Buying Guides

When I started out in photography shooting slide film, I was trained to carry two "mandatory" filters: a polarizer and a set of graduated neutral density filters (ND-grads). Polarizing filters not only increase contrast in skies, but they are indispensible in removing glare and reflections from water and foliage. ND-grad filters offer a way of compressing tones in scenes with a large dynamic range.

The Nikon Coolpix S80 is a point-and-shoot camera with a 14MP CCD sensor, ISO up to 6400 and a 5x Zoom Nikkor lens. It features a 3.5-inch OLED touch screen with more than 800,000 dots that gives you a bright, high-resolution display.

The headphone area at B&H is a great place to compare the sound and fit of on-ear headphones. Let's take a look around and talk to one of our store experts about a few of the models on display.

As a photographer, it’s easy to get caught up in the quality of your gear. Are you outfitted with a high resolution, full-frame sensor? At what f-stop does the MTF curve of your lens peak? Can you record noise-free images at high ISO levels? How many RAW shots can your camera take before the buffer fills?

I have a confession to make. The wiring in my home theater is convoluted enough to make Rube Goldberg scratch his head in confusion. I don’t want to go into the details, but let’s just say there’s an older HDTV with only a single HDMI port, two switchboxes, a receiver with no HDMI support, a Blu-ray player, a DVR, an Apple TV, two game consoles, a region-free DVD player, and— lease don’t laugh—an HD DVD player.

Ever wish you could get a little more functionality out of your iPod? Worried about protecting it from scratches? There are hundreds of accessories available for iPod music players. If you acquired an iPod this year, or if you’re simply looking to enhance your tried-and-true MP3 player, consider one of the following.
 

Short of a north-facing skylight, one of the most useful tools in any studio lighting system is a light box. Complimentary to people and products alike, the soft, flattering wash of light afforded by a softbox fixture is now affordably available in the form of the Impact Octacool Fluorescent Light Kit.