LATEST ADDITIONS

Nikon introduced an amazing superzoom camera tonight: the Coolpix P900, all-in-one compact that features a head-turning 83x built-in zoom lens. For those keeping score at home, that translates into an astronomical 24-2000mm (in 35mm equivalent) zoom lens in a camera not much bigger or heavier than a small, entry-level DSLR.

Margot Cheel is an award-winning aerial photographer whose work has been exhibited in New England, South Florida and Ontario Canada. Cheel’s photos have also appeared in numerous publications, calendars and environmental presentations. She recently published a hard cover photography book of her coastal images of Cape Cod entitled “Sea & Sand from the Sky: Aerial Photography”.

Cheel received her Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College, Vermont, and worked in production at WGBH-TV in Boston. She is also the co-founder the Twin Willows Arts and Craft Center in Ontario, Canada. After more than three decades as a creative arts teacher, she launched an aerial photography business that merged her love of the arts with her passion for flying. 

The Sony A77 II is the replacement for the A77, which made its debut in 2011. The A77 II uses a new image sensor with 6000x4000 pixels (same resolution as the A77) that, while sharing the same resolution as its forerunner, does have a new micro lens system that captures more light on each single pixel/diode of the sensor. This helps raise the maximum ISO to 25,600 and to 51,200 as a “push.” In contrast to some other new advanced cameras, the APS-C sensor in the Sony A77 II uses a low-pass filter to prevent moiré effects.

Need to shoot a camera for eBay, Thingamajig for your employer’s website or pastry for the bake sale? You can get slick, professional-looking results with minimal headache and a very tiny investment using mostly recycled stuff.