My Photography Technology Gadget Guide

I thought this post my helpful to some, boring to others, and somewhat sad for the rest.

As if often the case with me, sometimes I buy things because of a review I read, it “looked” interesting, or because I simply thought I had to have it.  This post is a review of some of those “things.”  These things can either be hardware or software, but something related to photography.

First I’ll cover some hardware gadgets I have bought.

1. iPad 2 - I didn’t get this totally for photography purposes, but I have to admit, I sure do like it.  Problem is, I don’t much use it for anything for photography.  I’ve read that many people use it for photography and if I were a full-time photographer I could certainly see its usefulness, but for my photography, not so much. Yea, I even bought the iPad Camera Connection Kit, and have used that perhaps once or twice at most.  If I ever make that trip to Mexico to see the Monarch Butterfly overwintering colonies, I will definitely bring both, but for now, not much photography use.  For computer usage, I use it all the time, but I’ll save that for another post.
2. Sensor Loupe - I bought this Quasar 7x sensor loupe to see how dusty or moldy my lenses and camera might be.  Used it one and that was it.  I baby my camera way too much for it to get really dirty or dusty to care or even see whatever micro-specks might be lurking around.  I’ve thought about using it as a semi-microscope to look at bugs, then it might get more use.
3. External Hard Drives – I’ve got a ton of them, six I believe.  I’m paranoid about running out of space to store my pictures.  I have some portable external drives that are simply USB drives, and some that are Network Attached Storage Drives.  My goal is to buy or build a safe, redundant storage device where I can store all of my pictures and ensure that they are routinely backed up.  That will cost me about $1500.00 so I haven’t take the plunge on that just yet. Plus, external hard drives aren’t really a gadget in my eyes, they’re more of a necessity.
4. iPhone 4 – This really isn’t a gadget, but one of the main ways I use it is gadget related.  There are some awesome apps for the iPad and iPhone that I wouldn’t want to do without and those apps help me better identity birds, insects, and Butterflies.  As a phone it’s an okay device, as a gadget for photography, awesome.

Now a word about some of my Software gadget purposes.

1. iMovie - I thought this would be the greatest software application that I bought for the iPad.  For me, it’s been one of my worst purchases.  Why?  Because you can’t really edit movies that you may take with your regular videocam or your regular camera.  It’s only useful (from my experience and what I have read) if you are actually recording movies directly from your iPad or you would to convert your movies into whatever format it is for iMovie.  For me, it was just a waste of time and money, at least for now.  Perhaps if I start traveling more it would get some use, but it’s pretty useless to me now.
2. PhotoSync for iPad/iPhone – This is a very positively reviewed app, and I think I’ve used it once.  In my workflow, I just don’t take pictures then want to upload them to my ipad, do edits, then send over to my storage drives.  It’s easier to just do it all on my Macbook Pro.
3. Audubon Texas Birds – This Gem lives in a folder called “Wildlife” on my iPad.  It’s basically a field guide for identifying and understanding birds of Texas.  I often don’t have a clue of what kind of bird I just saw or heard might be, but this app helps me to find the most likely one.  It also has a database of bird sounds and I use that all the time.  If I hear some bird sound in the backyard and I don’t recognize it, out comes an app like this.
4. iBird Explorer South – Love this one as well.  Same basic functions at the Audubon app.
5. National Geographic’s Handhelp Birds – I use this one, but not as much as the other two.  It’s not optimized for the iPad yet so the images and maps don’t look as good.
6. Sibley Birds - You can’t go wrong with this one.  No colored pictures, but colored drawings.  I use this relatively frequently after my first two bird apps.
7. Audubon Replies and Amphibians. A Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians – This app is exactly as it’s titled.  If your trying to find out what reptile or amphibian is you’re about to take a picture of, this app is worth a look.
8. Audubon Butterflies. Field Guide to North American Butterflies - You would think I would use this a ton, but I don’t.  I find I use my books tailored to my specific region to help me identify a Butterfly.
9. BirdTunes - LOVE this app.  I use it all the time on both my iPhone and iPad.  I use it to identify the bird song I just heard.  It’s quick and dirty, show me what it looks like, show me what it sounds like, and that’s it.
10. Chirp! USA – It was cool in the beginning.  Now other apps do better and look better.
11. BirdsEye - I don’t use it that much.  If you want to find out where certain birds may be appearing, this may be a good app.
12. Sunrise and Set - Good application when you want to arrive early or late for shooting pictures and want to know the exact minute sunrise or sunsets will occur.
13. Adobe Lightroom 3 – I can’t recommend this application enough.  It helps to me categorize my images, allows to me to essential editing, then upload the photos to my blog. If you can’t afford the full version of Adobe Photoshop get this if it will be used to do some brief edits to your pictures and possible upload to some of the popular sites.  This is practically a necessity.
14. Microscope with Camera – I don’t remember the brand now, but I had high hopes.  Used it twice then sold it.  Too time confusing for me.
15. BirdCam – Originally I bought that little tiny birdcam to watch nesting activities and I thought it was pretty awesome.  I then bought the Wingscapes Birdcam.  The Wingscapes product is very nice, but if you put it around feeders that have squirrels, or even lots of bird activity, be prepared to spend lots of time downloading the photos, editing them, removing the pictures that are out of focus, etc. After using it for a couple of months, it has become more of a gadget and not a necessity.
16. I have other photo apps like PhotoCalc, Pano, AutoStitch, DoF Calc and PhotoVerse.  I really don’t use any other than Photoverse and it’s because I like to read the articles.

There you have it.  Some of my hardware and software gadgets as they relate to photography.  Obviously some I bought with great intentions, but in the real world I never use them.  Others I bought because it receive such a good review or some famous photographer mentioned them.  For me, some applications or hardware just haven’t been used because of how I shoot.

I could do an update of my bird, insect, gardening, and butterfly books again if other folks would be interested in reading that, just let me know.  I’ve got stacks and stacks of them.

Oh, one more thing.  I’ve been asked about where I got my snake tongs.  I got them from Midwest Tongs.  For me these have become more than a gadget, a rare necessity.  When I do see a snake, no matter what kind, I do feel safe picking them up with these tongs.

Final considerations.  Those little cute butterflies nectar feeders (mine was yellow), never worked. The same is true of those “Butterfly Houses” you see in the gift shops.  They look nice, yet I’m not convinced they ever work.

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