Photo Accessory Reviews

My friend Kasia (not her real name) bought a Click Bit bracelet last month to track her photography activity and immediately became obsessed with recording every detail of her camera life. Not passively obsessive, either—she’s become a compulsive, fanatical, evangelistic, raving maniac. But let’s go back to when she was still just chubby Kassie…

Photographer Ryan Stout used his engineering skill to create “Arsenal” which he describes as “the world’s first intelligent assistant for DSLR and mirrorless cameras. The idea is that with this compact, wireless device you can use an iOS or Android smartphone to control your camera and take the guesswork out of capturing great images.

Photographers should back up their image files—it’s as simple as that—and there are numerous services that offer their services today. In this article I’ll be looking at one, Carbonite (www.carbonite.com), that works somewhat differently from others. Many people have told me that their $59 per year for the Home Plan, unlimited backup, is a steal, so I thought I’d check it out.

You stumble into your favorite Starbucks half-awake as you do every morning and WHAM! There's Elvis standing at the end of the counter — fringed shirt, sequined guitar strap and all. You do a quick draw from your iPhone holster while The King patiently waits for his venti peanut butter banana flat white with an extra three pumps of funnel cake syrup, but — damn! — the battery is dead. What do you do? You're missing your chance to join the annals of consumer photojournalism and a shot at certain Instagram history. That's about a zillion Likes being blown to tarnation.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever taken a flash photo and wished a) it wasn’t so washed out, b) it didn’t have those harsh, black shadows behind the subject, c) it wasn’t so bluish all over, or d) it were possible to do it all over again because the results just plain sucked. Does this picture sound familiar? You need a flash modifier. In fact, you may need a BounceLite.

Wet happens. Having photography without protection in unstable climates is more than risky—it’s an invitation to calamity. Practicing unprotected video may seem like a safer alternative, but that’s a myth. Why take chances with something as precious as your camera? Here’s a look at five products you should have on hand when life deals up an unexpected cloudburst.