The Photo Video Guy Podcast now on iTunes

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I am very happy to announce that the nice folks at iTunes have accepted my podcast for distribution through the iTunes Store.  The link to it is http://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast//id493184154 and hopes are that it will begin to reveal itself in searches by the 9th of January 2012.  If you are so inclined, please subscribe.  The intent is for weekly episodes and I will be happy to take questions via email or comment to the site from readers and listeners.  Thanks to all for your support!

Fuji Announces New Cameras - But Not the One I Want

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With CES imminent, expectations are high around announcements from the major vendors and with the success in 2011 of both the X100 (yuck) and the X10 (also yuck) Fuji is one of those major vendors.  Smart marketers those Fujians, getting their press releases out BEFORE the avalanche of releases that is CES.  And Fuji did not disappoint.  Well except for me.  Here's the text from the overlay release; and the links should be hot, unless I screwed up the post. FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO: Shigetaka Komori) is delighted to announce the new lineups of the FinePix digital camera series. The wide range of new FinePix lineups will provide customers even more convenient solution from capturing to sharing, professional to simple point and shoot, and satisfy and amaze all customers around the world with their exciting photography life.

The new cameras will be showcased at 2012 The International CES, Las Vegas, USA.

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That's a long list of cameras.  I had prior info about the SuperZooms and they make sense given the success in the holiday season of Nikon's P500 and Canon's 40xs is.  But, if I were a buyer for a camera store chain, I'd be filling the coffee mug with straight Lagavulin since it is clear that no one at Fuji has studied anything about the problems created by too much choice.  Looking at the list, I think of Lowe bags.  There are so many too choose from, buyers end up choosing none, or one that's not right.  Harvard Business School has done numerous studies on this "Too Much Choice" issue but plainly manufacturers in the photo industry are not paying attention.  Thus camera stores have buckets of inventory of products so close to each other from a single vendor that no one can readily tell them apart.  You'll note that Leica does not make this mistake and you'll also note that there are no M lenses to be found and that Leica sees fit to raise prices because of demand.

What did Fuji not announce?  Where is the X Pro, the interchangeable lens CDSLR/EVIL/Mirrorless/MILF that has been rumoured and of which photos already exist.  If, as Trey Ratcliff proposes, the future is not the DSLR, then the X Pro fits that niche and certainly there is space above the X100 and below the M9 for serious enthusiasts.  C'mon Fuji, get the lead out and get that new camera out.  As for the rest of your announcements, I'm sure that they are all really fine products, but frankly I'm bored and underwhelmed.  What is it the cool kids say?  Oh yeah.  Meh.

Awesomely fun iPhone app - make very nice explosions

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Yes, I know I am posting this on Christmas eve, and yes I know that the app is really an ad package for Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, and yes I know you'll get bored soon enough, but for a short time, you are going to go nuts dropping a car on stuff and blowing stuff up with a missile.

From JJ Abrams' team at Bad Robot comes Action Movie FX, a FREE iPhone app that let's you, well, blow stuff up.  Fun?  Wow!

Get the app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/action-movie-fx/id489321253?mt=8

Do It!

Sandisk and Google for the win!

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You may have heard this story but I think it is so awesome, I want to share it with readers.

A user of a Canon 1000D lost his camera overboard into the ocean off Vancouver.  Fourteen months later, a scuba diver discovered the camera while on a dive.  Now this diver is a complete class act as he not only raised the camera, he pulled the SD card (a Sandisk Extreme III) from the camera, let it dry out and cleaned it and then tried to read the card.  To his surprise there were photos on the card.  So he loaded them up on Google in the hope that this might help identify the owner.

The Google folks helped out and the original owner was reunited with the camera and the pictures!  That is just so cool!.

Awesome shout outs to the diver, to Google and to the nice folks at Sandisk whose product survived over a year's immersion in salt water and still was able to be used to recover the pictures.

Light It Magazine Issues 2 and 3 now available

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Great news!  There are now more issues of the awesome Light It magazine for the iPad now available with Issue 4 to follow by year end.  For those who got excited by the superb first issue and then wondered what happened, there was a delay in getting the app approved by Apple, but that's all done now and the issues are available.  At $2.99 an issue, I'm not sure there is a better and more beautifully constructed way to learn about lighting.

If you don't have the app, go get it.  If you don't have an iPad, now you have a great reason to get one and to call it "education expense".

 

Pretty cool article comparing the Sony NEX-7 to the Leica M9 - Using the same Leica lens!

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The Sony NEX-7 is very skinny on the ground given the horrible flooding in Thailand.  My contact at Sony fears that stores won't be seeing new gear until February at the earliest.  The folks at Leica explain the absence of pretty much every one of their M lenses on "market demand".  Why?  Because folks are buying newer mirror less cameras and Leica adapters to use M lenses.

No doubt about the quality of the Leica glass, but what happens when you put Leica glass on the hot new NEX-7?  The people at Luminous Landscape have done it in a multi-part assessment.  Follow the link to read the article 15 December, 2011 - NEX-7 vs. Leica M9 Resolution

 

 

Where do I get those cool lens glasses and mugs

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Must be the season but a lot of people have been asking me where to get those glasses and mugs that look like lenses.  There is the Nikon shot glass, and the Canon mugs that look like L series zooms.

The place to go is Photojojo's online store.  Go check it out, they have some wicked cool and full geek on gear!

Nikon 1 Series Firmware Update

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Nikon has released a firmware update for the J1 and V1 cameras in preparation for the release of the FT1 adapter.  The FT1 allows the mounting of Nikon F mount lenses on the new small sensor cameras that despite the mcmarketing are not actually CDSLRs where C is compact.  They are more like CARFs but that's a different rant.

Quick Look : Easy-Go Speedlite Reflector and Pixel Wireless eTTL Kit

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I took some time to do a quick review of a couple of products over the last couple of days.

The first is the Easy-Go Speedlite Reflector and mount.  I tried the unit with a 580 EX II, a Metz MB58 AF-2 and a Sigma DG Super.  To my disappointment, the unit does something that completely screws up the eTTL measurements resulting in underexposure by on average three stops.  Since each flash works fine on a variety of bodies in eTTL without the reflector, and multiple bodies and multiple flashes produce underexposed shots with the reflector, I have to say it's the reflector.  So, save the $60 for the reflector and mount and get a collapsible Gary Fong light dome.  It works flawlessly, gives wonderful soft light and doesn't mess up the eTTL flash.  The Easy-Go stuff feels cheap and earns 0 stars.

I also took time to check out the King eTTL Flash transmitter and receiver kit from Pixel Enterprise.  It's basically a clone of the acclaimed Pocket Wizard eTTL controllers.  There is a designated transmitter and receiver.  Both use two AA batteries.  The radio control is simple and effective and eTTL exposures are excellent.  The system offers three channels and three zones.  I won't be dumping my collection of Pocket Wizards, but if all you need is radio controlled remote eTTL solution for a single flash this kit is relatively inexpensive and works well.  And, since it is radio and not Infrared, it will work outside and in situations where there are other photographers discharging flash.  3 stars out of 5.

REVIEW : Westcott Speedlite Kits - Apollo Orb and Apollo Striplight

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I tend to use studio flash in the studio, but sometimes a location shoot doesn't need 1000ws or bags of heavy kit.  I love my PocketWizard TT1 and TT5 units because I can simply get wireless TTL flash going with my Canon DSLRs.  This simplifies the use of speedlite driven modifiers  because I don't have to worry about flash splitters and the inconsistent function of IR based remote flash.  This past fall, Westcott released a series of modifiers designed to be lightweight, portable and to work with hot shoe based flashguns.

The Canon 580 EX II is a fine unit, although my preference are Metz 58 AF-2 units.  In either case they do the full eTTL thing readily.  Stringing cables is a pain and IR triggers don't always work when the flash is inside a box.

Setting up either the Orb or the Striplight is a piece of cake.  The kit includes a solid stand, a flash mount with tilt and umbrella mount, and the appropriate soft box and front scrim.  Simply erect the stand, and attach the flash mount.  Open the soft box, just like an umbrella and mount it to the stand.  Place your flash on the mount using whatever trigger you like, orienting the flash to fire into the box.  Put the scrim on using the velcro tabs.  That's it!.

The boxes are constructed with zipped sections to allow the stand to pass through the side of the box.  The orb is an octabox style and the strip light is a tall narrow style.  The Orb has one opening, the strip has two, for portrait and landscape orientations.

Using the Pocket Wizards, you maintain full eTTL flash capability and by adding the AC3 zone controller you can set multiple zones through the pocket wizards avoiding the need to use Canon's zone system that is dependent upon infrared.

Great exposures are a snap and with proper light placement you can get beautifully soft light where the flash is the dominant source or even outside as supporting light.  The really nice thing about the Westcott kits is how compact they are.  You could carry four of them in a generic gym bag from Walmart.

Of course you can use cabled connections for your TTL flashes if you so desire, although I avoid this due to the probability I will knock something expensive over when I trip on the cable.

Both Westcott kits retail for under $200 and you can sometimes find them on sale.  For the money, they are really well built, provide wonderful soft light and help you get more from your hot shoe flash.

Pictured are the Apollo Orb and the Apollo Strip Speedlite kits

820999821003

 

 

 

 

Highly Recommended

Review : Leica X1

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A photographer can always benefit from great gear, but great gear does not a great photographer make.  So it has been said often.  It's also said that a camera is just a tool to facilitate the making of images.  Yup I agree. But.  Take the little Leica X1 in hand, and you might start to think that this camera will make you a better photographer..  There IS something about a Leica.  Let's start at the beginning.

I have wanted a Leica rangefinder for years, but other priorities have always come first.  And, reality bites, but those other priorities still do.  I don't need a rangefinder.  I have excellent cameras already, be they of the 35mm variety or medium format.  I stopped shooting in the mid eighties and came back with the advent of good digital came back ten years ago  Back in the eighties, through the kindness of a friend by name of Victor Grape, I was able to shoot for myself and on some jobs with a Leica M4-P with motor winder and a 35mm lens.  It was brilliant then, and I have since wanted that feeling again

I've looked around at used M8, M8.2 and M9 digital rangefinders, but timing is not good.  I've just had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the X1 and I am seriously impressed.

Many folks talk about how Apple starts the experience with incredible packaging.  Well Apple could be looking to Leica for tips.  The X1 arrives in a simple, large silver box with a black rectangle holding a wireframe of the X1 in white.  Pull the tab and lift the lid, and unlike other boxes it falls away to the rear.  So do the front and the sides revealing what looks like a black jewelry box.  Lifting the hinged top reveals a grey box with the Leica logo in the top corner.  The box is heavy card with a subtle pinstripe.  The front panel of the box swings down revealing two drawers.  The top drawer holds the manuals, and unlike the manuals for most every fixed lens autofocus, these are beautifully printed, extremely complete and easy to read.  The bottom drawer holds cables, a pouch, strap and the power adapter with international slide on tips and of course the battery.  There has been criticism that the power adapter doesn't have fold away prongs, but this is an American conceit since the prongs for the UK are so sizeable, they won't be folding anywhere.  Rather than force the owner to source plug adapters when travelling, Leica has you covered.

Upon opening the small grey box, the X1 s revealed cradled in foam.  It looks like the M9 with clean simple lines, minus the viewfinder of course.  Given the substantial weight of the complete package the weight of the X1 is a surprise, particularly if you have handled the M9.  It is refreshingly lightweight and fits the hand very well.

Installing the battery and SDHC card is pretty much the same process as with any compact camera although the latch required more deliberate action.  You won't be opening the battery door by accident.  Many compact cameras have a ring around the shutter release that controls zoom.  In the case of the X1 it offers single shot, continuous (2fps Jpeg only) and self timer.  The dial on the right controls aperture offering A for automatic settings, plus the range from f2.8 to f16 on the 24mm Elmarit lens.  Unlike the majority of compacts, the X1 uses an APS-C sized sensor, so that 24mm lens provides a field of view like a 35mm on a 35mm film camera.  This is the classic rangefinder focal length.

The dial to the left is the shutter speed selector with A for automatic and a range of 1/2000 to 1 second.  There is no bulb option.  When the shutter dial and aperture dial are set to A, the camera operates in fully automatic exposure mode.  Placing the shutter dial in A and manipulating the aperture setting gives you aperture preferred.  Setting the aperture dial to A and manipulating the shutter speed dial gives you shutter speed preferred.  Manipulating both dials off auto gives you full manual.  There is a hot shoe with pinouts for Leica flashes.  On the left is a circular raised area that acts as the release and enclosure for the built in flash.  The flash is small and not particularly powerful but gets the job done when needed.  The camera sports an ISO range from 100 to 3200 with excellent noise control as well as auto ISO for those who like that sort of thing.

The front panel holds the lens, which extends when powered on (you must remove the cap when turning the camera on), the Leica logo and a small LED that provides focus assist.  The right side holds an elegant door that provides access to the USB port and the mini HDMI connection.  Beside the battery door on the bottom is a standard ¼-20 tripod fitting

The rear of the camera holds a bright LCD display with 230k dots.  This is much less than the density found on other cameras, but in practical use, it is more than sufficient to check images or use the menus.  There is a rotary wheel upper right to be used for manual focus and this is much more intuitive than you might originally think.  Below it is the popular four way rocker/wheel/button arrangement.  The centre button activates the menu system and acts as the Ok button.  Top is exposure compensation labeled EV+-.  Right is for flash settings.  There are Auto, Auto w Red Eye, Forced On, Forced On with Red Eye, Slow Sync, Slow Sync with Red Eye and Studio.  The last option enables the flash to fire just enough to trigger studio strobes.  While I would not have gone looking for this in a compact camera of pocket size, I was very pleased to discover it.  Kind of fun to have this tiny creature trigger all my strobes.  Bottom allows you to select AF, AF with macro and MF or manual focus.  The left button selects between 2s and 12s for the self timer but only acts if the switch on the camera top is set for self timer.

Left of the screen are five buttons.  The are Play, Focus/Delete, WB, ISO and Info.  They do what you expect them to do.  I liked the focus selection allowing you to move quickly from spot focus to 11 zones including high speed modes very simply.  Initial releases of the camera provoked anger with the speed of focus found in the 1.x versions of the firmware.  My unit has the current v2.0 firmware and while not screaming fast, it's quick enough but tends to hunt in low light as it is contrast based.  If your intent is to use this camera for fast action, it's not the right choice for you.  The manual focus option does provide a scale on the display so you can preset a hyper focal distance focus model by aperture.  I miss this on most digital cameras and it does simplify street shooting.  Couple this with a nearly silent shutter release and it's really just brilliant.

The X1 is assembled from components in Germany by Leica.  So it's not some stuck together thing from somewhere with the Leica logo stuck on.

The big draw of the camera is the Elmarit 24/2.8 lens.  While some folks stroke out at the cost of the X1 ($2100 CDN at time of writing) this is still less than the 24/2.8 Elmarit for the M9.  So it's not the same piece of glass but it is, in my use, the sharpest and most accurate piece of glass on any compact or micro four thirds camera I have ever tried.  Since I work part time in a camera store, I get opportunity to try out lots of kit, and this lens is just marvelous.  I did specific comparisons with the 20mm lens on the Lumix GF-1 I have had for a while and there really is no comparison.  The Lumix lens is very good.  Until you compare it to the Leica.  The Leica's incredible tonal range and colour fidelity makes the otherwise very good Panasonic glass look like it came off the bottom of a Coke bottle.

In my use I have shot at a variety of ISO settings and am very impressed with the quality at high ISO settings.   The auto white balance is decent but not perfect, although under studio CFLs rated at 5500K, it performed very well and a corrected image made of the Colorchecker Passport was indistinguishable from the automatic setting.

One thing that is a niggling annoyance is that the camera can capture in Jpeg and Jpeg Fine, or add DNG images as well.  There is no option for DNG on its own, which takes up space unnecessarily for me as I make the habit to shoot everything in RAW.  Not a big deal.  When you register the camera with Leica, you get a download of Adobe Lightroom so handling the files is a piece of cake.  I particularly like Leica's decision to go with the open DNG format for its RAW storage.

The menu system should be seen by all other digital camera manufacturers, particularly, oh EVERY point and shoot vendor.  unlike the multicoloured, multilayered, designed by the psychotic menu systems found in other cameras, there is ONE layer to the X1 menu.  It is four screens long.  You simply scroll and then click.  Twice.  No more than that.  Brilliant.

Pros

Incredibile lens, great menu system, silent use, awesome add-on optical finder, innovative popup flash, tough construction

Cons

Expensive.

I give it five out of five.

Quick Look : Fujifilm X-S1

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I was lucky enough to see a detailed presentation on this new super zoom sub DSLR that got tacked on to a presentation on the X10, which as readers know, left me underwhelmed. The X-S1's numbers are pretty incredible and it has an enormous zoom range of 28-624mm on  a 2/3 inch Fujifilm EXR sensor.  The real test will be a hands-on but Fuji MIGHT be on track to rejuvenate the near dead super-zoom fixed lens mirror less marketplace.

Day in Review : Photoshop Power User's Tour Toronto with Dave Cross

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Yesterday was my first visit to one of the KelbyLive seminars and with a single exception it was superb.  I credit the Kelby team for keeping to the timeline, staying on track and delivering exactly what they committed to deliver.  Some felt that they did not get what they expected, however, rereading the ad after the fact, Mr. Cross in fact delivered the goods. He was interesting, his topics useful and he kept the day upbeat.  He took time to credit Adobe for great things and to knife them frequently for awkwardly named items and buttons and regularly chastised them for their intent to make features "discoverable".   I am no Photoshop expert, but I would not use the adjective "discoverable" either, finding "obtuse" and "concealed" far more accurate.  Those bits aside, it was reinforced that the product I have been a licensee of for years has much more depth than I have ever encountered.  As Mr. Cross pointed out, if one is self-taught on something new, one has an idiot for a teacher.  The number of topics covered was rich without being numbing and they weren't dumbed down to stuff quantity over quality.

Mr. Cross is both a consummate teacher and presenter.  The two don't always go together and the combination allows Mr. Cross to bond with his audience quickly.  There was always a lineup to ask questions on the breaks and to his credit, Mr. Cross answered clearly without rambling and was very clear when he did not know something, which to my observation only occurred when questions were raised about topics he forewarned he knew nothing about.

The audience was more heavily populated with design professionals over photographers in my observation.  Since I am a photographer with an acknowledged lack of design training, this concerned me at first but every topic was consumable by me, and only one, that of "Type" was not completely new.  I suspect that this was not consistent for all attendees, but feedback on the escalators heading out was unanimously positive.

The venue was a large room, but was still oversubscribed, with good temps, lighting and audio.  One guest complained to me that she could not hear Mr. Cross, but that was due to a severe case of "repeat what Dave said" or yell "yes" Turrets syndrome infecting the person sitting beside her.  Duct tape should be available to silence those who cannot shut up.

My only complaint is around the venue.  Kelby could have let everyone know which building of the Convention Centre the session was being held in.  This would have simplified entry and egress for those attendees who could not take public transit to attend.  In fact, as much as I enjoyed the session, I'm not sure I would attend another one if held at the Toronto Convention Centre.  Toronto roads are consistently plugged solid with traffic, road repair, illegal parking, horrible drivers, delivery trucks and the like.  My drive to the centre is 45 kilometres one way but it took 2 hours to get there in the morning and over 2.5 hours to get home at night.  I would also recommend starting at 0930 instead of 1000 and ending at 1630 instead of 1700 to ease some of the traffic pain.

Should you have opportunity to attend a KelbyLive session, I would heartily recommend it even given my limited sample.  Do be aware of any challenges to get to the venue and be very planful in that regard.  I suspect that they choose venues close to public transit but for out of towners, driving into a city core can be a major dampener on the day.

Firmware Update for Canon 5D Mk II Released V2.11

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Just got notified by Canon of a firmware update for the 5D Mk II moving from v2.09 to v2.11.  Usual best practice applies.  Download firmware and installation instructions from http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/eos_slr_camera_systems/eos_digital_slr_cameras/eos_5d_mark_ii#DriversAndSoftware

How to get great audio for your video projects

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As they used to say in the movies, "it's a trap!"  Getting good audio in your video projects shouldn't be that tough but it often is.  While many consumer and prosumer level cameras have external microphone inputs, they are often of dubious quality and only work with high impedance (short cable length and noisy) microphones.  Pro grade video cameras have balanced low impedance inputs of the XLR format allowing for long cable runs and superior noise control.  Fortunately there is a solution for the rest of us. Now I won't tell you this is a simple process, because it isn't, but it will give you great audio.  Do record audio with your video camera.  AND do record audio with a separate audio recorder.  For less than the price of a bolt on XLR input, low to high impedance, mic converter, you can get an amazing audio recorder and it is the Zoom H4N.

The Zoom H4N (pictured) is a brilliant piece of kit.  In addition to really excellent stereo microphones it also has two XLR mic inputs, as well as line input capability.  It has integrated meters and level controls.  It can mount on a tripod or on a mic stand.  The internal mics have excellent directional control and you can put a windscreen over the tops of the mics to reduce wind noise if needs be.  The unit can record in uncompressed WAV or compressed MP3 file formats and stores content on standard SDHC memory cards.

So here is a simple workflow that anyone can use.

1.  Set up your video camera as you wish, tripod or handheld

2.  Position the Zoom appropriately if using the built in mics, or if using external mics, plug them in and run them out to your sources (i.e. a "stand-up" style interviewer)

3.  Start the recorder and the video camera, synchronization is nice but not critical

4.  Use a clapper, or hand clap or other sharp noise to put a spike in the audio track for the Zoom and the video camera's audio track

5.  Complete your recording(s) as necessary

6.  Now import your footage to your computer as you normally would and copy the audio files from the Zoom's card to your computer as well

7.  Launch your movie editing software and import the content from your video camera onto a track/timeline/project whichever your software uses

8.  Import the audio track from the Zoom onto a separate track

9.  Now select the content from the video camera and separate the audio and video tracks.  This is a pretty common function in most all editing apps, so you can delete the audio, or add a voiceover or otherwise manipulate the audio

10.  View both your audio tracks as waveforms, and adjust them so the "spike" you recorded earlier is aligned.  You might have an editing tool that performs audio alignment automatically (Final Cut Pro X does this wonderfully), but if not the spike is very helpful.  If you can expand the waveform track to spread it out, this becomes much easier

11.  Once aligned, play the project, if your alignment is solid, you will hear only "one" audio track, not two, although it may sound a little thicker than the originals did due to small delay

12.  If the project looks right, meaning the lips are in sync with the audio, you are finished moving tracks in the timeline

13.  Mute the entire audio track that came from the video camera and play the project.  If you are happy with the outcome, delete the muted track to prevent it coming back by accident

14.  Link the audio and video tracks together and do your editing, cutting, rippling, adding titles, whatever you need to do

15.  You're done.  It's not like using a mixing desk and big screen editing decks, but it is a LOT better than using the built-in mics on the video camera or trying to get good audio out of crappy high impedance microphones plugged into the questionable audio stage of a consumer video camera.

Quick Look : Lumix DMC-TS3

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I've had a few people ask me about beach friendly cameras, or ski friendly cameras or water friendly cameras over the last couple of weeks. After a couple of questions I determine that they are really talking about water and shock resistant point and shoots and not a proper underwater camera like a Nikonos. (this is where those who think I am dissing non-Nikonos users send me hate mail or rude comments). I have taking the time to look at many that are available now and while I wont name the ones I dont like, I will name one that I think pretty highly of and that is the DMC-TS3 from Lumix (Panasonic).

Despite my distaste for silly naming conventions, I will refer to the camera as the TS3.

Since the lens is the most important part of the camera to me, I want to start by praising the DC VARIO ELMAR and if sounds like a Leica lens, it is. Its a 28mm equivalent lens so a decent wide angle field of view with aspherical elements. The lens offers 4.6x of optical zoom. It also has digital zoom but friends dont let friends use digital zoom.  

Rated at 12.1 megapixels, the camera produces sharp images that enlarge well without a lot of pixelation. Low light performance is decent and the full HD video is very good. The built in flash is like most point and shoots, good for closer distances with that DMV license look, lousy for distance.

The camera has a built in GPS. You can actually see your location on the back screen in addition to geotagging your photos. GPS is a love or hate thing with most people but I like the geotagging capability.

Overall the fit and finish is really nice without a plasticky feel. The camera is readily available in orange, red and blue. Compared to the other water/shock protected cameras in the price range, I like the Lumix a lot more.

4 stars out of 5.

iPhone : Great panoramas with Microsoft Photosynth

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 Photosynth has been around for a while, as a sort of skunkworks project from some really clever folks at Microsoft.  Photosynth on the PC allows you to do some pretty cool photo tricks and the app has been enhanced to facilitate posting images to Bing as a sort of share your work scenario.  Those are not the things that excited me however.  What is wicked cool is how simple the iPhone app makes the creation of panoramas. Now certainly you can create panoramas with your DSLR both manually or with a glut of obscenely expensive tools.  You could also go with the Gigapan system that programmatically uses servos and information you program in to create incredible panoramic images.  (I like the tech, but not the perpetual license to use your images).

But as I am prone to say, perhaps at the risk of babble, "the best camera is the one you have with you", and I, like many of you, always have my iPhone and with the 4S, the camera is pretty decent.  Photosynth for iPhone does many things but most importantly it makes creating panoramas scary simple.

Launch the app and you follow the process to capture images and then stitch them together.  There are tips sites as well but I found the app so simple and so powerful that I am doing panoramas a lot, certainly not all good, but lots because it is so simple and fun.  Putting the 4S in one of the little cases with a tripod mount and you are set to make some pretty darn nice images.  At the time of this posting, Photosynth is free.  If you have an iPhone, have ever fired up the camera and would like to try making panoramas without getting a solid headache or spending a fortune on added kit, get this app.

5 out of 5