Gear
Article: 10 Accessories To Choose And Use
The moment you're running out of room on your memory card in the middle of the Sequoia National Forest isn't the time to start thinking about getting a portable hard drive—especially when the light and the weather is perfect and you're missing some g...
Article: 10 Hot New Cameras
The annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) Show is an exciting time of year for camera enthusiasts because that's when many new models are introduced. This year's show (March 8-11) was no exception, bringing us a number of exciting new cameras with...
Article: 2024 Editors' Choice Awards
Our annual Editors' Choice Awards is consistently one of the most popular features in PCPhoto, but it's also one of the toughest for us as editors. We cover hundreds of new products each year, and trying to pick just a handful of these for recognition...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Inkjet Papers
The final look of your print has everything to do with the paper you place in your printer. Beyond size, the weight, whiteness and surface of a paper all make a dramatic difference in the appearance of color and tone, especially whites and blacks. By...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Monitor Calibration
If you've ever been frustrated with prints that don't match what you see on your monitor, you understand the importance of color management. Having a calibrated monitor allows you to make changes to an image with confidence because the colors...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Printers
While looking at a photograph on a camera's LCD or a large computer monitor is exciting, neither replaces the satisfaction of holding a quality print. Improvements in the stability of inks have led to inkjet printers producing archival-quality prints...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Speedy, Spacious Storage
Space—the final frontier or a simple necessity? Because digital imaging has picked up speed in the past few years, the need for extensive amounts of digital storage space has intensified. Replacing the temperature-controlled closets that film shooters...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: External Storage And Backup
Recent advancements in storage technology make it easier than ever for photographers to back up and preserve precious image files. The most reliable systems are automated and leave little to chance, but good work habits also play an important role....
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Lighting For Digital Photography And Video
Photography is about painting with light. While available light is often the palette from which most of our photographs are created, there are times when we want much greater control than we can ever have over the sun. Electronic flashes and...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Ultimate Systems
If progress bars and spinning hourglasses are choking the fun out of your digital darkroom work, it may be time to upgrade your system. You can usually get a significant increase in performance by adding more RAM and a faster hard drive, but sometimes...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Digital Camera Accessories
Choosing the right accessories is as important as selecting a camera and lenses. There are so many creative possibilities of which you simply can't take advantage without certain pieces of gear—filters, tripods and unique extras like underwater h...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Cameras
So you're ready for a new D-SLR. There are more choices today than at any time in photography's history. That's the good news. It's also the bad news. How do you choose a camera to fit your needs and budget? When you buy a D-SLR, you're buying a...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Color Management
Without a solid color-management system in place, what you see on screen isn't necessarily what you'll get in the final print. Dry? Technical? Yes, but worth paying attention to if you're looking for vibrant, knockout color every time you print....
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: D-SLRs $1,000 - $2,000
For experienced SLR users who want pro-level controls without a professional price tag, the "sweet-spot" D-SLRs offer the best mix of technology and value. Models in this price range improve upon entry-level models with faster response and burst...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: D-SLRs Over $2,000
If you make your living with your camera or simply want the very best performance and latest technologies, pro models offer uncompromising feature sets and image quality. This also is the range where you'll find "full-frame," 35mm-size sensors,...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: D-SLRs Under $1,000
For first-time D-SLR buyers, the sub-$1,000 category is often the best balance between performance and price. The entry-level segment of the market is highly competitive, with manufacturers vying to bring photographers into their systems. This...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Image Processing Software
Photoshop has become one of those brands, like Coke® or Kleenex®, that's so iconic, it represents a whole category of products. It even has become a verb, as in "to Photoshop" an image. So it may come as a surprise when we say that it mig...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Monitors
Buying a monitor for digital photography is one of the most important decisions to make on the computer side of imaging. While a smaller, basic monitor may be fine for web browsing and e-mail, when it comes to digital photography, a large,...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Must-Have Accessories
Camera bags are especially important as they perform two vital functions, protecting your gear from damage and keeping it all organized. Available in a range of sizes, shapes and styles, there's no perfect bag for everyone, but there's a perfect bag...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Online Sharing & Services
What's the best way to share, print and store your digital images? For millions of photographers—from casual shooters to pros—the answer can be summed up in one word: online. Over the past 10 years, web-based photo services have honed their skills and...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Photo Workstations
With so many factors to weigh, deciding which computer best fits your photographic needs is a challenge. Consider power and expandability first. Dual-core processors now are the standard in today's high-performance notebooks and desktops. With this...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Portable Printers
Making 4x6-inch, photo-quality prints at home and on the go has never been easier. There are several excellent snapshot printers on the market. Most are reasonably priced and easy to use. Many print directly from your camera or memory card, allowing...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Software Plug-Ins
Plug-ins are one of the best tools photographers have in the digital darkroom. They extend the power of our primary photo application-some by adding new functionality and others by making complicated adjustments much faster and more intuitive. There's...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Specialty Papers & Inks
Conventional wisdom says that for the best-looking prints, you should stick with your printer manufacturer's papers and inks. It's not bad advice because their printer-software drivers are fine-tuned for those inks and papers to ensure excellent...
Article: Buyer's Guide 2024: Storage
Every photographer needs a backup strategy. Trust us when we tell you that hard drives fail, and when they do, you'll be really glad you had copies of your photos and other irreplaceable files on multiple drives. External storage solutions like those...
Article: Choosing A Camera For...
We may share a passion for photography, but we don't all shoot the same subjects or like to work in the same way. Camera manufacturers understand this, and as most digital cameras now have ample resolution for excellent output, manufacturers are...
Article: Cool Gear: Bluetooth
In the last issue of PCPhoto, we featured WiFi wireless technology and introduced you to some new cameras that can connect to wireless networks. That universe has since expanded, as Canon recently introduced the PowerShot SD430, a 5-megapixel compact...
Article: Cool Gear: Designer Hard Drives
Mundane tasks like data backup and image archiving aren't as exciting as working with your images on the computer. It may be essential to protect our irreplaceable photos, and the time and creative effort we put into perfecting them, but as I write...
Article: Cool Gear: Fresh Frame-Up
How can you display your favorite digital images and movie clips in any room of your house without being connected to a PC? By using a digital picture frame. These mini-monitors have been around for a while, but recent improvements in...
Article: Cool Gear: iPod And Photography
If you haven't heard of Apple's iPod, you need to get out more. No single product has so dominated popular culture in recent memory like this shiny little icon of the digital lifestyle. What you may not know is that the iPod does more for...
