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Digital Camera AccessoriesCurrently Manufactured | Discontinued Accessories
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| This is an area for reviews of accessories for digital cameras. Stay tuned for more info in the not-too-distant future! |
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Currently Manufactured |
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| Belkin USB Adapter with Kodak Picture Upload Technology |  |
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 When a few guys in a lab at Kodak came up with an automatic way to transfer image files to a computer, hardly anybody was watching. But we were. And this month, Belkin is offering that automatic file transfer solution (called Kodak Picture Upload Technology) with a USB adapter for $50. Read our report to find out what the product does and why it matters. |
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| Bottle Cap "Tripod" | ||
 If I had a dollar for every time I've wished
I had a tripod handy, but didn't schlep one along because it would have
been too bulky, I'd be retired already (and you wouldn't be reading this).
Reader Jake Ludington wrote in with news of a nifty little product that
turns an ordinary 2-liter soft drink bottle into a temporary "tripod",
that looks like it could be just the ticket to pack along to picnics, concerts,
ball games, etc. Better yet, Jake also did a nice
little article about how to make a do it yourself version. As I write
this (in July, 2004), there's an outfit selling
them through a yahoo store (the link for which may or may not remain
valid in the future), but Jake's
how-to article should be around for a good while to come. |
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| The Great Battery Shootout! | ||
 Right after the camera itself, and having
a large enough flash card, batteries are probably the most important
element of your digicam "kit". In the AA-powered world, there's
been a flood of different makes and models of NiMH rechargeables hit the
market in the last year, with wildly varying claims of performance. I've
been tinkering with battery testing as a background task for the last year,
and have finally gathered all the data together into a massive "battery
shootout." The results are interesting, to say the least, with some
batteries rated at lower mAh capacities performing better than others with
higher mAh ratings. |
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| ColorVision Spyder2PRO | ||
 ColorVision's Spyder 2 Pro product is the one that we eventually settled on for in-house use here at Imaging Resource. It consistently did a good job calibrating the monitors we tried it with, seemed less prone to getting lost in the weeds with difficult-to-calibrate monitors, and also provides a good capability for matching multiple monitors to a common standard. No product is ever perfect, but we found the Spyder2PRO to be better than most and it offers a flexibility found in few other monitor calibration solutions. Read our review for the all the details. |
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| Datacolor Spyder3 Elite | |
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 We've always used Datacolor Spyders for monitor calibration, but we never really liked them. Until the Sypder3, that is. The newest Spyder fits a large sensor in a smaller package and can recalibrate twice as fast as it can calibrate. We never complained about our older Spyders but we never reviewed them either. Each one had some issue that seemed to require duct tape to resolve. But not the Spyder3. Datacolor seems to have gotten it right this time. Read our review for the all the details. |
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| Digipower's DPS-9000 | ||
 What makes this unit unusual is its packaging
(it screws onto the tripod mount of your camera), and also the wide range
of cameras it can power. - Digipower lists nearly 200 models on the compatibility
chart, including no fewer than five different adapter cables to fit them
all. The DPS-9000 is no slouch when it comes to power capacity either. I
don't have a formal test for external power packs, but it managed to power
a Nikon Coolpix 5700 in its worst-case power drain mode (capture mode with
the rear panel LCD lit) for nearly four hours. (!) All in all, one of the
nicest external power packs I've seen, and already available from our affiliate
Ritzcamera.com. |
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| GE/Sanyo Eneloop AA Rechargable Batteries | |
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 The NiMH rechargeable AA battery is still a favorite for entry-level and long zoom digicams, both. But it's always suffered from a rather poor shelf life. Until recently. We picked up a set of four GE/Sanyo Eneloops on our next trip to the mall and gave them a try. Read our report for the whole story. |
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| Klikk Camera Stand | |
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 For a long time, we've been addicted to a genre of gadget we have to call tripod substitutes. It's a healthy addiction. You come home with sharp shots. But we have to say we've never used a tripod substitute as unobtrusive and yet as useful as the Klikk camera stand. You don't even have to be shooting to find it useful, we found. Read our review to see just what makes it stand out.
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| Lensbaby 2.0 | ||
 It may be a gadget lens, but it's a lot of fun. And if you think about it, isn't this the way we actually see things. Read our review for the whole story! |
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| Lensbaby 3G | |
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 We only had two complaints about the Lensbaby 2.0. But the Lensbabay 3G takes care of both of them, making this fun lens even easier to use. Read our review for the whole story! |
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| Maha/PowerEx C-204W | ||
 Longtime readers of this site will know
that my favorite charger for NiMH AA cells has been the Maha C-204F for
some years now. I liked its charging capabilities, and its provision for
discharge-conditioning batteries, something that I consider essential in
a general-purpose NiMH charger. Maha has just recently updated the C-204
design, calling the new model the C-204W. The new unit has a number of improvements,
including an internal international power supply, which means that it
needs no "wall wart" transformer (better portability), and can be used pretty
much anywhere in the world that has AC power. All in all, a very nice little
charger, and my new favorite for AA cells. |
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| Maha/PowerEx C-401FS | ||
 Maha has now developed the C401FS as an
extension to the 204. The new 401FS sports four completely independent charging
"channels" (basically four individual battery chargers in a single
housing), so it can optimize the charge for each battery individually. This
insures the best possible performance of your battery packs, and guards
against cell damage due to mismatched cells. The 401FS also has a fast/slow
charge switch on it, so you can choose whether you want a fast (yet safe)
~100 minute charge, or a slow (and super-gentle) ~5-8 hour one. If you're
looking for a very capable little charger for your AA or AAA NiMH (or NiCd)
cells, check out the C401FS! |
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| Maha C-801D Battery Charger | |
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 Maha Energy, the makers of my long-time favorite NiMH AA cell charger (the Maha C-204W) has come out with a new model, capable of charging or conditioning up to 8 cells at a time, with a separate charging circuit dedicated to each cell. The new charger works for both AA and AAA cells, and either NiMH or NiCd battery types, and sports both rapid- and soft-charging modes. If you have a lot of AA batteries to manage, the Maha C801D could be just the ticket! Read all about it in my Maha C801D review. |
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| Malibu Scope | ||
 Somewhere between the 10x magnification of a long zoom and a 60x entry-level telescope is the spotting scope. Designed for terrestrial viewing, you can easily mount a camera to it, making it a tempting accessory. The affordable Malibu scope includes a carrying case (because it's small enough to go with you, like a large zucchini), tabletop tripod and a camera adapter. Read our report. |
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| Nikon Coolpix Converter Lenses | ||
 The Nikon Coolpix 880, 900, 900s, 950, 990,
and 995 models enjoy not only an excellent internal zoom lens but an extensive
line of optional lenses. These lenses range from a fish-eye to a 3-time
teleconverter. Check it out! |
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| Pantone hueyPRO | |
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 Pantone has an inexpensive solution to monitor profiling called the huey (a playful extension of the word "hue"). And they've recently bulked up the software with the new hueyPRO. We took the hueyPRO for a spin this week. Read our review for the full story. |
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| Pandigital PanTouch Photo Frames | |
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 The PanTouch series of frames features one big advance over previous Pandigital frames: a patent-pending touch sensor that is sensitive enough to work behind multiple surfaces. Read our review for the full story. |
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| Pandigital Photo Frames | ||
 Pandigital has managed to build a full-featured digital frame (card reader, 128-MB storage and a bright display) while keeping costs surprisingly low. And you can find their frames at many retail outlets, too. How good are they? Read our review for the full story. |
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| Photoflex Digital Lighting Kit | ||
 In photography, lighting is half the battle.
(Some would say 9/10ths of the battle!) Newsletter Editor Mike Pasini took
a look at a nifty little lighting kit from Photoflex, and liked
what he saw... |
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| Photoflex First Studio Product Kit | |
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 Photoflex has recently introduced its LiteIgloo kit, a nylon tent in three sizes, and bundled the medium-sized one with a couple of lights and stands to make up the $249.95 First Studio Product Kit. We give it a test drive and report our findings. |
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| SanDisk Combo SD Card/USB Pen Drive | |
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 Some very interesting things can fly under a reviewer's radar. SanDisk's Secure Digital card with a split personality is one of them. This combo SD card/USB pen drive been around for a year and half, but it isn't entirely obvious how to use it. We reveal all in our review. |
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| Sony Cyber-shot Station CSS-HD1 | |
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 The Cyber-shot Station CSS-HD1 isn't Sony's first dock, but it's the first one to offer component output to high definition television so you can enjoy your images in all their glory. We popped a T100 on it and ran a few slides shows and movies on both an HDTV and little 13-inch standard set. Read our review to see what it looked like (there's a movie of the HDTV slide show). |
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| Ultimate Light Box | |
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 At PMA in Las Vegas this year, we stumbled on what looked like a Sto-fen designed by NASA. It uses a custom black adapter that slips on your flash head and a particularly attractive diffuser that snapped on to that. But it doesn't stop there, much to our delight. It's actually a system of diffuser accessories that can turn your flash into a soft box, too. We like systems. And we like soft boxes. So we asked Harbor Digital Design to send us its Pro Pack Plus for our Nikon SB-800. Read our review to see how we liked it. |
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| Wacom's Intuos2 Graphics Tablet | ||
 Wacom recently reinvented its popular pressure-sensitive
graphics tablet, revealing the Intuos2 at Seybold San Francisco in September.
We've had a chance to get intimately acquainted with the 6x8 tablet and
tell all in an expanded illustrated version of our earlier newsletter review.
Read our review for more details! |
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| Western Digital MyBook Studio II Hard Drive | |
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 Like any other "stuff," image and movie files always seem to expand to fill all available hard drive space. Western Digital may have an answer though: They've updated their popular MyBook line of hard drives with the new MyBook Studio II models. With maximum capacities of 1 and 2 Terabytes (that's a million megabytes) and an option for RAID 1 mirroring for increased reliability, these huge drives could be the just the ticket for space-constrained photographers. We took a look at one of the new drives, found it fast, quiet, cool-running, and able to connect to just about any (Mac or Windows) computer system. Check out our Western Digital MyBook Studio II review for all the details! |
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| WhiBal White Balance Reference | |
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 White balance is one of those rarely discussed issues in digital imaging that deserves a full airing. Your camera is always guessing at it when you set its White Balance mode to Auto. And many sources of artificial light just don't neatly fall into the incandescent or fluorescent categories. But there's a simple (and affordable solution) called the WhiBal. It's a plastic card that is certified to be neutral and light enough for a camera sensor to make sense of. Read our review to see how to guarantee your images will have accurate color. |
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| Zenon MagneFlashCT Midi Pro | |
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 Taking product shots without special equipment can be challenging. You have to somehow diffuse your light source and balance it with reflectors, at least. Zenon's Peter Louden has developed a unique solution with some compelling advantages. The Zenon copy table uses three light panels based on his MagneFlash technology. By using powerful strobes whose light is diffused over a large panel, the copy table lets you hand-hold your camera and shoot at high shutter speeds, capturing the shine on metal objects. Read our report. |
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| Zenon MagneFlash 57Plus | ||
 Our disdain for the flash units built into
every digicam (and proliferating like a virus into some dSLRS even) is so
strong that we think of them as inherently defective. So when newsletter
subscriber Bill Stocks put us on to Peter Louden's Zenon MagneFlash, we
begged for one to review. Peter sent us a review unit and we've been playing
with it for weeks now. Read our report. |
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Discontinued Accessories |
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| Harbortronics DigiSnap 1000 |  |
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 The DigiSnap is a wired remote, or electric shutter
release that can be used as a trigger for a single picture or for time lapse
photography. Check it out! |
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| The Iomega Clik! drive | |
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 Infinite
photo storage for digicam owners on the road! - The Clik! is a slick gadget
that lets you offload images from your memory cards to small removable disks.
We found that the Clik! drive had a huge impact on our picture-taking!
Check it out! |
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| Kodak Smart Picture Frame | |
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 When we first saw Kodak's Smart Picture
Frame, we thought "Oh yawn, another $350 photo gadget." The more
we dug into the product though, and played with it, the more we realized
that this is a really cool product! Read our review! |
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| Maha/PowerEx "PowerBank" External Batteries | |
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 Maha's two-model PowerBank line is marketed
under the PowerEx brand name. These units are available in both NiMH and
Li-Ion flavors, pack a pretty powerful punch, fit most cameras on the market,
have a handy "gas gauge" LED readout, and can be charged on the
go from a cigarette lighter. Read the review
for all the details, these gadgets look like winners! |
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| Maha/PowerEx C-204F | |
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 The C-204 is cheap, versatile, and actually
does about the best job of packing a full charge into NiMH AAs of anything
we've come across. Read the review if
you must, but if your camera uses AA batteries and you don't get one of
these, you'll have only yourself to blame for half-dead batteries that quit
way before they should. Just go buy one and thank us later. ;-) |
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| Maha/PowerEx C-2000 | |
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 This unit not only charges the usual digicam
AA cells, but handles a wide range of camcorder battery packs as well, regardless
of battery chemistry. (It charges NiMH, NiCd, and LiIon packs.) We found
that it really needs to be used with a trickle charger to top-off NiMH cells
for maximum capacity, but used in that mode, it offers a very gentle charging
solution. (The batteries stay fairly cool.) If you have both a AA-using
digicam and a camcorder in the house, the C2000 would make a great do-everything
choice. Slick product, a real jack-of-all-trades
charger at an attractive price! |
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| The Minds@Work Digital Wallet | |
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 Run out of space often on your memory card?
The Digital Wallet has 6 gigabytes of portable storage space, all right
at your hand. It even works on both PCs and Macs. Definitely worth reading
our review! |
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