Using this viewfinder solution presents an interesting mix of lo-tech Alpa body & lenses/shutters alongside the hi-tech MFDB & iPhone viewfinder application.
In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing even more manual functions on smartphones.ĭespite the impressive developments in smartphone technology we enjoy today, a lot of things–including the portrait mode–still feel somewhat gimmicky. A break in the rain allowed me to get out and try my new Alpa iPhone Viewfinder today (please excuse the poor iPhone pics below). The device syncs automatically whenever it's plugged in to power. When the computer and the device are on the same Wi-Fi network, the device appears in the Finder. Select Show this device when on Wi-Fi.' Click Apply. If Apple’s triple-camera phone ever becomes a reality, I hope they’d consider implementing their digital viewfinder concept to make it an even more capable device. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable, then open a Finder window and select your device. Right now the only smartphone on the market with such a set-up is Huawei’s P20 Pro. Having the ability to freely choose which lens to use not only provides more control but it also significantly expands the creative possibilities of mobile photography.Īpart from this new patent, there are also reports that Apple will be launching a triple-camera iPhone before the second half of 2019. However, the Digital Viewfinder could change all that if ever Apple decides to include it in their phones later on. Right now, there isn’t any way for users to manually override this function. IPhones with dual cameras today automatically adjust the lenses to achieve certain shots. However, now that the processors are considerably more powerful, it’s possible that we’ll soon see this application integrated into the future generations of the iPhone. Perhaps it had something to do with the processing power it would take to apply the concept. A similar patent was filed by Apple in 2015 but was never used on the iPhones released after that year.