Manfrotto tripod heads are perhaps the most prolific video heads around. They are easily available and offer a solution for every budget and nearly every type of camera. I have touched on the lightweight, DSLR friendly 701HDV before but I recently had the chance to try out it’s bigger brother. The 503 HDV. The 503 skips over the middle sibling, the 501HDV and adds quite a few extra features and improved weight capacity.
I picked up a HD Helmet HERO 
helmet package back in January and have taken it with me in my camera bag for most of the winter. The Hero camera is available in several different packages depending on what you want to document. I picked the Hero Helmet package as I primarily wanted to have it with me when I was skiing. But you can also buy an HD Motorsports Hero if you want to record some laps at your local track day, an HD Surf Hero if you want to show your off your surf skills from your summer holiday. Or simply get the HD Naked Hero which forgoes any possible mounting options and allows you to pick and choose the mounts that best suit you from the web store. All of the packages contain the same GoPro HD HERO Camera and the fully waterproof housing that you can see in the photo on the left here. On top of that the Helmet package contains multiple methods to attach it to your helmet, and also a head strap that allows you to wear it without a helmet.
Users of pocketwizards and Elinchrom or Alien Bees flashes rejoice! A couple of days ago Pocketwizard announced a couple of pretty cool sounding new products. The PowerST4 and the AC9 adapter for Elinchrom and Alien Bees strobes respectively. They both work in different ways so let me break it down differently… Pocketwizard AC9 Firstly if you have just purchased the new Paul C Buff Einstein lights let me break your heart now and let you know the AC9 does not work with those lights (though intriguingly Paul himself has hinted that there is something else in the works that we
The popularity of smaller form-factor cameras such as the Panasonic and Olympus Micro 4/3 cameras in on the increase. Samsung recently introduced their version, the NX-10 with its mirrorless design and APS-C sized sensor. Sony announced their intention to join the so called EVIL camera market back at PMA when they displayed prototype cameras, but today the NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras were finally made official. And at first glace it looks like they will have been worth the wait!
A few days ago Apple announced that it has sold 1 million iPads in the device’s first month on sale. Less than half the time it took the original iPhone to achieve the same feat. Lots of photographers like a good gadget and many are users of other apple products already, but is there actually any practical use for one? It seems as if the iPad might be the catalyst for a fundamental change in the way that we receive what was previously “printed” media. The iBook store has sold 1.5 million books along with that first 1 million iPads
Adobe release Photoshop CS5 a couple of days ago and one of the most talked about features is the content aware fill tool. I recorded a quick demo of it this morning with a couple of potential uses. I don’t think its quite the “black magic” that it seemed to be when Adobe demonstrated it but it could be a time saver in some situations. Just using the tool on its own though rarely does the job, it still needs considerable touching up with the healing tool and brushes but at least it can get you in the ball park