iPhone 12 Pro Max can take amazing photos. But you have to know the tricks

 Tags: Photography for Beginners, iPhone, Apple iPhone, iPhone 12

 

iPhone 12 Pro Max can take amazing photos. But you have to know the tricks 

From composition through to editing, we tell you how to take amazing images with your phone.

 

by:  Andrew Hoyle 

 

Andrew Hoyle

 

Apple's iPhones ($599 at Apple) have always impressed with their camera abilities, and the latest lineup of the iPhone 12 ($829 at Amazon) and 12 Pro ($999 at Amazon) are no exception. But it's the 12 Pro Max that sits at the top, packing a bigger camera sensor and a variety of upgrades which make it a photography powerhouse. 

But having a great camera in your pocket isn't a guarantee of brilliant images -- you need to know the tricks of how to use that gear to take the shots you want. Here are my top tips for upping your photography game and hopefully getting the best ever photos from the iPhone 12 Pro Max ($1,099 at Amazon).

Know when to use the different lenses

It's easy to stand in front of a picturesque scene and flick quickly between the normal, super wide and zoomed views on the phone, but it's more difficult to understand exactly why one might be better than the other for a particular composition. To figure it out, you need to take an extra moment to look at what's important in the scene in front of you. 

By switching to the ultrawide lens, I was able to capture this mooring rope as foreground interest, which really ties the scene together.

Andrew Hoyle

Is there a particular subject -- perhaps a statue or an impressive building -- that's surrounded by lots of other elements like trees, sign posts or street lights? Using the telephoto zoom here is a great way of isolating your subject and eliminating all those distractions. You may need to move back a bit and then zoom in to keep it in frame, but simplifying your scene like this will really help your subject stand out in the image. 

But perhaps it's those extra surrounding elements that really add to the scene and provide context for where you are. In that case, using the standard zoom will allow you to keep those items in the shot. Switching to the super wide view will capture even more of the surroundings, so to avoid your subject getting lost in the frame, you might want to move closer and find interesting foreground objects (a patch of flowers, a cool-looking rock) to add to the composition. 

Waiting until the evening for this shot really paid off, with an incredible fiery sunset.

Andrew Hoyle

Revisit at different times of day

The awesome low-light skills of the iPhone 12 Pro Max mean you're not limited to only taking photos at midday when the sun is at its highest. Sunrises and sunsets will typically be darker, but may reward you with beautiful colors in the sky and great contrast in the light being cast. Landscape photographers know that getting up before dawn can often yield the best results and it's something that's always worth keeping in mind, if you can stomach the early rises. 

Only 10 minutes earlier, this was the same scene. Fine, but with none of that Edinburgh sunset drama.

Andrew Hoyle

If you're on a city break (whenever those are allowed again) it's worth trying a sunrise shoot at least once, visiting the spots you've already found and seeing how they're transformed by the different light. It's this that will separate your images from the hundreds of others on Instagram who just took a snap after having had their morning coffee.

The 12 Pro Max's improved Night mode can take amazing shots in very dark conditions.

Andrew Hoyle

Don't be afraid of the dark

And don't think that once the light goes altogether you need to stop shooting. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has one of the best night modes on any phone and can take astonishing night-time photos. City scenes, with car headlights, vibrant shop window displays and even festive holiday decorations can provide superb fodder for night shots. And don't worry if it pours with rain -- those wet streets will now reflect all of those lights, which can look amazing.

The original image on the left is a fair snap, but with a moody black and white edit it has a lot more atmosphere and works much better as a shot.

Andrew Hoyle

Focus on your editing

If you want to create some really eye-catching imagery, editing should be part of your workflow whether you shoot in raw or JPEG. You need to start off with a good image, so make sure you've followed the above tips, but good editing can be the biggest step to transforming a standard snap into award-worthy art. 

I use Adobe Lightroom Mobile for most of my phone editing. It's a professional tool and has a lot of granular control over color and exposure. If you don't fancy the monthly fees, Google's Snapseed is free and also has a lot of superb features for getting the best from your shots, including a variety of film effects that give some beautiful color toning to your photos.

If you want to get a bit more wild and creative, you should check out apps like Bazaart and PicsArt, which provide a variety of tools and effects for compositing images to turn them from photos into often bizarre pieces of modern art. Take a look at my roundup of image editing apps for more ideas.  Share this article.

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The 8 Best Photo Printers For Casual Snapshots And Serious Photographers

 Tags: Canon Pixma, HP, Fujifilm, Epson Printer,

 

 

 by:  Dave Johnson  

 

 

 

There was a time when photos were synonymous with prints, but since the decline of film cameras, it’s far more common to experience photos on a phone or PC screen and rarely, if ever, print them. That’s too bad, because photos need to live in the real world, on paper, to be fully appreciated. The best photo printers can transform your photos into high-quality prints suitable for use in the office or at home for framing or sharing with family.

Virtually any printer can generate decent photo prints, but dedicated photo printers can create prints with richer, more accurate colors and better dynamic range. They come in all shapes and sizes, from standard letter size to wide-format to, well, very wide format. Printers also go small; you can get photo printers that spit out small 2.4-inch-square prints, ideal for printing snapshots from your phone. No matter what you’re looking for, there’s something here for you. We’ve rounded up 8 of the best photos printers available today.

• Best Letter-Size Photo Printer: Canon PIXMA TS8320
• Best 13-inch Wide-Format Photo Printer: Epson SureColor P700
• Best 17-inch Large Format Photo Printer: Epson SureColor P800
• Best Budget Photo Printer: HP ENVY 6055 Wireless All-in-One Printer
• Best Borderless Photo Printer: Canon IP8720 Wireless Printer
• Best Instant Photo Printer: Fujifilm Instax SP-3 Mobile Printer
• Best Smart Photo Printer: HP Tango X
• Best Ink Tank Photo Printer: Canon PIXMA MegaTank G7020

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Best Letter-Size Photo Printer

Canon PIXMA TS8320 All-In-One Inkjet Printer

BestBuy

Canon PIXMA TS8320 All-In-One Inkjet Printer

$179

This six-ink consumer-priced photo printer punches well above its weight, able to make prints that can satisfy pro photographers as well as enthusiasts. In addition to the usual CMYK color cartridges, the TS8320’s pigment black cartridge creates truer blacks and shadows, and the photo blue ink increases color range in a part of the spectrum the human eye is particularly sensitive to.

The printer has a convenient and easy-to-use color touchscreen control panel, and a pair of 100-sheet paper trays means you can go a long while between handling paper (it also does full-duplex 2-sided printing). There’s an additional rear tray for printing on specialty paper and directly onto compatible optical discs. As an added bonus, you can even give the printer voice commands via Alexa or Google Assistant. Truly, an all-in-one printer.

forbes.comBest Buy Coupons | 10% Off In December 2020 | Forbes

Best 13-inch Wide-Format Photo Printer

Epson SureColor P700

Amazon

Epson SureColor P700 13-Inch Printer

$2101

The Epson SureColor P700 straddles an interesting line—it’s on the pricey but affordable side for photo enthusiasts, but almost a bargain for professionals. It’s a great printer for both kinds of users. It features sophisticated printheads capable of dispersing droplets as small as 1.5 picoliters (which is very small) and it uses UltraChrome Pro Ink, a massive array of ten ink cartridges to achieve a wide color gamut. That includes separate black inks for matte and glossy photo printing, so you don’t have to swap inks when changing paper types.

The 13-inch wide printer can handle both cut sheets and roll media, which means it can make very long custom aspect ratio photos like panoramas—something very few other printers in this price range can handle. It also has a color-calibrated touchscreen display that can take on some basic photo editing tasks without resorting to Photoshop.

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Best 17-inch Large Format Photo Printer

Epson SureColor P800

Amazon

Epson SureColor P800 17" Inkjet Color Printer

$2453 - $2999

It carries a considerable price tag, but the SureColor P800 is about as versatile as photo printers come, and ideal for serious creators who need to print their visions on very large paper and a variety of fine art materials. It’s capable of 17-inch-wide cut sheets (maximum size: 17x22-inches) and rolls up to 17 inches x 10 feet long.

A front input tray can accommodate poster board and other fine art media, so you aren’t limited to printing on the ordinary photo paper options. The printer uses eight high-capacity (80 mL) UltraChrome HD ink cartridges for a very wide color gamut, including three levels of black designed expressly for capturing highly nuanced black & white prints.

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Best Budget Photo Printer

HP ENVY 6055 Wireless All-in-One Printer

Amazon

HP ENVY 6055 Wireless All-in-One Printer

$129 - $159

Even for photo printing, you don’t have to spend a fortune for a high-performance photo printer. This isn’t going to satisfy a pro, but it creates surprisingly good prints for home users and photo enthusiasts on a budget—especially notable since it has just four colors (black and a three-ink combination cartridge).

Even better, it’s an all-in-one system that also scans and copies. You can also save additional money with this printer if you make a lot of prints; if you subscribe to HP’s very affordable automatic ink delivery service, you can get replacement cartridges delivered automatically by mail, and the first two months are free.

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Best Borderless Photo Printer

Canon IP8720 Wireless Printer

Amazon

Canon IP8720 Wireless Printer

$249$299SAVE $50 (17%)

Not many printers are capable of making truly edge-to-edge borderless prints, so if that’s something you need, a printer like the Canon IP8720 can be worth its weight in gold. This printer can make borderless prints up to 13x19-inches in size. It uses a 6-ink cartridge system (CMYK plus pigment black and gray that are designed specifically for black and white photos) with a printhead capable of droplets as small as 1 picoliter.

In addition to Wi-Fi and AirPrint, the IP7820 has some other handy features, like the ability to print directly on optical discs and Canon’s unique Full HD Movie Print, which can make prints from video clips captured with select Canon SLR and point-and-shoot cameras.

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Best Instant Photo Printer

Fujifilm Instax SP-3 Mobile Printer

Amazon

Fujifilm Instax SP-3 Mobile Printer

$93 - $169

If the name Instax sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s the brand name of popular instant film cameras that are the modern equivalent of old Polaroid and Kodak cameras. The Instax SP-3 is a printer that creates 2.4-inch-square prints from photos on your phone or other mobile device. It’s also portable; powered by a rechargeable battery, the compact 11-ounce printer can go anywhere.

This is not an inkjet printer; the Instax is making real photo prints from instant film, the photos sent from your device via Wi-Fi. The printer is fast—prints only take about 13 seconds—and the print has a Polaroid-like border for a retro look. This is great for casual photo sharing and quickly displaying prints that would otherwise be trapped on your phone.

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Best Smart Photo Printer

HP Tango X

Amazon

HP Tango X Smart Wireless Printer

$199

The Tango X by HP is a thoroughly modern photo printer. When it’s not in use, it closes up inside a fabric wrap that makes it look more like a book than a printer, so if you don’t like electronics on display, you’ll like this gadget. And when it’s in printing mode, you can control it by voice using Alexa or Google Assistant, and even “program” it with specific behaviors using IFTTT, or If This Then That—a popular easy-to-use automation service for smart home devices. For example, you could teach it to automatically print your phone’s newest photos when you come home, or to print a certain document every morning at the start of your day.

Your prints are limited to 5x7 inches, so this is useful as a dedicated photo printer, but can’t really play the role of your only home printer. Nonetheless, it makes great looking photos and can handle text document tasks too in a pinch, as long as you’re good with the print size.

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Best Ink Tank Photo Printer

Canon PIXMA MegaTank G7020 All-In-One Inkjet Printer

BestBuy

Canon PIXMA MegaTank G7020 All-In-One Inkjet Printer

$349

The Achilles’ Heel of any inkjet printer is the ink cost. Not only do the ink cartridges run low quickly, but they cost a small fortune to replace—often outstripping the cost of the original printer in just a few refills. That’s not the case with the Canon PIXMA MegaTank G7020, built around Canon’s MegaTank refillable ink tank standard. The ink is cheap enough that it drops the cost of prints to about as penny each. It has four easily serviceable tanks and you can clearly see the level from the front of the printer.

The printer also happens to be a multifunction device, so you can use it as your all-around office workhorse as a copier, scanner, printer and even fax if you’re still hanging onto that for dear life. It holds up to 350 sheets of paper with a dedicated feed for small-format photo paper for printing snapshots and does a great job printing photos, especially considering the budget-focused ink tank. And don’t worry about running out of ink for normal document printing; there’s enough black ink in the box for 18,000 pages.  Share this article.

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 4 Great Beginner DSLR Cameras for Any Aspiring Photographer

Shooting photos on a phone can only take you so far. If you’re looking to get started with a higher-quality camera, a DSLR may be the way to go

 

 Tags:  Photography for Beginners, DSLR, Phone Cameras, Photography 

 

 by Joshua Kanter

 

 

If you’re looking to take your photography to the next level, a DSLR camera is a huge step up from a smartphone.

Phone cameras are convenient, but difficult to control specific settings and options like you’d be able to on a real camera. With a DSLR, you’ll have the ability to do things like swap lenses, shoot in higher quality, and make more minor adjustments in order to get that perfect final photo or video.

DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. When light enters a DSLR through the lens, it immediately bounces off the mirror inside, up through a prism and into the view finder. When you’re ready to take your shot and hit the shutter button, that mirror flips up, creating that satisfyingly familiar photo click. This allows light to directly hit the camera’s sensor (or film), blacking out the optical viewfinder until the exposure is complete.

What Are the Best DSLR Camera Brands?

There are a lot of choices out there, but the big DSLR brands are typically Nikon, Canon, Panasonic and Sony. All take great photos, but have varying controls, commands, and settings. It’s all about what you’re looking to shoot most (photography, video, and the endless sub-categories within them) and what makes you most comfortable while behind (or in front of) the lens. Here’s what else to keep in mind when shopping for the best DSLR camera.

Camera Modes: These are vitally important for versatility in your shots, and allow you to expand your options to shoot almost anywhere. Things like HDR, portrait, night mode, a built-in flash, and even editing features right on the LCD screen can be enormously helpful in creating the final quality photo. For videography, things like resolution and frame rate are important for crisp and smooth movies.

Sensor: Don’t overlook the sensor in your new DSLR, especially as a beginner. As a general rule, the larger the sensor, the more data it can take in, and the clearer your photo will be. There are a few different types of sensors varying in size and cropping different amounts of the image that you see through the viewfinder. Some, like a four-thirds sensor, tend to be better for videographers, while others like a full-frame sensor, are better for photographers, and offer stunning clarity and range.

Body Design: Searching through multiple models and brands of cameras can eventually all blend together, and seem to be pretty similar. But the ergonomics of a camera play a huge role, both in the act of actual shooting as well as connecting up to your workstation afterwards. Things like an LCD screen with touch capability, a well-placed port, and a display that flips outwards can be everything from a minor convenience, to help avoiding a huge headache.

Lenses: A standard lens is usually 18-35mm, but that’s just the beginning. A DSLR lets you switch out lenses, depending on everything from lighting to angle, to make sure you’re getting the best picture possible. Telephoto and prime lenses open up whole new ways to set up your shot, with higher quality than most phone cameras can offer.

Lighting: With lighting when using a DSLR, what you see is what you’ll most likely get – if a scene looks dark and muddy through the viewfinder, that’s probably how it’s going to look on the final photo. A powerful flash can help, and you can often even add a speedlight to really brighten things up.

Megapixels: Don’t just go for the highest megapixel count. Yes, they’re important, but this isn’t what makes or breaks an image’s quality – a good sensor and lens matter more. 24MP is pretty standard, but at minimum, most DSLRs will have around 15MP, and even 10MP or less should be enough for those just starting out.

Dual-Pixel Auto Focus: This helpful feature lets you achieve beautifully smooth auto-focus fast, whether in photo or video mode.

Flip Screen: It might seem obvious, but a flip screen can open up a wider world of shots to any photographer. A flexible display allows you to contort it to most any angle, without having to crane your neck into awkward positions to get the perfect view – even when filming yourself.

Mirrorless Cameras: As you’re searching, you’ll most likely see mirrored vs. mirrorless in different cameras. In a mirrorless camera, you won’t have to worry about an inner mirror, as the light passes right through the lens and hits the sensor directly, where you’ll see it either on the EVF (electronic viewfinder) or the digital screen.

Mirrorless cameras are generally smaller than DSLRs, but have come a long way, and caught up with DSLRs in terms of sensor size and accuracy of photo effects. With battery life, however, a smaller camera means less room for batteries, and these can run out of juice up to 50% faster than traditional DSLRs. A few brands nowadays have started to manufacture their cameras to be compatible with smartphone chargers, making it infinitely easier to power it back up without searching for a separate adapter in your pack. Bottom line: there’s nothing wrong with mirrorless, but a true DSLR with its interchangeable lenses and optical viewfinder can feel more natural to shoot on.

Finally, treat a DSLR like an investment – because it is. While some models are cheaper than others, a quality camera requires dropping some cash, so make sure it’s got capabilities that can keep up with your career. A camera that’s scaled down and simple might be good at first, but as you learn more and master the skillset, you’ll most likely outgrow it. The right camera can last you years, even a lifetime.

1. Nikon D3400

Talk to any lifelong photographers, and chances are that you’ll find at least a few who still use the Nikon they got years ago. The brand has been around since 1917, and trusted for decades by those who use it.

This D3400 carries on that tradition of reliability, with a modern flair. It’s light with a long-lasting battery, and a sharp 24.3-megapixel sensor that lets you shoot in RAW format, if you plan to be editing your images in a software program later.

The main lenses are an 18-55mm and a 70-300mm, and the unit features Nikon’s Vibration Reduction for better stabilization, with 11 different focal points. It also shoots HD video up to 60p.

Photos and videos are stored on an SD memory card. There’s no WiFi connectivity, but it does sync to Bluetooth, where you can use Nikon’s SnapBridge app to transfer files and upload or edit them.

This is a camera that will grow with you from your first photo on up, and it’s ready whenever you decide to add things like a speedlight and higher quality lenses. The LCD screen offers a helpful “Guide Mode” for beginners to learn what settings are going to work best for what they’re shooting. There are also 10 different effects modes, and PASM exposure modes for when you’ve got the hang of it and want full control over the auto-focus.

Amazon

Buy: Nikon D3400 $699.00

Buy it

2. Canon EOS 4000D

The Canon Rebel 4000D is lightweight and loaded up. At just under a pound, the lenses are interchangeable, there’s an 18-megapixel sensor for shooting in low light, a 3x optical zoom, as well as full HD video recording at about 30fps.

While it’s compatible with the Canon app, allowing you to shoot remotely, it lacks some of the features of the higher end models, like a flip screen or touchscreen capability. But it’s a solid option for the newbie photographers who want to experiment with different photos and videos.

This comes in a kit with a ton of extra gear for shooting, filming and cleaning, but is available with just the DSLR unit too. There’s also the Canon T7, the next generation up from the popular T6, which features attributes like 24 megapixels, a bigger screen, more specific settings, and the ability to shoot video with upgraded auto-focus.

Amazon

Buy: Canon EOS 4000D $519.00

Buy it

3. Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera

As a mirrorless DSLR camera, this features a super-fast auto-focus to capture subjects in motion, and crisp 24.3-megapixel detail, along with fast shooting – up to 11 photos in one second. Changing lenses is easy and switching up settings is convenient and quick with two well-placed dials and a directional control in back, along with seven customizable buttons that can be programmed to handle up to 474 different tasks.

But don’t let that intimidate you. The settings, options, combinations and possibilities with this camera are literally endless, and is the best way to learn the ropes.

It’s WiFi-ready, controllable from afar with the PlayMemories app, and connects up with local devices for fast file transferring.

Amazon

Buy: Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera $648.00

Buy it

4. Panasonic LUMIX FZ80 4K Digital Camera

While this may not be a true DSLR camera, it certainly behaves like one, and is a perfect transition for those looking to make the jump into shooting with a real camera without diving right into the deep end.

The zoom is an outstanding feature for its class, at 60X. It’s also fast, snapping the photo you want with little to no lag on the shutter release.

This can handle 4K video in 8MP at 30fps, and even with a limited internal memory of 200mb, movies still end up looking way better than we expected.

Its selection wheel is a little limiting, and the controls may take some getting used to. Plus the aperture only goes to F8, which can be a constraint to some photographers. All this can leave you fumbling through the options and settings when time is limited to take the perfect pic. But once you get the hang of it, the resulting images can be sharp and pop with color, and you can even shoot in RAW format just like with a regular DSLR.

Amazon

Buy: Panasonic LUMIX FZ80 4K Digital Camera $297.99

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So, am I a film shooter now? Part 1: Finding what works for me – by Paul Turner 

Tags:  Photography for beginners, Camera, Photographers, Hasselblad, Carl Zeiss 

by Paul Turner

The decision as to which camera, which lens, how much can I fit in my bag, which bag shall I use, and can I carry it all day comfortably, will be familiar, I am sure, to a lot of photographers. I mean it’s a complicated game we are playing. To capture any potential scene that we might encounter! I wanted to go through my take on it, to present day anyway, and talk about where I have ended up.

I am old enough to remember a time when, if you took a picture, it was on film. That’s it, no other options. I also remember borrowing a medium format film camera way back and marveling at the depth of the images compared to my 35mm SLR shots. This was another level. I discounted ever owning one of these exotic beasts as they were the preserve of the wealthy or professional.

The digital age happened and I gave away my SLR to the local charity shop when sorting through things for a house move. I had no use for this obsolete lump of metal, glass and cogs. Digital is the new age after all. When I could afford I went feet first into digital, eventually owning what was my dream camera, a Nikon D610 with a Sigma Art 24-35, f2 zoom. This was the answer. I had all the tools I needed to record any scene. Bags of dynamic range, a lens to cover all the bases. I could store almost 1000 images in RAW if I wanted to. Auto everything… That’s it!

Then… in late 2017 I decided on a whim to buy a Hasselblad 500C/M with the classic Carl Zeiss Planar CF 80mm f/2.8 lens. It was simply a curiosity after looking at the work and working process of a good friend that owned one. He had been shooting with one for many years. It sparked a little question in my head, “Might it be kind of fun to go out and shoot film as a different look occasionally? Why not?”

After all I remember lusting after that medium format kit from my younger days. To think I can buy one now was intriguing. I mean, why not buy the one that was supposed to be the Porsche of medium format cameras, a Hasselblad? It was exciting to me. That was the start of my ‘which camera, which lens, which bag’ conundrum from the introduction.

I went through a period of indecision and hesitation now. I had made my life more complicated… The photo trips now consisted of a series of questions as to what should I carry and what am I doing? You can easily imagine the amount of space I needed in my shoulder bag to accommodate a full frame DSLR and a Hasselblad. It fitted, just. It was awkward to get them in and out of the bag.

I would find myself spending most of the time using the digital and then coming to a snap decision to make a film image of the same scene to take advantage of the square frame that the 6×6 afforded. I was basically using the medium format film camera as a novelty. In my mind I already had the shot on digital but what the heck, I have been lugging this Hasselblad round. Why not do a shot with it in order to justify carrying the extra weight? Ridiculous isn’t it? I was making my photography cluttered, too many choices.

The crunch came, I think, when I was out with friends on a shoot. It was a weekend event and there was a particular shot that I had already shot on my DSLR that I thought worked, but my friend coerced me to shoot it on the Hasselblad. As soon as the frame was set on the viewfinder it was clear that the 6×6 had everything there that was needed, with a little extra height for balance. I was intrigued. Perhaps this square frame might make me look at things differently…

Things didn’t immediately change but I think that was a catalyst. It was further cemented once I started home developing my film. I no longer had to wait several days for the negs. I could have them in my sticky mitts in less than an hour. Big bonus.

After a while I was happy just setting out with the Hasselblad. I mean it was a wrench at first, felt like I was leaving my comfort blanket at home. It was unquestionably easier on my shoulder. The freedom to just see what worked with what I had was a different experience from the Sigma zoom lens that I used on the digital. It was in theory a constriction but the challenge is only perceived, in fact I have learned to just walk past things that don’t frame or work. Mostly…

See you again soon.

~ Paul

Note: This article originally appeared on Paul’s blog on October 19th 2020

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Kodak smartphone mobile film scanner now down at $24 Prime shipped (Reg. $35+)

 Tags:  Kodak, Film, Mobile Film Scanner 

 

By: Justin Kahn

Today only, Woot is offering the Kodak Mobile Film Scanner for smartphones at $23.99 with free shipping for Prime members. Otherwise, a $6 delivery fee will apply. Originally $50 and fetching closer to $35 at Amazon these days, this is the lowest price we can find and about 30% in savings. While hardcore photographers might not find much use with this, casual users looking to digitize old photos for fun might. You can view and share old 35mm color film negatives, 35mm black and white film negatives, as well as 35mm color slides. It includes a platform and fold out tray for your phone and negatives/positives along with a battery-powered led backlight for subtle illumination. Ships with a 1-year warranty and carries a 4+ star rating from over 1,100 Amazon customers. More details below. 

Now, you could just as well use one of the many scanner apps out there to attempt to achieve a similar result as the Kodak film scanner, but it will be tough to pull images from negatives and the like. Either way, give the highly-rated ScanPro App a closer look for a software solution that’s even less expensive. 

For more deals on connected accessories, be sure to check out these DYMO label maker offers from $25 as well as Brother’s smartphone-powered model while it’s down at $40. Then dive into the new HP printers with native in-OS printing and the rest of today’s best smartphone accessory deals right here. 

More on the Kodak Mobile Film Scanner:

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This small town Kansas photography shop will develop archaic film formats no other photography processor will touch

Tags:  Process C-22, Film, Film Processing, Ektachrome, Kodachrome

 

By: Izzy Curry

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

In 1956, Dwayne Steinle opened a small film processing facility in Parsons, a town of 10,500 west of Joplin, Missouri. At the store’s peak—before digital photography led to the steep decline in film processing—they were working nearly ’round the clock, and one of the biggest processors in the nation.

“The first year I was here, we worked every weekend all summer long,” says employee Melissa Alloway. “We were working ten-hour shifts Monday through Friday and coming in and working two shifts on Saturday. A few Sundays thrown in so that we could keep it going.”

Steinle passed away in February, at the age of eighty-eight. During his lifetime, his shop, Dwayne’s Photo, became legendary among photography geeks around the world for the fact that the shop would still process archaic film formats like Kodak’s disc film and rolls of Process C-22. The shop

came to international notoriety in 2010 when it processed the last-ever rolls of Kodachrome, a format favored by professional photographers—and, famously, folk singer Paul Simon.

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

The end of the Kodachrome era drew reporters and photographers from around the world to Parsons, with some camping in the shop’s parking lot. The attention, which also inspired an indie film starring Overland Park native Jason Sudeikis, was something of an accident of history, as Dwayne’s had only started developing Kodachrome after the company’s flagship lab in New Jersey stopped accepting the film, which relies on a proprietary chemical blend to develop. Kodak was at first hesitant to entrust the famed format to “a little lab in Kansas.” But Steinle persisted. In order to become the world’s last processor, Steinle had a machine custom-built in Yuma, Arizona. Kodak sent out a chemist to set up a laboratory. Kodak eventually stopped making the chemicals required to develop the film after demand dwindled—but not before one last explosion of interest.

“It was crazy,” Alloway says. “It almost had its own paparazzi. We had stacks and stacks of work, and we just slapped dates on it when it came in. We quit processing on December 30 and it took us around three more weeks to get all the film processed when we stopped accepting it.”

Dwayne’s developed five hundred rolls of Kodachrome on the last day. “We kept thinking we’re not going to have enough chemicals to last,” says Greg Fincher, a good friend of Steinle who maintains most of the shop’s processing machines. “They had a lot of film left over, huge master rolls in a salt mine, and they destroyed it. They wanted to make sure that when it was done, it was done. And that’s just business.”

In the post-Kodachrome era, Dwayne’s has actually been growing, especially as gen-Z hobbyists gravitate to film. Dwayne’s is now in the hands of his grandsons Derek and Josh Carter, who lured Fincher out of semi-retirement and have invested in the infrastructure to develop archaic formats like the recently resurrected Ektachrome.

The pandemic has brought a resurgence in film processing orders, says Derek Carter, with the shop’s volume more than quadrupling.

“Last year, a good day was receiving a full mailbag and maybe a couple of boxes of film,” he says. “Today we are regularly getting five bags and seven big boxes of film in a single day. I really think the growth has been a combination of people who are stuck at home and using film photography as a way to get through quarantine and another group of people who are finding old film as they are cleaning out the house. I don’t think we’ve been this excited about film processing in a long time.”

Although Steinle built his livelihood on film processing, his grandsons say he harbored no resentment toward digital photography—he liked to shoot digital, too.

“He liked just going out and shooting photos,” says Josh Carter.

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

As other processors closed, Steinle found a niche as an eager developer of legacy formats, which customers might find in an old box, undeveloped, and decided to send away to small-town Kansas.

“Even when everyone else is shutting down or saying ‘Film is done,’ [Dwayne] was like, ‘Well, you know, I’ll keep going,’” Derek says. “He was never driven by the prevailing winds of what everyone else was doing.”

Steinle was also a dedicated family man—he helped raise Derek and Josh Carter, who now run the business. “He took Derek and I to and from school, made us lunch and dinner—basically raised us for a couple years,” says Josh Carter.

Part of the reason that the Carters are bullish about the business is that technological advancements have made it easier to develop film.

“We had the old optical printers,” Alloway says of the old days. “Everything had to be printed and then backed up and taken to a separate paper processor, then put on that processor and ran. We had to go through it and check it for quality. And if it needed color, you needed to sit there and manually tell the printer, ‘I want you to put five blue and three magenta.’ And you couldn’t see it until it came back to you again after being printed.”

By merging modern technology with time-tested analog techniques, Dwayne’s laboratory has increased its efficiency without losing its edge as a top-tier film processor with pro customers around the country. “Being in the industry this long, we can simplify it so there’s not this huge learning curve with film,” Josh explains. “It’s not some daunting task. People can pick up an old camera they found in their grandparents’ house and say, ‘OK, I’m going to take some film and I’m going to shoot it and I’m going to know what I’m doing.’”

The other reason the company is growing is that younger shooters prefer film. Somewhat paradoxically, most rolls of film Dwayne’s develops come from younger customers. And the shop markets to them using social media.

Photo by Shawn Brackbill. All the photography for this story was shot on Kodak Portra 400 and 

Tri-X 400 Black and White film and developed at Dwayne’s.

“The vast majority of new film shooters are under twenty-five,” Derek Carter says. “To cater to that crowd, we have to both be able to have a lot of learning and cater from a social media standpoint or from a technological standpoint. It’s something that a lot of things like Instagram are actually a huge tool for us.”

Although scanning pictures to Instagram is a great way to spread the love of film photography, getting people to appreciate the value of print is another goal of Dwayne’s.

“We want to raise awareness about it because we bring a lot of people through who will say they are not that interested in print photos and then when we show them a thirty-by-forty that comes out of one of our processors, they’re blown away,” Derek Carter says. “They are like, ‘That looks really good.’ If we can just get that in front of enough people, I think there will be people who are still interested in that medium.”  Share this article.

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