Jon Sienkiewicz Blog

If you think the name Advanced Rear is a little confusing, wait until you wade through the entire Manfrotto Advanced photo backpack lineup which includes models named Advanced Active, Advanced Travel and my overall personal favorite, the Advanced Gear photo backpack. The good news is that aside from the goofy naming system, I can’t find anything else wrong with them. These are beautifully designed, very well made and look like they’ll last a lifetime. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Depth of Field has a lot in common with gravity. You don’t have to fully understand the physics behind it to make it work for you. Managing depth of field is a critical component of mastering photography. This article should get you well on your way.

What’s normal? Not asking about your weird uncle Walter who puts mayonnaise on his French fries—and his spaghetti. When photography went digital, understanding focal lengths became much more difficult. Let’s unravel a few of the mysteries so that we can make better educated decisions about lenses.

I get ’em. You probably get ’em too. Those feelings of photographic futility when the sky and the ground and your car and your imagination are all the same dim shade of dirty, dingy gray, and there’s really no point to stepping outside to take photographs. How do you beat the bad weather doldrums? Here are a few ideas. 

What’s the difference between water resistant and splashproof? Do weatherproof, waterproof and moisture resistant all mean the same thing? And what the heck does an IP56 rating mean? When it comes to mixing camera equipment with water, what you don’t know can hurt you—and could cost you dearly. 

A selfie stick with a built-in battery pack—why didn’t I think of that? And a 24-hour battery for my GoPro HERO4? Crazy!

You have common sense enough to know that you need a spare battery, high capacity memory cards, USB card reader and, for sure, a subscription to Shutterbug, so we won’t restate the obvious. But there are a few other things you really should have to maximize the fun and function of your new camera.