Camera

New iPhone 6s commercials are all about Touch ID, 4K video capture and chopping onions

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 25, 2016

Following its nicely done Earth Day ads featuring iMessage and a recycling robot dubbed Liam, Apple on Monday released a pair of brand new television commercials for the iPhone 6s, which promote Touch ID and the handset's ability to capture video in crisp 4K resolution through the lens of its twelve-megapixel rear camera.

The new commercials, titled “Fingerprint” and “Onions,” run thirty seconds each and are available on Apple's official YouTube channel, but we've embedded them into this article for your viewing pleasure.

GoPro unveils powerful new cameras and an app for viewing 360-degree and VR content

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

Monday, action camera maker GoPro announced at The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show a pair of powerful new camera rigs in the Omni and Odyssey series alongside a new VR sharing platform and a brand new mobile application which lets you view 360-degree videos and virtual reality content hosted at vr.gopro.com on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

The new six-camera synchronized Omni rig costs five grands and packs in pro-grade features that allow pixel-level synchronization, making stitching in post-production easier and more exact than using unsynchronized camera arrays.

Pricing for the more capable panoramic stereoscopic 16-camera Odyssey rig, which is optimized to work with Google's Jump VR Platform, will be out of the reach for most people unless they create professional VR content for a living.

Quickly and easily record animated GIFs with Giphy Cam

Anthony Bouchard ∙ April 18, 2016

Animated GIFs are fun, the only thing is, creating them generally requires a computer and either some fancy GIF-making software, or a website that can convert video files to animated GIFs.

Fortunately, for those of you that spend most of your time mobile, rather than at a computer, the free GiphyCam app from the App Store provides an all-in-one experience for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users.

We'll talk about GiphyCam in this piece and show you how you can use it to record your own animated GIFs right from your mobile device.

Facebook open-sources a camera design for capturing spherical footage in 3D

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 13, 2016

At its annual developers conference, the F8, which kicked off yesterday, the social networking giant Facebook announced an open-source spherical camera rig design which can shoot 360-degree video in 3D. Dubbed the Facebook Surround 360, the design consists of as many as fourteen wide-angle cameras bolted onto the horizontal ring.

There's also a fish-eye camera on top and two on the bottom for a total of seventeen cameras that are synced with a global shutter mechanism. The accompanying software stitches the individual videos together into one seamless 360-degree footage.

iFixit: 9.7-inch iPad Pro uses ‘gobs of adhesive’, making repair ‘miserable’

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2016

Repair wizards over at iFixit have torn apart Apple's new 9.7-inch iPad Pro (model A1673) only to discover that the device is extremely difficult to repair due to “gobs of adhesive” used to keep the components secured in place.

In addition to copious adhesive, the device's smaller form factor, the addition of four speakers and some “weird cabling choices” have earned the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro a sad 2 out of 10 repairability score, same as the original iPad Air and a point less than the first iPad Pro. “We think this is the most glue we’ve seen in an iPad to date, making repair miserable,” concluded iFixit.

KGI: dual cameras to be exclusive to 5.5″ iPhone 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2016

Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 will feature dual cameras for improved photography features, but only on the flagship 5.5-inch model, according to an investment note by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider this morning.

The analyst, who has a strong track record in predicting Apple's future product plans, thinks that iPhone shipments will fall below 200 million units this year due to a soft iPhone SE launch and weakening demand for the current flagship iPhone model, the iPhone 6s.

9.7″ iPad Pro certainly doesn’t skimp on camera tech, but is this a new normal for iPads?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

Apple's best mobile cameras go into iPhones, not iPads, though a curious thing happened at today's unveiling of a smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro—both it and the iPhone 6s share a powerful Apple-designed camera subsystem which takes sharp snaps in twelve megapixels and shoots video in 4K.

Even more curiously, the bigger 12.9-inch iPad Pro remains stuck with a previous-generation shooter even though that device was released barely six months ago.

The decision to give the 9.7-inch iPad Pro virtually the same camera subsystem as the iPhone 6s is a welcome surprise which we hope kicks off a new trend for Apple.

Everything we expect from Apple’s ‘Let us loop you in’ event on Monday

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 18, 2016

As you know, Apple has scheduled a media event on its Cupertino campus on this coming Monday, March 21. Earlier this month, the company sent out its predictably cryptic invites with the “Let us loop you in” tagline to select members of the press.

It looks to be a pretty significant event.

On top of an all-new four-inch iPhone model, we're expecting other announcements like a smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro, new Apple Watch bands—including a black edition of the Milanese Loop—and a bunch of enhancements for Apple's operating systems.

Review: ZhiYun Z1 Smooth-C gimbal gives your iPhone all the video stabilization it’ll ever need

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

If you use your iPhone for any kind of video production, then a gimbal should definitely be one of the top things on your wish-list if you don't already have one.

In this review, we'll be giving you an in-depth look at the ZhiYun Z1 Smooth-C 3-axis handheld stabilizing gimbal. This is a tool that many videographers use to keep their recording device of choice nice and steady, even when walking or running around.

iPhone 7 Plus to get iPad Pro’s Smart Connector?

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 15, 2016

Chinese website Bastille Post on Tuesday published a purported image of Apple's forthcoming iPhone 7 Plus that it swears is the real deal.

The photo, obtained from an unnamed source, seems to corroborate prior rumors that the iPhone 7 Plus will come outfitted with a dual-lens camera system on the back.

It also reveals a curious hardware addition that the rumor-mill has not predicted thus far: a Smart Connector. If true, the Smart Connector may be coming to all iOS devices. As you know, Apple first unveiled the Smart Connector on the iPad Pro last fall.

Leaked iPhone 7 drawings reveal flush camera, no band seams on the back

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 14, 2016

Leaked third-party cases based on various iPhone 7 rumors have seemingly corroborated the notion that the device will have stereo speakers, a thinner Lightning port, dual cameras on the back and more.

Claimed device schematics, published by French blog NowhereElse.fr, appear to confirm that the iPhone 7 has a nearly flush camera and no antenna seams on the back.

Common camera problems on iPhone and how to fix them

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 14, 2019

The iPhone's camera may have gotten a lot of upgrades over the years, and it may be one of the most popular point-and-shoot cameras in the world, but that's not to say it's perfect. Just like any other camera, it can be subject to hardware issues and software bugs.

In this piece, we'll go over some of the most common issues related to problems with the camera on your iOS device, whether it's an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and we'll explain some ways to troubleshoot those problems.