Wasim Ahmad

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not entirely sure how the TikTok Shop works, but apparently, like Amazon, it is also now home to some of the world's most awful digital cameras for sale.

As a photographer, it's very easy to get mired in G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) until suddenly, you're taking a full frame camera and a full complement of f/2.8 lenses out on even the simplest of day trips. It's probably time to start thinking about purchasing an "everyday carry."

If you're a child of the 'aughts, you've probably seen a Flip Video camera at least once in your life. Before cellphone videos were a thing, these bad boys ruled the amateur video circuit with their ease of use and novel design that incorporated a literal flipping USB port on the side. But what happened to these once ubiquitous cameras? I had an uncle who would walk around and record just about everything with one of these cameras.

Vlogging is often fraught with peril. Whether that's overcoming your own shyness, or overcoming people on the street uncomfortable with someone overcoming their shyness in a vlog, there are techniques and gear to help minimize issues.

Taking photographs used to be a careful, conscious act. Photos were selective, frozen moments in time carefully archived in albums and frames. Now, taking a photograph is almost as effortless and common as breathing – it’s something that people do all the time …

Five years ago, I suggested that Apple get into the dedicated camera game again by turning its long-neglected (and now officially dead) iPod touch into a sweet connected camera.

It’s a bold move to append the word “Ultra” to the end of your camera name, but in the case of the Kandao QooCam 3 Ultra, the name fits. Building on the strengths of the already very good QooCam 3, the Ultra version of the camera looks and operates very similarly, but with a completely different set of internals that make it good for 96 MP still 360 images (up from the 62 MP in the regular version of the camera) and 8K 30P 360 video (up from 5.7K in the older camera). More resolution in 360 video is always a good thing.

No, that's not a dog flying a helicopter to save people from the raging hurricane floodwaters in Florida. It's an AI-generated image made via ChatGPT. But while I've clearly labeled it as such in the lead of this story, there are folks out there creating and spreading arguably more realistic AI images that purport to be of the current hurricanes. Take, for instance, this tweet with a picture of a supposedly young girl holding a puppy during what appears to be Hurricane Helene.

I set out with a noble goal for this year's "I tried the cheapest camera on Amazon" article. I purchased a $5.99 camera with the intention of producing wonderfully lit photos and proving that it's not about the gear, it's about the photographer. It turns out, there is indeed a limit.

When you're going for that sharp shot of fall foliage, wind can often ruin the picture, causing your subjects to sway and streak across the frame. But what if you could make that work for you?