TeachMeToShoot blog » tools

Photo Tools for Fat Wallets

Karl Peschel — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:39:14 +0000

We photographers are well aware that this isn’t a cheap hobby. Many of us have spent thousands of dollars on cameras, lenses, flashes, workshops, books, and computers and software. It all adds up quickly.

If you’ve still got a decent balance in your bank account, perhaps some of these pieces of photo equipment can be added to your personal inventory. Check out these extreme pieces of photo equipment.

My personal faves are the 160 Megapixel (you read that right!) digital panorama camera. How cool is that!

For the nostalgic film folks, the Pinhole truck may be your choice. Kinda makes you want to go out shopping for a panel truck, huh?

Free Business Cards - Are They Worth It?

Karl Peschel — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:58:00 +0000

You’ve likely heard the saying "There ain’t no free lunch." 99% of the time it’s true. There’s usually some catch or hidden costs.

Ordering free business cards from Vistaprint will only cost you the price of shipping. You get 250 full color cards for just a few bucks.

Vistaprint has both Standard and Premium business cards. Wait for a deal on the Premium cards. They are printed on heavier paper stock and there are a lot more designs to choose from. Premium cards routinely go on sale for between $3.99 and free.

You’re taken step by step through picking a design, adding your text, changing fonts, colors and sizes, to a preview and approval of your card. It’s simple and takes about 5 minutes.

Visit the Vistaprint website and you’ll see today’s deals. Sign up for their email list and you’ll get daily announcements. Within a week you’ll see Premium cards for free.

If you’re just starting your photo business this is an inexpensive way to get business cards to promote yourself.

USB Thumbdrives Are Very Useful

Karl Peschel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:47:19 +0000

Flash drives. USB Thumbdrives. USB Portable Drives. These little storage devices go by a couple of different names. Whatever you call them, they are quite useful and every digital photographer should have one.

One ongoing fallacy about USB drives is that you can download images from the camera directly. No. Can’t be done. These are dumb devices; just storage space.

You’ll find a variety of makes and storage capacities. I would not get anything smaller than 1 gig, although if you want to go all out you can get the new Transcend 16 gig device. Lexar and Sandisk are my two recommended manufacturers and you can easily find 2 and 4 gig USB drives for $25-$50.

Just make sure you buy a unit that is USB 2.0 compatible. Don’t go for the no name 2 gig drive for $10 if you want fast data transfer.

What are they good for

Transferring files between your laptop and desktop. Some USB drives come with synching software.
Putting a bunch of photos on it to take to the local camera store for printing. Delete after you’re done.
Storing your internet Favorites or Bookmarks. Always have them with you.
Store a limited backup of important files.
For techies, keep your favorite applications stored on it. Anytime you visit a client you have all your favorite tools. (Some software makers offer ‘Portable’ versions of their programs just for USB drives)

I’m sure you can find more uses for a USB drive. Go get one already!