Home Donate New Search Gallery How-To Books Links Workshops About Contact
LINKS
Linking to this site
Do you want to link to anything on this site? Please do! Go right ahead and ThANKS!!! I appreciate it.
Always feel free encouraged to link to anything you find helpful. Of course never copy anything (its all copyrighted and registered), but link away and thanks!
Ken.
Cute Animals Photo Clubs Other Artists Tech Resources
Charitable Organizations Pirate Radio Contests
I've been buying my own stuff from these people for longer than this website has existed because they are good. Today when you use these links to get your stuff, it's the biggest source of my family's income which supports my ability to keep adding to this site for you, instead of having to knock it off and get a real job instead.
Anytime you use any of these links to get anything, from underwear to cameras to lawn furniture, it lets these places support me so I can keep expanding this free website without any cost to you.
Order anything, from any country on Earth, and when you do, you don't see it, but it's what keeps my family, and this website, going.
Thank you!
Adorama
I personally buy from Adorama, Amazon, Ritz, B&H, Calumet and J&R. I can't vouch for ads below.
|
I've been getting my gear and film from Adorama for more than 30 years; since the late 1970's when I bought my Kodachrome from them.
Back in the 1980s I bought my Nikon gear from Adorama for less than my local Long Island camera store could have gotten it wholesale! Adorama does huge volume efficiently and passes the savings along to us.
Adorama is a huge New York City camera store that used to cater mostly to professionals. Adorama usually stocks just about any weird film or lens I can imagine. Pros and I use them because of the great prices and in-stock availability of even exotic gear. If you want homey, sit down and have some coffee and conversation-style-service you'll have to pay higher prices for it elsewhere, but if you know what you want, even if it's an exotic lens and want it from stock at the lowest possible price, then Adorama are your guys.
Adorama sure beats retail, where salespeople pretend they are doing me a favor by "special ordering" something at a higher price than I could get it from Adorama, from stock. Worse, local retail stores rarely give cash refunds if I simply don't like it. With Adorama I never get stuck with anything I don't like: I order it, try it, and if I don't like it, back it goes for a cash refund.
You can visit Adorama's store in Manhattan (tell them I sent you), although most of Adorama today is their online operation.
Adorama also pays top dollar for your used gear, especially recent lenses like the 70-200mm VR.
Last I looked, other dealers only pay 50% of the selling price. Adorama pays up to 70% of their selling price.
The process starts by clicking here and letting them know what you have. They'll take the information over the phone, fax, email, with an online form, or heck, you can just walk it into their store if you're in New York City.
They'll look at your message, and telephone you with a quote. If it sounds good, and you're in the USA, they'll email you you a free insured UPS shipping label with which to send your gear to them. (They buy from any place on earth, but might not be able to pick up the shipping if you're someplace like the South Pole from which there is no regular UPS pickup.)
Once your gear lands at Adorama, they'll look it over, and phone you again in about two days to discuss how you'd like to get paid. Adorama pays via cold, hard cash or direct deposit into your bank account. Of course you can use it towards a trade-in; the key point is that it's the same amount regardless.
If you don't like the quote or change your mind, no problem, they'll ship your gear back to you for free, too.
Amazon
I use Amazon.com for everything from cameras and lenses to soap and hard drives. Their ease of ordering and customer service are the best I can imagine. Consumer Reports even confirmed that in their most recent ratings of where to buy electronics. Of course they have the best prices and I also usually have a month to return something if I just don't like it.
To get to Amazon's sites for other countries, simply use any of my links to Amazon, scroll to the very bottom of Amazon's page, click your country's site, and you're there!
As I write this, here are links to Amazon's sites for The United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Japan. I couldn't figure out the direct link to the Chinese site, but it is at the bottom of every Amazon page.
Amazon also offers gift cards, which are what I usually give my own family for holidays.
B&H Photo-Video
B&H Photo-Video is another New York institution. I've also been getting my film and equipment from them for more than thirty years.
See a video of my visit to them in 2009.
B&H have the biggest retail camera store in Manhattan. Look at their prices - once something has been out for a year, no one can touch Adorama's or B&H's prices. These are the lowest prices you can pay for things and actually get what you think you are ordering.
If you're in England, Ireland or the EU, B&H has an automatic calculator that tells you the exact cost for all of shipping, duties and VAT.
It's easy: put things in your cart.
Once in your cart, select your country from the drop-down menu and select your shipping method. It shows you all the options, with shipping time and cost.
Once you've chosen the shipping method, it automatically calculates the VAT and duties, and if you want, shows you the exact breakdown at See Details.
You can pay all this up-front with your order. B&H remits all the VAT and duties as needed, so your gear arrives directly at your door without you having to go pick it up and pay duties separately.
Of course if you're exempt, or want to pay them the old way, just check the "Don't collect" box when you click See Details.
You can see all this before you place your order while you're still in your cart. B&H spent a lot of money getting this to work for these countries.
I've been buying my digital cameras and accessories from Ritz online and at retail since the 1990s. They offer great service and the most liberal return policy I've seen. They do like to push their own house brand, Quantaray, which I avoid. I prefer genuine Nikon and Canon lenses and Hoya filters. If cost is an issue, Nikon and Canon also make excellent inexpensive lenses.
Ebay is always a gamble. eBay is not a store, it's just a listing service for anyone to sell anything. You never know what you're going to get until it arrives.
See How to Win at eBay.
Avoid eBay for new items, which are better bought from the guys we know above, but do try eBay for older and otherwise no longer available used gear.
The older, rarer or weirder the item for which you search, the better it is to look for it on eBay.
J&R
Another New York City landmark, J&R was where we all went to buy our music back when I worked in radio in the 1970s. They had every album in stock, something you couldn't find anywhere else back then.
They've always had cameras and superb service. They also have a huge selection of every consumer electronic item you can imagine, as well as hundreds of thousands of different CDs, DVDs, and yes, loads of vinyl LPs. They also are where I look next when my usual haunts for photo gear are out of stock, and for most people, always worth shopping for new gear. J&R doesn't always carry really weird things, like 43mm filter adapters for 50-year old cameras, in stock, so I tend to use the Adorama first, but for normal people, check out J&R along with the others.
Calumet caters to professionals and offers the highest level of service. They also have excellent used high-end gear. The last thing I bought from Calumet was my used Horseman SW612P professional medium-format panoramic camera system, which cost half the price of new, and it was in the same condition.
Walk into a Calumet store (there are only about 15 of them in the USA and many more worldwide) and you'll find plenty of educated salespeople eager to help. You won't have to wait for help like at other large photo stores. You may pay a little more, but Calumet more than makes that up in service.
Since most people don't live near a Calumet store, of course they have an excellent website from which you can order.
Sign up for Calumet's emails and flyers. They are usually loaded with great relevant information.
Retail
I'm amazed that people still write me agonizing over contemplated purchases. Retail is dead: I order it online, play with it, and send it back if I hate it. I've been doing that for decades! I rarely send things back, but knowing I can takes all the worry out of getting new or unfamiliar gear.
Why should I risk getting stuck with something I can't return by taking pictures inside a camera store for two minutes with an impatient clerk glaring at me, when I can pay less, have it arrive at my home and try it out for a week at my leisure? I send it back for a full refund if I don't like it.
Because of the prices, everything in stock, delivery and especially the liberal return policies I haven't bought at retail for a long time. Since I do my research on the internet, or with borrowed equipment from my friends, I have no need to walk into a store. Unlike the 1990s, things change so fast today that prices and products are already half-obsolete by the time Popular Photography hits my mailbox.
I would try and buy camera bags at retail; but I haven't bought any since the 1990s. If you have a store you love, use them. San Diego has no professional camera dealers - we have no Samy's or Calumet like Santa Barbara or Los Angeles. Those are great stores.
All stores have cameras. A pro store is loaded with lights, strobes, rental gear, rigging and soft boxes while amateur stores feature frames, photo labs, batteries and off-brand accessories.
Today, newly-announced gear doesn't get to retail store counters until after ours has already arrived via an internet pre-order. Because of the great money-back satisfaction guarantees I never wonder about getting something; I just order it and send it back in the unlikely event that I hate it. Read the fine print at each site. Some things aren't returnable, and of course you need to save all the boxes and etc. I have a huge page about how and where to buy here.
Photo Labs (click) back to top
CUTE ANIMALS back to top
La Jolla Friends of the Seals and Sealwatch.org.
If
you love little critters as much as I do you can register at FROGWATCH
USA and help scientists conserve frogs and toads. You can record
what you see in nature! Fun!!
Cute hummingbird nest 2003 Cute hummingbird nest 2005
Live Cloud Conditions for the Western USA
Click the map here to enlarge your area. Remember to wave to the satellite!
Many thanks to the United States Government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service for providing these to our viewers.
This shows where the weather, and thus the photo opportunities, lie.
PHOTO CLUBS back to top
I've been very active with the San Diego Sierra Club Photo Section since the 1980s. We get out and create consistently great images! Join us! We love to share everything we know with beginners and we're all volunteers.
North County San Diego is graced with the NCPS, which meets in Encinitas monthly and has outings. They have a much better website than the San Diego Sierra Club Photo Section, because NCPS has a much better webmaster, Tom Scott. If you join NCPS Tom will put up a gallery for you for free on their site, a great deal from a generous guy.
OTHER ARTISTS back to top
1x.com A site loaded with great work and no junk. I can spend hours looking around it. What makes it special is that its editors cull only the best work; it's not a free-for-all of unedited crap like most other collaboration sites.
Alethea Steingisser who hides the good stuff here
André Brito Portugal
Ansel Adams California
Arnaud Frich extraordinary panoramic photography of France
Brian Garland Cars
Bruce Percy extraordinary landscapes worldwide
Bruce Percy's "Light on Scotland" Workshops
Carlo Terlizzi friend
Carr Clifton Landscape Master
Christopher Burkett optical Cibachrome prints
Clark Little Waves
Clinton Smith Genius. Cibachrome prints, too
Chris Morrison Down under landscapes
thecross-photo.com OK, really just a place that shows my work
Darren San Francisco
David Fokos Quiet landscapes.
Edward P. Richards Louisiana B/W Master
Eric Meola One of the world's foremost color visionaries
Galen Rowell Alpinist
Geoff Murray Tasmania
Gerald Hill Black & White master
Jack Dykinga Arizona
James Randklev Not only a neighbor on this list, but also was Jack Dykinga's neighbor in reality!
James Kay Uncommonly good treatments of the American Southwest
Jesse Speer Colorado, USA
Jim Cline Latin America
Jim Reed North American Weather
Joel Zak Color
Jonathan Fennell San Diego
Joseph Holmes California
Justin Black Central California
Karl Grobl Humanitarian Photojournalist
Kyle Cassidy also one of the world's foremost Leica authorities
Laurin Rinder Hollywood's artist to the stars
Leping Zha, Ph.D. Landscape master
Marc Adamus Landscape master
Marc Silber great interview videos with the greatest photographers of our era
Michael Fatali Utah
Michael Johnson USA
Monte Nagler USA
Muench Photography California
Nana Sousa Dias landscape nature nuances people urbanities
Paul Renner Native African wildlife artist
Pete Turner Color's Master.
Peter Lik Panoramas
Peter van Nugteren a great seer of light
Phillip Colla Sea and Surf
Rod Edwards Click on virtual tours to see them fill your screen!
Rodney Lough Jr. A master large-format photographer whose works must be experienced in person to believed.
Sean McHugh Stunning images of Cambridge, UK, at dusk. Added here December 2005
Steve Coleman nightscapes
TimeCatcher.com I have no idea who this is, but it's good stuff.
Trey Ratcliff Great interpretaitons of light
Troy Paiva Crazy night stuff! He has patience!
William Neill California
Wilson Tsoi, who can create world-class work with an obsolete $200 Canon A620
GREAT COMMERCIAL PHOTOS:
Bahamas.com Check out the incredible 360 degree panoramas!
FRIENDS
Harve Alan Media Consultant
TECHNICAL RESOURCES back to top
Photodo.com the only useful objective, scientific lens tests I've ever found.
More Nikon information you may need to scroll down to the links.
Schneider Optics large format lenses.
Oceanside Photo & Telescope Our local astronomy store whose site is loaded with astronomy info and links.
Mac Performance Guide A hacker's technical guide to buying and setting up a Mac. Normal people don't need or want this level of complexity; any Mac is more than enough and just goes.
Old Cameras
www.antiquecameras.net has great, current price and feature guides to just about anything worth shooting.
I've never visited or bought from these guys, but they have a ton of old cameras cheap and have photos of most of them, too. CollectibleCameras.com
See CameraEccentric.com for old literature.
CollectiBlend old camera values
Organizations to which I Donate and/or Belong
The National Wildlife Federation works to protect the wildlife we all love to photograph.
The Surfrider Foundation works with legislators to keep the oceans and beaches we love to photograph clean.
The National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society is working is to end the devastating effects of Multiple Sclerosis, which strikes down people in their prime. They have made some significant breakthroughs in the past few years that are really starting to help those with MS.
The Monarch Program studies the monarch butterfly's phenomenal migration patterns. Every year these butterflies flutter many thousands of miles to return to the very same wintering spots their ancestors did last year. No one knows how they navigate nor how this information is passed down through the several generations that pass in a year. The Monarch Program was mentioned in the June, 2003 issue of Sunset Magazine. I do their website as a volunteer.
Sushi Performance and Visual Art is San Diego's non-profit contemporary dance and visual art performance center.
The Salvation Army provides emergency services and rehabilitation to everyone. Unlike more familiar groups seen on TV and getting in our way pandering to us in our workplaces, the Salvation Army spends its resources actually helping people instead of on self-promotion. A photographer friend's grandfather worked with the Salvation Army in WWII bringing much needed aid to our soldiers out in combat. He was over there volunteering for weeks without any real rest or much of anything. One day a shiny Jeep drives up with a big red cross on the side. Two guys get out: one guy handing out cigarettes to some troops, and a photographer documenting this for publicity. The two drove off a few minutes later, never to be seen out there again. I always believe in donating directly to the people who need help or who give it, never to organizations that are just middlemen deciding to what groups they would like to donate while keeping a cut for themselves. The Salvation Army is out helping hurricane victims in the US right now, but do you see them on TV? No; they're too busy helping to stop and talk about it.
Goodwill Industries trains and provides job placement for disadvantaged and disabled people.
Paws'itive Teams volunteers train service dogs for the handicapped. They need a new facility in the San Diego area and are seeking help finding it. They'd like to hear from property owners, commercial real estate brokers and leaders of other non profits who might be interested in sharing space, public officials with information about potential government space, and philanthropically minded individuals who appreciate the importance of their mission serving people with disabilities. Please contact Carol Birch at (858) 458-9375 or Carol Davis at (858) 674-0845 if you can help.
RADIO back to top
Too busy to make your own website? Then make your own pirate FM radio station here!
Ever since being a kid I wanted my own station. I've worked in broadcasting since I was in high school, and a secret desire of all off us was to get on the air by ourselves. Not to worry: this website gets so many readers I no longer have any intentions of firing up at 88.5 FM over the holidays.
A guy I know did operate a very successful pirate station in Los Angeles for years, and even covered the Rose Bowl live each year!
His key was he worked at a place which made jingles, so he had the same (or better) professional bumpers as every other real radio station. He sounded legitimate, so no one ever noticed that he had no licence. He did great until he got too bold and went on the air on shortwave which made it to the FCC in Washington DC.
Today anyone can get more listeners over the Internet, and even do video, so have at your own website and avoid federal prison for communications crimes, which is where you go for pirate radio.
Photo Contests back to top
National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) annual contest. Deadline: 20 July 2009.
The NWF is a serious contest each year. The NWF not only has loads of real prizes, more importantly, the NWF winners are usually the most extraordinary photos I see each year.
Home Donate New Search Gallery How-To Books Links Workshops About Contact