How To Make A Powerpano with the GoPro Max

Hello!

I made a short how-to (in Taglish - a combination of Tagalog, a Philippine language, and English). Don't worry. If you understand only one of the languages, you will still be able to get the gist of what I am saying.

Hope you enjoy the video!

Get your GoPro Max from Amazon here!

The GoPro Max

The GoPro Max is the company’s latest 360 camera. It came after the Fusion, the company’s first attempt at 360 photography and videography.

However, the Max is better in the sense that it only uses one microSD card to record your photos and videos versus the two in the Fusion, one for each lens. And of course, there are other newer features also.

Build quality of the Max is great! It is not meant to be dropped (the lenses are bulbous, therefore are exposed. These kinds of lenses are needed so they can do 360 captures) but it can withstand water dunking up to 5m. As I don’t do much water activities, the water resistance of the gadget is still a welcome feature as I can sometimes be caught in the rain while jogging and biking.

Another new feature for GoPro’s 2019 releases - the mount is now built into the device itself. Personally, I still would have preferred that the mount is on a cage like in the GoPro Heroes 7 or older. Those mounts are more stable than the built-in ones.

The camera has a hypersmooth feature so you won’t need a gimbal to ensure that your video captures are smooth as butter. It can also make timewarps (the so-called time lapse in other cameras) which is a fun feature when you want to speed things up.

But, as primarily a photographer, one of my favorite features is the powerpano where the Max makes, as named, a panoramic photograph. This is a great feature because, instead of “panning” your camera from one point to another, the Max employs both cameras to take one shot of the scene. This prevents ghosting as can be seen in panoramic photos produced by cameras and smartphones.

Compare the photo above to the pano I shot using an iPhone. The cars got squished!

There is also a feature where you can use only one lens making the Max similar to a traditional GoPro. This feature is available in both photo and video captures.

Video and photo quality produced by the Max is great in well-lit situations but they can take a hit once the lighting condition deteriorates.

But, all-in-all, the GoPro Max is a fun camera to have. Even is you are not a hyper sports person who go to extreme adventures, the Max is a nice, a very nice, camera to have in your bag.

Highly Recommended!

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The iPhone 5s, Kyoto, Japan and the Olloclip Lenses

The wife, @reina_reyes, and I went to Kyoto, Japan last October. Of course I brought my DSLR. However, when it came time to actually do street photography, I suddenly had an awkward feeling: every time I raise my camera to my face, the people who I want to photograph, the people who I want to capture in their natural state, will suddenly look at me and either of two things will happen - they smile at me or they turn around and walk away. Either way, I failed to capture the moment because the DSLR was very, very obvious.

And the sad thing was, I didn't bring my Canon G15.

But hope was to be found in the form of the iPhone 5s. I know that this phone has a great camera for a phone but, that time, I would be dependent solely on it.

What made the iPhone great was it's inconspicuous nature: everybody, well, almost, has a smartphone - I wasn't any different from most people - so, I was able to capture people as they were. And that was what I wanted!

And the phone, as to be expected, performed admirably. All I needed to vary my shots were my two olloclip lenses: the telephoto and the fish eye lenses. With these, I was able to get the shots that I wanted.

Panos were great, something that I could not do in-camera, with the G15...

And even in really low light, the iPhone 5s performed admirably! 

Now, I am not saying that you should give up your point-and-shoot for a smartphone, far from it - I actually am interested in getting the new Canon G7x and its 1-inch sensor - but if you have absolutely no choice, then the iPhone is a really, really great alternative.

Photos shot with the iPhone 5s and post-processed "in-camera" using the following apps:


 

My reviews of the Olloclip 4-in-1 and Telephoto+CPL lenses for the iPhone 5s can be found here and here respectively.

Autumn in Chicago

These photos prove that you don't have to drive far to see fall colors... Just go to downtown Chicago to have your fill!

I love these colors. And I certainly am not the only one enjoying them! So catch the changing colors while you still can.

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Gear used to make this post:

-- Canon Powershot G15 (Reviews Part 1 and Part 2)

-- MeFOTO Road Trip Orange (review)

-- Think Tank Photo Retrospective7 (review)