Latest Photo & Video Opinion

  • 22 January 2013

  • Opinion: How to fix jerky YouTube video in Google Chrome

    Lately I've noticed that whenever I play a YouTube video on my PC, it's jerky. Choppy. Call it what you will--it's really frustrating.

  • 12 January 2013

  • Opinion: Television ancestors

    If you've watched all the modern TV there is to see, maybe it's time to take a look at some of the shows that inspired your favorite television. This week we look back at some of the shows that inspired the modern TV landscape and some of the programs where your favorite stars and creators got their breaks.

  • 30 October 2012

  • Opinion: Can Skype really take the place of a face-to-face meeting?

    It's the ultimate business hack: Instead of traveling to meet with a client, a design team, or anyone else you need to see face-to-face, you stay put and set up a video call instead. The technology is there--Skype, WebEx, etc.--and it can save you considerable time and money.

  • 09 October 2012

  • Opinion: How to organize, showcase, and share your out-of-control photo collection

    I’ve amassed more than 30,000 digital photos over the years. I shot most of them; others I scanned from prints gleaned from photo albums and family archives. I’d wager that 95 percent of them are junk—poorly composed, badly lit, over- or underexposed, people with their eyes closed, you name it.

  • 28 September 2012

  • Opinion: The Week in iOS Apps: Albert Einstein's brain

    This week’s roundup of iOS apps is all about the multimedia entertainment: We’ve got video, we’ve got music, we’ve got games, and we’ve got the brain of Albert Einstein.

  • 07 September 2012

  • Opinion: Ask the iTunes Guy: Manipulating files

    [Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there’s something you’d like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]

  • 05 September 2012

  • Opinion: DVDFab Media Player worth a try for Blu-ray fans

    Few Blu-ray movie players are on the market because of the royalties for the technologies involved, but there are some. DVDFab has joined the PowerDVDs and WinDVDs of the world with its own player, aptly titled DVDFab Media Player ($50, 30-day free trial with feature limitations).

  • 03 September 2012

  • Opinion: Three Painless Ways to Get Photos Off Your iPhone

    They say that the best camera is the one you have with you. By that measure, smartphones are the best cameras around. As I've previously reported, iPhones are the number one camera used to upload photos to Flickr, and I can attest to the fact that it fits in my pocket better than my Nikon D7000. In the past, I've given you some advice on how to take better smartphone photos, which is great, but the most vexing part of using the iPhone is getting photos onto your PC. Rather than emailing photos back to your PC all the time, try one of these three handy ways to automate the process.

  • 24 August 2012

  • Opinion: Ask the iTunes Guy: iTunes tips 101

    [Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there’s something you’d like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]

  • 23 August 2012

  • Opinion: Organize Your Photos

    Taleh asked the Digital Cameras & Camcorders forum to recommend a good photo organizer.

  • 20 August 2012

  • Opinion: Take a Great Photo Every Time: A Preflight Checklist

    They say the bumpiest part of any flight is when the human pilot turns off the autopilot and takes over the controls. Photography is similar: Your camera is generally a lot more knowledgeable about exposure controls than you are, and under typical conditions, it'll take better photos than if you tried adjusting the settings yourself. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely recommend taking control of your camera to shoot better photos. But when you fiddle with your camera, that's when you can accidentally adjust settings incorrectly, leading to a ruined photo. This week: My preflight checklist of things to double-check to make sure your camera is set back to its "default" state for error-free photography.

  • 16 August 2012

  • Opinion: This Raspberry Pi Camera Grip Turns Your DSLR Into a Smart Camera

    DSLRs are basically made to only do one thing very well, and that's taking photos. Beyond that, though, it's pretty much useless for editing those photos or sharing them until you get to a computer.

  • 10 August 2012

  • Opinion: Ask the iTunes Guy: Converting music files

    [Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there’s something you’d like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]

  • 07 August 2012

  • Opinion: Curiosity Sends Back its First Color Image of Mars From its 17-Camera Arsenal

    Even though it just landed this past weekend, the Curiosity rover is already hard at work. On Tuesday, NASA received its first color image from the car-sized rover of the surrounding Gale Crater, where it will begin its scientific mission to find evidence of water and life forms on Mars.

  • 05 August 2012

  • Opinion: This is Now Shows Real-Time Instagram Uploads

    Instagram's more than 50 million users know the mobile app is fun to use because its filters and frames give plain old photos pizzazz. Not only that, but its social features let you share your snapshots with friends and keep up with the images others are posting, just by opening the app on your smartphone.

  • 30 July 2012

  • Opinion: Improve Black-and-White Photos, Obtain Ideal Scanner Settings, and More

    Have a question about digital photography? Send it to me. I reply to as many as I can—though given the quantity of email that I receive, I can’t promise a personal reply to each one. I round up the most interesting questions about once a month here in Digital Focus.

  • 26 July 2012

  • Opinion: You'll Never Lose This Automatic Camera Lens Cap

    One of the biggest disadvantages to using a big, honking DSLR is that you constantly have to take off that lens cap. What makes it worse is that you're exponentially inclined to lose it every time you slip it into your back pocket, throw it into your bag, or pop it into your mouth to hold it.

  • 23 July 2012

  • Opinion: 5 Things You Need to Know About Cropping

    When I was about 15 years old and a fledgling "serious" photographer, I wanted to enlarge and crop one of my photos in a particular way. Unfortunately, in 1979 it was all but impossible to edit a photo unless you had your own darkroom and printing equipment. Fast-forward about 30 years, though, and photo editing is child's play. Cropping is an essential photo skill--for example, most of the monthly Hot Pic photo contest winners are cropped, to improve on the original composition. But have you ever taken the time to learn the Crop tool's secrets? This week, I have five things you should know about this unassuming little tool.

  • 20 July 2012

  • Opinion: Amazon Prime Instant Video Grows Again, Still No Match for Netflix

    Amazon today announced a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution that will bring more TV shows, including episodes of Fringe and The West Wing, to its Prime Instant Video catalog.

  • 18 July 2012

  • Opinion: Hands-on: Samsung EX2F Brings Wi-Fi With an F1.4 Lens to the Premium Class

    Samsung announced the high-end EX2F premium point-and-shoot a few weeks ago, and at the time, the camera's bright F1.4 aperture at the wide-angle end of its 3.3X-optical-zoom lens (24mm to 79mm) was a unique feature for a fixed-lens camera. It still is, but now the EX2F has some competition: Panasonic's Lumix LX7, which offers the same F1.4 aperture at its widest-angle focal length. They're the two fastest, brightest lenses in the compact class.

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