It's time for the holidays and we're here with the gear you need. If you're traveling a lot, on the go, or just prefer shooting with a phone we've got some great options:
Google Pixel 2
Mefoto Sidekick
Zhiyun-Tech Smooth-Q Smartphone Gimbal
For more check out Toby's Favorite Mobile Photography Gearat Kit.com
Introduced in 2013, PhotoPills is the swiss army knife of photography tools, with programs and calculators to get all the information you need conveniently in a phone app. For us using Android we've been using The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) due to the fact PhotoPills was designed for IOS only. While TPE is a good program, and fairly straightforward with a desktop version, PhotoPills has always had a bit of an edge on ease of use and the amount of available features. As a project starting last year they've finally ported PhotoPills to run on Android giving us non-iPhone users the chance to use this nice tool.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lr8-8duawgDesigned virtually the same as the popular IOS app the Android version of PhotoPills gives you the same location scouting with points of interest, timing the moon and sun, depth of field, hyperfocal distance calculator, and more. You even have the option of using augmented reality, with the device's camera, to see what your planning live. PhotoPills even has contests, you can upload your photos online for chances to win prizes.
Photopills is $5 more in comparison to TPE but it's a bit easier to use with a few more available tools. That said it is in open beta, at least until the end of the month, so you may run into a few bugs at first. As they've said on their android development page "One year later, we're now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.". If you're an android user this will be a nice addition to your tools, great for learning, and gives you the ability to plan a lot of your photos in advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQK2k6a1A-ALightroom Mobile has been updated on Android and iOS - Take a look at the new PRO camera built in that provides shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation and allows DNG(RAW) Capture and editing on your mobile device. Is it as buggy and slow as LRM has been in the past? How does Lightroom Mobile compare to Snapseed? And on iOS you can now edit any RAW file (coming soon with iOS 10 support)SUBSCRIBE for more contentYou can download Lightroom for Android 2.1 here now for free.Lightroom mobile 2.4 is available immediately for iPhone and iPad from the iOS App Store for free.Mobile Photos shot with the new Camera App in Lightroom Mobile 2.1 on Android (DNG Support)https://www.instagram.com/p/BH2pBkoDYO4/?taken-by=photorectobyhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BH1EME7Du0U/?taken-by=photorectoby
Lightroom 2.0 for Android has been released - Offering some nice improvements.
Open on the Play Store to Update Adobe Premiere Clip has also been updated. (my favorite Android video editor)
We live in exciting times. I have been using the LG G4 for much of the travel footage shot in the Iceland and Greece vlogs - I love the quality and ease of use. I don't love the lack of manual control in video. The LG G4 made headlines w/ the full manual control when shooting still photos (watch my review) but annoyingly you lose all manual control when you switch to video - this can make some backlit scenes and other tricky exposures very difficult to film. The LG V10 looks to fix that- providing full manual control during video.
"The LG V10 offers users the ultimate in video capturing, editing and sharing. The V10 is the first smartphone to offer manual mode for video."
LG has added a few additional features that differentiate this phone from the lG G4, including:Two screens on the front of the device. There's the main, 5.7-inch display, and just above that is a smaller "always on" screen that can display different content. When the main screen is off, the second screen can display the weather, time and date, and battery level. When the main screen is on, the second screen can be used to for quick-launching apps, accessing favorite contacts, or changing camera settings.Two front facing cameras! Both are 5MP but each offers different fields of view- 120° and 80° The V10 will include software capable of stitching the shots together for a wider view? I am not exactly sure here.
Customizable audio capture using the three microphones!Video editing software and the ability to use the Optical Image Stabilization or Electronic Image Stabilization.Available in only a 64GB storage variant and otherwise offering much of the same internals - including the 3,000 mAh battery (removable) and MicroSD card slot capable of supporting up to a 2TB Micro SD Card!! (largest I know of is this 200GB card from SanDisk)Body is a bit flatter with stainless steel and silicon construction and offers a fingerprint reader too.The promo video is. . well a bit cheesy, but doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for what could be a serious video tool. Do you share my excitement? Let me know in the comments.https://youtu.be/ELD_6aeHGKQFull SpecsKey Specifications:*Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 808 ProcessorDisplay: Main) 5.7-inch QHD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440 / 513ppi)Secondary) 2.1-inch IPS Quantum Display (160 x 1040 / 513ppi)Memory: 4GB LPDDR3 RAM / 64GB eMMC ROM / microSD (up to 2TB)Camera: Rear) 16MP with F1.8 Aperture / OIS 2.0Front) 5MP Dual Lens (80o Standard Angle / 120o Wide Angle)Battery: 3,000mAh (removable)OS: Android 5.1.1 LollipopSize: 159.6 x 79.3 x 8.6mmWeight: 192gNetwork: LTE-A Cat. 6Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.1 / NFC / USB 2.0Colors: Space Black / Luxe White / Modern Beige / Ocean Blue / Opal BlueQuick video of stabilization in actionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykPrvAK7UIs
Officially getting photos from your DSLR to Instagram you have to use the mobile only instagram app. While there are a million ways to do this such as a smart card reader, micro SD, USB, Bluetooth, or emailing yourself why not take a second to leverage the cloud. To save a bit of work transfer the photos directly to the phone with their native cloud I.E. iCloud, Google Drive, or Skydrive seamlessly. Alternatively Toby’s favorite option in this case is the 3rd party Dropbox as you just sync to the phone and export to Instagram.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1on8fCXSuU
Either way you've got to use the official app to create an account. Using BlueStacks or one of the other emulators listed below you can simulate a phone on your computer to get started. Once you've got the program up and running add the Instagram app so you can make an account. Otherwise if you're planning on using the Windows 8 app Instapic the much simpler solution is just borrow someone's phone for a minute to make an account.While not endorsed by Instagram the following programs use the Instagram API or Instagram APK to run and upload photos. As Instagram is not a fan of this the following can be deactivated at any time such as the Mac Uploader for Instagram. I am not including instructions as a short search on Google can provide full guides for installation.For Windows:
Through a Website:
Android Emulators (PC/Mac/Linux):
If you're a chrome user a good Instagram viewer is Pixsta. While you don’t have the options of some of the other apps it's a nice platform to view and like photos from your feed versus instagram.com.
Put these new skills to the test and participate in our weekly Instagram challenges
