While cameras take much better pictures, these days, many of us rely on our smartphone to capture precious moments. The biggest challenge smartphones users face is taking close-up shots of far-away objects, but there's an easy, inexpensive solution that can help you take better snapshots with your phone.
Consumer Reports' associate editor Terry Sullivan has the following recommendations.
Many smartphones can take good pictures, and there's software and apps available that can help improve the quality. If you're willing to spend a little money there's add-on lenses available that can be attached to your smartphone and some can even be used with tablets and laptops and there's several types.
1. Telephoto lenses for taking closeups from a distance
2. Wide angle/macro menses for taking wide shots or capturing close up detail
3. Fisheye and super fisheye lenses for creating a special distorted effect
4. Polarizing lenses for reducing glare and making colors brighter
For people who still like to use a basic point-and-shoot camera, Consumer Reports recommends:
a. SAMSUNG WB350F, $200 is a bargain buy. You get lots of features for just a little money - a long 21x optical zoom lens and a good-sized 3-inch touch screen LCD for navigating menus and entering commands. It also has built-in Wi-Fi for sharing photos and posting them to social-media sites, plus near field communication (NFC) for easy pairing with phones and tablets. It takes great outdoor shots, so it's a good vacation camera.
b. CANON POWERSHOT SX710 HS, $350 The 30x optical zoom is excellent for taking close-up, even when you are far away. It has a very good image stabilizer, which is critical when you zoom in because shaky hands can cause blurred photos. At less than an inch-and-a-half thick and weighing just 9 ounces, the SX710 is slimmer and lighter than many other superzooms. Wi-Fi and NFC enable easy sharing of photos.
For more information: consumerreports.org or shopsmart.org
