From time to time, we’re graced with a new product that completely changes our workflow and makes our lives as photographers a hundred times easier than it was before. However, this luxury isn’t always the case, and we’re sometimes graced with some of the most ridiculous products imaginable.
Working at Fstoppers, I’m often searching the internet for new and exciting products to post here for everyone to see. However, new and exciting aren’t always the terms to use for my findings. Here are some of the most ridiculous findings I’ve came across.
1.) iStabilizer Monopod
Certainly handing your phone to one of the people on the streets and asking them to take a photo of you is out of the question, so it only makes sense to carry around an extendable pole to take all those selfies your heart can desire.
2.) DSLR Wheel of Filters
Do you like the luxury of shooting photos with a DSLR, but hate having your photos coming out crisp and looking nice? Well thank god for the DSLR Wheel of Filters then. Now you’re able to have all the inconveniences of carrying around a DSLR while still being able to take lackluster photos with awful tones and terrible sharpness.
3.) Photorito Lens Wrap
Have you ever wanted to protect your lenses while making them look like a burrito? Wait...you have? ...Really? Well, uh, I guess this is the gear for you then.
In all seriousness though, who thinks of a product like this, and how does it go into production without anyone saying “Hey, this is a terrible idea.”?
4.) iPad Telephoto Lens
If you've shot a wedding in the last couple years, you've inevitably ran into the iPad photographer. That's right, people are actually using the cameras on their iPads out in public, and usually ruining a photo or two at each wedding in the process. Now they've only added to the problem with a telephoto lens attachment for the iPad, because purchasing a cheap point and shoot camera wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.
Not only is this product ridiculous, but it also openly admits to “add[ing] just a bit of vignetting and a dreamy lo-fi look.” That’s just clever talk for “Makes your photos look bad."
[Photojojo $25 Available for the iPad and iPad Mini]
5.) Manfrotto KLYP LED Lights for iPhone
Stop. Just stop. No one is using their iPhones for professional quality video productions, so there is no need for products like this to encourage such a market. If you are using your iPhone for professional video productions, perhaps its time for you to retire from the business. Don't get me wrong, the camera on many cell phones these days are great, but the functionality of them is limited, and certainly there are better options out there to use. Lets just use our iPhone cameras like they're intended, for sexy Snapchats, and silly Vines. Why is a tripod/monopod company making LEDs anyway?
[Manfrotto/Amazon $69.88-$119.88]
These are just a couple products I've ran into recently, and certainly there are more out there. If you know of a ridiculous product, feel free to post about it below in the comments.
Hardly products for real photography... iPhoneography is not photography.
Well said- I completely agree, it baffles me that it's even a category.
Phones are for quick photos, random, in the moment sort of like those
small disposable cameras used to catch those family/funny moments in
everyday life and should be treated as such. I do apologise if anyone
thinks differently but that's basically all phone photos are.
that's what "they" said when 35mm came in. Just saying
or the whole toy camera craze.. to each their own..
I have Dslr, point and shoot, and iphone, and garmin gps unit with 5 mpix camera..
when not using my DSLR i never use my point shoot my iphone takes better pictures most of the time then point and shoot
Ha! Or what painters said when the camera was invented.
Those iPhones are winning a lot of money in photography contests these days...
This is more of a statement about contests than it is about iPhones.
I agree these products are trivial. But "iphoneography is not photography" is silly. For all the talk all over this site and the rest of the web about "its not about the gear you use..." there sure is a lot of hate for people using a camera that happens to be a phone as well.
Iphoneography shouldn't even be a word! We're not canonographers? or nikographers? Maybe if we work hard and make lots of money one day we can be hasselblographers.
Its all photography. They all produce photographs.
Film guys knock on dslr users, dslr users roll there eyes at the film guys and knock on iphone users, Iphone users bask in the glory of hundreds of thousands of followers and no back problems in 20 years....
I just don't understand why people feel like iphones are taking away from their craft. You don't have the same clients. At least if you do and you talk like this you should be looking for bigger fish to fry.
To each his own obviously. But damn.
You couldn't have worded this more perfectly! I completely agree.
Exactly!
Said a crotchety old geezer who has probably been photographing film for 30 years and doesn't like those "new fangled gadgets".
Seriously, piss off. The best camera is one that you have with you. What you said is what every photographer in history has said when a new medium or format has arrived. B&W film users knocked on Color film. Analog knocked on digital. And guess what? Every single one of them was just as wrong as you are now.
Not to log ago, someone said the same about digital photography.
It was true then.
How dare you call the burrito lens wrap ridiculous!
I know its your must have product, Trevor...but it just doesn't make the cut in my eyes...
Great! Now I want a burrito.
Think of the clandestine restaurant photography you could do!
If it actually held the body too. ;)
Well since film is about 98% dead (and i shoot often on my Holga & Diana F+ film cameras) a DSLR Holga adapter alternative is nice. Sorry I'm not sorry.
You.....monster.
In all seriousness, I'm glad it works well for you, I just see the photo of it and cringe.
Perfect. Great finds guys. I already have the ACME DIY Tornado kit and the ACME DIY Surgery kit- these will be welcome additions to my collection of must have items.
For reporters doing quick videos from a location, the video lights make a lot of sense.
Wow These are some winners (Or should I have said wieners _oh wait that is the people who buy this stuff!)
most of those are meant for the new Photo Dept at the Chicago Sun Times
Actually The tortilla one isn't bad for hiding the camera if you live in a place like I do in which Cameras attract authorities and arrests (Egypt *hint hint*)
I think the firs one's not so ridiculous and actually makes sense. When my wife and I travel, our usual problem is how to have our pictures taken together. We won't entrust our unlocked phone with all important information and contact in it to a total stranger who could easily run away.
I am 70 and have been a professional photographer since 1965. Had the Camera 35 cover and a story about me in 1967. Not famous then or now but I do know a few things. 1-Zach Sutton is not funny. 2-The Stealth iPole rocks. Nobody gives a s**t about what professional photographers think. I have a phone with a camera, a Lumix ZS15 that always goes with me and a bag of old and new professional equipment that sits on a shelf until someone pays me enough to take it down. Check out http://www.venueview.com/
But when you are at Serendipity and want to show your grandson how cool grandpa is, you whip out the iPole and take his picture from above the Tiffany shades. It is a very useful gadget. Get one! http://goo.gl/acwgJU
You found these on the Photojojo site, didn't you. ;)
Sigh, Fstoppers has run out of things to post about like Petapixel.
OMG - I WILL get one of those Burrito lens covers for sure :)) I think it's a great idea tbh. I sure would make as a great and funny gift for a photographer.
I can't believe that the Hasselbad Lunar and/or Stellar didn't make this list.
I admit it . . . I want one of those lens wraps.
Best post I've read in a while - you had me laughing from (selfie) iPhone to (LED) iPhone!
I don't know, that burrito lens wrap makes me crave some Chipotle.
I liked the Burrito lens cover. If you are tossing a lens into an unpadded bag, makes sense to have it protected in some way.
Isn't #1 the same thing as a Quik Pod? I have one and I take with me on every vacation. Yes, I admit it. I own and use one.
the burrito cover may be useful to detract burglars. unless they're hungry.
Anything to do with an 'i' anything is pretty well stupid. The whole iPhone photography thing is just slightly off the chain. I've had people show up at events I'm covering with just an iPhone, and then clammer on about how " it's all anyone would ever need.. " anyone?
I have been making video edits with my iphone for awhile now and as much as you knock it, Id love to have an led panel for nighttime skateboard shots
"the functionality of them are limited"
Proofreading?
Regarding the light kit for iPhone video... I wouldn't write off the iPhone for professional video just yet.
As you noted, the camera in many mobile phones is excellent. Already the
iPhone has been used by award-winning still photojournalists in the
field... Damon Winter of the New York Times, for example.
Currently, the iPhone is being tested in various news-gathering organizations. Its
small size and relatively inexpensive cost compared to state-of-the-art
video cameras -- plus its presence in many journalists' pockets -- make
it ideal for covering both assignments and unforeseen events. The best
camera is the one you have with you.
What the built-in iPhone camera lacks in functionality, my app VideoProCamera provides...
separate exposure/focus locks;
speed-controlled zoom;
and, most important for professional results, the ability to listen to sound while recording video.
High-quality sound separates professional from amateur video. Poor sound makes
watching even superb images insufferable -- regardless of how high-end
the camera was that made them.
Those professionals you see wearing headphones aren't listening to music while working... they are listening for problems such as background noise that drowns out subjects' voices (cue to attach a mic to the subject); scratchy sound orno sound at all (cue to check the cables to microphones); irritating noise such as a refrigerator compressor going on and off in the next
room (cue to unplug the fridge)... and more.
Also, inexpensive wireless Bluetooth mics connected to iPhones make remote mics affordable
even for average users. As the equipment and technologies continue to improve and decrease in cost, the game is changing... and adding the functionality of live sound monitoring to the iPhone already has raised the stakes in that game.
So... I haven't tested the LED light kit, but I know we are entering a video revolution in which, I predict, the iPhone will play a key role.
Ken Kobre
Author, Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach; Videojournalism:
Multimedia Storytelling; Developer, VideoProCamera; Professor and
Photojournalist/Videojournalist for 35+ years
Haters gonna hate. Now I wanna get the LED light mount for my iPhone because the flash on iPhones are truly horrible, and iphones can make decent video... and I guess they never heard about Paul Wall making a music video entirely with an iPhone. This article is being super hipster, as in when they say they hate it... they really LOVE it!
I wonder if people where saying the same thing with the first leica was made or the browny came on the market.
No.
I'm not believing that I read this > "No one is using their iPhones for professional quality video productions, so there is no need for products like this to encourage such a market. If you are using your iPhone for professional video productions, perhaps its time for you to retire from the business." - What do you guys think about this Burberry's video that was shot w/ the iPhone 5s ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iL5ceRxp4A