News / Connect

Mobile photography has often made a virtue out of the comparative technological restrictions of phones' relatively primitive cameras, but that doesn't mean its practitioners are immune from the lure (and benefits) of upgrading. Over on Connect mobile photographer Star Rush talks about how her photography changed, and how it didn't, when she upgraded her handset and found herself with an upgraded shooting experience.

The head of Nokia’s digital imaging team, Damian Dinning, is leaving the mobile giant for a job at Land Rover/Jaguar. During Dinning’s nine years at Nokia, he lead the team that developed the PureView technology which was debuted in the 41MP Nokia 808 PureView, earlier this year. Damian's name will be known to many dpreview readers for his frequent interactions in our comments threads, and for his contributions to our coverage of the groundbreaking 808 PureView. Click through for more information at connect.dpreview.com.

While most smartphones still lag behind dedicated cameras in image quality they come with a lot more processing power and the ability to install apps. This allows you to do things on the move which, when done with a digital camera, would require a computer, a piece of software and some serious screen time. Android's Photo Sphere feature is a good example - it allows you to stitch individual images into a 360° Photos Sphere and immerse yourself in a scene. Photo Sphere is part of the camera app of Android 4.2 - the latest version, as featured on the Nexus 4 smartphone. We've taken it out and had a play with it, click through to see how we got on.

Over at Connect we're assembling a list of Holiday deals - with the first smartphone and accessory deals listed today. We'll be highlighting more interesting offers as they come to our attention. The period around the Thanksgiving holiday is particularly prominent for shopping in the USA, with the Friday afterwards (known as Black Friday) and the subsequent Monday (dubbed 'Cyber Monday') being a focus of in-store and internet deals respectively. A recent survey suggests that smartphone usage could see Thanksgiving itself become 'Mobile Thursday' as people shop from their 'phones.

Smartphone photography is taking increasingly seriously as a medium, but this isn't because the devices have reached a certain standard. In an interview from 2009, actor and photography Joel Grey discusses the work he's done using a 1.3MP phone camera. He discusses the snobbery surrounding cameraphones (including his own), and points our that 'pictures are pictures...the subject, light and framing is everything.'

Wired.com has published an interview with Stephen Mayes, director of the VII photo agency, about the importance of mobile photography in the digital age. According to Mayes, smartphone photography represents a 'pivotal moment' in photography, and calls cell phones 'a pretty pure implementation of the digital phenomenon'. Click through for more excepts from the interview and a link to the full article at wired.com

Demotix, the photo agency created to distribute and sell newsworthy images from members of the public, has been bought by image giant Corbis. London-based Demotix, which has smartphone apps to make it easier to submit images, has a community of around 6,500 freelancers and semi-pro photographers and videographers submitting work. By contrast, Seattle-based Corbis' collection of 100 million images tends to come from professionals and it more tightly curated.

We've reviewed the multi-platform mobile app Photo Editor by Aviary. Even if you're not familiar with this app, you've likely seen Aviary in effect in other mobile applications as the photo editor is available to other app developers as a software development kit (SDK) for Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7, and there's a Web Widget too. We take a look at Aviary's version, optimized for both phone and tablet screens, on Connect.

Indian photographer Sudeep Mehta has been chosen as the winner of the connect.dpreview.com photo competition. The Connect team, along with a panel of judges, has selected the winners from over 3,000 entries, with Metha of Mumbai, India, winning the $5,000 first prize. The second-placed image and four runners-up selected from some excellent submissions will also receive cash prizes. Visit connect.dpreview.com to see the winning images and thank you to everyone who took part.

Samsung has publicly released the kernel code for its Android-based Galaxy Camera, as it regularly does for its smartphones.The kernel is the core of the operating system including software that controls the hardware. In the short term, independent developers are discussing using the code to enable phone calls from the device but, beyond this, a publicly available kernel gives developers and hackers a greater insight into the Galaxy Camera's workings than we've ever seen for a camera.

Long before the rise of Instagram, square format film cameras from Rolleiflex and Hasselblad were held in high esteem by photo enthusiasts. Indeed the square image is part of a long image-making tradition in visual arts. And one that every photographer - new or experienced - should explore. In this article, we share some tips and tricks for square shooting with your most mobile camera: your smartphone.

The tiny GoPro camera can make some spectacular videos. From Red Bull’s record breaking skydive to a cat's perspective on chasing a laser pointer, there is serious potential for the $200-$400 video camera. The GoPro is built to survive extreme photographic situations, but it can also work well for more conventional video needs. When San Diego-based photographer Ben Horne got married earlier this year, he put a GoPro HD Hero2 in his bride’s bouquet to create a unique camera angle. Click through for more details, and to see the video on connect.dpreview.com

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the latest incarnation of Samsung’s hugely successful Galaxy smartphone line and with an eight megapixel backlight-illuminated sensor and 1080p video capture it offers one of the most compelling photographic feature sets of any current smartphone. The S3 is Samsung’s best-selling Galaxy model to date - read our in-depth full review of its 8MP camera here.

No-one takes gadgets apart quite like the guys at iFixit.com and they've just got their hands on Apple's latest tablet, the pint-sized iPad Mini. Basically an iPad 2 in a smaller form factor, the Mini goes on sale tomorrow in the US. Thanks to a whole lot of glue holding the thing together and expensive battery replacement cost, the iPad Mini earns a low repairability score of 2 out of 10 on the iFixit scale. Click through for some sample images from the teardown and a link to the full, gory experience over at ifixit.com.

Connect: Australian photographer Misho Baranovic decided to use Instagram as a way of keeping track of the human-scale impact of Hurricane Sandy as it reached the US coast. He explains the steps he took to find the most relevant photos and filter-out inauthentic images - highlighting both the potential and pitfalls of curating and sharing crowd-sourced content.

Connect: Creative White Balance tips for smartphone photographers. White Balance can make the difference between a bland image and an engaging photograph. Smartphones are increasingly giving control over this important tool for getting color 'right' in your photos - we give some tips about how it's used.

Connect: Sensor maker Omnivision has announced two smartphone-targeted CMOS camera modules. The OV5645 is built on an affordable 1/4"-type 5MP sensor built around a standardized MIPI interface, allowing processing functions to be passed to the host processor, rather than having to include JPEG compression in the device. The OV8835 uses a higher-end, 1/3.2"-type 8MP second-generation BSI CMOS sensor with claimed 'best-in-class pixel performance.' 

Connect: The Beamr app allows full-res iPhone and iPad images to be shared as virtual magazines. We spoke to Dror Gill, Chief Technology Officer of ICVT about the way it uses the company's JEPGmini technology to make file sizes manageable and how this is just the consumer-facing beginning.

Connect: Microsoft has taken a different approach to the tablet market with its Surface, by including a fold-out keyboard. The device isn't formally available until Friday but various tech bloggers have already had a chance to play with the Windows RT-based machine. What are their first impressions and should photographers take interest?

Connect: When you're not using it to browse the web, show off your photos or check your e-mail, have you considered using your tablet computer as a light source for photography? It may not offer a high-speed sync mode but, with an inexpensive app, it can open up some creative opportunities.