Photo Accessory News

Like most photographers I occasionally become equipment obsessed, but sometimes even the smallest tool, something as simple and useful as a new LensPen, can make creating new images a little easier. I’ve often said that the most important piece of equipment is the one between a photographer’s ears, but creating images also requires tools. Choosing the right tool or accessory may not make the difference between a good photograph and a bad one, but may make the difference in whether or not you even try to capture it.

WD has just introduced the new My Passport Wireless, a Wi-Fi-connected external hard drive that lets photographers save and access their photos on the go via their laptops, tablets, or smartphones without needing to bring along a tangle of cords. If you want to transfer larger amounts of image data, My Passport Wireless also has a high speed USB 3.0 connection.WD has just introduced the new My Passport Wireless, a Wi-Fi-connected external hard drive that lets photographers save and access their photos on the go via their laptops, tablets, or smartphones without needing to bring along a tangle of cords. If you want to transfer larger amounts of image data, My Passport Wireless also has a high speed USB 3.0 connection.

The most important tip I would like to share about travel photography is never buy a new camera or lens before traveling to Bhutan or even Carhenge. The next most essential travel photography secret is that using your equipment has to be instinctive; when a photo op presents itself you may only have a few seconds to get a shot. There’s no time to think about what menu to use or how to turn on continuous AF, or what exposure mode you’re in. Using your camera has to be instinctive; you should see—or even anticipate—then click the shutter. It’ll make travel more fun, too.

Among our favorite portable hard drives for backing up photos on the road are the sleek and mobile My Passport line from WD. To celebrate the 10^th anniversary of these little drives, WD just unveiled the My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition and the My Passport Ultra Anniversary Edition drives, which feature new designs in different colors.

Manfrotto Distribution recently introduced the latest addition to Lastolite’s popular line of photography products: Out of Focus Backgrounds. So, in other words, you don’t need to shoot wide open with a fast aperture lens to create a blurred bokeh background look when shooting portraits. Just stand your subject in front of a Lastolite Out of Focus Background and shoot.

Tamron recently added the SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD (A011 for Nikon mount) and the 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD macro (B016 for Canon and Nikon mount) to the lens profile for aberration correction offered for Adobe’s Photoshop CC, Camera Raw and Lightroom 5. The lens profile will be bundled with the Camera Raw 8.5 update and Lightroom 5.5. Customers who use these lenses will be able to utilize the software for easy correction of lens distortion, chromatic aberration and peripheral light fall-off based on design data.

Nikon COOLPIX L830
The COOLPIX L830 is an ergonomically designed high-ratio zoom camera with a 3” high-resolution tilt LCD monitor. It features a 34x optical zoom range plus a 68x Dynamic Fine Zoom (an enhanced type of digital zoom) range and a 16MP backside illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor. It records Full HD (1080p) video, even in low light, and reduces the danger of camera shake with the aid of the Lens-shift Vibration Reduction (VR) system. The L830 model’s intelligent features include Easy Auto mode and Smart Portrait System as well as 18 Scene modes and a selection of special effects. The model is available in black and red and has a retail price of $299.95.