photography

Lens cleaning equipment such as blower brushes and compressed air can take up quite a bit of space in your bag. The folks at Digital Camera World have come up with a novel DIY way of keeping things compact by transforming paintbrushes into portable tools for cleaning off minute particles when shooting in dusty environments.

All you need is an inexpensive paintbrush that's readily available at any craft shop.… Read more

I am a regular user of Instagram and a regular user of an iPad. Unfortunately, these two items do not directly connect. Instagram has yet to release an app optimized for the iPad's larger screen, and I would advise against anyone browsing pixelated images using Instagram magnified on the iPad. Thus, you must turn to a third-party app.

Before we proceed, I should state that Instagram does not let you upload photos via a third-party app. Such an app lets you view your various Instagram feeds and offers a variety of fun and useful features, from commenting on and … Read more

Instagram does not offer an app with native support for the iPad, and blowing up the iPhone app on an iPad is not ideal unless you enjoy blurry, pixelated images. There are a number of free apps -- InstaFlow, Padgram, Pictacular -- that let you view your Instagram feed on the iPad, so why would you spend $1.99 on Iris? I can't quite recommend you do so, but it is the most polished of the group I looked at this week.

Before I get into Iris, I must first offer the standard Instagram-on-the-iPad disclaimer: Instagram does not let you post photos via a third-party app. Thus, no third-party app offers full Instagram functionality. An app such as Iris, however, lets you view crisp, clear, and large Instagram photos on an iPad, along with a variety of fun and useful features, from commenting on and liking photos to sharing via Twitter and browsing photos by location on a map.… Read more

First off, congrats to Kenny L. of Apple Valley, Minn., for winning a Cowon Auto Capsule AC1 dashboard camera in last week's giveaway. I look forward to seeing your dashing dashboard videos, Kenny!

Got some Facebook or Instagram photos that would look phabulous on your walls? Printcopia, a service that prints digital photos onto canvas, acrylic, photo paper, and more, is offering four canvas prints to this week's winner -- two 16x20-inch prints of Facebook shots and two 16x20-inch prints of Instagram pics.

All you have to do is pick the photos you want turned into wall art … Read more

I would not advise anybody to browse pixelated images using Instagram magnified on the iPad. Until Instagram releases a version tailored to the iPad, you'll need to turn to a third-party app if you'd like to view larger images of your Instagram feed. Before you get too excited, you should know that Instagram does not let you post photos via a third-party app. There are a handful of Instagram iPad apps, however, that let you browse, like, and comment on photos, along with a variety of fun and useful features such as sharing on other social networks and browsing Instagram via a map view.

Padgram is a free iPad app that lets you browse Instagram feeds in landscape mode. It features a unique subscription feature for tags, but it lacks a way to browse one full-size image after another. Let's have a look.… Read more

Did you know you can use an iPad as an Instagram viewer? Instagram does not offer an iPad app, so you'll need to find a third-party app. And while Instagram does not let you post photos with a third-party app, there are such apps that let you view your Instagram feed writ large on an iPad. In addition to letting you browse your Instagram feed, these Instagram iPad apps offer a variety of fun and useful features, from commenting on and liking photos to sharing on other social networks and browsing Instagram via a map view

Pictacular is a free iPad app that offers a number of ways to browse Instagram photos, and it's the best app I've encountered in terms of displaying comments up front. It can also be prone to freezes and crashes. Let's have a look.… Read more

Samsung gives the NX system a much-needed boost with a couple of key lens announcements: a nice-sounding yet reasonably priced 45mm f1.8 prime and what seems like a kit-quality 12-24mm f4-5.6 wide-angle zoom.

Both incorporate the system's i-Function intelligent operation, but they also both lack optical image stabilization; as more lenses arrive without OIS, I increasingly appreciate the cameras that use sensor-shift IS and are thus not dependent upon the manufacturers' decisions about the feature. It's true that as focal length decreases so do stability issues, but I've never met a focal length that couldn'… Read more

DxO Labs and Phase One updated their image-editing programs this week, aiming to improve image quality and editing controls in an attempt to fend off market heavyweights Adobe Systems and Apple.

DxO Optics Pro 8 and Phase One Capture One Pro 7, like Adobe's Lightroom and Apple's Aperture, are designed in particular to handle raw photos from higher-end cameras, photos taken directly from the image sensor for higher quality, greater flexibility, but more hassle.

Among DxO Optics Pro's new features announced during the PhotoPlus Expo show in New York:

• A "Smart Lighting" control designed to … Read more

Apple issued an OS X update today that lets iPhoto, Aperture, and other Mac software use raw photos taken by the Nikon D600 and several other cameras that arrived last month at the Photokina trade show in September.

The Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 4.01 enables use of raw photos from the following cameras: … Read more