I woke up with a start. I thought perhaps my camera and lens package was too small. Too light. And that carrying around more stuff would make my photographs better...

 

Tech notes about this photo (above): 

It was lit with a Nanlite RGB FS-300C LED light

through a 36x48 inch softbox.

The camera used to take the image was the Sigma fp

The ISO used was 32 and the image started life 

as a Jpeg file. In Monochrome.

The lens was the Sigma 45mm f2.8 i set to f16

I decided to reward myself in advance for my extreme bravery in approaching my recent medical shenanigans. I am usually quite skittish, cowardly, anxious and unhappy to undergo any treatment but in this instance I thought I'd at least try to tough it out and appear less wimpy to my spouse, who has had years of experiences such as watching me faint at a routine blood test...

Since I thought in advance that I might finally pull off a courageous event with doctors and nurses and scary medical equipment I thought it only fair to reward myself for the effort. And since I didn't know how I'd be feeling afterwards I decided to pre-gift myself since shopping in advance might mean having a clearer head. More reliable decision making and what not. 

Knowing that I'd be out of the swimming pool and away from athletic pursuits of all kinds for about a week I was concerned about developing sarcopenia. Or muscle wasting. In order to stave that off I thought I should add a bit of weight and girth to one of my favorite cameras (the SL2-S) by adding a battery grip and by carrying the camera, the grip and a beefy lens around with me throughout the coming week. Post op.  I figured the added weight would help create a good workout scenario and at the same time would extend the run time of the camera package by way of the addition of a second battery!

So far it's working out mostly as planned. I say "mostly" because I don't think I was much more brave or resigned than usual but I have been using the camera package to do curls for my biceps and I've done quite a number so far. A big bonus is that I have not dropped the camera, lens and battery grip even once!!

The added battery grip makes the camera look as big as one of the giant Nikon or Canon sports oriented DSLRs from the first decade of the digital awakening. In retrospect, while the whole assemblage looks pretty cool as a still life subject, sitting on a tripod, it was probably one of my less well thought through purchases of late. Especially since I'm now rarely running through even one battery in a casual day of shooting and have never done jobs that require me to trudge on and on without the chance to stop and quickly change out a battery. But again, it all looks pretty sweet just sitting there. 

I rarely give out advice but if I did I might gently shoo you away from spending $400 on a used battery grip that you will most probably use once and then recant. But there it is.

The medical procedure went well. I no longer have the deed and title to a big, nasty kidney stone. Now...what to do with a heavy, ponderous battery grip? 

Just sayin. 

On the other hand the Sigma fp pretty much nails it as a studio camera. I'm loving playing around with ISOs as low as 6. That's right, SIX. Not much grain in the files but more detail than you can imagine. Perfect match for powerful LED lights....

New note: The battery grip for the SL2 is still available at some Leica dealers.

Current pricing for new?  $1,088.  USD