photography

Does it still make sense to buy a digital camera? (Poll)

A little over a year ago I asked CNET readers if it still made sense to buy a camcorder.

After all, as my thinking went, smartphone cameras can now capture 1080p video, and they have the virtue of riding around in your pocket, always at the ready for memorable moments.

The consensus? Not everyone has a smartphone, thank you very much, and smartphones almost universally lack optical zoom -- meaning they're far from ideal for faraway shooting. Verdict: for some folks, camcorders remain the best way to capture video.

OK, but what about cameras? Some of the same reasoning … Read more

Getting started with Video on Instagram

Facebook on Thursday held an event to announce a "big idea," according to the invitation sent out last week. Immediately rumors started circulating that Facebook and Instagram were going to take on Twitter's Vine service by adding video to the popular filtered-photo social network.

The rumors were true.

As of today iOS and Android (the Android version has yet to show up in the Google Play store, but it should be there sometime today) users will be able to install Instagram 4.0, complete with a new Video on Instagram feature.

Once you have the update installed, … Read more

TiltShift Video brings life to your miniaturized world

TiltShift Video is an app that does a great job of giving your photos and videos that miniaturized effect, but it's missing a couple of basic features that would make it easier to use.

When you first launch the app, you can choose to start a video or photo project, but you can't use the app to shoot a new video or take a picture. That's a pretty big annoyance because you're going to need to shoot everything before even opening the app.

From there, the app lets you make a number of adjustments to give … Read more

Adobe beats profit expectations, mulls subscription changes

Adobe Systems beat analysts' profitability expectations by 3 cents per share in the second fiscal quarter, ratcheted its Creative Cloud subscriber total up 221,000 to 700,000, and is considering new measures to mollify those who don't like the subscriptions, the company said Tuesday.

For the company's fiscal second quarter, which ended May 31, the company reported net income of 36 cents per share on a non-GAAP basis that excludes various charges, a notch better than the 33 cents average expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Using generally accepted accounting principles, the company's net income … Read more

Ready or not, compulsory Creative Cloud cometh

It's been a bumpy few weeks for Adobe since announcing its controversial decision to move all its "perpetual license" Creative Suite applications to a subscription-only plan -- almost 32,000 people have signed a petition against the move and our own survey with Jeffries indicates that "Creative Suite users loathe Adobe's subscriptions" -- but as of Monday night it's officially here.

If you've bought into or opt to buy into the plan, you'll get a host of interesting application updates, settings sync via the cloud, and access to all of Adobe'… Read more

Speed boost for Photosmith, a Lightroom-linked iPad app

C2 Enterprises has improved the performance and abilities of Photosmith, its iPad app for screening, cataloging, and rating photos before they're handed off to Adobe Systems' Lightroom.

Photosmith 3 is a complete overhaul, developers said in a blog post: "Much of the core of the app has been rewritten or updated to provide more stability. Key areas have been optimized for speed." The software arrived on the App Store on Wednesday.

Version 3's reworked import process is much more flexible, they promised. Instead of storing photos in the iPad's camera roll, Photosmith 3 can store … Read more

Hidden iOS 7 feature puts panoramas in lock screen

An otherwise undocumented iOS 7 feature has been discovered that lets users view the entirety of large, panoramic photos on their iPhone's lock screen.

The feature uses the device's built-in gyroscope to track movement, and pans across the photo. In its demos of the software at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple had only shown off that the background of the lock screen and home screen would move slightly as users tilted the phone.

A Vine of the eye candy, spotted by Business Insider on Wednesday, shows the feature in motion. Try not to throw up watching … Read more

Samsung's NX series gets the fisheye

Adding to its growing lineup of lenses for its NX series of interchangeable-lens cameras, Samsung plans to release a 10mm f3.5 fisheye later this year.

The lens is Samsung's widest-angle model to date, and it looks like a pancake.

Here be specifications:

Mount Samsung NX i-Function Focal range 10mm (15.4mm equivalent) Aperture range f3.5 - f22 Aperture blades 7 Minimum focus distance 3.5 inches Angle of view 180 degrees Elements Seven elements in five groups (one aspherical lens) Filter diameter n/a Minimum length 1.0 Maximum length 1.0 Weight 2.5 ounces (est.) … Read more

Mix and match film textures with Mextures for iOS

Mextures is a photo editor that focuses on applying multiple high-resolution textures to your images for some truly unique results. This app isn't like most photo editors that have you add a filter or a frame and then save the image; instead it requires a good amount of experimentation, mixing and matching textures to get the look you want.

On the first screen there are three buttons across the bottom: Camera, Inspiration, and Library. Camera and Library are self-explanatory for selecting a photo to use in the process, but the Inspiration button is where you'll find a gallery … Read more