Snappgrip iPhone camera grip fails to deliver on great idea
The Snappgrip is a fantastic idea, with not-too-bad hardware to back it up. It’s an accessory grip for your iPhone that adds a Bluetooth shutter release, zoom buttons and control dial to the phone’s camera, as well as a wrist strap and a handy handgrip.
But in practice, you’ll be better off with the iPhone’s own volume switches if you want a hardware shutter release. Which is a shame, as I was super-excited to try the Snappgrip out.
Kites trump drones for aerial-photography bliss
Go fly a kite. Marketing exec Pierre Lesage finds the practice relaxing after a busy week overseeing operations at eight hotels. It’s also perfect for shooting photos.
“Since the drones came out a few years ago, kite aerial photography lost interest for a few photographers that are just looking for photographic results,” says Lesage. “I am also looking for results but I need that poetic aspect of doing it with a kite, and as long as there is wind I never have problem with batteries.”
Quadcopters are a thrill but flying kites is the zen alternative — and the photographic results are postcard perfect. It’s a way to mix tinkering with fresh air and can be as easy as picking up a prefab rig or as complicated as diving into the world of schematics and solder.
Gadget watch: Camping, cycling, cars and cameras
Film or digital? Campfire or BBQ? Car or bike? Cable or wireless?
No matter which way you swing, this week’s gadgets have you covered. iPhoneographers can enjoy the Shoulderpod hand grip or slip the new iPad Olloclip onto their Mini or Air, and film nuts can get instant satisfaction with the new Lomo Instant Camera.
Camping? Take it easy in the giant Meriwether tent or go survivalist with the Blastmatch fire-starter. You can even choose how to arrive at the site, with accessories for your car or your bike. Happy traveling!
Gadget roundup: The week’s best gear for travelers, campers and chefs
Cooking, charging, camera-ing and generally staying out-of-doors are the themes this week. But if you are stuck inside out of the sun, don’t worry – we have you covered too.
This week we get cooking with a gadget-charging camping stove and a slick, iPhone-friendly food thermometer. We also do DIY projects (without tenderizing our thumbs) with the German Latthammer, charge our flagging phones with a purse that packs a built-in battery, and record everything using the super-dorky Lifelogger camera. Is the sun shining? Yes it is!
This camera takes awesome GIFs and shares them with your iPhone
Is it a stills camera? No. Is it a video camera? No. Is it something between the two? Correctamundo! The OTTO is a “Hackable GIF Camera” that uses a Raspberry Pi brain to make animated GIF pictures.
Gadget roundup: New gear for photogs, travelers and pencil pushers
Fresh photographic equipment stole the show this week, but we also got wind of some great new outdoor gear (and some stuff for desk jockeys).
First the camera news: Sony is coming on strong with the amazing R100 III camera, while Nikon’s most exciting new gadget is an underwater flash. On the outdoorsy front, San Francisco is gearing up for summer with new bags from my favorite bag makers Rickshaw and Waterfield, and if you’re out in the warm/cold spring on your bike, you might like to do it wearing the beautiful Vulpine merino wool cycling jersey. If you’re not the outdoors type, we have you covered too — you can stay home and organize your desk with a handsome wooden pen and phone holder.
Have fun!
Why iPhoneography accessories are sort of a waste of time
One December years ago, in London’s Piccadilly Circus, a Santa Claus sat in a pavement cafe eating lunch with an elf. Santa had a pint of beer in from of him. I raised my old film SLR, which was prefocused and had the exposure already dialed in, and took a couple of shots.
I hoped they’d turn out well.
“Who are those pictures for?” said a guy, shouting as he jogged toward me. He’d come from somewhere nearby because it was too cold for just a shirt on a December afternoon in London, and he wasn’t wearing a jacket. I ignored him — there are a lot of nutters in Piccadilly any time of the year.
“Are you taking pictures of me?” he said.
DryZone Duffel, the waterproof camera bag
If you told me I could only shop at one candy store from now on, that candy store would be Photojojo. The sweet photo gadgets that appear new in the store every week constantly test my resolve not to tap in a credit card number.
The latest temptation? The DryZone Duffel, which is a waterproof camera bag.
Leica T is milled from a single block of aluminum
This is Leica’s new T, a camera with just a few buttons, and which is milled from a solid block of aluminum. Sound familiar? Hell, it even comes with a Smart Cover.
Specs-wise, this thing looks great, with Wi-Fi and a very clever way to add GPS. But I do worry about that lack of buttons.
Gadget Watch Apr 24 2014
Each week we pull the best Apple-related gadgets from the Cult of Mac and collect them here for your perusing pleasure.
Lytro Illum, The First Light-Field Camera Worth Buying
Lytro’s new Illum field Camera is the first of its products you’ll want to buy. The original Lytro Field Camera was a nice proof of concept, but the low resolution images were pretty crappy, and the unit itself was one of the least ergonomic camera designs I’ve ever seen.
The Illum still has some ergonomics issues, but promises much better pictures.
Review Roundup: Small Camera Bags With Space For Your iPad
This week we look at lightweight, easy-to-carry camera bags that are perfect for carrying a mirrorless camera, an iPad and a couple of other bits – because the days of crushing your shoulders with a giant backpack filled with DSLRs and MacBook Pros are over.
Pentax 645Z Medium Format Camera: 51 Megapixels For Just $8,500
In the olden days, format snobbery was a little bigger. Real photographers used medium format cameras, stuffed with big rolls of 120 or 220 film, and they laughed at folks who struggled by with little toy “full-frame” 35mm cameras.
These medium format cameras were also distinctly old school, without much automatic control.
Back then, the Pentax 645 was an odd camera, an affordable medium format camera with auto-everything. Well, not everything, but way more than you’d get in the Mamiyas and Hasselblads at the time.
Which is all to introduce the Pentax 645Z, Ricoh’s new 51.5 megapixel body with a price tag of $8,500, not much more than a top-of-the-line full frame SLR body.
Lomo Russar+ Lens For Retro-Fetishists
There’s something totally perverse about putting a crappy Lomo lens on your Leica M-series camera. After all, the Leica might be a glorious box which makes it super easy to take great pictures, but it really is just a box for holding Leica’s extraordinary lenses.
Thankfully, the new Lomo Russar+ also fits other bodies, using adapter mounts.
Full-Frame Sony A7S Can Shoot 4K Video In The Dark
The new Sony A7S is a mirrorless full-frame camera which shoots 4K video and has a top ISO of 102,400, expandable to 409,600.
Remember back in 2006 when Palm CEO Ed Colligan said this, about Apple and the iPhone:
PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.
If you switched Apple for Sony (those gadget guys) or Fujifilm ("film guys), and Palm for Nikon and Canon, then the same thing is happening today.
Retro-Style Olympus Pocket Camera Offers Shake-Free Shots
Like the current bloom of retro-styled shooters, but don’t like the $500+ prices? Unsurprisingly, Olympus has you covered – the new Stylus SH1 looks hot in a silver and black/white body, and packs Wi-Fi, a built-in zoom lens and 5-axis image stabilization.
Photographer’s Pouch, Velcro-Backed Felt Pockets That Stick In Any Bag
The Photographer’s pouch is a boiled-wool pocket that will stick inside any camera bag thanks to the velcro strip on its back. And of course you’re not limited to cameras, or even camera bags – anything that will fit fits, and any bag with velcro can be used.
Amazon’s Answer To The iPhone Will Have Six Different Cameras [Report]
Amazon has been rumored for years to be making its own smartphone, but now, according to reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, it’s actually going to happen.
But the weirdest thing isn’t that Amazon’s planning on releasing a smartphone… it’s that they are going to release a smartphone with six cameras per unit. What what?
Samsung NX Mini Camera With One-Inch Sensor
Samsung’s NX Mini camera uses a one-inch sensor – like that inside the Nikon 1 series – only it comes in way cheaper, at $450 or $550, depending on which lens you choose. Other than that , the best description is probably “a lanes and a flip screen, and not much else.”
Clever Camera Wrap Is The Easiest DIY Camera Bag Ever
This is just about the easiest DIY gadget project since the I put an iPad into a Ziploc bag and called it a kitchen-proof case.
It’s called the DIY Camera Wrap Bag, and it is one of the coolest ways to protect your camera whilst making very little effort to do so.
New Nikon Ditches Viewfinder, Gets Bigger And Heavier Anyway
Nikon continues to beat the dead horse that is its tiny-sensor “1” range with the new 18.4 megapixel V3. The Nikon 1 series, for those who still care, is the company’s answer to the mirrorless camera question, if that question was “How can we make it look like we actually care about anything but SLRs?”
iOS 7.1 Warns You When It’s About To Fire The Flash
The iOS 7 update has another nice tweak in the camera app. Just like the iPhone 5S warns you when it decides to automatically engage the HDR mode, it now tells you when it’s going to fire the flash. To be honest, you should probably have the flash turned off all the time, but if you don’t, you at least now get a warning before it powers up and washes out your poor subject’s skin tones.
ONA’s Berlin Camera Bag Celebrates 100 Years Of Leica — In Style
If you’re a normal human with normal human needs and desires, I would imagine that you want this bag like now. It’s called the Berlin, and it is a special edition from ONA made to celebrate 100 Years of Leica.