I was driving along a country road at one of my favorite local lakes and spotted a Great Blue Heron straight north of me near the shoreline. I got the crazy idea to do comparison photos between my DSLR and my iPhone. The heron was too far away to get a high quality image with either camera, but I decided to do it anyway. I also wanted to check on the quality of the iPhone’s built in digital zoom versus cropping the original image and resizing it later in the computer.
Category Archives: iPhone Photography
“Where exactly was I when I took those photos?”
My primary camera, a DSLR, does not record the GPS location of my photos. Why does it matter? Some photo editors will not publish a photo unless you provide accurate GPS coordinates of the image location. Of course I knew I was approximately a couple of hundred yards up the beach from the parking lot, but not precisely where I was. Plus I am curious. Some of my photos are taken in less obvious locations and I like to know where I was when I clicked the shutter.
How to Choose the Best iPhone Lenses
Yet Another Scam Out of China?
We’ve been down this road before. An over-hyped, overpriced product out of China making claims that are too good to be true. This all sounds too familiar. For the record, there is no way an app can turn a phone into the quality equivalent of a “professional camera” with a quality telephoto lens.
My iPhone Photography Apps
I keep my photo apps together on one screen on my iPhone. Many of these apps are also available for Android phones. I thought I would share a screen capture of my photo apps and tell you briefly what these apps do. Some of these apps do things with the photos that are on your camera phone. Some of them help you control your camera phone. Some of them deal with an external camera (like my DSLR) or with external hardware. A few apps help you be at the right place at the right time. One or more of these apps might be just the ticket for what you like to do.
Step By Step: How to Get Blurred Backgrounds with an iPhone
How do you make your subjects “pop” by blurring the background when you are using an iPhone? To get the maximum amount of blurriness there are several step involved, most of them after you click the shutter. I will take you through the process, step-by-step- complete with illustrations. I used an iPhone 11 for this step by step guide. If you have a different model the options and screen layouts might look different.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off Series – Overpriced, Low Quality Camera Phone Lenses
The ads started showing up on FaceBook all the time. They talk about wonderful lenses that will turn your smart phone into a camera that is better than a DSLR costing thousands of dollars. They brag about German engineering, a NASA optical formula, or the testing that proves their lenses are better than expensive lenses from Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, or Canon. The names of the companies change on a regular basis, but the scam is the same. Sad to say, a lot of people actually fall for this nonsense.
How to Choose the Best iPhone Lenses
My Favorite Smart Phone Tripod Mounts
After seeing too many incidents when smart phones popped out of their tripod mounts and came crashing to the ground, I decided it was time to write this article.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off Series – Overpriced, Low Quality Camera Phone Lenses
The ads started showing up on FaceBook all the time. They talk about wonderful lenses that will turn your smart phone into a camera that is better than a DSLR costing thousands of dollars. They brag about German engineering, a NASA optical formula, or the testing that proves their lenses are better than expensive lenses from Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, or Canon. The names of the companies change on a regular basis, but the scam is the same. Sad to say, a lot of people actually fall for this nonsense.
Buyer’s Guide: Recommendations For The Best Photography Equipment, Software, Books, Magazines, DVDs, Online Photo Labs and More
Welcome to my online buying guide for photographers. With over 70 articles it is one of the most comprehensive buyer’s guides on the web.
I get lots of photo questions, and many of them begin with “What is the best . . . .” They usually come from photographers or someone who is shopping for a photographer.
My “best of the best” series recommends the best photo gear, accessories, software, books, DVDs, online photo labs, and a whole lot more. Thanks to the information in these articles I get emails from photographers thanking me for saving them time, frustration, and a lot of money.
This article is published annually in November with regular updates. Most recent update: December 14, 2019.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off Series – Overpriced, Low Quality Camera Phone Lenses
The ads started showing up on FaceBook all the time. They talk about wonderful lenses that will turn your smart phone into a camera that is better than a DSLR costing thousands of dollars. They brag about German engineering, a NASA optical formula, or the testing that proves their lenses are better than expensive lenses from Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, or Canon. The names of the companies change on a regular basis, but the scam is the same. Sad to say, a lot of people actually fall for this nonsense.
How to Choose the Best iPhone Lenses
Chinese Lens Redux: One More Look at Overpriced, Lousy Quality Lenses
Don’t waste your money!
The short story: You can buy this same exact lens on Amazon for $10 – $15, or on eBay for $3 – $4. Don’t pay the $37.99 price in the ad. The lens quality is lousy. Lots of people have been ripped off by some of the companies selling these overpriced lenses.
My Favorite Smart Phone Tripod Mounts
After seeing too many incidents when smart phones popped out of their tripod mounts and came crashing to the ground, I decided it was time to write this article.
Posted Dec 16, 2017. Revised and re-posted November 16, 2018.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off Series – Overpriced Camera Phone Lenses
The ads show up on FaceBook all the time. They talk about wonderful lenses that will turn your smart phone into a camera that is better than a DSLR costing thousands of dollars. They brag about German engineering, a NASA optical formula, or the testing that proves their lenses are better than expensive lenses from Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, or Canon. The names of the companies change on a regular basis, but the scam is the same. Sad to say, a lot of people actually fall for this nonsense.
Posted Sep. 12, 2017. Updated and re-posted November 15, 2018. Updated November 12, 2023.
How to Choose the Best iPhone Lenses
iPhone photography has become a huge thing. According to Flickr, their millions of users take more pictures with an iPhone (47%) than any other camera. A lot of iPhone photographers are looking for add on lenses for their phone, and that may include you. So which lenses are the best?
Posted September 19, 2017. Revised and re-posted November 14, 2018.
Favorite Photo, August 5
I was out in my garden one day and spotted a bee among the coneflowers. I pulled out my iPhone and tried to get a good photo.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Three
This is pretty much the same kind of rip off I have written about before. Take a cheap smart phone lens that people can buy at Amazon for $16.99 or less, jack up the price to $56, make outrageous claims, and see how may people you can sucker into buying the item at the higher price. They even used the same “questionable” technologist who has multiple identities.
Posted Oct. 17, 2016. Revised and re-posted June 3, 2018.
Same Guy, Several Different Names, Several Different Ads, Several Different Products – The fake German engineer used in the Chinese lens rip off ads
Same photo, three different names, and three different ads for three different products. Does this make you suspicious?
Update: September 12, 2017. I heard from the REAL Simon Greig. Details below.
Originally Posted June 20, 2016. Revised and re-posted June 2, 2018.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Thirteen. Identical Action Shots from Different Lenses? Be Very Suspicious
You can’t take the same exact action shot with two different lenses. If you see two totally identical action photos taken with two different lenses you should be very suspicious.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Twelve. Lens Comparison Test Three: “Shoot the Moon”
Almost every day I see ads for the same plastic, cheaply made Chinese lens, and the ad often uses the same faked photo of an impressive picture of the moon (see examples below). I decided to do a “shoot the moon” comparison test. As you will see in the results that follow, it is impossible for this Chinese lens to take the moon shot used in these ads.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off Series, Part Eleven. The Same Lousy Lens With Many Different Names
Don’t get ripped off. The quality of this lens is so bad and the reputation of the company is so awful that the people who market this lens have to keep coming up with new names for the lens and new web sites to sell it. So far I have found 16 different names for this lens and it is sold with the same fake information on dozens of web sites. Continue reading
The Chinese Lens Rip Off Series, Part Ten. Good Luck Trying to Get a Refund
Don’t get ripped off on an overpriced, lousy quality lens from an unscrupulous company that has an “F” rating at the BBB. Good luck trying to get a refund as you will read in Annie’s story below. I see ads like this on Facebook almost every day. These ads are costly so they must be making a lot of money. These companies change names and addresses all the time to keep ahead of the bad reviews, so be careful out there.
Your Health and Your Cell Phone
My Favorite Smart Phone Tripod Mounts
After seeing too many incidents when smart phones popped out of their tripod mounts and came crashing to the ground, I decided it was time to write this article.
Posted Dec 16, 2017. Revised and expanded Dec. 22, 2017.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Nine. Comparison Test Two: 8-18X Telephoto Phone Lens vs 12X Telephoto Phone Lens
If you haven’t done so already, read this article first: Don’t get ripped off! Part Seven. Comparison Test One: Telephoto Phone Lens vs DLSR and Zoom Lens. It will explain the background and methodology behind this comparison test.
I purchased the 8-18X telephoto lens to check it out. Like the lens in Comparison Test One, it is another Chinese lens for smart phones. The ads for this lens say this lens is amazingly sharp. It is being sold for $59.99. That is an outrageous price of course. I found one on Amazon for less than $12. I knew when I bought it that it would not be worth $12. I had read other online reviews for this lens which point out how bad it is, but I wanted to see for myself.
Posted Sep. 22, 2017. Revised and expanded Dec. 12, 2017.
How to Choose the Best iPhone Lenses
iPhone photography has become a huge thing. According to Flickr, their millions of users take more pictures with an iPhone (47%) than any other camera. A lot of iPhone photographers are looking for add on lenses for their phone, and that may include you. So which lenses are the best?
Posted Sep, 19, 2017. Revised and expanded Dec. 2, 2017.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Eight. How much does this lens really cost? $224.50? $2.99?
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Seven. Comparison Test One: Telephoto Phone Lens vs DLSR and Zoom Lens
I see the ads for smart phone lenses on Facebook almost every day. You click on the link and you read an article that says their telephoto smart phone lens has “been tested, and found to equal or exceed the photos produced by such top makers as Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Canon and Sony.” It is all utter nonsense of course, meant to fool clueless people into spending $56 or more on a poor quality lens that they could buy for as little as $4.00. So I decided to buy one of these lenses on the cheap and do my own comparison test.
Posted Sep. 18, 2017. Revised and expanded Dec. 12, 2017.