This time of the year is gift time all around and it is not just gifts under the Christmas tree. There’s Hanukkah for and Eid El Adha and Ōmisoka and the list goes on.
Yep, it is gift time. I tried to make the list as frugal as possible, this is a DIY centric blog after all…
As for the image at the beginning of the post, I really didn’t want to put any specific holiday picture, so I am declaring my own holiday – the R2D2 day of glory, celebrated by geeks, me included, all over the world. It is a tradition of this holiday to buy photography related gifts.
A 50mm 1.8 Lens – This is the most obvious item on the list. This lens is getting a lot of great buzz and for a good reason. While it is relatively cheap – a 100 greens give or take, it is very fast lens with aperture starting @ 1.8. IT is super sharp, and had a great build quality. The wide aperture enables you to focus and shoot in darkish conditions and it features a dreamy bokeh. A must in any lens collection. (Nikon, Canon, Sony)
Craft ROBO CC330L-20 SD Digital Craft Cutting Machine – This is also high on my wishlist for R2D2 day. It is printer that can cut your prints. As a craftsman there were many-many times I wished I had one of those. For About 250$ I would not call it cheap, but if you are into scrapbooking or model design it is priceless. The Robo Printer cutter thingy.
Hiploads of Foamies and foam boards – I bet this was one of the more expected items on this list. Foamies are great for creating a verity of studio modifiers snoots and flags are the obvious ones, but the black thingy is there as well. Foam boards need no introduction on this blog. They are handy reflectors, flags, softbox building materials – if McGuire had foam boards in every episode the episode would have been much shorter. I am not writing the price on this one, just if you get anyone a foamy or a foam board as a gift, make sure you put your soul into the packaging… And I am not mentioning Gaffers tape, cuz then I’m certain to get stoned (Foamies, Foam boards)
The Bokeh Masters Kit – OK, it is not even announced yet, but still on this list, because it is the perfect gadget for Christmas. The cool thing about it is that it will transform any Christmas tree or Menorah shot to a unique image (see R2D2 above). Just make sure you have that 50mm lens from up above. OK, I’ll admit that I have a strong bias towards those babies as part of the engineering team behind it. (25$) The Bokeh Masters Kit.
Nasty Clamp – As an on location shooter I find those to match perfectly their name. They are Nasty! Only in a good way. They help me setup lights in places you would not imagine like tree tops, window frames and other weird places. They cost 49$ each, but well worth it. NastyClamps.
Lighting DVD/Book – There is a ton of valuable information out there on the net, but it is always better to consume it in condensed form. Here are my favs: Book: Lighting Science & Magic (~28$); DVD: Strobist DVD (139$); DVD: One Light by Zack Arias (250$); Cards: Trade Secret Cards (~22$)
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