Santa’s Digital Imaging Elves were busy in 2023, and brought a slew of actual improvements that will bring wholesale change to photographers everyday workflow. Adobe’s introduction and refinement of the RAW workflow with A.I. Denoise and Masking isn’t a minor revision. Sonnet Tech’s new Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock has a slick, svelte design with cutting edge performance, and for great SD Card performance, the Kingston Canvas React Plus SD Card, and OWC Atlas with their Innergize App, help make sure your shoots go off as planned. The Xencelabs Medium Bundle Tablet sets a new standard for image editing. Read our full reports.

Harris Fogel, Nancy Burlan, and Frank Schramm, posted 12/06/2023

There was a day when if you came across a dozen new photo books a year, and you had the bases covered. Now, it seems that dozens of good photo books are published every day, so it’s hard to keep up. We reviewed a number of wonderful books this year, and narrowed it down to four that stood out. Louisiana Lens – Photographs from the Historic New Orleans Collection – John H. Lawrence. Countdown – Jeanine Michna-Bales and Adam Reynolds – A Visual Exploration of the Cold War’s Opposing Nuclear Architecture. Jamey Stilling – ATACAMA: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile, and on a more practical level, Declutter Your Photo Life – Adam Pratt. Read our reviews to discover why these should on a shelf in your home soon.

Harris Fogel, Nancy Burlan, and Frank Schramm, posted 12/6/2023

As our readers know, we are huge fans of headphones and earphones. The Audeze MM-500 and Audeze MM-100 Planar Magnetic Headphones are high on Santa’s list, and the Audeze Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset is the best sounding gaming headphone we have ever heard. Want a great sounding sounding, incredibly comfortable headphone at a bargain price, check out the Dekoni x Hifiman Cobalt Closed Back Dynamic Headphones. Need a handy pair of inexpensive Bluetooth headphones, check out the iLive Active Noise Cancellation Bluetooth Headphones. One of the most interesting sport headphones we’ve tested are the Cleer ARC II Sport Smart Open Ear True Wireless Headphone, which allows you to hear the outside world, yet music and voice come through clearly. A new name in audio, Status, just released a nifty new model, the Between 3 ANC Triple Driver Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds. Read on for our full reviews!

Harris Fogel, Nancy Burlan, and Frank Schramm, posted 12/05/2023

We don’t need to sneak LPs into our homes. Well, unless you don’t want to advertise spending $130 plus for an artisanal hand-pressed one-step LP of music you’ve owned for thirty years and know from heart. So, you still might be sneaking that into your house from a disapproving partner. But the point is, with streaming we don’t even need physical media. Although I still have a soft spot for tangible media, from LPs to Blu-ray, the bulk of our current listening is via streaming. Read on for our notes on different services.

Harris Fogel, Nancy Burlan, and Frank Schramm, posted 12/05/2022