Photography - Free Grey Card

If you are a bit serious about photography, you know you need a Grey Card for a number of reasons. What I can't quite digest is paying $10-20-40 for what is essentially a small piece of cardboard. So, if you want a free alternative to a Grey Card try a Glidden Seal Grey paint sample card (GLN46) from Home Depot. It's 3" x 5", matt (non-reflective) and free. It's precise enough for most applications.

I am using one and it's suits me perfectly. If I needed though a Grey Card for something really critical, such as calibrating colors for a fashion shoot, I'd probably buy something like this :

Opteka Premium Reference Color & White Balance Grey Card Set With Quick-Release Neck Strap for Digital Photography for $12.95.

Electronics : It's just a f***ing cable

So you went and got yourself a 40 inch plasma TV and you paid $700 for it. Now the sales person is trying to convince you that you need a $200 HDMI cable to take advantage of all that HDTV resolution.

Don't be an idiot. If it seems wrong to pay 1/4 of the value of a 40" TV for a cable, it's because it is wrong. First, the exact same cable purchased online will likely be 25% of the local store price. Second, you most likely don't need that cable to begin with.

While for analog connections the quality of the cable can make quite a difference, especially for video, for digital connections (like the HDMI cable) it's MUCH less of an issue.

So, whatever you do, DO NOT BUY CABLES from the store that sold you the TV. That is how they make a profit! Here is an example :

Monster Cable - M Series M2000HD 4' HDMI A/V Cable at BestBuy for $200
Monster Cable - M Series M2000HD 8' HDMI A/V Cable at Amazon for $48 (and it's longer!)

What what you could be buying :
Mediabridge Ultra Series - High Speed HDMI Cable (6 Feet) for $9.99

Photography - cheap rock solid tripod

You just auctioned off your first born, got yourself an awesome large format camera (or a very long and fast tele lens for your DSLR or a macro lens) and went out to shoot some killer  landscape or macro shots. And you soon realized that camera/lens is worth diddly-squat without a rock solid tripod. So you went, researched and found that good rock solid tripods will require you to action off your second born...

In case you were not as prolific or you need someone to wipe your mouth when you get old, there is an alternative. Surveyor tripods.

Survey/Surveyor Tripods

They are much cheaper then photography tripod and they are rock solid. To use them with cameras, you will need this adapter :

Pacific Laser Systems PLS-20351 5/8-11 by 1/4-20 Threaded Female to Male Tripod Adapter