Jon Sienkiewicz Blog

One of my favorite camera straps and a brand that’s widely used by professionals is going away. I’m sad to confirm the rumors that UPstrap production is ending soon, likely by the end of this year. The message today is simple and clear: if you want to buy one of the professional camera straps that I think are the best on this planet, order one now.

It’s November, and that means retail stores and malls are shifting into end-of-year holiday decoration mode. Soon the red-suited elf will be shaking his bell outside the train station. Is it rushing the season? You be the judge. One thing we know for sure: it’s not too early to pick up a few new ways to give your holiday photos that extra sparkle.

We evaluated the Synology DiskStation 1522+ NAS for several weeks and discovered that it does a whole lot more than just store image and video files. It provides secure backups, multi-media server functionality, password-protected file sharing and multi-platform accessibility all rolled into one compact box—and that’s only the beginning.

Tamron just announced an 8X lens for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras that starts at 50mm and zooms to 400mm, widening the range of creative applications compared to telephoto zooms that begin at the 100mm focal length. In addition to beginning at 50mm (the established “normal” or “standard” focal length for full-frame cameras) the new ultra-telephoto zoom focuses as close as 9.8 inches, rendering a magnification ratio of 1:2 (one-half life size).

Photographers revere the Golden Hour, but when does it actually get dark? You have a rough idea of when night falls where you live, but what if you’re traveling to a distant location in another time zone? Here’s a link to a US Navy website that will fetch all pertinent sunrise and sunset information that you need.

Moving pictures, companion apps, support for Apple’s M1 chipset and smaller footprints are some of the highlights of the 2023 release of beginner-friendly Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements. Elements gets better every year, and with a healthy boost of new music and background content plus AI (in the form of Adobe Sensei), this year’s versions are over the top.

If you stumble trying to decipher the abbreviation NAS, don’t feel alone. When cameras went digital, photographers were expected to magically become computer wizards. Who has the time? Among the many advantages of installing a NAS drive is the immediate harnessing of powerful computer tools without a junior degree in IT—all the while keeping your energy focused on what you do best: taking pictures, shooting videos and/or creating web content.