Jon Sienkiewicz Blog

There is something about mistletoe and holly that makes my heart scream out: “It’s time for some more cool photo gear.” The mere thought of reindeer hooves on the rooftop gives me the urge to clean out my gadget bag collection and make room for something new. If you suffer from the same seasonal malady—or if there’s a photographer in your life who deserves more than a re-gifted lump of coal—here’s a list of camera stuff that every picture-taker will enjoy receiving as a holiday gift.

Thanksgiving is that magical time that happens only once a year. Thank heavens. It’s a time for peace and love and opening our hearts and homes to relatives we normally don’t bother with. It’s the season for vapid overindulgence—stuffing ourselves with turkey (bird meat that’s usually reserved for Club sandwiches, frozen weight watcher entrees and an occasional tasteless, low-fat burger). Football—lots of football—and couch naps are the order of the day, while the exotic foods that are eaten only at this time of the year (marshmallow-encrusted yams, slippery cranberries and that dried-up bread stuff—what is it? Dressing?) vie for domination of our glutted stomachs

In a world where gadget bags are made of black ballistic nylon and closed-cell foam, Tenba has always boogied to slightly different beat. Their latest addition, the Cooper Collection, stands apart from anything you’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for a holiday gift for the photographer in your life—a gift that they’ll pass on to their grandchildren—get in line to buy a Tenba Cooper. 

Adobe has released version 14 of Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements. Both are exciting and easy-to-use, and offer enough editing horsepower for most photo and video enthusiasts. Although Premier 14 is chock full of improvements, including some cool new things you can do with 4K video, I found the enhancements in Photoshop Elements to be more groundbreaking and fun. So that’s what we’ll focus on today. 

Sometimes an old fashioned recipe and the latest modern technology don’t mix: zap-blasting your grandmother’s vegetable soup ingredients in a 10,000-watt microwave instead of slowly simmering them for six hours, for example. But other times strange bedfellows bring out the best in each other. Such is the case with Lensbaby optics on modern digital cameras.

Alamby Leung is known to millions of photo enthusiasts as the girl who used to be a background character on the YouTube channel DigitalRev TV. We caught up with her recently and asked her how life is after leaving that popular show. 

To make a better lens, one that avid photographers might even be inclined to leave on their DSLR camera permanently, Tamron set aside all of their former notions about lens design and construction and went straight back to the basics with the new Tamron SP 35mm f1.8 Di VC USD (Model F012) and SP 45mm f1.8 Di VC USD (Model F013) prime lenses, which are the subjects of this review.