Staff Writer's blog

In lieu of taking a vacation, some people are opting to make the space around their homes more entertaining. If you enjoy listening to music or entertaining at home, you should consider extending your sound system outdoors to your garden, terrace, or patio. This involves a relatively modest investment in a category referred to as landscape, garden or rock speakers. 

Are your neighbors banging on your wall during band practice? Are your parents threatening to pull the plug on what could be the next Metallica? If so, you and your band need a "silent rehearsal studio." Meet JamHub.

JamHub allows a band to play together through a small portable "JamHub" while performers monitor themselves and each other through personal headphone mixes. Such an option is ideal for:

As with most 'all-in-one' solutions, off-the-shelf DSLR kits have their limitations. Most include a body, lens, winder, and flash, which is adequate for most applications. But there comes a time when the zoom lens that came with the camera isn't wide enough, long enough, or fast enough for your needs. Your camera's built-in winder has its limitations, and the built-in flash also goes just so far. Beyond casual snapshots and party pictures, they quickly become anemic, and the dead-on blast of light that emanates in line with the lens can make casual portraits look like mug shots. Have I touched a sore spot in your photographic life?

Got a hankering to go on a safari in Africa? If so, check out Shutterstock's 2010 Photo Safari Contest. Co-sponsored by Shutterstock, B&H Photo, and zozi. The winner of this contest will win bragging rights to a week in South Africa photographing wildlife more exotic than the species that skirt the tracks on the 'F' Line in Manhattan. It's easy to enter, open to all, and if you win they'll even let you take your significant other.

From April 8th to April 12th at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, take the opportunity to expand your horizons with the RED camera by joining REDucation. Learn all there is to know about the RED Digital camera in this 5 day hands on intensive education and training workshop.  REDucation is the premeire RED approved and sanctioned event for learning all things RED. Michael Cioni and Steve Freebairn will be instructing with twenty TAs and forty camera packages presenting a massive gathering of RED gear and technology. 

Why should you purchase studio monitors for audio production when you already own speakers? Working at B&H I’ve met a lot of photographers and videographers who understand the need for using a calibrated graphics monitor instead of their TV sets to establish accurate color values when making correction decisions. They get it. They know that audio engineers also need special-purpose gear to evaluate how loud material is when mixing. Meet the studio monitor.

Nikon AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 85/3.5G ED VR

Designed for use with Nikon DX-format (APS-C) imaging sensors, the AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85/3.5G ED VR covers the angle-of-view (18º) of a 127.5mm short-telephoto lens on a full-frame (24x36mm) DSLR. The new lens focuses down to 10.8" (0.27 m) for sharp, life-size (1:1) reproduction of your subject.