I recently wrote about the really nice tripod that I put together, but I didn't talk much about how I arrived at the mix of components I got, nor about how I'll use them.

What to Buy?

Deciding on components is a balance among a lot of things, including:

Size (how easy is it to schlep, pack in luggage, etc.) Size (is it tall enough that you can use it comfortably?) Size (can you get low enough to the ground with it?) Price (isn't it always?) Ease of Use (how easy is it to adjust the tripod's height, where [...]
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Adobe has just released a minor update to its Lightroom photo-workflow software. Version 1.2 includes some bug fixes and support for additional cameras:

Canon EOS 40D Canon G9 (unofficial) Fuji FinePix IS-1 Leaf Aptus 17 Leaf Aptus 54s Leaf Aptus 75s Olympus EVOLT E-510 Panasonic DMC-FZ18 Pentax K100D Super Phase One P 20 + Phase One P 21 + Phase One P 25 + Phase One P 30 + Phase One P 45 + Sony A700

Unlike the 1.0 → 1.1 update, this free update does not contain a lot of new features other than the support for additional cameras.

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The image above is a tiny version (click to enlarge somewhat) of a "painting" I made from a photo I took at Ryouanji (龍安寺 -- the Ryouan Temple in Kyoto Japan) a couple of years ago. One of the toys I picked up on my trip to The States is a Wacom Intuos 3 pen tablet, which came with a copy of Corel's Painter Essentials 3 that I used to paint-ize the photo.

Corel's product is a mixed bag. It's just fantastic when it works, but it had a tendency to crash on me every five or 10 minutes, just [...]

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I recently wrote about the pro-caliber tripod I put together with components from Gitzo and Really Right Stuff. This time I'm writing about a monopod that I put together at the same time. However, unlike the tripod, it took two tries to get a good monopod solution, and at that, I'm still not 100% happy with it.

Update: I made some changes, described in updates below, and now I'm happy with it.

I had no problem with the monopod leg itself, a Gitzo GM3550 6X Carbon Fiber 5 Section G-Lock Monopod. It's got the G-Lock section logs that [...]

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Two years after introducing the D200, Nikon today announced its successor, the Nikon D300, and also the latest in its pro line, the full-frame $5,000 Nikon D3.

As I expected of any Nikon new-body announcement, this is really a no-win situation for me. Either the new camera is good enough that I'm left feeling relatively disappointed in my Nikon D200, or the new camera is pedestrian enough that I'm left disappointed in Nikon.

After reading the above-linked previews on Digital Photography Review, the drool on my keyboard is telling me the result. 🙂

In the "D200 vs. D300" specification comparison [...]
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