By John Veldhoen
Three new books have arrived in a short duration, and I thought I would mention them before putting together a list of the best books of 2018 for next month. Terribly excited to have all three of them here.
By Danny Luong
The Loupedeck is a product that at first glance I did not want to like. It looks cheap and the price tag is higher than expected. And, to be honest, once I had the deck in my hands, I was still against the product. It feels cheap – plastick-y and like a toy. Cost cutting from every angle before a product gets to the consumer plagues camera accessories.
In a straight-up comparison at its $250+ price point, the Loupedeck loses in so many different ways. Compared to a mechanical keyboard at that price point, the deck has very little tactile feedback, and the keys feel like chicklets – something I experienced while editing; sometimes I was sure I pressed a key, but it still did nothing. Compared to an audio deck the knobs and dials feel awful. Made of cheap molded plastic there was nothing about the product that ever felt ‘premium.’
By Danny Luong
The OrangeMonkie Foldio is a small and portable light box setup that is primarily used for product photography. The Foldio is meant for both professional and amateurs alike to create excellent photographs with a white or black backdrop – the lightbox also comes with LED strips attached to the top of the box to light up all of your products from the top down creating a nice shadowless look.
By John Veldhoen
A once standard book on visual anthropology, eponymously titled “Visual Anthropology”, by John and Malcolm Collier, is a primer on using photography as a method of research, and seems relevant to me to disciplines well-beyond ethnography and anthropology, or what was called in my youth “social studies”.
By Danny Luong
The Tether Tools Case Air is a wireless tethering system that we are very excited to be carrying at The Camera Store. The Case Air creates a WiFi network allowing you to connect your camera to your device. It is compatible with iOS, Android and PC’s. Once connected you can control your camera through the Case Remote App, then you can adjust settings to your liking as needed. The device is primarily suited for studio shooting. The Case Air plugs in to the camera’s USB port and creates a Wi-Fi hot spot that is not dependant on an existing wifi network.
