There are few photographers who can claim they haven’t at one time or another accidentally deleted an image or lost an important file, yet so many of us negate the need to back up our libraries. It could be due to laziness, lack of time, lack of knowledge or sheer denial that anything bad will happen that prevents us from doing the most obvious thing – photography 101 – always back up your work.

If you don’t create a separate catalogue of files externally and your computer crashes, laptop gets stolen or your memory card corrupts – you’ll only have yourself to blame, and who’s to say the monetary value as well as wasted time these losses can bring . However, don’t hang your head in shame …

Olympus keeps pushing the PEN, obviously feeding a market need. Now we see an entry level Micro Four Thirds model – the Olympus PEN E-PL1 – that should satisfy the less well-heeled and tech-challenged photographers out there.

It’s hard to deny the physical attractions of the new PEN: the review camera was resplendent in a champagne-silver-gold colour with black trim; a big advantage of this colour scheme is that the control markings are highly visible, unlike the labels on black cameras. There’s also a black camera.

The review kit included the f3.5-5.6/14-42mm lens — an OK starter lens but you’ll soon crave for a faster optic and a wider focal length range: welcome to the world of interchangeable lenses.

Initial passion over, I grabbed the camera, …

I suppose I should not have been surprised when I first set eyes on this camera at a press preview just before Xmas 2009.

Signs of Samsung’s photographic ambition have been evident over the last two years and the company’s release of a pair of very competent compacts (NV24 HD and ST1000) recently confirmed that it was a serious player.

Now it is visibly in the business, not only with a fresh approach to the game in the DSLR-style camera, but with its own range of lenses, the NX.

The Samsung NX10 uses an APS-sized CMOS sensor, along with a bright 7.6cm Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) LCD; the latter promises higher contrast and brighter display and does not rely on backlighting to improve the picture as well as a …

I’ve tried very hard to film with my Canon 5DMKII, the footage is awesome, the color is great and the depth of field and that “prime lens look” are really amazing, but what kills it for me? trying to keep that darn camera still! Introducing, PAG Orbitor

I don’t know if you’ve used one of the HDsLR cameras that are avaliable today, but most all of them are manual focus whilst in video mode. This in itself isn’t a big deal, I mean anyone can manual focus right? You twist the focus ring, sorted! Sure.. But combine that with a handheld dSLR camera with a (potentially) heavy’ish lens and the requirement to see the screen on the back to make sure you’re in focus and you’ve …

I was first approached by the folks at Trek-Tech, a local Pacific Northwest company, when I started my People, Places & Patterns Project. I was interested in sponsors but I’m very picky about who and what I endorse. I’m not going to tout product X as being great if I’d never use it or if it in fact stinks. So I asked them to ship me a product to test on my trips to Africa and Nepal, stating that I’d be happy to send back the test units as I normally do.

What Arrived

The unit they sent me was built specifically for travel. It’s known as the TrekPod GO! Pro and is designed to be broken down to a package that fits in carry-on luggage for most flights (22” or less …