* Lexar HR-1 Workflow Solution w/ 2 Readers - People underestimate the speed and reliability of a card reader. I can not tell you how many times I have seen people put new fast cards into an old crappy reader. These are not very expensive and make a world of different to the speed of my workflow. I love the fast read / write speeds of the 1066x CF cards and love the fast readers even more.
* Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens - I tested this particular lens a while back and wrote a rave review on the blog. This lens is crazy crazy sharp! I carry this lens, the 85mm 1.4 and the 15mm fisheye to any event I shoot.
* Drobo 5D - I take a lot of photos and need a good reliable place to store them. On my main workstation, I have a Drobo 5D with 20TB of WD hard drives and a Crucial mSATA SSD to further boost the speed. This is now my primary drive on my Mac Pro.
* Western Digital Passport Drives - As I mentioned, my Drobo is packed full of 4TB WD hard drives. I also use the WD 8TB Thunderbolt drives as backup drives and for remote storage. When I am working on the road, especially at the Olympic Games, I rely on their Passport drives. I am happy to say that I have never lost any data from a drive error.
* Photo Mechanic software - You may have seen my video presentation on efficient workflow process, and if you did, you know that I rely on Photo Mechanic to cull through all my images. Does it do everything that Lightroom does? Nope. But it is exceptionally fast on both PC and Mac and has been a godsend for me. I started using this software 8 years ago, and have never looked back. I think that 90% of my fellow Olympics photographers use Photo Mechanic.
* Zenfolio - I switched to Zenfolio a couple of years ago, when I was researching a new web platform. My old software was outdated and it showed in my site. Zenfolio is super easy to use and gives me a ton of creative design options. Look at my site and see what you think. I think they make me look pretty good (and I know nothing about HTML code).
* Scott Kelby and KelbyOne - What can I say about Scott Kelby that you don't already know? The guy is the guru of Adobe Photoshop and one of the best teachers in the industry. He takes some pretty amazing photos too! He is a man of many talents, and the best selling writer in the photography industry. Oh, and he is super nice guy too. :)
* LowePro ProRunner 450AW Backpack - I think I am as picky about my camera bags as I am about my cameras and lenses. Let's face it, we haul a lot of equipment around and it is nice to have it protected in something that is compact and comfortable. Not only do I love the LowePro backpacks, but I rely on the Pro Roller as well to save my back at every Olympic Games.
* JOBY Suction Cups - These are brand new products, but since they are from our friends at Daymen (that do LowePro) I just know that they will be cool.
* Epson R2000 printer and paper - For the longest time, I refused to print my own photos. I relied on Bay Photo for all of that. But after a year of hearing "Epson Eddie" telling me the benefits of their printers I finally buckled. And boy am I glad I did. I now print so many things on my Epson printer and love the quality of the Velvet Fine Art paper. For a reasonably priced printer, the R2000 does an amazing job.
* FotoFusion Extreme software - My wife designs all the photo albums for our clients, and she was not happy with any of the design software packages that we had tried. Then we learned about Fotofusion and have used this software exclusively for the last 5 years. It is easy to use, very powerful, and they keep updating it with cool new features.
* B&H Photo - This store is the largest photo store in the world, and for a good reason. They carry just about every camera and photo gadget made, and a ton of other cool products. But most importantly, they are very reputable and have killer prices. There is a reason that B&H sells products all over the world.
* BlackRapid straps - Much like camera bags, people underestimate the importance of a good camera strap. Let me tell you, as someone who has a DSLR camera on me for many hours of the day, the difference between a traditional neck strap and a Black Rapid strap is night and day! I am currently using the CrossShot strap, Sport strap, and Yeti strap. I think my all-time favorite is the Yeti. Hey BlackRapid, my neck and back love you!
I hope that all of you have entered the contest to win these products. If you haven't, just go here to enter. And remember that every time a friend of yours enters the contest using your link, you get another name in the hat. The give-away ends at midnight (PST) on December 12th. Good luck!
