Gadling gift guide – photography gadgets

An essential part of any trip is photography, and an essential part of photography is good photo gadgets. In this fourth and final Gadling gift guide, we’ll recommend a couple of great photo gadgets that will make even the most amateur photographer happy.

Be sure to check out our previous gift guides:

Gift guide for the lightweight traveler
Gift guide for famlily travel and kids
Gift guide for the business traveler
The top ten travel products of 2009

Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA photo backup unit

The Colorspace UDMA is one of the fastest photo storage devices on the market. Available with up to 500GB of space, the Colorspace UDMA supports most RAW photo formats and accepts SD and CF memory cards. It’ll do up to 250GB off a single battery charge, and can even be programmed with user scripts to automate certain features.

Price: From $249
Product page: HyperDrive Colorspace UDMA

Joby Gorillapod

The Joby Gorillapod is the perfect travel photography gadget. It is small, lightweight, and lets you take photos using it as a mini tripod, or by attaching it to a solid object (like a tree). The Gorillapod comes in several versions, including one for SLR cameras and a version with interchangeable mounts.

Price: From $21.95
Product page: Joby Gorillapod

Gigapan EPIC robotic imager

If you want to take your photos beyond the dull and boring, consider investing in the $299 GigaPan EPIC imaging robot. By attaching your camera to the unit, and setting some basic options, the GigaPan starts shooting away, turning 100’s of photos into massive panoramic photos. The unit includes the free stitching software from GigaPan, and image hosting on their site.

Price: $299
Product page: Gigapan EPIC

Epson Artisan 810

Making great photos is fun – but with a good photo printer, you can take them beyond the screen and show them off the old fashioned way. The Epson Artisan 810 features a sheet-feed scanner, fax and triple-source printer tray. It’ll print on blank CD’s and comes complete with Ethernet and Wi-Fi.

Price: $199 (after temporary $100 instant rebate)
Product page: Epson Artisan 810

Eye-Fi Wireless SD memory card

Eye-Fi cards turn your camera into a Wi-Fi enabled device. Photos and videos can instantly be uploaded to your PC or a variety of online photo/video sharing sites. The card is available with Wi-Fi geotagging and hotspot access.

Price: from $49.99
Product page: Eye-Fi

Epson P-6000 multimedia photo viewer

The Epson P-6000 is the professionals choice for a photo storage device. It features a large 4″ Premia LCD display with support for 16.7 million colors. Inside the unit is an 80GB drive. Photos can be loaded off one of the memory card slots, or directly off the camera with USB host and a neat tethering option.

Support is built in for almost every RAW format on the market, and the unit even allows for several powerful photo editing procedures, right on the device. Plus, at the end of the day, you can use it to watch some movies or listen to music.

Price: $599.99 (+ $75 mail in rebate)
Product page: Epson P-6000 multimedia photo viewer

Ipevo R7 Wi-Fi enabled photo frame

The Ipevo Kaleido R7 is another great way to view the photos you make. The R7 looks fantastic, but inside is where the real power is – thanks to Wi-Fi, you can view live photo channels, or even read the latest news through RSS. The unit features touch sensitive controls and its hi-resolution screen makes photos look fantastic.

Price: $149
Product page: Ipevo Kaleido R7

Manfrotto ModoSteady

The Manfrotto ModoSteady grabbed a top spot in our lineup of best gadgets of 2009 – and rightfully so. This 3-in-1 device works as a mini tripod, shoulder grip and steady-cam mount. Best of all, it is lightweight and can fold up into a compact unit.

Price: $115
Product page: Manfrotto ModoSteady

Manfrotto Modopocket

The final product in our gift guide is another Manfrotto invention – the ModoPocket is a tiny folding tripod, designed for smaller cameras or Micro Four/Thirds cameras. The ModoPocket screws to the bottom of your camera, and allows you to angle it up or down. When you are done, you simply fold it back up.

Price: $29.99
Product page: Manfrotto ModoPocket

Daily deal – T-Mobile Cameo wireless digital photo frame for $39.99

My daily deal for today is pretty far from the average travel technology deal, but since almost every traveler carries a camera phone, I’ll explain why I think it is still a great deal for you.

The T-Mobile Cameo digital photo frame launched last year, at $99 and a monthly service charge of $9.99, it was one of those gadgets that I would have wanted to purchase, but just could not get over the $10 fee every month.

Yesterday, T-Mobile dropped the price on the Cameo to $39.99 for the frame, and just $1.99 a month for the service.

So, what can you do with this photo frame? You can sent photos to it from anywhere in the world! The frame operates on the nationwide T-Mobile network, and constantly waits for new incoming photos.

You can send photos using MMS (picture messaging) or through email. Each frame comes with its own mobile number, and sending a photo to it is as simple as attaching the photo in an email, and sending it to the dedicated email address assigned to the frame.

This is of course absolutely perfect if you are traveling the world and want to send daily photos to a loved one back home, or if you have a family member who can’t seem to operate anything more complicated than a coffee maker.
The device does not require any user interaction to receive the photos, they just show up when you send them. Thankfully there are some settings that allow you to restrict who can email the device, so there is no need to be worried about the family prankster sending porn to the frame.

In addition to the wireless portion of the frame, you can still add photos by connecting it to your computer, or by adding an SD memory card. The frame has a display resolution of 720×480 and has a built in light sensor for adjusting the brightness.

The Cameo frame can only be purchased at a local T-Mobile retail store (corporate owned), and since the $1.99 fee is actually for a new line, you will have to pass the T-Mobile credit check.

The good news is that the Cameo service does not require an activation fee or a contract, so you are free to cancel it after just 60 days. I’ve been playing with mine for a few hours, and it really is a fun way to send and view photos.

You can make the deal even better if you purchase the Cameo along with the new T-Mobile Samsung Memoir camera phone – when purchased on the same receipt, you are eligible for a $40 mail in rebate.

If you want to read a quick review of the device, check out this article by our friend Darren Murph over at Engadget.

Daily deal – Lasonic 7″ digital photo frame for $38

My daily deal for today is for the Lasonic JL-207 7″ digital photo frame.

This portable digital frame has a fairly low resolution screen, but should make for a perfect Christmas gift, or a way to display your own vacation or other travel photos in a slideshow.

The photo frame can read photos off SD, MMC and Memory Stick media. You even have the ability to connect it directly to your PC and use it as a memory card reader.

The photo frame can also playback several video formats, a feature not found on many other digital photo frames. To top off the feature listing, you’ll even find a video output jack which allows you to connect the frame to view your photos on TV.

The MSRP of this product is $99, but 6ave.com currently has it on sale for just $39.99 with free shipping. If you apply coupon code “couponcabin“, you’ll shave an additional $2.34 off the price. Save yourself the hassle of the busy Christmas season and stock up on these; I’ve always found that they make perfect gifts, especially if you include a small memory card with some photos.