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Instant cameras are a great way to capture tangible reminders of the memorable moments in your life. They are perfect for parties, road trips, picnics, and more. With just a click of the shutter button, you can have a physical photograph in your hands. So, if you are ready to dive into the world of instant cameras, you'll be happy to know there are quite a few options.
The best Magic Eraser alternatives
Bid goodbye to photobombers even if you don't own Google's flagship
The AI-packed Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro prove that the company always has a few software tricks for every new smartphone generation it releases. Some of these features have been fantastic. Remember the once-exclusive Magic Eraser introduced with the Pixel 6 series?
Best phones for ultrawide photography in 2024
Looking for a phone that handles excellent ultrawide shots?
You can now find ultrawide cameras on all kinds of smartphones. These extra-large rear cameras snap to an enormous field of view and capture unique looks at landscapes. Ultrawides bring in more surrounding detail. They also give photos a magnified look that can be corrected via editing and modes or used as a stylistic choice on your latest nature hike.
Remember screen bezels on your smartphone? Yuck! How disgustingly ugly. Sure, they may have been a handy place to rest fingers when watching a film or playing a game landscape, and for popping cameras and sensors out the way of the display, but aesthetically, just terrible. Thank goodness we’re now in an age where we get nothing but screen stretched across the front of our phones. You’d have to be really stuck in the past if chunky bezels were still part of your core design language (*cough* iPhone SE 2022 *cough*).
What is a periscope camera and how does it work?
From the Pixel 7 to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, this might be the next big thing in mobile photography
Ever since the first camera was put in a mobile phone, manufacturers have been in a perpetual arms race to include the best camera system on their devices. This has been great for consumers when almost every phone available today can take decent photos (especially compared to the 1MP cameras we had in the early days). The cutting edge of mobile photography mostly lies on the computational side of things, but one hardware advance, in particular, is changing what we can do with our smartphone camera and how we use it: the periscope camera. Let's explore what this camera is all about.
Why the periscope zoom lens is more controversial than any other smartphone camera feature
Are periscope telephoto cameras a waste of resources, or a stepping stone to something great?
Last week, we learned that next year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra might drop the 10x telephoto setup Samsung’s used in its past few Ultra flagships in favor of a more restrained 5x option, much like what’s on offer in the new iPhone 15 Pro Max. It got us here at Android Police talking about super telephoto lenses in phones — and two of us in particular aren’t seeing eye to eye about it. Here, we discuss.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra rumors zoom in on specifics for upgraded camera hardware
Samsung may update the Galaxy S23's 10MP f/2.4 3x zoom camera for the next generation
Samsung has sustained buzz around its foldables, but now that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 have been revealed, anticipation is growing for the Galaxy S24 line. Although a release window has yet to be announced, Samsung is expected to launch the phones in late January or early February of next year. Right now we're hearing a little about what hardware changes to expect, with a new rumor claiming the Galaxy S24 Ultra will feature both an upgraded screen, and a camera with enhanced zoom quality.
DJI's Osmo Action 4 features a brand new GPS remote, but you'll have to pay extra
Brings a larger camera sensor and enhanced waterproofing
Following hot on the heels of last week’s announcement for the new Air 3 photography drone, DJI is back with another late summer release. This time it’s an update to the action camera line with the new Osmo Action 4, featuring an upgraded camera sensor, improved water sealing, and even some interesting new accessories.
The technological foundation of mobile photography
From polished glass to integrated circuits in only 2,000 years
Smartphone cameras have evolved significantly in the last few years. It has come to a point where smartphones compete with point-and-shoot cameras and even entry-level DSLRs. Every bit of camera technology we use on our phones stands on the shoulders of prior insights and discoveries. Allow us to take you back to the game-changing moments in smartphone photography.
To find out what the issue is with camera apps on Android phones, we don't need to look any further than camera brand Moment. In 2020, Moment abandoned its Android camera app. At the time, co-founder Marc Barros wrote in an email to users that the company lacked the "engineering bandwidth" to keep up with an ever-growing selection of Android devices, each with different camera nuances and software requirements. Moment decided to shutter development for the Android version and focus exclusively on iOS to save resources.
Understanding camera specs: Resolution, pixel size, aperture, and more
Puzzled by the way phone makers talk about their camera hardware? We've got you covered
Mobile photography is incredibly simple compared to traditional photography. Phone cameras make for a self-contained, point-and-shoot experience, freeing us from needing to understand the myriad functions, settings, buttons, and dials in dedicated camera hardware. But understanding a phone's camera specs isn't always straightforward (what does μm mean, anyway?).
The 7 best Google Pixel 7 Pro camera tips
Google's flagship phone has a few camera tricks up its sleeve
The Google Pixel 7 Pro tops our list of the best Android phones, partly due to its phenomenal camera. While it offers a wealth of powerful tricks, the camera should be your focus. However, it's hard to use the camera on the Google Pixel 7 Pro effectively if you're unfamiliar with its features. This guide walks you through the essential tips for taking phenomenal phones with its camera.
Cameras are complex instruments with complicated components that work in concert to create an image. Even though these components (and their specifications) play a critical role in determining the ultimate quality of an image, the only tech spec that gets any lip service in marketing literature is the megapixel count.
Why your Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra's 108MP camera takes 12MP photos
Plus how to take full-resolution shots — and why you probably shouldn't bother
Megapixel counts on Samsung's best phones have ballooned into the hundreds, with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra sporting a 200-megapixel primary camera. By default, though, that phone takes 12.5-megapixel photos, much the same way the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra defaults to 12-megapixel shots. But why is that? What's the point of all those megapixels if the cameras still kick out average-size pictures?
Your Android phone can take some fantastic photos, but you'll need to understand basic editing techniques to make the most out of it. Once you've learned the basics of taking better pictures on your Android phone, you're ready to start your editing journey.
Smartphone camera hardware is getting interesting. From the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra's 200-megapixel primary camera to the Xioami 13 Ultra, which sports a variable aperture over a one-inch sensor, it's an exciting time to be a mobile photography geek. But even in the best Android phones, computing power and software prowess play as big a role in getting great photos from our pocket-size cameras as hardware does. Smartphones employ what's called computational photography to compensate for their comparatively meager hardware. What most phone cameras lack in brawn compared to dedicated camera hardware, they make up for with clever computing.
How to remove backgrounds from your photos
Create professional product shots and profile pictures in a minute
Removing the background from your photos has never been easier, thanks to ample photo editing, graphic design, and web tools. Whether you want to create clean product shots or stunning header pictures for your posts and websites, use one of the methods below to get desired results in no time. The mentioned apps and services are available on iPhone, Android, the top Chromebooks, and the web.
Battle of the cameras: How the Xiaomi 13 Ultra stacks up to the competition
With so many flagship smartphones offering such great-sounding camera hardware, how does it all compare?
There's no denying that camera-equipped phones have changed the way we approach casual photography. The top-notch imaging hardware on the best Android smartphones has helped catalyze the demise of point-and-shoot cameras with their dual-purpose appeal and portability. Modern flagships including the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, developed in collaboration with camera brands like Leica and Hasselblad, continue blurring any remaining distinction between product segments. Today, we're checking out four modern camera-first phones — the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Xiaomi 13 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and Oppo Find X6 Pro — looking at what they're capable of, and thinking about how well they can replace a stand-alone camera.
Over the past 20 years, photography has become an integral part of smartphone technology. And thanks to the ubiquity of top-of-the-line Android phones and their cameras, photo-sharing sites are some of the most popular on the internet. But sometimes you want to take a photo that's larger than the typical 3:2 ratio (sometimes you need a Samsung S23 Ultra with 200MP). Sometimes the subject of your photo demands that you break the bonds of tradition and overthrow the tyranny of a fixed aspect ratio. Sometimes you need a panorama.
Qualcomm partnership teases smart camera sensors that would make blurry shots a thing of the past
Hardware and software coming together in an inventive way to end motion blur
Mobile photography today is a far cry from what it was even 10 years ago, and constant innovation ensures photos continue creeping closer to what the naked eye perceives. Although core camera hardware hasn’t changed, we have seen innovative new creations like periscope lenses employed to shrink otherwise-massive hardware into a pocketable form factor. However, hardware is only part of the picture. At MWC 2023, Qualcomm unveiled plans to collaborate with a French company called Prophesee and take smartphone imaging to the next level with a novel hardware-software implementation.