dSLR Dad

I never used to worry much about my Canon 20D’s LCD screen.  It was only 1.8-inches and had plenty of camera body wrapped around it.  Now, with most dSLR screens taking up more than half of the back of the camera, keeping that LCD clear is becoming more of a concern.  There are many solutions on the market, but most involve a thick additional piece than usually just ends up getting in the way.  The best solution I have found for protecting that big piece of glass on the back of your camera is the invisibleSHIELD by ZAGG .

ZAGG’s invisibleSHIELD is a thin polyurethane film originally created for the military to protect the leading edge of helicopter blades that is highly resistant to scratching.  The results can be seen in this comparison video (more…)

Popularity: 2% [?]

‘It’s time for the Holidays, and that means taking batches and batches of photographs on your new Canon Rebel XSi or Nikon D90. As a dSLR Dad, you’re constantly chasing around your little photo models and snapping as many shots as you can.  Or, if you have the Nikon D90, then you’re probably shooting a bunch of HD video clips.  Either way, you want to keep your dSLR’s image buffer as empty as possible, so you want to write those images to your card as fast as you can.  But if your dSLR Camera takes an SDHC memory card, which one should you choose? Does it really matter?

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Hey, it’s that time of the year, right? This is the perfect gift for a dSLR Dad to give. It’s what your significant other wants and it’s a new piece of camera gear. Jill-e designs is a new start-up company that offers high quality, stylish, weatherproof camera bags for professional women photographers. They come in multiple sizes, materials (suede anyone?), and colors. You can check them out here.

Popularity: 10% [?]

I have been tracking the progress of RadioPopper since I first heard about them six months ago. Unfortunately, I have not felt like they deserved a mention on dSLR Dad, until now.

RadioPopper is a new stratup company that is on a mission to provide a range of radio flash triggering solutions for dSLR Dads. What you see to the left is a preproduction prototype of the P1 system. The RadioPoppper P1 is a long range, remote trigger radio solution that also transmits the infrared signal.

• Attaches externally to your existing flash units
• No drilling, modifications, electrical contacts, or cords required
• RadioPopper Transmitter “sees” the infrared light signal and relays it by radio signal
• RadioPopper Receiver “repeats” the infrared signal for each slave flash
• Your flashes no longer require a “line of sight” for proper operation
• Put slave flashes anywhere within 500 ft and shoot - they’ll fire every time.

That sounds like a really great product, but it’s way more than what a dSLR Dad needs. What is even more exciting is the RadioPopper Jr. Expected in Mid-2008, the RadioPopper Jr. is their simple, low cost radio triggering solution for standard photo lights. And by low cost, they really mean low cost — just $25 per receiver/transceiver. (more…)

Popularity: 11% [?]

Pro photographer Chase Jarvis has posted a great videos on how to pack your dLSR gear for travel. The following is Chase Jarvis TECH: Packing Photography Gear (Basic):

It runs 10 minutes and is a trimmed version of the Advanced version.You can check out more of Chase on his blog.

Popularity: 7% [?]

ColorVision has updated their Spyder3 line of color management devices with the release of the SPYDER3PRO and the SPYDER3Print. The SPYDER3PRO Colorimeter is designed to deliver more precise control over white point and gamma, and has easy-to-use features including a new Display Assistant that stores and easily retrieves all user device-specific information on each display to save time during recalibration.

The SPYDER3Print enables photographers to output gallery-quality color or black and white prints and makes storing and creating profiles easy through its simple wizard-driven program. This way, you can create your own profiles (which normally cost $100 each) for a multitude of papers with greater control. This way, you could use Epson’s Exhibition Fiber Paper on the Canon Imageprograf IPF5000 Printer (Which, by-the-way, is a now available at a $1100 discount).

A Comparison Chart of all four of the Spyder 3 products (more…)

Popularity: 11% [?]

ThinkTank Photo, maker’s of some of the best camera bags out there (see the dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide), is offering a coupon for a free gift with any total purchase over $100. The offer ends December 31, 2007. You can download the coupon here.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Really Right Suff has introduced Body Armor for Canon G7 & G9. This protective cover slips over the camera and snap-fits into your Really Right Stuff L-plate. This industry-first cover is machined from a solid block of aluminum to produce the world’s best body armor for your camera. The finished cover weighs only 3 ounces and can be used to protect your camera and as a camera support when your tripod is not at hand! When your camera is around your neck and out for use, simply snap-fit the cover to the bottom of the L-plate to keep it handy but out of the way.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

The following is part nine of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

I have tried a lot of different sensor cleaning products over the last year (never change your lenses at the beach, change them in your car). Visible Dust is the company that makes absolutely superior products. They are so good, whenever I went to my local camera shops, they all told me that while they could sell me some pad or swab, but they all used something from Visible Dust.

There are three steps to dust free images 1) Check 2) Dry Clean 3) Wet Clean. The Visible Dust 3 Step Dust Free 724 DSLR Sensor Cleaning Kit has (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]

The following is part eight of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Everybody wants to try Macro photography, but not everyone can purchase a separate macro lens. Especially if you’re new to macro photography and are not sure exactly what you would need. Well here is the perfect solution, the Canon 500D Close Up Lens(77mm at Amazon or B&H Photo). This is a two-element, precision optic that screws on to the front of your lens like a typical filter. It then reduces your lens’ focal length, so you can get close to your subject and fill the frame. It’s so good that I know Nikon professionals who swear by it. (more…)

Popularity: 9% [?]

The following is part seven of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

If you’re not looking for a new bag, how about a great accessory that anyone can use, the Pee Wee Pixel Pocket Rocket from Think Tank Photo. It stores four Compact Flash cards and three Secure Digital cards in an even smaller, more compact package. Can be attached inside of Think Tank Photo products or to your clothing.  That way, it just doesn’t fall out of your pocket, lost forever.  It can also hold business cards in the front face.  Available for just $13.50. Note, the slightly larger Pixel Pocket Rocket comes standard with quite a few bags (including the one I bought).

Popularity: 11% [?]

The following is part Six of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Think Tank Photo is a company that has burst onto the scene and come out with products that meet the needs of both professional and serious dSLR Dad’s alike. They carry any number of shoulder or belt bags, rugged airport carry-on, or their fantastic modular system. You can download a copy of their catalog (more…)

Popularity: 13% [?]

The following is part five of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything from Really Right Stuff. But their new BH-40 Ballhead is that piece of equipment that makes you question why you struggled for so long with that other inferior tripod head you had. It is their mid-sized ballhead and is perfect for popular light to mid-sized gear such as 70-200mm/f2.8 and 300mm/f4 lenses. This ballhead is load-rated at 18-pounds but weighs only 13-ounces.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

The following is part four of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

The Hoodman Professional LCD Screen Loupe is something that every dSLR Dad would love to have and would use every time they were outdoors. But since it’s $70, it also is something they would never buy for themselves. I know it seems a tad pricey, but that’s what makes it a great gift. Go ahead, see how much they smile when they open this box.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The following is part three of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Give them the Gift of More Pictures

A gift that all dSLR Dad’s could use, more memory cards. But the key to this gift is it can’t just be any old memory card. The key for a dSLR Dad is speed and reliability. The quicker the card, the quicker the camera can write to the card. This means you will actually be able to use the high frame rate (fps) more often, with less delay in between bursts. You will also be able to download to the computer 2 to 3 times faster. Which is a big deal when a fast 4GB flash card can still take 3-5 minutes to download.

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Popularity: 5% [?]