Zuca, Manfrotto, Canon .... ahhh the fun stuff :)

Well this post isn't really beauty related but rather background stuff because you see, without these kinds of things in the background life just doesn't run too smoothly :/

ZUCA

So firstly lets talk about the 'Zuca Sports' bag that I recently got. I was so happy that this bag came as part of my Student Kit for my course because I'd been looking at these bags earlier in the year and was going to purchase the pro bag if I had to get my own 'kit' together. They are really easy to pull along and very smooth, they have a metal frame that will hold up to 300 lbs so you can sit on it if you have to and also put other bags on top. My bag came with four plastic (not sure if it's plastic or some similar material) zipped pouches inside that can stack on top of each other. There is a little tab so that you can write what is in each one and they are super easy to wipe clean.

The bag itself is very compact, it has zippered pockets on both sides along with a mesh pocket and when you open the front door there are more zippered pockets for storage.

So this is currently my favourite new toy, it's much better than having to carry heavy bags up stairs and onto buses and trains and hopefully will look after me for years to come :)


I recently made a video showing my 'Student Makeup Kit' if anyone's interested in seeing what came inside my bag for my course. My course is more focused on 'special effects' makeup and is really interesting so far. The kit I received was included in the cost of the course I am taking so yes, I did/am paying for everything myself :) Along with what I show in this video I got a 'Set Bag' which I forgot to show and there's also a few more things that haven't arrived yet that need to be added to this kit.

MANFROTTO

What is that you may ask ..... hehehe :D it's my new tripod. Over the past month or so I've noticed that the tripod that my brother bought me for Christmas just wasn't what I needed and when I was borrowing my other brother's camera I really made my mind up to look for a new tripod.

I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on one, I'm not a photographer but I did want a sturdy good quality tripod so I went for the Manfrotto MKC3-P02, this is a compact tripod that is ideal for travelling and setting up on my cupboard top, it has a light weight aluminium frame but it's not flimsy and the central column can be removed and put in upside down for compactness. It has a quick release ball head for easy adjustment of angles and for portrait shots and locks easily with one quick screw.

This is the most compact 'full size' tripod I could find, it has easy leg adjustment and little rubber feet that also adjust to the lay of the land :)

So far I'm very happy with my new tripod :D

CANON

As some of you may know I was having trouble with my camera lens, for some reason it just started to go all blurry on me so I had to send it away to get looked at. It was still under warranty plus I did buy an extended warranty when I bought the camera in December, 2011 so hopefully between the two it would be ok.  I received my lens back last week in perfect working order, now I'm not quite sure if it's a brand new lens or they fixed my original one but either way I'm really happy that it's back.
This lens is a 18-55mm that can cost up to $150 if it has to be replaced so for it to have problems at this early stage (approx 3.5 months) isn't good, I'm still not sure why it happened or how because I always put the lens cap back on and keep it in a padded camera bag that has a extra padded nose in a very safe place??? Fingers crossed it won't happen again!

LAPTOP

I purchased a HP laptop back in January and it DIED in March??? What the ... ok so I wasn't impressed at all, I know it wasn't an expensive top of the range kind of laptop but I did expect it to last longer than 2-3 months!!!! Not Happy!! >:( ....... anyway, after taking it back to the store and them sending it away to be looked at I was informed that it was DEAD!!  They gave me a store credit to get a new laptop, so I did, hopefully this one will last longer than the first one.

Now I know that old saying that 'you get what you pay for' but honestly I can't afford a great quality laptop right now, if I could I would probably get a macbook or something but right now I need to get what I can. Fingers crossed this one will be around for quite some time :D



So it seems that March was the month of my equipment failures, let's just hope it's all over now and things will work the way they should.