If you’re an avid iPhone photographer feeling a little limited by your phone’s camera features, Californian lens manufacturer Sandmarc has you covered. 

Sure, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has the latest and greatest camera tech Apple has to offer, but there’s always a natural limit to the photographic potential of smartphones thanks to their compactness, which limits the size and quality of lenses. Smartphone cameras also have to be great multi-purpose cameras, meaning their lenses lack the special abilities and characteristics of, for example, Macro or Anamorphic lenses. 

By attaching one of the best iPhone lenses, you can increase the optical capabilities of your smartphone and expand your creative horizons for a fraction of the price of a full interchangeable lens mirrorless camera.

Sandmarc’s lenses are some of the best on the market, boasting stellar optical and build quality with very few drawbacks. Find out more in our full Sandmarc iPhone lenses review.

Editor’s note: we’ve currently only tested Sandmarc’s 58mm Telephoto and 25mm Macro lenses. We’ll add to this review when we’ve tested their other lenses, so make sure to stay locked to Tom’s Guide in the meantime.

Sandmarc iPhone lens review: Price & availability

Sandmarc sent us its 58mm 2x Telephoto lens ($129) and 25mm Macro lens ($99) for the iPhone 15 Pro. These are cheaper than the corresponding lenses from rival manufacturer Moment ($150 for Tele; $140 for Macro).

Sandmarc stocks a wide variety of lenses for the iPhone 15 Pro, including Wide, Anamorphic, Telephoto Macro, 6x Telephoto Ultra Zoom and Microscope. The company also stocks lenses for every iPhone model back to the iPhone 7. You can buy all its lenses directly from . Unlike Moment, these lenses will only fit iPhones.

We also tested out Sandmarc’s black iPhone 15 Pro case ($39), which features screw threads around the camera lenses to ensure easy and perfect fitment, as well as the Polarizing filter ($79).

Sandmarc iPhone lens review: Design

The Sandmarc iPhone lenses I tested were built very well, featuring metal lens housings and threads. The Telephoto lens was quite heavy, but this didn’t cause any issues when it was attached to my iPhone. The 25mm Macro lens is small by comparison, but also has a surprising weight to it given its size. Far from making the lenses cumbersome, this weight adds to their premium feel — good lenses shouldn’t feel too light.

I would definitely recommend buying one of Sandmarc’s cases alongside your lenses. Each lens comes with a clip on mount, but this gets in the way of the screen and can also slip around in use. The case holds everything firmly, exactly where it should be, which will be especially useful if using one of the bulkier telephoto models.

Each lens comes with a plastic lens and thread cap, and with its own zip-up case for secure transport. The cases are too big for pockets but each lens also comes with a smaller felt pouch for keeping in pockets. Strangely, the lens pouch for the larger tele lens was the same size as the one for the much smaller macro lens. This meant that the telephoto lens only just fit and was a pain to get in and out.

Sandmarc lens review: Telephoto lens performance

I was impressed by the performance of Sandmarc’s 58mm Telephoto lens. Firstly, thanks to its 2x magnification, it’s a great way to get extra reach optically to get closer to your subjects. In the gallery below, the first image is shot using the iPhone’s main lens at 1.5x magnification with the Sandmarc lens fitted. The second image was taken using the iPhone’s main lens at 1.5x magnification without the Sandmarc lens fitted, and is zoomed much further out.

Image 1 of 2

The benefit of using optical zoom (i.e. using lenses) instead of relying wholly on the iPhone’s digital zoom is that optical zoom results in a sharper image for the same magnification. The first image in the gallery below is the same photo as above, taken with the iPhone’s main lens at 1.5x magnification with the Sandmarc lens fitted. The second image is taken without the Sandmarc lens, this time using the iPhone’s digital zoom to match the framing. The Sandmarc photo is much sharper in the centre — especially noticeable in the detail of the black cast iron gazebo.

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When pairing the Sandmarc lens with the iPhone’s telephoto lens, things get a little less impressive, although the Sandmarc lens is still better overall. At moderate digital zooms, the iPhone tele lens actually delivers similar results to the Sandamarc lens. As you can see in this gallery below (Sandmarc image first, iPhone digital zoom second), there’s very little difference in sharpness in the center, although the Sandmarc probably comes out on top (only just), as the “Keep Dry’ writing on the cast iron gazebo is slightly more defined.

Image 1 of 2

As you increase the digital zoom on the iPhone, though, sharpness starts to drop dramatically. The Sandmarc telephoto lens allows you to use less digital zoom to achieve the same frame, meaning sharper images that retain more of the detail. In the images below, the Sandmarc image (first) is much sharper than the iPhone image (second) which is at its maximum 15x digital zoom. The decorations on the gazebo are difficult to make out on the iPhone photo, but still easily discernible on the Sandmarc image. I prefer the higher level of contrast in the iPhone photo, though.

Image 1 of 2

I also liked the characteristics of the Sandmarc lens. Demonstrated in the first image below, it generates pleasant out of focus backgrounds with round bokeh.

That said, in certain images, I noticed a fair bit of artifacting, including purple and yellow color fringing from lateral chromatic aberration. I have highlighted this in the second image below.

Image 1 of 2

It’s important to remember, though, that this is not a $2,000 lens for one of the best mirrorless cameras — iPhone lenses like this are a way to jerry rig better performance from a camera system that was never designed to use them, so you can’t expect optically perfect results.

Sandmarc lens review: Macro lens performance

The Sandmarc 25mm Macro lens is a lot of fun, although as is generally the case with wide-angle macro lenses, the use cases are fairly minimal. A wide angle macro lens demands you get so close to your subject that you often block out all the light, and that’s the case here — the Sandmarc lens will only focus when you’re around 1-2cm away from the subject, at which point you’re casting everything in shadow, even if you’re using artificial lighting.

It’s precisely for this reason that the macro lenses of choice for professionals are usually a telephoto focal length, such as 100mm. A longer focal length allows you to keep some distance from your subject so you aren’t casting it in shadow.

The depth of field using the Sandmarc macro lens is also so thin that, unless your subject is totally flat towards the lens, only a sliver of it will be in focus. Again, having to get so close means you’ll often have to tilt the iPhone slightly to let in light, meaning you can’t get much in focus. You can use the iPhone’s digital zoom to get a bit further away from the subject, but we’re talking a centimeter or two of extra space at most.

When the conditions are bright enough, though, and you can get a decent angle, the 25mm macro lens produces some cool results. I took some photos of tree bark in my local park, and of the milled metal dials on my Fujifilm X-T5, and was very happy with how they looked. They’re certainly a lot better than using the iPhone’s Macro mode.

Sandmarc didn’t send us the 100mm macro lens, but that would definitely be the one to go for instead of the 25mm, for the reasons outlined above.

Sandmarc lens review: Polarizing filter performance

The Sandmarc circular polarizing filter is a clip-on lens filter for altering the colors and impact of your shots.

It works, darkening the sky in the image below. However, the amount of polarization is relatively small and, in the image below at least, a similar effect could be achieved by using the contrast and temperature sliders in the iPhone’s photo editing tools. For a hefty $79 — or most of the price of a lens — I don’t think it’s worth it.

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The Polarizer filter is also clip-on only, and annoyingly doesn’t work in conjunction with the Sandmarc iPhone case. This means it’ll always take up some screen space, and you’ll need to remove your Sandmarc case to get it on.

Verdict

Sandmarc’s iPhone lenses performed very well in our testing and are a great way to add to your iPhone’s existing capabilities. They won’t completely revolutionize your photography like investing in a mirrorless cameras, and they aren’t perfect optically. However, they still outperform the iPhone’s standard internal lenses in most situations, are built well and won’t break the bank. Sandmarc’s iPhone lenses are definitely worth buying if you’re a keen iPhone photographer.

What do outré Pink Flamingos director John Waters and poetic R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe have in common?

Both have a side hustle as photographers. And both have visited Atlanta to talk about their artistic vision and share this under-the-radar side of their creative output. For 26 years, creatives like Waters and Stipe (along with such photo luminaries as Annie Leibovitz, Gregory Crewdson, and Larry Sultan) have come to Atlanta at the behest of one of the city’s formative arts organizations: Atlanta Celebrates Photography.

Founded in 1998, the organization’s goal is to promote Atlanta’s importance as a photo-centric town. “It has become an integral part of a pretty strong photography community,” says Joe Massey, an arts patron and early supporter of Atlanta Celebrates Photography through his family’s H.B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust.

Atlanta Celebrates Photography is best known for its annual monthlong photography festival in October. “The festival allowed people from all walks of life, no matter what they do, who have a love for photography to discover Jackson Fine Art, the High Museum of Art, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, all these places that they may not normally go,” says Amy Miller, who helmed the organization for 14 years. “That was one of the most important aspects of the festival.”

But, like so many arts organizations dealing with a changing funding landscape (as in, less money to go around from grant sources), Atlanta Celebrates Photography has recently reinvented itself, moving away from its focus on the signature festival. (The festival will remain, but with a shorter run.)

Rebranding as the Atlanta Center for Photography, the reimagined organization will feature a more year-round approach. That mission is anchored in its first brick-and-mortar gallery space, on buzzy Edgewood Avenue across the street from Staplehouse. Large windows on a busy street make the tiny, 300-square-foot ACP Project Lab the perfect venue for a driving city, a beacon for rotating exhibitions of photo-based work, including that of recent Yale MFA grad Davion Alston, whose solo show exhibits through April 27.

And there’s more to come, says the organization’s new executive director, Lindsey O’Connor. She has held positions at the High Museum of Art and New York City’s Whitney and Guggenheim Museums. O’Connor says audiences should look for further expansion by the ACP in 2024; the organization supports an emerging artist fellowship and recently earned W.A.G.E. certification to ensure fair wages for their artists. She hopes to soon offer artists’ studios, community education classrooms, and perhaps even a photo printing lab for community members.

The shift in focus comes after some organizational flux following Miller’s 2021 departure. She is now the director of institutional advancement for another beleaguered Atlanta arts institution, Art Papers, which has announced plans to sunset in 2026. “Post-pandemic realities for arts organizations, particularly in the Southeast, are dire,” says Miller.

Massey agrees. “Growing any arts organization, any nonprofit arts organization outside of the Woodruff Arts Center, it’s hard,” he says.

O’Connor understands the financial challenges that small and midsized arts organizations face. “But it’s not like there’s not money here,” she says. “I try not to dwell on the scarcity and to really focus on the potential for abundance.”

This article appears in our March 2024 issue.

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For enthusiasts of photography within the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), an exciting opportunity has emerged. The 2024 IAM Photography Contest is officially calling for entries, inviting members to showcase their talents by capturing compelling images of their Union peers in various settings. This initiative not only celebrates the artistic abilities of IAM members but also aims to strengthen the sense of community and solidarity within the Union.

How to Participate

Participation in the contest is straightforward and accessible to all IAM members who have a passion for photography. Whether you own a professional camera or prefer to use your smartphone, you are encouraged to submit your photos. The contest seeks images that depict IAM members at work, participating in union functions, or engaging in community service activities. These photographs should tell a story, highlighting the essence of unionism or showcasing members’ dedication to their work and community. Interested participants can find the official call letter and entry forms here. The deadline for submissions is set for May 24, 2024, leaving ample time for members to plan, shoot, and submit their best photographs.

Prizes and Recognition

Aside from the joy of capturing and sharing moments of camaraderie and dedication, participants stand a chance to win attractive cash prizes. More importantly, winning entries will be featured in the 2024 IAM Calendar, providing an excellent platform for photographers to gain visibility within the Union and beyond. This recognition not only celebrates the individual talents of IAM members but also serves to document and disseminate the diverse experiences and contributions of Union members across various workplaces and communities.

Why It Matters

The IAM Photography Contest goes beyond a mere competition; it is an initiative that fosters a deeper connection among Union members. Through photography, members can explore and express their perspectives, share their experiences, and highlight the solidarity that defines the Union’s strength. It is an opportunity to visualize the everyday heroism, commitment, and unity of IAM members, serving as a testament to the pivotal role they play in their workplaces and communities.

This contest invites IAM members to look through their lenses with intention, capturing moments that might otherwise go unnoticed but are integral to the narrative of the Union and its members. As the submission deadline approaches, the anticipation builds not only for the announcement of the winners but also for the stories that these photographs will tell. These images are bound to inspire, provoke thought, and foster a greater appreciation for the diversity and unity within the IAM. Through this contest, the IAM not only celebrates the art of photography but also the spirit and resilience of its members.

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Double Click: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines by Carol Kino

What’s It About?

A riveting dual biography of the McLaughlins—identical twin sisters who became groundbreaking photographers in New York during the glamorous magazine golden age of the 1930s and 40s.

The beautiful, chic McLaughlin sisters were born in Brooklyn in 1919. Within five months their father died of influenza, leaving the twins in the clutches of their over-protective mother Kitty. 

But Kitty was resourceful. She belonged to an Irish Catholic clan that lived in picturesque Wallingford, Connecticut, and wasted no time moving back home. Consequently, Kathryn and Frances McLaughlin, who became acclaimed celebrity photographers during the postwar era, grew up in fairly sedate suburbia. They would not stay put, however.

The twins in Wallingford at about age ten. Franny is on the left striking a pose, while Fuffy holds the camera, ca. 1929. (Copyright © 2023 Estate of Anna O’Rourke)

In Double Click: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines, art critic Carol Kino conjures the society in which the twins came of age. Turning 18 in 1937, they returned to Brooklyn to attend college at Pratt Institute. There they lived with Kitty yet managed to have ringside seats at the transformation of theater, art, music, and literature as modernism and bohemianism pervaded New York City. 

Photography As An Art Form

Since 1900, photography had increasingly been recognized as an art form, thanks in large part to the photographer and entrepreneur Alfred Stieglitz. The Museum of Modern Art began its collection in 1930 and would establish a Photography Department in 1940. During these years, photography emerged as an alternative to illustration in books and magazines. It was happening!

Kathryn, now calling herself “Fuffy,” and Frances, dubbed “Franny,” had been given a fine German camera as a high school graduation gift. One year after they started at Pratt, the school installed a photography lab in the basement of a campus building.

The twins were off and running. They photographed the geometry of the city, streetscapes, each other, and friends. Meanwhile, they became acquainted with surrealism, Dadaism, and Bauhaus design; movements brought to the U.S. by artists and architects who fled Europe in the 1930s. 

At the New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village, they studied with Yasuo Kuniyoshi, a Japanese émigré whose paintings of pensive women would inspire the twins’ fashion photography. Franny also pursued painting at the Art Students League with Reginald Marsh, whose colorful work portrayed the underbelly of urban life.       

From War to Fashion and Beyond

Armed with increasingly sophisticated cameras, Fuffy and Franny launched themselves into a world transitioning from depression to war. The two women had vibrant personalities, pluck, and boundless energy, demonstrated by their imaginative entries to dozens of magazine contests.  

Perhaps most important, the twins rode the wave of consumer culture which never slowed down. During the Nazi occupation of Paris, New York became the capital of the fashion world. Designers featured “the American style,” sportswear, new fabrics and silhouettes. They even influenced women’s military uniforms. Fuffy and Franny were present at just the right moment.  

The twins started their careers as “girl Fridays,” assistants to well-known women photographers like Toni Frissell and editors like Margaret Hockaday—Double Click is so packed with names that the author has included a cast of characters appendix. 

In 1943, while the twins were still living with Kitty, Franny made a fantastic leap from mail order catalogues (Montgomery Ward, Spiegel) to Conde Nast, publisher of Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Mademoiselle, where she would flourish for the next 23 years.

Franny and Fuffy (with spyglass) on Jimmy’s property in Montauk, soon after he purchased it. They wear matching sundresses by Claire McCardell, ca. 1944. (Copyright © 2023 Estate of James Abbe Jr.)

In this highly competitive field, Fuffy could not help feeling “privately devastated,” Kino writes. She decided to freelance, working out of the studio of Jim Abbe Jr., a brilliant Harper’s Bazaar photographer. Fuffy’s greatest opportunity came in 1945 when Charm Magazine’s new editor, Jane Troxell, began to use her work almost exclusively. After the war, Fuffy and Jim Abbe flew to Las Vegas for his divorce and their wedding. Fuffy’s career eventually dwindled as she reared four children and a stepson. The sisters both died in 2014.

It appears to be Franny’s work that has endured. She developed a “filmic” approach to photography, once explaining that — poised to snap a photograph — she always asked herself: “Who is she? Where is she? What is she doing there?” Franny wanted each picture to tell a story.

Like her sister, Franny married a photographer: Leslie Gill, one of the pioneers of modern still life photography. The author underscores that Franny, Leslie, and their circle were encouraged and supported by innovators like Alex Liberman, a Russian Jewish refugee who became Vogue’s art director; Cipe Pineles, the first woman art director of a mass market magazine (Seventeen and Charm); and Alexey Brodovitch, Harper’s Bazaar’s Russian émigré art director. Double Click bursts with enthusiasm and excitement just like the McLaughlin twins. Kino has given us a double biography and evocation of a remarkable time in American life, business, and art. 

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Publish Date: 3/5/2024

Genre: Historical, Nonfiction

Author: Carol Kino

Page Count: 432 pages

Publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 9781982113049

It’s a shame the Vivo X100 Pro won’t find itself in the hands of many mobile photographers in North America because it raises eyebrows for all the right reasons.

If you’re familiar with the brand, you know Vivo packs its flagship phones with excellent hardware and many features in the camera app. It really does venture into the kind of territory that makes you think its phones are more cameras that happen to be phones, an impression the X100 Pro falls under by the results it delivers. The collaborative merits with Zeiss prove themselves yet again, producing a camera hardware and software combination that vies for the top of the industry.

Vivo X100 Pro: Design and Build

“Professional Photography” still runs across the top of the device, as is always the case with Vivo’s devices, just as the Zeiss logo sits squarely in the middle of the rear camera module. The rear camera array is a sizable difference over the previous X90 Pro, and there are reasons for that, not least of which is including a Type 1.0-inch image sensor for the main lens. Changes to other lenses also contribute to the extra space needed to squeeze everything in, but as is, the X100 Pro looks more like the Xiaomi flagships we’ve seen lately.

It also sports the same display as the previous X90 Pro, so the 6.78-inch AMOLED delivers the same resolution (2800 x 1260), peak brightness (1300 nits), and an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate. Unfortunately, that also means curved edges are back, which you can offset by slipping on the included silicone case that provides some grip to the sides for better handling when snapping photos.

Overall, Vivo didn’t change much about the design, save for doing away with the vegan leather back in exchange for a matte finish with a glitter effect in direct sunlight. While negligibly heavier than its predecessor, the X100 Pro retains the exact dimensions and placements, making it a very familiar feel from one generation to another. It also supports wireless charging and has IP68 protection for additional durability.

Vivo chose to stick with a MediaTek processor, equipping this phone with the Dimensity 9300, a 4nm chipset that also has the capability of running certain Generative AI features I saw at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They weren’t available during my testing, but Vivo could integrate them if it chose to anytime in 2024. Storage and memory start at 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, though variants can go as high as 16GB of RAM or 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Vivo X100 Pro: Camera Features

Vivo brings back the Type 1 (13.1 x 9.8mm) Sony IMX989 sensor for its main 50-megapixel wide camera (23mm equivalent) with f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilization, dual pixel and laser autofocus, and 1.6µm pixels. On paper, the main lens is exactly the same as the X90 Pro, even down to the pixel binning that shoots at 12.5-megapixels by default. For full resolution, you would need to use High Resolution mode.

Where things start to differ is in the telephoto lens, a 50-megapixel OmniVision OV64B image sensor with 4.3x optical zoom (100mm equivalent) and f/2.5 aperture. There is a bit of a catch here, though. Vivo claims it’s a 1/2.0-inch sensor, yet the actual imaging area it uses is more like a 1/2.51-inch, but there may be a reasonable explanation. The OV64B is usually a 64-megapixel sensor — at least in other phones using it — so the crop factor coincides with the center of the sensor. It’s also part of a periscope system and Zeiss floating elements design that enables steadier focusing from both greater and shorter distances. Get close enough to a subject with it, and macro mode kicks in.

Interestingly, the 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera (15mm equivalent) uses the Samsung JN1 image sensor, moving away from the Sony IMX663 in the previous device. It’s got an f/2.0 aperture along with better autofocus across its 110-degree field of view.

Zeiss’ T* Coating covers the entire rear array to keep things consistent in reducing glare and lens flare, among other things. Key to the entire camera performance is the new V3 Imaging Chip, Vivo’s own silicon for managing how the image signal processor works on this phone. It’s designed to improve results for portrait and low-light images, though the company claims all images should look better because of it, including video. The previous V2 chip placed emphasis on reducing the shake and blur in photos with movement, which Vivo now applies to all three rear lenses.

Vivo X100 Pro: Software Features

The Zeiss Natural Color profile remains an option for many of the modes available in the camera app, along with Vivid when you want some pop in the image, and Textured, which uses a warmer white balance and increases the sharpness to draw out textures in subjects. Textured works well enough for architecture, landscapes, or plants, but the Zeiss profile is still the best of the three all around.

Vivo offers the same shooting modes it usually does, only with a new 4K Cinematic Portrait video mode that lets you adjust bokeh, add LUTs, and (in somewhat troubling fashion) add beauty adjustments. While the Zeiss bokeh effects from other modes aren’t in this one, the entire mode itself is effectively a Zeiss creation where the LUTs and styles clearly come from the German brand. Once captured, you can tinker with the portrait effect later on in Albums.

Then there’s Snapshot for still photos, a personal favorite of mine because it focuses on freezing movement. The downside is it often ramps up ISO to compensate for the faster shutter speeds it shoots with, especially when zooming at 2x or 4.3x. Snapshot essentially replaces the older Sports mode, which is also more aptly named now because it applies to all movements, not just anything related to sporting events.

The litany of modes available leave any mobile photographer plenty to work with. Even afterward, some of the editing options in the Albums app aren’t bad at all, opening up some versatility in case you want to make quick adjustments, re-do the bokeh on a portrait photo, or add effects to make it livelier.

Vivo X100 Pro: Image Quality

Main camera

The X100 Pro captures excellent photos in a variety of conditions, which, at least to me, indicates a steady approach that’s working for Vivo. Dynamic range shows some improvement this time, driven by software upgrades that produce good balance in day and night photos. Better sharpening algorithms that don’t overdo it are a welcome sight — yet another indicator Vivo is figuring out how to best apply Zeiss’ processing to all images.

Still, some nuances are worth noting, as in how Photo mode sometimes outshines Night mode for low-light images, simply because the latter overtly processes an image more. When capturing a decently-lit scene or subject, I found shooting it with the regular Photo mode often avoided the sharpening and dynamic range excesses that sometimes happen with Night mode.

Equally impressive is the way the software handles exposed light sources and reflections. Rather than clipping or blown-out highlights, the X100 Pro decreases luminance to such a degree that the photo looks more natural. It’s not only the best I’ve seen from Vivo, but arguably better than any other phone brand to this point. It’s also easy to spot in scenes with windows or brighter skies, where the phone routinely brings out details without ramping up exposure in other parts of the photo.

To make matters even more appealing, this happens regardless of which profile you use. So, whether you shoot with Zeiss, Vivid, or Textured, the X100 Pro treats light and dynamic range the same, meaning you don’t sacrifice a key pillar of the camera array when switching between them.

Telephoto

The X90 Pro treated the telephoto lens a lot more like a prime for portraits, but that’s not the case here. This is a really versatile telephoto shooter that offers one of the best optical distances I’ve seen on a phone thus far — at least if we’re talking a 100mm equivalent. Colors are still rich and you get a lot of detail without noise or chromatic aberration setting in. I even used it in Snapshot mode to capture action scenes, plus portrait and macro, leaving me impressed with how good it was in a variety of settings. You can even use it in High Resolution and Pro modes for higher-res snaps when you want them.

Portrait

The portrait mode is among the best you will find on any smartphone right now. Vivo has always been good at it, but the results feel much closer to Zeiss optics than ever before. Moreover, results are more forgiving to where light is coming from, helping deliver really pleasing bokeh and retaining good detail, like a dog’s fur or the textures of facial hair and eyebrows, for instance.

Portrait mode offers five focal lengths: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 100mm. The main camera handles the first four, while the telephoto handles the 100mm focal length. As always, there are Zeiss bokeh effects to choose from, with B-Speed being the newest one to bring the total to seven. Vivo streamlined the options, so you can now choose both the effect and bokeh strength more easily. In addition, tap the lens icon, and you get a portrait lens package with set focal lengths you can quickly select. Wisely, Vivo even adds an explainer for each one via the ‘i’ icon above.

Pro and High Resolution

Vivo missed an opportunity to sweeten the whole deal by letting users shoot in RAW at full resolution. The X100 Pro won’t do it, leaving only pixel-binned 12.5-megapixel images in RAW or 14-bit SuperRAW. It’s unfortunate because the manual controls work well, and it’s more than possible to get good shots in Pro mode. It would be nice if there were a way to utilize manual controls for High Resolution images, just like Xiaomi offers on its phones (and not just the flagship ones). As is, the X100 Pro gives you the not-so-appealing choice between pixel binned RAW with all manual controls, or full resolution JPEGs without any real granular control over composition.

As per usual, bracketing and interval shooting are options, along with Zeiss’ horizon correction to straighten out buildings and monuments in the frame. There’s still no focus peaking, despite a metering EV and histogram available in the settings.

Special modes

Vivo’s Long Exposure mode has always been a treat, and that carries on here. I mentioned Snapshot earlier, and that’s easily one of the highlights for the X100 Pro because of how simply it works. Within the settings, you have a choice between manual or automatic motion focus, including a shake reminder that places a circle in the leveler to show you how much the phone itself is moving. They’re all useful in helping steady your hand to freeze action, but the focusing box can sometimes struggle to keep up with a faster-moving subject. It’s definitely better than the Sports mode in previous Vivo devices and may continue to improve in subsequent models.

There are plenty of other modes to dive into, like Zeiss Landscape & Architecture, Astro, and Food. That didn’t stop Vivo from axing some special modes from before, with Double Exposure, Dual View, AI Group Portrait, and AR Stickers all gone now.

Vivo X100 Pro: Video Features

This review focuses on still photos, but Vivo takes a step forward in video recording as well. You can record in 8K at 30fps, 4K and 1080p at 30fps or 60fps in Video mode. The Teleprompter also returns within the settings to read text as a talking head with the rear or front cameras. The new Cinematic Portrait mode works in 4K and 1080p at 24fps or 30fps, and applies to the front camera as well, though leaves out the Teleprompter. Same with Pro mode, where you can switch to video to get the same manual controls you otherwise would with still photos.

The Vivo X100 Pro is a Serious Contender

It’s always a mark of a good phone when you feel confident that it will capture a good photo when you use it. That’s the simplest way to describe the Vivo X100 Pro, a formidable camera system that works remarkably well across the board. It doesn’t feel top-heavy or driven by one or two features carrying everything else because there are various ways to approach and compose a scene, regardless of day or time.

The collaboration with Zeiss is years old now but it took a while to really see the influence permeate Vivo’s flagships, and the X100 Pro clearly has the goods that way with a solid build and regular software updates. Frankly, it should impress anyone who holds it in their hands.

Are There Alternatives?

Vivo is up against a slate of solid competitors. The Xiaomi 13 Pro already stands out, but the newer Xiaomi 14 Pro will surely come out as one of the industry’s best. The Honor Magic6 Pro is another exceptional mobile photography performer that deserves some attention as a serious player in this arena.

If you were looking for a good shooter with plenty of editing features, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has plenty of both to go around. Not to mention, it lets you capture RAW photos at multiple resolutions. The Google Pixel 8 Pro is a superb shooter in every respect, offering some of the best software computation and dynamic range of any device. The OnePlus 12 is a considerable imaging upgrade over its predecessor, too. If iOS is your preference, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are your best options.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, for the simple fact that it is more versatile than most phones in capturing a variety of images. Converted for USD, you’re looking at around $1,000 to $1,200 for the X100 Pro, depending on the variant, which is competitive compared to other big-name flagships.

Long before film rolls and megapixels, photographs were made using metal plates covered in photosensitive chemicals. One of the most iconic and influential of these early photo technologies are tintypes.

As a recent blog post at the Library of Congress explains, tintypes are a variation of the wet collodion process, which was pioneered by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. Archer never patented his process, which enabled tintypes to become extremely widespread but didn’t provide him with any financial security. Unfortunately, he died impoverished, though his contribution significantly advanced photography.

The process of creating tintypes begins with coating a thin piece of dark or lacquered metal, commonly iron, with a light-sensitive liquid. Once the image is captured, it is finished off with a varnish to protect it from oxidation and maintain its stability. These images were often housed in albums or paper sleeves, which served as a means to record important details such as the location, subjects, and date. The paper mat also allowed tintypes to become excellent souvenirs, with vendors crafting branded paper mats.

Tintypes had a few advantages over other image-making processes of the time, which is what made them so popular. First, tintypes result in a positive image, though with a reversed image. Second, the tintype method allowed photographers to make images in a matter of minutes, much more efficient than previous photography methods.

The faster exposure time was especially beneficial for portraits, as subjects didn’t have to hold still for nearly as long. All of these factors meant that prints could quickly be handed off to patrons, which is part of what made them a suitable choice for carnivals, fairs, and tourist locations even after the method’s popularity waned among dedicated photography studios after the 1860s.

Despite immense advances in photography, tintype photography continues to thrive even today in the hands of passionate and innovative photographers. These days, photographers typically use aluminum plates instead of iron, though the rest of the traditional process remains much the same. Photographers continue to push the boundaries of this method, with one even capturing a tintype via a drone. Others have built their businesses around this historic analog method, proving that tintype photography is not just a relic of the past.

So you’ve fallen in love with photography and you’re trying to decide if your new passion could become a career. Well, here are a few questions to ask yourself before you take the leap.

The other day, I was listening to the new Turner Classic Movies podcast, Talking Pictures, hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, and his guest for the day, Alexander Payne, the director of films such as The Holdovers, Sideways, The Descendants, About Schmidt, and Election. Asked about how he went about becoming a director, Payne mentioned that when you decide to become a film director, you are not so much choosing a career as a lifestyle. You’re not only acknowledging that you enjoy being on set, working with actors, telling other people what to do, etc., but you are also choosing to live a life where there are long periods of time without work, where you are often only going to be judged by the success or failure of your latest project, and where your daily existence is a juggling act between artistic passion and practical compromise. In other words, it’s not just the physical doing of the job one must consider. It’s the totality of the life that comes along with that decision.

While Payne was discussing life as a filmmaker, many of the same considerations apply to photographers, musicians, actors, and other artists who want to make their passion into their source of income. As someone who has worked professionally as an artist for the majority of my life, I’ve had to deal with these questions more frequently than I care to remember. So, I thought I would share a few with those of you who might be on the cusp of deciding your next steps.

Can You Be Happy Doing Any Other Career?

Seriously. Like any other career. I’m not here to tell you whether or not going full time as a photographer is the right thing for you to do. I don’t know your situation. But I can tell you one universal truth that holds true regardless of your skill level, ambition, or acclaim. There are way easier ways to make a living than being a professional artist.

Over the decades, I’ve worked pretty much every day job known to man, mostly as a way to make ends meet while I was training as an artist. But I have officially held some of the worst, most soul-crushing forms of employment you can imagine. When I had those day jobs, I couldn’t wait for the moment I could rid myself of them and make my living with my passion. Eventually, I was in a position to do so, and I did. And I couldn’t be happier with my decision.  

But that’s not to say that my current happiness hasn’t come without a price. Say what I will about life in a cubicle, but at least I always knew where my next meal was coming from. When I wanted to take a risk financially and load up a credit card, the worst-case scenario would be that I would have to peel off a few duckets from upcoming paychecks to gradually chip away at the debt. Things like being able to consistently afford high-quality health insurance are easy to take for granted until your head is barely above water between gigs and you suddenly find yourself in need of unexpected health services. Spare money to go on vacation? Maybe if I’m having an amazing year. But most years, the only time I get on a plane is when it’s being covered by a client, and the only relaxation I’ll get at the destination is during the trips to and from the airport.

I’m not complaining. I chose this. But I point those examples out to dissuade you from the notion that a career as a photographer is a quick path to easy riches or consistent comfort. If you are fortunate enough to reach great heights, you can certainly manage a well-lived life. But, if you’re looking at a career primarily as a way to provide stability for you and your family, there are a million and one other options that might be better choices. There’s nothing wrong with just keeping photography as a passion that you pursue on the side while maintaining a day job. And depending on your responsibilities in life beyond photography, deciding on another course of action may be the smart move.

Me? I was not so smart. I’ve had more than one career in life. More than two. More than three. And, in each of them, I’ve been able to reach a position where I could achieve some level of stability. It’s not like I haven’t had the opportunity to live among the swells and go to work every day in a three-piece suit with a briefcase, have an overflowing 401K, do the type of work that lets you retire at 62, and spend the rest of your life relaxing on cruise ships docked in the French Riviera.

But, even when I had those jobs and the financial stability that went along with them, I was miserable. This is an incredibly privileged thing to say, but, aside from the obvious need to feed myself, the money genuinely didn’t mean anything to me. The only thing that mattered to me when I woke up was my art. Not even the financial reward that came from the art, but rather the simple practice of creating it. And I couldn’t fathom not spending absolutely every second of my day dedicated to realizing those ideas in my imagination. So, it didn’t matter that I was (relatively speaking) good at my day job and was making a solid living. I wasn’t happy. And I knew I could only be happy creating my art, no matter the consequences financially.

Surely, that will sound overwrought and overly dramatic to many readers, but, in my case, that obsession with the art form was my truth. And I’m thankful that it was my truth. Because, what one learns after decades of ups and downs over a career is that oftentimes, that unreasonable passion you have for the craft is the only thing that’s going to get you out of bed in the morning. When you’re in an inevitable dry spell and it’s been months since you had a gig, it’s not practical consideration that’s seeing you through. It’s that near-psychotic need you have to make art and an inability to find career happiness in any other way.

So, if there is another career that you feel would make you equally happy, by all means, do it. Objectively speaking, that’s the smart move. But, if there isn’t, understand that things won’t always be smooth sailing. And you’ll need to remind yourself every day just how much you love the art itself.

What Type of Life Do You Want?

Okay, so you’ve ignored all my warnings in the first section and you are still determined to go full time in your career as a photographer. Well, before you go head-on into your new calling, there’s another question you should have an answer for. Putting the art aside for a moment, what type of life do you want for yourself?

Here’s an example. I fell in love with photography long before I had the faintest notion of what my particular niche would be. So, like most people, early on, I would try my hand at pretty much every genre within the craft. I’ve always loved documentary and street photography, so a logical option at the time would have been for me to pursue a career as a photojournalist. But then I read a behind-the-scenes article by a prominent photojournalist who had just won a prestigious award for a shot he had taken in a war zone. I can’t remember the actual shot, but the gist of the story was how the photographer spent like a week perched on top of some dumpster in an alley just so he could get the perfect shot in the perfect framing at just the right moment. Clearly, it had paid off in his award recognition. But I’m someone who likes to sleep in my own bed at night. I want to go to work, preferably in an air-conditioned studio or set, then return home at a somewhat predictable time and watch a movie before bed. I know full well that I am not the sort that could spend large portions of my life squatting atop a dumpster waiting for the perfect shot to occur. That’s obviously an extreme example. But the point that was clear to me was that, if I were to pursue a career in photography, photojournalism was probably not the best fit for my temperament as a human being.

Different genres of photography provide different lifestyles. For example, I work on larger advertising and commercial campaigns. The upside is that when I’m working, I get paid well. The downside is that I’m not working all the time. There are only so many large-scale ad campaigns to go around. So, it’s not like I’m shooting Monday through Friday every week, even in the best of years. One might think it’s a pleasure not to have to work every day. But, two things. One, just because I’m not shooting doesn’t mean I’m not working. Usually, not shooting just means I’m spending sunup to sundown in pursuit of new work, making cold calls, networking, and searching for the next gig. And two, there’s the curious phenomenon that every time a commercial photographer is between gigs, he or she tends to convince themselves that they’ll never work again. That’s all she wrote. It’s all over, and clients have forgotten you exist. Illogical as this thought process may be, these doubts live inside even the most successful photographers in the field. So, being in the commercial arena requires someone with the personality to be able to deal with a great deal of uncertainty and an ability to remain calm even during long fallow stretches where you have no guarantee you’ll ever work again.

Contrary to that, you might opt for a field of photography like doing actors’ headshots instead. When you’re doing headshots for actors, your day rate is going to be far less than that of a commercial photographer. But, you stand the chance to work far more often. You might get paid less per assignment, but there are more assignments to be had. So you can shoot multiple sessions per day and have a very busy week, whereas, hypothetically speaking, a commercial photographer might shoot one job per month. Again, that will mean different things financially depending on the level of the photographers in our scenario. But the point being that, if you are someone who needs to be constantly shooting and you don’t want to deal with long production schedules, or things like image licensing rights or having to answer to multiple creative directors every time you lift your camera, opting to be a headshot photographer might actually provide you with a happier life than a life as a commercial photographer. Ditto for wedding photographers, travel photographers, etc.

Each genre will provide a lifestyle associated with that type of photography. So, it would behoove you to figure out beforehand what type of life you want to live. The individual images you will create are, no doubt, supremely important. But, if you have any expectations of maintaining your career over the long haul, you’ll also want to ensure that you are on a path that is best suited to your personality and will help you maintain your happiness, on and off the set.

How Do You Feel About Change?

A lot of career discussions are aimed at trying to find the best landing place for you based on your interests, personality, and skill set. But, one thing that becomes clear over a career in the arts is that the industry itself is a moving target.

Since I first went full time as a photographer/director to now, the playing field has shifted dramatically. Over the course of my career, I’ve seen shifts from film to digital, from social media just being another thing to social media being THE thing, the birth of the influencer, the coming of artificial intelligence. The type of product my clients are looking to buy as well as how much they are willing to pay for that product has completely shifted. Following the pandemic that shall go unnamed, the very basic ways in which I can communicate with potential customers have changed. Once tried and true methods of marketing have now been thrown completely out of the window. Entire markets have disappeared. New ones have sprung up with entirely different sets of rules and expectations. The only constant in the business is change.

So, if you’re deciding whether or not this is the right career for you, you have to understand that the career itself may be completely different in five years from how it is now. If, for example, you got into photography because you saw yourself jet-setting around the world and spending thousands of publishers’ dollars on shooting editorial celebrity portraits in exotic settings, well, welcome to the new world where print magazines are falling fast and those that still survive have slashed their shooting budgets to unrecognizable levels. You can certainly still do awesome editorial work. But, the type of assignments available when I first started versus now are like night and day. Therefore, if you are getting into the industry just to do one thing, then that one thing no longer exists, are you still going to be happy in your career?

I’ve grown fond of saying “It’s not the product, it’s the process.” That means a number of things to me. One, there’s no use in stressing yourself out when creating a project. You have very little control over whether or not the market is going to love it or hate it. All you can control is enjoying the process of creating the art in the first place. The rest is out of your hands. But the same saying applies to a more macro view.

Are you getting into this just because of the acclaim and street cred it gives you among your Instagram followers? Or, do you genuinely love the art form and literally can’t be happy without it being at the center of your every waking moment? If you are only in it for the end result, you may find your career to be short-lived. Not because you aren’t good enough, but because things change. Circumstances change. The world changes. And your goal posts will inevitably be moved over time. Conversely, if you are in this because you love the art, you love the process of discovery, and you are constantly in search of ways to improve, then you are far more likely to be able to weather the storm. In that second scenario, the inevitable ebbs and flows in the marketplace will still sting, but have far less effect as they don’t change your overall motivation to create great art. The ups and downs that will come financially do matter, but whether you are in a time of feast or a time of famine, if you are judging your success based on your relationship with your art rather than external validations like money or prestige, you will find yourself in far more control of your happiness.

Deciding whether or not to pursue your art full time is a personal decision. It’s not one that I, or anyone else, can make for you. I’m a dreamer. So I’m always there to cheer on those brave enough to take the leap. But, as your toes are inching closer to the edge of the platform, take a few moments to take a look at the bigger picture. Where do you want to go? What type of life do you want to lead? And is your art the thing that is going to get you to the promised land?