If you’ve launched your Nik 4 Color Efex Pro in the past few days, you probably saw the notice that Nik 5 is now available from DxO. Using Nik back when it was only Beta, it has been an essential part of my imaging finishing. The new update I hoped would at the very least take care of some long-residing bugs (it does!). The Color Efex 5 does that and a whole bunch more!

You have to delete Nik 4 to install Nik 5. My first warning to you is that the images you finished with Nik 4, the layer with Nik Color Efex cannot be opened by Nik 5 to make changes. In my workflow, I bring my Nef into ACR and then open it as a Smart Object in Photoshop. I apply my Nik Color Efex Preset to that layer. The Nik Color Efex is its own layer under the Smart Object. If I double-click on it, it will open and bring up the Color Efex UI. This is no longer true for all my images finished with Color Efex 4 or earlier now. In fact, you’ll see the warning symbol next to that layer. They’re forcing us to delete Nik 4 to install Nik 5 seals the fate of those old files and any flexibility we had worked for in our workflow. With that and the fact that any “Recipes” you created before (now called Presets) don’t work in Nik Color Efex 5, you might as well delete the old ones when you install Nik 5 Color Efex. BEFORE YOU DO THAT, you might want to do screen grabs of your recipes and all their numbers so you can recreate them in Nik 5 Color Efex 5.

And here are my Nik 5 Color Efex 5 Presets in a Zip file for you to download and install if you’d like. When you install them, they will go into the Imported Panel in Color Efex 5. You cannot modify and save the changes to Presets in the Imported Panel! If you want to change any aspect of them, you will need to recreate them in Custom and then you can modify and save them on the fly all you want. And you may want to as some of the math has improved! With all that said, the updates in Nik 5 Color Efex 5, I find are worth all the hassles. If you’re wondering about the rest of the DxO Nik Suite, Analog, Silver Efex & Vivesa they are still at 3, HDR Efex & Define are still at 2, and the others, no clue. I only use Color Efex 5 & Output Sharpener and they are outstanding so I’m a happy camper.

Set up of the TourBox Neo was a snap! Install the software and in a heartbeat, you’re up and working. Above to the left you can see the first four programs I have working with TourBox, Photoshop, Bridge, Premiere and Photo Mechanic (Epson Print Layout & Audition are next apps on the list to add to TourBox). TourBox is pretty darn smart. I have three desktops set up on my M1 iMac / MacBook Pro and as I scroll to one where say, Photo Mechanic is open and the next desktop where Photoshop is launched (right image above, some of my programming for PS), TourBox automatically switches to work with that program (turn on Auto Switch for this feature) with all the controls I’ve programmed. You don’t have to do a thing. Looking at the photo on the left again, you can see all I created from scratch in a split second as there is no Photo Mechanic preset already set up in TourBox. Easy peasy! I assigned keyboard shortcuts to the various TourBox controls permitting me to operate Photo Mechanic very efficiently as fast as my fingers can go. What’s really cool is you just need to program the buttons in one computer as you can export your settings and load them in another computer retaining everything you have set up in the first. You don’t have to do the programming all over again, schweet!

When I was contacted by TourBox and I checked out their product online, my first thought was, this is the perfect tool for when I’m on the road (which is a lot)! When I’m on the road I don’t take a mouse because in hotel rooms, it’s not always easy to use. It always needs space to move to do to its job. The TourBox I figured would be the perfect solution for this. It just sits, it doesn’t need to move around to function. This would be killer for me on the road. The TourBox Neo needs to physically be connected to the computer to operate via a cable. If you’re a Mac user like me, you know that your iMac or MacBook Pro only has four ports. With  Wacom tablet, CFExpress Card Reader, hard drives, printers and power and the like, dedicating one port to the TourBox is a challenge. I find myself having to plug and unplug it from my iMac during the work day and that’s not practical for on the road at all. TourBox has a Bluetooth model coming and that’s what I would ~highly~ recommend to you, then it will be the perfect tool. That would make the TourBox the ultimate workflow accessory!

Some of the worst weather can make for the best photography! I’ve said that forever in part because it has so often delivered for me. I love the saturated light rain can bring. When you have a 1100lbs mom and three, two year old cubs, the last thing you want to do is leave especially because of a little thing like rain. And when you’re literally standing out in the middle of nowhere with no cover within miles, your only option is to pack up and head back to camp. Or is it? I have a simple rule of thumb when it comes to shooting in the rain, if I can take it so can my gear. Many have asked how the Z 9 does in inclement weather, especially when using the FTZII with F mount lens attached? It all work simply brilliantly, simply brilliantly!

As you can see below, it was one of those gloppy Alaska rains I was shooting in. To work in such conditions, I always carry a dry, white towel with me. With great care, I would pull it out of my jacket with the bears right in front of me feeding, blot my gear dry (never wiping) when needed, put it back under my jacket and continue on shooting. What you see below was what the rig would look like just prior to plotting it dry. I have never had any issue shooting in the rain working like this nor those shooting with me. I have total faith in my gear which includes the white towel keeping me in the game. Cause moments like this, you don’t want to leave!

Bins are an essential tool for wildlife photographers! My standard is the Nikon 12×50 which was $1200 when they were available, big, bright, gorgeous, and not practical when also working with a big lens. I saw my good friend Javier with these small little bins that literally fit in his shirt pocket and I was on a mission to add them to my kit. The Nikon Aculon 10×25 which sells for typically $70 is simply brilliant! I cannot recommend these enough to folks no matter your binocular needs but especially to wildlife photographers. Since they are so light and small, you will never find a reason not to go out with them. And having that extra reach at times makes all the difference. I still have my 12×50 but they stay home most of the time. The Aculon are always in my kit!

If you’re like me, you see this gizmo and gotta to wonder, what the hey? Well, it is a replacement for your blower bulb, it’s that simple. Charged by a simple USBc cable, this battery-operated blower (sensor screen in the photo above) replaces your old blower bulb. It works, and does a good job blowing off dust from the sensor. Works well even in high humidity. It’s physically small, and even sounds kinda cool. And if the $99 price works for your budget, I highly recommend it. Then, on the other hand, that old blower bulb works too.

It all started with the 24f2.8, graduating to the 24f2, and culminated with the brilliant 25-50f4. Then the 24-70f2.8 came out with the D3 and I was hooked. With the introduction of the Z bodies came new, brilliant zooms incorporating 24mm which it would seem is a favorite focal length in my visual storytelling journeys. I love, just love the Z14-24f2.8. The Z24-200 is the sleeper lens of the decade, a great little, versatile lens. Then there is the Z24-70f2.8 that I got on day one of its release that just gets pounded in my photography. Love that lens! And now, because it would seem I don’t have enough 24mm zooms, I’ve added the spectacular Z24-120f4. Why one more 24mm based zoom? Simply, I needed that extra reach without having to go and change lenses or move to DX. I have projects coming up, one very special one that this is the ONLY tool that will solve the problem at hand. Once the shoot is in the can, I’ll describe it more thoroughly but right now, I had to laugh at myself because I gave my dear friend Chuck a bad time about doing exactly what I’ve done. Now the tables are turned. I guess you can never have enough 24mms!