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Holiday Buyers' Guide—or "Honey Please!" List
By Paul W. Faust | Products |
Dec 1, 2007
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Another year has gone by, and now the Christmas buying season is at hand. For those looking for a gift for that special photographer in your life, or your own want-list (hint, hint), here is a good selection of items that will please everyone.
Photography Items:
Hoodman Right Angle Viewer
I have to say that Hoodman has done it again with one super camera accessory that most photographers should get, whether they realize it or not. Many times I have been forced to give up a shot because it was almost impossible to get down low enough to compose and focus through the eye piece. Most right-angle adapters cost an arm and a leg, and weren’t even all that good to begin with. Here is the answer to all of your low-angle photography needs, and offers an end to crawling on your belly to get a shot. This one is also packed with features. The HoodMan H-RAV viewer has an adjustable eyepiece to fine-tune its focus, a 1X & 2.5X magnifier, and it rotates 360 degrees so you can use it in any position. This viewer will fit all Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Sony/Minolta and Pentax cameras because it comes with five mounting brackets to fit each of these models, so you can use this great viewer even if you change cameras, or want to loan it to a friend with another camera model. You also get a nice carrying bag to hold it all. Retail priced at $129.99-US.
Check it out at www.hoodmanUSA.com. When you do, also check out their HoodLoupe, a great tool that every digital camera user should have!!!
ExpoDisc
Here is one super “must-have” item that every digital photographer should have on hand wherever they go. With the ExpoDisc placed over your lens, it will accurately give your camera the correct reading from all light sources, which gives you an precise custom white balance for that particular lighting. Simply aim it at the light source (except directly at the sun), make the custom reading, and from then on, all of your images with that lighting will have the necessary neutral color required for a perfect white balance. You don’t even have to screw it on and off, as there are no lens threads. Just hold it over the end of the lens and take the meter reading. It comes with a neck strap and carrying case, and can even be attached to your belt. The discs are priced according to your lens filter size, and are in the $100-US price range—a small price to pay for accurate color exposures every time! (A cost that you will more than get back in the time that you will save using this tool.) Check them out at www.expodisc.com
Omni Bounce
This is a great little tool for any one who uses flash fill, and is easy to use, stores away in a small space, and is really easy on the pocketbook. The Omni-Bounce just snaps onto the front of your flash unit and defuses the light for any subject—be it person, plant, or critter. You can use it for straight- on shots or bounced off a ceiling or wall. It is mainly for close-up work and will not applicable for long-distance subjects as it cuts the maximum distance down by a factor of 2.5. But we are still talking yards here for the subjects that it will give you good fill-light for, and not just a few feet. Each unit is custom-fitted for each flash make and model, and it just snaps onto the flash with no need for bothersome Velcro that sticks to the inside of camera bags and everything else under the sun. This great little unit will save a lot of your hard-to-light images, and you'll hardly notice that it's in the bag. You will, however, notice the improved images that you'll get with it. You can also get the Omni-Bounce in gold to warm up your shots.
Prices range from around $20 to $30-US depending on which unit you need, and there are more types of units than just this plastic diffuser type, so check them all out at www.stofen.com.
MountainSmith “Capture At” Camera bag
I don’t know how many other photographers have trouble finding the right camera bag, but just about every bag I see seems as though it was designed for everything but my needs. Once in a great while I come across one like the “Capture At" bag from MountainSmith, which actually amazes me to no end. This medium-sized bag is 14” wide x 8.25” deep x 9.25” high (inside dimensions), and I actually lost count trying to figure out how many pockets & storage areas it has; over two dozen. One of the little divider pads even has a pocket in it. It’s amazing! Then there is the protection factor as the main camera and lens compartment is actually a whole padded unit in itself and can be removed. And of course, it consists of adjustable divider pads that can be custom fitted to hold all sorts of combinations of lens and camera bodies. There are pockets inside and out. One pocket that holds the rain cover is so well hidden that the company had to tell me where it was located, and I still had to look twice to find it (a great place to store valuables in the field). This pocket closes so cleanly that it looks more like a seam, and you would never even know that it was there if you didn’t know that it was a pocket. I would say that this bag will hold everything you need in the field except a tripod, and with the extra-padded shoulder strap, it will do it with ease. My favorite thing is that this bag will hold a good three-camera setup, bodies and about five lenses, with all of the extras, but will still not look and feel like you are carrying a suitcase into the field.
This is one great bag that you can check out at www.mountainsmith.com Retail price is $149-US.
VisibleDust
Digital camera users always need a good set of tools to clean their camera sensors without destroying it in the attempt. VisibleDust makes a whole set of cleaning tools for sensitive digital insides. Three of the best ones I’ve seen are:
Arctic Butterfly® SD800 Pro Kit
The Arctic Butterfly® SD800 Professional Kit is compiled for photographers with more than one camera in their arsenal. Equipped with everything a photographer needs for dry cleaning the digital SLR sensor, this kit is a must- have.
Ultra MXD-100 (Fabric) Sensor Cleaning Swab
These swabs, with their unique fabric folding system, are specially tailored for cleaning your delicate sensor without leaving streaks, pooling or abrasions. 12 per pack. Compatible with: VDust Plus & Sensor Clean & Smear Away.
The patented mini-channel, with contour, provides an even saturation of the paddles surface while preventing pooling and vertical flow at the edge. This reduces streaks associated with traditional flat surface paddles. The mini-channels also provide the extra reservoir to absorb the excessive liquid and prolonging the moisture life of the swab during the cleaning process.
There are also the
Sensor Cleaning Swabs, Medium-Format
These swabs were designed especially for medium-format camera sensors and have the same one-pass cleaning capabilities and features as the 35mm swabs above.
Sensor Loupe
To be able to clean dirt off of your sensor, you first have to be able to see it. By utilizing advanced features of BriteVue XL technology with high optical magnification and six super bright LEDs, the SensorLoupe is the only tool you need for locating those problem areas. The high-quality optical glass is coated to reduce chromatic aberrations and to seal the lens so that no mildew can build up. This is a top-quality loupe that will help you get the job done and should be a part of every serious digital photographer's tool bag.
Check all of these items out at www.visibledust.com.
Please note: VisibleDust and Calumet Photographic have announced a partnership in D-SLR sensor cleaning services with the introduction of their new cleaning facilities. VisibleDust is now offering “Certified VisibleDust Cleaning Centers” at select Calumet Photographic locations, which will provide a one-hour thorough cleansing of the exterior camera body, LCD, viewfinder, chamber area, focusing screen, mirror complex and most importantly, the imaging sensor which is prone to attracting dust. Calumet locations in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco will offer one hour in-house services at these locations, with more to open in the near future.
Software items
BRYCE 6
Many photographers are involved with doing digital imaging and graphics, some to the extreme, and this is a great program to keep them busy for years to come. Bryce 6 is a 3D landscape generating and animation program that really has to be seen to be appreciated. Many people have already seen images created with it on TV and in the movies, but just don’t know it. Bryce is the favorite of most 3D modeling artists, but many photographers also use it to create special effects for in their photographs, such as for landscapes and backgrounds that don’t exist in real life.
With Bryce, you can create an unlimited numbers of 3D virtual environments for as long as your imagination lasts. Since it is all in 3D, if something doesn’t look just right, just turn it around to another angle of view until it does. This includes any view from the top or bottom also. Until you have worked with—or just seen—a 3D program, you have no idea of the possibilities that it offers. Imagine creating whole new worlds to run, or even fly through. Don’t have the time or money to go and photograph the Grand Canyon? With this program you can create you own Grand Canyon for less than one night's motel rate. Then there are all of the things that can be done for use on websites, “including” animation effects.
With the latest version of Bryce 6, creating 3D images has gotten better and faster than ever before. Just a few of its great features include: The ability to randomly replicate both individual and grouped items so you can populate your scene with all the extra detail it needs; custom texturize any surface, including entire planets; and have the ability to control the quality, intensity and overall High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) effect of the lighting within your scene.
Want more? Bryce 6 also comes with an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee. If you're not absolutely satisfied with your purchase, simply tell them that you want your money back. The boxed version retails for just $109.95-US.
Be sure to check out all of the images in the Bryce gallery on their web site: www.daz3d.com/ and also check out all of their tutorial DVDs and modeling packages to add even more control to your images.
BLOWUP
There are several methods for enlarging image files to make larger-than- normal prints, but BLOWUP is by far one of the best around. Some photographers even consider it to be better than Photoshop’s bicubic method, and BLOWUP saves your files in the same format in which they started out, so you don't have to keep buying a third-party program after you've saved a file in “their” custom format, which won’t open in any other program but theirs. BLOWUP only operates in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Here is a program that will allow you to enlarge an image up to 16 times its original size, and still keep all of the crisp lines and smooth colors. You could actually go beyond this with good results, depending on the quality of the original image and the output you're using, such as printing on top-quality papers.
Blowup also does all of that with 8-, 16-, and 32-bit images for whatever quality control that you need to keep in an image, and if you have more than a few image files to enlarge for printing, it is capable of being recorded in a Photoshop Action.
Blowup retails for $199-US and can be checked out at www.alienskin.com.
PORTFOLIO 8.5
After you are finished creating all of your great new images, you need a good tool to manage them with, and the Extensis Portfolio program has always been one of the best. The newest version, Portfolio 8.5, is packed with features to group, find, track, and show your work, both for your own workflow needs or to present to others.
Here are a few of the things that Portfolio 8.5 will do to make your life a lot easier.
• Copy and rename the files that you download from your digital camera, or any files on your system.
• Find digital photos and other image files anywhere on your system by just typing in a word or phrase.
• Create a slideshow of your best images.
• Embed and edit metadata and Portfolio keywords into your images for search needs and a record of the image data.
• Build a website with a gallery of your best work.
• Create a collection of your best images and burn them directly to a CD or DVD right from within Portfolio.
• Resize and batch convert your images to jpeg or TIFF files.
For those who do not have Adobe Photoshop CS3 with its Bridge feature, this is the answer to your filing and organizing needs. It will save you more time than you ever thought possible, and it's worth every penny of its average $220.00-US street price. It's available for both Mac and Windows systems. Check it out at www.extensis.com.
Have a happy and peaceful holiday season!
Let us know if you found this article useful, and tell us what kinds of articles you'd like to see in upcoming issues. Send your comments and ideas to the editor.
© Copyright 2010 by PHOTOWORKSHOP.COM
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Last Updated: Mar 20th, 2010 - 13:51:17
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