When you are getting a little more serious about your photography, you’ll need some gear that, hopefully, you only buy once.
Bogen Imaging, who handles a bunch of premier brands in the US was at PhotoPlus Expo showing off some new items, and some new company acquisitions.

If you have had to transport or store your lightstands, the Stacker system will make some great sense to you.
It did to us. Just haven’t had the opportunity to use them as of yet.
They also have a carbon fiber tripod line with a unique feature you may find useful.
The next 2 items we use regularly: the Litepanels LP Micro and the MicroPro are 2 of the best LED light sources we know.
Portable, battery powered, adjustable and come with a set of gels for color correction or softening.
We use these for stills and video. In stills , imagine you are doing a shot with a person working at a computer screen or a laptop.
Pop in a Litepanel for cold light source, without wires. You can put the light at the source to simulate the screen light.
And the 561B Monopod is a portable, easy way to get nice smooth shots with a HD DSLR or a vid cam.
Just don’t think you can support a camera on the little legs on this unit. They are there to help you pan smoothly.
You still need a tripod with a fluid head if you are going deeper into video.

Here are some current rebates and deals on the products above.

So you’ve now seen a preview of 2 items that are on our Holiday Gift List 2009.
We are feverishly working on it, so you can get to your shopping or giving that lost to your own Santa or Hanukkah Harry very soon, or whomever may bring the goods to you and yours in the holiday season.
And when we do, you’ll get links and a price range for all of the items.
It’s been a good year for some solid products.