What The Duck 374

“All I want for Christmas are my two butt cheeks”

You can view a larger version of the Comic

What The Duck 358

It’s Animated Comic Strip Friday.  You can find more here.

Holiday Gift Guide: Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ballhead

The following is part of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything from Really Right Stuff. But their new BH-40 Ballhead is that piece of equipment that makes you question why you struggled for so long with that other inferior tripod head you had. It is their mid-sized ballhead and is perfect for popular light to mid-sized gear such as 70-200mm/f2.8 and 300mm/f4 lenses. This ballhead is load-rated at 18-pounds but weighs only 13-ounces.

The Perfect dSLR Dad Holiday Gift

The following is part of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

For all of you dSLR Dad’s (or dSLR Dad significant others) I have here the perfect gift idea. A B&H Photo gift card (they start at $20):

For those of you who may not know, B&H is pretty much where all the professionals go for their equipment needs. They have everything, and normally at the best price. There are only two places I purchase my dSLR gear, and that’s Amazon and B&H Photo. Great sites, with great prices, without the hassle.

Happy Thanksgiving for All

Best wishes to all those dSLR Dad’s in the United States.  For all of you dSLR Dad’s in other parts of the world taking the time to read my blog, make today “Big Family Meal Thursday.”

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday.  It’s a time to create a large and wonderful meal to share with your Family and Friends. Let today be the day that you take a little extra time and appreciate those around you.  And while you’re at it, snap a few photographs of those around you.

Today’s Holiday Photography Tip:  When you look through the viewfinder, look at what’s behind your Loved One.  If you don’t like the background, change your angle or move to the side.  This is one way to move from a snapshot to a photograph.  This will not only make the background clearer, but also help eliminate the akward piece of furniture sticking out the side of someone’s head.

Nikon D300 now shipping at Amazon

Amazon has the Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) in stock and ready to ship. You can check it out here.

Canon EOS 40D Camera Raw Fix Coming

Rob Galbraith has posted that Canon USA’s customer support is telling Canon EOS 40D customers that there will be an upcoming firmware update. the update is expected to improve incompatibility between CR2 RAW files and Adobe’s Camera Raw plug-in. Expect v1.0.5 firmware to be released the end of November.

You can read more details here.

Top 12 Filter Techniques from Outdoor Photographer

Outdoor Photographer magazine’s latest article has twelve tips on how to use Graduated Neutral-Density Filters. You can read the entire article here.

I have an additional tip for you dSLR Dads. When you buy a polarizer, get the biggest filter size you think you will ever use (probably 77mm). Then you can just use a Step-Up Adapter Ring to the 77mm Filter Size on any of your other lenses.

What the Duck: Quitting your Day Job

You can find more What The Duck comic strips here.

What all Microstock Agencies really Pay

Sure, you may have heard of iStockphoto, the micro-stock photography website with a collection of member-generated royalty-free images that sell for between $1 and $15 per use. But there are many others. If you’ve been thinking of gear some of your photography towards stock to earn a little extra cash, here’s a good article detailing all of the major microstock agencies. It includes the cost of credits and payout to photographers. Just remember, the key for success is volume and listing at multiple sites.

You can read the full article here.

California Wildfire Gallery at the LA Times

 The LA Times has created a gallery on it’s website entitled Facing the flames.  It is a collection of images by it’s own photographers covering the wildfires in California.  You can view it here. 

It’s Official: Canon Admits EOS-1D Mark III AF Problem

Canon made it official by announcing that the AF mirror mechanism may be out of adjustment in some EOS-1D Mark III cameras.

After a thorough investigation, we have found that some EOS-1D Mark III cameras may have an issue with the mirror mechanism, which is part of the autofocus optical system. This issue may cause inconsistent focusing accuracy or inconsistent focus tracking with moving subjects when using AI-Servo AF and continuous shooting modes, particularly in high temperatures.

The EOS-1D Mark III cameras that could have this problem can be identified by serial number: If the serial number on the bottom of the camera is between 501001 and 546561, the camera might require an adjustment of its AF mirror mechanism. Please note that the issue occurs only in some EOS-1D Mark III cameras within this serial number range.

If you need more information from Canon, you can find it here.