If you have just started digital photography with a digital SLR camera, you may be wondering what accessories you need besides the camera and lens. Digital photography can be a very expensive hobby, especially if you want to buy everything you want. So I am going to focus on what a typical DSLR shooter needs. Here is a list of some must-have accessories. Read More…
Do you know that more than 350 million digital images are captured every day, and four out of five of those images are never shared? Wow… think about all those dormant photos on your hard-drive! Some innovative companies have thought about this and created some really nice products. Heard about the Eye-Fi? Now you can set free your photos with the Lexar Shoot-n-Sync Wi-Fi® Memory Card, which uses the same innovative wireless technology as in Eye-Fi cards for uploading digital photos to computers as well as sharing them via social networking and photo-sharing websites. Read More…
Posted in Accessories on September 19th, 2008. No Comments.
The Eye-Fi is a secure digital (SD) format memory card with Wi-Fi (802.11g, 54mbps) that can wirelessly send photos from a digital camera to a computer or photo sharing service of your choice. It has generated quite some buzz on gadget blogs (Engadget, Gizmodo, CrunchGear) but some mixed reviews (Post-Bulletin, PC World, DPReview) since its launch.
Overall, it works as advertised but comes with some limitations. For example,
- It only transmits JPEG photos, raw shooters are out of luck (The company says other formats and raw support are coming).
- It has limited range (< 45ft, and practically <20ft).
- It only works on trusted, encrypted, pre-configured wireless network but not open access points.
- It is only in SD format (some have reported it works with a SD-to-CF adapter).
- It is slow to start and slow to upload especially when uploading to online photo sharing sites.
- It uploads everything, no way of selecting images for upload.
Despite the limitations, it does come with a reasonable price of $100. If you find it fun or useful for you (with the limitations), you may want to give it a try.
Posted in Accessories on November 4th, 2007. No Comments.
In my previous post Fall foliage shooting tips, I have recommended the use of a polarizer and stated the benefits of a polarizer, especially in bright sun light. Here is an good example of using a polarizer for fall foliage shooting.
Posted in Accessories on October 7th, 2007. No Comments.
Kata makes great bags with learnings from sophisticated military protection technology. I have the KT R-103 GDC Rucksack and I love it.
Kata recently announced a new Digital Photo Series (DPS) bags as the latest addition to the acclaimed Global Digital Collection (GDC). Check out which one is a fit for your camera and carrying need by following this link.
Posted in Accessories on October 5th, 2007. No Comments.
Your camera and lens may be weather sealed but it really cannot take a downpour for too long or too often. If you don’t want to let the weather take away your shooting fun, or you have to shoot in any weather for a living, you need to get a rain cover to protect your gear.
I found there are many names for similar items : rain cover, rain cape, rain sleeve/rainsleeve, elements cover, camera cover, etc. Rain cover seems to be the most popular name. The prices also vary greatly, from $200+ to 7 bucks . The most expensive ones are made by AquaTech, less expensive ones by Tenba, OP/Tech, Lightware, Kata , and others. The choice should really depend on what you need based on your camera/lens combination and the type of shooting. The least expensive one may work for you just fine. However nothing should prevent you from making a fashion statement with the most expensive one if you can afford it.
For the budget-conscious types, here is the DIY rain cover tip: Find a clear plastic bag, cut a hole in the bag at an appropriate location, attach it to the lens hood using duct type.
Posted in Accessories on September 30th, 2007. 2 Comments.
Digital cameras use flash storage media cards of various types. Typically they come in small plastic packages that are difficult to manage in field and offer little protection to your valuable memory cards. Digital media storage cases will be a well made investment.
These card cases are typically constructed of high mechanical strength materials with anti-static rubber molded lining for maximum protection. There are many choices of different sizes and interior shapes for various digital media types. They are fairly inexpensive. Even the very fancy ones cost less than ~$20.
The picture above shows the case I use. One very useful tip is put the card with photos face down so you don’t need to figure out which one has been used later.
Posted in Accessories on September 25th, 2007. No Comments.
Cokin does not make the best filters but they do have a very well designed filter system and a very large selection of filters. It is somewhat ironic that I cannot really find much useful information on their official site when it comes to learning more about the filters. The official site lists all the filters but few demonstration and comparisons between the filters. Welcome to Cafe Cokin, an unofficial Cokin filter system site. Start from the front page, or the Guide, or learn some tricks. If the site doesn’t answer your questions, you may want to join the discussion group.
