Smartphone News

How much do I hate smartphones? Let me count the ways. But seriously, they aren’t going away anytime soon and many photographers, although not moi, have found clever ways to harness the power of these mobile devices. That said, I do own a smartphone albeit an older model and am on many social media platforms.

Mobile is an adjective often used to describe photography made with smartphones but I can put a tiny Panasonic Lumix GM1 in my pocket and take a walk—mobilize, if you will—as easily as my iPhone and shoot some nice photos. Instead, let’s call it what it really is: Smartphone Photography.

The free Snapseed app for iOS and Android phones and tablets has long been a favorite among “serious” mobile photographers who want powerful image-editing tools without a lot of superfluous gimmickry.  And now the app has been updated to include features some of us found missing.

The World Photography Organisation launched a new award dedicated to mobile photography at the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards.

In 2013, Sony introduced two extraordinary cameras – the QX10 and the QX100. Both were based on compact cameras (WX100 and RX100 II), but didn't have “camera bodies” and LCD screens. Instead, they consisted of a lens, image sensor, image processor and a storage media system and both needed either a smartphone or tablet computer to serve as the “external camera.” The newest in the QX line is the QX1. The main camera concept is similar to the 2013 models, but the QX1 offers a large APS-C sensor with 20MP resolution and an E mount for interchangeable lenses.

Last week Apple introduced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus that boast a robust new camera system, and yesterday Sports Illustrated photographer David E. Klutho shot some impressive images with the iPhone 7 Plus while covering an NFL game for SI between the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings in Nashville.

As photographer Jessica Dyer writes about this incredible slow motion video of a hummingbird: “Wait for it…and turn on the sound.”