Wantist: Give Amazing Gifts

Posts Tagged ‘cameras’

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Lytro: The No-Focus-Necessary Camera

Lytro Light Field Camera

I’ve decided that today’s Gift of the Day needed a little extra attention. It’s that rad. It’s a whole new kind of camera, and it’s pretty amazing.

The Lytro Light Field Camera uses new technology that captures all the light traveling in every direction of the scene you’re snapping a photo of. This means your subject, the foreground, the background, and everything in between is recorded in focus, without you having to adjust anything.

You know those gorgeous photos with a shallow depth of field where the most important part of the image is in focus and everything else is a little fuzzy? Well Lytro lets you take the photo and then decide what’s most important (what you want to be sharpest) AFTER you take the photo. And if that’s not impressive enough, you can focus and re-focus the image again and again.

On top of the no-doubt-about-it greatness of all that, Lytro has a slim, portable form factor. Because of the technology inside, there’s no lag-time before or between snapping photos which helps you capture moments right when they happen, and not a split second later.

Have a go at it with the pics in this post. Click on an image and watch the focus shift. So cool!

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20 Photography Gifts for Expressing your Analog Love

Make Magic Happen print by Jan Skácelík

Make Magic Happen print, Jan Skácelík

Cameras and smiling go hand in hand, and I’m not just talking about picture posing. While most companies are focused on manufacturing slimmer, faster and better devices, it’s nice to go back to our analog roots sometimes. Here are 20 showstoppers fit for every photographic aficionado on your list this season.

Clockwise: Pink Slim Angel Wide-Angle Camera, Fisheye 2 I Love You Edition Camera by Lomography, Powershovel K202 White Cat 35mm Camera by Holga, Yellow 208120 135Tim Plastic Camera by Holga, Blackbird Fly Twin Lens Reflex Camera, Diana F+ CMYK by Lomography

These colorful 35mm film gems are top notch, and given their individuality and reasonable cost, they’d be great gifts for any photographer, rookie or pro. There’s wide-angle, fisheye and telephoto lenses, lots of flash and filter options and they shoot half frame, long and double exposures. Basically, they’re putting every point-and-shoot I’ve ever owned to shame. Oh, and the kitty Holga? IT MEOWS. I know, my mind has been blown too.

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Give & Tell

Give & Tell with Arjun Basu

Arjun Basu

When Arjun Basu gave Twitter a try three years ago, his first tweet wasn’t the usual mic check. Instead he wrote a story, edited it to 140 characters, and hit send. Intrigued and inspired by the limitations, Arjun’s stories, coined Twisters, now number in the thousands.

In addition to these pithy slices of life, Arjun has also authored Squishy, a book of short stories, and his first novel is currently making the rounds with publishers. Today he shares his own gift-giving stories with you, without any character limits. Thanks Arjun!

What are the best gifts you’ve given or received?

I think, first, gifts are situational. An amazing gift can quickly become useless. The idea of a gift is relative. For my last birthday I received socks among other things. Very funky socks. I have a sock problem (meaning, I love socks too much). I admit this. And my wife fed that problem. I was thrilled. Five years ago, I might have looked at the socks and asked “what are you, my mother?” In that same batch of gifts, I recieved the new Momofuku cookbook. Again, I was thrilled. Wait, I may have mixed up two different gift giving events. Good gifts kind of blur together…. Now, because of what I’ve just said, I have no idea what the best gift I’ve ever given was. I’m trying very very hard not to make a crude joke right here. But it’s very hard. I need to step away for a second.

What’s your favorite reason to celebrate with a gift?

I don’t think gifts need occasions. I mean, yes, a birthday without a gift is literally a day without sunshine but if I see something I like, I buy it. And it becomes a gift. Mainly I hate shopping. I hate the physical act of shopping, whether that means going to a store or even perusing the internet. That said, I love buying stuff on the internet that I come across by accident. Because then, I’m not “shopping.” I’m pretty sure I totally didn’t answer that question.
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Tattly: Infinitely Better Than What’s in the Cracker Jack Box

Camera Tattoo Set by Tattly

Camera Set by Tattly

While dreaming all day about creating piles of gorgeous Polaroids, Tattly announced their latest set of temporary tattoos. Cameras. Geeky, adorable, glorious cameras. I. Fell. Hard.

You see, Tattly creator swissmiss knows a thing or two about “design-minded kids and kids-at-heart.” (I’ll gladly throw myself in that ring. Care to join?)

Determined never to affix another ugly clipart tattoo on her daughter, Tina collaborated with her twenty dearest design geniuses to create a line of designy temporary tattoos. Turns out, adults are crazy about them too.

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What to Focus on Tattoo by Marc Johnsworkisnotajob. Tattoo by Catharina BrunsColor burst by Jessi ArringtonSpeak Up by Jennifer Ward

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About a strap: style, a son and a story

RileyG

RileyG Strapworks hand-crafted camera straps

Just right, and then some

We’ve been looking for a camera strap for our SLR with two things in mind, comfort and style. As much as we love our D60, Nikon’s bright yellow broadcast across our shoulder simply won’t do. Our search uncovered all kinds of options at the ends of the spectrum, boring and functional, and cute and girlie, until we found RileyG, our Goldilocks camera strap.

Pro-photographer Aaron Wilcox saw the same hole in the marketplace. On a trip to the music store Aaron’s young son Riley wandered over to the guitar straps, drawn to them for their colorful and crazy designs. Right away Aaron questioned, why aren’t there exciting options like these for camera people?

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Fewer steps, better photography

baLens White Balance Lens Cap gives your photos a boost of color fidelity

Scuffed and battered

Before this discovery, the best way to white balance was a gray card. I had to dig it out of my bag, set it up in the environment…basically I had to do too much.

With this piece of kit, I only set my camera to custom white balance, snap a picture with the lens cap on and presto-chango I’ve got a perfect custom white balance profile for the environment in front of me. Taking better pictures quicker and with less effort—let’s celebrate by taking more pictures.

Consistently better

The baLens white balance lens cap not only improves the color accuracy of each of my photos, I’m saved from having to individually color correct afterwards because all of my photos are consistent with one another.

People have warmth

Is portraiture your game? You’ll be happy to hear that the WBLC comes with both a neutral and warm color dome. We don’t want your loved ones and strangers stalked looking sickly.

Support awesome

One of the best things about buying photography stuff is dealing with Photojojo. They’re an incredible bunch of photo geeks who also know a thing or three about running a smooth business and making happy customers. They might even send you candy.

The baLens White Balance Lens Cap is well constructed, with a smooth, not sticky, action on the pincher clip and a satin finish. Interchanging the color domes is intuitive and concise instructions are included. Works with all brands of SLR cameras and is available in a variety of lens sizes.

Give your lenses a hassle-free upgrade with the baLens White Balance Lens Cap, available for $45-$65 at Photojojo.

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