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2007 Editors' Choice Awards

Our editors pick three dozen of their favorite products and technologies (just in time for last-minute holiday shopping)

The Lenspen
Sometimes the best tools are the simplest. When it comes to keeping my optics clean and free of dust, the Lenspen is my tool of choice. I tend to lose cleaning cloths, but I keep the Lenspen clipped to my camera bag so I'm never without it. On one end there's a gentle brush for removing loose particles and on the other is a lubricated pad that gently cleans the optical surface. If I have my camera with me, I have my Lenspen with me as well. List Price: Varies. Contact: Lenspen, (877) 608-0868, www.lenspen.com. —CR

Giottos Rocket Blower
There are few things more maddening than finding signs of dust and debris on my digital images. The Giottos Rocket Blower provides the simple tool I need to help avoid spending time cloning these annoyances from my favorite images. Unlike compressed air, which could damage the sensor, the Rocket Blower provides a safe way to remove particles from my camera's sensor. By using the aptly named device, I can keep my sensor and images as clean as possible. List Price: $12-$15, depending on size. Contact: HP Marketing Corp., (800) 735-4373, www.hpmarketingcorp.com. —IP

Seagate 750 GB External Drive
Having lost about a gigabyte of photos on a faulty hard drive, I learned the hard way that frequent backups to external drives are a necessity. My backup software is set to make incremental backups daily, which keeps my data safe, but demands big storage capacity. Seagate's 750 GB Pushbutton Backup drive has three times the capacity of my internal drive, so there's plenty of room for copies of my entire data library, and I can even keep copies of older files I've deleted from my internal drive. The Pushbutton Backup drives include BounceBack Express software—press a single button on the front of the drive and you're done. Available in a range of capacities, the drives come in USB only or USB/FireWire configurations. Estimated Street Price: $499. Contact: Seagate, (831) 438-6550, www.seagate.com.-WP

Olympus Evolt E-330
When Olympus announced the E-330, I said count me in. The Live View LCD is one of the most useful new technologies to come into a D-SLR. Because of the mirror used for the viewfinder, digital SLRs traditionally haven't been able to show you live what the lens sees on the LCD. Olympus added a sensor in the viewfinder so this became possible. Add in the tilting LCD, and you gain a highly versatile camera that allows shooting from ground level to overhead without struggling to look through the viewfinder. Estimated Street Price: $900 (body only). Contact: Olympus, (888) 553-4448, www.olympusamerica.com. —RS

Jimi Multi Media Case
The Jimi Multi Media case is a hip, convenient place for storing memory cards without taking up too much room in your bag. I love that it only has room for two cards, so you have to travel light. The case fits all of the most common flash and media card types. The Jimi is also ecofriendly; it's made from 100% recycled and recyclable polypropylene. It's also shock- and water-resistant. List Price: $9. Contact: Jimi, (978) 388-1111, www.thejimi.com. —KC

 

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