LATEST ADDITIONS

The Sony Alpha A550 (with kit 18-55mm lens, $1049 list; body only, $949 list) takes us another step forward with in camera processing of HDR and DRO functions. While these items, to me, are the headliners for this camera, other camera amenities add to its allure. These include an articulating monitor, two Live View modes, very good high ISO results, a fast 5 fps (frames per second) shooting rate...

This may surprise you, but I prefer to travel with single focal length lenses rather than zooms.

I have several reasons. First, my primes are usually one to two stops faster than zooms, which is important not so much because I shoot with my lenses wide-open but rather because the extra one or two stops of speed makes the image brighter in the viewfinder—which means...

The awkwardly named yet highly competent K-x is another entry-level D-SLR from Pentax (www.pentaximaging.com) that combines impressive for-the-money 12.4-megapixel resolution with copious amounts of style. The K-x is available in your choice of white or black as well as special, limited edition red and navy versions, all with a body price...

Part of the fun of making inkjet prints is the wide variety of printing surfaces and weights from which you can choose. You can go the budget route and have some fine papers to work with, or choose papers that have brand cachet and a price tag to match. That cachet generally pays off in a level of quality and durability that many printmakers both admire and hope to discover in their printing...