hi guys welcome or welcome back thanks so much for joining me today we're going to
count down our top eight holiday gifts for photographers that i've collected over 2021
so i'm going to try and not include anything that we included last year although i still stand by
all of my recommendations for last year's gifts for photographers list i'll go ahead and link that
above now if you're new here then hi i'm jess i'm a photographer person i usually shoot portraits
but i do other stuff as well feel free to hit the subscribe button and join the channel because that
would be cool but also no pressure if you don't want to lets kick off of the list i'm going to
try and keep this reasonably straightforward we'll put all the links to all of the things that i'm
going to mention into the description below but go into the blog post because we'll update that more
regularly for warning the list does contain some affiliate links not all of them so yeah just i
legally have to mention that so that is a thing i'm going to start with probably something that
you guys would have imagined would be included in this video if you are already a subscriber to the
channel so we're gonna start this list off with gift number one which is my personal favorite
desk accessory and it is the screen bar plus from benq so screen bar plus from benq essentially is
a little light that you clip onto the top of your computer monitor it's great for desktops there is
a laptop and netbook version if you prefer to go with that option but the reason why this light is
so awesome is because it doesn't cast glare on your screen it doesn't glare in your eyes
and it is 100% kind of measuring the ambient exposure all of the time in the room
to make sure that you're getting the exact right color balance and the exact right brightness to be
working on your computer using this light which i have done probably for about six months now
has been a bit of a game changer for me because i no longer have headaches when
i'm working at my screen and actually i just use it as a desk light now so this is what the
monitor light looks like this little section here just goes ahead and sits over and on top of your
computer monitor the light comes out of this part here you can twizzle a rooney it to go ahead and
adjust the glare that may or may not be falling on the computer so you just want to adjust it so
it's not glaring in the computer and also not in your eyeballs would be useful the plug goes into a
plug in the wall or your computer i just have it going to the plug in the wall and then this bit
just sits on your desk and that's a little bit that measures the situation and basically sets
everything up so i think this is a great little light to be honest and actually family members
have seen it when they've been round and have gone ahead and purchased it for themselves so
i'm not exclusive to photographers but fantastic as well it was included in the prints review
video because i use it to look at my prints because it just produces the most perfect light
so why would you not gift number one it retails currently and prices are only correct to the right
this now very second currently retails for 119 pounds so that's british pound sterling do your
currency conversions as needed but yeah super light i think it's awesome yeah weird gift but
also epic so this option is not a new option we've not even gone to number two yet we're like at 1b
one eye the next one down from number one and we're actually going to be discussing this light
here this light is another light from benq it comes from a similar range it does the same stuff
so it has touch functionality which is pretty epic and it also has its presets
which you just press and hold so this is auto balance now full screen work and if we press
it hold it again that's for reading documents or books and it's measuring the ambient exposure in
the room and setting the right level of brightness you can however override it by going ahead and
twizzling the twizzly knob on the top which is always fun and change the color by tapping once
and then twizzling so super set of lights i really like the world dan likes this one
this is dan's desk light i can't claim that i have anything to do with it but yeah so
it hinges at pretty much like every single join so the whole thing is like 100% movable
which is great so this is option 1b retails for variable prices you can often grab a bargain on
the internet we'll include a link to our favorite pick in the description below by the way i forgot
to mention the actual name of that light that light is the wit e-reading light from benq
awesome inventions happening from ben q so 10 out of 10 from me on that let's move on to gift
number two because we stuck on one for like a long time so gift number two is the sandmarc lens is
not something that we would usually discuss on the channel because of course we are usually shooting
with dslrs or mirrorless cameras but in the odd situation where you may need to use your phone
which is kind of like increasingly common these days we have had the opportunity to test out some
sandmarc lenses so the sandmarc lens essentially is a phone lens you put it on your phone and um
the one that we have tried out it's the wide angle lens so i keep it just for ease on the little clip
because i think the little clip is easier to use so there's a little clip like that all you need to
do then is clip it to your phone take the lens cap off and off you go you're ready to shoot what it
does in this instance is it makes it two times wider than the wide-angle version on the phone
and it is different based on different phones so you need to go and find your phone and then find
the lens for your phone if that makes any sense if you don't want to use the clip which actually
from personal experience was quite difficult to line up then don't panic because inside the box
is a case so again the case is specific to your mobile telephone device but it has
the slots to mount on top of the lenses so you don't need to use the clip you can just
clip it into a case change your case and shoot with the case and that
to be honest would be my recommendation for the best case scenario for using this but
great for creating instagram content reels other types of quick social media phone
content especially if you are one of those people that likes to take your phone with you everywhere
which i mean who isn't in this day and age this lens that does retail for 85 pounds gift number
three or four depending on if you're counting 1b into the list is the photocross 15 camera bag from
mindshift gear so this was included in last year's but it's still my camera bag of choice
and therefore i think it really deserved to be in this particular list so my camera bag
has been with me on every single shoot throughout the last year it's been on commercial jobs it's
been two different cities countries it's been everywhere to be honest and i still use
it all the time we'll include some stuff from the previous reviews that we've done on this bag
personally i still think it's an awesome piece of kit so it still features in our list of gifts for
photographers and it's an awesome awesome bag i personally think it's well worth money it is 195
pounds of course prices may vary but it's one i think you should have a look at you can fit lots
of kit in and it's solid as a rock okay we're gonna go for a curve ball for number five number
five is actually again phone related because i think it is a good idea to be getting some behind
the scenes content because it's great for your social media great for your client interaction and
also you know it's just good to have like behind the scenes stuff because who wouldn't want that so
next gift in the list is a iphone hot shoe adapter it doesn't have to be an iphone it
could be any smartphone but i'll show you mine so this little piece of kit essentially slides onto
the top of your camera using the hat the hatch the hat shoe slides onto the top of your camera using
the hot shoe and then you just put your phone in and change the grip to hold on to it then
you can go ahead and shoot your sessions and shoots and photographs and stuff and you've got
your phone sat in there ready to record exactly what's happening where your camera is pointing
really useful thing to just have in your camera bag if you think you're in a great location or
you think the before and after will be good or you think that the behind the scenes is worthwhile so
if you're wondering on it the most inexpensive gift that you can possibly get that might be
useful for a photographer this is probably it and at five pound 99 it's a perfect stocking filler
secret santa gift present it's worth including because i think you know it's 2021 nearly
2022 and you know we need to be doing these things gift number six dan what's gift number six
it's a coat can i have my coat please you won't feel the benefit when you go outside this
is my coat and that's what we're covering off now so again i've used this for months and months and
months every day i also ride my pony in this coat i do everything in this coat this is our
that dog spot coat it's a regatta three in one coat so it's waterproof and really warm there's
a soft shell in there that you can zip out and uh to be honest i just think it's great i might just
stay in this now for the rest is that all right because it's nice and warm so yeah it's got a hood
it's waterproof it does all the stuff and it's comfy and i use it all the time so this would be
probably my next gift you can buy it on our website again links will be all down below
so the next thing again is something that i actually ride my horse in but i think is useful
to have around because the next thing on the list is some waterproof gloves but the gloves allow you
to touch screens very useful for photographers thank you what these gloves do they're cycling
gloves that's all they are so completely variable in price i want you to go ahead and look for some
cycling gloves that have got the touch screen conductor pads in the fingers and the thumb so
a lot of people commented on some youtube videos where i touched my screen with gloves on asking
what are these gloves that are magical and allow you to do that and are also warm and waterproof
cycling gloves honestly just think outside the box guys so these gloves vary in price you can
pick them up for 5.99 or you can pick them up for 55.99 totally variable you decide what you want to
do i'll link to some in the description below but awesome gift for photographers because you know
we're often out in all sorts of different weather and warm hands is great but if we
can't touch our screens we're going to constantly have to be taking on off our gloves awesome gift
this one is also in last year's gift list so number seven on my list or eight if you're
counting 1b would be topaz labs denoise ai and i i still think it's great i mean what can i
say we've done two reviews of topaz d noise ai on the channel i will go ahead and link to the
most recent one which goes through my settings and how i personally use it they did do a recent
they did do a recent update which made it work even better even faster and even cleaner so
it doesn't really degrade your images at all and it makes a massive massive difference so
i personally use it if i'm shooting in dark locations in the woods and yes some of my awards
entries for this year have been taken at iso 5000 and above and gone into the portrait categories
and are now in the print finals so i'm telling you this is worth a look and the final thing
on our gift list for photographers is the most expensive thing on the gift list for photographers
and this is a wacom tablet now most people know wacom's it's kind of like creeping into the shop
da da
okay so i've got in front of uh in front of us my own personal wacom it is an intuos pro medium
and i think it's great for fine retouching and work and stuff like that now it's not cheap it
may break the bank for some but it is worth it if you're wanting to get in there and do super
specific little bits and pieces this wacom is priced at 329.99 so it yeah you know you're gonna
have to spend a bit but it is great now i spoke to the guys on the wacom stand at the photography
show and asked them some usability bits about it because i personally find it quite hard to use
at certain times because i'm left-handed which is i think like issue number one for me and also
i've got quite weak wrists so it can be quite hard to you know control stuff now what the
guy said and they are so freaking right is use it every day take your mouse away put the mouse in a
draw you're not allowed to touch it for two weeks two weeks of daily use with the wacom will change
your life uh and yeah it did so plugs in with a cable you've got your pen and you just add it
it's it's it's kind of straightforward there great piece of kit one i would definitely recommend uh i
like the medium one i think it's the right size any smaller and i'd struggle any bigger and i'd
just be reaching across my desk all the time i don't think i'd like that but obviously everyone
has their own opinion so you can you know make your own decision on that but intuos pro medium is
a top pick from me so guys that is our rundown of our top eight gifts or nine if you include one b
for photographers for 2021 i've had a great deal of fun creating this because i like to
just do things a bit differently and i think that we maybe have done that i don't know
who knows top picks for me personally would probably be the lamps from benq because i
think they're ace probably next one on the list would be waterproof gloves because i wear them
every day uh they're useful for other pursuits as well like ponies and obviously our coat because
either this is this is my coat that i use all the time so i like it i hope this video was helpful
for you if you think i've missed something that must be added to the gift
list then go ahead and drop them in the comments below because if they're a great idea i might as
well add them to the whole blog post to archive every single awesome gift for a photographer
hope you well have a great holiday season and i'll see you all again really really soon