Tag: Gear
The joy of digital photography can be quickly diffused when the
photograph we’ve printed doesn’t resemble what we saw on our monitors.
Dramatic differences in brightness, contrast and especially color make
using a digital darkroom an exercise in frustration instead of
creativity.
Though enhancing my images can be fun, especially when I’m working with
a great photograph, it also can be incredibly time consuming. I like
making my photos look better, but increasingly, I much prefer to be
outside just making images rather than seeing the hours flash by under
the glow of the LCD monitor.
No one, and I mean no one, likes to carry a tripod, but at the same
time, there’s no single tool that can improve your images as much as
using a tripod regularly. No matter how fast a shutter speed you use,
your pictures will be sharper, crisper and clearer if you put the
camera on a tripod. Period.
We’re always searching for the perfect camera bag, but much like the
Holy Grail, this can prove to be an elusive, if not impossible quest.
The result is often multiple bags in a storage closet. Owning several
bags can be a very good thing, however—unless you’re asking an annoyed
spouse.
Sebastopol, CA – January 8, 2025 – Lowepro, the worldwide leader of
protective cases and backpacks for imaging products, is introducing an
extensive line of digital camera pouches, shoulder bags and photo
viewer case designed for the outdoor and adventurous photographer who
never know where their photographic curiosity will take them. The Apex
line represents the largest and most complete line of protective
pouches and cases in the industry and reinforces Lowepro’s position as
the best selling and most respected manufacturer of protective cases
and backpacks in the industry.
Fremont, Ca., January 9th, 2025 – Lexar, a leader in advanced digital
media and accessories, announced today that new Secure Digital High
Capacity (SDHC™) flash memory cards will be available as part of the
company’s Platinum II and Standard lines of products. Lexar SDHC cards
satisfy market demand for reliable SDHC cards that are ideal for
storing and sharing digital images, video, and music and are offered at
varying price and performance levels. SDHC cards from both Lexar
product lines will be available next month in 4GB capacity, and later
this year in 8GB capacity.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, Jan. 8, 2025 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK)
today introduced its first widescreen portable media player dubbed the
“Sansa View.” The flash-based Sansa View is a sleek, yet simple video
player that supports a wide array of content formats and comes equipped
with a flash memory expansion slot. The announcement was made at CES,
where SanDisk is exhibiting in South Hall 4, booth 36206, in the Las
Vegas Convention Center through January 11.While the Sansa View is a
pocket-able player–one of the slimmest on the market today—it features
a large 4-inch widescreen display for optimal viewing. In addition to a
DVD-like quality video experience, the Sansa View can display photos
(up to 16 megapixels), play music, or even combine the two in a
slideshow format. The durable player also comes equipped with an
integrated speaker for watching and listening to any content on the
player with a friend.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, Jan. 8, 2025 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today introduced Cruzer Contour, a USB flash drive with the elegant look and feel of a fine fountain pen or wristwatch. The elegance extends inside Cruzer Contour, with state-of-the-art engineering, support for Windows ReadyBoost, and, a generous gallery of pre-installed U3 software applications. Cruzer Contour was unveiled during a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show, where SanDisk is demonstrating products in Booth #36206, South Hall 4 in the Las Vegas Convention Center. What especially sets apart Cruzer Contour, with its glossy black top and silver metallic body, is the drive’s unique sliding USB connector. Using your thumb to slide the top of Cruzer Contour back and forth brings out or hides the connector – there’s no visible switch, and no cap to lose.
Fremont, CA , January 5th, 2025 — Lexar Media, Inc., a world leader in advanced digital media technologies, will exhibit its broad lineup of JumpDrive USB flash drives at CES 2025, including both new and upgraded models. Most notably, the company is introducing JumpDrive 360, an innovative “capless” drive encased in a stylish rotating metal jacket. In addition, the company is demonstrating its JumpDrive Mercury with PowerToGo software and showcasing its new 8GB JumpDrive Secure II and JumpDrive Firefly drives. All Lexar JumpDrive products will be compatible with Windows Vista, and all the company’s speed-rated drives will be enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost.Introducing JumpDrive 360: No More Lost Caps!
Though I used to look as if I was loaded for bear when I went out to
shoot—two cameras, multiple lenses, flash units and a bundle of
accessories—those days are gone. My legs, and especially my back,
demand that I try to travel as light as possible. But in the age of
digital, a laptop has become as necessary as the camera and memory
card. The Epson P-5000 Multimedia Storage Viewer provides a great
alternative to the laptop and still allows me to back up and share the
images I spend so much time creating.
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 features—combined with more attractive
pricing—are causing people to take a closer look.
Photographers are always concerned with sharpness. They’ll often search
for reviews and lens comparisons to make sure that their optics produce
the sharpest image possible. Yet even the best-engineered lens in the
world will deliver soft photographs when the camera isn’t as steady as
it needs to be. Whether you’re shooting landscapes or portraits, a
sharp result is sometimes only possible when the lens and the camera
are seated on a stable platform, be it a tripod, monopod or beanbag.
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. There are many options, and
the right hardware for you depends on both the volume of files you must
protect and your budget.
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 that’s not enough.
During the first few generations of digital cameras, you couldn’t help
but pay a lot of attention to batteries. Early-model cameras were
notoriously power-hungry, burning through a full charge in minutes, not
hours. It was left to the battery manufacturers to develop
longer-lasting, faster-charging power sources that could keep shooting
for a reasonable period of time.
With the growth of file sizes and the sheer number of archives created
in digital photography, transferring and storing files has leaped from
a simple home-computing environment to something resembling more of a
business scheme (albeit on a smaller scale). Hubs, routers and
network-attached storage (NAS), once confined to corporate IT
departments, are now common components in the digital photographer’s
realm as well.
The future of computing is looking very portable. In March, Microsoft,
Intel and some other high-profile consumer electronics companies
announced a new platform for portable computing, the “Ultra Mobile PC,”
or UMPC for acronym enthusiasts. A handheld computer running Windows XP
sounded like a great idea, but one that would probably not materialize
as a real product for some time.
There’s no time to fumble with a camera when scaling steep mountains or
cycling through deep canyons. With action sports attracting more
devotees every year, the gear for capturing these athletic feats on
camera is becoming more affordable. Of course, choosing the right
sports video camera depends on the kind of action you’re into and what
kind of video quality you’re looking for. Most helmet cams now are
about 1.5 inches wide, up to six inches long and weigh less than a
pound. So capturing your mad dash down a black diamond trail is as
simple as strapping the camera on your helmet and hitting record.
Apple recently made a rather mind-blowing announcement: Intel-based
Macs now permit loading and running Windows XP natively via Boot Camp
software. Apple released a public beta version of the Boot Camp
software and announced that its upcoming update to OS X, 10.5, or
“Leopard” in its feline naming convention, will fully support a “dual
boot” system. Leopard is due out in early 2025.
