NEWS – Camera and photography buffs will find the Jollylook Mini Camera interesting if only for the way it looks and what it’s made of. It looks like an old-timey box camera from decades gone by, but it’s made of cardboard and it can be used with Fuji Instax mini film.
Just load in the film cassette, open the lid, pull out the bellows, to set the focal length, set the aperture, and snap the pic. Then you use the crank to eject the photo which will “develop” in front of your eyes. Check out this quick video which shows the whole process.
Looks fun right? You can buy one for $69 from jollylook.photo where you can also find accessories for the camera like a strap, filters, tripod attachment plate, and more.
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When Huawei announced its P30 and P30 Pro models, the latest of its photography-focused series of phones, the time-of-flight camera carried the day. You’ve probably noticed this bit of hardware on more smartphones recently, and the trend isn’t about to stop there any time soon. But what is a time-of-flight camera, and how does it work? Related: Does a Phone’s Multiple-Lenses Camera Take Better Photos? What Is a Time-of-flight Camera? A Time-of-flight (ToF) camera is a standard feature appearing on several recently released smartphones. ToF cameras use the speed of light instead of sound to detect things and measure distances, ultimately creating sharper photos…. Read more
A great feature available in the recent versions of macOS is Continuity Camera. While working on a Mac, it allows you to take a photo using your iPhone’s camera and directly import it to your Mac. Essentially, it eliminates the hassle of taking a separate photo, then using Airdrop to transfer it to your Mac. Continuity Camera makes performing this task easy, and it integrates directly into your workflow, snapping the image right from an application or the Finder itself with an immediate import. This article will show you how to use Continuity Camera on your Mac and iPhone/iPad. Note: To use Continuity Camera, your… Read more
REVIEW – I used to use a GoPro camera for some of my video work a few years ago, but I got rid of it a while ago. I wanted to get back to using an inexpensive action camera, so I figured I would give this Toplex Action Camera T101 a try.
What is it?
The Toplex Action Camera T101 is a 4k capable action camera that includes a 2″ display, Panasonic Sensor, WiFi, a 170-degree lens, and image stabilization. It also has the ability to be controlled via a smartphone app.
Modes: Video, video and snap, photo, loop video (driving mode), time-lapse video, time-lapse photo, slow motion.
Design and features
The Toplex Action Camera T101 has a fairly good feature set. There are multiple video and photo modes.
The video modes include the following:
Standard video recording at 4k/30fps, 2.7k/60fps, 1440p/60fps, 1080p/60fps, 1080p/30fps.
Loop recording in 5, 10, or 25 minute loops
Video + Snap records video and captures photos at intervals of 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes.
Time Lapse creates a video from frames captured at intervals of .5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds.
Slow motion video recording at 720p/120fps.
The photo modes include the following:
Standard photos at 5, 8, 12, AND 16mp (4608×3456).
Lapse takes photos at intervals of 1, 3, 5, 10 or 30 seconds.
Timer mode captures a photo continuously at a set time interval of .5 seconds, 1 second, 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes.
Burst mode will take a series of photos at a set time interval. The options include 3 photos in 1 second, 5 photos in 1 second, 10 photos in 1 second, 15 photos in 1 second, 20 photos in 2 seconds, 30 photos in 2 seconds, and 30 photos in 3 seconds.
There are some standard settings like being able to choose the starting mode so that the camera will start in whatever mode you want, like video, loop recording (for use as a dash cam), time lapse, etc.
The camera app allows easy preview and settings access to the camera. I found the app easy to use, in fact a little easier to use than the interface on the camera itself.
The camera app did fail to download a video. The first time it stated “Failed”, the second and third time it seemed to complete without error but I could not locate the video anywhere in the iPhone Photos app.
One thing that is really nice is the size:
Here’s the problem
I was extremely disappointed in the video quality with this device. There are obvious artifacts in the video, in multiple formats. I tried multiple settings such as NTSC/PAL, 50htz/60htz, and various size formats, and they all seem to have the same dots and lines. The dots and lines varied in their positions, so I’m guessing it’s a signal processing flaw.
For example, here’s a screen capture from a 1080p time-lapse I took:
A close up of the image artifacts:
Here’s a screen capture from a 1080p video:
Here’s a partial screen from a 4k video:
There’s also a serious magenta color cast to the video.
1080p Video Time-lapse:
4K Video Sample:
What I like
Included two batteries
Included many accessories
Included waterproof case
Included nice semi-hard case
Smartphone app
What needs to be improved
Video quality
Addition of a Touch Screen
App did not download videos to my phone
Final thoughts
The video from this camera is so poor that I would not consider it for anything other than using this camera as a dash cam, or a security/body camera – but even then, not at this price. This is not something you would want for creating YouTube videos, or any video where you want some quality to the video. However, if you output the 4k video at 1080p or smaller, the dots and lines are reduced to an almost unnoticeable level. That might be something I could tolerate with a $40 action cam, but not a $100 one.
Price: $99.99 Where to buy: Amazon Source: The sample of this product was provided by Toplex.
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REVIEW – I take a LOT of pictures with my smartphone and I like to print some of them to put in my journal to help me remember things that have happened. Small photo printers are cool, but they require an app and have batteries that have to be charged. Is there an easier way to print your favorite pics? Tomy things so with their KiiPix Smartphone Picture Printer. Let’s check it out.
What is it?
The Tomy KiiPix Smartphone Picture Printer is actually a modern take on the iconic Polaroid cameras of the 70’s and 80’s.
What’s in the box?
KiiPix Smartphone Picture Printer
Instructions
*Fujifilm Instax mini film cartridge is NOT included
Design and features
The KiiPix device is made of white and black plastic and features a film ejection dial on one side that is used to advance and eject each print.
The prints eject from the side of the unit.
On the bottom of the KiiPix, you’ll find the printer paper compartment and the print count indicator.
The paper compartment opens to reveal the camera lens. That’s right, this isn’t really a photo printer, it’s actually an instant camera.
To use it, you’ll have to load a cartridge of Fujifilm Instax mini film into the bottom of the KiiPix.
Each Fujifilm cartridge has 10 films inside.
The film cartridge easily snaps in place and the door secures shut with a click.
The next step is to unfold/open the KiiPix by lifting the two “wings”. You will then see a white plastic frame.
The frame lifts out of the camera and is placed over the two wings to create a platform.
The frame is designed so that your iPhone or Android phone’s display rests over the opening so that the camera below it can take a photo of the phone’s screen.
To line up the photo, you need to have it displayed on the phone and then stick the frame (it has sticky strips on the edges to the display.
There’s also a tiny mirror that you can use to line up the image.
I tested the KiiPix with my Pixel 2 XL. Note that you don’t have to pair the KiiPix with your phone or load a special app. All you have to do is display the image on the phone’s screen that you want to print. The KiiPix will then take a picture of the image on the phone’s display when you press the shutter button on the side of KiiPix.
The first time you use the KiiPix, you have to rotate the film ejection dial until the first sheet is ejected.
Then you can take an actual picture and it will eject from the KiiPix when you turn the dial.
The 3.4 inch x 2.1 inch print comes out black, but the image will become visible within a few seconds.
Within about 90 seconds – 2 minutes, the 2.4 inch x 1.8 inch image will be fully visible. Check out the video below that shows the film developing over time.
The resulting photo quality was a mixed bag. My first image can be seen above and in the video had strange black arcs on the side and the whole print got much darker as time went by. Here are some more prints that I made.
My first two images were really dark, and then I read that you’re supposed to turn the phone’s brightness to the max. But even then, I still felt like the images were darker than I would like. I also ran into issues where I accidentally pressed the shutter button twice. Can you see which image that was? Yes, it’s the one with double flowers. That’s actually a cool “feature” that can allow you to make some creative photos by having double exposures. Then there’s the issue of the screen rotating when you don’t want it too like the selfie at 9 o’clock where you can see black bars on the side. That image is supposed to be oriented the other way…
What I like
No cables, no Bluetooth, no batteries
Doesn’t require an app
What needs to be improved
Doesn’t come with a Fujifilm Instax Mini print pack
Print quality isn’t very impressive
Final thoughts
The KiiPix has a few things going for it when compared to the more expensive small photo printers like my favorite HP Sprocket. First of all, the KiiPix costs about $90 less than the HP Sprocket. The KiiPix also doesn’t need to be charged, paired, or used with an app. But both printers require that you buy film/photo packs. I like the Zink prints from photo printers like the HP Sprocket better than the Fujifilm Instax Mini prints because the Zink prints have peel and stick backs which make it much easier to put the photos in a journal. The Fujifilm prints are also thicker and have a large white frame around them instead of the image being edge to edge like the Zink prints.
But when it comes right down to it. I prefer the smaller HP Sprocket style printer because I don’t have to line up the camera on top of the printer itself and the print results are much better and don’t depend on how bright the screen. In my opinion, the Tomy KiiPix Smartphone Picture Printer is more of a toy than a photo printer. Yes, it prints photos, but the results won’t impress.
Price: $39.99 Where to buy: Amazon Source: The sample for this review was provided by Tomy.
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