Cheaper then some pieces of art paper, these portfolios provide an excellent way to showcase your work, either to a client or just to friends and family.

Available from just about any art of photography store starting at around $4 for the 6×4 model, they won’t break the bank. Sizes range from 4×6 all the way up to 18×24, with all sorts of sizes in between, some offered in both horizontal and vertical formats. Each portfolio features a polypropylene (fancy name for plastic) cover with 24 clear inserts, hard bound and non-removable. Each insert comes preloaded with a piece of black acid free paper, of which one photo can be placed on either side, allowing for 48 views. The exterior spine has a clear pocket, of which can house a piece of 9.2cm wide paper. The interior of the front page features a pocket which can easily hold several letter size pages, as well as a business card slot.

While this portfolio is certainly a deal, it does have some minor fallbacks. The clear inserts are somewhat easy to leave marks on by bending or scratching, so care should be taken while adding or removing photos. The cover isn’t very fancy like some more advanced models – looks more like a 3-ring binder folder then a luscious portfolio.

All in all, probably one of the better portfolios to deliver client prints in. Presentation is 90% of the product, and it’s important to make you’re product look good when delivering it, as word of mouth can easily make or break you. I often times include a model of these portfolios in the appropriate size with each order (pricing their costs into the first print price). It keeps prints safe in the mail and gives them a way to keep them together. I even go as far as to print out an information sheet, with contact and picture information and place it on the first view – a table of contents of sorts.

To the average person, the ColorChecker chat looks like nothing more then a cheap piece of plastic with a bunch of random colored squares on it. To a photographer however, the ColorChecker is often times one of the most invaluable pieces of equipment in their arsenal. With more uses then one of those two inch thick Swiss Army knives, once you unlock the powers of the squares, you will never go without one. Purchased for about $60 from Amazon (link to product page), it is quite possibly the best deal in town.

What is it? - The ColorChecker chart, formerly produced by GretagMacbeth, now produced by X-Rite, is a plastic based board, measuring roughly 8.5×11, with 24 differently colored squares on it, all equally sized and spaced. The colors are not printed, but instead applied to a special polymer, formulated to minimize color shift over time. Each chart comes with a small panphlet, identifying the exact color of each square in both RGB values, as well as LAB. Each color is made to represent a real life value, including skin tone, sky, grass, water, etc. The purpose of this chart is to be a reference for these colors, as well as all colors, to assist in the calibration of cameras, scanners, as well as help check the calibration of monitors and printers. Read more

The Mac Pro. If one was to liken a computer to a mythical Phoenix, this would probably be the one. The workhorse of the Macintosh lineup, it incorporates features previously available to only server machines.

This machine is equipped from the factory with 2 Xeon quad core 2.8GHz chips, 2GB of RAM, a SuperDrive, a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT graphics card, Wireless Extreme card, and a 500GB 7200RPM drive. Aftermarket improvements include an extra 6GB of RAM (total of 8GB), a Pioneer SuperDrive, and the removal of the stock Apple HD for the addition of 4 640GB WD 7200RPM drives. Computer baseline price is $2300, as ordered $3050, with aftermarket upgrades ~$4000.

Build & Appearance - Whether you hate or love macs, you cannot deny, some serious thought went into the design of this computer. Everything from the perforation in the front and rear to facilitate case fans and air flow, to the placement of ports and bays, everything has the appearance of design for purpose. The case itself is built out of a 5mm thick aluminum that looks as if it could take a bullet. Despite this choice of light weight material, the computer still weighs in at just over 70lbs. Aside from placement of fans and the number of ports, little has changed from the design of the G5 tower. Seams line up nicely, and overall, the tower looks as if it could just as happily be on display as a art gallery. Read more

With the recent Nikon price increase, along with the worsening economic times, it’s more important now then ever to squeeze every penny out your purchase. Here are some tips for saving some dough one high ticket items and still staying safe.

You’ve probably seen or heard of it it at some point somewhere, the MacBook Air. It’s the ultra-portable, ultra-slim 13″ laptop from Apple. Weighing in at just under 3 lbs and 0.76″ at it’s thickest point, it makes a high school book report look bulky.

Packing - Apple maintains their “Green” movement by fitting the computer, and all its accessories into a box no larger then some modern day laptops. As usual, everything is neatly packed away in an appropriately sized compartment in such a way that once you take everything out, you’ll never get them back in again. Included with the second generation models is the 45W power adapter, extension power cord, small cleaning cloth, information pamphlets, and restore CD’s (despite its lack of optical drive). Owners of the previous generation will notice the lack of a display adapter – Apple wants another $30 out of you.

Features - As with just about all Apple products, you get a little of what you don’t need and sometimes miss a little of what you needed. This particular laptop is the grandaddy of them all – the 128GB SSD, 1.86Ghz, fully loaded model. Price at time of ordering beginning of January 2009 is $2500. Read more