addon

Apexel 100mm Macro Lens Kit Review: An Impressive Phone Add-On

A little while ago, when Apexel asked me to review the 200X LED Lens microscope adaptor, I told them I was interested in both the microscope and the macro lens kit. Due to stocking issues, they were able to send the microscope adaptor.

M1 iPad Pro Review: More Powerful, More Functional, Still Frustrating

The last few generations of iPad Pro were already powerful enough for serious photo editing, but the benefits of such a small and versatile device have never quite outweighed the cons of a tablet-based workflow. The 2021 iPad Pro -- with its M1 SOC, up to 16GB of RAM, Thunderbolt support, and mind-blowing miniLED display -- makes the best case yet for ditching your laptop. But even with all this power under the hood, it’s clear the iPad is still an accessory, not a laptop replacement.

This Free Photoshop Add-On Will Read You Jokes and Puns While You Work

Retoucher Pratik Naik and his co-workers at Infinite Tools have released a fun (and free) little side-project that you might want to get in on. It's called the "Infinite Jokes Panel" and it's a Photoshop add-on that will read you jokes, puns, and condescending statements about your photo editing abilities while you work.

Tilta Unveils a Cooling Add-On for the Canon R5

Canon's new R5 mirrorless camera is reportedly prone to overheating during video recording, and Canon says it went with passive rather than active internal cooling to keep the camera small and light. If bulk is no issue, though, Tilta is coming to the rescue with a fancy new cooling module.

Lensbaby Omni Color Expansion Pack Review: Adding Foreground Interest

For those that have followed my work for a while, you’ll know that I love to show a sense of depth to my images. Sure we can all shoot wide-open (f/2.8 for example) to get that shallow depth of field, but nothing beats the depth of showing not only a separation between subject and background, but a foreground element to your image too.

This Dock Gives the New MacBook Pro its Ports Back

When Apple announced the 4th gen MacBook Pro in October 2016, photographers and other creatives bemoaned the removal of the traditional ports found on the sides of the laptop (including the SD card slot, which Apple called "cumbersome"). A company called OWC is now coming to the rescue with a sleek new dock that adds the old ports back in.

Tip: Use Gmail’s Canned Responses To Save Time And Stress

There's a Gmail add-on feature that photographers and others always seem to benefit from once they find out about it. I've been using it since it has been available and it has been amazing. If there are any responses that you continually re-write over and over again, Gmail's "Canned Responses" feature is there to help.

Take a Look at the Hasselblad Camera Add-On for Motorola

A few more photos that allegedly show the Hasselblad-branded camera add-on (or 'MotoMod') for the MotoZ and MotoZ Force phones have surfaced, giving us a closer look at the next partnership between a smartphone maker and a major camera brand.

Vivitar Working on Interchangeable Lens Smartphone Add-On

Whatever you want to call the emerging category of camera/lens assemblies that snap onto a smartphone, there no doubt it's growing. Case in point: Sony's QX line and JK Imaging/Kodak's SL series will soon by joined by a Vivitar model that made a very quiet debut last week at CES.

Ladibird Aims to Turn iPhones Into Serious Portrait Cameras

Is the Ladibird an iPhone case, a fully-functioning camera or a cleverly designed smartphone add-on? The answers, in no particular order, are yes, yes and yes. The upcoming device manages the increasingly difficult feat of pioneering a new and potentially useful category by turning an iPhone into a seriously capable portrait camera.

The Kúla Deeper is an Add-On that Makes Any DSLR 3D-Capable

The 3D camera movement never really took off like some people hoped that it would, but that doesn't mean 3D doesn't have its merits. Many people still love the idea of capturing photos or videos in 3D, but they're not necessarily willing to buy/carry around a camera dedicated solely to that purpose.

The Kúla Deeper side-steps this problem. It's not a 3D camera in and of itself, but a DSLR add-on that enables your existing camera to capture 3D one second and 2D the next.

DSLR Add-On Brings Features Like Lytro-Style Refocusing to Any Camera

Lytro may have made a splash when the company first burst onto the scene with its 'snap now, focus later' technology, but the competition has been growing steadily ever since. In addition to companies like Pelican gunning at the light-field market, a new SLR add-on created by researchers from Saarland University in Germany promises to bring Lytro-style refusing and much more to almost any camera.

Luxi is a Clip-On Adapter That Transforms Your iPhone Into a Proper Light Meter

Back in March 2011, we featured an iPhone app that lets you use your iPhone as a makeshift light meter. The app apparently works pretty well, but if you've been looking for a fancier solution involving your iPhone, one has finally arrived.

It's called the Luxi, and is a small clip on accessory that turns your iPhone into a proper light meter.

A Chrome Extension for Looking Up the Histogram of Any Online Photograph

A couple of weeks ago we featured a Google Chrome extension for overlaying "rule of thirds" lines over any online photograph. Now we have a different tool for examining other photographer's photographs: Image Histogram.

Created by developer/photographer Nick Burlett, it's a Chrome Extension that can quickly bring up the histogram of any online photograph.

Snappgrip: A Smartphone Add-On That Provides Camera-Like Controls

The rise of smartphone photography in recent year has been transforming how people think cameras should look and work. Instead of pulling out a single-purpose device that has dedicated controls for picture-making, legions of consumers are now content with pushing a single button (whether physical or digital) in order to preserve a moment in time.

One of the emerging ideas that directly results from this shift is the modular camera. Since smartphones provide all the computing power a camera needs (as well as apps and wireless capabilities), why not simply treat smartphones as a brain, and use lens, sensor, and interface attachments to give the brain a body? That's what Snappgrip is trying to do (the interface thing, at least).

Will.i.am to Launch iPhone Add-On That Boosts Resolution to 14MP

Want larger photos from your iPhone? Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am has a solution for you. The entrepreneurial musician will reportedly be launching a new iPhone attachment next week that will "turn your smartphone into a genius-phone" and boost the phone's camera resolution from 8 megapixels to 14 megapixels. Like the man who developed it, the device will have a quirky name: i.am+.

Gellin’ Like Magellan: ProDot is Like a Dr. Scholl’s Insert for Your Shutter Finger

People who spend a lot of time on their feet have products like Dr. Scholl's gel inserts to help cushion their feet and absorb the shock of walking. Likewise, photographers who press the shutter button so much that they fatigue their index finger now have a similar product as well: the Custom SLR ProDot. It's a patent-pending dot add-on for your camera's shutter button that supposedly helps reduce camera shake and finger fatigue.

VSCO Keys Speeds Up Your Lightroom Workflow with Keyboard Shortcuts

Visual Supply Co (AKA VSCO), best known for its film emulation software, has launched a new product that's designed to reduce the time you spend post-processing your images in Adobe Lightroom. VSCO Keys is a tool that adds powerful and customizable keyboard shortcuts to Lightroom 3 and 4. You can assign keys to the various sliders in the program, allowing you to keep your hands off your mouse during photo editing.

Use a Red Dot Sight for Locating Subjects with Super Telephoto Lenses

Photo enthusiast Chris Malcolm needed a better way to aim his 500mm lens at fast moving subjects (e.g. birds in flight), so he upgraded his lens with a DIY sighting aid by attaching a non-magnified red dot sight:

They're designed to clamp onto a gun sight wedge mount, so some kind of adapter is required. I played with the hot shoe mount, but it was too flexible -- the sight needed re-zeroing at every mount, and was easily knocked out of calibration. The degree of precision required to aim the central focus sensor at the target via the dot also made parallax error a problem on the hot shoe. So I decided to mount it directly on the lens. Least parallax error, plus the geometry of the lens barrel and the sight mount naturally lines it up with the lens. To protect the lens barrel I glued the sight clamp to a cardboard tube slightly too small, slit open to provide a sprung grab on the lens body. The slit also handily accommodates the focus hold button on the lens barrel.

Malcolm reports that the site "works amazingly well", making it "trivially easy to aim the lens at anything very quickly".