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This week's column addresses
the digital photographer's spouse, significant whatever, loved
one and person with a worried frown on his or her face. It's the
annual Planet Photoshop Holiday Gift List for Digital
Photographers.
There's not a single digital
camera on the list, as I feel that buying a digital camera for
someone else is a dangerous business.
And we're suggesting items
for every budget, but many under $100. So here we go.
1. Lens Cleaning Cloth, around $5. This sounds
like a cheapskate's cop-out but digital cameras have as much and
even more glass surface as 35mm boxes. The QuantaRay Opti-Cloth
from Ritz Camera is a handy item to have in a gadget bag.
www.ritzcamera.com
2. Flash Card Cases, $6.95. Last year I
mentioned the SanDisk CF Wallet for about $10. This year, Hakuba
has a six-pocket Flash Card Wallet for even less, with mesh
pockets and Velcro closures. B&H Photo in New York (www.bhphotovideo.com).
3. Tabletop Tripods, from $6.95. B&H Photo
features the Canon Mini Tripod 4 for just $6.95. This little
dude folds flat and supports you digital camera on any flat
surface. The Canon tripod is just one of five or six dozen
featured on the B&H site.
4. Camera Bags, from $19.95. Go to B&H Photo (www.bhphotovideo.com)
and click on camera bags. Gadget bags run from under $20 to
several hundred. Let me tell you, this is a risky purchase as
photographers have specific ideas about what they want. Velcro
versus zippers, etc. But if you have a good idea of what your
photographer wants, B&H is the place.
5. Nikon Coolpack, $89.95. B&H is selling this
handsome gadget back plus four 28mm filters (for the 900
series), plus four NiMH batteries and a five-hour charger at $20
off. The bag is tan and it looks like it's being replaced by a
black model.
6. Cullman CU1002 Compact Tripod, $52.50. This
is MY tripod and a must for every traveling digital
photographer. I was tickled to find this on the B&H site under
tabletop tripods as I thought it had been discontinued. While it
is technically a tabletop, its legs and center column extend to
a maximum height of 32 inches. The ballhead is included and the
whole works weighs just 19 ounces.
7. Flash Cards. Compact Flash, SmartMedia, Sony
Memory Sticks, are all film for the digital photographer's
camera. They can be purchased from nearly all camera stores and
computer stores. I would recommend not buying anything smaller
than 32mb. For instance, a SanDisk 128mb CompactFlash card is
now selling online at B&H for $69.95
8. SIMA Image Bank, $279. Small portable hard
drives for uploading digital images have proliferated in the
past year. My favorite is the Image Bank, a 3.2 gigabyte hard
disk tailored for accepting data from CF and SM cards (a slot
for each). Best of all, it's powered by six AA batteries so you
will never have to recharge or run out of power. (www.bhphotovideo.com)
9. OPT-X Viewers, from around $115. The OPT-X is
a simple bellows with focusing eyepiece that shades and
magnifies your camera's LCD. The Pro model includes a tripod
mount screw drilled and tapped so that the rig can be used on a
tripod. The OPT-X is a first-class accessory for Nikon 900
series, Olympus 2030-3040, Canon G-2, Kodak 4800 and Sony 75. In
addition, Bob Schwartzman says he can build an OPT-X for any
digital camera, providing the owner will ship him the camera for
a few days. (http://www.opt-x.com)
10: Ilford Inkjet Paper, Gloss and Pearl.
Ilford, long famous for its fine photographic printing papers,
now offers a new line of inkjet stocks. Ilford Gallerie Classic
Gloss & Classic Pearl are heavyweight, archival sheets with an
extremely high degree of whiteness. The print beautifully on my
Epson 2000. At $50 per 100 sheets (letter size), they beat the
price of many manufacturer's proprietary sheets. (http://www.ilford.com)
11: Batteries And Chargers: NiMH and L-Ion are
familiar terms to power-hungry digital photographers. They're
rechargeable batteries and there's no better place to acquire
them (and chargers) than Thomas Distributing. For instance,
1700maha Powerex NiMH batteries are $13.79 a four-pack.
Furthermore, you can get four batteries and a charger for
$33.95.
www.thomasdistributing.com |