Sun March 04 2018  —  e-mail Manfred

Camera equipment, DSLRs, Nikon D700 and 24-70mm, 70-200mm f/2.8, Gopro Hero 2.

About Travel Photography,
Colors of the World.

Manfred is creator of ThisFabTrek.com, travel photography, a travel blog and a photography blog (a journey from 2004 to 2013). 'I set out to see the colors of the world, always I try to capture the colors'.

Seeing, is understanding, so I report and photograph, but formost enjoy and live those different conceptions of life (all that TV [and the web] cannot give). I reject jealousy, animosity, bigotry. Be free!

Manfred in the desert of the Western Sahara

The mind, when pondering at night and always asked those questions. What am I doing in corporate wonderland of bank, university, office or church? Who is the other animal asleep deep inside, the thinker, punk, creative, or Indian, vagabond and healer, maybe artist, writer, photographer, traveler, globetrotter? Oh God, dare you to think. When I saw the lies, gambles and manipulations I follow the old dream and set out for the journey of life lived, the journey to see the colors of the world.

During years on the road I have taken the turns as they came along, and realized one thing: Only such a small part of the planet can be explored and such a vast land and sea mass will always remain unknown, to me; many swamps, jungles, deserts and oceans will never be traveled. But then I am father of twin boys, Daniel and David, my most important, and I show them some of the wonders and colors out there.

ThisFabTrek, Photography and Journey, the Stories from the Road and Life around the World, stopped in August 2013 after more than 9 years, Love and Peace.

Last vehicle.

G20, Chevy Gladiator.

Chevrolet Gladiator G20, The boys in Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
The boys and Chevy van, Peru.

The G20, the vehicle that came to me for the Americas adventures.

6 wheeled Land Rover.

Land Rover Defender 6x6
Link to Foley

The vehicle of the Africa adventures, a Foley 6-Wheeled Land Rover Defender.

Before, the MB307.

Manfred and MB307
Journey, Middle East.

The vehicle of the Middle-East and North-Cape Journeys. See all vehicles.

Daniel and David with nanny Aisha, the best we ever had, black African Woman carrying white twin babies, in Bamako, Mali.

Travel Blog

contains Festival/Fiesta/Art photography.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo.

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it, to tell the tale." Living to Tell the Tale - Gabriel García Márquez.

"They never taught wandering in any school I attended. ... they never taught the art of writing a book, either. It's all so mysterious."
"Wandering is an art in itself. Wandering and writing don't mix"
"Writing demands commitment and if one thing your wanderer is allergic to is that very quality of commitment, for once one is committed he runs that very risk of failure ..." Wanderer - Sterling Hayden.

"Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. ... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. " - Wim Wenders.

"The worst prejudice we acquire during our youth is the idea that life is serious. Children have the right instincts: they know that life is not serious, and treat it as a game..." , Egon Friedell.

"How far you gonna go. Before you lose your way back home" - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Achtung Baby, U2.

"If you want to be a hero well just follow me." - Working Class Hero, John Lennon.

"When I think of all the things I have done, I know that it's only just begun." - I love you, Lou Reed.

"One does not escape the Sahara - the Sahara let's you go or not" - Touareg.

"Planet earth is blue and there`s nothing I can do" - This is Ground Control to Major Tom, David Bowie.

"Glory for the crazy people/in this stupid world" - Ahmed Fouad Negm.

www.thisfabtrek.com > equipment > camera

Cameras and Lenses, some other stuff.

"Only using the equipment all the time makes a photographer one day".

1997, first money, first SLR, a F70 (1994) Nikon and a few cheap Sigma and Tamron lenses, so I was on Nikon as opposed to Canon; hard to switch once you paid out for good lenses. In fact till date I know nothing about Canons.

2000 get a manual Nikon FM2, keep things simple, use it with a fixed Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens, later with a Nikkor 28mm f/1.4; nice.

2003, want a 'good' camera, invest in a Nikon F100; should have gone digital then... used a Minolta slide scanner ... a cumbersome process. Still I take the scanner and film camera travelling on the fab trek in 2004.

2005, only half a year later, buy a FujiFilm FinPix S3 Pro DSLR, later another one, this was a lauded camera. Each camera its own lens, Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S and 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR. The optimist then thought that prevents dust on the image sensor. These lenses are awesome, good lenses do make happy, this is where love starts.

2007 Sep in Bamako, Mali, I finally leave the slide-scanner, the Nikon F100, a smaller Manfrotto tripod behind; all turned into chunk in so little time. I keep the FM2 and the 50mm; is emotional.

Mostly I used the 17-35mm lens; with the S3's DX-format this really meant shooting at 24-50mm, so quite normal; for 90% of all shooting. The 70-200mm is used on festivals, sometimes with the 2x teleconverter to hunt birds and elefants; that meant shooting at 600mm, nice.

The S3 was known for its color rendering, but also it was slow, but the fabtrek is a slow journey, so I justified and hung in with it. The S3 didn't really shoot RAWs either; this clogged it down. Though jpgs are handier on the road where storage is scarce, the S3's JPGs are noisy, especially in the blue skies. Amazing is how the two S3s held over 6 years, taking all the Sahel dust, red and palm wine, they became buggy over time, and the first picture after turning on was always black, the rubber grips came off, the plastic on the ISO wheel too, but surprise they kept going. "Treat yourself to a new camera," hinted Pieter van der Houwen in Feb2011.

2011, and there has been a quantum leap happening in photography technology over 6 year. One day in April I just close my eyes and buy a Nikon D700 and a 24-70mm f/2.8. I simple had to!

Mar2012, the beloved 17-35mm f/2.8 I drowned in the washing machine in Panama.

Aug2012, the D700 and 24-70 get stolen in Cusco, Peru and I managed to buy my gear back for 800USD.

Oct2012, I get myself a GoPro HD Hero 2, to produce a few videos.

AF 28 mm f/1.4 Nikkor Nice but no fast silent focus, is yestergear, hardly used it, sold it. 578g
AF 50 mm f/1.8 Nikkor Still mounted on the FM2, hardly use it. 214g
AFS-Nikkor 17-35 mm f/2.8 ED-IF Wide-angle zoom lens, the standard when I bought it. It is an expensive paper holder now, as one sad day I put it in the washing machine. 794g
AFS-Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 ED Now the standard. g
AFS 70-200 mm f/2.8 G ED-IF VR VR's the thing, for stage. Read review. 1,536g
Nikon 2x Teleconverter Works nicely with 70-200mm, for birds in the sky. g
D700 Full frame 12mp and sensor cleaning technology and a lot more. 1074g
2 Fuji FinePix S3 pro My old cameras with sensors full of dust, read review1, review2, review3. Not for the speed, but the colors, still working after all those years on the road. 815g
SB 600 Speedlight a new investment after the old fell down. review. 300g
SB 26 Speedlight from my 1997 investment (repaired for back up). g
Nikon F100 + MB15 Who cares about the F100 these days. One day just left it behind in Bamako. 1,195g
Nikon FM2 Refreshing basics, just who wants to spend on film, processing, scanning... 608g
Sekonic Dualmaster L-558 Exposure Meter Whereever I left this... 342g
Photoflex Lightdisk Never used it. 330g
Manfrotto Tripod Not heavy enough for windy conditions, unsharp images ... 2,800g
Manfrotto Monopod Never used it, it kind of rusts/oxidizes. 890g
Large Gitzo Tripot 400 Euros, piece of sh!t, 2 legs got stuck and they weren't able to repair it in 6 weeks. Too heavy to take anywhere...
Manfrotto 303Plus Panoramic Photography Head Panoramic Photography, something I wanted to get into... which requires so much work and time which I don't have. 2,340g
Manfrotto Levelling Base For the panorama shots. 600g
GoPro HD Hero 2 For videos, comes with a ruggedized clear plastic case. 100g and 190g the case.

Fuji S3 Pro DSLR Camera with Nikon AFS 70-200 mm f/2.8 G ED-IF VR mounted on large Gitzo Tripot in Water in Buba Guinea Bissau
S3 and 70-200mm.
Fuji S3 Pro DSLR Camera with Nikon AFS-Nikkor 17-35 mm f/2.8 ED-IF mounted and Photographer Manfred Schweda in Conakry, Guinea
Behind the lens...
Myself, Manfred Schweda, Photographer
... me.

www.thisfabtrek.com > equipment > camera

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