Nikon D700 - will it ever end?

Well, just when you thought the Nikon D300 would be all the camera a serious amateur could ever want, Nikon comes out with the D700! This is basically the Nikon D3 full frame technology in the D300 camera body. B&H has them for sale here. I've bought a lot of camera gear over the years from B&H, and have always had good luck. If you're ever in New York, stop in their store. You will feel like a kid in a candy store!

Anyway, Scott Kelby seems to like the camera. You can read his review here. He felt like you get the benefits of the Nikon D3 without the cost ($3000 vs $5000). It's also a little smaller and lighter (35 oz vs 43.7 oz). If you need a full frame digital camera, and can't afford the D3, this just may be the ticket! Ken Rockwell is also enamored with the camera. His review can be found here. Thom Hogan also has a nice review of the D700 here.  And Shun Cheung at photo.net has a very thorough review here!

5second slide and store frames

There are new frames out that make it easier to hang and store your pictures. They're called 5second slide and store frames. They have a unique hanging tool that once you've attached it to your wall, it self levels (no more getting out a level to make sure your picture is hanging straight). Also, to put in a picture, you simply slide it in from the back (no need to undo the back to get your pictures inside the frame. It even has a handy slot in the back to store photos!

You can see a video about them here. They are available at Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Mervyn's, FredMeyer and Bi-Mart. It looks like displaying your photos just got easier!

Rand McNally fabMAP of Chicago Review

I first saw Rand McNally's fabMAP in the Garden District Book Store in New Orleans (great book store, if you happen to visit New Orleans). It is a waterproof, tear-proof map that Rand McNally makes for various cities, and sells for $5.95. It covered a small area of New Orleans, so I decided not to get it. Now the other day I am in my local camera store, and I see a bin of cloth lens cleaners, selling for $5.95 each. Suddenly the cloth fabMAP doesn't seem so expensive! It can easily be folded up and stuffed into your camera bag. When I got mine, it said it was machine washable, microfiber cloth, that can even be used to clean your glasses. Imagine a cloth that you can use to clean your lenses (or your eye glasses) that also has a map of downtown Chicago (or Las Vegas Strip, Midtown Manhattan Theatre District, Washington D.C. Mall, Waikiki, Hollywood-Beverly Hills, San Francisco Golden Gate Park-Haight Ashbury, New Orleans French Quarter, Miami's South Beach, Key West, Seattle's Pike Place Market, San Antonio River Walk, Denver's 16th Street Mall or San Diego's Balboa Park). You can get them here, along with many other great Rand McNally maps and things. Search for fabmap.

Update 11-16-2008

Rand-McNally let me know that they are having a contest (see 3rd comment) where you could win a $500 gift card, or a brand new Buddy Scooter (valued at $2,000)! They want you to send them a photo or short video documenting your fabMAP adventures by December 5th, 2008. Go to iNeverGetLost.com and check it out. And if you go to their website now, the fabMAPs are all on sale for $2 (regularly $4.95), with free shipping! I'm going back for more (Midtown Manhattan, Washington D.C., New Orleans French Quarter)!!

Mardi Gras, New Orleans 2008

My wife called her friend in New Orleans in January, asking about us coming to visit for a weekend. What she didn't realize was that the weekend was Mardi Gras weekend! She was afraid the entire time would be spend wandering up and down Bourbon Street, and that wasn't what she wanted for this trip.

What we found is that most of the Mardi Gras parades are in Uptown, and travel down St. Charles Street, which is just a few blocks from our friend's house. Mardi Gras is very family oriented; families bring their kids, pack a lunch, and the lucky little ones have a ladder with a wooden box secured to the top. The tiny tots then have a catbird seat to view the parade!

Hope you enjoy some of my photos from New Orleans!

Government checks

Ok, time for another poll. The government is supposed to give us some cash back, depending on your income level, so that we can go out and buy stuff and jump start the economy. No one wants to head into a recession, right? We all have to do our part to keep this economy rolling! So, when you get that cash, what do you plan to do with it? See the poll above!