Have you ever had to take pictures of something you were selling on eBay, but you kept getting a horrible glare from the flash  I have had this happen many a time, and I have even had to struggle with this when taking pictures of things I review.  Well, I will struggle no more now that I have the Digital Concepts Lighting Studio, sent to me from Sakar International.

As you can see by the picture, this is the smaller version of the studio suitable for taking pictures of smaller things like iPods, LED Headlights and Watches.  Continue Reading

Every now and again, the GearDiary team gets a press release that leads to a round of “No way that’ll ever work!” emails being tossed around our “reply all” circle. Then invariably, I’ll be the one to volunteer to try it. Maybe it’s just the dreamer in me. My little world is full of butterflies and unicorns, too.

And it takes a dreamer to believe in a product like a telescope adapter for an iPhone. Especially when you read the claims on the website of its features:

- makes the super wide angel
- the larger luminous flux
- the higher visual acuteness
- good for color reduction
- detachable from the crystal case
- 6X optical Zooming

Now I don’t know if it makes angels wider or reduces color, and I’m pretty sure I don’t know what luminous flux is, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if the darned thing doesn’t work!

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I think every family must have a hobby which all (or at least most) members of the family enjoy.  Such common interests are what tie them together (and gives you something to talk about at family picnics).  For my family, growing up, that common interest was photography.  We all played around with both video and still photos, but the true love was probably still photos.  Back then, we used to devise intricate plans for turning the basement into a darkroom (we never did).

Of course, that love of photography has carried me into the digital world, where I am happy to have a very nice digital darkroom on my laptop.  I have all of the tools I need, and the smell is much nicer than all of those chemicals you used to require.

Sadly, I have not been able to get a fancy DSLR camera, like the one my brother has, but then again, when you are shooting fast-moving children who do not understand the meaning of the words, “sit still,” a point and shoot camera is probably best.  As such, I was extremely intrigued when I read an advertisement for the new line of Nikon Coolpix cameras.  My first digital camera, which my Dad gave me when my oldest son was born, was a 2 megapixel Nikon Coolpix.  I have had other cameras since then, but I have to admit that I was extremely excited to attempts a return to the Coolpix line.  Thankfully, Nikon agreed to loan me the Nikon Coolpix S600, their newly released ten megapixel point and shoot camera with an advertised, fastest power up time of any camera in its class.  A bold statement, which we will be putting to the test, along with all of the features of the new Coolpix from Nikon.  Hit the jump and, please, keep your arms and legs inside the review at all times.

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Last month Alison wrote asking about laptop bags which could also hold a DSLR with accessories for her upcoming trip, and one of the first things I said in my reply was that most of the ones I had seen were a bit drab, especially considering how much I know she loves color. See, that’s the thing about Alison - she and I will ooh and ahh over purses and laptop bags together, but invariably I will find myself contemplating the brown ones, whereas she will be drawn to the purple or aqua ones; that girl loves color!

So back to my story. The next morning, after doing a bit more research, Alison sent me a link to the Crumpler Europe site where she had found a bag that we both immediately began to salivate over: the Crumpler Limited Leather Daily. Available in black & dark gray, dark brown & dark orange, dark red & white…and the magnificent combo of off white & dark green, the Limited Leather Daily is a big, bold bag. Needless to say, we both wanted one; Alison made me promise that if I got one it wouldn’t be a brown one - even though I thought the dark brown & dark orange one looked pretty good.

The Limited Leather Daily is not available on the US Crumpler site (which is why I didn’t even know it existed), and the price displayed on the European site was a little bit distressing considering that the British Pound is basically worth twice an American Dollar. That Alison is a crafty woman however, she started bargain hunting and found them on another UK site for substantially less with free shipping (UK only). Even after paying for shipping from Alison to me, I got off for less than the listed retail. After impatiently waiting for what seemed like forever (but was really only a couple of weeks), my off white & dark green Limited Leather Daily arrived.

Gorgeous, isn’t it?

Instead of the rubber Crumpler logo which we have all come to expect, this limited edition has a shiny metal badge.

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Is it ever possible to be too obsessive about backing up your data? I’ve learned not to think so. Need I remind anyone of the events of March 1? Yeah, I thought not.

Since the crash I have learned exactly how obsessive some people can be when it comes to their backup methods. For instance, many of you read the transcripts - perhaps with some amusement - where Ewdi told me his method:

Here is what gives me piece of mind on our network: I use two hard drives, 1 is main and 1 is mirroring (in case 1 hdd dies, the server is still on) using raid. I have auto rsync backup to tapes weekly, I have auto iscsi backup to nas daily, and each month I back up the sites to my local hard drive - of which I keep 1 at home and 1 in a safety deposit box in my bank

My formerly sporadic method of backing things up once in a while just to be “extra safe” has quickly evolved into one that some might find redundant and more than a bit obsessive, but those who have suffered their own devastating data losses will understand. Whether it be your website, treasured family photos, or your entire MP3 music catalog, data is precious; just how precious is not usually known until it is gone.

So how can you make sure that your data is protected and backups are done in a timely manner? How can you ensure that your data will be still be around when - not if - disaster strikes? One of the tools I am using is the SimpleTech Signature Mini USB 2.0 Portable Drive.

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Got a Canon point-and-shoot? If the answer’s yes, you might have a more powerful camera on your hands than you realise. Wired How-To Wiki has a great article today on how to apply custom firmware on a Canon camera to super-charge its capabilities. The Canon Hacker’s Development Kit (CHDK) can add new features to your camera - like adding the RAW file format and the ability to run scripted actions - as well as enhancing the existing hardware (such as boosting shutter speed from 1/1,600 to 1/60,000 of a second).

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I just missed posting this review in time for Texas’ Spring Break, but it should still be timely for everyone who plans on traveling this summer. I’ll warn you now though, in order to use this product you’ll need to give up one of your vehicle’s cup-holders.

Why would I ask for something so uncivilized?

Because by giving up a cup-holder you might just gain the means to charge up to three devices at the same time, all from a single cigar lighter or power port.

Intrigued? I was, which is how I came to be in possession of the Targus 100W Auto Power Inverter.

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Most of the photography bags I have reviewed in the past have been very functional, but they also…hmm, how can I say this? They looked like casual bags which were camouflaging the fact that they could safely hold many thousands of dollars in equipment — which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I didn’t feel that any of them exactly stated “I’m a professional photographer, so yeah…take me seriously”.

Of course, that might also be because I am not one, and I don’t play one on TV.

However, the bag I am going to look at today does look like something I would envision a professional carrying. Go ahead and laugh, we all have certain stereotypes that we get in our minds when we think of different professions; to me this bag looks like the real deal, and after going over it with a fine-toothed comb, I am even more convinced. I would fully expect to see a news reporter / photographer carrying a bag such as this when on assignment; once we have finished going over it together, you can tell me if you agree.

photo courtesy of Naneu Pro

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One of most laptop’s main limitations is their battery life, which can usually only be relied upon for a few hours. This hindrance is never more evident that when traveling, because finding a place to recharge in airports and train stations can be a major challenge. On January 1, 2008, carrying extended batteries will become a little bit trickier when traveling by plane, but it can still be done as long as the extra battery is packed in your carry-on luggage (versus in your checked luggage) and it is under a certain size.

Copied verbatim from the US Government’s Safe Travel site:

The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours.

Debating the effectiveness of the new rules is a discussion best left for another day, but in the meantime the Proporta Portable Laptop Battery can be combined with other electronic devices carried while keeping the owner in compliance with these new rules (it holds 66.6Wh). Let’s see if carrying one would be worth the bother…

Look at those smudges! I swear it only looks like this under my photography lamps!

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When I was at DigitalLife 2007 in NYC this summer, I looked around hoping to find a digital photo frame which supported WIFI. My goal was to find a frame with Internet connectivity that would auto-update itself by using photos contained in my Flickr account.

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