Adorama is one of my three favorite “alpha suppliers” when I buy new camera gear (the other two are Amazon and B&H). These new deals consist of price drops and new instant rebates.
Category Archives: Photo Gear
Protect Your Camera Gear in the Cold and Snow
Bryce Canyon After An Overnight Snowstorm
Cold and snow can cause a lot of damage to your camera gear. A few simple steps could save you hundreds of dollars in repair bills.
Best Digital Cameras of 2014 (Including 2010 – 2013)
Canon 5DMark III camera. Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4 lens. Really Right Stuiff L-Bracket.
The holiday season is here and I am getting the usual questions about which digital cameras I recommend. The camera lists below will point you to the highest rated models. There is also some information and advice on choosing a camera. The lists will be updated throughout the holiday season as new, highly rated cameras become available.
GoPro Hero4: Amazing, Small, Inexpensive, HD Video Camera
New GoPro Lineup
Looking for a small, mountable, “ideal for sports and action”, inexpensive, high definition video and still camera with a waterproof housing and image quality that Lucasfilm (the Star Wars people) calls “amazing”? This camera will go anywhere and mount just about anywhere. Prices range from $499 to $129, depending on the model (which is a lot less than your typical DSLR with HiDef video).
Tripod Head Recommendations: Some of the Best of the Best
Kirk Enterprises BH-3 Ball Head with Arca-Swiss style quick release
The short list.
3-Way Tripod heads:
Manfrotto 056 3D Junior Head (replaces 3025)
Manfrotto 3025 (older model)
Manfrotto 115 3D Super Junior Head (replaces 3028)
Manfrotto 3028 (older model)
Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head
Ball Heads:
Slik Pro Ballhead 800
Kirk Enterprises BH-3
Kirk Enterprises BH-1
Really Right Stuff BH-40
Really Right Stuff BH-55
Tripod Recommendations: The Best of the Best
Looking for a tripod? Choose wisely. Other than a camera and a good lens, nothing can make a bigger difference in your photography than a good tripod. This is the place to find information, recommended models, and links to more information.
Inexpensive ($9 – $117) Gifts for Photographers
Flash adapter and umbrella for an shoe-mount electronic flash.
There are a lot of practical and inexpensive gifts for photographers. Here is a nice list of items from $9 to $117. To make it easy to track them down, most of these items can be found at my photography store (which is powered by Amazon.com with Amazon’s terrific ordering, shipping, guarantee, and service). Most of the items below are in the Photo Goodies section. Prices are current as of this update (Nov. 20, 2014) but prices do fluctuate.
Best Memory Cards For Digital Cameras
Keeping Your World Straight With A Double Bubble Level
Double Bubble Level
Why waste time fixing crooked horizons when a simple accessory will put an end to the problem. Read the complete information article here.
The Best Incident Light Meters
Incident Light Meter. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
There’s no question that in some complex metering situations, an incident light meter can be quicker, faster, simpler, and more accurate than the meter in your camera. Many incident light meters can also measure light from an electronic flash, a huge bonus when you are using a flash in the manual mode.
Best Panorama Gear: Living In Pano Heaven
CAmera, nodal slide, and panning clamp
If you are using an Arca-Swiss compatible quick release system, which I highly recommend, two simple pieces of easy-to-carry equipment can put you in panorama heaven. Get the full story here.
The Best Camera Quick Release System
Arca-Swiss compatible “L-bracket” and tripod head
Mounting a camera onto the screw on top of a tripod head is time consuming. Doing it in the dark when your hands are cold is annoying. Once the camera is mounted, if you flop the camera over to the side to take a vertical photo, the camera tries to rotate on the screw. To provide a solution, all kinds of “quick release systems” have been created. Some of them work quite well, some not so well. Most systems have a weakness of one kind or another.
Great Deal? Don’t Get Burned!
Is it a special deal, or is it a rip-off?
Is it a great deal? Or is it a rip-off? You are searching online for a good price and you come across a terrific deal. Are you about to get burned? There are ways you can tell.
The Best of the Best: Recommendations For The Best Photo Equipment, Books, Magazines, DVDs, Software, and Online Photo Labs
The best of the best cameras, accessories, photo books and more.
It’s the time of year that the number of photo questions I receive increases dramatically. Most of them have to do with the upcoming holiday season and gift giving questions: “What should I get for . . . .”
So once again I am revising my list of articles recommending the best photo gear, books, DVDs, software, calendars, online photo labs, and a whole lot more. As I rewrite each article I will update the links below. You can check the date at the top of each article. This is the most recent update to the list (Nov. 10, 2014).
POTD: Metaphid Jumping Spider
Metaphid Jumping Spider
When a rare photo opportunity comes your way, jump on it (pun intended). You have no idea if or when it will happen again.
What To Do When Your Lens Quits
Electronic Lens Mount, Canon EF 17-10mm f4L Lens
Few things are more frustrating than having a lens quit, especially when you are on an important photo shoot, or a once in a lifetime trip. If you have a modern camera, the failed lens might also be accompanied by an error code on the camera body. On Canon cameras this is usually Error 99.
Photographing Festivals
Kim Eung Hwa Korean Dance Company
If you are looking for bright, colorful subjects to photograph, head for the nearest festival. If you live in one of the nation’s big cities, there are probably several major festivals to choose from. If you don’t, do a little research. Google is your friend.
Vegetarian Spider?
Spider with pea in a kitchen sink
I found this common house spider in our kitchen sink, hanging on to this pea which was suspended from an overnight web. The spider wasn’t moving at all so I touched it gently with the tip of a pen to see if it was alive. It quickly ran up a strand of its web. I left it alone and it eventually came back to the object of it’s interest, the pea. It was time to take some pictures.
How to Shoot a Parade
U.S. Flag, Parade
If you are going to photograph a parade, sometimes the best point of view is from the middle of the street and close to the ground. It also helps if you spent several years doing photography for a newspaper. Equipment is important too.
POTD: Cicada Closeup with an iPhone
17 Year Cicada Closeup
It was my good fortune to be in Iowa for the peak of the 17 Year Cicada “emergence”. It was amazing. It was also unbelievably noisy. If you stood under a cicada filled tree (they prefer some trees to others), you could barely hear well enough to have a conversation with a friend standing two feet away.
POTD: iPhone Photo of a Dandelion
Dandelion photo with an iPhone and an olloclip closeup lens.
I was out testing an olloclip iPhone accessory and using the closeup lens. I am quite pleased with the capabilities of this little accessory.
Great Deal? Don’t Get Burned!
Is it a special deal, or is it a rip-off?
Is it a great deal? Or is it a rip-off? You are searching online for a good price and you come across a terrific deal. Are you about to get burned? There are ways you can tell.
Tripod Head Recommendations: Some of the Best of the Best
Kirk Enterprises BH-3 Ball Head with Arca-Swiss style quick release
The short list.
3-Way Tripod heads:
Manfrotto 056 3D Junior Head (replaces 3025)
Manfrotto 3025
Manfrotto 115 3D Super Junior Head (replaces 3028)
Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head
Ball Heads:
Slik Pro Ballhead 800
Kirk Enterprises BH-3
Kirk Enterprises BH-1
Really Right Stuff BH-40
Really Right Stuff BH-55
Tripod Recommendations: The Best of the Best
Looking for a tripod? Choose wisely. Other than a camera and a good lens, nothing can make a bigger difference in your photography than a good tripod. This is the place to find information, recommended models, and links to more information.
Inexpensive ($9 – $117) Gifts for Photographers
Flash adapter and umbrella for an shoe-mount electronic flash.
There are a lot of practical and inexpensive gifts for photographers. Here is a nice list of items from $7 to $100. All of these items can be found at my photography store (powered by Amazon.com with Amazon’s terrific ordering, shipping, guarantee, and service). Most of the items below are in the Photo Goodies section. Prices are current as of this update but they do fluctuate so they are approximate.
(Originally posted Nov. 14, 2013. Updated Dec. 17, 2013.)
Camera Choices: Using Full Size Test Images from DPReview.com
I’ve been recommending DPReview for years in my photo classes and online. It is one of the best camera review sites. One of the nice features is the ability to download full size JPEG test images of their “standard studio scene” for comparison purposes.
Q & A: Hyperfocal Distance and Wide Angle Lens Converters
Autumn Path, Michigan. Depth of Field complements of a Hyperfocal Distance Chart
The following question came today via email. I occasionally post some of the questions that come my way, along with my answer.
Question: Does the hyperfocal distance of a prime lens remain the same when a wide angle converter is attached to the lens?
AlienBees: High Quality, Economical Studio Lights
AlienBees Studio Lights
For the best combination of quality and price, it is hard to beat AlienBees studio lights. I’ve been using AlienBees in my studio (and on location) for 7 years, and like so many other photographers, I’ve been singing their praises. It would be hard to find the same quality for less money.
Light Modifiers (Softeners) for Accessory Flashes
Umbrella, flash, and flash bracket on a tripod.
Photographers are always looking for ways to soften the light when doing portraits. The light from an accessory flash can be quite harsh so there are a wide range of modifiers to soften the light for more pleasing portraits. Here are my three favorites.
GoPro Hero 3+: Amazing, Small, Inexpensive, HD Video Camera
GoPro Hero 3+ Cameras
Looking for a small, mountable, “ideal for sports and action”, inexpensive, high definition video and still camera with a waterproof housing and image quality that Lucasfilm (the Star Wars people) calls “amazing”? Take a look at the amazing video footage at the end of this post (with skiing, snow boarding, surfing, cliff diving, motocross, auto racing, jet piloting, base jumping, and parasailing). This camera will go anywhere and mount just about anywhere.