Tamron, our awesome sponsor is giving DIYP readers a Tamron 18-270mm Di II VC PZD lens (value $649) .

UPDATE: The giveaway is now over, scroll down to see who won te lens.

It is a great all around lens with for both the wide end and the end the tele end. One of those lenses you would consider if you had to take only one lens to an unknown location.

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is answer one simple question: [Read More…]

UPDATE: this giveaway is now over, please see end of post for the winner, thanks to the awesome slanted lens for the prizes.

J. P. Morgan and the team at The Slanted Lens got a new instructional DVD out – Mastering Studio Strobe Lighting – and we are giving away three copies of it (valued at $79.95 each)

UPDATE: TSL loves us DIYP readers, use coupon code diy30 till may 1st for a 30% discount.

If you don’t know who the slanted lens team are, look at our archives, they’ve been here plenty.

And for a an idea about the DVD style and content, check out the video below.

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is answer one simple question: [Read More…]

A few days ago Jaron Schneider posted an interesting piece over at F stoppers projecting a pretty poor future for the American lighting industry. It’s a very interesting read and I encourage you to head over and check it out.

I am not going to repeat the entire post here, but his main point is that the industry has cut costs by moving manufacturing over to China. After moving manufacturing, the industry then moved the engineering overseas. In the end of this process, China no longer needs American brands to produce good lighting gear, and American lighting companies have found  themselves fighting their own creations. Jaron ends the post with the sad prediction that “there is no way out of this cycle of depression for most US companies.“

Speaking as a small manufacturer , I think that while the points that Jaron raises are valid, they are only a small part of a bigger picture that’s not completely without hope. Here are some of the more encouraging points that come to mind.[Read More…]

Every now and then the photography industry get together and see whats lined up for the next few months/years.

Actually, one of those events is going on right now at Vegas, the PMA@CES. It is pretty impressive to see big guns like Canon and Nikon show off their stuff, but to me it is way more interesting to see what’s some of the smaller companies are doing, and looking at the innovation that is going on at the fringe.

It is even cooler to get to hang out and exchange ideas, gear thoughts and photography love with photographers and innovators from across the world. (it is actually one of the nicer things on the blog too).

If you are at PMA (or the bigger CES) and want to get it touch I would be honored. Please send me a mail or DM me on Twitter to get in touch.

I will try to moderate comments at least once a day, please be patient with me.[Read More…]

2011 was a great year. It is always interesting to look back and see what were the favorite posts of the year. Both for learning what DIYP readers like, but also to catch some great posts if you’ve missed them during the year.

I bet there are a million ways to do this, from checking which post got the most likes or asking some social media tool. I kept it simple and just got the top 2011 most read posts from Analytics.

In reverse order, here are the top 5 tutorials of 2011:[Read More…]

I wanted to do a quick fun thing for Christmas & Hanukah so we are giving away some awesome stocking stuffers – we are doing all holidays and shipping worldwide.

UPDATE: the giveaway is now over, scroll over to the end of the post to see who won the lens.

To celebrate the spirit of gift giving we are giving away 5 (yea, five) Bokeh Masters Kits and 5 (yea, five) Camera Cookie Cutters to one winner. With the main idea that you will give (at least some of them to your friends.

Also, our pals at MOO, chipped in with 200 Business Cards here
and 3 StickerBooks which you can
actually use as greeting cards.

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is answer one simple question:

Who Are You Going To Share The Goods With?

You can enter in two ways, each will grant you one ruffle ticket

1. Leave your answer as a comment on this post (and please unmark ‘receive email notifications’ – trust me on this one :) + I am moderating comments so you’ll have a to wait a bit to see it coming.

2. Twit your answer with the following text in the tweet: http://bit.ly/diypstocking #diypstocking Feel free to be as creative as you want, as long as you have that text in the twit.

The giveaway will end on Friday, December 9th, when random.org will pick up one lucky winner, and this post will be updated with the winner’s name.

UPDATE: The giveaway is now over. Thanks for everone who entererd. The winenr, by randon.org ir comment #12 by Jeremy.

UPDATE2: Sadly no contact from Jeremy, random.org, moves the prize to comment #252 by Johnathan Nissan

[Read More…]