Photo Accessory Reviews

I hadn’t planned to write a “Dads and grads guide for gifting” this year, but then I heard a radio commercial suggesting a DNA analysis kit for Father’s Day. You may have heard it, too—handy little $99 spit-testing thing that tells your dad where he got his genetics and such.

Now, back where I grew up, using the phrases “DNA test” and “Father” in the same sentence was not an event to be celebrated. So I decided that the onus is on Shutterbug to offer some gift ideas that don’t involve chromosomes. Here are seven that have clean genes but crazy names.

If you are using the shoulder strap that came with your mirrorless or DSLR camera, you’re wearing a billboard for the manufacturer. At best it attracts unneeded attention. At worst it alerts snatch artists and other miscreants. Time to switch!

The flash bracket has become the “forgotten accessory” in photography but it’s still an essential tool if you’re looking to achieve consistent studio-quality lighting on the fly.

Ardent photographers all have at least one thing in common: we all need a way to carry our gear. Think Tank Photo offers a very wide variety of carry solutions, including one category you may have overlooked.

April showers bring May flowers—and water damaged camera equipment if we’re not careful. Here are seven nifty devices that fortify your camera gear against the ravages of foul weather.

Nature photographer Steve Perry of Backcountry Gallery gets lots of questions from fellow photographers but one comes up more often than any other. So often, in fact, that he decided to make a whole video about it.

The concept isn’t new. Gamers have been using dedicated yokes, rudder pedals and throttles with Flight Simulator and aerial combat games for at least three decades. Even Super Mario racing games can be purchased with steering wheel controllers. But the Palette Kit from Canadian firm Palette is the most comprehensive set of alternative input hardware interfaces for Lightroom and Photoshop ever.