#downtown camera

With the advent of the holiday season, last minute shoppers are in a frenzy trying to figure out how to spend their hard earned bucks.  If you're shopping for photography equipment, and don't know what you're doing, then this article is for you.  Alternately, if you're just interested in checking out what products our Downtown Camera panel of experts gives a gold star to, then this article is for you, as well.  Without further ado, we present the Part 1 of the Downtown Camera Awards.

BEST FILM

KODAK PORTRA 160 Renowned for its natural skin tones, great color, and extremely fine grain, Kodak Portra 160 has found a home among photographers in portrait, fashion and commercial shoots worldwide.

RUNNER UP - BEST FILM

KODAK EKTAR 100 This multiple award winning film has the finest and smoothest grain out of any film available.  It's recognized for its extraordinary sharpness, great enlargement capability, and ultra-vivid color rendition.  This film is recommended for nature, travel, fashion and product photography.

BEST CAMERA BAG

THINKTANK RETROSPECTIVE SERIES Designed to help you keep a low profile, while keeping your equipment safe, our choice for the best camera bag is ThinkTank's Retrospective series.  The bag is made from 100% cotton canvas, with an polyurethane coating on the underside to help repel water.  Also available in black Polyspun variants. 

RUNNER UP - BEST CAMERA BAG

THINKTANK MIRRORLESS MOVER SERIES With the massive popularity that mirrorless camera systems are currently enjoying, many photographers are having trouble finding high quality bags for their compact gear.  Enter ThinkTank's Mirrorless Mover series, which features high quality polyurethane coatings, magnetic closures, and metal hardware.  Finally a professional bag series for mirrorless cameras.

BEST FILTER

B+W DIGITAL MRC NANO FILTERS With its high quality Schott glass, and matte black brass filter rings, the B+W MRC Nano filter line comes in as our staff pick for best filter available.  A nano coating, makes these filters easy to clean, while its multi-reflective coating makes the filters great for reducing chromatic aberrations, ghosting and reflections.  Available as a protector filter, UV filter and circular polarizer.

RUNNER UP - BEST FILTER

HOYA HD DIGITAL FILTERS The newly released Hoya HD filters are made from ultra high-transparency optical glass, that is up to 4x as strong as competing brands.  An 8 layer anti-reflective multi-coating keeps the lens from providing unwanted ghosting and other effects, while also reducing smears and stains. Also available as a protector, UV and circular polarizer. 

BEST MEMORY CARD

SANDISK EXTREME PRO SERIES One of the fastest card lines currently available, the Sandisk Extreme Pro line offers speed and unbridled reliability.  Available in CF, SDHC and Micro SD varieties.

RUNNER UP - BEST MEMORY CARD

LEXAR PROFESSIONAL 1000X SERIES Lexar, often in the shadow of SanDisk, has created what is currently the fastest speed memory card line available, with a 150MB/s write speed.  The cards support VPG-20 for pro video recording, and if you're planning on recording uncompressed RAW video, you won't find a better suited card to do so with. 

BEST TRIPOD

MANFROTTO 055XPROB Regarded year after year as one of the best entry level tripods, the Manfrotto 055 XPRO B is as popular as ever.  The tripod features an adjustable horizontal center column feature, that allows your to shoot in ways few other tripods can.  Add to that Manfrotto's reputable modular support and you have a tripod that can last a lifetime.

RUNNER UP - BEST TRIPOD

SIRUI N-2204 One of the least expensive carbon fiber tripods on the market, the N-2204 from Sirui is also loaded with features.  The tripod has a fully removable leg, that doubles as a lightweight monopod for when space needs to be conserved, while tripod itself comes with a carrying case — a rarity among tripod companies.  The 8x carbon fiber legs adjust quickly using a Gitzo style twist lock system, while keeping the weight of the tripod to a modest 2.9 lbs.  Thanks to the forged aluminum chassis, the N-2204 is able to support a massive 33 lb load.

BEST BINOCULAR

CANON 10x42 L IS WP Featuring Canon's patented L series glass, the first thing users of the 10x42 L binoculars will notice is the incredible brightness and clarity of the optics.  The binoculars also feature Canon's impressive image stabilization system, Ultra Low Dispersion elements, and fantastic weather proofing.

RUNNER UP - BEST BINOCULAR

NIKON MONARCH 10x36 The Nikon Monarch 10x36 binoculars offer fully multicoated lenses, for impressive brightness and resolution.  A lightweight roof prism design provides excellent ergonomics, strength and durability, while a Nitrogen filled O-ring sealed interior will keep the lenses water and fog free.

BEST PHOTO PAPER

ILFORD MULTIGRADE FB WARMTONE MATTE A premium quality black and white darkroom paper that provides warm black tones and has the blessings of photographers the world over.  The paper provides seven full grades of contrast allowing you to accurately print your photos just as you imagined they would look.

RUNNER UP - BEST PHOTO PAPER

HAHNEMUHLE FINEART INKJET PAPER Considered one of the finest digital printing papers, the Hahnemuhle FineArt line is made of 100% cotton or pure alpha cellulose and presents smooth textured surfaces that permits high quality printing and will get the most out of your digital prints.

BEST CAMERA ACCESSORY

RODE SMARTLAV Novice DSLR videographers will quickly find themselves wishing their cameras provided better quality audio recording.  One particular area where I hear people struggling is trying to get good quality interview recordings.  Where most lavalier mic kits can run you into well over $500 to get started, the Smart LAV is an extremely high quality lavalier at only $69.00. The mic works by plugging into your Android or iOS smart device and will reverse your headphone jack into an audio in.  Once you download Rode's Rec app, you'll find yourself recording high quality 24-bit, 48kHz stereo/mono audio in no time at all.

RUNNER UP - BEST CAMERA ACCESSORY

DOMKE GRIPPER STRAP Designed to give you the same level of comfort and grip as Domke's bag line, the Gripper strap is a scaled down version for SLR and mirrorless cameras.  The straps feature twist proof quick release extensions, and are adjustable to 107 cm.  

BEST DARKROOM PRODUCT

ILFORD PHOTO CHEMICALS When it comes to darkroom printing, these chemicals will be your best friend.  This one was a no contest victory, we actually had to try to find a runner up.

RUNNER UP - BEST DARKROOM PRODUCT