Recently, a very interesting contraption was released: The OWLE Bubo, a video handle for the iPhone.
If you shot video with the iPhone in the past, you most likely noticed that it is hard to shoot smooth and stable video. On major reason for that is the unnatural way you hold the iPhone while shooting video. The OWLE addresses this shortcoming by providing a handle that is held with both hands. In addition, by making the unit more hefty than the iPhone, it is adding to the stability of the device, and thus your iPhone videos.
The OWLE Bubo is constructed of anodized billet aluminum. It includes a high quality Vericorder microphone, an aluminum .45x wide-angle/macro combo lens, a rubber iPhone case and an instruction booklet with recommended apps. To use it, simply slip your iPhone into the rubber casing with the iPhone camera in the upper left hand corner and you are ready to go.
NPR all tech considered reviewed the unit in a recent blog post. Not only did they like it, but their side-by-side test videos showed smoother and better looking videos when shot with the OWLE.
To learn more about the OWLE Bubo or to buy one, visit the OWLE store.
Price: $99.95 introductory price.
If you take your photos with a point&shoot or a DSLR that takes SD cards, you might want to check out Ken Rockwell’s post about up- and download speeds of SD cards.
His conclusions:
- If you buy SD cards, stick with Lexar
or SanDisk.
- Save money by buying the slow cards – they perform not that much slower than the fast cards, but cost much less.
Fortunately for me, my DSLR takes Compact Flash which can be much faster than SD cards. Personally, I use Lexar and SanDisk CF cards.
Too shy to ask a stranger to take a picture of you in San Francisco? Afraid to give your camera to someone because they might take off with it?
xShot 2.0 to the Rescue! Simply mount your camera on the xShot, set the timer on your camera to 3 or 10 seconds, extend the xShot and wait for the timer to go off. It is that easy. Sure, it looks dorky, but if it works for you, why not?
Of course, this product can also be used to extend the reach, if you want to take pictures from above and over all the other people standing in front of you. Or mount the xShot iPhone Case on it, so you can take your shots not with a camera, but an iPhone.
Price: $29.95, Amazon: $19.75
The list of “iTripods” (see our reviews of the Blur Tripod, the Zgrip and the PED) is growing and that’s a good thing. A relatively new entry is the xShot Phone Case.
Similar to the other iTripods, the xShot consists of an iPhone case for the 3G and 3GS, which has an integrated 1/4 inch thread to mount a tripod or monopod. A small tripod is included, but the case can be mounted on any tripod that has a 1/4 inch screw. Simply slip your iPhone into the chrome-colored plastic case, set it up in landscape mode and you are ready to go.
It is noteworthy that the case does not allow you to rotate to portrait mode. While that should not be a problem when taking video, it might be one when snapping photos. Also noteworthy is the fact that the case does not come with a time-delayed photo app, but you can easily use any of the free or paid-for timer iPhone apps to time-delay your photos so you yourself can be in the picture as well.
Price: $29.95, from xShot.
