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While nearly all of us know B&H for selling photo gear, some of us also know them as an excellent educational resource. I’ve been happy to speak at their event center, and lead photo walks for them, as well as speak at their OPTIC conference. Now, B&H has pulled together a variety of education and product resources custom tailored to specific types of photography. These mini-websites include Tips, Articles, Reviews, and Pa Product Guide for each area. The two of most interest to our readers are likely the:

Like almost every pro Nikon shooter, I’m eagerly awaiting the new Nikon D850. In the meantime, I needed an updated backup camera for my Nikon D810. I wanted one good enough to use for “pro” work, but small and light enough that I could easily carry it in a messenger bag with my drone for field work. I’d already shot with the Nikon D500 and Nikon D750, which are both excellent cameras, but decided to be a little more adventurous and purchase the newer Nikon D7500, that fits many of the features of the Nikon D500 into a smaller, less-expensive, package.

Nikon and Canon’s long glass may be getting slightly lighter over the years, but those flagship lenses are also getting incredibly expensive. Fortunately there is a crop of third party value-priced lenses that have arrived to help out consumers. We’ve reviewed several of them in the past, like the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens, Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens, and Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens, but until now hadn’t gotten the chance to take the lighter-weight of Sigmas two superzooms, the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens into the field. Our annual Alaska bear & puffin photo safari was the perfect opportunity. Two weeks of mid-range use for the bears coupled with longer-range use with the Puffins gave me a chance to put the lens through its paces.

Nikon has introduced a new model in its D7000 “prosumer” product line – the Nikon D7500. It features most of the headline features anyone could want in a sub-$1500 camera. In addition to 21MP DX-format sensor, it shoots at 8 fps, backed by an 51-point AF system, and can record 4K and time lapse video. Taking a page from consumer-friendly cameras, it has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and can be run from your smartphone. I’ve written up more about the Nikon D7500 on ExtremeTech. You can’t get your hands on one until summer though, but you can pre-order it for $1250. We look forward to reviewing one and letting you know how it works out in the field!

Anyone who is serious about photography is hopefully already calibrating & profiling their monitors using a hardware device, like the excellent Spyder5 (for basic use, Spyder5EXPRESS for $99 is perfect). If you’re not, then you’re just guessing when it comes to getting accurate color. However, you can go far beyond just building profiles if you instead choose either Spyder5PRO for $139 or Spyder5ELITE for $229. These versions include powerful display measurement and analysis tools that can be used both for finding the optimal settings for your display prior to profiling, and to help you compare and troubleshoot display issues....

Sigma continues to roll out very-high-quality, professional-grade, lenses in its Art family. These lenses are super-fast, super-sharp, and reasonably priced for their features and image quality. The new, full-frame-ready, Sigma 20mm f/1.4 lens is available for pre-order on the B&H site for $900. It uses both “F-type” low dispersion glass and other low-dispersion glass technologies in its 15-element construction. Advanced lens coatings are also used. It has a hypersonic focus motor, and a minimum focusing distance of 10.9”. Like other lenses in the family, it can be tweaked using Sigma’s USB dock and software. A 9-bladed aperture helps ensure a smooth-looking bokeh. It will be available in Canon EF, Nikon F, and Sigma SA mounts.

One of the most interesting features of DxO’s new DxO ONE camera (#dxoone) is the new SuperRAW image format it supports. SuperRAW is a compound image format, with each image file containing four RAW images taken in quick succession. When the ONE is set to capture images in SuperRAW, the four individual RAW images are shot and stored in a single, proprietary, image file (with a .DXO extension). When processed by DxO’s own OpticsPro or FilmPack software, spatial and temporal noise reduction are applied to the four images, with the resulting output image having lower noise – and better overall image quality -- than any of the four individual captures.

Whether you take your travel photography seriously enough to go on specialized trips, or simply want to do a better job capturing memories from your vacation, there are plenty of useful tips and techniques in the talk I gave at B&H this Spring. The good news is, even if you missed it in person, it is now online and Free to watch, courtesy of the team at the B&H events center. Topics covered range from selecting gear, preparing for your trip, how to schedule your shooting day, best tactics for great photos, the ethics of travel photography, and how to correctly process and show off your images. Special thanks to our sponsor, Datacolor, and to Photodex for the slideshow software illustrated. If this video gets you itching for some great travel photography, we hope you can join us for our Myanmar Photo Tour in December.