One way to keep fingerprints off of a quality lens is to keep a filter on the lens at all times. If you prefer not to, or get a print on a lens while changing filters, this small tool will come in handy. The Lenspen offers two cleaning options. On one end, there’s a retractable dust brush. I just extend the brush, and sweep away any visible dust particles. I also use the brush every time I replace the lens. Dust particles almost always appear around the area where the lens and camera body meet. I make sure to clean up this area before removing and changing lenses, thus reducing the chance of getting dust on the sensor.

The Lenspen’s other end, has "a special non-liquid cleaning element" that can be used for more aggressive cleaning. Wipe it over the lens and magically watch fingerprints disappear. The manufacturer explains that there’s a carbon compound under the cap that cleans lenses much like the ink in newspaper works to clean glass. It does work. It can be used many times over, as long as every time you put the cap back on and rotate it, to clean and recharge the pad.

This has become my most used cleaning tool, second only to the Giottos Rocket Blaster. And the two complement each other: while the Lenspen works to clean the glass surfaces of the lens and the camera’s lens mount, I use the Rocket to remove dust from the sensor.

What got me started on the Really Right Stuff products was just the idea of committing to a system that would work with everything. Their tripod head consists of three components: an L-bracket custom made for your camera model; a standardized Arca-Swiss-style quick-release clamping plate; and the ballhead base, itself. Committing to this system is a big expense. The fact that each new piece continually adds more value makes it easier to justify. This system’s advantages over something such as a simpler Manfrotto ballhead with a quick-release plate are increased stability and quicker changes from portrait to landscape mode.

RRS is big on system synergy. They are top-notch, beautifully made, perfect products. I have a BH-40 Ballhead on a Gitzo tripod as my main rig and a BH-25 on a Gitzo Traveler for an ultralight rig, perfect for backpacking. Each of my cameras -- Nikon D200 and Canon G9 -- has an RRS L-plate, which makes for a quick and solid connection atop both tripods, either in landscape or portrait mode.

Of the two ballheads, the BH-25 is my favorite for its super compactness. When I’m traveling or backpacking, I need a lightweight, minimal setup. The BH-25 paired with Gitzo’s Traveler is it.

I’ve been using the RRS products for about five years now, and I have to admit that part of the appeal is simply the joy of using perfectly made gear. Sometimes the tools can inspire us.

The Vado HD by Creative Labs is an incredible gadget to have. With dimensions similar to an iPhone, the Vado’s an HD camcorder that is easy to slip into a pocket and take anywhere, always ready to take high-res videos wherever I go. I do carry an iPhone, too, though I rarely use it for video, as the quality is decidedly less than stellar. The Vado records twice the amount of video as its main competitor, the Flip MinoHD, for about the same price. And the Vado’s screen is 2 inches where the Flip’s is only 1.5.

With a slightly rubberized plastic housing the Vado feels grippy. It’s light, but the build is solid. Upon pressing the power switch, it’s ready to record video in less than a second and a half. The interface is simple, too. After powering the unit on, just press the button in the center of the control pad to start recording, and once again to stop.

The unit comes with 8GB of on-board flash memory, storing approximately 2 hours of 720p footage. Grabbing videos off the Vado is a breeze, too: just pop out the built-in USB dongle concealed in the bottom of the unit, plug it into a PC or Mac, and drag the files across. Video is recorded in H.264, and there is software preloaded on the unit itself that you can run directly off the camcorder when it is plugged into your computer to view, edit and create movies.

Creative Labs also offers some decent accessories, such as a waterproof pouch that will let you record up to 15 feet underwater, spare batteries and an external battery charger. They also include a silicon sleeve, which gives a little extra grip for the hands or some extra bounce if it’s dropped.

The only minor complaints I have are that the rocker buttons in the main keypad are a tad too sensitive, and the lack of optical zoom is disappointing. I’ve always messed around with helmet cams and such for filming road biking, mountain biking and snowboarding, and the Vado HD has me very excited about the upcoming snow season.

If you recall Polaroid’s One Step cameras, Fuji's Instax will be familiar. It's the only game in town for consumer instant undigital photography now that Polaroid is defunct. There is Zink, which is digital, and which I haven't yet tried. If you have, let us know.

If you like instant pictures, you’ll like the Instax. The format is a pleasing 3 7/8” wide, 2 3/8” high image, a more horizontal configuration than the SX70 (or Polaroid’s 600, for that matter) was. The Fuji Instax film’s dynamic range is broader than what I recall of Polaroid’s comparable offerings. Super-simple Lighter-Normal-Darker settings allow for fine-tuning the exposure, though unless the scene is backlit or very contrasty, the auto exposure is right on. Avoid dark situations for best results, as flash coverage is limited, and ambient light will always look better. Daylight photos look great.

I embraced digital photography more than a decade ago, but that doesn’t diminish the appeal of this kind of camera. The opposite is true. It’s great for bringing to a party and leaving pictures as a gift. At about $1 per image for the film, it’s not cheap to use, but the handful of family photos I take with it are more likely to be kept and enjoyed -- seen -- than are the thousands I have taking up space on hard drives. Those of us used to the scale of compact digital cameras or iPhones will find the Instax bulky. I haven't found its size to be a bother, but it's not small enough to carry around without noticing. Convenince isn't the thing with this camera. To me taking, and giving, instant photos has been worth the trouble.

I haven't enjoyed using a camera this much in years, and I take pictures for a living. Smaller than a digital SLR but larger than an ultracompact point and shoot, Canon's G10 is portable yet substantial enough to hold steady. I've had other point and shoots in the past, but this is the first that's given me the right combination of intuitive exposure control and ease of use, so that I actually make the effort to grab it and use it every day. The big bright LCD allows me to forgo the optical viewfinder entirely (something I never imagined I'd do), and the exposure-indicating display is similar enough to those found on the analog cameras I used years ago, with the bonus of its histogram preview. Setting shutter speed and aperture manually makes sense as it would on a full-size DSLR. With the G10 I don't have to be bothered to choose a lens to mount on the front of the camera before stepping out of the house, so I do step out of the house with it, daily. And yet when I'm pushing pixels later on, I'm not disappointed by files that are sub-par.

Traditional camera lovers tend to enjoy the subtly classic design of the G10, reminiscent of the Contax G2 35mm rangefinder, and those same photographers might also enjoy the Panasonic LX3, with its wide Leica lens and sleek body, which is more compact than the G10 and a close competitor. l prefer the G10, partly because its greater telephoto capabilities allow me to take snapshots of unfamiliar birds while out hiking, so that I can identify them later. And it is $200 cheaper than the LX3.

Image quality from its 14.7 Megapixel CCD sensor is impressive, particularly in daylight settings. Movie quality is very good (640x480 px. @ 30 fps), though zooming capability while shooting would be a welcome enhancement. The macro feature is outstanding. Full manual controls are available, as are RAW files, necessary for getting the most out of any digital camera. The G10's predecessor, the G9, is also a worthwhile buy (check eBay, since the G9's no longer on the market), though the pending doom of obsolescence is one step nearer.

Billed as the "World's Smallest Tripod," the ModoPocket is actually a quadrapod, but definitely just plain tiny: 1.5 x 2.5 x 1.25 inches and 2 oz. Mostly I have been using it to take indoor group photos with the self-timer, using face recognition to trigger the shutter when I jump into the group. Shoot it again? Much easier to repeat the composition than if the camera is propped on a book and/or tilted with a coin (either way, that method often results in a photo that includes the table in the shot). The ModoPocket simplifies these tasks, makes them more easily repeatable, and provides good stability. The photos posted on Amazon show how easily it tilts up or down, or turn it 90 degrees and it tilts side-to-side. It also folds very thin (0.25 inches), so it can be left permanently attached to the camera. In addition to shooting, I use mine as a work stand while I edit photos in the camera, and use it for easier viewing and huddling-around-the-camera (aka "chimping").

With bigger point-and-shoot cameras like my Canon G10 (which weighs about one pound), I've found the previously-reviewed Gorillapod just jiggles too much. A fold-up plastic tripod like the Assia PocketPod is more stable, but clumsy. A full-size tripod or even a mini-tripod always needs to be attached/detached (unless you're lugging it around that way). In addition to the fact that the ModoPocket can live on the camera permanently, one can actually attach a tripod directly to the ModoPocket without taking it off the camera.

Yes, there are compromises -- it's not very tall, it's not great at handling uneven surfaces (to be expected from something so tiny), it's definitely suited to a particular niche (not hardcore DSLR guys). But it's very well made, easy to use and works great. I'm a minimalist and would never want to travel with a lot of gear. Looking back on all the impromptu photos I took with the camera on the ground, propped on a wall or table, I definitely would have preferred this.

-- Evan Marks

Manfrotto ModoPocket
$30
Available from Adorama

Also previously available from Amazon

Manufactured by Manfrotto

The Strap Pod isn't as steady as a monopod and nowhere near as steady as a heavy tripod or even a relatively light one like the previously-reviewed Tiltall Tripod. But when you want to pack something small, stealthy, quiet, and effective....voila! I've been using one for more than two years for when I shoot in low light and available light -- which I do with some frequency (indoor sports, concerts, theater, etc.). The Strap Pod rolls up nicely, stashes easily in your pack, pocket or on your belt and -- unlike a tripod or a monopod -- it is very easy to deploy, use and remove quickly. Just drop the strap, step into the loop and shoot. No muss, no fuss, no twisting or flicking sections or wielding something that looks like a baton or a spear.

In the case of museums or some public spaces, tripods are simply not allowed (though you can sometimes get away with a monopod by pretending it is a 'walking stick'). But hauling a monopod around is sometimes clumsy, frowned upon, or outright discouraged in certain environs. The Strap Pod is much less intrusive and bulky, so I'm more likely to toss it into my pocket or my camera bag and bring it along. If I go for an impromptu hike in the local woods as dusk approaches, for instance, my experience is that the Strap Pod seems to give me an additional one to two stops. This allows me to shoot without pushing the ISO too far, or shooting at too slow of a shutter speed as to blur any action. (Note: my 85mm prime lens is an f1.4 and my 70-200mm zoom is an f2.8 -- the fastest lenses that allow 'reach' under low or available light ). Even with Virtual Reduction of shake functions in higher end DSLRs (in the lenses for Nikon, in the camera for Canon), having just that much more stability in your shot can open possibilities for a bigger range of useful f-stops. You could accomplish this with a classic, previously-mentioned "chain pod," but if you're in the woods shooting wildlife, the jangling of a chain is hardly stealthy.

Another benefit is that the Strap Pod is removed from a baseplate via a vice action -- not the screwing and unscrewing of a threaded bolt -- so it quickly and cleanly attaches/detaches. I have a camera worth more than the internal threading/tapped hole that accepts something like the chain pod. I'd rather not leave an eye bolt in my camera, because I often need to quickly shift from supported shot to free shot.

For serious support of camera and lens, I use a serious, lightweight, carbon-fiber monopod with a Kirk arca-mount plate, and a Gitzo Mountaineer model carbon fiber tripod with a Kirk ball head mount. I wouldn't count on the Strap Pod to replace monopods or tripods, especially in critical shoots like weddings or commercial photography. That's not the point. The Strap Pod is another tool for photographers to use to gain some helpful stability with their shots and maintain a more optimal ISO, while giving more options for creative control over f stop and shutter speed ranges.

-- Will Jennings

Strap Pod
$30 - universal mount
$40 - quick-release mount
Available from Kirk Photo

HDR means High Dynamic Range. It's a way of processing a photograph so that it captures the fullest range of highlights and shadows in the original scene. All camera film and digital sensors have restricted dynamic range: the difference between the whitest white and blackest black on the screen or print is less than real life. HDR is a trick to increase the spread between shadows and highlights in an image by taking more than one picture of the same scene -- one shot maximizing shadows, one mid-tones and one highlights -- and then merging them into one unified picture with tremendous range. Of course, in practice it is not that simple or direct, thus the need for this very clear PDF book which will tell you step by step how to produce an HDR photo using Photoshop.

The trick is useful especially for capturing photos of interiors, where, say, there is both a bright window and shadows on a face in one scene. With HDR you can see the patterns outside the window and details in the shadowy face. HDR is also used for twilight landscapes, and anywhere else where there is "tricky" lighting. My guess is that about half of the "best of Flickr" photos are ones that have been HDR processed. Indeed, the look of a high dynamic range is so common now that it is easy to detect, and some fuddy-duddies object to its "artificialness," although all photos are artificial. Like any tool it can be overused and abused. Someday HDR may be built into cameras. Now, it's a hack. A few websites, such as Stuck in Customs, give basic intros to the procedure, although the process described at that site requires an additional software package called Photomatix, which automates the method.

The better tutorial is available from O'Reilly publishers as a Short Cuts paid PDF. It gives superior step by step instructions, and does not require Photomatix software -- it's all done in Photoshop CS.

-- KK

Sample excerpts:

Why try HDR imaging? Imagine you're visiting a cathedral with great stained glass windows, but there is low available light inside the building to show the ornate interior designs. There is also a sign stating "No Flash Photography." Checking your meter, you see that there is a seven stop difference between the brightest highlight area and the deepest shadow detail. With traditional imaging, you are forced to choose and expose for the stained glass windows-turning all the interior to muddy shadows with little or no detail-or you can expose for the interior details, but overexposing the stained glass, which eliminates most of their detail and color. The final option is to pick a middle-range exposure and attempt to twist the single flat image into something that resembles your impression of the scene.

The three bracketed exposures (over, under and normal) on the left are combined to make the well-balanced, very detailed image on the right.

HDR: An Introduction to High Dynamic Range Photography
By Jack Howard
2007, 58 pages
$8, PDF
Available from O'Reilly

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Pictopia

Pro Digital Photographer's Handbook

Tiltall Tripod

Tourist Remover is one tool in a suite of free online image editing tools in futureLAB's Snapmania. I used it recently on some pictures I took in Moab Utah to remove people and cars from the photos I snapped. The only thing you need to do is take 3-10 pictures of the subject (by hand, no tripod required), and then Tourist Remover averages the pictures and removes anything that only appears in one of the shots (such as moving people and cars). The tool will not remove anything that appears in two of the shots, such as a parked car. So when taking the pictures and when selecting the ones to use the tool with, make sure the items you want removed only appear in one shot. The rest of the imaging suite is pretty interesting and also does things like stitch panoramas together from several images. The interface takes a little getting used to, but basically once you learn the convention of dragging the images you want to edit onto to the tool you want to use, then it's all pretty easy.

-- Alexander Rose

Tourist Remover
Free trial (100MB of storage for 3 months)
Available from Snapmania

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Pro Digital Photographer's Handbook

Lumix TZ1

Picnik Photo Editor

Domke's F-2 Original is a bit expensive, but the bag has a number of advantages making it practical and totally versatile. The canvas construction makes it both lightweight and far more comfortable to shoulder than bulkier camera bags. I've owned Tamrac bags and find them too cumbersome and specialized. Crumplers are too stylish and attention-getting. My Domke offers the perfect blend of utility and dull looks: a major plus when you're carting around several thousand dollars worth of gear. I've had it for at least ten years and find it has barely worn.

The bag's central compartment is 12 x 6.5 x 9.0". Using a four-compartment padded insert that comes with the bag, I can easily carry four lenses (up to 8" tall) and a camera body with a lens attached. I've had other camera bags that ended up at the bottom of my closet when I abandoned my SLRs for more compact digital cameras. I've been able to repurpose the Domke as an office, travel and knock-around bag, but the ease of throwing in the four-compartment insert means that when I want that classic camera bag function back, it's there. The included "bottom stiffener" also gives you even more flexibility in controlling the bag's structure. While I've never subjected my Domke to a downpour, its lightweight water-repellent canvas has protected my valuables plenty of times in light rain.

Running back and forth between work, I usually stuff it with a giant lunch box and several days worth of newspapers. While the main compartment is nice, my favorite features are the five easy-access pockets around the sides of the bag. I stuff two fat pockets on either end of the bag with AC cords, USB drives, keys and anything else I don't feel like pocketing myself. Two sleek pockets on the bag's front handily house notebooks, batteries, pens, etc. Finally, an open envelope-style pocket on the bag's back offers a handy place for boarding passes, maps and magazines. Slightly more hidden is a zipper pocket under the main flap. It's a less accessible part of the bag, perfect for passports and other small items you want to keep close. The bags simple Velcro and clip closures have proven to me that sometimes simplicity really is best.

Should I ever lose this bag, I'll have just two wishes: I hope it'll be near empty (doubtful) and that I won't need to go long before buying a new one.

-- Michael

Domke Camera Bag
$117
Available from Amazon
(color: sand)

Also from Amazon
(color: black)

Manufactured by Domke

I'm delighted with this relatively inexpensive underwater digital camera. Good for submarining 10 feet deep, it's perfect for snorkeling, kayaking, canoeing, and water sports. If you are serious about underwater photography at scuba depths, this is not for you. This camera is more comparable to those one-time plastic-housed underwater film cameras we've used in the past. But being digital it has many advantages over those. First, you can see what you got (or missed) immediately. Second, you can fit several hundreds of shots in a session instead of film's 27 frames. Thirdly, you can quickly upload, share, manipulate, or print what you capture.

It's important to maintain low expectations when you photograph underwater. The light is dim, everything is in constant motion, including you, and it's hard to see the camera with a mask on. All the more reason you need to take lots of shots. The teeny-tiny flash on this camera is not enough to overcome some of those limitations. But as you can see from these photos I took on a recent trip to the Mayan Coast in Mexico, this $300 camera does a serviceable job.

The camera is quiet small and slim; it fits into a shirt pocket. Its unobtrusive waterproof seals seemed to work fine, much to my amazement. One downside is the non-standard Olympus memory card it uses; I'd rather recycle the many standard SD cards I already have. Since it has a very impressive 7.1 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom (very nice) this camera could, in theory, be used as your all-around digital camera on dry land (and it is sold that way), but I found its very sluggish refresh rate (perhaps due to the large memory card I was using) and very tiny controls to be annoying. But deep in the wet realm these annoyances are tolerable in exchange for an easy and reliable way to take underwater pictures, and as a camera I don't mind taking on a kayak or surfboard, or a dunk in the lake.

You can buy sophisticated and bulky underwater housing for some popular digital cameras like the Canon Powershots and Nikon Coolpix, but these cases -- while allowing you to go deeper -- can cost nearly as much as the Olympus 720. (Pentax makes the Optio W20, a similar camera, rated at only 5 feet deep, but using SD cards, which I have not tried, but others like.) For me this tiny clam is the cheapest way to digitally photograph underwater at shallow depths.

-- KK

Olympus Stylus 720 SW
$300
Available from Amazon

I am an amateur digital photographer. I have a full size tripod, but rarely used it. It was too big and bulky to take on hikes along with my 2-year-old daughter and all her stuff. I ordered the Joby Gorillapod. This tripod has legs that can be strongly wrapped around poles, branches, or ledges, and can fit in a small pouch or a large pants pocket. I liked that I had a environmentally friendly packaging free option. When it arrived I was surprised at its lightweight and small size. But surprisingly, it is amazing. Both my camera and DVR stay upright and stable on most any surface.

-- Karl [Also recommended/reviewed by Fred Sobotka and Jeremy J.]

Joby Gorillapod
$20
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Joby

You no longer need expensive CCDs to take astrophotographs. You can use a webcam! Lots of cool things are happening, but it all started at the QuickCam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group (QCUIAG).

Most webcams today use CMOS sensors which are not suited for astro work. But some old quickcams had a CCD in it. These include the Vesta and ToUcam webcams among others. Some people have figured out how to modify the electronics to get them to make long time exposures. However when you have very long exposures thermal noise saturates your picture. Two ideas were developed to remedy this.

The classic solution is to cool the CCD. This has been done by many, but it is difficult to do. The second method is to stack a whole bunch of individual exposures. This gives a resulting image much better than any single one. Software like RegiStax (freeware) does this, and very well. You don't even need to modify your webcam's hardware to do this. Just make or buy an adaptor to fit it to the scope. So webcam astrophotography actually begins with the right adapter to fit the webcam to your telescope's eyepiece holder. Steven Mogg makes them.

I am enclosing a picture (above) of the moon I took a few days ago with my ETX 90 telescope and an unmodified Phillips Vesta web camera with a Mogg adapter. Each picture is the integration of some 60 shots.

-- Gaston Groisman

Mogg Astro Adapaters
$20 - $75
Available from Web Caddy Astronomy

QCUIAG
See Wikipedia for a good intro to webcam astrophotography

This is a very convenient way to produce large-scale hi-fi color prints from digital images. You email them a digital image file; in a few days they mail back a magnificently large, utterly crisp, remarkably stable, frameable print.

There are a number of web-based photofinishers, but these guys specialize in ultra-large-scale prints. By large-scale I mean a photo up to 4 feet by 10 feet - if you have a wall that big! Or any size smaller, say 2 feet by 3 feet. The display-quality prints are made using Fuji archive paper, and Pictopia's up-res software. The archive paper gives a photo-chemical image stable for 75 years, which is hard to do with ink jets now; the up-res software ingeniously fills in the pixel gaps that would ordinarily occur when you enlarge an image beyond the resolution it contains. For supreme accuracy this outfit use a military-grade helical laser printer, designed to print satellite images without moving the paper. The print quality is superb corner to corner, which is not true in almost any other method of printing except ink-jet. (Of course, not every image can survive such magnification.)

Compared to other processes for making large images, their prices are cheap. For instance, a hefty 16 x 20 inch print is $25, while an impressive 2 foot by 3 foot print is $65, and a maniacal 4 foot by 8 foot print is $370. Couple that with their handy online ordering process, speedy delivery, it's a deal. I am currently using this service to fulfill customer orders for Asia Grace images from my website, and I've been very happy so far.

You can of course send Pictopia other kinds of non-photographic files, like maps, charts, or computer renderings. For big pictures, per square foot, this is the way to go.

-- KK

Available from Pictopia

The previous Lumix digital camera I raved about earlier is no longer being manufactured, so this improved Lumix digital camera is the one I now use and recommend. At least for the next few months.

The main advantage the Lumix has over other ever-better digital cameras is their high powered optical ultra zooms. This one has a 10X zoom, which gives it telephoto capabilities in a camera that can hide in my shirt or pants pocket. It is the equivalent of having a 35mm - 350 mm zoom lens for free! It performs this magic using a clever prism system inside. And like the previous Lumixes it applies very capable image stabilization to pictures so they are very sharp even in low light. It sports a fast Leica lens for additional ease in taking pictures anywhere without flash (my preference). I am furthered endeared to this new model because it has instant power-up. Its screen is on and ready to shoot the moment I turn it on. The rest of the features are now pretty standard in digital point-and-shoots.

This small camera fits in the palm of my hand and does just about everything my old 35mm Nikons with five heavy lenses did, much faster and better. (I carried two SLR bodies and five lenses around every day all day for almost 8 years.) I also prefer it to the high end digital SRL Nikons and Canons now popular with pros. The Lumix TZ1 does not capture RAW files, but most non-professionals won't need that. While it does macro closeups well, it could really use a wide-angle option, but that's the only thing I miss.
Compared to $1,000 for a digital SLR, this baby is about $320. I carry mine everywhere with me in my jacket or pants, and the quality of my images is better than what I got from my 35mm Nikons because I can shoot in lower light, further, with less blur. I would have died for this miniature high quality camera when I was shooting every day in Asia decades ago.

I should also mention that with a 1 gig memory card in it, it can capture up to 20 minutes of okay (848 x 480) video -- with zoom!

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 is the best general purpose digital camera to get at the moment.

-- KK

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1
$389
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Panasonic

For purely financial reasons, I'm going to talk about the original 1Ds, not the newer model II.

This camera was introduced three-and-a-half years ago as a true SLR with a digital sensor the same size as a 35mm film frame, allowing legacy Canon lenses to retain their correct view angle. The CMOS sensor produces images that are notably "gentle," ideal for skin tones, and subtler than the typical colors of a CCD device. The disadvantages of the 1Ds are its price (originally it was $8,000), its bulk (it is built for durability), its frustratingly nonintuitive controls, and slight chromatic aberration when using wider lenses that were designed for the different performance characteristics of film. Now that the Model II is available, anyone who was reluctant to pay the price of a new Model I should be aware that they can be found on eBay for a mere $2,000. Rated at just over 11 megapixels, the picture quality is actually higher than the raw pixel count suggests, because the noise in the sensor is so unobtrusive. I have enlarged images up to 18" x 12" with virtually no noise visible, even in shadow areas after unsharp masking. When you push the sensitivity to the equivalent of ISO 1000, you do see some noise, but it resembles the pleasantly random distribution of film grain and is not streaky.

Tim Burton's stop-motion movie The Corpse Bride was shot frame-by-frame using modified Canon 1Ds cameras, which were chosen after their image quality was compared with all available alternatives, including motion-picture film. The very subtle tones in that movie are a tribute to Canon electronics.

Canon 1Ds
$2000 to $3000 depending on condition and history (body only, not including lenses).
Available from eBay

Digital cameras improve at light-speed. The "best" is fleeting, so I can only tell you -- after researching and using many models -- what I am using myself right now.

First: In cameras, the smaller the better. I like to carry a camera with me at all times, so I've been using different pocket cameras, including the credit-car sized gems like the Exlim. Ever since their resolution and capacity reached the magical 5 megapixel threshold, you could use them for most assignments. But much to my surprise after using these super tiny and lightweight cameras for a few years, I've found that their very lightness is a liability. It is nearly impossible to keep them steady in low light without flash -- which seems to be my preferred setting. Too few of my shots indoors were sharp, too many blurry. A heavy camera has more momentum to absorb the ordinary wavers of your hands. I began to consider the superior optics and control offered by the popular (and much larger) digital single-lens-reflex (SLR), like the Canon Rebel and Nikon D series. These almost-professional cameras give you optical zoom lenses (important), some heft for steadiness, large files (including RAW
format), and fat sensors with abundant resolution (up to 8 megapixels). The downside: they were absolutely not pocketable. In fact they were gigantic compared to what I've been carrying around in my pants pockets. And they were not cheap. Close to $1,000 when all is said and done.

Several silicon valley billionaire gadget freaks turned me onto a hybrid camera they had discovered: the Lumix. Made by Panasonic (a name not usually associated with cameras) the Lumix seems to have a secret following. The mid-level model has the glass lens of a SLR, but at a smaller scale. Attached to a hand-sized 5-megapixel sensor is a very fast, extremely sharp zoom lens made by legendary optician Leica. The zoom is wonderfully telescopic, ranging 12X, all the way from the 35mm equivalent of 36 to an astounding 432 (!), yet clearly bright at 2.8 f/stop, which is perfect for low light without flash, and -- the key innovation here -- it employs image stabilization. The lens self corrects for vibrations. This means that I can shoot indoors and night with zoom extended (yes!) and get razor sharp shots. During daylight it is startling clear. Turns out that for real world use, sharpness is probably more important than megapixel size.

Lumix come in a number of models. I use the FZ-5, which is much smaller in size than the latest model, the FZ-30. The smaller FZ-5 does not do RAW files (the FZ-30 does), but I prefer its compact size and don't usually need the massive file sizes of RAW. I can't fit the Lumix into my pants pocket, but it will sit in my jacket pocket or any small bag I carry. The zoom is both macro and telescopic, an old SLR ability I am so happy to have back. Five meg resolution is plenty. It'll take a 1 gig memory card. The camera lights up fast. Navigation of controls is fine. And to top it off, this little wonder is comparatively cheap with a street price below $350 -- a third of what the Rebel would cost.

The brand new Sony R1 is also a hybrid camera similar to the Lumix, but at the high end. It has a humongous 10 megapixel sensor, and a great zoom, but no image stabilization. And it is a big heavy camera that costs $1,000. Sony and Canon also have new models similar to the FZ5 with 5 megapixels, 12X zoom, and image stabilizers, but the Li ion batteries in the Panasonic keep a charge better, and it is smaller/lighter than the others.

The Lumix FZ5 offers fabulous clarity, with an amazing zoom, in a tiny package, at a remarkably bargain price. It is my choice for anyone's first digital camera. And for next five minutes anyway, the Lumix has displaced my many other cameras (film and digital).

-- KK

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5
$500
Available from
Amazon

Wow! What a fantastic book. The digital revolution has completely overhauled nearly every aspect of photographic method. It isn't just the cameras that are different. The whole process from conception to final output is all new. Now we have sensors instead of film, raw capture instead of negatives, Photoshop instead of the darkroom, lab color space instead of the zone system, ink jet printing instead of silver halide paper, and the web instead of galleries. Till now there hasn't been a front-to-end guide to this new photography good enough to recommend. Most digital photography guides (there are hundreds!) deal with photoshopping and cameras, and leave everything else to art. I've been looking for a guru that will take me to the "why"at the bottom of things like"color profiling," give me the tools of control in a scientific way, and stitch them together in a way that allows me to consistently produce the image I had in my mind. This masterpiece by Michael Freeman does all that. It is by far the best one-volume operating manual for serious digital photography I've seen. In fact, now that it is all digital, this is simply the best introduction to the craft of photography there is. I can't praise it too much. Forget the Pro in the title; it's for anyone intent on mastering this technology. Even someone who is new to cameras. The Handbook is extremely visual, with tons of diagrams, examples in color, great insights and practical tips, and a very systematic approach to the new path. Like the best guides, it strikes the perfect balance between simplistic overview and too much nerdy detail; every page has useful information new to me, and I've been photographing analog and digital a long time. Freeman is is also incredibly up-to-date. I can't think of much important that he misses. There are some other great guides for specific tasks, like Raw capture, or digital printmaking, which I will review later, but for all around mastery of today's photography (more than cell-phone shots), this is the best (re)education I know of.

-- KK

Pro Digital Photographer's Handbook
Michael Freeman
2005, 256 pages
$60
Available from Amazon

Sample excerpt:

The image below left appears at first glance to be better exposed than the one below right, because the histogram shows the midtones to be fairly central. However, some of the highlights are clipped, and these are unrecoverable in image-editing. The lower exposure below right (one f-stop less) gives an image that looks darker, but note that nothing has been lost in the shadows and the highlights are also preserved. Optimized in Photoshop Camera Raw, it has a fuller dynamic range, evidenced by the lower peaks and higher troughs in the histogram.

Gicl�e - This odd term crops up occasionally on American websites, purporting to refer to high-quality printing, as in "gicl�e fine art prints." It is, in fact, pretentious nonsense. A French term meaning "squirted," it is totally unsuited to its intended application, which is inkjet printing. Companies offering this as a service should be approached with caution.

It sounds so trivial, but a simple piece of gray-colored foamcore, purchased at a local craft store, is a godsend for digital photography. The board's flat surface serves as a perfectly uniform, non-glare background for shooting gizmos and stuff. Stuff, as in stuff you want put up for auction on eBay, stuff to illustrate articles, stuff for your blog. The stiff gray card -- 20 by 30 inches -- produces no highlights, even in full sunlight. The objects appear to float in limbo (or all white). Moving and removing objects from the image using Photoshop is a cinch.

-- Stefan E. Jones

A foam gray card is one of the cheapest useful photo accessories you can get. I use mine all the time. There are plenty of ways to enhance close-up shots, but none simpler or cheaper. If you want to get fancy in your clipping, you can try some green card, as in greenscreen.

-- KK

Foam Board, Graystone
20" x 30"
$9.74 (2 pieces)
Available from Office Depot

Also in quantities of 10 for $71 from Amazon

Ever since laser pointers became drugstore items I wondered if you could use them to make holograms. You can. This book tells how.

-- KK

Shoebox Holography
A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Holograms Using Inexpensive Semiconductor Diode Lasers
Frank DeFreitas, Alan Rhody, and Steve Michael
2000, 128 pages
$16

Amazon

Sample excerpt

There are many laser pointers in the market today, ranging in price from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. In many instances, with the more expensive models you are paying for the fancy casing or adjustable optics. (There are only a handful of diode laser manufacturers in the world, so many times the expensive pointer and the cheap pointer actually contain the same laser.)...Fortunately, the simplest, most rugged (and often least expensive) laser pointers work best for the experiment described in this book.

The shoebox holograph set-up. Laser pen is mounted on the right. A conch shell on the left sits on a motion dampening foundation. A white card is used to focus where the film plate will be.

A zen masterpiece. Veteran magazine photographer Jim Brandenburg, who normally shoots scores of rolls of film per day, gave himself a difficult but possible assignment: Make a portrait of the north woods in upper Minnesota over the ninety days between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. Now make it impossible: Take one, and only one, exposure per day. No second exposure, no second chance. A single arrow per day, and a bull's eye each time. That's zen. For amateurs and professionals alike this requires relying on the Force. Particularly since many of his subjects are wild birds and stealthy wolves. The ninety images stand strong, each on their own, but the complete symphony is one of the most impressive acts of mindfulness I've seen.

All 90 photographs and many other remarkable Jim Brandenburg images are available at his website. Additionally, the full set of images was also published in a smaller format in the November 1997 issue of National Geographic.

-- KK

Chased by the Light
Jim Brandenburg
1998, 104 pages
$17
NorthWord Press
Amazon

Excerpt:

I sensed there would be lessons learned. There were, but not always those I had imagined. Some were merely lessons remembered, recapturing things I had forgotten, such as remaining open to chance, and that, in nature, not all beauty is giant in scale. One such lesson occurred on October 15th, the twenty-third day. It was late and I despaired of capturing anything of value. The day was dark and gloomy; my mood reflected the weather. I wandered through the dripping forest all day long. Tired, hungry, and wet, I was near tears. I was mentally beating myself for having passed up several deer portraits and the chance to photograph a playful otter. None of those scenes spoke to me at the time.

But perhaps because I was patient, and perhaps because, as natives do on a vision quest, I had reached my physical limits, I became open to the possibility revealed by a single red maple leaf floating on a dark-water pond. My spirits rose the instant I saw it, and although the day was very late and what little light there had been was fleeing rapidly, I studied the scene from every angle. Finally, unsure of my choice, I made the shot anyway, thankful at least that the long day had ended. Once more I was surprised by the result. The image seems to have a lyrical quality, with a rhythm in the long grass.

Nine days, nine images. Among the images shown here (taken from the National Geographic article) are a wolf chasing ravens and a bloodied pawprint of an injured wolf.

As photography goes inexorably digital, the old techniques of silver printmaking are resurging in popularity, particularly for collectors. This is the best magazine (in print, with resolution to match) dedicated to artists, both new and established, who work primarily in glorious black and white. It is geared for those, even of modest means, who would like to own a fine, handmade print.

-- KK

B&W
Black and White Magazine
$35, 1 year (8 issues)
PO #700
Arroyo Grande, CA 93421

Excerpt:

Richard Garrod
"Leaves and Log, Oregon," 1981. Silver gelatin

*

Edward [Weston's] photographs of sand dunes, and especially the nudes of Charis in the sand, are so prominent in the history of Twentieth Century photography, and they are so strongly identified with Edward, that most people believe he made them first and that Brett [his son] followed. But that's not the case. Brett began to photograph the dunes in 1932--two years before his father--because he was taken there by his brother Chandler, who had already made photographs there himself.

*

"Underwater Nude," 1980; "Car Abstraction," c. 1980s; "Shore Line, Hawaii," c.1980s; all by Brett Weston.

The Tiltall is a classic; it's been around for at least 40 years. Luckily, they didn't change much over the years, other than it is newly available in a non-reflecting black. Made of aluminum, it's impervious to rust and the weather. The Tiltall's tubular legs are incredibly sturdy, and the simple locking mechanisms secure over time. Unlike most other tripods I've used it doesn't ever wiggle. Like its name implies, it can easily tilt in any direction (most tripods can't). It is not the lightest tripod, but it is utterly reliable and will last as long as you will.

Tripods are good for supporting all kinds of apparatus besides cameras. They can hold anything you need to remain steady at weird angles or heights. I attach a plastic platform to its standard 1/4 bolt on top which means I have an adjustable stand for a projector and other equipment like lights, shades, telescopes, and so forth.

-- KK

Tiltall Tripod
$100
From among others, Amazon