Headed to Paris for a few days prior to heading on to Normandy, the Loire and Burgundy. As we were going to be visiting a new city or area pretty much everyday by car, I decided to take slightly more gear than I usually would carry on my back while on a holiday. I had quite a bit of equipment with me as a result of the assignment in Dubai, but decided to see France with just the Canon 5D Mk III body, a 24 – 105 F4 L, a 70 – 200 F2.8 L IS, and my all time favourite the 17mm TS-E F4… I work with several CF cards and my preferred brand is Sandisk, however on this occasion I purchased 2 x 128Gb Lexar cards and tested them both thoroughly prior to heading overseas.

Having a car meant that I could also take my trusty and much loved Really Right Stuff tripod, the TVC-34L with a BH-55 LR ballhead. I will do a video review of this at some stage to demonstrate just why it is such a superb piece of equipment. It is not particularly heavy, and certainly enabled me to get some wonderful dusk images when the weather co-operated!

A word of advice if planning a springtime sojourn in Paris – try to avoid the May day public holiday! In fact our trip seemed to coincide with every known French public holiday, consequently there were large crowds jostling to view those museums which were still open…

I am always so fascinated by beautiful Cathedrals and Notre Dame is no exception. A view looking directly up at the stunning main door; the level of craftsmanship is breathtaking…

Pushing the ISO on the 5D Mk III to 3200…