News / Connect

A Vietnamese site is sharing what it claims are sample images from Sony's new Xperia Z smartphone, compared with shots from both the Apple iPhone 5 and the Oppo Find 5, both of which will feature Sony's new 13-megapixel Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor. Although we can't vouch for the integrity of the sample shots, if they're genuine, the comparison provides an interesting look at what the Xperia and Oppo Find 5's cameras may be capable of. Click through for the full story, and images, on connect.dpreview.com.

What makes a GoPro go? That's the sort of question that the curious folks over at iFixit.com love to answer. To find out, they've torn apart the Wi-Fi-enabled, 4K-capable GoPro Hero3 Black Edition to reveal its inner workings and release its secrets. In the course of their tear-down they found that the Hero3 Black is impressively repairable, thanks to its minimal use of adhesives to hold everything together. For all the gory details, images and a link to the full tear-down, click through to our article on connect.dpreview.com.

The Lumia 920 is Nokia’s current flagship smartphone and the second phone graced with the Finnish manufacturer's PureView branding. Unfortunately this is not the same, large-sensor 'PureView' concept as the 808 but a fast F2.0 lens, optical image stabilization and true multi-aspect-ratio support still make the Lumia 920, at least on paper, look like a very promising connected imaging device. Peter Ferenczi has tested the phone for Connect, click through to see how he got on.

CameraMator is one of the more interesting photographic gadgets we saw at CES this year. It's a Kickstarter-funded Wi-Fi tethering accessory for Canon and Nikon DSLRs that gives remote live view, camera triggering and image download to Android and iOS devices. The device itself mounts on the hot shoe and can connect to a local Wi-Fi network or peer-to-peer with the mobile device. The standard USB lead that comes with the camera gives the unit access to the camera's key features. Find out more over on Connect.

Lenovo might not be the first name that springs to mind when you think of smartphones but the Chinese company is one of the biggest sellers in its home market. Its latest offering is the K900 - a 5.5" smartphone - slightly larger than the three we detailed yesterday but with the same 1920 x 1080 pixel count to give a resolution of 400ppi. It also features a 13MP Sony Exmor RS (stacked CMOS) sensor behind a 22.4mm equivalent F1.8 lens. Click here to find out more.

CES 2013: High-resolution screen advances were on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, with everyone from tablet makers to television manufacturers pushing pixel count further than ever before. Sharp stole the show, in terms of screen resolution technology by exhibiting a 85-inch 8K LCD screen prototype. Co-developed with Japanese broadcaster NHK, the UHDTV screen offers 16 times the resolution of a standard 1080 TV and would allow you to display a 33MP image without downscaling or cropping. 

CES provided a chance for us to get our hands on two of the latest smartphones. Interestingly, Sony's Xperia Z, ZTE's Grand S and the Huawei Ascend D2 are all built around 5", 1920 x 1080 pixel screens and feature 13MP cameras. All run Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and yet, despite the spec similarities, there are still differences - in the user experience as well as the processors used. We had the opportunity to use all these phones, to see how they behave - find out what we thought.

CES 2013: Panasonic has been demonstrating a prototype of a 20" tablet at the CES show in Las Vegas. The large 3:2 tablet is built around a 4k, 3840x2560 pixel IPS display, giving a resolution of 230ppi. The tablet runs Windows 8, meaning it can run full PC software such as Adobe Photoshop. The prototype included a 128Gb SSD to allow fast access to images stored on the device. It also includes a standard USB port for connecting a card reader but only has a port for microSD cards built in.

While 2011 marked many milestones for mobile photography, 2012 easily surpassed it. Last year saw mobile photography really take off, both in terms of consumer interest and mainstream acceptance. In this article, we look back on an incredible year where images from cellphones graced everything from magazine covers to the walls of major exhibitions. Click through for a link to the full article on connect.dpreview.com.

Resolutions for the New Year don't have to be just about losing weight or curbing vices. You can include fun, creative and challenging goals that will broaden your photographic horizons and improve your picture making skills. Here are some suggestions for sharpening your creative eye during the coming year. Although the article concentrates on mobile photography, many of the suggestions are relevant regardless of what you shoot with.

Photo sharing site 500px has become a popular venue amongst photographers - resembling in many ways the photography-friendly environment that made Flickr popular a few years ago. It faces a range of challenges as it grows - including the how to keep exposing great photography in the face of booming membership and attempts to 'game' its systems. Connect discusses these challenges and some clever cloud-based features about to be launched with 500px CEO Oleg Gutsol.

Instagram has backed away from controversial changes it planned to make to its terms of service. Co-founder Kevin Systrom has used the company blog to announce that the most sensitive phrase in the terms will be revised. The update would have given Instagram the right to sell user's images to third parties without compensating them. Systrom says this was never the company's intention. Instead, he says, wording will be developed to allow it to associate information such as users' profile images with commercial postings (as Instagram's owners, Facebook, do).

Photo-sharing service Instagram is making headlines for a change to its terms and conditions that appears to allow the sale of users' images. The updated terms of service talk in terms of letting other businesses or entities pay to display usernames, likenesses, and photos in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation. Understandably, some Instagram users are very unhappy, but do they need to be? Click through to read our quick guide to what the new terms and conditions mean for you. 

The Samsung Galaxy Camera is the the most serious attempt anyone's yet made to build a truly connected camera. It's essentially a hybrid of the company's WB850F compact superzoom and its Galaxy SIII smartphone - combining the zoom range and larger sensor of the camera with the powerful processor, touch screen and Android operating system of the 'phone. But how much extra capability does this bring? Mobile photographer Oliver Lang takes a look.

Sometimes you'll find you're a mobile photographer just because the best camera is the one you have with you. We've just posted our 2012 Mobile Photography Gift Guide, which covers a range of accessories for the mobile photographer, from inexpensive and fun gifts to more serious, useful products like add-on lenses and supports for phones and tablets. Click through to read the full article at connect.dpreview.com

Google has added Communities, the ability to create topic-focused groups, to its Google+ social network. The Communities option makes it easier for people with common interests to discuss and share photos around themes. Connect has highlighted a couple of photography-related groups that have already started to attract members.

Nik Software has launched an Android version of its Snapseed mobile editing software. Both the Android version and the updated v1.5 for iOS will be free (the iOS version formerly cost $4.99). The now Google-owned company has added direct Google+ uploading options to both. Read more about the changes to the app over at Connect.

Smartphones aren't just about catching grab-shots and applying heavy processing filters to cover up any flaws. As the cameras get better, processing to get the best out of those images becomes increasingly important. Perfectly Clear, a processing app for iOS devices, provides a host of tools to fine-tune your mobile photography (or edit any photos when away from your computer). It even has a tool to correct the iPhone 5's notorious purple flare. Click here to see what we thought.

It's all too easy to take for granted the wide dynamic range, variety of focal lengths and control over depth of field we have at our disposal. And ironically, one way to practice a a more traditional, disciplined approach to photography that introduces, rather than eliminates limitations, is to spend some time shooting with the latest smartphone. Read about how some photographers are embracing the challenges of creating compelling landscape images with their wide angle fixed-aperture smartphones.

Connect: Photographers who use the photo sharing platform 500px can now access their images via an iPhone app released today. Previously, only iPad and Android versions of the app were available. The iOS version is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and requires iOS 5.0 or later. The app features a minimalist interface to avoid distraction and focus on photography, it says.