Studio{us} Mommy

I’ve only been using a dSLR for 3 years but before that I used point and shoot cameras. For a while I borrowed my father-in-law’s Sony super zoom. It worked pretty great for a while. Point and shoot cameras these days are faster, have more megapixels and nearly all of them have video functions. I guess that’s why SO many people are on YouTube huh?

Now I am a Nikon girl myself and I have the d90 dSLR which I am loving already. But there are times when I really wish I had a small camera to pack in my purse or diaper bag. I was hoping to review a Nikon for you but that isn’t happening. However, Casio has extended an invitation for me to try one of their Exilim cameras so look forward to that! I am excited to try a point and shoot again!

I hope to have a few point and shoot camera’s to compare. I know most moms have smaller cameras. I’ve taken great photos with point and shoots in the past and I can share what I know/learn with those of you who aren’t ready for dSLR territory

I just subscribed!! I almost got the digital version of the magazine but hubby got upset at me saying he wanted to read it too so I went ahead and got the print version since it was just 14 dollars!

I chose this magazine because it has a great mix of what is hot and what to buy along with great How-To’s and even some Photoshop lessons. I have a read a couple issues that were older and just loved it. Definitely a must have for photographers!

Get it at amazon! –> Popular Photography & Imaging

First and foremost, this arrived today finally! We will be using it excusively in class and I didn’t have it at home but I do now!

Best Friends – They are almost 2 months old. LOVE THEM

I have found my nirvana for storage and sharing my photos! Seagate has designed an external hard drive that goes seamlessly with whats called Dockstar, a device that hooks up to your computers router via LAN cable. What this does is make your files on your computer accessible anywhere, on the go! You could take your laptop to New York and log into your files at home that you forgot to transfer before the flight. And with large file sizes like 500 gig and even 1 Terabyte, you should not run out of room on the hard drive! This is absolutely ideal for photo storage.

Seagate sent me a 500 gig FreeAgent Go and Dockstar to review for this new blog! (It was promptly nicknamed Missy, short for mistress, because my husband sweet talks to me when he wants to borrow it and he treats it like its a woman!) It arrived the very day, in fact right before, we needed to back up files and photos to switch computers. This happened 2 more times before I finally was given the power laptop for my needs. Each time we were able to use the hard drive with no problems using just a USB. I was never more grateful for storage. We installed fresh versions of windows, office, and photo/video programs so we needed to make sure everything was safe. And it is!

After we worked on networks and settings for a few days (we had to hook up the PS3 through my laptop) we were able to go ahead and plug in the drive to the dock. The dock has its own power adapter. You just hook up your LAN cable to your computer and voila! Also it has three USB ports so it can also be used for a hub!

When you get your dockstar plugged in and ready to go, the first thing you need to do is go to a special site just for sharing and that is Pogoplug.com. Once you register you will be able to upload. Now because I am on a laptop that has to use the LAN connection for the PS3, I do not keep the dockstar online all the time. I only have one port for that. What I am going to do however is plug it into another computer than can stay on somehow. I wish I had a better router but we have SBC/ATT dsl and they have crappy routers with just one hole for LAN. Ok so anyway you go in it shows your folders on the hard drive. You can choose which ones to share and then even send emails to certain people you want to share with. Also you can have the other people be able to store their photos there too for you to download. You can make it as private or as public as you want.

This setup is perfect for families that live far apart. Also ideal for photographers as they can create very private online galleries for clients. What I love about it is the size, not too big or small. Also its very easy to get started sharing. I realize as I say this that there are some people that are still going to get confused but that’s ok, Seagate has good instructions right in the package. You can also email me if you need help setting up! The other thing I love about it is that besides sharing with family you can actually share items on Twitter and Facebook. The biggest draw for me is the hard drive. I needed a large drive to handle photos.

I do not use this hard drive for class. I would love to but firstly its being used as a safe keeping box and backup of files and photos. And secondly, my class at college is using Mac computers and you cannot use a hard drive formatted on windows in a mac machine. What I will have to do if I want to use one for school is get another one and have it formatted at my college and use it only for college and no sharing.

The only thing I don’t like is that it actually uses LAN. Most computers and older routers only have one input and output for LAN connections and all of ours are taken so I can’t hook up to share. Also the router its connected to (or computer) has to be on all the time if you are trying to access your files from somewhere else. But like I said if you have a nice router with more than one access port then it shouldn’t be a problem.

Buy It: FreeAgent Go hard drive retails for $139.99 and the dockstar retails for $99. You can get them right from the Seagate site!

(Thank You Readers!)

Seagate is giving away one 500 gig FreeAgent Go and a one year subscription to Roxio PhotoShow! With PhotoShow you can create really great one of a kind dazzling slideshows to share online or at home! This prize pack is worth $180!! (Please note this giveaway does NOT include the Dockstar, its the hard drive ONLY and the subscription to PhotoShow)

Mandatory Entry: Go to Seagate and tell me the name of your favorite color of FreeAgent Go hard drive AND tell me what you will use the drive for, storage or sharing with family and friends, etc!

Extra entries:

• Become a fan of Seagate on Facebook
• Follow Seagate on Twitter
• Follow me on Twitter
• You can tweet about this giveaway once a day! Leave the link to your tweet. Example Below you can copy
  

RT @studiousmommy Seagate FreeAgent Go and Photoshow Giveaway at Studio{us} Mommy! http://is.gd/6xWX1

• Follow Serendipity Mommy blog on Twitter
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This contest is closed. This is a video of me taken in the last hour, choosing the winner, and she has been notified and has 48 hours to claim her prize, winner is comment 633!

We faced treacherous roads to get to the bookstore to get college books and hit Best Buy on the way home to get some toys, and I got this. I tried it in my hands and fell in love! Its very late though and I am tired but I will post more photos tomorrow!

VS. 

Ok let me break it down for you. I currently own a Nikon d50. I bought it in early 2007. At the time it was hard to find because the particular model was being discontinued in favor of the new d40. So I really got my camera on the tail end of production. And to get a deal I got it from Feebay. It is a floor model and has never had a problem. Great beginner camera. I’ve grown in my photography and need more megapixels for poster prints  but mainly I need more speed in the frames per second and also more focus points. I just need a bit more.

Nikon d90: I am not going to share the specs right now but I will say its the camera that I want to try and most likely buy. It boast 4.5 frames per second, 12.3 mp (double of what I have), its got a live view and a movie mode. It has 11 focus points (my d50 has 5). I don’t care so much about the video but the rest I love. Especially since they are using the newer. CMOS sensor. Added bonus is the kit lens is a great one, 18-105 VR! This is sitting a little over $1k on Amazon. This is probably what I will get if I don’t buy from the company of feebay again.

Nikon d300s:  If money were no object I would have ordered this one already. . Ok so this baby, WOW. 51 focus points! You can save on two different cards at the same time too. And it shoots at SEVEN frames per second! Right now this one with lens is sitting around $1500 on Amazon. Its about 500 out of my price range but its my dream camera. I could get it used though but no lens or anything extra just the body.

i live out in a rural area and the nearest walmart is 20 minutes so you can imagine how hard it is for me to just up and go try cameras out. We have 3 kids and not to mention we live in the north, so we end up making a few large shopping trips a year. I am hoping that Best Buy will have them both to try out. I’d love to walk out of the store with a Nikon in hand but I fear they won’t have the d90 in or if they do, that it will be more than Amazon. I guess we’ll see this week because I am going shopping no later than Saturday!