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Trilens review

A few weeks ago, I wrote a news story on an innovative piece of photography gear called Trilens. Our readers commented and I promised an in-depth review if possible. Friidesigns is the company that makes the Trilens, and they responded by sending a sample for just such a review.
So, here goes:

What is it?

The Trilens is belt mounted rotating lens holder designed for photographers, to securely carry up to 3 camera lens for quick and easy swapping while on the go.

What’s in the box


1 X Trilens
1 x Set of magnets
1 x Adhesive strips
3 x Trilens caps
1 x Belt clip
1 x Carry pouch

Design and features

The Trilens is very well built, and the fit and finish are second to none. The materials that are used make it lightweight but yet solid, and I definitely feel like I can trust it to effectively secure my valuable lenses. Even the inlaid logo is well done and a nice touch. The mechanism that attaches the Trilens to the belt clip is all metal, as well as the body of the Trilens.


The belt clip feels strong and is possibly made of ABS plastic. It includes belt loops and a spring-loaded pin to add or remove the Trilens.

Each of the three lens receptacles comes with a screw on cap and each receptacle is separated and isolated from the other. My sample is designed to accommodate the Canon EF mount, but it is also available for Nikon F or Sony E/FE lenses.

Each lens receptacle has a spring loaded release that must be disengaged to release the lens. While it can be easily and quickly disengaged, it is also very secure. The center of gravity of the Trilens works well, keeping the biggest and heaviest lens at the perfectly balanced position. Regardless of the size or the weight of the lens, the Trilens rotates easily to reach the lens of choice. It can be used with up to 3 lens and remains in place with any combination of lens.



Also included is a set of magnets and adhesive strips that can be attached to the actual lens caps belonging to each specific lens. Once attached, the actual lens caps can be used instead of the included Trilens caps, making swapping each lens much easier and quicker.
When I wrote the news story, one of our readers was concerned about dust getting into the individual chambers/receptacles. I do believe that there is no additional risk because each one is isolated, and the same care that would be used to protect the lens from dust will work with the Trilens.

What I like

I really like the way the Trilens secures the lenses and manages the center of gravity. I like the materials it is made of, and the thought that was put into the design. The belt clip will accommodate most photography gear belts and everything seems built to last.

What can be improved

I am finding it very hard to come up with something that needs improvement on the Trilens. It is well designed and thought out for its intended purpose. I guess the only change I would suggest is that the belt clip could be made from some lightweight metal, to provide and even better level of sturdiness, and less of a chance of breaking.

Final thoughts

The Trilens is simply a well thought out piece of photography gear that works very well and is built to last. The only possible weakness I can determine would be the possibility of issues with the spring loaded releases for the lenses. However, I did not find any current evidence that would suggest such a failure. Regardless, it is now a permanent attachment on my photography gear belt, and will be with me on every shoot when I use the belt, and need to carry and use multiple lenses.

Price: $122
Where to buy: Friidesigns
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Friidesigns.

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Trilens review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 24, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Yongnuo YN 50mm f/1.8 Lens for Canon EF is a good contender


Every photographer I know, including yours truly, has spent more money than we care to remember on lenses, all in an effort to get better pictures. When we “follow the crowd” and purchase the brand name lenses, we are usually mostly satisfied, and we just start saving for the next purchase. In many cases, our peers within our industry put a lot of emphasis on buying the “best” brand name lenses which like for example Canon’s L series lenses, are usually of incredible quality, but also incredibly priced. However, when I compare use, and relevant income, and level of photography, and the potential viewer/ customer, I often wonder why I must always shoot for the absolute best lenses when to be quite honest, many amateurs and professionals alike will never be able to tell the difference between a $600 lens and a $1000 lens, and sometimes even a $2000 lens. In my opinion, much of the success of a photo lies in the hands of the photographer’s eye and skills.

Recently, Yongnuo has raised the level of their products, and has been more noticeable with the photography gear they have been producing. Just today I was looking at the Yongnuo YN 50mm f/1.8 Lens for Canon EF, and on paper, the specifications are very comparable to the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens but its cost is considerably less. This prime lens has a maximum aperture of f/1.8, multi-coated glass elements, an AF/MF switch on the lens barrel and a minimal focus distance of 16 inches. It is designed to fit the Canon EF mount and works with both full-frame and APS-C sensors.

While I have not yet tried this lens, I do own the Canon version and I can’t wait for the opportunity to compare the two.

If you would like to try out the Yongnuo YN 50mm f/1.8 Lens for Canon EF you head over to Amazon or B&H Photo Video and pick one up for around $49.

Note: Yongnuo also makes this lens for the Nikon F mount.

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Yongnuo YN 50mm f/1.8 Lens for Canon EF is a good contender originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 23, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer – print your photos where you want and when you want


For those of us that like to be able to print photos on the go, there are a few options available to do just that task. A couple of days ago, I read about the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer. It is primarily geared towards printing on the go from your Smartphone or tablet. It is very small and compact, and can easily fit in your pocket. Utilizing the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer app, you can connect to it via Bluetooth and print 2” x 3” photos anywhere, and anytime, right from your phone. The paper for this printer has a peel and stick back.

The printer uses ZINK (Zero Ink) printing technology which prints using colorful dye-based crystals embedded within the paper. This is great since there is no ink to buy, nor does it suffer from ink drying up like inkjet printers. When printing, the printer uses heat to activate and colorize the crystals, and prints in a resolution up to 314 x 400 dpi. It has a paper tray capacity of 10 sheets.

The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer is compatible with IOS 9.0 or later and Android 4.4 or later. You can purchase one at Amazon or B&H Photo Video for $129.

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The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer – print your photos where you want and when you want originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 22, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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Picture Keeper Connect photo backup software/adapter review

Using a portable device is immensely freeing, as most of the world has discovered over the past decade. What happens, though, when you run out of space on your phone/tablet and don’t have a wireless service to back it up to? While having a Mac or PC around is nice, that defeats the mobility aspect, if you’re on a long-term trip or project where carrying a laptop is not practical. There are a number of small devices that have come on the scene to bridge this gap, and we were recently offered a new one that offers a few new wrinkles to this solution. It’s called the PictureKeeper Connect and is from Simplified I.T. Products, LLC.

What is it?

The Picture Keeper is a data backup/transfer device and service combination that gives you access to your mobile’s photos, videos, and contacts without having to have an internet service. With the standard USB type A port, you can upload this data to a computer, or download it for uploading to a new device for setup.

Hardware specs

  • Mobile Requirements: iPhone 5 and newer (iOS 8+) and Android OTG (Android 4.1+).
  • Computer Requirements: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP (SP3), Mac OS 10.7 (and newer) computers.
  • Newer devices with a USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 3) port will require an adapter, like our Keeper Converter.

What’s in the box?

In the box, there is the PictureKeeper itself (which has a USB type A plug on one end and a Lightning connector on the other), a cable to attach the USB-A plug to a micro USB device, and an instruction sheet.

Design and features

The Picture Keeper looks for all the world like a larger-than-normal thumb drive with an extra connector. One end is a standard USB type-A connector, and the other end has an Apple Lightning connector, which will fit any iPhone or iPad made in the last few years. The included female USB-A to male micro USB plug allows you to plug it into any but the most recent Android devices. If you have a newer device that requires USB type-C, the company will send you an adapter.

When you plug the PictureKeeper into either a portable device or a computer, you are given the opportunity to create an account, and can then backup photos, contacts, and videos. Once you’ve backed them up, you can then, through the app or your device, remove them from your device or from your iCloud backup.

Built into the software on this unit is also an installer for MacOS and another for Windows that will install a program to manage the picture archives copied from your portable device. This allows the same access to your data.

Once your photos, videos, and/or contacts are loaded, you can access them from any other device the PictureKeeper is inserted into. Data is stored on the unit itself but can also be linked to your online repository.

Creating an account isn’t required to use the device, nor is uploading your content to the service. (There is a separate app where you can upload photos for magnets, mugs and the like.) Initially, I could not figure out how to use it without sharing it with the service, which was a bit unnerving. With privacy concerns abounding due to data breaches, I’m less than excited about loading up one more online service from an unknown company with my most personal of data. But once I found the data is not tied to my iCloud account (unless I specifically link it), I was a little less panicky.

Performance

I was kind of shocked that the device would hold as much as it does. I’m not sure if there is some sort of compression going on beyond what is normal, but I have quite a few photos at very high resolution, and they did not fill this 16 GB of storage. I think I may have stopped it early since there’s not really a way to tell it “only back up the past year of photos.” The interface is a bit spartan, only offering a view of 6 at a time on my iPhone 8 Plus. There’s no way to do anything other than “Select All” or “Unselect All” from the menu, and no filtering at all. For a product offering to help manage large photo collections, there are few data management tools.
Also, there is zero security. When you plug it in, you have to create an account, but putting in any combination of characters that fit the format will create an account on the device that will then be able to read every file stored on it from any account. I’d rather they not have the account thing at all, rather than give the illusion of security without the reality. (I was worried I would forget my password or which email address I used until I tested it with the default data in the fields.)

What I Like

  • Small, easy to use “one trick pony” that does what it says.
  • The softwaree is functional and supports all major platforms and devices
  • Allows sharing data without giving access to iCloud accounts

What needs to be improved

  • No deep filtering of data
  • No indication on the device when data is being written or read
  • No real security – any account can read everything on the drive

Final thoughts

I like the idea of this device, but I think it’s about 6 years too late to market. Between Google Photos and iCloud, not to mention the dozens of others not tied to an operating system, there are any number of ways to backup and share photos and videos that don’t require keeping up with another device.

Only two scenarios where this device would be needed come to mind in 2018: You’re traveling to a truly remote area that has no cell signal or wifi, and are planning to document a lot of activity. The jungles of Costa Rica, Peru, or Africa, for instance. I have been to the far north of Wales, the West of Ireland, and central Italy in the last 5 years, (not to mention rural areas in the US) and have never been more than a few hours away from an internet connection if I wanted it. (When you’re in a Gaelic-first community and the publican understands the phrase “Wifi Password” in my Southern US English, the internet is truly everywhere!)

The second scenario is if you’re someone who is just violently opposed to putting your photos online, then this would be a good thing. I feel the security risk of losing this device, however, is larger than having your iCloud or Google account hijacked – unless you are reusing passwords or just cluelessly careless. Those are not traits that are going to go well with an unsecured device like this.

As a point of price comparison, the price of online storage on iCloud is cheap. For a dollar a month, you can get 50 GB of online storage that is way more secure than this, and share it with your “family” account – up to 4 other people, on all their devices. At the Picture Keeper’s $120 price for 32 GB, that’s almost twice the storage for a full ten years! I’m sure I’ll lose this device or it’ll get broken in less than 10 years. And what do I do when I run out of room on this device? I’ll have to buy another, but with iCloud, I can get four times the 50 GB storage for only 3 times the price ($3 a month for 200 GB), and it’s instantly available as an increase in space, not another account. For $10 a month, I can get 2 TB. And if there are several family members in various places, how do you share a physical drive? My advice? Bite the bullet and pay the buck a month to iCloud.

Price: $119.00 USB-C adapter adds $4.99
Where to buy: Picturekeeper.com and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Simplified I.T. Products, LLC.

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Picture Keeper Connect photo backup software/adapter review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 20, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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The FocusShifter LensShifter will make your DSLR go VAROOM!


A couple of nights ago, I was shooting some macro photography and since I shoot in manual mode, I was operating both the zoom and focus rings manually. This has always been a bit clumsy for me to do, but for some reason it really bothered me that night.

Determined to find a solution, I embarked on my usual internet search, and I came across the FocusShifter LensShifter Red & Blue Kit. The kit consists of two simple looking plastic handles one red and one blue, with toothed neoprene belts for placing them around the lens rings, and a built-in mechanism to adjust the belts to fit any lens rings with an outer diameter from 56mm to 98mm. It also has a balancing counterweight on the opposite side of the handle to compensate for any looseness in the lens rings. This shifter allows you to easily adjust your focus or zoom in smooth and desired increments, and you can do so without the clumsiness of reaching around the front of the camera to grab the lens. It also works well for video scenes when you want to move a scene in or out of focus, or change the distance for a specific effect. In addition to the kit, the LensShifter is available as a single item for use with just one ring of your choice.

If you would like to purchase the FocusShifter LensShifter Red & Blue Kit, you can pick one up at Amazon or B&H Photo Video for around $45.

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The FocusShifter LensShifter will make your DSLR go VAROOM! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 15, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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