As I said yesterday, the Vancouver Folk Fest was nearly drowned by constant heavy rain. But by the late morning it had lightened to a drizzle and then was just cloudy for the rest of the day. (Today it looks gorgeous)

I spent around ten hours shooting bands and pictures with digital (well I had a 35mm clipped to my bag too but I shot little) and nearly broke my back. Carrying around the Canon 7D and the big 100-400L telezoom combination and the lighter medium zoom really wore on me after a few hours of crouching and shooting and contributed to a bit of a return to a cold that I thought I had kicked.

Drawbacks to the push-pull of the 100-400L

Also I experienced one of the drawbacks to using the push-pull zoom mechanism of the Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5 L-5.6. Personally, I love the way it works. You work the lens like a trombone, extending it for long shots and bringing it in for shorter shots. And the shots are great.

However, when you get the lens wet, the push pull action also puts moisture into it. It's not that the lens is damaged -- it is 'weather sealed'. But that extra moisture leads to condensation. I learned this when I ducked into the warmer environs of a portapotty to take a leak and in just that moment, the lens warmed up and the glass fogged up like a m********er.

I took it off and the lens would get okay after about fifteen minutes but with each change in temperature, it would fog up again, basically rendering it useless for the afternoon.

I brought it back to the festival again in the evening but after one concert -- which was the excellent Buck 65 -- I never took it out again as the light was too poor after.

So today, I decided to lighten my load and I'm shooting all film (plus changing to a backpack). I'm bringing out my Mamiya 645 Pro and two lenses (plus the 35mm) and just shooting people.

Oh, and I will enjoy the music :)

You can see my growing set from the Festival here on Flickr. There is also a general Flickr group for the Folk Festival here.