The Bloog

Now here’s a way to impress friends and especially clients. Use your iPhone or iPod Touch to remotely control/fire your DSLR camera. I haven’t tried it myself, but as soon as update 1.1, which supports Nikon cameras, makes its way to the Appstore, I’ll be all over it.

For a more detailed article, see the link below:

Rob Galbraith DPI: DSLR Camera Remote for iPhone comes to life in v1.1.

This is a quick post to let you know the Ray Flash has arrived today. I will be posting soon some unpacking pictures and first impressions. So stand by…

The D300, unlike previous bodies, has a different way of attaching to the optional MB-D10 battery grip. Instead of using the old system of removing the battery door in order to allow for the insertion of the optional grip into the battery slot, the D300 allows for the battery pack to attach to the body directly by connecting to a couple of contacts on the bottom of the D300 body that are normally hidden under a rubber cover.

Until tonight, the rubber contact cover used to rest in a little pocket of my camera bag, hidden between a variety of rarely used small plastic accessories. Tonight, however, I noticed something that made appreciate the new battery pack even more. The (ingenious) Nikon people took in consideration the fact that in order for the battery grip to be attached to the body, the rubber contact cover must be removed from the body and stored somewhere so it can replaced at a later time. So what better place to store the rubber cover than in the battery grip itself?

If you look closely, the MB-D10 has a little slot where the rubber cover fits perfectly, and not by accident. Like this, if you ever need to remove the battery grip and want maximum protection for the body, you won’t need to look for the (lost) rubber cover through your bag, or, worse, remember that you actually left it home. Just remove it from the battery grip (assuming that you placed it there originally) and cover the contacts on the body. Really simple and very practical. Good job Nikon!

The MB-D10 Battery Grip slot for the body's rubber contact cover.

The MB-D10 Battery Grip with the rubber contact cover in its dedicated slot.

The Ray Flash won Lighting Product of the Year (2008) by Popular Photography & Imaging Magazine. Originally introduced at a price point of $299, the recent price decrease to $199 has made it a very attractive offer and probably put it on the wishlist  buy list of many; including myself. After reading the reviews at the Strobist and Scott Kelby’s blog, I decided to order the Ray Flash on Friday. It’s Monday now and I just received an email that the Ray Flash has already been shipped. It may take a few days to arrive with the border crossing and everything but I think it will be worth it. I will post some images and impressions when it arrives.

Ray Flash: The Ring Flash Adapter