Gear

I look at new camera bag concepts suspiciously. Isn't it simply reinventing the wheel? Aren't all these supposed innovations simply bells and whistles? Why would anyone want such a strange-looking backpack bag as the Think Tank Rotation 360º (Street: $280)? Isn't it too much fabric and padding without enough storage? Why in the heck would I want to study an instruction manual for a camera bag?
Because it works. That's why.

The wide-angle half of a matched set made for the Samsung GX-1S, this Schneider D-Xenon, like its sister lens (click here to see test), is clearly based on the digital-only, wide-angle kit zoom (a 27.5-84mm 35mm equivalent) Pentax builds for its *ist DSLRs. As for its Schneider-Kreuznach label, Samsung purchased the right to use it, after Schneider had ostensibly tested both these lenses to ensure they met certain optical requirements.

There are only a handful of useful cross-platform high dynamic range (HDR) programs available, and we're happy to report that after our testing, we'll gladly add FDRTools (www.fdrtools.com) to this short list. This program has a serious-looking Graphical User Interface (GUI), and a workflow that is quite different from its main cross-platform competitors, Photomatix Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS2. But the bottom line is that it works, and it offers some powerful features and functions behind that intimidating interface.

When a magician friend called recently to ask if I would shoot a promotional image for his marketing efforts, I quickly researched other shots of magicians and found the majority to be poorly lit and frankly a little boring. So to set ourselves apart from the rest, we decided to do something a little different.
Our first idea was to incorporate one of any magician's best tools, fire. My friend wanted a casual look for his show, so he dressed down in his on-stage attire and I set up my lights.