December

Madison PhotoPlus
the Photo Summit
ePHOTO
Newsletter
It’s Your Money
and it’s gifting time again. We all want
our dollars to go as far as possible by
selecting appropriate gifts for those
on our lists. As we do each December,
we present a list of ideas in several
price ranges for your consideration.
December, 2015
59¢ - $10
•A smartphone / tablet tripod adapter.
•A custom designed, printed and as•4”x6” prints. Ten bucks buys a lot of sembled 2016 calendar using 13 of
them, and each one is a shared mem- your own photos (a gift no one else
ory. You can get about 20 prints and can give).
an album to put them in without going over the budget.
•A microfiber cloth for keeping lenses
clean and dust free.
•A charging cable or adapter for a
smart phone or tablet.
Under $100
•A package of blank CDs for archival
photo storage.
•Private photo lessons for either 30 or 60
•A TRM series tabletop tripod
minutes.
•A small L.E.D. flashlight to keep in a •A small, very lightweight video light for
camera bag
your camera, phone or tablet (the built
in flash doesn’t do much for video).
$10 - $25
•Your favorite photo printed on real
•A framed 5x7 enlargement that stretched canvas, ready to hang.
you’ve taken with your camera or
smart phone.
•A “Selfie” stick.
•An album with pages designed for
storing CDs from digital files with index prints.
•2 32GB SDHC memory cards.
•A wireless remote control for an iPhone
or Android phone.
•A Fuji QuickSnap one time use camera.
We rate the following products and
services according to a few standards
including
>If a product, does it do what
the manufacturer claims it does?
>Does the manufacturer stand
behind their products, or disown
product faults? Is the product backed
beyond its warranty period?
>If a service, is it better than
expected when picked up? A month
later? A year later?
>If a service, is it done right the
first time?
>If a product, does it satisfy
the recipient’s (customer’s) needs, or
perceived needs?
>Do new shoppers come in
asking for the product or service because our customer referred us and it?
>Does our customer or the recipient say “Wow!” when they see it?
When they use it? A month later? A
year later?
>Is it used or viewed frequently? •A USB card reader for anyone still us
>Is it easily broken?
ing a download cable for their digital
camera
There are other considerations that •A weatherproof, static proof memory
vary with different products or ser- card case.
vices, but the above are constant con- •LCD panel screen protectors.
siderations. In this spirit, here are our •A comfortable neck strap.
suggestions...
•A waterproof, rechargeable, Bluetooth speaker.
• Ultrapod II - a lightweight, very sturdy, tabletop tripod that can support a
DSLR with 70-300 zoom lens.
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•A monopod with head for shooting
sports or nature.
•An extra battery and/or charger for a
camera (because batteries aren’t smart
enough to die at unimportant times).
•Transferring family movies or videotape to DVD.
•An automatic flash to supplement a
camera’s built in flash.
Madison PhotoPlus
the Photo Summit
ePHOTO
Newsletter
December, 2015
•A “PopArt” custom printed enlargement of yourself, a family member or a
friend. (Very high “Wow” factor)
•Epson or Canon PHOTO flatbed scanner for very high quality print, negative or color slide scanning.
•GoPro 4 Session video camera for
•A custom printed, framed 8x10 or 11x14 highly active people. New low price
inch photograph which you’ve taken.
of only $199.99!
•A Fujifilm Instax Mini-8 instant picture •Nissin i40 electronic flash for most
camera with film.
DSLR or mirrorless cameras. Very
small... very automatic... very powerful.
$100 - $300
•Olympus Pen E-PL6 camera with 14-42
mm zoom lens. This is a special purchase with limited quantity. This is the
most camera that $299.99 can buy this
year. When they’re gone, they’re gone.
•A 20”x30” heirloom treated stretched
and mounted canvas print.
•Promaster XC series tripod with monopod. These tripods collapse to extremely small sizes, yet extend to full heights.
6 color choices and equipment capacities.
•A new Tamron 18-200VC zoom to replace the kit lenses from a Nikon or Canon. One lens...better pictures.
•A home studio lighting kit with 2
continuous lights, reflectors and light
stands.
•The Olympus O-MD series E-M10 camera paired with either the Olympus 1442mm zoom or the Tamron 14-150mm
all-in-one zoom is a great deal. Both
combinations deliver outstanding photos and videos.
•The Fujifilm X-T1 camera continues to
be the best camera for low light picture
taking. Last December it set the low
light standard and nothing has caught
up so far.
•For Canon EOS or Nikon DSLR owners,
the Tamron 16-300 zoom is at an all time
low price. Last year in December it was
$629.99; this year it is down to $449.99
and still offers the best vibration control
in the business.
•The Promaster VL800 LED 2 light portable studio offers cool to the touch
lighting, wireless remote control and
indoor/outdoor capability. Everything
necessary including a carry bag is only
$699.99.
Over $300
•The entry and mid-level mirrorless
cameras collectively enjoy the greatest
“Wow” factor of all the cameras we sell. •GoPro’s Hero4 Black Edition delivers
Olympus was one of the first and enjoys outstanding 4K video just about any•A HGX professional quality polarizing the lion’s share of entry level sales.
where under any circumstance.
filter - the best we have ever carried.
•Sony’s a7 series of mirrorless cameras
•A Fujifilm XP80 camera. This pocketis widely recognized as state of the art.
able camera withstands dropping, salt
Smaller, lighter and faster than any othwater, snow, ice and desert heat. It also
er full frame system camera. Its photo
shoots HD video. WiFi enabled.
quality is exceptional. Cameras start at
$1299.99.
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Madison PhotoPlus
the Photo Summit
ePHOTO
Newsletter
•Landscape and real estate photographers both will benefit and enjoy the
new Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 ultra wide
angle full frame zoom lens. Superior
vibration control and close to distortion free optics yield exceptional photographs.
•The Fuji Finepix S-1 is a comfortable,
easy to use weatherproof camera
with a 24-1200mm zoom lens. The
camera’s eye level viewfinder makes
it easier to hold steady for both stills
and video.
December, 2015
Snap Shots
Schneider Kreuznach is rumored to
be stopping manufacturing lenses for
large format cameras. This awaits confirmation, but reliable sources suggest
this is factual.
Another year has flown by. We hope
you’ve enjoyed reading and learned
from our newsletters. We strived
to keep them as commercial free as
possible, and structured the few ads
we’ve run so that you can avoid them
if you so desire.
Many readers may have owned, or still
own, Mamiya cameras. Phase One Imaging has just purchased the assets of
Mamiya Digital Imaging in Japan.
Regardless of what holidays you observe, we all wish you and your family
a happy and healthy season and beyond. See you in 2016!
Rumors abound that Canon will show
replacements for the EOS Rebel SL1
and Rebel T5 during January’s Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas.
Fuji is rumored to be introducing the
X70 camera, a potential replacement
for the stellar X30. (The X30 will be
hard to beat.)
Fresh after buying Toshiba’s digital
sensor division, Sony has called a major news conference at the CES show.
We’ll all just have to wait and see what
they think is “major”.
It’s unusual for a camera of this type
to stay on the market for over a year,
but this one has stood the test of time.
Sometimes everything just meshes During the past few weeks, more than
and works perfectly in a camera, and a few customers have brought older
this seems to be one of those times.
photo equipment into us for resale.
Too much of it was completely ruined
•Olympus has taken most of the fea- because of battery leakage. Learn
tures of the OM-D E-M10 camera and from this. If you’re not using anything
put them into a non interchange- battery powered for a month or more,
able lens camera which sports a 28- take the batteries out!
200 f/2.8 zoom lens! This is another
“Wow” camera.
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Jerry, Joy, Rachelle,
Rob , & Vincent
Bret, Larry , Lynne & Vanessa