| Cult of Mac

Huawei’s latest deceptive ads try the same old camera stunt

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Weibo post busting Huawei for misleading ad
Huawei needs to have more confidence in its smartphone cameras.
Screenshot: Huapeng Zhao/Weibo

The cameras in Huawei smartphones are class-leading. Yet, the company was caught again using a photo shot with a DSLR in an ad to promote pictures produced with their handsets.

Best, of all, the gaffe was discovered by the winner of an iPhone photography contest.

Moment drops Android camera app to focus exclusively on iOS

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iPhone lenses
Moment's Pro Camera app is now iPhone-only.
Photo: Moment

Smartphone lens-maker Moment will develop photo and video apps exclusively for iPhone, after the company said Monday it will discontinue the Android version of its popular Pro Camera app.

Moment, known for its high-quality lenses, bailed on Android because it does not have the “engineering bandwidth” to keep up with the various camera systems among Android brands. The Pro Camera app continues on iOS.

Galaxy S20 Ultra camera ups ante on iPhone with Space Zoom and 108-megapixel photos

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Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Lots of promised power in this camera bump.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung fired a powerful-sounding salvo in the battle for smartphone camera supremacy Tuesday when it introduced the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The Ultra kicks off a new decade in smartphone camera technology with an impressive list of specs packed into its four-camera module. Some of the features include 8K video, a 108-megapixel sensor on its main wide-angle camera, and a 100X zoom feature called Space Zoom.

iPhone 11 Pro scores highest in 2019 for video camera

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iPhone 11 Max Pro cameras
The next iOS update will have an additional off switch for Location Services after recently data privacy concerns.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple has seen the rise of competitors launching smartphones with cameras declared by reviewers and consumer labs as surpassing the iPhone.

But the iPhone 11 Pro dismissed some creeping doubts when it launched this fall and it will end 2019 at the top of several recap and best-of lists.

Among the first with its 2019 review is independent lab DxOMark, which tested 31 new smartphones this year and ranked the 11 Pro as its favorite for video.

Adobe’s new camera app brings ‘AI magic’ to iPhone photos

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new camera app from Adobe
Raise the cool factor on your iPhone photos with the Adobe Photoshop Camera app.
Photo: Adobe

After finally bringing Photoshop to iPad, Adobe says it will roll out a new smartphone camera app with a slew of creative lenses and AI powers that come at the point of capture.

The upcoming Adobe Photoshop Camera seems to borrow the lens-swapping feature of Hipstamatic. Adobe promises it will give users “Photoshop-grade magic right from the viewfinder.”

Forget lighting effects. These compact flashes bring pro light to iPhone portraits.

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With light in hand, the Profoto C1 flash brings studio power to your iPhone photos.
The C1 Light by Profoto is among the Bluetooth-enabled options to add strobes to iPhone photos.
Screenshot: Profoto/YouTube

Apple is trying to bring the advanced lighting of a photo studio to your iPhone without actual lights. And while featured effects like High-Key Mono and Stage Light can bring a studio-like finish to your iPhone portraits, software and algorithms can’t beat the real thing.

Profoto, makers of highly regarded and expensive studio lights, introduced this week two compact studio flashes designed for mobile photography.

6 months using only an iPhone camera leaves pro photog inspired

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Photographer Noe Alonzo used only an iPhone for six months
What could you do with an iPhone as your only camera? Plenty says Noe Alonzo.
Screenshot: Noe Alonzo/YouTube

Photographer Noe Alonzo gave himself a challenge that some people called ridiculous: He worked exclusively with his iPhone 7 Plus for six months.

The results proved stunning. Even more surprising to Alonzo, his project landed him new clients — and gave him humbling insights into his own creativity.

Meet the new head of testing for selfie cameras

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mannequin for selfie camera tests
Sienna never blinks.
Photo: DxOMark/YouTube

The automotive industry has crash test dummies. The lab testing virtually every kind of digital camera made has Sienna, a lifelike mannequin created to measure the quality of a smartphone’s selfie camera.

DxOMark has been an independent tester of conventional digital and smartphone cameras since 2008. Sienna is the newest addition to the team because the French lab only started testing front-facing cameras this year.

Smartphones keep twisting the knife on camera sales

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camera sales
iPhone photography is still incredibly good.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

When the CEO of one of the biggest brands in cameras said his company was in a losing battle against smartphones, he was dismissed by some of his contemporaries who insisted on a brighter future.

Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai today probably wishes he was wrong.

A new report by Japan’s Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), shows camera sales for February dropping by 35 percent compared to the second month of 2018.