Photo.net Newsletter: May 26, 2011

Hi %%First Name%%,

Photography is a great tool, a wonderful hobby, and a touching art form. But sometimes we have to step outside ourselves and remember that the Photo.net community doesn’t exist in a vacuum. 2011 has been tough for a lot of people even in it’s first five months. Much of Japan, including most of the photographic industry, is still reeling from the earthquake of March 11. May has brought destruction to the American South in the form of deadly tornadoes and record breaking flooding. These people are our friends, family, and even neighbors. The Photo.net community spans the globe and a far off disaster for you might be right next door for the Photo.net member who left you a kind critique last week.

If you can, please donate to relief organizations working to help those in need. My personal suggestion is the Red Cross. For many of us, the American Red Cross will be the organization to contact. But the international Photo.net community can find their local Red Cross organization on this list. In addition, US cell phone users can text message REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the relief efforts in the American South. Details are here.

On a less somber note, this month’s newsletter brings a review of the Canon T3i, a review of Sony’s 50/1.8 DT SAM lens, a review of Otterbox’s “Defender” case for ipad, the announcement of the “Photo.net Recommended” equipment lists, and a chance for all you pro-photographers to get your gripes off your chest through the new “Pro Shooter…Anonymous” feature we are starting.

As always, share your thoughts about editorial, community, photography, and anything in between on the Facebook Page, Photo.net Blog, and Twitter Feed.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to us directly at contact@photo.net. Enjoy the newsletter!

Sincerely,

Josh Root, Chief Admin, Director of Community, Mop & Bucket Man

Featured “Photo.net Recommended” Equipment

Community News

Photo.net Recommended Equipment

There’s a small new feature on Photo.net. We’ve created a “Photo.net Recommended” series of equipment articles.

“While the Photo.net forums are a great place to discuss equipment choices, some times people just want to cut to the chase and see a list of the top gear. To that end, we have created the ‘Photo.net Recommended Gear’ awards. These awards are given in three different ways, one by our writers/editors/moderators/admins, one by the Photo.net user community, and one by Photo.net Chief Admin Josh Root.”

The idea is to create a couple of lists of gear recommendations without forcing people to wade through the 500,000 different “this vs that” arguments comparing equipment. Now, as a gear hound myself, I’m the first to admit that I have nothing against debates about Lens A vs. Lens B. But a lot of people I know just want a good starting recommendation for gear that they can either buy without spending a huge amount of time researching, or use as a starting point for their research and education. It’s perhaps surprising for those of us who have been playing the equipment game for decades that one of the hardest things for a new photographer to do is to even find a place to start with their equipment choices. There are so many gear and system choices out there today that people can just get overwhelmed.

Does your opinion differ from ours? Please post in the comments area at the bottom of each article and let everyone know what equipment you would have chosen instead. Also, keep an eye out for the “Community Best Buy” voting that will be coming up soon.

• Editors’ Choice: Bodies
• Editors’ Choice: Lenses
• Josh’s Favorites
• Photo.net Recommended Index Page

Hey Pro Photographers….it’s your turn to vent

Got something to get off your chest? Got a pet peeve that just kills you every time you have to deal with it? Annoyed at clueless clients? Have a frustrating or funny experience to share that you don’t want your name attached to? Hate the crowd of Craigslist Photogs trying to steal your market share? Just need to vent about something? Then come on down! Here’s your chance to write, share, and inform while staying hidden in the shadows with Photo.net’s “Pro Shooter….Anonymous” feature.

More info about “Pro Shooter…Anonymous” here.

“Angry” photo above is by Photo.net member Corey Abrams. Check out his photos here.

Editorial Highlights

Canon T3i DSLR Review

The T3i combines the basic features of the T2i with features imported from the EOS 60D and 7D, plus it adds a few new features of its own. The major “import” features are the 3" vari-angle (tilt and swivel) LCD screen and the ability of the built in flash to wirelessly control external speedlites. The T3i retains the 18MP sensor of the T2i (the same sensor is used in the EOS 60D and EOS 7D), along with the T2i shutter, AF system, metering system, CPU (Digic IV) and basic control layout.

Read the Canon T3i review.

Sony 50/1.8 DT SAM Lens Review

The Sony 50 f/1.8 DT SAM is one of two 50mm normal lenses in Sony’s lens catalog. On an APS-C sensor it makes a handy lens for portraits, as it scales up to 75mm. The 50 f/1.8 is also part of Sony’s “Easy Choice” lens line, which is a group of lenses that provides high optical quality in a lightweight, polycarbonate package sold at a low price.

Read the "Sony 50/1.8 DT SAM lens review.

Otterbox Defender iPad Case

More and more photographers are finding a use for Apple’s iPad as part of their workflow, marketing, or simply as a lightweight travel web/email device. But it’s hard to get excited about worrying over the safety of a $500 wafer thin device and still take it everywhere you want to. Enter the Otterbox Defender. I’ve yet to see a tougher case out there. Particularly for the ~$37 that the Defender will run you.

Read the Otterbox Defender for iPad review.

Adobe Photoshop Touch Apps for Photoshop CS5 (for iPad)

Editors Note: There was an incorrect link for this article in last month’s newsletter. So I am including it again. -Josh

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to use your iPad as your laptop, including full Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, etc? Well, Adobe seems to be making a bridge step in that direction. They recently announced a Photoshop Touch SDK (Software Development Kit) and, as examples of the SDK’s potential, three Photoshop Touch apps for the iPad. These three apps—Adobe Nav, Adobe Color Lava, and Adobe Eazel—are more exciting as representatives of what is possible with the new Photoshop Touch SDK than they are in practice but since Adobe refers to these as “initial” apps, we can reasonably expect more from Adobe, as well as the software developers that will take advantage of the SDK. The apps, once loaded on the iPad, are capable of interacting with Adobe Photoshop CS5 via a wireless connection.

Read the Adobe iPad Apps Review.

Top 10 Most Popular Deals from Our Partners this Week

1. Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM Wide Angle Lens (compare prices)

2. Nikon D5100 Black SLR Digital Camera Body Only (compare prices)

3. Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flashlight (compare prices)

4. Sony Handycam HDR-TD10 3D Digital Camcorder (compare prices)

5. Tamron AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di Zoom Lens (compare prices)

6. Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera Body Only (compare prices)

7. Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f/4.0 Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens (compare prices)

8. Apple Aperture 3 (compare prices)

9. Pentax smc DA * 50-135mm F2.8 ED IF SDM Telephoto Zoom Lens (compare prices)

10. Eye-Fi 8GB Explore X2 SDHC Card (compare prices)

Find great deals on thousands of other products at the Photo.net Partner-powered Store.

What’s Happening In Our Forums

• Casual Photo Conversations (75 Responses) Girlfriend (or wife) vs. Photography
• Casual Photo Conversations (27 Responses) Could you qualify for a 1948 Boy Scout Photography Merit Badge?
• Canon EOS (18 Responses) Have a spare $81,500 laying around?
• Pentax (19 Responses) 300mm is not as long as I thought
• Nikon (42 Responses) 85mm Portrait Philosophy

Go To Photo.net Forums. »

Monthly Project: May Flowers

In theory, April showers bring May flowers. Now that the calendar has flipped over to May, we should be out of the rain and into nature’s springtime glory. This monthly project will be all about flowers. From macro studies of a single blossom to panoramic landscapes of acres of fields, flowers flowers flowers are what we will work with to create this month.

See all of the Monthly Projects (and submission instructions) on the Monthly Project Index page. Here are a few from the May project that caught my eye thus far:

Editors’ Picks

And this month’s editors’ picks theme is… Baby Photography.

Samples:

Also, take a look at what the Editors found visually interesting in the previous months—perhaps one of your images has been selected…

Also, take a look at some of the most popular Editors’ Picks from previous months:

• St. Patrick’s Day Photography
• Dance Photography
• Night Photography