TENDON MASTER 8.9 – Rope review The specs tell by themselves a story but an incomplete one by far: At 8.9mm diameter and weighting 52g/m, the Tendon Master 8.9 is rated as single rope (it can be used by itself including on bolted / sport routes), as half rope (for example on trad or alpine routes together with a half rope) and as a twin rope (together with another twin rope on water-ice climbs for example). Nevertheless I do not believe that the option of using it as a twin rope bears any practical purpose in this case as for the given scenario I’d rather carry a 6mm tag-line in my backpack. Nevertheless, what the climber not too fussed with genuine statistics or gear factoids can learn from these are a few basic points: it’s light, it’s strong, it’s stretchy. In other words that means: it’s easy to carry, it doesn’t wear-out quickly, it catches softly. I wouldn’t use the Tendon Master 8.9 to work out to death a project in Taghia Gorge.

It does come with Complete Shield treatment (check on the Tendon website what does that cover) and it’s beefier than other ultra-light single rope but the abuse such terrain inflicts on ropes requires a totallyI would gladly use it however to onsight any long sport route or go for fast redpoints even in aforementioned Taghia Gorge. What the Tendon Master 8.9 however excels at is being aktz backpack replicaIt works almost everywhere and for almost everyskooled backpack purpose with the exception of top-roping and other excessively wearpowerslide backpack phuzion It’s thin and lightweight so it packs down to small size notbackpack sdu code

noticeably different from a regular half-rope. That means less room occupied in the backpack and lighter burden on he shoulders yet having a fully functional stand-alone rope. A good choice for glacier travel the Tendon Master 8.9 can be taken then up on any alpine climb and paired with a 6 mm or another half or twin rope for abseils or meandering routes. With its low bulk andgabumon backpack soft manoeuvrability the Tendon Master 8.9 is ideal for any situation that requires short roping or fast transitions from pitched climbing and short roping.mazurek backpack There is also no good reason to leave the Tendon Master 8.9 at home even when travelling lightweight to a sport crag. At 8.9 mm (slightly beefier than its competitor) the Tendon Master 8.9 does not only work well with the GriGri 2 (de facto one of the most

widely used belay devices in sport climbing at the time of writing this) but it is also rated as such. Also handy for a sport climber the middle of the rope is factory marked. The Complete Shield assures that the rope stays dry while dragged on the glacier slog and does not feel heavy and wet when one is focused on leading that demanding granite pitch high above the last cam. It also assures that dirt and grit impact are considerably reduced and the life-span of the rope considerably increased. provided pulls out the Tendon Master 8.9 from the onsight-only category and offers a decent life-span in moderate redpointing circumstances. Nevertheless these are fairly general statements. To put it in the proper context however here are the few uses I found over the past year for the Tendon Master 8.9 rope (in 60m length): The rope still looks like new and could handle several times more such a schedule before seeing retirement.Ebags BackpackLeather Travel BackpackVintage Leather BackpackLeather RucksackRucksack BackpackBackpack ThoCool BackpacksBackpacks Rucksacks BagsAll BackpacksForwardleather and canvas rucksack on Behance The structure of this is delightful Ebags BackPack Tumblr |

leather backpack tumblr | Using the Nikon DF Only for a couple of weeks the local Nikon dealer lend me silver/chrome Df in exchange for a short review about it. Well, the time was not a problem, especially because I have the camera for about three weekends. I had previously experience with Nikon AF system already. The F80 was my first camera and the 50mm f:1.8 AF-D. After it came the Nikkor 35mm f:2.0 AF-D and then the D90 followed by a 24mm f:2.8 and an older Sigma AF tele-zoom lens. I received the Df with its kit lens, the 50mm f:1.8 AF-S G Special Edition. At first, the camera seems big. And it really is, big and bulky. It can not fit in my Tamrac day by day bag (a Explorer 1 5501). That’s the same bag that can accommodate a Pentax ME or MX with two prime lenses and a medium-zoom or a Nikon F80 with 2 prime lenses and a couple of film rolls. So, I had to leave the Tamrac at home and took my girlfriend’s LowePro backpack. Also, I brought with me my favorite Nikkor, the 35mm f:2.0.

Well, as bulky as it is, in fact when I grabbed it, surprise! The camera is much lighter than looks like and sits itself in my hands quite well. It’s almost like Minolta’s x-500 or x-700 but of course with at least a measure bigger, and heavier (~750 g vs. Minolta’s 500 g). The grip, or in fact its luck is not at all a problem. It is big enough for me to hold the camera comfortably. Now, let’s speak about using it in the real world. At first if you come from a classical 35mm film camera, at least the Df’s top seems very familiar. There are dials for exposure time, exposure compensation and ISO but, surprisingly also an exposure mode switch (PASM). Why such a dial when an “A” on the shutter dial would have been enough? Ah, of course, the new G lenses does not have an aperture ring, so the photographer have to tell to the camera in what mode wants to work. The aperture can be adjusted through the main back dial as on other Nikon dSLRs ar the front dial but I would not recommend that.

The front dial is very stiff and can not be used comfortably and quickly because of that. I don’t recommend using this one while taking pictures. If one wants to use the aperture ring to change the f value, first has to make a visit in the camera’s menu. In these conditions the user can photograph like with a film camera. As for the shutter dial, I would have wanted an “A” position. Also the same would be great on the ISO dial too. Now, to switch from Manual to auto iso and vice versa I have to consult, again, the menu. Other then the retro looking and operating cameras’s top, the camera behaves like a “normal” Nikon dSLR. The viewfinder is big and bright but of course not as big as a manual focusing camera. A split screen would have been a good addition if not necessary, especially for the “Pure photography” believers. I don’t know why they didn’t implement it. This feature would have picked up the DF even more from the “big black dSLR” crowd. The AF system is very good, fast, but struggles a little in low light by not locking on the target.

In the same light conditions even the older D90 can surpass it with its central AF point. Shutter sound is short and ferm, not too loud but also not silky smooth as F80’s one. Even if the specifications says that the camera is weather resistant, the kit lens is not, and because I don’t have a WR lens for Nikon I didn’t try the camera in rainy conditions. The battery life is very good but the door of the memory card/battery compartment is very fragile. Yes, both card and battery share the same compartment which door opens and closes in the same way like Nikon F100’s R6 battery holder. About the sensor what to say more that I don’t need more that it can deliver. The IQ is excellent, ISO performance outstanding, plenty DR. I can not add nothing cons on this matter. How would I like to see a future Df2 ? Well, I would keep the sensor, make the camera smaller, by about 5-7mm in deep and around ~10-12mm in height. Also I would like a more sturdy construction, keep the weather sealing and with a much less flimsy battery/card door and a better AF system but not by adding more AF points but by making it more reliable.