Before you think you’re finding a great deal on the newest model, look at the next few older ones in the series. Whether you choose Nikon or Canon, the glass will outlive many many camera bodies. You have to hold and feel them in your hands. Personally, I never really liked the smaller plastic DSLR’s, so I always went with older model prosumer bodies made of magnesium allow (Canon XXD series).  The thumb wheel (not sure what the proper name for it is) makes it so much easier to quickly change the settings.  On the Canon Digital Rebel series camera bodies, there is no wheel.

You have to remember, any older model dslr you can still purchase right now was amazing and mind blowing when it first came out, just a few years ago. Keeping up with the latest and greatest tech doesn’t make you a better photographer. Sure, they are tools – and newer features/technological help tremendously.  What lenses should you get?  That’s a whole other story.  For basic, starter, and cheap lenses… get the 50mm f1.8 (about $80-130 depending on Nikon or Canon).  I only know Canon, because that’s what I use.  There is nothing wrong with Nikon, or Pentac, or Olympus either!  You should try both, and see which button layout you like the most, and feel more comfortable with.  It won’t take long to test them out in a local store, and decide for yourself.  I went with Canon because I had a lot of friends also with Canon, and knew we could easily swap, trade, buy, sell, and/or borrow gear from one another.  I always saw that it was easier to buy used gear that was more readily available if I went with one of the main dslr manufacturers, Nikon or Canon.  Canon glass is a little bit cheaper than Nikon, from what I’ve seen too.  Just a tiny bit.  Another lens that is pretty standard is the 18-55 IS or VR lens.  This will cover a decent wide angle to mid zoom range for landscapes and portraits.  Once you get into the higher end lenses, the costs begin to surpass even the prices of the camera bodies themselves, as it should.  Bodies come and go, but good glass is forever (or at least until you drop it, and it breaks).  Don’t think you can’t make amazing pictures with basic starter and kit lenses.  Just look online, and you’ll see millions of folks already doing so.  I have been using my 18-55 IS lens and 50mm f1.8 lenses for almost 7 years now, and still use them to this day, along with my higher end L lenses.

I hope this post has helped – a final bit of advice, is to read read read the reviews online of whatever you’re interested in buying.  You can save SO much money by buying camera bodies use, and that are at least 3-5 years old.  Usually they depreciate in value down to about 25-40% of their original price, in a short matter of years.  Buy what you can afford, and don’t bite off more than you can chew until you know you are serious about photography.

PS: I’ll be updating our gear list with everything we use here at Arena Creative for our stock imagery, if you are looking for additional recommendations.

Imagine if only you didn’t have to worry about nailing the sharpest focus in-camera?  What if you could actually mess around with the depth of field or focus afterwards, during editing?  LYTRO is a company that promises that this technology is not that far off.  This is revolutionary, for the world of photography.  Many times traditional autofocus systems can fail, or suffer from what we call “user error”.  It happens to the best of us, sometimes.  Click on different areas of the photo above.  Double click on a spot to zoom in.  Isn’t that cool?  If this is the future of photography, then I’m pretty impressed.  What does that mean for general amateurs and snapshot shooters?  There will be just one less thing holding them back from creating technically sound images.   How long before Canon and Nikon jump on board with this type of technology?  It’s probably safe to say that they’re already working on it.  Wait until shaky camera phones with slow, crappy lenses get this technology.  This type of tech can definitely be a game changer someday; noteworthy enough to keep your eye on.

If you’re like me, and you’re the type that’s particular about the mouse you’re using, then check out the Logitech G9x.  I spend a lot of time each day on a computer, so the pointing device I use makes a huge difference in my faily workflow.  I enjoy my Wacom tablet as well, but I only whip it out when I’m doing some major photo retouching or if my wrist starts to bother me.  The G9x mouse was designed with gamers in mind.  Even still, graphic designers, photographers, video producers, and anyone else spending a lot of hours on the computer will love this mouse for their daily design and editing tasks.  Whether on a Mac or a PC you will love it.  It’s the updated version of the ever popular Logitech G9.

Initial Thoughts

The shape of the mouse is a little bit funky looking.  My fear was that the mouse was going to be pretty uncomfortable, but seeing that I had found such a great rebate deal for the G9x on NewEgg, I couldn’t pass up giving it a shot.  It has a shorter body length, actually allowing your palm to rest on the mouse pad.  It turns out that I actually enjoy this a lot.  The mouse is very ergonomic and feels comfortable in my hand, and I never felt that the shape or design is a pain.  It didn’t even take much getting used to.

Why This Thing Rocks

Wired laser is the best technology you can get in a mouse right now.  It is the most accurate, and literally spanks optical technology.  Laser doesn’t shine red, as a lot of people think (that’s optical).  Laser mouses do not glow any specific colors; just an invisible light. I wouldn’t try to stare into the hole in the bottom of the mouse while it is on, but you get the idea.  A chorded mouse is usually a pain in the butt compared to the freedom of movement with a wireless mouse.  Why do I say that?  Well, the plastic or rubbery coated chord sometimes catches on the surface of your desk, or on the edge of other items like your monitor base, etc.  The fact that the entire mouse cord is covered in a cloth coated fabric sheathing is something that I thought was absolute genius about the Logitech G9x.  It sounds minor, but you don’t even understand how much of a better feel it gives the mouse when you’re whipping it around in a video game or going wild with tools in Photoshop.  Still, wireless has its own issues.  Like whenever my wife started up our Eureka vacuum cleaner, my old Logitech MX1000 wireless laser mouse would wig out and jump all over the screen.  Then there’s the whole recharge issue, which is way more trouble than it is worth, in my honest opinion.

If you find yourself whipping the scroll wheel a lot in Microsoft Excel, or whenever you’re doing general internet surfing, then you will love the hyperscroll feature.  A bunch of other Logitech mouses have this, as well.  The metal wheel on the G9x feels solid.  When you hit the button on the bottom of the mouse, you will be able to remove the little bumps from the wheel, activating hyper scroll.  Think of it as a fully automatic machine gun spray, instead of a 3 shot burst mode… only for scrolling down rows of screen space, if that makes any sense.  On the fly DPI switching comes in handy if you’re in a game, or if you’re editing something that needs the extra sensitivity.  You can either slow down or speed up the movement of the cursor by increasing or decreasing the DPI.

The grips are even interchangeable!  They pop off really easily with a little switch on the palm end of the mouse.  When they are on they feel just as firm and solid as any other mouse body.  There is one grip that keeps your thumb more off of the mousepad area, and one grip that is a little bit smaller feeling, only with a grippier finish.  I prefer the larger grip, but once in a while I like to change it up and pop on the alternative.  With either grip, you still get the convenient thumb buttons which make instant forward/back web browser navigation a piece of cake.  The forward back button take a little getting used to, but once you are hooked there is no going back.

Ever wish you could make your mouse heavier or lighter?  The G9x has a little tray that pops out, allowing you to customize the weight and feel of it with little metal weights.  Right now I prefer to have a heavier mouse, with all four 4 gram weights filling the tray.  You can also weight it more toward the front or rear; whichever you prefer for your gaming experience.

Conclusion

The Logitech G9x is honestly the best mouse I’ve ever owned, and probably one of the nicest I’ve ever used.  It’s going to have to be my favorite computer mouse of all time.  If you’re tired of the lag of your wireless mouse, and absolutely sick of swapping out dead batteries or cradling it to charge (and trust me, those rechargeable cradle mice always seem to die right when you’re in the middle of something important) then stop wasting any more of your precious time and consider buying this mouse.  My brother-in-law uses this same mouse on his 27″ Apple iMac and loves it, so don’t think that this mouse is only Windows compatible.  You don’t even need to install the Setpoint software that it comes bundled with.  There are also three color options (blue red and green) to change the LED colors to, without installing any of the included utilities.  Overall, this is the best mouse I’ve ever used for both gaming and work, and hope to continue using it for years to come.  I’ve always had a lot of faith and great success with all of my Logitech products. The included 3 year warranty from Logitech shows how much quality goes into them.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be using this mouse at least for 5 years or more, as I did with my last Logitech laser mouse.

Some of the best places you can get lens recommendations from online are the top photography forums.  Check out the links at the end of this post.  Utilize your fellow photo gearheads on Twitter and Facebook, too.  Talk to your photography buddies, or any professionals you might know.  Ask them their opinions, and learn how they came to the conclusions they made on which lenses best suited their needs.

Try not to EVER rush into a lens purchase.  These aren’t pieces of gear you want to impulse-buy at all.  While you might end up with a great quality lens, you might be buying more than you need.  You’d better do your homework, unless you want to be like a clueless sucker walking into a car dealership, not knowing what the difference is between a Camaro or an Impala even is.  Salesman have one goal – to sell.  They will convince you that you need the best of the best, unless are smart enough to realize what you yourself personally need.  Salesmen could care less about saving you money.  Do auto repair shops try to convince you that you need more than you need?  Yes, almost always.  Do electronics stores try to sell you a warranty on anything you want to buy from them?  Of course, they do.  Don’t be a sucker.  Be an educated consumer, and save yourself some time and money.  It’s a pain to have to sell photography gear after you realize you’ve purchased something you don’t really use very much.

When I realized I needed a longer zange telephoto zoom lens, my initial goal was to pick up something basic and cheap.  My first 70-300 was garbage, made by Tamron under the name of Quantarray.  I picked it up second hand on craigslist for a whopping $55 and was actually impressed with the performance of it for the price, when I first got it.  As I went on, I began to realize that the thing had more purple fringing (CA / chromatic aberation) than any lens I had ever owned.  It would have suited a hobbyist just fine, or someone that didn’t care as much about good quality images.  It was capable of producing quality images, but the amount of mistakes you had to fix in post processing basically made it not even worth shooting with.  Now I have an L series 70-200 f4 (non-IS) I bought on ebay, along with a bing.com cashback rebate. There are always rebates and deals online, if you are internet savvy enough you should be able to find them.  When you zoom the aperture is fixed – I love it. Instead of the aperture changing from f3.5 to f5.6 throughout the zoom range, the L series Canon lens has a fixed aperture.  The ultrasonic auto focus is amazingly fast, and way more accurate than a lit lens. The quality of the images are unmatched compared to my older low end lenses, and the CA is so low that it’s just about non-existant. You definitely get what you pay for, when buying glass. Some kit glass is amazing, just having a few limitations. You just need to learn the limitations and invest your dollars wisely, according to the type of photography you do the most.

Uh, oh… I’m about to drop the “U word”.  USED!  Compare prices between new and used for everything you’re interested in buying, when it comes to photo gear.  Every piece of photographic equipment I have everpurchased was previously used.  With the exception of my nifty fifty, which is just about the same price new or used at around $80 USD.  I was the second owner on the rest of my gear, about 75% of it was used only briefly.  Seeing that photography is the type of hobby that many take up only to soon realize they dumped a bunch of money into something they either stink at, or just can’t afford, then that means there are a lot of regretful buyers out there trying to find a way to unload their expensive gear.  My first camera was a second body for a wedding photographer which was lightly used, and in mint condition.  My most recent camera body had just 4000 clicks on the shutter when I bought it, and not a scratch or nick on the exterior.  Both of those purchases saved me enough to buy another camera lens brand new, if I wanted to.

Once you get familiar with some of the more popular pro lenses, so many out there that will make you drool.  There are just way too many good lenses to buy, and never enough money.  If I bought what I “wanted” I could easily blow $10,000-$15,000 or more on glass.  If I bought what I really needed, well then I probably already have what I “need” for the type of work that I do.  What you’ve got to respect about Canon lenses is that genuine Canon glass hardly ever depreciates; L series lenses, especially.  My friend just sold his 70-200 f2.8 I about a month ago for what he bought it for, back 6 years ago.  Amazingly low depreciation.  Glass is always a good investment, and sometimes it helps to borrow or rent before you drop a ton of money. Low end Canon kit lenses like the 18-55 IS and the 55-250 IS, for example, have definitely depreciated in the used market over the past few years.  The 50mm f1.8 (the cheapest decent quality prime lens you buy) always seems to stay pretty solid around $80 new or used.

When you stick to buying glass that is made by your camera manufacturer (ie: Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax) you generally don’t have to worry about older lenses not working with the newer Camera bodies that come out. I’ve heard that some older off brand lenses will stop working with updated Canon or Nikon cameras. Who needs the hassle of having to replace gear that they know works, but doesn’t work with their new upgraded body? Not that there aren’t some good quality off brand lenses, but usually when you stick to your manufacturer, it will turn out better in the long run.

Great sites for lens reviews and research:

Canon POTN Forums and Fred Miranda Forums are definitely my favorite places to talk gear and to read reviews online.
(these are also great places to buy or sell used photography equipment)

Canon POTN Forums
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

Fred Miranda Forums
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

Imaging-Resource
http://www.imaging-resource.com

DPreview
http://dpreview.com/

Lens Hero
http://www.lenshero.com

Lenshero is a pretty helpful type of site that helps “suggest” what type of lens you are looking for, according to your needs.  It allows you to enter in the lenses you already own, as well.  Remember that the site is set up in a way to drive affiliate sales to Amazon.com products, similarly to many other online review sites.  That doesn’t mean you can’t make your purchases elsewhere.

Took me a little bit of digging around, but I found out that you just need to go into your miscellaneous settings area in order to change the default save location.  If you start the link with another hyperlink of http://www.example.com/wp-content/uploads then what will happen is it will upload your images to your wordpress install folder, in a subfolder named “http:” then another one within that names “www.example.com” and then another named “wp-content” and then “uploads” and so on and so on.

Here is an example link of what mine was doing.  http://arenacreative.com/blog/http://arenacreative.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/youradherebanner.jpg  What a mess.

Just change the value back to default, and you’ll be good to go:  “wp-content/uploads”.  I have no glad how my settings were changed; if I did it myself, or if something glitched somewhere along the lines in my WordPress installation.  All I know is I was happy to figure out how to fix it.  Hopefully this helps some other poor soul looking for a solution.  Click the image above to be brought to the help article on the WP site.

Amazingly, a lot of graphic design jobs you might find won’t always have you on a mac.  Make sure you know how to use both – otherwise you’re going to have to educate yourself pretty quick once you land that first design gig straight out of college.  That means knowing what the heck you’re doing in Windows XP and the all new Windows 7, as well as knowing OSX.  Thankfully the Adobe programs are pretty much identical whether you’re on a mac or a pc, with the exception of the alt/option key on your keyboard (it’s not rocket science).

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- the AF is superior to the 5d2, more focus points, better servo mode than the 5d mkii

- it has pop-up flash (comes in handy once in a great while for fill or to trigger strobes) will mount EF-S lenses (I only own one, the rest in my kit are EF mount because I have been planning on going full frame for a while now).

- it has wireless flash controls built in, if you own other Canon speedlights (I don’t have any yet – only Alien Bees B800′s)

- dual digic 4 processors (5d2 only has one)

- shoots video same as the 5d2

- very low noise up to iso 800, where the 5d2 then takes over

- a few more bells and whistles that the 5d2 doesn’t have like on-screen leveling

All of that is fine and dandy, but when it comes down to pixel peeping, I’ve been seeing a lot of softness from the 7D in the samples online.  Not just studio stuff – real world conditions.

This review scares me a little. http://darwinwiggett.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-canon-7d/
I think we have to wait until Adobe updates ACR and Lightroom more the handle the Raw conversion a bit better, in order to come to the proper conclusions. Right now the 7D is looking softer than everything, at 100% native resolution. Sure, you can sharpen, but if there’s a little ISO 200 or 400 noise that low noise camera suddenly turns into worse noise than ISO 1600.

The 7D also out-resolves the glass you mount to it, much more than a 5d2.  That means softer images, seeing that the glass can’t provide enough.  There is a great explanation of what that means in this thread http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73591 by my friend David Rehner.

In the end, either camera bodies are a world of a difference over my old 20D or 40D.  I’m going to wait and see more reviews at least until Spring of 2010 before I start whipping out my credit card. I’m waiting until I am absolutely 100% sure about this.  I think I just might have to rent one of each for a week to do my own tests.  I’m in the same boat as many other photographers, with the 20D, 30D, or 40D.  No doubt the 7D is better in more than one way, but if I can make my daily photo editing a few steps easier by spending the extra grand on the 5d2 I think it might be worth it.  Downsizing is fine, unless you want to utilize the maximum resolution that you possibly can, in order to make the most money from your images.  If I’m going to drop even $1700 on a camera, it had better produce good enough sharpness and clarity at 100% at the fullest resolution.  If not, I might as well spend the extra cash on the full frame.

The age old question that everyone asks… Umbrellas vs Softboxes – Digital Photography Tutorial

http://www.layersmagazine.com/comparing-umbrellas-and-softboxes.html/comment-page-1#comment-57050

Sure, you get different catch lights in the eyes with each.  Round ones with umbrellas, square or rectangle shapes reflections with softboxes.  But here the two are reviewed much more in depth by a real studio guru.  A great video by Jean Francois on the Layers Magazine website.

Just don’t use it on a turkey first!  Don’t be a dork – buy a brand new one and dedicate it to your DSLR.  If you damage your sensor, it’s because you’re an idiot, not because I told you to use the turkey baster out of your mom’s wet dishwasher strainer.  Cleaning the sensor the right way usually involves eclipse fluid and pec pads or something of that nature, but I’m still a little scared to delve that deep into it.  Afraid I might screw it up, so for now – this is good.  Check out how much dust I was able to remove in just the first round of blowing.  I set the aperture to F36 and shot the white ceiling so we could see the dust.

Results:

BEFORE

AFTER

I didn’t get it all, but at least I got rid of 50% of it.  Thanks to my friend Hon for suggesting that I mount my camera and point it downward first, so that when I blow the sensor the dust has the chance to fall out of the camera body, instead of just blowing around inside of it.  That was an excellent idea.

We’ve all heard the rave reviews about this full frame wonder – theCanon 5d mk2.  Here are some links I’ve collected with some impressivesamples to show you how well it performs.  I’ll add more here once Ifind samples that allow you to see the high resolution original imageand zoom in to view it at 100%.

ISO 1600:

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2128

dpreview.com Samples:

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/canoneos5dmarkii_samples/

More Canon samples:

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos5dm2/eos5dm2_sample-e.html

Image courtesy of Sam Cornwell http://www.archedroof.co.uk/

All of the ebay peddlers are going to love me today.  Ever wish your iphone 3g digital camera had just a little bit more reach?  I just discovered this from my buddy Sam after he posted it up on Facebook this morning.  A mini telephoto zoom lens for your iphone!  I even works with other camera phones, but you would probably have to hold the lens on with your hand, making it trickier to shoot with.  I wonder if it would work on my Samsung i760 smartphone…but how cool is this thing, though!?  A great gift for the photo and cell phone geek in you or any of your friends.  Check out Sam’s sample shots with the thing…

Images courtesy of Sam Cornwell http://www.archedroof.co.uk/

Aren’t you sick and tired of sticking your usb thumb drive in your computer to transfer files over to another machine?  Or are you sick of having to email attachments all of the time, or host files on sites like rapidshare, imageshack, or yousendit?  Then Dropbox is for you.

I wouldn’t host your entire stock photography portfolio on this service, or anything else that is private…but for quick transfers back and forth this seems pretty secure.

A fellow microstocker told me about this service, and I’m thankful for that – thanks Andres!  This is a really cool free service. 

Click here to sign up and give it a spin.

Acer 22″ LCD Monitor – $129.99

A 22″ lcd widescreen monitor for $129.99 …That’s just ridiculous.  I’m sure it’s no CRT, but for general web surfing, photo tweaking and gaming, it should be awesome. Keep the CRT as your 2nd monitor for better color and accuracy

The Acer X223WBD is a great 22″ Widescreen LCD monitor for your home, office or dorm room.


http://tgiblackfriday.com/merchant_images/officedepot.pdf

TomTom One 125 Portable GPS at Staples – $99.99
If you’re looking for a cheap portable navigation system, you can get TomTom’s for just $99 at a bunch of different stores – including Staples.
http://downloads.bfads.net/BFAds-Staples-2008-Version1.pdf

Product Description:
Personal Navigation from A to B
Preinstalled maps of US
3.5″ full color LCD touchscreen
Turn-by-turn instructions
High
sensitivity GPS chipset uses QuickGPSfix? speeds up the time it takes
to fix your GPS position to help you drive off more quickly
Pre-installed Points of Interest from gas stations to hotels, so you are sure to find what you want
Foldable EasyPort mount makes it easy to take it with you from car to car
Help Me! Emergency menu: easily access local emergency providers such as police, fire stations and hospitals
Daily Fuel Prices Optional Service: find the lowest priced gas on your route
Click here for complete manufacturer specifications


For more great ad scans visit these fine websites:
http://bfads.net/adscans
http://tgiblackfriday.com/adscans

There are too many deals to list.  All links and info here are courtesy of these two websites – Thanks guys!

…so get your butt out of bed early on Friday, and get out there so you can nab those bargains!  Remember…you have the rest of the afternoon to take a snooze and catch up on those zzz’s – Just don’t forget to set your alarm clock the night before black Friday…

There is a brand named Fancier (makes styles similar to lowepro and such) and I got it for like $25 shipped off of ebay. This one -

You might be able to find it cheaper than this
guy is selling it though. The bag is on the smaller side, yet I have 3 lenses in it (18-55, 50mm, and 70-300 w hood reversed) plus enough room for a flash. The 20D with the battery grips fits tight, but with plenty of room. It doesn’t flip around, but it’s pretty comfortable since it’s on the smaller side + has two straps.

There’s also a little loop on the left strap perfect for hanging your tripod from your chest. Tons of pockets and crap. Another zipper pouch on your right chest strap for a space battery, or small cell phone.

I looked forever for a bag, this one works for me. I also have a smaller sling type I got at walmart for about $25, but that ones kind of stupid looking. No space for anything more than my 18-55 attached +
50mm. I also have to remove the battery grip to use that one. Anyone need a bag like this? It’s still good for travel I guess, when you want
to travel lighter.

$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera – Lose The Tripod – More amazing videos are a click away