Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Project Documentation and Photography

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Foot pedal photo setup, DIY, video from Adafruit (uses Boarduino available in the Maker Shed)

Ladyada uses a foot pedal to trigger her Nikon camera so she can easily take pictures that feature her two hands busy makin' stuff.


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Eye-Fi card, $50-$100

These nifty gadgets replace your standard SD memory and pack in some tiny 'tronics to connect to your wireless network. Automagically transfer photos from your camera to your PC (and share them online via Flickr, etc.) without ever connecting a single USB cable. Speeds up your post-production time considerably!


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Tripod, $varies

Taking clear, crisp photos is a huge part of documenting your project well, and if there's one thing that's going to get you there, it's a good sturdy tripod. If it's even a smidge darker than natural daytime sunlight, you're going to want one to eliminate motion blur caused by your subtle hand-held motions. Manfrotto makes the best ones, but you can get by with a cheapy Sunpak or similar. I've been eying Manfrotto's variable friction magic arm, which I could clamp to a table or shelf and quickly manipulate to get the shots I want.


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Digital camera, $varies

I'm really digging the compact size and pro-looking photos coming from the micro four thirds cameras these days. Pictured above is the Olympus ELP-1, but I've also been eyeing the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. There's nothing wrong with the big DSLRs, or small point-and-shoots, though. Canon PowerShots can run CHDK, a more fully-featured and hacker-friendly firmware perfect for manually controlling exposure, making your own remotes, etc.

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Source: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/12/holiday_gift_guide_2010_project_doc.html

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