April 20, 2009

At this year’s PMA a new breed of cameras were introduced.  The micro four-thirds standard or hybrid camera, is the catch phrase being thrown around, to describe a camera which has an interchangeable lens supporting point-and-shoot cameras.  It lacks a mirror box, which defines an SLR.  So it directly images on the sensor. What remains a mystery, would be if these new, but odd technical showpieces will find a market.  Panasonic, Olympus and Samsung have all decided to throw their hats into uncharted waters.

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March 14, 2009

Click To Listen>>  Photography Podcast. PPS #56.
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On Todays Show:
Gavin Seim
Kerry GarrisonDennis ZerwasDavid ZiserBrady Dillsworth

midnight-seattle-panoramic-seim-l

This week we talk about some great new gear and goodies, as well as hear cool tips from some great guests including the one and only David Ziser. Here’s all the glorious links and there’s a lot of them.

Podcast #56 forum discussion:

Deals:

Digital Wakeup Call. Discount with promo code: ZGSDWC09

OnOne Software 15% off: Use Promo Code PRPHTPC

Photomatix Pro from HDR Soft. Save 15% with code PPS15

Cool stuff from PMA 2009:

7″ Album. Portable Photo Viewer. Would be a great client presentation tool.
David also mentioned a similar product by Digital Foci.

The Spyder Cube. Color target.

Lensbabies.

California Sunbounce. Light manipulation tools.

Hahnemuhle do it yourself gallery wraps look really cool. (found them on B&H).

I also found some videos on Hahnemuhle’s news page. And a PMA video over at CameraTown.

Trek Tek monopod .

Kerry like the Sensor Clear and Sensor Pen from Lenspen.

Acratech tripod heads looks cool and well made.

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March 5, 2009

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This is called Album. While I know there’s loads of portable viewers, this one caught my eye. A $200 unit, with a 7″ screen, available in a few different colors with more to come. It has 4GB built in storage and reads from SD cards as well as a usb connection.

It’s very simply with three main nav buttons, a removable leather cover, and a built in 2.5 hr battery. The images on the 800×600 screen look clear, and I would feel trendy handing this to a client at a wedding consultation for them to browse some images. The leather cover can also be used as a stand to make it sit like a digital frame.

It appears these are currently selling direct from the manufacturer. There’s only a few colors now but they say more to come. Here’s their website.

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February 10, 2009

This weeks cool product is the Itoya Art Profolio series. I really like these for presenting and storing prints. They solve the problem of displaying images in an easy and portable fashion. Having images in print simply makes a better impression than looking on a screen.

Profolio’s come in various styles, but the bottom line is that their a reasonably priced simple way to present your work. Coming in a broad range of sizes such as 5×7, 8×10, 11×14, and even 13×19 (which is the odd print size that comes out of my Canon Pro 9000 Printer).

Here’s a few available styles and some Amazon links. I also found them on B&H Photo.

Standard Art Profilio: This has a simple hard plastic cover with plastic sleeves inside. It’s not the most finished and while I would not sell it as a client album, but it’s simple and clean looking for a REALLY low price. This is basic presentation that’s inexpensive enough to double as print storage.

itoya-profolio
Itoya Art Profolio Std from around $7

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October 30, 2008

CPPOTW = The Digital Grey Kard

It seems someone is always selling a gadget to get your white balance right. It can indeed be useful to have a grey reading to get your white balance spot on out of the gate. This CPPOTW is the Digital Grey Card.

WB targets work quite simply. Their an 18% gray. You shoot a frame with the gray card in the scene, then later in post production you click it with the WB eye dropper using, Lightroom, Aperture, Camera Raw or whatever you use. The system reads, what you say is 18% gray and balances the rest of the scene accordingly.

I‘ve tried a few targets, and aside from being overpriced many of them are cumbersome, which means I tend not to use them. This set however is like having three business cards on a lanyard. Throw it in your bag, or better yet around your neck and wherever you are you can toss the card in for a WB target shot. It also includes white and black level target.

Nothing big, strange, or expensive. At around seventeen bucks, it may seem like a lot for three plastic cards, but these targets are cheaper than most and do just what they need to. Something every photographer should have in their kit. I’ve linked to Amazon. I’m sure you can find it all over, but the price is right.

Gavin Seim

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