Since the number one questions I get here deal with devices, and the stuff I use to make Photowalks, I wanted to update you on what’s in my bag, and new toys I hope to have in there soon.

Camera

I own a Pixel, Samsung Galaxy and several iPhones. My phone of choice is the iPhone for two simple reasons: I believe the picture quality to be superior, especially for video, with less fake picture enhancements than the others. Plus, the ease of moving files from the phone to my Mac via Apple’s AirDrop is something I haven’t seen replicated elsewhere. (Google finally put out its answer to AirDrop this week, but only on the latest phones.)

As I’ve written here, if you have an older iPhone, pre iPhone 15, it’s time to upgrade to the 17 Pro models. If you have a 15 or 16, the photo differences are hard to tell unless you’ve got a keen eye. I see them big time however, and wouldn’t want to use any other iPhone model for photography. The new Selfie camera is higher resolution and gives you a wider view and that’s a big plus for me. (For more on why to upgrade, read the Lighting section below.)

I also own a Sony A7IV which I love and use for professional paid portrait gigs. My beloved lens is the 70-200mm 2.8 G Master. I wouldn’t use it for travel photography, for the bulk and the issues I’ve had in the past plus theft.

Audio

The internal microphone on phones are better than they used to be, but they still pick up background sound (buses driving by, people talking on the street) so if you want to do a professional production, you need pro external mics.

I swear by the Rode Wireless Micro models, which are the best ones I’ve ever used for mobile photography (and I’ve used them all!) Rode gives you two mics (for you and the interviewee) and a transmitter that connects directly to the USB-C charging port of the iPhone, Galaxy or Pixel. I paid $150 for them a year ago; now Amazon is Black Friday selling them for $83.

Tripod

Surprisingly, this is one of the most common questions I get. Many people want a small tripod to walk around with and for good reason. With a tripod, you can take group shots on the timer, produce great timelapse videos and much more.

For years I’ve been touting the $25 Insta360 Selfie Stick which turns into a four foot tripod, and I still love it. A new model from Small Rig, the Drex Lee Boom goes one better, at 4.8 feet and you don’t need to also buy a phone tripod mount—the Boom has MagSafe, allowing you to snap the phone (or Android phone case) directly on it. Plus, you can tilt the phone up or down, something you can’t do with the Insta360 stick. It sells for $32.

For the large tripod, I had sworn by the Peak Design Travel Tripod, but I have been looking at it in the past tense. I left it behind on an Amtrak in Washington, DC by mistake and hadn’t gotten around to buying the exact replacement. Pricey, at $700, I loved it anyway, as it was lighter yet sturdy, a joy to tote around and easy to set up. That said, Peak Design has a cheaper model, with what I have to believe is less sturdy materials, and it starts at $400. However, Amazon just Black Friday’d this baby to $319, and I bought it. I’ll let you know how the cheaper model compares.

What about a small tabletop tripod? I don’t use them, but I know many of you do. The negatives are many: they are so small, you won’t get very high. Even if you wanted to do a Zoom call with it, it would be very hard to get to eye level. But, if you insist: this Manfrotto model has a built-in phone mount, so you won’t have to buy a second one for some of the more full-featured compact tripods. Amazon offers it for just under $40.

Cool accessory

The Platypod was originally designed to deal with the tripod police, those pesky guards who tell you that no tripods are allowed. So what about a little plate that you could connect your camera to, and have it attached to a tree trunk, a table, something like that? Especially helpful for getting low shots. It’s not cheap—the plate sells for $70. I like the new Handle, a tripod extender which gives you tripod height on a smaller scale. It lives on my desk, where it’s especially useful for overhead product shots, which I do all the time for tutorials.

Solid State drive

My iPhone fills up very fast, and media has to be moved to make room for more. I swear by the Samsung T7 series of compact drives, which unlike the bigger, traditional hard drive, has no moving parts. I edit every Photowalks episode on one of these babies, and when I’m done, transfer the project to two bigger drives for backup. The prices have gone up since I bought the last one ( a 4 terabyte model) for $200 in 2024—thank you tariffs!. As of presstime, Amazon was selling them for $350, but perhaps the Black Friday sale will find discounts!

Big drive

I like the OWC dual-drive dock, which lets me swap new drives when the old ones fill up. This week I replaced the two 16 TB drives with 2 24 TBs, which hopefully will last me through the first half of 2026! I bought them for $240 each at Newegg, which was $260 less than Amazon was selling them for. (Really!) Don’t forget to always comparison shop!

Cage

You’ll notice that I’m often seen on Photowalks with a “cage” over the iPhone which allows me to place other accessories atop it (like a light) and have two extension arms on the side to hold it steadier. With the iPhone 17 Pro, I had to upgrade to new cages. I got the Neewer model and also sprung for one from Small Rig. The Neewer is pretty good, but the cage blocks the use of my beloved microphone, so I could only use it for B-roll. With the arm attachments, it produces steadier video than I would get handheld.

Drone

Nothing screams travel video like the use of a drone soaring above the city. I have the DJI Mini 4 Pro, but buyer beware, it’s become much harder to snag a drone. DJI, the Chinese company that makes them, has responded to the tariffs and an administration down on Chinese companies by declining to make their new (and improved) ones available for sale here. Additionally—every major drone by DJI, including the Mini 4, Mavic 3, Air, Flip and Neo are “out of stock,” and unavailable.on the DJI website. So if you want to pick up a flying camera, know that you’ll be putting in a yeoman’s effort to get one. (The Mini 4 Pro that I paid $999 for when the ocean ate my previous drone on the last day of 2023 is selling for just under $1,500 on Amazon.)

360

This year we saw GoPro finally fight back against Insta360’s total clone of the action camera’s business model. With Max2, GoPro introduced a waterproof 360 camera that can double as a regular GoPro, with tripod mounts and lens caps to protect the two lens from scratching. At $500, it’s $50 less than Insta360’s latest, the X5, which can do all the same things as the Max2, with one huge advantage, in software. With 360 footage, you have to import it to the computer, phone or tablet and convert it into shareable clips. GoPro’s software is shockingly slow and inferior to what Insta360 has, and without the software, you’ve got nothing to work with. A traditional GoPro, the Hero13, sells for just over $300. I use the Hero 11 for driving shots on Photowalks and the X5 for walking shots—sometimes. The 360 thing is a nice touch, but only in small doses.

Gimbel

One of the common questions I get is about gimbels, what stabilizer do I use with the phone for steadier shots? Again, I’ve tried them all, the DJI Osmo, the Insta360 Flow, et. all, and the response is always the same. The improvement in the image is so slight—like in the 1-2% range, so what’s the point? It’s just another accessory you need to take out with you, set up and deal with, when the beauty of filming on a phone is that you don’t have to lug stuff!

I’ve changed my tune though with the new GoPro Fluid, which sells for $229, about $75 more than the DJI and Insta360 models, is truly steady, easier to setup, can be used with either your phone or GoPro camera and you’ll see the difference in your footage.

Computer

I use a 2021 MacBook Pro with M1 chip to edit all the Photowalks episodes. I also have an M4 MacMini from 2024 on my desk, but I gravitate to the laptop, just because I love working remotely, and I haven’t seen any speed advantages with the M4 over the M1. Go figure.

Really helpful accessory

I have an Anker charging cube on my desk that I bought when it was on sale, and it’s grown to be so useful. It plugs into the wall for power, and thus, on my desk, I have 4 USB-C inputs and 2 for the older USB-A. I power my computer with it, and there’s another 3-prong plug for anything else I want to charge up. And they’re surge protected. I originally thought I’d travel with it and use in hotel rooms, but I found it so versatile and helpful that it just stays in place on my desk. Highly recommended for everyone reading this newsletter. It sells for $40.

Charger

Speaking of the hotel room charger, the Ugreen 65W charger is a godsend, with three USB-C slots to charge up multiple phones and something else (mics, GoPro, Insta360) in one of those hard to find hotel room wall outlets. You can bring an iPhone back to life in about 30 minutes with one of these guys.

Lighting

The other night I was at an event and my friend Grace was there with her older iPhone, the 14 model. She tried taking a video, until Apple told her that she needed more light to continue. “What do I do Jeff?” she asked.

First, I gave her my phone, which was a 16 Pro (the one in my pocket) to get the clips, and there was no issues. The new models really are better in low light.

But beyond buying a new phone, there’s a really easy accessory to buy to solve the problem. A light.

A little LED light can be all yours for around $90. And it will go a long way to making Grace happy. (You’ll also need another accessory to fit the light atop the phone.)

There are several new lights that snap onto the phone itself via MagSafe that would be great for Grace, and anyone else struggling with lighting issues, for under $100. The Harlowe Sol 5 is $90 (check for Black Friday discounts) as is a ShiftCam model. There are models available in the $20 range from the likes of Neewer and Ulanzi, but don’t waste your money. They won’t emit much light.

What I want for Christmas

If I want something, I buy it—though as I said, sometimes inertia plays a big role in stopping me. If these things are on sale, here’s what I yearn for:

• New MacBook Pro 16 with M4 chip. Because why not? Three years of using a laptop every day, all day, 365 days a year means that after 1000 days, it’s time for a newer, shiner one. But at $3,500, (maxed out) it’s a rather big bite. (However see that Apple has the once a year sale—I might get a $250 gift card for buying a new Mac! Or better. Hmm…)

• A custom built NAS system. Because I have 70 TBs worth of drives on my desk, and it’s time to be a grown up and have an adult system. If there are any Black Friday deals on racks and networking gear, I’m in.

• A 100 inch OLED Samsung TV. Because every time I go to Costco, I drool. The colors are so rich and vibrant. I can only imagine what Jimmy Kimmel will/would like when I add another 30 inches (I currently max out at 70) to his televised image.

• Elgato Teleprompter. I bought the Elgato Prompter when it was released two years ago, and it changed my life. Yeah, I make videos for a living, and being able to put a 22 minute script into the Prompter and read along is something that’s great to have. It also works really nicely for Zoom calls, in making eye contact with the other person. But the screen is too small. It’s hard to see. The new edition is twice the size, (and price, $599 from $299) but for some dumb reason, Elgato announced the product weeks ago—and has yet to release it. “Notify me when it’s available” is the cryptic message on its website. Really?

• And a Fender Stratocaster. I’ve got the Tele, and 12 other guitars, but there’s always room for a new one.

What’s on your list for this year? I’d love to hear all about it.

It’s been raining in Los Angeles this week. That may sound ordinary to you, but here in SoCal, it’s a rare occurence. And of course, when it rains, the sunrises and sunsets are amazing.

Disclosure: Some of the above links may earn me a commission if you make a purchase, but they are included here only for an editorial reason—so you don’t have to leave and go to Google to find a link on your own.

Did you know that even newsletters can have Black Friday sales too? Click this link to support what we do, get full access to our archives (which go behind a paywall after 2 weeks) and help to keep independent journalism alive.

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Simon Owens's Media Newsletter

How a former USA Today columnist launched his own travel channel on YouTube

These days, every audio podcast has an accompanying video podcast, but Jefferson Graham was hosting video podcasts before the term even existed. In 2006, he started co-hosting a show with another USA Today colleague who lived on the opposite coast from him, and they’d physically FedEx the tapes back and forth so they could be edited. Jefferson then went…

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5 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Simon Owens

As always, a big thanks to everyone for taking the time to read, watch and listen. In tomorrow’s edition I’m going to tell you about a great giveaway we’ve got in the works—perfect for the holidays.

Talk tomorrow!

Jeff

Most people never edit their videos, which is a shame, because all that great footage has gone to waste if no one ever sees it. 

So let’s change that today. 

No matter what video-editing software you use, the basics of editing are always the same. You turn raw footage into mini-masterpieces by trimming out the excess and leaving in the good stuff. Then yo…

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I told you recently about our contest with Blackmagic Camera. Make a video on their cool (free) smartphone app for iOS and Android, and qualify to potentially win an awesome $2,600 Blackmagic camera!

To which many people have said to me, “Great—now how do I use the app?”

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The Samsung Galaxy S series of phones have many, many camera features. Wondering what all those icons at the top of the screen are? Let me explain.

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So that’s the plan. So whether you’re new to smartphone photography, or just looking for …

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The Hidden Settings in the Gear Menu

You reach these Settings by opening the Camera App, and clicking the Gear icon at the top left of the menu. Now let’s go down the choices:

Scan documents and text

Yes. When you search for a photo of say, your favorite burger joint, and happen to have the sign in the photo,…

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A collection of Photowalks posts about smartphone photography.

Ultimate Guide to iPhone and Galaxy Photography

iPhone Camera Modes Explained

iPhone Hidden Camera Menu Settings Explained

Samsung Galaxy Camera Settings

Samsung Hidden Camera Menu Explained

Samsung Galaxy Photo Tips

iPhone vs. Galaxy?

Must-have Accessory

Live Pho…

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Back in 2015, with the iPhone 6, Apple introduced a new gimmick for iPhones: the ability to add 1.5 seconds of video to any photo, in what it called “Live Photos.”

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We get letters!

“Good afternoon! I'm an iPhone lifer. Last time we talked, I decided to stick with the iPhone SE (when the 2020 update came out). It has served me well for 3 1/2 years, still going strong. I was at a Braves game recently, sitting in 2nd level behind someone with a Samsung (Galaxy, new I think). Anyway, I was blown away by the pics. I have…

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Allow me….

Voice Control

When you hold up a recent Galaxy, have people in front of you and say “Cheese,” out loud, the camera shutter automatically goes off. Really!

How do you get to do this? Open the Galaxy camera app, click the gear icon at the top left and scroll down to “Shooting Methods.” Here, click on “Voice Commands,” where you have five cool choices that are only available if you click on the tab.

Now, you can snap the shutter hands free, by simply saying “Smile” “Cheese” “Capture” or “Shoot,” aloud and record videos by saying those two words.

What a cool feature. This is especially effective when making a Selfie shot and even better than my usual timer tip on the iPhone, the one where I put it on ten seconds to compose my shot, and countdown to the camera snap. Here, you frame it and all you have to do is now say one of those magic words. And you still get two seconds to prepare for the shutter snap. Thank you Samsung.

Floating Shutter

This simply lets you add a second shutter button anywhere on the screen, beyond the traditional right side. This comes in handy for selfie photographers who don’t use the timer or voice activation, and can now more easily reach for another way to snap the shutter. I don’t see any other reason for it beyond this, but I’d rather have it than not.

Show Palm

Another different way to snap a selfie is by showing your palm in the frame. Samsung gets the message and clicks the shutter for you. To click it on, go to the Settings in the Camera app, tap Shooting Methods and “Show Palm.”

Shot suggestions

Samsung jumps to the rescue to help you compose your shot. Simply put, you frame it like normal, and a little button will appear, telling you where to position the camera. My rule is that there are no rules, and if you want to take the shot from the left or right, that’s your subjective decision. But it doesn’t hurt to hear what Samsung thinks—the input could be valuable for many people. You can still snap the shutter any way you so choose.

Grid

This feature is also available on an iPhone, a nine square grid to help you line up and better compose your shot. This is found in the Camera Settings, under General. Just click on Grid Lines to make the lines appear.

Advanced Picture Options

If you’re constantly running out of space on your phone and want to take photos with a smaller file size, Samsung, similar to Apple, offers the ability to use the newer HEIF format vs. the more widely accepted JPG. Unlike Apple, Samsung offers this as a feature you have to turn on, by going to the Advanced Picture Options section of Settings.

You can also choose here to shoot in JPG or RAW or both at the same time.

Have fun with your Galaxy phone. The features noted are available on the Galaxy S23—I’m not sure if they’re available on previous editions, and Samsung doesn’t a good job online of spelling it out. My best advice is to check the Settings. Any questions, just reach out to me.

Thanks as always for taking the time to read and let me hear from you.

Apple touts how “water resistant” the iPhone is, good for droplets falling on the device without ruining it. But in its fine print, it cautions against taking the iPhone for a swim, a bath or anything like that.

I’ve taken the iPhone 14 Pro Max into fountains and under rainfalls, dunked it in a river during a rafting trip and in the water on the Narrows hike in Zion National Park without any issues.

I filmed my friends Zadie, Maia and Esme Kruglov swimming with their dad’s iPhone. I’ve shown the footage. People chalked it up to AI, or something like that. They didn’t believe it was real.

So I met up with the girls and their parents again recently at a Los Angeles backyard pool (more on that in a minute,) and gave them my iPhone 14 Pro Max to work with, to see how it would fare for a more extended time in the pool.

Would the iPhone recharge afterwards, or would the charging port fall victim to water damage? Were there any other issues that would come up?

The answers, dear readers, are all revealed in the latest video. And yes, the downsides are addressed as well. (Click the link to find out how we fared!)

Swimply

For this shoot, I tried getting into a public pool first, but in my area of Los Angeles, they all tended to be closed on the weekend (!$#@!!!) for swim meets.

That they were closed was probably for the better, as I needed to find a pool I could bring the girls to, without someone screaming at me to put the phones away—i.e., a no photography rule.

Luckily, there was an app for this. Swimply is an AirBNB of sorts for local pool rentals. I found one near the Kruglov’s home and was able to nab it for an hour, which is all I needed. For the purposes of this project, $50 an hour was rather pricey, but having the pool to ourselves made it a lot easier for me to have my subjects photographed without worry of getting other people in the shot or lifeguards yelling at us.

For the $50, we got private use of the pool, beach chairs and inflatables and private area to change. The service is available in hundreds of locations—way too numerous for me to even list highlights. Fees are set by the local pool owner.

SmugMug and Swimming

After the pool shoot, I came home and had all the photos and videos ready to work with for the edit—SmugMug’s app automatically uploads everything shot. In the case of my iPhone 14, it’s a wifi phone—I only have service on my iPhone 15 Pro Max—so everything uploaded when I got home, put the phone down and sat down to work a little later.

Unlike Big Tech, SmugMug doesn’t have storage limits on the uploads or send me nag messages that I’ve run out of room. I use the site as a virtual hard drive to back up everything, run my photo centric website and sell prints to clients. (Not the Kruglovs though—they get prints for free, for life!)

New Macs in the works

This shouldn’t exactly be a surprise, but Apple has some new, even more powerful Macintosh laptops in the works, per Bloomberg. The current flavor of the chip maxes at M3, but a new breed of AI-powered M4 chips are coming later this year to new 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pros, an iMac and the Mac Mini.

NAB!

Hey I’ll be speaking over the next few days at the NAB convention in Las Vegas. NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters) was always a place where local stations used to come every year to shop for new, huge TV cameras.

Now, reflecting the changes in the world, the show seems more tailored towards the “creator,” as in someone who runs around with their small cameras and films stuff for YouTube. (I think I know someone like that.)

Creator companies are out in force at NAB. I’ll be meeting with Insta360, which makes the tiny cool point of view cameras I use regularly (most prominently in my San Francisco Cable Car video) Black Magic, which has the best video app for the iPhone and software giant Adobe. And of course, who knows what will jump out at me as I walk the floor? You know I’ll fill you in!

If interested, here’s my speaking schedule:

• Sunday, 9 a.m. All about using the iPhone for professional productions.

• Tuesday: 12:25. Jim Louderback, the editor/publisher of the Creator Economy newsletter (and my recent PhotowalksTV guest for the Pacifica, California episode) will interview me about the Photowalks series, and what it’s like to be a solo creator.

• Wednesday: 10:15 a.m. The art of making solo productions around the world. As someone who filmed episodes in Japan, Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico and Canada, as well as 16 US states ( only 34 to go!) I certainly have a few thoughts on the subject.

NAB bound? Please come say hi.

Yes, this really happened

Dan Martland, a New York photographer, got this amazing shot of lightning striking Lady Liberty this week. He said on X that he was simply “lucky” in being at the right place at the right time.

O’side and Carlsbad

As many of you know, I really enjoyed exploring the North San Diego beach cities of Oceanside and Carlsbad recently. I penned a piece for the Visit Oceanside blog about the experience, which you can read here. And in case you missed it, the Carlsbad episode. Note—to see the amazing Flower Fields of Carlsbad, you only have a few weeks left. They’ll close for the season on Mother’s Day.

Pearla app promises more realistic iPhone photos

A new app, Pearla, touts a way for a more pro look than the sometimes oversaturated, over-processed iPhone image. You get manual exposure control, film simulations, custom buttons, The app offers a free 3 day trial, or rates of $2.99 monthly ot $14.99 for the year.

Microphone question

I just got a question from a teacher who wants to interview her students on an iPhone for a graduation project and needs a microphone for clearer sound. My recommendation: at $129, a handheld microphone from IK Multimedia called the iRig. Or lapel mics by Rode, the Wireless Go, $199. Both will be a massive improvement over the standard mic on the iPhone, which would pick up the student, other students, people walking by, a bus driving down the street—in other words, everything, while the dedicated mic will just get the subject.

Eclipse!

After all the words uttered about how easy it was to photograph the Eclipse on a phone, I’ve got to admit—it was very tough. Composing an image with the glasses on and a filter over the iPhone made it hard to see anything. And then once I did—meh? A bite out of the sun. Nice, but NASA and all the photographers with big lenses on their cameras did it way better.

I contend again that the best images from my phone, and that I saw on my social media feed, were the timelapses, videos and scene. Like this amazing video from Indianapolis, below.

We’ll try again in 2044!

Thanks as always to everyone for reading, watching and listening. Let me know what you thought of today’s edition with a reply. Have questions? I’m all ears.

Jeff

This little ne…

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“Why didn’t I know this?” asked Kim McCallister, the co-host of the Nikki Med…

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Question posed by Debbie this week: “Is there a good photo scanning app that you know of? I was just in the App Store and there are 1 million of them. My son wants me to scan some old photos for him and I was going to download some thing but I thought I’d see what you knew first. Thank you.”

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