Finding Your Way in the Dark (Patreon)

As promised, I am now starting to add updates and corrections to my recently published eBook, "Milky Way NightScapes version 2.0" — you should see periodic updates, corrections and additions over the next few months. This week's post is an update to pages 183-186. Once I've done a significant number of updates, you'll receive a link to version 2.1 — until then, you can view and download these incremental updates (see attachment below).

In this update I talk about the importance of extra camera batteries, glove liners, electric dew heaters, wireless remote controls, two-way radios and headlamps. Some of this was already covered on these pages, but I've also added and reviewed several new products.

Two gear items I'd like to emphasize in this post are the Petzl Actik Core headlamp and the Nitecore TUBE v2.0 1-lumen keychain flashlight.

The Petzl is a little more expensive than some headlamps (about $70) but well worth the cost. I've used my Petzl headlamp now for over six years, on hundreds of outings. I can often go out for several nights in a row without recharging the lithium battery. Although you can buy an extra lithium battery "core," that core can also be replaced with 3-AAA alkaline batteries in an emergency; however, I've never run out of power once in six years. Besides a red light, it has three white light power settings and two different beam patterns: wide and narrow. The medium power setting with its wide beam pattern (100 lumens - 7 hours of burn time) is perfect for most trail applications. The highest power setting (450 lumens - 2 hours of burn time) really reaches out when you need it. For work close to the camera, I like to use the lowest setting (7 lumens - 160 hours of burn time). They call it their "Incognito" setting because it's bright enough for most of your night work without destroying your night vision. I like it better than using the red light (which most other headlamps use for protecting your night vision).

The Nitecore TUBE 1-lumen keychain flashlight is another amazing product I've used for quite a long time. It only costs about $11, and I've had mine of about 4 years. It's in my pocket all the time. If you're in a group setting, it's 1-lumen power light is the perfect intensity for checking your camera settings, because it is extremely rude to turn on your red headlamp light (as the red light will damage other photographer's images). Many people just use the dim light from their smartphone to check their camera settings, but I can hold the Nitecore in my mouth and use both of my hands to do things like changing lenses. Try doing that while holding a smartphone!

Nitecore power boost to 55 lumens: Two cool things about the little Nitecore keychain light is that a double-click to its on-off switch gives you 55 lumens of light. Very handy. Another feature I like is that the rechargeable li-ion battery's ultra-low parasitic drain means that the light has a 1-year ready-for-use standby capability. Occasionally, the on-off switch will get bumped and it will turn on in my pocket, but it can burn for up to 58 hours, even when this happens!