While I’ve already published my uber 2012 Holiday Gadget Gift Guide, I realize that I have quite a few photographers following me here. Therefore, I thought I’d share my Top 20 Picks for Photography Gift Ideas. These are among my favorite and most used products.
Lightroom 4.3 is now available as a final release on Adobe.com and through the update mechanism in Lightroom 4. The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom. Also HiDPI (Retina Display) support within the Library and Develop Modules. HiDPI provides support for Retina-enabled Macs.
Bugs Corrected in Lightroom 4.3:
The following bugs that were part the Lightroom 4 releases have been corrected. The team appreciates the very detailed feedback the community has provided on Lightroom 4 and we’re excited to correct a number of issues experienced by our customers. These issues have been FIXED:
Back when I bought my Nikon D7000 I never really thought about buying the Nikon branded battery grip due to my use of that body as a travel body and the cost of the Nikon grip. However, the 1st time that I had to use it as a backup body when my D700 went into the shop for repair, I really wanted a battery grip for shooting portraits. Then I ran across this Meike 3rd party battery grip and decided to give it a try. It worked perfectly the entire time I had it. I sold it with my D7000 before upgrading to the D600. Once again I was in the same boat. I wanted a battery grip for the D600, but didn’t want to spend the money for the Nikon branded one.
What does it do?
Basically a battery grip does three things. 1) It gives you a way to grip your camera easily in portrait mode. 2) It allows you controls and shutter button access on the grip and lastly 3) it doubles your shooting time by allowing you to put in a second battery. In my opinion a battery grip either works or it doesn’t. Therefore, I have no problem buying a less expensive one as long as it works! Since I had good luck with the Meike knockoff for a fraction of the price, I tried one for my new Nikon D600 and it even works better than the 1st one! Better? Terry you just said “it either works or it doesn’t.” How can this one work better? There was one minor issue with the one for the D7000. The dials on the grip worked backwards. For example, if you wanted to go back one image during review you would have to dial to the right instead of the left. Weird, but I got used to it. I’m happy to report that this one works with the dials turning the right direction as you would expect them to work.
The Bottom Line
With any 3rd party accessory that accesses your camera’s electronics you are at some risk of it doing some damage. However, having used the previous one for over a year with no problems, I feel reasonably safe with this one on my D600. It comes with both trays for either a standard EN EL-15 battery or AA’s. You can get one here for about $68 or the Nikon branded one here for $273.
In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows off What’s New in Photoshop CS6 for Adobe Creative Cloud Members in this December 2012 update. He also shows off the Retina Display (HiDPI) Support for Mac users and for all Photoshop CS6 users.
Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?
See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:
I recently replaced my Nikon D7000 with a Nikon D600. The D600 is to serve as my travel body and backup body to my Nikon D4. Although the D7000 served me well, I couldn’t help but be tempted by having another Full Frame (FX) body. All but one of my lenses are Full Frame lenses. So the D600 fits in perfectly. It’s Nikon’s lowest priced Full Frame body and while it’s not technically a D700 replacement, it is the closest thing to date that Nikon has introduced to replace the D700. Let me answer some questions right off the bat…
Why not a D800?
As I’ve said before, I love the D800 and the only thing that is stopping me from getting one is the fact that it shoots 36MP RAW files and that’s just more data than I “need” and certainly much more than I want to deal with in terms of retouching, RAM requirements, storage, transfer speeds, etc. etc. If they come out with a model or update that allows you to turn down the size of the RAW files I’d certainly give it another look.
What about the problems I’ve heard about the D600?
The first negative I read about the D600 was from David Hobby. The deal breaker for him was the Flash Sync Speed being capped at 1/200th. Not a concern for me. The next one I read about was “dust”. Apparently there are/were D600 shipping with dust on the sensor right out of the box. I haven’t noticed this issue. I do plan to do some extensive checking/testing, but as of right now, no dust that I can see. Lastly, both Scott Kelby and Jason Lykins were frustrated by not being able to program the center select button to zoom into an image at 100%. I can certainly see this as a potential deal breaker if you were used to that configuration on your previous/other body. Since I had never configured the button to do that on my other bodies, I don’t miss it not being there on the D600. Others have asked “is the 3 exposure bracketing limit too limiting for HDR?” I would say yes and no. If you shoot a lot of HDR, yes. However, you could always manually adjust the exposure to get more in s pinch. I don’t shoot a lot of HDR so I’m fine with this limitation. All systems go!
I took this HDR shot from my hotel window in San Francisco last week.
The Feel
The first thing I noticed when I picked up a D600 was how good it felt in my hand. It’s one of those things that you can’t really put into words, but it just felt very comfortable. Of course much lighter than my D4 and even a better “more secure” feel than my D7000 and even better than that of the D700 from what I remember.
The Buttons and Controls
When I talk to photographers that are just starting out, they usually ask me why do some DSLRs cost more than others. Outside of the differences in sensors, fps, and other internal characteristics, the other major difference is the number of dials and buttons on the body itself. Most low end DSLRs have few buttons and controls as dedicated buttons. This means more trips the menu. The D600 doesn’t have as many options as the much more expensive D4, but it does have the right balance/mix for what I intend to use it for. I can operate the camera in Manual mode or a shooting mode without making any additional trips to the menu.
What about the Wireless Module?
I have ordered the WU-1b wireless module, but I have yet to see it show up. In the meantime the D600 has been working just fine with my Eye-Fi card in the 2nd SD slot just like I used it in my D7000.
Other Stuff
I was very happy to see Nikon use the same battery/charger as the D7000 and D800. Since I already had some extra batteries for my D7000 I was able to use them in the D600 instead of selling them with the D7000. Once again I went with a 3rd party Battery Grip (just as I did with the D7000), look for a separate review of that this week.
Overall I’m quite pleased, but…
I love this camera! It’s perfect for my needs of a travel body and backup body. The 24MP upgrade from 16MP isn’t too bad either. However, there is one thing that annoys the crap out of me. The mode dial has a button on the top of that you have to press before turning the dial. I’ve never had to do this with any of my other Nikon bodies and while I’m sure I’ll get used to it, it bugs me a LOT right now. The only other wish I had was that of a terminal port. It’s not crucial for me for this body, but it definitely would have been a nice to have.
Last year, I did a post towards the end of the year called “What’s in my Studio?” The purpose of that post was to give my readers a stop shop to see what I use with a brief explanation on how I use it and a few sample photos spread throughout the post. I always get the question of “what camera do you use?” Or “what lights do you use?” or “where did you get that background?” When I get those kinds of questions it’s easy just to point them to the post. Of course that post got outdated fairly quickly as I added new gear and upgraded. I’ve been secretly updating it along the way and I’ve decided to make it my official “photography gear guide“. I will keep it updated with any significant changes and I’ve given it a simple URL: http://terrywhite.com/studio/
Now if you ever want to know “what does Terry use?” it’s one click away. If you forget the URL you can always find it on the sidebar of this site.
Each year I put together my picks for the best Gadget Gifts to get that special someone on your Holiday Gift List. This year I decided to practice what I’ve been preaching and I’m releasing the guide as an iPad App as well as the web version. I built the App using Adobe InDesign CS6 and Adobe Creative Cloud. It’s interactive with videos, links and animation. The iPad App is a free download and while it’s focused on my top picks, you can access the full guide in the App as well.
Download it here:
I’ll be releasing the full version of my 2012 Guide on the web next week.
I’m happy and honored to have my Egyptian Themed Shoot featured on Westcott’s blog complete with a new video. See how I use the Westcott Spiderlite TD6 lights. Check out the post here.
There is no doubt in my mind that smartphone photography is here to stay and in particular iPhone photography has become a category in and of itself. With that said, people are always asking me about various mounts to mount their iPhones and other smartphones to tripods. I’ve reviewed different ones here in the past and with each one there were pros and cons. In the past the problem was that in order to have a really good mount you really needed one that your iPhone would go into like a case. However, the downside to this is that if you already have a case you would have to take your case off in order to put your iPhone into the mount-case. The other problem is that the iPhone changes form factor every couple of years. The iPhone is different from the iPhone 3G/3GS is different from the iPhone 4/4S and different from the iPhone 5.
iStabilizer is more universal
The iStabilizer Mount isn’t designed for a specific type of smartphone. Instead it’s more like a universal clamp that holds your iPhone or other smartphone in place. It’s spring loaded. Just pull the top up, slide your smartphone in and gently release it. The great part about this mount is that you can leave your smartphone in its case. Another great thing is that it’s fast. No need to put your smartphone in a special case or holder first before mounting. It has a standard tripod mount on the bottom. Below is a pic of my iPhone 5 in the Caze 0.5mm clear case mounted on my Sony tripod.
What’s the downside?
The only downside to this mount is that it doesn’t allow for vertical mounting. The clamp isn’t tall enough to mount a smartphone in the portrait position. However, since it does hold the smartphone very firmly in place if your tripod head can tilt then you could potentially take portraits by simply rotating the tripod itself. It’s now a permanent fixture in my laptop/travel bag.
If you doubt that iPhone photography is real, check out this cover of Time Magazine that was shot with an iPhone by photographer Ben Lowy. See the story here:
