Occasional Drivel

As soon as I placed the order for my Canon 1D Mark IV I started to look into some accessories that I knew I would need. There are always a few things that you have to get when you buy a new camera (or any other electronic gadget for that matter) like batteries, memory cards, etc. Here are a few of the things that I immediately wanted to go with my new camera:

Batteries: This is absolutely the first thing I buy when I get a new camera. I can’t imagine why the manufacturers think it’s OK to ship a camera with a single battery, but they always do. The 1D Mark IV uses the same Canon LP-E4 battery as the other recent 1D cameras, including the 1D Mark III and the 1Ds Mark III. The OEM Canon version of these batteries sell for over $100, but there are many after market equivalents available for $30 to $50. I have always used aftermarket batteries in my cameras and have never had a problem, and I would have no problem recommending that for this camera as well.

Memory Cards: The 1D Mark IV takes both CompactFlash cards and SDHC cards. I have a pretty good supply of CF cards (be sure to get fast UDMA cards) but I needed to pick up a couple of SD cards. I recommend Lexar 8GB SDHC cards, but many other cards will do the trick too. Just be sure to get at least Class 6 cards for best performance with video.

Camera Bag: I want to be able to carry a good selection of lenses in addition to my camera body, and my old bag simply wasn’t big enough. Of course this happens all the time with photographers… We always need new bags! I did a lot of research and decided that the best bag for me was the Tamrac 777 Summit. Everyone’s needs are different, but this bag is definitely worth checking out.

Video Microphone: I haven’t done enough video with the new camera yet to really know, but everyone says that the built in mic simply isn’t good enough. So I immediately invested in a shotgun microphone from Rode called the VideoMic. I honestly haven’t even tested it yet, but I’m told that it’s a great mic for shooting videos with a DSLR. It attaches to the camera via the hotshoe and connects directly to the mic in port on the side of the camera.

As with all new cameras I’m sure there will be many more purchases over the next few months, but these things were enough to get me started. I’d love to hear about any other gadgets that might help make the camera better and easier to use!

Amazon has announced a new version of the very popular Kindle eBook reader, officially called the Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device. The new version of the device has access to Global Wireless services and is available in over 100 countries.

The major difference between the new product and the older version is the size of the screen; it was upgraded from 6 inches on the earlier Kindle to 9.7 inches on the DX. It has storage capacity for over 3500 books and lots of other really cool features. The 6-inch Kindle is already the bestselling product across all of Amazon, and I expect that the Kindle DX will also be extremely popular.

The 9.7″ Kindle DX with Global Wireless is available for pre-order for $489 at www.amazon.com/kindledx and starts shipping on January 19th.

There are over 400,000 Books in Kindle eBook format available for download at Amazon!

I love my Popcorn Hour PCH-A110 media player and I use it all the time to watch TV Shows and Movies. This is just one of a class of devices known as a Networked Media Tank, or NMT. I can save my shows on a hard drive or USB device that I’ve installed in or connected to the player, or watch content from any of my other computers that are connected via my home network.

If you want to learn more about this kind of device, I’ve reviewed my PCH-A110 previously on this site.

This is an incredibly useful device, and recently I found a couple of tricks to make the user experience even better!

• MediatankController 1.0 for Adobe AIR – browse and control your NMT from your PC. This is a remote control application for your that runs on any PC desktop. This is actually a cross platform App (built using Adobe Air) that can be installed on almost any computer. It provides a fully functional remote control that sits on your computer. You can also browse the media files available to your Popcorn Hour from a slick window on the desktop. Better yet, the popcorn hour responds faster to the controls on your desktop than it does using the remote, and the app provides keyboard support as well, which is far better than trying to type using the numeric keypad on the remote. This is a must have tool for any NMT owner. Although the app was built and tested on the PCH-A110, it should work on any NMT device.
• MediatankController 1.0 for iPhone – browse and control your NMT from your phone (or your iPod Touch). I actually haven’t been able to get this one to work yet, but many other people have, so I’m sure I just didn’t configure it properly. It promises essentially the same functionality as the the similarly named PC desktop app, but built as web based app formatted for the iPhone. This app has also been tested on the iPod Touch and the Android phone, so any web enabled gadget or computer with a web browser should also work just as well.
• Pure Web Remote Control. This one is a little bit less functional than the others, and a whole lot less pretty. It is a web based app that provides some of the same functionality as the two apps above. The main difference is that its design goal was to provide access to content on the NMT, via a browser based remote control, so that the user could listen to audio with TV switched off. This app also works on any web enabled phone, computer, or other gadget, and I had no problem accessing it with my iPod Touch. I have to say that it’s really ugly, but it works very well. When you consider it within the context that it was designed, it’s actually a pretty cool little app.

This is just one more way to make my life faster and easier. If you know of any other great improvements to make your Popcorn Hour media player (or any other NMT for that matter) even better, please drop me a comment and let me know about it!

(Huge apologies to David Duchemin for the title of this post. You should go see him if you want to learn about Vision instead of gadgets…)

I had planned to publish my own photography and gadget gift buying guide (some might simply call it my wish list!) this year, but I’ve seen plenty of other great lists already. So I decided that what we really need is one simple place to go to get a list of lots of other great lists. Maybe next week I’ll even write up a list of lists of great lists. But for now, one big list will have to do!

So here, it is: a Gift Buying Guide Roundup for photographers and technophiles:

(This list is still getting updated Regularly, jump down to the end for the latest goodies!)

• I have to start with a plug for my own photography. Check out my online portfolio from some beautiful landscape and nature imagery from the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Prairies. Prints, products, and more!
• Right after my portfolio, Scott Kelby’s Annual Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide is always the first place to stop. For 2009 he broke this down into Part 1 and Part 2
• Terry White’s Annual Holiday Gift Guide is also a must read every year.
• See Photography Bay for their Best Digital Cameras & Holiday Shopping Guide
• Digital Photo Buzz brings us a really great list of essential photography gear and books in their First Annual Holiday Gift Guide
• John Batdorff compiled a nice list of gadgets and books for “self-proclaimed photo-geeks”
• Scott Bourne brings us his Holiday Photography Book Buyer’s Guide
• Gizmodo has an interesting Gadget Gift Guide based on user submissions. Looks like it’s continually being updated, so you could even go there to add your own ideas!
• CrunchGear has a list of gadgets to buy for the “Technologically Impaired“
• While not strictly for the holidays, B&H has a really useful Point-and-Shoot Buyer’s Guide
• While I’m at it I might as well point you to my own list of recommended Photography Books for Beginners and another one list of books about Nature and Wildlife Photography
• Outdoor Photographer has a Holiday Buyer’s Guide
• Heninger Fotographik added a great gift guide today for anyone from the art lover to the Photographer to the backpacker.
• Scott Bourne pulled together “The Photographer’s Dream Holiday Gift Guide” full of very high end gift ideas.
• Jeff Revell put together a nice list of things that he wants. I think most other photographers would also love these things!
• Syl Arena just put out a great list of “Cameras For Kids, Tweens, Teens, & Young Adults“. This is not specifically a gift guide, but cameras make great holiday presents!
• Photography Bay has added a new list called “9 Photography Gifts on the Cheap“. This just might be the best list for this holiday season if you’re looking for something to buy your photography friends!
• Just off the press: the Photo.net Holiday Gift Guide. The photo.net members and editors compiled the best things from their wishlists for the 2009 Holidays.
• For those of you that don’t like to spend a lot of money on your photography and lighting trinkets, check out the “DIY Photography Holiday Gift Guide“
• The Master of Vision himself suggests that since most of us really don’t need any of that shiny crap anyway, we should all buy Goats instead. He’s probably right.

I’ll continue to update this list as I see more seasonal buying guides for Christmas and the Holidays. Keep checking back for more ideas about what to buy for yourself and your friends over the next couple of months, and feel free to send me links to your favorite buying guide as well.

Don’t forget that at this time of year it’s perfectly normal to lust after new gadgets, books, and other gear, and it’s OK!! You can confess all your sins, beg forgiveness, and do your daily penance after the holidays are over. A dozen refrains of the Photographian Chant (“Gear is Good, Vision is Better“) for two weeks should suffice.

Dropbox announced today that they now have a free dedicated iPhone App to allow you to access your files at Dropbox directly instead of requiring you to go through the web interface. I’ve only recently started to use Dropbox, but this is definitely one feature that will make the service a whole lot more useful for me.

Instant access to my important files from anywhere is very cool. Of course there are already several other ways to use the iPod Touch or iPhone as a filing cabinet for key documents, but none of them are very convenient to access or to update. Because of that I simply haven’t used it for that purpose. But now I will!

If you’re not familiar with Dropbox, here’s a brief introduction:

Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers.
Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.

With Dropbox, your files are always in sync.
Let’s say you’re editing a document at home. As soon as you click ‘Save’, Dropbox will sync this same file to all your other computers (and now your iPhone!) instantly and automatically. It’s as if you saved the document to all of your computers. This gives you the freedom to work on any of your computers and always have the files you need.

Dropbox lets you share files easily.
You can easily share entire folders or photo albums with Dropbox. Simply put the folders you want to share in your Dropbox, and invite people to them. You can also send people links to specific files within your Dropbox. This makes Dropbox perfect for team projects.

With Dropbox, online backup is automatic.
Every time you put a file in your Dropbox folder it is automatically backed up to our secure servers. If your computer has a melt-down your files are safe on Dropbox and can be restored at any time. Our free 2GB account is perfect for backing up your documents. We offer larger accounts (up to 100GB) for backing up your music and video collections.

Dropbox lets you go back in time to undelete or undo changes to files.
Every time you save a file in Dropbox, Dropbox syncs it to our secure servers. Dropbox keeps a history of every change made so that you can undo any mistakes and even undelete files. By default, we keep the last 30 days of undo history for all your files. We also have an unlimited undo option called “Pack-rat”.

Every Dropbox user automatically gets 2 GB of storage for free. You can pay for extra storage, but you can also earn credits to increase your free allotment by referring other new users (up to a max of 3 GB). In fact if you use the following link, you can help me increase my free space… Thanks!

https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI4MjQ1MzI5