Photo Accessory Reviews

When most photographers think of macro photography the first things that comes to mind are the balmy days of spring, and the warmth of summer. During those times interesting subjects abound, from budding plants and blooming flowers to colorful insects and other creepy-crawlies just about everywhere you look.

You’ve probably seen dramatic waterdrop images like this one and sensibly assumed that it took years of experience and thousands of dollars in equipment to get similar results. Frequent Shutterbug Photo of the Day contributor and long-time photography professional Jeff Van Scoyk introduced us to the Miops Splash, the $150 photo accessory for controllable waterdrop photography.

Here are the rules: every item described herein is small enough to fit inside a reasonably normal stocking and each is something that every photographer will appreciate. Price was not part of the selection process, nor was foot size.

The creative young people at PGYTECH have been at it again, producing new accessories and improving existing products. As an enthusiastic group of photographers and drone pilots, they understand user needs and design gear with practical application in mind. Here’s the rundown on their most recent creations and look at an old favorite.

Apple’s latest generation MacBook Pro computers come in three screen sizes and with two basic configurations, the 13” with an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor paired with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, and the 15” and 17” with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor and Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

There are several ways to trigger a camera wirelessly but up until recently none of them conveniently gave Nikon D600 shooters a large-screen remote live view. Enter the Nikon WU-1b Wireless Mobile Adapter that operates with “smart” devices—namely iOS and Android tablets and phones, in conjunction with the Nikon Wireless Mobile Adapter Utility app. The device is a tiny Wi-Fi 11b/g/n dongle about the size of the tip of your thumb and connects to the camera’s USB port. It even comes with a short lanyard and protective case, so you can keep it attached to the camera strap. I tested it with a third-generation Apple iPad with Retina display. Read on, as you’ll find important tips here that are not found in the instructions. (Note: WU-1b also works with the Nikon 1 V2; model WU-1a is currently available for the Nikon D3200.)

I realized the importance of taking location notes years back when preparing a large selection of slides for a stock agency. I was going through my “Italy” file and began to segregate out images of church interiors. Spectacular and, at the time I shot them, unforgettable locales quickly turned into a confusion of altars, statues, and naves, most of which I couldn’t honestly...