Merlin Binocular from Steiner If you’re an outdoor enthusiast, you’ll appreciate Steiner’s new Merlin line of binoculars. This line of roof-prism binoculars is available in four models: 8x32, 8x42, 10x32 and 10x42. The Merlin offers fully multi-coated optics, precise focusing and a close-focus range to within nine feet. These binoculars are waterproof and encased in a dark, non-reflective, rubber-armored body. They weigh under 24 ounces, and are easy to carry on the padded neck strap or in a pack or jacket pocket. Pioneer Research, 97 Foster Rd., Suite 5, Moorestown, NJ 08057; 800/257-7742. www.steiner-binoculars.com. Macro Lenses from Pentax Pentax has announced two new compact, lightweight lenses: the smc Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm f/2.8 and the smc Pentax-D FA Macro 50mm f/2.8. Both lenses are designed to optimize image quality in both digital SLR and film photography. Each of these lenses offers close-up to life-size magnification. Both lenses have an aperture ring to accommodate the lens-set aperture-priority AE and metered-manual modes and assure fingertip aperture control. Pentax Imaging Co., 600 12th St., Suite 300, Golden, CO 80401; 800/877-0155. www.pentaxusa.com. New Lighting Kit From Photoflex Photoflex’s Small Product Photography Lighting Kit offers a complete lighting system and lessons for shooting properly lit digital photos of small products. This kit includes two each of the Starlite 3200 lighting system, SilverDome nxt softbox, and four-section Litestand, as well as an instructional CD-ROM. This video instruction includes lessons on how to light a wide variety of items, displaying digital photos on a Website, in online auctions, CDs, DVDs, and print ads, and for sending images by e-mail. Although this lighting kit is designed for use with hot lights, it can also be used with strobes. Photoflex, 97 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076; 800/486-2674. www.photoflex.com. Kanguru Portable Flash Card Burner The new Kanguru Slim FC-RW is a battery-powered portable flash card burner that enables you to copy flash card data onto a CD without a computer. In addition to copying flash card data onto a CD, the FC-RW can be connected to a TV and used as a DVD player, or you can connect it to a computer and use it as a DVD-ROM, CD-RW, or Card Reader. This device works with eight different media types: CompactFlash (Type I/II), IBM Microdrive, SmartMedia, Secure Digital, Sony Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and MultiMedia Cards. Kanguru Solutions, 1360 Main St., Millis, MA 02054; 508/376-4245. www.kanguru.com. Speedy SD Cards from Transcend Transcend has improved the data transfer rate of their Secure Digital (SD) Cards to a speed of 60X. These Ultra Performance 60X Secure Digital Cards can achieve a read speed of up to 9.4 MB/second and a write speed of up to 8.7 MB/second. These SD Cards incorporate dual-channel technology to achieve this quicker read/write speed. Only SLC (Single-Level-Cell) NAND Flash chips are used in these cards, which offer higher write speed, lower power consumption, and superior durability compared to Secure Digital Cards made with MLC (Multi-Level-Cell) chips. Transcend, 1645 No. Brian St., Orange, CA 92867; 714/921-2000. www.transcendusa.com.