Hope you all had a wonderful feast on Thanksgiving!
Maybe you got the gear purchases sorted, and maybe you’re still making the list and checking it twice

There will be more gear lists ready for Cyber Monday, don’t worry!

This year, some of our favorite galleries and photo organizations are doing Black Friday sales!OK, some are holiday sales,so not as intense of a rush!

Like Magnum:
A prestigious organization of celebrated photographers, started by people like Henri Cartier-Bresson.
This year they have sales on a few of my favorite things. If you were ever thinking that photos in the past, primarily commercial photographs, weren’t worked on, here is some of the proof that master printers had hands on these. Make sure you check out some of the options for prints.  Below is a photo of James Dean, with printing notes.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Whether you are getting ready to watch the Macy’s Parade, or maybe putting together your Black Friday/Cyber Monday gift buying guide, here is a list of the guides to where we are at to date to ease your shopping questions.

The categories:

*Get A Grip

*The Tools You Need

Media Storage & Drives

*On the Road Again

Mobile Content Creation

*Camera Bags

*Power Up

*Software

Oh yes, there is more to come! Have a great turkey day!

The Classic Meal Add-On!

On category that has been exploding these past few years is mobile content creation.
Between major upgrade in phones, the move to USB-C in all phones (yes, I know Android has already been there) and the ability to record ProRes/4K direct to external small SSD’s, the democratization of creating higher end videos is here to stay.
On board storage is not the issue it once was.

One company has been putting out gear that is magsafe, works in a system, and is easy to carry, and that is the ShiftCam series.
Between a phone charging hand grip, a mag safe light, and a magsafe cold shoe, this is always in my bag.

Yes, packs small, plays big. Here is the official vid. Continue Reading »

Seems like three will be record breaking traveling going on this season, and next year will see even more!
We are back on the road!
Be prepared!

One of my favorite ways to keep all of my tech goodies together is the Peak Design Tech Pouch.

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To be honest, one of the main things I purchase every year on Black Frida/Cyber Monday is storage. Usually the best deals of the year

We’re talking media cards, SSD drives for the laptop, hard drives, card readers, and more.
And, as luck would have it, B&H just posted a bunch of their deals in this category. I also recco buying from BH as there is a peace of mind knowing I’m getting the official product. Yep, there are some counterfeiters out there!

If you are upgrading your RAID drives, a good time to get the best deals for the most storage. Remember for the best efficiency of your system, having at least 10% free space, if not 20% will be a great way to speed up any logjams in your system.

Truth is that this also the time of year that brands will be selling off stock, including the current crop of cards & drives as there is major electronics show in Jan called CES in Vegas, where all the newest gear will be introduced. Not cameras but everything else
Just the facts.

Here are some of the best you should consider picking up. Remember – your camera brands will have a list on their websites for preferred media cards, so you should consult these as well. I have used all of these items below, and depend on them.

For me, Delkin CFexpress cards are awesome and with the deals, get the fastest read write/speed you can get. These will do you well, whether you are shooting stills or video.
The Black Series

or Power series

Another brand you should consider is the AngelBird line of media. It could be cards for your camera, or mainly drives for your Atomos monitor/recorders, excellent choices will do well with these. They even have a shortened SSD Mini drive for Atomos that makes the profile when inserted perfect.
Small company with high quality products.

Going back to the Delkin line, they also package cards with their dual card readers, that will read your CFastB, and SD cards on one unit, which is perfect for travel as well.
USB-C ,so compatible with the latest.

Another card reader that has its pluses is the ProGrade dual card reader. What i like about this one is the magnet on the bottom, so you can mount in your workspace with the include adhesive backed metal strip. for those who need to be posting super-fast, you can mount it to your laptop lid, using the same metal strip.
In the past we would use Velcro, but new days!
And for those concerned about magnets and media cards, don’t worry, no issues here.

For the portable SSD, it’s the Samsung T7 for the win. Whether you are needing a drive to store your work while being portable . or you need to record directly to drive from your phone, this is the one.

It comes in 1, 2and 4 TB.
And for media card wallets, nothing beats the ThinkTank card wallet. And after 12 years of using mine, they still are my go-to carry solution. When you are on assignment, and need to have fast access, a fully loaded wallet in your pocket makes life a bit easier. And yes, there are  bunch of colors and some that willhold batteries as well

Regarding RAID drives, I always prefer a system that does not depend on proprietary software. We have seen systems go down in the past few years , like Drobo. I have purchased drive enclosures on EBAY, that I know I can take a drive out, put it into a hard drive dock, and all of my material is intact.Here is the Sabrent, which I use.

More to come daily this week, with a break on Turkey day.

Start getting your lists together and get ready for the deals!