News – Page 3 – Appotography

AstroClip: iPhone 4’s Best Stargazing Friend

How many committed stargazers are there? Among those, there are also many iPhone users with a passion for photography. If you are into both astronomy and iPhone photography, an ongoing project on Kickstarter will perhaps interest you: AstroClip will help you taking photographs of the starry sky directly on your iPhone 4.

AstroClip is a special iPhone 4 mount to fit all telescopes with a 1.25″ wide eyepiece — which is to say, most telescopes, since 1.25″ is the most popular size for eyepiece barrels. The body of the mount, in black or white color, is made of rigid plastic material and features three screws to allow perfect fit to the telescope’s eyepiece. AstroClip is minimally designed and sturdy enough to keep the iPhone steady while taking photos at night. Using AstroClip, you won’t need other camera equipment to take photos of the moon with your telescope (it goes without saying: you have to have a telescope to use AstroClip).

With a pledge of $25 or more, the project backers will get an AstroClip mount in the color of their choice, while by pledging $40 or more they will get a limited Kickstarter edition AstroClip in red color and a T-Shirt. For higher pledges, there are more extras available.

The goal is to raise $15,000 by September 3, 2011. The funds will be used to start the production, which will employ quality injection molding. Matthew Geyster, the project starter, points out that AstroClip will be entirely manufactured in the US. For now, AstroClip is only designed to work with iPhone 4. However, if pledging will be successful, it’s likely AstroClip’s compatibility will be extended also to upcoming iPhone models.

If you want to know more on AstroClip, please visit the project’s page on Kickstarter.

Appotography in Top 10 iPhoneography Blogs!

Top 10 iPhoneography Blogs on Blogs.com Great news everybody! Appotography was included in Blogs.com’s “Top 10 iPhone Photo (iPhoneography) Blogs”!

Although Appotography is a relatively new voice in the world of iPhone photography on the web, this sign of appreciation gives us great encouragement. We hope to improve further our online service and to keep on delivering good quality content. In the same way, we hope that users will keep on supporting us, by interacting with us or by simply reading what we have to say.

We have a sincere passion for this new and very often overlooked form of photographic expression and we are sure all our readers share the same feelings about it.

The staff at Appotography.com would like to thank Blogs.com for the special recognition. A sincere thanks goes also to all the readers, to commenters and app developers that, even when only occasionally, stopped by and took the time to read, either just out of curiosity or to offer precious feedback.

Coming Soon: iPhone 4 SRL Mount

iPhone’s camera popularity has been on the rise for quite some time. It’s recent news that currently iPhone 4 is ruling Flickr’s top camera rankings for number of total uploads. If you ask iPhone photographers what’s so special in their camera of choice, each and any of them will give you different answers. Among the most appreciated qualities in Apple’s smartphone, ease of use and often unforeseen creative possibilities will be listed as some of the most frequent.

In spite of all the great apps and effects available today, what prevents some users from truly enjoying iPhone’s camera features is the lack of control over fundamental aspects of photography, first of all focus — although a few photographers will affirm these limitations are part of the charm of the medium. It is now possible to make up for iPhone’s deficiency thanks to the SRL mount, a simple device to attach SRL lenses to the iPhone’s body to power up mobile picture taking.

Looking at SRL mount’s pre-release images, you will see that it is basically an aluminum case equipped with lens adapter and two tripod mounts (one for vertical and anther for horizontal positioning). Other than that, the case conveniently features an UV filter and two strap loops for better portability. The SRL mount will work both with Nikon SLR and Canon EOS (not compatible with Canon EF-S and FD) lenses. The adapter will support most lenses, from telephoto to wide angle and macro, and it will grant iPhone users similar control over depth of field of DSRL cameras. However, the case will only be compatible with iPhone 4‘s body.

SRL mount case for iPhone 4
Must-have or not? Well, this of course depends on what are your requirements and what kind of photographer you are. Among aspects to take into account, the fact the SRL mount will give users control over manual focus, but it won’t allow autofocus. Also, given the absence of mirror within the adapter, photos taken with it will appear upside down. Finally, assuming many photographers like iPhone also and especially for its excellent accessibility and hassle-free approach in comparison to DSRL cameras, the SRL mount will be more of a gimmick than an essential accessory.

The SRL mount for iPhone 4 will be released in mid-August and it will be available for $249 through Photojojo website.

FX Photo Studio 4.0 Sneak Peek

FX Photo Studio MacPhun FX Photo Studio 4.0 is about to be released in the App Store. The forthcoming update promises to be extremely interesting, as MacPhun released a few details about the new features of their popular photo editing iPhone application (Mac and iPad versions soon to follow).

What will you find in version 4.0?

Masking Studio – Probably the biggest new feature in FX Photo Studio 4.0, Masking Studio will change the way you use FX Photo Studio.
New effects – With version 4.0, FX Photo Studio will reach the impressive total of 194 effects! New effects were developed in collaboration with pro photographers.
New sharing options – More freedom and options in the way you can enjoy your photos out of your iDevice.

If you want a taste of what you will be able to achieve, here is a preview (images courtesy of Alexander Tsepko).

FX Photo Studio 4.0 MacPhun

We will posting our impressions on the new FX Photo Studio as soon as it becomes available, so stay tuned!

Hipstamatic RetroWeekend: RetroPak Available Now!

For those who have missed the opportunity, Hipstamatic has a cool ongoing offer not to be missed:

all limited edition HipstaPaks released so far are available for download from the HipstaMart as a special bundle!

RetroPak one includes the following items:

Dreamcanvas film;
Melodie lens;
Salvador 84 lens;
Tejas lens.

Hipstamatic Retropak One

You can get the RetroPak with three lenses and a film for $1.99 (£1.19/€1.59). The offer will be valid through the week-end and it will end on Sunday at midnight (Pacific Time)!

iShuttr: Turn Your iPhone 4 Into A Point-And-Shoot Camera

Choosing the right camera case is not as simple as it seems. Some cases put the accent on stylish and fashionable looks; some others on protection and comfort: deciding what are your priorities can be tough.

Differently from most other cases, iShuttr‘s purpose is not only protecting your iPhone. iShuttr is a sleek camera case for iPhone 4, designed to turn your iDevice into a point-and-shoot camera, for more control and easier use. The project is under development and currently open for funding on Kickstarter. Although at the moment iShuttr is an iPhone 4 exclusive, there are plans to bring it also to iPhone 5 and Android models.

The ergonomic shape of iShuttr’s plastic body can be held or mounted on any standard 1/4-20″ threading tripod. iShuttr has embedded firing flash on its back side, powered by external battery system. Relying on external battery permits better management of power: preserving battery life is a critical issue for iPhone camera users. The case features also zoom in/out buttons, making more convenient to use entirely external commands, instead of the touch screen.

Given the possibilities of the upcoming iOS 5, it’s in the intention of the developers to make use of the new features to the advantage of iShuttr camera case.

The goal is to hit $50,000 by August 14. The fundraising will help developers to acquire all the needed components and the MFi test kits for building the final prototypes that will be presented to Apple for approval. The retail price for iShuttr camera case will be $69.99. With a pledge of $50 or more, you will receive the iShuttr camera case at a special price. If you pledge $100 or more, you will get two iShuttr camera cases, mini tripod and a few more extras.

If iShuttr tickles your curiosity, please take a look at the project’s page on Kickstarter for more information.

iOS 5 Adds New Camera and Photos Features

During the WWDC 2011 keynote, among the new features of iOS 5, Apple unveiled some important improvements to the Camera and Photos apps, some of which should hopefully extend to iOS developers.

Camera App Improvements

First of all, in the Camera app included in iOS devices, the volume button will now double as a shutter button; many of you will remember that Camera+ was temporarily removed from the App Store because developers had included this feature as a great Easter egg, loved by all users of the app. Hopefully, the volume/shutter button will be accessible also to app developers – after all, they were the first to implement it.

Apple also addressed the concern many iPhone and iPod photographers have with the time it takes to access the camera from a device in locked status; for this reason, Camera will get a shortcut from the lock screen for quicker access. It would be great if this feature were accessible also to other photography apps, with users being able to map their favorites to the lock screen, but we have no information pointing to this. Other improvements to the Camera app will be support for pinch-to-zoom gestures, single-tap focus and exposure locks.

Photos App Improvements

Editing capabilities, as crop, rotate, enhance, and red-eye reduction, will be included in the Photos app. Users will be able to organize photos in albums, push photos to all iOS devices using Apple’s new iCloud service, and post them to Twitter’s new picture hosting service.

iOS 5 will be available this fall for iPhone 3GS and 4, the third and fourth-generation iPod touch, and all iPads. iOS developers are already able to download iOS 5 from the developer area, but an NDA agreement theoretically prohibits them from unveiling their experience with the new operating system.

Get lo-mob for iPhone At 50% Off

Lo-mob for iPhone is on sale. You can get it now at $0.99 (€0.79/£0.59): 50% off the regular price!

Lo-mob is a photo app packed with many retro and lo-fi filters, from slides to instant emulsions and to 35 mm to TtV effects.

Lo-mob iPhone — Different effects in lo-mob for iPhone.

Lo-mob features some of the most unique effects available in the App Store. If you want to know more in detail about it, read our full review.

Silent Film Director Free For 1 Day!

To celebrate the birthday of Marilyn Monroe, one of the most beloved and widely recognized icons in the history of cinema, MacPhun has a very special present for iPhone users:

Silent Film Director will be totally free for one day in the App Store! If you haven’t tried the vintage video making app yet (you can read our review of Silent Film Director by clicking here), this is an occasion not to be missed!

Silent Film Director Free!

You will be able to get Silent Film Director for free only tomorrow, June 1, 2011!

FX Photo Studio On Sale!

FX Photo Studio, both the iPhone and iPod Touch and the HD version for iPad, is now on sale: get one of the most popular editing tools available in the App Store at a special price!

With FX Photo Studio you get: a rich collection of filters; easy-to-use photo editing tools; full built-in support for sharing your photos on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and Tumblr.

50% off iPhone/iPod Touch version – £0.59||$0.99||€0.79

30% off iPad version – £1.19||$1.99||€1.59

The offer will be valid throughout the weekend, so check it out!