Lensbaby Sol 45 review
The Lensbaby Sol 45 is a gateway drug into the world of creatively blurred, expressive photos that make pixel peepers’ brains hurt. It brings Lensbaby’s telltale effect, the “sweet spot” of focus, to a new low price and compact size. Read our review to see if purposefully blurred photos are worth $200.
This new Tamron 17-35mm is the lightest bright wide-angle zoom yet
Zoom lenses offer more versatility, but the trade-off is size. Tamron says that its latest lens, the Tamron 17-35mm F/2.8-4 Di OSD, is the lightest wide-angle lens compared to others with similar specifications. The lens sits at right around a pound and the company says they've also improved the autofocus.
Colby Brown isn’t afraid to fail (or fall) in pursuit of the perfect travel shot
Colby Brown has photographed Iceland more than two dozen times, captured (on camera) Jaguars in Brazil, lead National Geographic expeditions in South America. But what advice is does the travel photographer have for the photographers just starting out? We sat down with Colby Brown to talk photos, travel, style, and editing.
How to take travel photos with just your smartphone
If there's one time when the size of your camera matters, it's during travel. But is a smartphone camera enough to capture travel adventures, from start to finish? Here are the smartphone travel photography tips we've learned after a cay in the Caribbean with just a smartphone.
Photo FOMO: Wearable monopod, phone viewfinder are odd, but maybe useful
How's this for odd camera accessories? One father-son team has designed a monopod you can wear. But a giant smartphone viewfinder that looks like a pair of virtual reality goggles may just take the cake for odd accessories. The new concepts and more in this week's Photo FOMO.
Newly redesigned Moment Pro app has manual controls — and Pixel Visual Core
The new Moment Pro Camera App brings manual exposure and focus adjustments to iOS and Android. The app has a clean and elegant interface, yet puts direct access to controls at the forefront. On iOS the app has DSLR-like dual stage shutter, while it is adding Pixel Visual Core support on Pixel devices.
Snapchat now uses speech recognition to animate your face
Get your tongue back in your mouth -- Snapchat's latest Lenses react instead to a specific keyword. The new Lenses animate after hearing a specific keyword, which Snapchat displays on the screen. The new Lenses join AR filters that react to the volume of any audio in the room and animations triggered by facial recognition.
Facebook dismantles fake accounts that had thousands interested in a rally
A group of coordinated fake Facebook accounts created a rally that had thousands of users interested in attending, the network shared on Tuesday. Facebook has removed the Pages and accounts, shared data with law enforcement and is now notifying users that followed the event.
Canon finally makes 4K mainstream with the $400 40x zoom PowerShot SX740
The Canon PowerShot SX740 isn't just the company's latest compact zoom camera -- it's the first PowerShot camera to include 4K. That's a welcome change from the company's tendency to reserve 4K for the pricey DSLRs, while the $400 camera has one big upgrade that gives the specs a boost.
YouTube videos are now even bigger on desktop — so why are users complaining?
Goodbye, black bars. A YouTube update eliminates the black bars on the desktop video pages. The change makes the video larger and removes the often irking black bars. The update isn't sitting well with everyone, however, with users taking to the forums asking for the old design back.
Adobe’s next big software secret? An augmented reality tool called Project Aero
Itching to create an augmented reality object? Adobe will soon have software to help. Adobe recently teased Project Aero, an upcoming software that helps design AR objects, including support for Apple's ARKit. The teaser comes with an art exhibit focused on immersive content in San Francisco.
Photo FOMO: Adobe’s slick Hollywood editing suite, IGTV’s test for teasers
Designed for Hollywood video editors, Adobe's newest office creates a state-of-the-art editing suite while inviting feedback for upcoming software. Inside this week's photo industry news, Cotton Carrier blats a Kickstarter goal for a new camera harness, Instagram launches a new IGTV test and more.
This odd accessory helps photographers shoot through glass with less glare
Ever try shooting through glass without getting any reflection? A new flexible lens hood could make the task much easier. Ultimate Lens Hood is a flexible lens hood designed for eliminating glare when shooting through glass. It also helps cut flare during typical shooting.
As Twitter cleans up spam, monthly users drop, but daily engagement increases
Twitter is engaged in an overdue war against abuse and spam -- but moving resources to clean up the platform has left the network with a loss in the monthly user count. Daily engagement has increased, however, and Twitter says the focus on network health will drive long-term growth.
Mirrorless vs. DSLR: How do these competing camera systems stack up?
DSLRs may be the longstanding champs, but mirrorless cameras are much easier to tote around. As mirrorless cameras grow up, the difference between mirrorless vs. DSLRs is narrower than ever before -- so what do you need to know before picking a side? We break it down to each feature.
Growth slows during Facebook’s ‘critical year,’ still reaches 2.5 billion
Facing new privacy laws and news feed changes, Facebook's latest user count isn't as sky-high as previous patterns. Despite a slow down and a loss of users in Europe, the company now has 2.5 billion people across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The company is predicting more slowdowns, however.
The Sionyx Aurora is the best GoPro alternative you’ve never heard of
The action doesn't stop when the sun goes down -- the Sionyx Aurora is a night vision action camera that allows adventurers to continues shooting even after sunset. The camera comes equipped with waterproofing and add-ons like a GPS, but the secret is in the design of the sensor.
Grab the popcorn: Facebook’s Watch Party lets you share videos in Groups
Facebook Watch Party is designed to bring groups together with some of the same interaction tools as Live videos because everyone is watching at the same time. The previously tested feature is now available worldwide for Groups, with the platform now testing the feature for Pages and friends.
No longer a rumor, Nikon’s full-frame mirrorless camera is very real
Nikon has finally confirmed the long-swirling rumors -- the company officially announced the development of a full-frame mirrorless camera today. While Nikon isn't sharing much, the company says the mirrorless will come with an entirely new lens line-up and an adapter for existing lenses.
IGTV is sweet — but you probably don’t need the dedicated app. Here’s why
IGTV is a platform designed for video viewing on a smartphone, which means an experience with full-screen videos and gesture-based controls. But do you really need to download the app? Only if you want access to the handful of features that are inside the stand-alone app but not inside Instagram itself.
Is this Nikon’s new mirrorless? Teaser emerges for mysterious camera
Nikon Europe may have just shared a glimpse at the company's long-rumored professional mirrorless camera. While the teaser doesn't share specifics or if the camera is, in fact, a full frame, the video shows a thin interchangeable lens camera that's continuing to fuel the longtime rumors.
Highest resolution smartphone camera yet is designed not to suck at low light
Cameras can either shoot high-resolution images or excellent low-light images -- but with Sony's latest smartphone sensor, you can have your resolution and your low-light performance too. The new sensor shoots like a 48-megapixel sensor in the day, and like a 12-megapixel low-light expert at night.
18 Lightroom keyboard shortcuts you can actually remember
Keyboard shortcuts make quick work of sorting and editing photos, but they're often tough to remember. Still, these 18 are worth remembering.
What is portrait mode? How tech helps smartphones capture a better you
What is portrait mode? Different devices have different approaches to portrait mode, but the end goal is to capture a portrait with a nicely blurred background. We'll tell you how portrait mode technology functions, which phones are best at it, and if buying that flagship portrait mode phone is worth it.
Photo FOMO: Photography ‘could be a sign of terrorism,’ film-inspired presets
Is Homeland Security's warning to look out for overly interested photographers a good warning or bad advice? The odd tweet and more inside this week's Photo FOMO, alongside new Kodak inspired presets, Skylum Luminar updates and a new all-in-one flash from Godox.
Is full Photoshop coming to iPad?
Will an upcoming version of Photoshop be as mobile-friendly as Lightroom CC? A report from anonymous company insiders says Adobe is working on a full version of Photoshop for the iPad. The move could bring full-powered photo editing to mobile devices.
Apple Photos ditches prints, but third-party extensions could be even better
Apple Photos will soon take its last print order. Instead, the default photo management app on macOS will allow for third-party extensions for photo orders, including options from WhiteWall and Shutterfly. The order service appears to be wrapping up on September 30.
R.I.P.: The Nikon 1 series of mirrorless cameras is dead
The Nikon 1 series is no longer in production, eliminating the company's only mirrorless camera line. While still available from some retailers, production of the mirrorless series has stopped. So what does Nikon have up its sleeves next?
GoPro sold 30 million action cameras since 2009, and the Hero5 Black is its best-seller yet
GoPro has reached a new milestone, selling 30 million Hero cameras since 2009. The Hero5 Black is now its best-selling camera in record time, an indication the company may be pulling out of its financial struggles.
When sci-fi meets reality: Adobe re-imagines AR from ‘Terminator 2’
As the augmented reality system in the Terminator films move from sci-fi and into reality, Adobe asked a design studio to re-imagine the Terminator 2 UX system, using modern special effects software. The result is a modern, data-packed nod to the original James Cameron film.
Instagram’s question stickers bring comment-like interaction to Stories
Instagram Stories lack some of the interaction options from the traditional feed -- but that's not stopping Instagram from coming up with new ways to promote interaction instead of passively watching Stories. The new question sticker allows you to ask a question and get open-ended responses.
This A.I. goes against the grain, cleans noisy images with a single shot
Noise obscures details in images taken at high ISOs -- but new research suggests artificial intelligence may be able to take care of that noise. A new paper from NVIDIA, Aalto and MIT demonstrates software that's capable of removing the noise from an image without a reference photo.