light, and fast burst speed and great eye tracking, but a cool feature is that it has a selfie flip over screen.
If you don’t know or trust a 3rd party seller only buy when “Fulfilled by Amazon”. Amazon always makes good. That said I have purchased from Beach, and a close friend buys from one of their stores over the years and we had no issues.
First Use vinegar on a Q tip this will break down the acid. Dry completely with paper towel pieces and Q tips. Use pencil eraser on metal. Then switch to AA Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable batteries. They do not leak and although expensive to purchase are way cheaper over time.
I also most of the time with my canon 5d iv and landscapes with my 5DS. But for portraits anything under 85mm is too close and gets the subject nervous. My go to portrait lens is the Canon 100 f2.8L Marco. It’s sharp as a tack and price wise less costly than most L series.
I have about 100,000 photos, I use Dropbox, synolpgy, 2 desktop pc,s one in Florida one in NY and my laptop
I had those same problems, crashes, freezing with adobe elements. I switched to LR classic and it was slow but I bit the bullet and upgraded my gear to a true editing machine. Problem solved. Now No crashes, no freezing, no issue opening multiple programs and pictures or video editing . I use 3 screens 2 are 4K, the 3rd a TV. 32 mg ram, a Nivida video “high end gaming type card. This card is very expensive and has huge memory costing more than my prior counter box but is key to fast workflow. Also I have a very fast intel processor, and 1T of Solid state Hard drive(s). Everything backed up to Synolgy system and to Dropbox.
The GFX100 is $10,000, not so cheap and that’s just the start because medium format lenses are equally not costly then full frame lenses. The CFast compact flash cards are also pricy and with 100mg file size one will need a bunch. With the weight a Heftier tripod.
I have many binoculars mostly used for boating. The ones I pick up the most are my Fujinon 14x40 TS1440 Techno-Stabi Image-Stabilized Binocular. (B&H is at about $999)They are bright, the battery lasts s long time compared to canon, they are waterproof, and steady at 14x and bright . If not going stabilized do not go over 8x without a tripod or at least a monopod which is more weight to carry. The top end products from companies like Zeiss,Leica, Swarovski, Steiner commander, and fujinon all cost about $1,000 plus. This is like buying a tripod it’s cheaper to go get the good one first then to buy two or three beginners binoculars and eventually you will wind up spending the money to buy a good pair but at that point you can now spend double what you had to. This is like buying a tripod it’s cheaper to go get the good one first then to buy two or three beginners binoculars and eventually you will wind up spending the money to buy a good pair but at that point you’ve now spent double what you had to
This reminds me of a trap a nyc cable company did about 15 years ago. So many people were getting unlicensed and unpaid accesses the company posted a note on your (everyone’s) tv screen saying something like “if you can see this note your subscription and use will be turned off due to technical issues in 24 hours unless you phone this number and leave your name and address with our computer system to reset your cable box. Thousands of illegal unpaid cable users actually phoned in and of course were discovered by the company!