Only solid recommendations here folks, and everything you see here is something I use. I buy nearly everything (except cameras & lenses) off Amazon, both for savings and convenience.

Firstly, colour management devices for screen calibration.

However, if you own a desktop printer then you can combine screen calibration and making custom printer profiles with the X-Rite i1 Studio.

Unlike the i1 Display, which is a colorimeter, the i1 Studio is a spectrophotometer, and it actually supersedes the old ColorMunki Photo – though the software lacks the spot colour measurement utility of the former.  So far my experience with this device has proved that it is not only a superb monitor profiler, but also exceptional for producing custom print profiles for the desktop printers – far superior to those made by its predecessor.

I plan both a review video of this valuable bit of kit, and some paper profile reviews using it – if the paper manufacturers ‘play ball’ that is!

HARD DRIVE BACKUP UNITS

Not everyone needs the amount of physical backup capacity that I do – but we all need ‘backup’ storage for our files none the less!

Internally my Mac has 14TB of internal image storage spread across two 3TB drives and my main working drive which is an 8TB Raid 0 pair made of two 4TB WD40s.

RAID 0 always needs backing up for obvious reasons, and for that I have used the GDrive unit for the last 4 years.

The other two 3TB internals are backed up to the 12TB WD – which might seem like ‘over-kill’ but to me it’s not!

The GDrive unit is very robust being made of aluminium – it’s built like a tank – and has a power on/off button on the back panel. The WD unit by comparison is plastic, and to turn it off (stop the drives from spinning) it has to be unplugged from the mains when the computer is off.

The GDrive unit is VERY noisy in operation, but the WD unit is very quiet in my experience.

From my perspective, backup units should only be turned on when you are actually doing a disk backup – keeping them turned off at all other times prolongs their life – so the noise they make is of little or no consequence as far as I’m concerned.

I recommend either device, but for me the best value for money is the WD unit which does come in smaller capacities and costs considerably less than the GDrive unit.

ASSORTED USEFUL BITS ‘n PIECES:

PETZEL ACTIK CORE HEAD TORCH

Head Torch – an essential when working at night, and better still if it can switch to red light, which helps you keep your ‘night vision’.

I must have bought dozens over the years, but this one has been in my possession now for nearly 2 years and is still going strong after some considerable abuse. Unlike every other one I’ve bought, this has a USB rechargeable cell inside it, so no need for the usual AAA’s, and a full charge lasts all night and then some.

COOWOO LENS/DEW HEATERS

Another essential for night shooting are Dew heaters. These warm your lens above ambient temperature and the dew point and so they keep your lens free of condensation.

Fair warning though; don’t buy a lens heater and expect it to last forever – it won’t! They are quite fragile and need a bit of careful treatment.

The best brand I’ve come across is COOWOO and I like them because they run off USB battery packs instead of the more traditional RCA plugs and a big heavy gel cell.

And the Poweradd X7 2000mah power pack holds charge very well – a bargain!

THIRD PARTY BATTERIES

I know people who have used this brand of third-party batteries for years, but I only bought some myself to rejuvenate my usage of my Nikons D3 and D2Xs – because the OEM batteries were all dead. They charge and function 100% in line with the original OEM batteries in my experience, and are sensibly priced.

Just remember though, don’t put them in a camera that is still under warranty!

OPOLAR AIR DUSTER

Here’s something I bought a couple of months back, and it’s proved a really good buy!

I get through ‘canned air’ for general cleaning and dusting the computers, getting sand and grit out of camera bags and the like – but canned air is stupidly expensive.  So when I came across this bit of kit I thought I’d give it a try after watching a few review videos on it – the OPOLAR AIR DUSTER.

It costs about the same as a 4 pack of Kenair refills, and is actually more powerful – so be careful!

And remember, just as with ‘canned air’, DO NOT USE THIS ON YOUR CAMERA OR LENSES!

TCL Air Purifier for Home True HEPA H13 Filter

I bought one of these for the office and was so impressed with it I bought another – one to catch dust by my computer and another for my printer and gear area.