What's New And Notable In Photography
And Computers
Cool
Lighting Argraph’s Samigon FL-360 Light Kit is
an easy-to-use, affordable constant daylight light source,
balanced at 5,000 Kelvin. Three fluorescent lamps in a 16-inch
reflector produce a cool, soft effect perfect for portraits
or product photography. The kit comes with a light stand, a
translucent diffuser and a carrying case. List Price: $249. Contact: Argraph,
(800) 526-6290, www.argraph.com.
Portable Photo Lab Epson’s new PictureMate Deluxe photo printer is a mini
photo lab you can travel with. Printing high-quality 4x6 photos
in just 75 seconds, the PictureMate Deluxe also features a
high-resolution 2.4-inch color LCD with tilt adjustments for
easy viewing and selecting the images you want to print. Controls
allow you to adjust sharpness, saturation, brightness and cropping.
Go wireless with an optional internal battery. List Price:
$249. Contact: Epson, (800) GO-EPSON, www.epson.com.
Deluxe Compression
Save hard drive space or e-mail more files at once with Allume’s
StuffIt Deluxe 9.0. The new version compresses JPEG photos
up to 30 percent with no loss of image quality, letting you
store and transfer more data safely. StuffIt Deluxe 9.0 includes
ZipFolders, a feature that recognizes and opens Zip archives
as if they were regular Windows folders without having to decompress
them. A version for Mac also is available. List Price: $39
(Windows); $69 (Mac). Contact: Allume Systems, (888) 245-1723,
www.allume.com.
Ultra-Fast Charge
Impatience has been rewarded with Sakar’s 8.5-minute
Supersonic Charger. New RD4 technology accelerates charging
by enabling batteries to withstand high current levels, allowing
Sakar’s special NiMH batteries to power up in only 8.5
minutes. List Price: $59.99 (charger); $9.99 (two-pack AA batteries).
Contact: Sakar, (877) 397-8200, www.sakar.com.
Digital Photo Album
Preserve your precious memories in a photo album—a digital
album, that is. With E-Book Systems’ FlipAlbum 6 Suite,
you can create an intuitive, 3-D, page-flipping album complete
with music, text, video and themed layouts, which then can
be burned onto CD or DVD. New features include MPEG-2 video
formatting, font embedding and GIF format support. Use the
Pro version to share your portfolio with clients and add image
encryption, watermarks, print locks and passwords. List Price:
$69 (Standard); $159 (Pro). Contact: E-Book Systems, (866)
532-8080, www.flipalbum.com.
Trigger Happy
Easily angle your camera in any direction with the Slik
AF-1100 Trigger-Action Digital Ball Head. At 16.2 ounces, the AF-1100
is a lightweight version of its predecessor (the AF-2100),
capable of supporting a 6.6-pound load. The patented trigger-handle
design lets you smoothly move and position your camera
with convenience and ease by simply squeezing and releasing
the handle. List Price: $129. Contact: THK Photo Products,
(800) 421-1141, www.thkphoto.com.
Hard
Copy
Photographic Lighting:
Essential Skills by John
Child and Mark Galer (Focal Press, 2005; ISBN: 0-240-51964-7).
Make better exposures with techniques and tips for working with
natural, ambient and strobe light.
A Comprehensive Guide to Digital
Black & White Photography by John Clements (AVA Publishing, 2005; ISBN: 2-88479-056-X). What
you need to know, from digital capture and editing through the
final print, to enhance your black-and-white images.
Painter IX Creativity: Digital Artist’s
Handbook by Jeremy
Sutton (Focal Press, 2005; ISBN: 0-240-80669-7, ISBN: 0-240-80676-X
[CD-ROM]). An easy-to-follow, step-by-step CD-ROM tutorial accompanies
hands-on instructions to turn your pictures into paintings using
Corel Painter IX software.
The Art of Photoshop by Daniel Giordan (Sams Publishing, 2003;
ISBN: 0-672-32270-6). Concepts on mood, color and elemental arrangements
are discussed with detailed instructions and illustrations to help
you understand and implement useful Photoshop tools to artistically
create digital images.
Fun with Photoshop Elements 3: Foto-Fakery for Everyone by Rhoda
Grossman (Sams Publishing, 2005; ISBN: 0-672-32730-9). Have a great
time manipulating images in outrageous ways. This guide shows you
fun, useful techniques while teaching you valuable Elements tools.
Sleek, Sophisticated Compact Camera
The Fujifilm FinePix Z1 not only looks cool, but also features
a 2.5-inch LCD for easy viewing, a 5-megapixel sensor and Real
Photo Technology that allows you to photograph subjects in
low-light situations with reduced blur from camera shake. About
the size of a deck of cards, there’s a 3x optical zoom
lens tucked inside its thin metallic body, which is offered
in either black or brushed silver. List Price: $399. Contact: Fujifilm, (800) 800-FUJI, www.fujifilm.com.
Drag, Drop And Burn Ulead’s DVD MovieFactory 4 Disc Creator enables you to
transform your videos and photos into DVD movies and slideshows
with a professional-looking menu. The intuitive interface has
new desktop icons that quickly let you burn and sync digital
media by simply dragging and dropping files to task icons without
having to fully launch the software. The software also features
a variety of image-optimizing effects and DVD menu customization
capabilities. List Price: $99. Contact: Ulead Systems, (800)
85-ULEAD, www.ulead.com.
Palm-Sized Projector
Presentations on the fly are possible with Mitsubishi
Digital Electronics’ PocketProjector and PocketProjector
SD.
Weighing about 14 ounces each, these tiny projectors fit
in the palm of your hand, feature an SVGA resolution (800
x 600 pixels) and magnify a 20-inch image from a foot away
and a 40-inch image from three feet away. You can power up
the projector via battery or car adapter and display images
from your computer or DVD player. The SD version includes
an SD memory card slot so you can view files without an external
input. List Price: $799 (PocketProjector); $899 (PocketProjector
SD). Contact: Mitsubishi
Digital Electronics, (888) 307-0312, www.mitsubishi-projectors.com.
Panacea For Your Panoramas
Ensure your panoramas stitch perfectly with Nodal
Ninja’s
Panoramic Tripod Head. It attaches to the top of your tripod
and allows you to rotate the camera around its nodal point,
producing aligned images for better stitching. List Price:
$119. Contact: Nodal Ninja, www.nodalninja.com.
Big-LCD Compact
Camera
You won’t miss a shot with the Casio Exilim
EX-Z57 Zoom’s fast startup time of 1.6 seconds and shutter lag of
just 0.01 seconds. This slender, 5-megapixel compact camera has an optical 3x
zoom lens and features a large, 2.7-inch LCD screen for easy viewing and editing
of your images. The Exilim EX-Z57 is compatible with PictBridge printers and
has an extra-long battery life that enables you to capture up to 400 images on
a single charge. List Price: $399. Contact: Casio,
(800) 435-7732, www.casio.com.
Hip Camera Pack
Take the load off of your shoulders with the Mountainsmith
Aurora Small Lumbar Pack. At 6.5x6.5x4 inches, the Aurora can
fit an SLR and a small lens in the main pouch, with extra room
to organize your memory cards and other accessories in the
side and interior pockets. The top zips open to allow easy
access to your gear, and the adjustable dividers provide neat
organization. Additional features include a removable padded
shoulder strap and “strapette” chest harness for
frontal carrying. List Price: $59. Contact: Mountainsmith,
(800) 551-5889, www.mountainsmith.com.
Storage With A View
Available in 40 or 80 GB capacities, SmartDisk’s FlashTrax
XT is an external hard drive for storage and data backup from
camera media, but adds a large 3.6-inch LCD screen that lets
you edit and watch slideshows of your photos. It features fast
connectivity with transfer speeds of up to 480 MB/sec. and
a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. List Price: $399 (40 GB);
$499 (80 GB). Contact: SmartDisk, (239) 425-4000, www.smartdisk.com.
High-Capacity Storage Solution
Save up to 400 GB of photos and data on Kanguru’s QuickSilver
external hard drive. Available in 2.5- and 3.5-inch sizes,
with a choice of USB 2.0 or FireWire/USB 2.0 combo connectivity,
the QuickSilver offers high-speed data transfer in a new exterior
alloy case that disperses heat during prolonged use. The plug-and-play
device can withstand up to 200 G’s of shock and is designed
to lay horizontally or stand vertically to save space. List
Price: $119 to $409 (depending on capacity). Contact: Kanguru
Solutions,
(888) KANGURU, www.kanguru.com.
Light Bright
Use the Samigon Digital Bare Bulb
Slave Flash to creatively
add depth or backlighting to your images. The flash screws
into a standard light socket and is triggered by your on-camera
flash or strobe. The slave flash has a sensitive receptor
that can detect the master flash from 50 feet away and won’t
be triggered by pre-flashes. With an output of 60 watts per
second, it recycles in two seconds, and a built-in reflector
allows you to change the illumination patterns to 45, 180
and 310 degrees. List Price: $69. Contact: Argraph, (800)
526-6290, www.argraph.com.
Multi-Type Memory Card Reader
Shoot with multiple types of memory cards? You’ll only
need one card reader with Atech’s PRO-Gear XP-14. The
XP-14 supports 14 different memory devices, ensuring flexible
and convenient data transport. Access files from four different
media cards at the same time and transfer files directly between
them at a rate of 480 MB/sec. List Price: $34. Contact: Atech
Flash Technology, (510) 824-6868, www.atechflash.com.
Affordable Strobes
Perfect as a beginner’s strobe, a backup light or for
the photographer on a budget, the Flashpoint
DigiPopper 300-Watt Compact Monolight offers an easy and affordable way of shooting
quality portraits. Full-, half- and quarter-power settings
allow you to control the output, and a built-in slave lets
you sync with other strobes. When packed in a sturdy case,
the lights are rugged enough for location shooting and weigh
only 1.5 pounds. List Price: $169. Contact: Adorama, (800)
223-2500, www.adorama.com.
Soft Spot
Soften harsh shadows and reduce hot spots with the LumiQuest
Soft Screen. Simply place the flash diffuser with Velcro
over your camera’s pop-up flash and the screen will
help spread the light so it falls more evenly on your subject.
This useful little tool comes off easily and stores flat
in an included envelope. List Price: $12. Contact: LumiQuest,
(830) 438-4646, www.lumiquest.com.
Digitally Optimized
Telephoto Lens
Get massive zoom range with Sigma’s new 50-500mm ƒ/4-6.3
EX DG/HSM Ultra Telephoto Zoom lens. Optimized for digital shooting, optical
coating minimizes flare and ghosting, while four special low-dispersion glass
elements help minimize aberrations and produce optimum color fidelity. The lens
also features a quiet high-speed AF function and a rear-focusing mechanism that
prevents polarizers and enhancing filters from shifting position. List Price:
$1,390. Contact: Sigma, (800) 896-6858, www.sigma-photo.com.
High School Photography Scholarship
Every year, the North American Nature Photography Association
selects 10 high school students to attend the annual NANPA
summit. The NANPA High School
Scholarship Program recipients
participate in field workshops and receive photographic instruction
from a variety of highly skilled and well-known nature photographers
and publishing professionals. Photography equipment and computers
are provided for classroom instruction and photographic assignments.
The students’ work is presented at a banquet on the
final evening. Application and deadline information for 2006
is available at the NANPA Website, www.nanpa.org/scholarships.html.
