With all the incredible advances in smart phone technology over the past few years, there are two in particular that have caught my eye. The first is the GPS capabilities that have been standard for a while now and which I'm currently experimenting with and will blog about soon. The second thing I became interested in after acquiring a new iPhone recently, is the photography and video capabilities of the modern cellphone.

For a complete blog post / review, see my full length article on explor8ion. Following is a quick summary of my findings for CT longevity;

Using interchangeable prime lenses, like the Moment or Olloclip solutions, your smart phone can become a pretty nice photographic tool.



I have tried the camera on my iPhone 6s for a while now, and have concluded that it can perform amazingly well, especially in the form of a small / light, carry-anywhere tool that also happens to give me GPS, phone calls, texting and many other useful functions. The auto-backup functionality of iCloud works well for me and I have already captured many family moments that are special for reasons beyond technical photograph perfection.


[The 18mm Moment lens allows a much wider angle of view (AOV) than the default 29mm iPhone 6s lens. I'm impressed with this jpeg's color and tonal range too. I had to open up the shadows a lot in LR as I exposed for the sky.]

Obviously there are shortcomings in a smart phone camera and YMMV on whether or not you decide to use it as a backup, as your main photography tool or just a casual snapshot generator for social media posts.

I think it's pretty cool that as photographers, we have so many choices that allow us to express ourselves in the art form that we love so much!

Really enjoyed this blog post Vern. I take a lot of photos with my iPhone (just got the 6s as well). I don't have any lenses but am thinking about getting them so your review was well timed.

I do have a Gorillapod tripod with a smartphone holder attachment that I like a lot (I'm often already carrying the Gorillapod already to use with my point and shoot so it's not a big deal to bring along). I've also been enjoying a cheap little app called Long Expo for taking long exposure shots - with the little tripod I've managed so passable long exposures on my phone - who knew that could be possible?

I think my brain just exploded I had no idea there were lens attachments for iPhones.

Anyway, yes, smartphones are pretty incredible. I used my iPhone 5s on my last trip, taking action shots and HDR shots. You can do crazy stuff with Snapseed or other apps, and it's non-destructive. Sure, it's not an SLR, but the colours and built in software are fantastic.

As for route-finding, for the first time, my phone was more useful than my GPS. I had a great Avenza PDF map on my phone. Here's a situation where my local area map was superior to the topo on my Garmin 64st. Getting a location on the phone provided a better idea of where I was in relation to the road I wanted to find in the dark. Pretty cool.

Now, if I could figure out how to (easily) get the OpenSource maps onto my Garmin....then there'd be some serious cartwheels happening.

I'm going to have to try more camera apps - I knew there must be a bunch of them and why not? I'm going to check out that Long Expo one...

Photo quality is quite impressive.

web design dallas, web development Dallas, chicago web design

The photo quality is quite good but it seems to be blurred in the background. I'm using an iPhone 7 with the Amir lens kit and they work quite well with each other.

Most people here probably use IPhones, but if you enjoy using Androids check out the smart phones LG has been putting out. They come with a built in wide angle lens ( 120 degrees angle with little fisheye distortion) as well as a regular camera. Great quality photos and no need to carry around attachments that are annoying to attach whenever you want the wide angle. The LG G6 can be found on sale at most places and the new LG V30 is stunning. I have the LG G5 and it does the job great. Just a tip if anyone wants the most versatility out of their smart phone lenses!