Tackleberry

In the police, "Tackleberry" is a moniker given to new officers who spend far too much money on gadgets, in honour of the equipment-overkill character from Police Academy. Recently, in photographic terms, I have become a bit of a Tackleberry - though with the best of intentions.

Firstly, I bought a Manfrotto 680B Monopod, for use in my sports photography. It's a wonderful, sturdy piece of kit - great for panning shots, and it really does help take the weight of my 80 - 200mm f/2.8 lens. This was quickly followed by purchasing the Quick Release Head, to allow me to quickly snap my camera on and off.

Then, our old Sony Cybershot packed up. My girlfriend wanted a replacement, so, another trip to Amazon later, I'm now the owner of a Sony Cyber-shot DSCW180, and thankfully for only a fraction of what Amazon are charging for it at the moment. A new memory card was also in order.

As I'm starting to get into studio photography, it was time to update my Nikon SB-28, which no longer allows TTL-metering capability on my D80. I'm not going to get rid of it - it can still be used as a slave flash as part of Nikon's CLS system - but I do like being able to meter automatically. Eventually, I managed to find an excellent second hand model in mint condition from MPB Photographic.

By now considerably poorer, I vowed not to spend any more money on equipment. With my birthday coming up, I decided I wanted to enrol on the Royal Photographic Society's Studio Portraiture weekend course in Lacock, Wiltshire. Birthday money was duly spent on this and I'm due to travel down in July. The Documentary Photography course I completed last year was excellent, so I have high hopes for this one as well.

Now, severely out of pocket and with a very angry girlfriend (now fiancee) I resolved not to spend any more money. And then, last night, while practicing my recent studio reading, my tripod literally fell to bits. I had it repaired last year, but its gone again in the same place. The leg has fallen off and the locking mechanism has fallen to bits. So, secretly, I've snuck out today and bought a replacement. Buying a cheap tripod seems like false economy - I'd rather have a good quality model that will last - so, after moving some savings around (and shoving the rest into an ISA so I can't touch it!) I trotted off to Park Cameras in Burgess Hill, Sussex. I am now the proud owner of the Manfrotto 055CX3 Carbon Fibre 3 Section Lightweight Tripod, and the Manfrotto 322RC2 Heavy Duty Grip Ball Head. I'm going to hell.