Photo Accessory News

The Pocket Toddy is a compact, double sided lens cleaning cloth that conveniently folds down into its own tiny pocket and includes a sturdy tab that lets you attach it to your key ring. It measures (unfolded) 5x7 inches and folds down to just 2x2½ inches, to easily fit in your pocket or handbag.

If you recently purchased a Mac of any flavor, you no doubt discovered that your new computer has a ton a great features but darn few I/O ports. No USB-A, for instance. Yeah, it has a couple USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, but where do you plug in your USB-A memory card reader? Or maybe an HDMI display?

One of the most misunderstood and overlooked of photo accessories is, without a doubt, the lowly lens hood. At best, most photographers simply take lens hoods for granted. At worst, they leave them in their camera bags where they serve no purpose except to take up valuable space where you could be storing filters or extra batteries.

PhotoPlus Expo in New York City may not have featured as many blockbuster photo gear announcements as photokina in Germany had last month but there was certainly an ample amount of interesting new gear and software at the show.

What’s the best thing to do with an old, sub-2-megapixel camera? Go out and capture some remarkable images, that’s what.

Can you take good pictures with a 1.2-megapixel camera? Can anyone? Here’s a small album of images shot with a diminutive Sony CyberShot DSC U10 to challenge your preconceptions. The images were all captured 20+ years ago at various locations in the US, Germany and Japan.

Exactly what is a Platypod Handle? It's a grip for vloggers. It's a tripod tool: a camera riser. It's a versatile attachment point for lighting paraphernalia, microphones, monitoring gear and other accessories. It pairs perfectly with any Platypod tripod alternative and the Platypod Grip ballhead. It's the brainchild of highly respected NJ physician and brilliant inventor, Dr. Larry Tiefenbrunn, CEO at Platypod Pro LLC.

Designed for professionals, enthusiasts, schools, and clubs, the OpticFilm 120 scanner from Plustek ($1999) can handle negative and positive film, including 35mm filmstrips, individual 35mm slides, and medium format film up to 6x12cm format. The scanner contains an eight-element glass lens and can deliver up to 10,600dpi optical resolution, with a claimed 4.01 dynamic range using the supplied SilverFast software’s Multi-Exposure function. The tabletop scanner is about the size of a six-slice restaurant toaster (about 8x14.5x7.5”) and is supplied with a complete set of very well-constructed film holders, an IT8 calibration target, and a full version (not a trial) of SilverFast Ai Studio 8 software.