Portrait mode is an iPhone 7 feature that has been supercharged in the iPhones X and 8, with the addition of Portrait Lighting. Both features use depth data from these iPhones’ dual cameras, either to separate the subject of the photo from its background, or to completely re-light the photo to add drama. Here’s how to make the most of them.
A “Gentleman Coder” who is the former director of the Apple photo apps teams has launched an IOS app for the photographer who prefers to shoot RAW images.
RAW Power for iOS hit the App Store this week from software company Gentlemen Coders LLC, which was founded by Nik Bhatt. His 14-year stint in Cupertino included being Senior Director of Engineering for the Aperture and iPhoto teams and later the Chief Technical Officer of the Photo Apps group.
Apple has reportedly bought a California startup that developed new image sensor technology that could boost the iPhone’s photo and video capability.
A news website that covers the digital imaging space reported on Apple acquisitions of InVisage, citing unnamed sources that said the deal was completed in July. Some former InVisage employees are already working in Cupertino, according to the report.
You have one week to wait for your new iPhone X preorder to arrive (if you’re one of the lucky ones). There are some things you should be doing during that time to ensure you’re all set for delivery day. We’ll give you some great tips on how to prepare for the arrival of your new Precious.
In this week’s issue, you’ll find that story and more. Figure out whether to go for the iPhone X or the iPhone 8. Learn how to add audio files to iPhone’s Music app. Discover a beautiful and luxurious MacBook sleeve by Woolnut, and check out reviews of Zens Powerbank and Just Mobile’s Lounge Dock for Apple Watch, which are now in our Watch Store. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.
Travel photographer Austin Mann calls the iPhone 8 Plus a marshmallow.
More on that later, but as he travels through India shooting with the Apple handset, he is finding the camera and software upgrades to be pretty sweet.
You can make great photos and videos with just an iPhone. There is nothing fake about that statement. Thousands of great iPhone photos appear on our camera rolls and Instagram feeds every day to prove it.
Nevertheless, a recent YouTube video suggested Apple uses more than just iPhones to create its “Shot on iPhone” commercials. The video quickly went viral. Headlines it generated sowed seeds of doubt about the authenticity of Apple’s claims.
So, are we really getting the great camera Apple says it puts in its iPhones?
The iPhone’s Quad-LED True Tone flash is pretty good as camera flashes go, but you should never use it to take actual photos, unless you want shiny-faced, red-eyed people in your portraits. Instead, you should put it to work in more useful applications. And no, we don’t just mean using it as a flashlight next time you take a trip into the basement.
There’s a little-known but awesome trick you can do with the iPhone’s camera: triple-click the Home button to turn it into a magnifying glass. This is great if you don’t see so well, either because you’re farsighted or because you’re just getting old and doddery.
Today we’ll see how to switch on this awesome feature so it’s ready to deploy, and also take a look at some of the extras Apple built in to make the Magnifier tool even more powerful.
Future iPhones may be set to get a huge video upgrade, thanks to a new smartphone camera sensor created by Apple’s longtime supplier.
Sony has reportedly developed a new image sensor that is capable of shooting video at 960fps. That’s 720 frames more than the iPhone’s current slo-mo feature.
The iPhone camera is good right out of the pocket. Mobile lens company Moment Inc. launched three years ago believing it could make it even better.
It’s lens attachments have become favorites for many serious iPhone photographers trying to expand the range of the device’s fixed lens. Now, Moment is mounting an ambitious Kickstarter campaign with three new products to bolster the performance of iPhone cameras, from 6 through the 7 Plus.
Miroslav Tichy roamed the streets of his Czech Republic town with a camera made of plywood, a cardboard tube and a plexiglass lens he polished with toothpaste and cigarette ashes. His crude, distorted photographs now hang in museums around the world.
So don’t worry if the camera on that iPhone 7 you just purchased doesn’t score high in some laboratory test that pits its image quality against other cameras.
France will soon host a new Apple research center, according to local reports that claim the iPhone maker plans to lease a new R&D facility in Grenoble.
Future iPhone software and cameras could support sign language recognition, alongside a range of other in-air interface gestures, according to a patent application published today.
Titled “Three-Dimensional Hand Tracking Using Depth Sequences,” Apple’s patent application describes how devices would be able to locate and follow the location of hands through three-dimensional space in video streams, similar to the face-tracking technology Apple already employs for its Photo Booth app.
Apple has invented a camera lens that would yield higher-resolution images and would be even tinier than the cameras used in today’s super-slim iPhones.
How tiny would it be? Imagine a total axial length of just 2 mm or even less, making this potentially perfect for the long-awaited FaceTime camera of the next-gen Apple Watch 2.
The longtime Kings of the Camera must know their kingdoms are shrinking. If Canon or Nikon need further evidence, Flickr’s 2015 Year in Review shows the popular tool of choice for an engaged and global photography community is not a dedicated camera. It’s first and foremost a phone.
Apple’s iPhone was the popular device used by the Flickr community, according to an analysis of the EXIF data on pictures uploaded to the site. iPhone cameras accounted for 42 percent of the photos on the site, compared to the DSLRs of Canon, 27 percent, and the Nikon, 16 percent.
Apple is still preparing shipments for next week’s public launch of the iPhone 6s, but the folks at Vogue managed to get an early unit to test out the phone’s new picture taking skills at New York Fashion Week.
The new 12 MP camera sensor does not disappoint, according to Kevin Lu who became the first photographer to snap pictures with the new phone.
Here’s what Lu had to say about the new camera after hitting the runways with it:
Apple is looking to ramp up its camera technology with the acquisition of Israeli company LinX.
The two companies reached a deal that will see Apple paying about $20 million for the startup, but if the company’s multi-aperture cameras are actually as stunning as advertised, future iPhones could gain SLR-quality images.
Thailand is one of the world’s most coup-prone countries. It’s also home to people who smile the most in selfies. So even when the tanks roll in, the urge to snap takes over. Better yet: get that shot with the soldiers. Or the tank. That’s what’s happening in Bangkok, where the smartphone set is taking keepsakes as the coup comes to town.
For many people, their iPhone has long cemented its place as their primary camera.
A newly granted patent, published Tuesday, looks to build on that reputation by adding a remote control capable of operating the iPhone camera.
The “Systems and Methods for Remote Camera Control” patent describes a wireless iOS attachment, featuring a built-in display for both previewing and reviewing photos. The accessory would let users to remotely switch between different typing types of recording (both stills and movies), and also between camera and playback mode.
This week in Cult of Mac Magazine – No Fail iPhone Photography, the best tips, tricks, and practical advice on using that amazing camera you carry around in your pocket.
We’re celebrating Apple’s astonishingly great iPhone camera with a whole issue dedicated to all things iPhoneography. Cult of Mac’s own photography guru, Charlie Sorrel, weighs in with some choice technical advice on photography that applies across all cameras, iPhone or not, while Buster Heine gives you the lowdown on all the greatest peripherals you’ll want to gear up with before the big shoot.
Olloclip’s Michele Baker drops some wisdom on how to best capture “silver” with your iPhone, in honor of the winners of this week’s Photography contest, and our very own Nicole Martinelli interviews one of the best street iPhonographers around.
We’ll take some time out to showcase the top ten entries in our #CoMSilver photo contest, with the top three winners and some fantastic runner ups.
Of course, we’ll start off with the usual Best Apps, Books, Movies and Music from the past week and then end with our famous “Ask A Genius” column, so be sure to subscribe and download the issue.
One enterprising soul over on the Apple boards at Reddit has taken a bunch of comparison photos from the Camera+ app website and put them together to show just how far the iPhone camera has come, with the same image taken with the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the iPhone 4 and 4s, and then the iPhone 5.
The difference between the first and last photos is stunning, but there’s an initial ratio of improvement between two models of the iPhone that’s simply stunning.
