Photo-A-Day #2153

Today was my last day of the month of using the Kodak Z950 and I have to say that it is a solid little point and shoot with For the past few years I’ve amassed quite a few camera gadgets, cameras, accessories and more camera related do dads than are necessary for one person to use. The thing is these little novelties are pretty much unitaskers as my friend Alton Brown would state during an episode of Good Eats. I say friend because I met him in person and we had a 10 minute conversation. There are many people online that I’ve yet to meet in person whom I consider friends and with whom I’ve not talked to nearly as long. :-)

So because I have all these gadgets I figured I would round them up and use them to take all of my photos for the month of March. I figure before I set out on Year Seven of Photo-A-Day I had better try out everything I’ve purchased in the past six years. Today I’m using my Camera Phone and the Magnetic / Detachable 180° FishEye (0.28X) Lens for Camera Phones, Notebooks and Pocket Cameras (aff link). I got this recently in an order from PhotoJojo. I love their stuff and they always have fun and interesting gadgets. I actually picked up a bunch of novelty lenses during that one spending spree so there will be more this month from that overall shipment.

I tried this shot first, sort of a circle to go with the fisheye look.

The lens is small and has a plastic cover for the front and a magnetic cover for the back.

Lens attached to my DROID. The stick on metal ring covers the flash though.

The Lens comes with a set of two stick on rings so you can attach the lens to multiple devices. I have rings on my phone and my Kodak PlayTouch.

Easy on, Easy Off

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Transformers w/ Magnetic Fisheye Lens

I have to thank Michael from Xshot for introducing me to Kristin from Flipbac Innovations. Kristin has generously agreed to supply me with 10 flipbacs. Three of them are going into the Ultimate IZEAFest Prize Packs, that means one for each of the winners. What that also means is that I will have 7 of them to give away at IZEAFest 2009. You may be one of the lucky recipients!

But, what is a flipbac? It is an angle viewfinder and LCD screen protector for digital cameras. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one to test out and tell you about. Here is a video that really illustrates what you can do with the flipbac. I love how it works in portrait and landscape modes.

The flipbac works very well on cameras that have a 3″ LCD screen. My cameras only have 2.5″ LCDs so the flipbac won’t be working on my cameras. However your camera might be perfect for one and I hear tell that a 2.5″ version of the flipbac is in the works. I want to get my hands on that. I think that the flipback and the xshot make perfect companions to each other for creative shooting.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Flipbac is a new Ultimate IZEAFest Sponsor!

This October I am attending IZEAFest 2009. I’ve been to many blogger conventions over the years (Blog World Expo, PostieCon, and IZEAFest) and I’ve come up with a list of essential items that you must have to go to one of these blogger conferences.

Did you know that you can Enter to win many of the prizes on this page. Enter BenSpark’s Ultimate IZEAFest 2009 Prize Pack Contest.

10. XShot – This simple gadget for your digital camera is the perfect accessory to have with you at a blog conference. I had the xshot 1st and gave it to some great bloggers. Ted Murphy has taken the use of this gadget to the next level though.

With an XShot you can make sure that you are in the photos with everyone. Being seen at blog conferences is very important. And being able to share photos of yourself with cool people like John Chow is fun.

9. BluFrog Energy Drink – I’ve been drinking this stuff for the past month. I won a case from Martha Decker and also received one for Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs from Jeremy Kendall. BluFrog Energy Drink is pretty amazing stuff.

I’ve done my own trials with it and I can tell you it keeps you awake and alert during meetings and on those boring days. Of course IZEAFest will be anything but boring. But the nights will be long so you are gonna need a healthy pick me up.

8. Digital Camera – So many cool things happen at blogger conferences and you are going to make so many great friends. So what better accessory to go with the XShot than a digital camera to capture everything. My camera of choice for a quick shoot is the Canon Powershot Digital Elph. I have a Canon SD800is and there are many newer ones out now.

Canon cameras are fantastic. There is even a group that has hacked the camera to run some great scripts. I use one all the time called the Ultra Intervalometer. This allows me to set the camera to take pictures at a specific interval. I’ve used this in a few creative ways. Like attaching it to the shopping cart to take Eva to the store.

7. ZINK Paper - ZINK paper is some pretty fun stuff because you can use it in interesting ways. I use this product with a Polaroid Pogo, my Canon SD800is and my XShot to take pictures with people. Then I print the image out, remove the back of the ZINK paper and stick it to my business card. That way the person has both my business card and a photo of themselves with me. It makes the interaction so personal and gives you at least a minute or two to talk with that person while the image prints and you put it on the business card. I did this at Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs and will be doing it again at Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs II. This is how I use ZINK Paper.

6. Portable Hard Drive – A small portable hard drive is a perfect thing to have with you because you can take a ton of photos and a ton of video and never have to worry about running out of space. I have a Simple Tech 320GB hard drive that weighs so little and is so small.

You don’t want to run out of space when you get that great video interview with Missy Ward or Chris Pirillo.

5. Power – We’re all looking for a little power but in this case I’m talking about power for your gadgets. I’ve had an iGo for years and after 7 years it gave up the ghost, that was seven hard travel years. I was able to power three laptops, seven cell phones, and various other gadgets. When the iGo died I got a Targus that did the exact same thing, in fact I was able to use my iGo peripheral charger with the Targus. With these products you can power up in the car, at the wall socket and even on the plane.

4. Flip Mino HD – HD is where it is at. And the Flip is a perfect device to have with you at a blog conference, it is small, it fits in your pocket and powers up so quickly. I was watching the cake plow at IZEAFest last year and John Chow was able to scoop the video of Ted Murphy being slammed into the cake. I had a different video camera and it wasn’t fast enough to catch that moment. If you want to catch a moment you have to be ready all the time. And even if you capture a moment you want to make sure you get that moment posted quickly. The Flip Mino HD has all the software you need to edit and upload your movies.

3. Business Cards – Two years ago I made 250 free cards with VistaPrint. They were good but sort of random. I had printed out 100 of my photo-a-day photos and stuck them to the cards. Creative but didn’t get my message across. This past year I made Moo cards with two designs one with my hands everywhere and the other of a rubber ducky that looks like me. These cards made a visual impact on everyone who got them. This year I plan to do something similar but to incorporate the PoGo, ZINK Paper and XShot into the mix.

2. Netbook – Portability and battery life are the two biggest concerns when at a blog conference, you don’t want to be weighed down with a ton of stuff and you don’t want to lose power when you have that great tweet to post.

Allison owns a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 she is able to do so much more now online because she is portable. She’s even applied for a job with Ravelry, I hope she gets it.

1 – A Ticket to IZEAFest 2009 – This is pretty much the most important thing that you need for IZEAFest, you need a ticket. You can buy one at $229.00 which not only includes an incredible lineup of speakers including 2 full days of amazing speakers and events plus a blogger takeover day at SeaWorld!

So is that the definitive list? No, there are many other great tings to bring, why don’t you let me know what some of them are in the comments.

And look here for a contest where I will give away some IZEAFest tickets. Heck I’d love to give away this complete list to some lucky bloggers, but I need some sponsors to help me out. Contact me through the contact form and let me know if you are interested in being a sponsor. I already have sponsors for the PoGo and ZINK Paper, XShot, IZEAFest Ticket and Flip Mino HD.

Today’s assignment for Day 2 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge is to write a list post. I’d been toying with the idea of this list for a while and the assignment gave me the push I needed.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

10 Essential Items for IZEAFest 2009

I’ve already got a Sanyo EC1 waterproof digital camera but now Sanyo has gone and made some even better ones. I’m salivating over here. These would be perfect for the next season of Wired Kayaker podcasts. Click the image to read all about these cameras. If you can’t wait till the new ones arrive you might want to check out these existing models from Sanyo.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Sanyo Announces new HD Waterproof Cameras

Get A Peek

Since the water is a bit cold for kayaking I’ll be focusing more on some tech stuff now. In my family I am the Mr. Fix-it when it comes to computers. And that is a pain in the neck. We buy these expensive computers for people who basically only want to use it to get e-mail. So, what if we could get a device that only does e-mail, that would be pretty sweet wouldn’t it? Sure. Well a new product is hitting the market and it is called Peek. Peek is a device that does e-mail only. IT is $79.95 for the product and has a monthly service for $19.95 a month. This allows you to get your e-mail anywhere.

If you are looking for a device like this, before you go an buy one, you might want to try and win a Peek from The Dirty Shirt.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Take a Peek at this