Smartphone News

As I confidently predicted last time, you can’t possibly please everybody when it comes to picking the best, the greatest, or the most influential cameras ever made. After we posted our list of The Top 20 Greatest Cameras of All Time, it came as no surprise that we received a ton of emails, varying in tone from pugnacious condemnation, to anguish, to polite suggestion, all begging to differ with our first top ten choices.

Want a camera with the imaging power of a digital SLR that can fit in your pocket? Well, a Palo Alto, CA-based company called Light has an interesting new compact device that promises to be 16 cameras in one. Called the L16, the slender, rectangle-shaped device is stuffed with an arachnoid-like array of cameras and lenses, which combine with software to capture what the company claims will be DSLR-worthy images.

These days anyone can shoot videos with their smartphone. But can anyone stand to watch them? Too many spontaneously spawned vids shake like a belly dancer on uppers. Here are three surefire ways to hit the brakes on the shakes and improve the quality of your personal small-format movies.

The first thing I do in a new country is get a prepaid SIM card for my phone. Sure, this means that I’m still connected, but the ability to address Google Maps, TripAdvisor, or Foursquare at any point far outweighs the negatives of being sucked back into the infinite void that is Facebook. Pre-paid SIM cards are available everywhere, and let you use your phone to research photo opportunities and share your next masterpiece in every corner of the globe. 

We tend to avoid “shoot-like-a-pro” headlines (like the one is this video) when speaking about smartphone photography. But the seven great tips in the tutorial below will definitely help you become a better mobile photographer and provide a boost to your creativity.

Want to take better and more interesting photos with your smartphone? COOPH (The Cooperative of Photography) recently partnered with photographer Richard Schabetsberger to create a great new how-to video for fantastic smartphone photography.

Some trends just won’t go away: Billboard magazine notes that U.S. vinyl album sales are up 53 percent, generating $416 million in sales. Stereophile, our sister publication, reviews new analog audio equipment and you can purchase new Nikon F6 or Leica M-A film cameras from Shutterbug advertisers. Ferrania is back making film and the Japan Camera Hunter website is making their own film, a discontinued Agfa emulsion they’re calling JCH StreetPan 400. Amazon’s top-selling photo item is Fuji’s Instax Mini Instant Film. There’s even a new twin-lens instant camera, Mint’s InstantFlex TL70, and yes, I gotta get me one of those.