smartphone

A Smartphone Tripod Adapter That Doesn't Suck: MeFoto Sidekick 360 Review

in , ,

Today I'm doing a quick review on the MeFoto Sidekick 360, which I just stumbled on in Samy's Camera in San Francisco. Doing a lot of smartphone photography content lately, using a cheap smartphone adapter has just been a pain: they're impossible to level on a Gorillapod, not usable in portrait orientation, and are just poorly built.

The Sidekick 360 makes setup and leveling a breeze and its Arca Swiss compatible base means you don't even need a tripod plate to use it - no fiddling with screws! Watch the video above for more info.

The MeFoto Sidekick 360 retails for $30 and the larger Sidekick 360 Plus retails for $35. For buyers from the Philippines, find it on Lazada here (affiliate link).

Shooting the Milky Way With a Mobile Phone: Testing Long Exposures on the Asus Zenfone 3

in , ,
Shooting the Milky Way With a Mobile Phone: Testing Long Exposures on the Asus Zenfone 3

Just back from Batanes as part of a large group of bloggers and other media people who were there to try out the photography features of the Asus Zenfone 3 line of mobile phones, courtesy of Asus Philippines. I was there mainly as a resource person on shooting the Milky Way, and I was intrigued about the possibility of pulling off Milky Way shots using a mobile phone. How did it turn out? Find out by watching the video above and seeing the final images below!

One of the headline features of the Asus Zenfone 3's camera is its built-in manual mode that allows you to go all the way to ISO 3200 and do long exposures of up to 32 seconds. (For comparison, using the $3.99 645 Pro app on my iPhone 6, I get up to ISO 2000 and a 1/2 second exposure at most, on f2.2.) Combined with its large aperture f/2.0 Largan lens, this would theoretically add up to the standard exposure settings for a wide angle Milky Way shot. For this post, I'm focusing exclusively on shooting the night sky and the Milky Way, saving my overall thoughts on the photography and video features of the Zenfone 3 for a post in the coming week.

Read More