In a shocking turn of events for the perpetually tethered generation, a new device promises to liberate us from the tyranny of the smartphone camera. The Camp Snap CS-8 video camera has arrived, and it does absolutely nothing but shoot video. No TikTok, no endless scrolling, and no accidentally liking your ex's holiday pics from 2017.

Inspired by the clunky yet charming Super 8 movie camera of yore, the CS-8 is a bold statement in an age where every device tries to be everything to everyone. This retro-futuristic marvel is designed for one purpose: capturing moving pictures with sound. It’s a purebred video beast, meaning you can finally stop pretending you’re a professional photographer with 10,000 blurry cat pictures on your phone.

For the true purists (or those who enjoy a healthy dose of suspense), the CS-8 comes equipped with an optical viewfinder. No preview video screen here - you won't know what you’ve captured until you’ve downloaded it to a computer. The potential for hilariously out-of-focus footage and mystery is all wrapped up in this retro bit of kit. There's even a two-switch electronic zoom, an 8X digital, not optical zoom, for those who enjoy a bit of pixelated chaos.

Much like its Super 8 ancestors, the CS-8 records as long as you hold down the trigger. But instead of delicate film, your cinematic masterpieces are saved onto an SD card at a dazzling 2.7K/30fps. The included 4GB card holds a generous 30 minutes of footage, so you can at least snap the end of the Oasis gig. For the ambitious, epic filmmaker a 128GB card offers a whopping 16 hours of recording time.

Adding to the retro charm are two analogue-needle-type gauges. These tell you how much recording time and battery life you have left, keeping you in the dark just enough to feel adventurous.

An analogue dial lets you choose from five digital filters, including faded sepia and grainy analogue for when you want your modern life to feel like a forgotten VHS tape. Another dial offers four aspect ratios, so whether you’re shooting for Reels, cinematic glory, or just good old-fashioned home movie vibes, the CS-8 has you covered.

If you’re ready to ditch the digital shackles and embrace a simpler (and perhaps slightly more frustrating) way to capture life's moments, the Camp Snap CS-8 is available for pre-order at a delightful 24% off, bringing it down to £112 from £149.

It’s shipping in September, just in time to film all your awkward Christmas gatherings without the temptation to scroll through Instagram during tea. Your brain will thank you, and your friends will wonder why your videos suddenly look like they were unearthed from a time capsule.

• Bring on the nostalgia! FUJIFILM has just launched the X Half Camera

Ah, film cameras - the calling card of the indie kids. Add in some Doc Martens and a pair of Marshall headphones and you’ve basically got Shoreditch High Street in a human capsule.

Film cameras have boomed in popularity in the last couple of years thanks to the Instagram algorithm and the 90s retro Britpop renaissance - the only thing holding the rest of the population back? The sheer faff. And cost.

But, if you’ve ever wanted the best of both worlds — ie, a film camera without having to understand how to actually handle and develop film, then FUJIFILM’s newest release — The X Half, will be music to your ears.

It has a film camera mode which recreates the experience and look of film photography without any of the hassle or shock when you look at the price of film roll and exclaim "how much?!". Win win. The feature means you can capture all your hazy summer moments in real time and relive them when they get ‘developed.’

Also, it comes with another pretty cool feature, the 2 in 1 mode; it kind of reminds us of the Instagram trend sweeping our feeds where a single post looks like a split feed. The camera’s unique new 2-in-1 mode allows users to combine two still images or movies into one composition in-camera, so you can pack in a bit more than your typical single image.

Fujifilm has also created a dedicated X half app to come with it. The app means you can share, view, and print all your snaps super easily. It works via Bluetooth which connects the phone and camera so you can transfer pictures and videos without needing to step foot anywhere near a Snappy Snaps.

Not only is the camera half digital, half film (essentially), but it’s also half the size, meaning it’s super compact to slip into your already oversized tote bag. It weighs just 240g so no need to heft around clunky equipment (unless that’s part of your whole aesthetic of course).

It’s been inspired by half-frame cameras and comes in three colourways - silver, charcoal silver, and black. Minimalism must be back in...

It features a rear LCD monitor, vertical shooting and movie recording at a 3:4 aspect ratio. In layman’s terms, the 3:4 aspect ratio (also referred to as 4:3 when the camera is rotated) is similar to the one you’ll find on your phone, offering a good balance between square-like composition and a wider view. Basically, it’s perfect for Instagram.

It wouldn’t really be a proper Fujifilm camera if it didn’t come with its signature film simulation and grain effect. It also offers new filters including light leak and halation which will open up new creative possibilities for any budding Leibovitzs.

It's already on sale directly from Fujifilm and available at all the classic British stores you'd expect - Argos, Currys, John Lewis. It's retailing at £699 at all stores, but you never know when a cheeky discount might come along.

• Speaking of the best of both worlds tech, Tuneshine is the new smart speaker on the block — and it's bringing album covers back

We all love our phones, right? But they haven't half changed our relationship with photography.

Some of you might remember rifling through physical photo albums, pictures of you as a kid. Perhaps even your parents. An instant camera can bring back some of that nostalgic charm — photos as physical objects rather than something to leave in your phone's storage to never look at again.

Today's best instant cameras typically either use Instax paper or Zink. The first offers the classic instant camera experience, where the picture gradually appears after the camera spits the thing about. Charm for days. Zink is more like a printer experience, but where the ink is inside the paper itself, negating the need for troublesome ink cartridges.

Zink cameras produce prints with smaller borders and often greater colour pop than Instax. But if you're here for that pure retro feel, Instax is the way to go.

So how do you know which one is best? It largely depends on what you’re willing to spend, and whether you want the nostalgic feeling of film, or just something a bit more fun.

Upvote the instant camera you would choose, and add any you think were wrongly left off this list.

Best instant cameras

If you’re tasked with creating a fantastic ice cream sundae but have a three-ingredient limit, what would you load it up with? That’s what being a phone manufacturer is like, especially when putting together a mid-range phone.

UPDATE:We are currently updating this guide to include a number of new phones that we think are deserving of the best mid-range smartphone crown. Read the reviews of the phones we are considering below:

• Google Pixel 4a review
• Google Pixel 4a 5G review
• OnePlus Nord review
• iPhone SE review

There’s a fixed budget, so expensive luxuries are out of the question. But if you play your cards right, you can still make a taste sensation.

We’ve selected ten of the best ‘taste sensation hopefuls’ from the mid-range camera phone world, each aiming to balance price and performance perfectly.

The Honor 20, OnePlus 7T, Oppo RX17 Pro, Xiaomi Mi 9 SEand Xiaomi Mi 9T all represent hot brands that have flourished in recent years, and all five phones have three or more cameras.

Meanwhile, Motorola has no less than three entrants, which is unsurprising given how many mid-range phones it launches year-round. These range from the dual camera Moto G7 Plusand One Vision through to the quad camera One Zoom.

As for Sony, its Xperia 10 Plus’s super-long 21:9 screen is matched with a 12MP+8MP dual-snapper, while Google has squished its sensational Pixel 3 camera into the much more affordable, less specced-out Pixel 3A.

While it isn’t the cheapest smartphone on-test, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro’s sensational value goes way beyond its camera. This phone features an all-screen front, incredibly premium glass and metal design and sensationally good specs, from a top-tier flagship processor to a huge battery. That it takes great pictures too is just the icing on the cake.

The Google Pixel 3Ahas clinched victory, despite no optical zoom or ultrawide angle second, third or fourth cameras. Just like the original Pixel 3, pictures shot on the 3A have a refined quality to them - not too saturated or oversharpened, they just look great, almost every time. And with a best-in-class night mode, it gets it right whatever the light.

The expert's view

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Best buys

While it didn’t win every round, the Pixel 3A was the most consistent camera out of the ten we tested. The OnePlus 7T, for example, was the best at background defocusing when the subject wasn’t a person.

Meanwhile, the Honor 20 performed like a champ in both the zoom and ultrawide rounds (despite not having a zoom camera). The Mi 9T Pro didn’t even ‘win’ at anything, but ranked second or third in almost every test.

The Google Pixel 3A’s simplicity is what makes it so special. It takes an excellent picture and it does so with just one focal length.

• Need your phone to take the best photos? Check out our favourites for best camera phone
• And if you're a Samsung loyalist, check our our picks for best Samsung phone

Author Bio

Basil Kronfli

Basil Kronfli is a journalist of ten years’ standing, working across sites like TechRadar, Gizmodo and T3, as well as print titles including Metro, Shortlist and Total Film. He specialises in computing, smartphones and cameras, dabbling in kitchen tech, too.

The shortlist: best mid-range camera phones

Best mid-range smartphone: how we selected

Each of these ten camera phones does something different with imaging, but competes on price. That isn’t to say they’re all cheap and cheerful handsets, but they represent the best value around from their respective manufacturers. The Motorola One Zoom, for example, has four cameras, with a dedicated depth sensor for better background defocusing. Another, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro can capture 960fps slow motion footage as well as 4K video at a silky smooth 60fps.

That said, they also have common strains of midrange DNA. These aren’t super-cheap phones and have at least Full HD screens and smooth interfaces. They also all run Android, given the fact no current-generation iOS device costs less than £600, and all record 4K video.

Each camera also has its own app and range of shooting modes. Even two phones from the same manufacturer might vary in this respect. For example, the Moto G7 Plus doesn’t have Night Vision - Motorola’s night mode, but the Motorola One Zoom does. Additionally, while they all run Google’s operating system Android, the Google Pixel Camera interface is reserved for Google Pixel phones only, and is loaded up with its coveted Night Sight.

All the phones on test other than the Pixel 3A give you the option to take the driver’s seat and fire-up full manual controls, so shutter speeds can be slowed right down to capture artistic light trails and long-exposure landscapes.

Looking at all ten phones, it’s like a very messy Venn diagram, with plenty of overlapping features but enough to differentiate them to make each warrant a spot.

Best mid-range smartphone: how we tested

There are a standard set of pictures most people will capture when given a camera: macro (close-up photography), portraits, landscapes and action shots to name a few. These are captured across a range of lighting conditions and zoom ranges - and are the kinds of scenes we worked to emulate in our comparative review.

Portraits, for example, can be shot in automatic mode, or portrait mode. If you remember to fire up portrait mode, the phone will flatter faces by softening skin and blur out the background to mimic shots taken on a DSLR. We shot portraits in both modes before we picked them apart. We also captured them in good light, very low light, and finally, with night mode switched on.

How close a phone can get you to the action is another factor likely to sway your buying decision. The Motorola One Zoom, for example, has a 3x optical zoom. Meanwhile, the Honor 20, Pixel 3A andOppo RX17 Pro only have digital zoom.

Digital zooms are technically inferior as they simply crop into the full-sized image and create a lower resolution shot, but specs aren’t everything, with our Honor 20 beating the competition in our zoom tests in well-lit scenes. Meanwhile, optical zooms use separate lenses that act like magnifying glasses, so the image the phone captures is both zoomed in and "full resolution". These tend to outperform digital zooms in low light.

As for selfies, they’re a big deal, and not just for social media fans. Lifetime milestones like wedding receptions and graduation ceremonies see parents and grandparents huddling in front of selfie cameras across a range of lighting conditions. With plenty of variety on test, from a resolution-tastic punch hole 32MP front-camera on the Honor 20 to a pop-up module on the Mi 9T Pro, how to best hide the selfie camera has shaped the design of each of our midrangers, and we tested them thoroughly.

There are also other, more practical, factors to consider. The Honor 20, OnePlus 7T and Xiaomi Mi 9 SE don’t have headphone jacks, for example, so if you’re recording footage and need to listen to it on the fly without using the phone’s loudspeaker, you’ll need wireless headphones or a converter. Additionally, the Google Pixel 3A, Motorola One Zoom, OnePlus 7T, Xiaomi Mi 9 SE and the Mi 9T Pro all have OLED screens, so have more zing and depth when looking back through your photos.

With so many variables, and each phone excelling in a different way, our tests aimed to be both exhaustive from a photography point of view, and holistic from a usability point of view.

Best mid-range smartphone: Test results

The first thing we did with the phones was take a picture of a person with portrait mode both on and off. Once a flagship feature, nowadays any mid-ranger worth its salt can defocus a background, and artificial background blur was a prerequisite for our shortlist.

Four of our phones on-test tighten up framing when you fire up portrait mode, going from a wide, roughly 26mm to a tighter 52mm. This makes sense from a traditional photography point of view, emulating a roughly 50mm focal length, which is an ideal distance for pictures of people, and the reason a 50mm lens is often referred to as a portrait lens. That said, by applying a zoom, the phones also run the risk of degrading the picture quality by cropping in.

Specifically, the Pixel 3A, OnePlus 7T, Xiaomi Mi 9 SE and Mi 9T Pro, and the Xperia 10 Plus all apply the crop. Both the Motorola One Z0om and the Honor 20, meanwhile, shoot portraits with the widest angle of our ten.

The Pixel 3A stormed this round, with the Motorola One Zoom coming in second and the Honor 20 in third place. While the Honor 20 is the most flattering of the three camera phones, it smoothes-out skin too aggressively. Both Google's and Motorola’s phones captured more detail, especially around small wrinkles.

The reason Google’s Pixel 3A edged ahead was down to the richer skin tones it picked up, and that it applies more realistic blur than the competition, giving subjects subtle, but striking, pop.

Drop the lights but stick with a portrait theme, and things get very messy, very quickly. It’s clear that phones without a dedicated night mode are totally outgunned here - specifically the Moto G7 Plus and the Xperia 10 Plus.

The OnePlus 7T excels in this area, with a dip into the settings revealing an option to extend its night mode to up to 32 seconds if you have a tripod or steady surface to hand. Even without that feature fired up, its vanilla night mode captured the best skin tones in our test. The Pixel 3A was a close second, with comparable detail but slightly off white balance, and the Mi 9T Pro third.

Night-time landscapes produce an almost identical result, only with our third place award going to the excellent Honor 20, which was able to capture more detail than the Mi 9T Pro.

A great trick to make any shot taken on a smartphone look a bit more expensive is to get very close to your subject. Macro photography forces the lens to focus on the foreground and creates what looks like a shallower depth of field; in other words, macro shots have tonnes of background blur, even in automatic mode

To test the phone’s close-up capabilities, we pitted them against a plate of fruit. A peach was our main subject. On every phone tested, we had the peach positioned around 6cm from the camera, and tapped the stem end. On first glance, the Motorola One Zoom picture looks excellent - nice and sharp, it focused exactly where we wanted it to, and the shot is loaded up with pop.

Look closer and it has clearly been sharpened a lot, and the saturation boosted. That isn’t to say it looks bad, it just doesn’t look natural, or give enthusiasts wiggle room to edit the photo themselves. The Zoom’s peach would be perfect to whack straight onto Instagram, but it isn’t our favourite.

The Google Pixel 3A took a very different approach. Its captured fruits look tempered, but get close and detail holds up nicely, with the peach skin fuzz looking aptly soft and fuzzy. It was also the most accurate at focusing on the point we tapped, along with the One Zoom. An honourable macro mention goes to the Mi 9T Pro, which produced a more subdued image than the competition, though packed plenty of detail.

If you want to take selfies, then the Pixel 3A captures the most flattering selfies on-test. They aren’t as sharp as those taken on the OnePlus 7T or the Oppo RX17 Pro, but they look great, with skin tones beautifully rendered. As for video, our winner is the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro, with its 4K capture at up to 60fps being ideal for anyone who wants to take footage into an editing suite to slow down a little. Meanwhile, its well stabilised Full HD and 4K (30fps) video is a great for home movies, and unlike most of the other triple or quad cameras on test, it captures video across all three of its cameras.

Here are the results from the rest of our tests:

Background blur (objects)

Still life

Zoom comparison

Wide angle

Best mid-range smartphone overall:

Google Pixel 3A - £345 - Best all-rounder

Specs: Single-camera - 12.2MP wide angle (f/1.8)

The Pixel 3A, the only single-camera phone on-test, has won. While it may not have an ultra wide angle lens, zoom cameras, or even a depth sensor, its single main camera captures excellent images and steady video reliably, time after time. That’s why, even though the 3A has middling specs from a power perspective, it is a midrange camera champ.

Google has some very smart photo processing software working away in the backend of its own-brand phones. Introduced on the original Pixel and refined over three generations, the Pixel 3A and 3A XL are the first to bring these smarts to a mid-range price, and the results speak for themselves.

The phone’s 12.2MP sensor and f/1.8 aperture lens sound unimpressive on paper compared to the competition. But once you take your shot and dive into the gallery, you can see it being processed, and go from a 4/10 to a 9/10 in seconds.

It’s also incredibly important to talk about Night Sight, Google’s long exposure mode. It gives Pixel smartphones the power to see in the dark. Much like Huawei’s night mode, it has the capacity to bring atmospheric, poorly lit gothic churches to life and turn a nighttime cityscape into a buzzing scene.

Better still, all this Google magic isn’t just applied to photos taken on the phone’s main camera; the selfie camera takes flattering pictures too, whether shooting in backlit conditions or virtually pitch-black environments. Skin tones look natural, faces look smooth but not artificial and backgrounds are very seldom too dark or too bright.

If you want maximum bang for buck when it comes to power, screen size or quality, storage or design, don’t buy a Pixel 3A. Its OLED screen looks good, but not jaw-dropping and its plastic body, while slim and refined, doesn’t feel expensive. The phone is also underpowered if you’re a keen gamer, and you can get double the storage from other phones on-test for less, like the Motorola One Zoom.

All said and done though, the Pixel 3A has the best camera according to our tests and real-world experience. If that’s what you’re after, it won’t disappoint.

Best mid-range smartphones for value

Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro - Best value choice - £399

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.75) + 8MP 2x zoom (f/2.4) + 13MP ultrawide (f/2.4)

The Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro’s camera is very good for £399, but it didn’t actually win any of our photography tests. So why is the phone our best value choice? Because of everything else it can do.

To clarify, the camera on the Mi 9T Pro is still very good. Its three focal lengths offer plenty of versatility and its video is sensational for the price. If you enjoy dabbling in slow-mo, nothing else under £400 we’ve tested will capture such good 960fps, time-stopping footage.

The phone also ranked second or third in almost every stills test we did, and it has a sharp, smart pop-up selfie camera.

But what really sets the Mi 9T Pro apart from the pack is the fact it delivers across-the-board luxury for a mid-tier price.

Its design is stellar, combining a curved glass back with colour-popping accents and an all-screen Super AMOLED display. Its screen supports HDR, gets deep, dark and inky in its blacks and bright and vibrant too.

More than just a looker, the Mi 9T Pro’s processor and storage combination is pure flagship fodder. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, the one that’s expected to land in the upcoming Pixel 4, and 128GB storage inside. That means it’ll be excellent for gaming, and its 4000mAh battery is massive too, the Mi 9T Pro got us from morning to night in our weeks with the device without fail.

The rest compared

Honor 20 - Best value runner-up

Specs: Quad camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2) + 2MP macro + 2MP depth sensor

TheHonor 20 is an excellent phone and one of only two to feature four cameras around the back. It captures plenty of detail from its primary 48MP sensor, and even though it doesn’t have optical zoom, is able to get you close to the action with smart digital zoom that takes full advantage of all those pixels.

The additional cameras include an ultrawide one, which is handy and gets plenty in a shot, and a macro camera. This one is a bit weird. Its resolution is just 2MP, it takes really mediocre shots for the most part and we could have done without it. Finally, there’s a depth sensor, able to create a more accurate depth map so it can blur the background for that sweet sweet artificial bokeh everyone wants.

Photos and videos it captured were consistently good across its focal lengths in our tests, and Honor loads up plenty of shooting modes within its camera UI. Additionally, video recorded on it is stabilised well across resolutions and the phone’s power, design and battery life come together impressively.

If you’re thinking about picking up any Honor or Huawei phone, it’s worth noting, Honor is a Huawei company and, well, it’s complicated.

Huawei has faced fire from the US government and been put on a blacklist, so US companies like Google can’t trade with it. In turn, its upcoming phones, including the Mate 30 Pro, won’t have access to Google’s services out of the box. These include Play Store, Maps, YouTube and Gmail. It’s a huge deal.

Huawei and Honor have promised to keep existing phones like the Honor 20 up to date with security and software updates for the foreseeable.

No timeframes for continued support have been given, but this isn’t uncommon. Unless a phone ships with Android One, which guarantees three years of security updates, it really is up to manufacturers how long they keep a phone ticking over with new updates.

So while the Honor 20 is a fantastic camera phone, whether or not you pick one up isn’t quite as simple a decision as it is for the other phones on our list.

Moto G7 Plus - Best on a budget

Specs: Dual camera - 16MP wide angle (f/1.7) + 5MP depth sensor

The Moto G7 Plus is a safe bet smartphone on a budget. It costs less than £250 and still delivers dual-camera depth-sensing smarts, captures 4K video and has a great big display, not to mention a smooth, clean interface.

It is one of the weakest camera phones on-test, which isn’t a surprise given its price, with night time and lowlight shooting being the areas it struggles the most. Having said that, it was a solid performer in good lighting, and it was one of the best at capturing portrait mode effects for inanimate objects.

Shipping with a case in the box, incredibly fast charging for a phone of its price and a beautifully stock version of Android, while it isn’t a midrange camera phone king, the Motorola One Zoomstill represents very good value for money.

Motorola One Vision - Most affordable 48MP phone

Specs: Dual-camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.7) + 5MP depth sensor

The Motorola One Vision has a long 21:9 display like the Sony Xperia 10 Plus, but at £80 less, it’s definitely our widescreen choice of the two.

The One Vision’s primary camera is decent for the price. When the light is right, it’s able to grab a fair bit of detail, despite the fact its 48MP sensor’s shooting resolution is capped to 12MP. It has a dedicated night mode that performs respectably at night when shooting landscapes, but struggled indoors in our low light portrait test.

Dive into the settings and you’ll see manual modes, a colour picker so you can create dramatic black and white photos with one colour-popping though, as well as your standard portrait and panorama shooting modes.

Additionally, the One Vision can shoot ultrawide better-than-HD video at 1632p, taking full advantage of that bold display. And its excellent stabilisation holds everything together beautifully.

Our Motorola One Vision review device was provided by Vodafone. Visit a Vodafone store to try one out for yourself, with prices starting at £28 per month.

Motorola One Zoom - Best for Instagram-ready snaps - £379

Specs: Quad-camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.7) + 8MP 3x zoom (f/2.4) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2) + 5MP depth sensor

There are plenty of flagship features dotted across the Motorola One Zoom. It has a huge 4000mAh battery that easily gets it through a full day, its screen is Super AMOLED, so delivers bright, saturated colours and deep dark blacks, and the metal frame and glass back feel solid and rich in the hand.

Its camera is also pretty special. It delivers a huge amount of versatility, and while it didn’t win any of our tests outright, it was a solid performer in each with no major shortcomings. Motorola's image processing is less subtle than the likes of Google and Xiaomi though, so if you like your pictures loaded up with punch and ready for Instagram, the One Zoom could be for you. But if you prefer nuance and editing photos a bit yourself, you might want to look elsewhere.

OnePlus 7T - Best screen, design and specs - £TBC

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.6) + 12MP 2x zoom (f/2.2) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

The OnePlus 7T might not be the flagship in the 7T-series - that title’s expected to go to the 7T Pro, likely launching in October, but the vanilla 7T is a stunning smartphone to look at. Its Fluid AMOLED screen has a 90Hz refresh rate, so is smoother than your typical handset, and with a 20:9 aspect ratio, it’s a bit longer too.

The matte frosted finish on the back of the 7T is also a welcome change after the glossy OnePlus 7, and the round centrepiece housing the three cameras looks very cool too.

Like the Mi 9T Pro, the OnePlus 7T came second or third in most of our tests. It excels in low light and creates a solid bokeh effect too. The 7T’s 4K video also looks excellent, and a Super Macro mode lets you get you up close and personal with your subject, however small it might be.

The flagship Snapdragon 855+ processor is also tailored for gaming, and with stereo speakers and Warp Charge for great sound and a very fast power pick-me-up, it’s without a doubt the best overall phone on-test, even if its camera didn’t beat the competition.

Oppo RX17 Pro - Best for impatient battery chargers - £359

Specs: Triple camera - 12MP wide angle (f/1.5-2.4) + 20MP (f/2.6) + ToF depth sensor

Oppo’s RX17 Pro is a confusing phone. Its gradient finish looks like a cartoon unicorn's mane, it has two (yes, two) batteries, and despite the fact there are three cameras on its back, it only offers up one focal length. Strange.

In other words, it has no optical zoom, nor does it pull you back to an ultrawide angle. One thing it does have, which no other phone in our list does is a variable aperture, just like the Samsung Galaxy S10, so can swap between f/1.5 and f/2.4.

While its camera always performed well in our tests, it never shone through from a versatility point of view, and didn’t quite have the reliability of the Pixel 3A. That said, the RX17’s design is seriously premium, more so than the 3A's. It also has a larger AMOLED screen and thanks to those two batteries and Oppo’s VOOC charge, it powers up to 40% in just ten minutes.

The RX17 also includes an under-display fingerprint scanner and an ample 128GB storage, it can record 4K video video, has an upsettingly sharp 25MP selfie camera and features Gorilla Glass 6 protection, so is a bit hardier than most phones in under £400.

While it might not excel from an imaging point of view, therefore, its specs are still respectable.

Xiaomi Mi 9 SE - Best for small phone fans

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 8MP 2x zoom (f/2.4) + 13MP ultrawide (f/2.4)

Xiaomi’s Mi 9 SE is small, premium and affordable. That’s a combination you don’t see too often, and it’s exactly why we’re so smitten with it. The SE’s design is rich, with a glass back and front, combined with a cool, rounded metal frame. It’s hand-holdable, handsome and very light on bezels, so Xiaomi has squeezed in an almost 6-inch screen, despite the phone's small footprint.

Its cameras are no slouches either. The 48MP main sensor can shoot at full-resolution and capture stellar amounts of detail if the lighting is on-point. In the dark, it’s better than the Xperia 10 Plus or Moto G7 Plus, but it just can’t stack up to the best out there. If you don’t mind whacking it on a tripod or resting it on a steady surface though, you can go manual and get fantastic low light shots, and with 4K video capture, it’s also a decent camcorder too.

Combined with smooth performance, a zingy Super AMOLED screen and excellent battery life, even if it isn’t the best camera phone on-test, it’s probably the best value small phone around right now.

One to avoid

Sony Xperia 10 Plus - One to avoid (Argos)

Specs: Dual-camera - 12MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 8MP 2x zoom (f/2.4)

The Xperia 10 Plus is the hardest phone to recommend on this list thanks to its lofty price. Don’t get us wrong, there’s a lot to love here, not least of all that huge 6.5-inch 21:9 Full HD+ display, uninterrupted by notches. Sony’s UI is also tasteful, and the phone’s side-mounted fingerprint scanner is both convenient and responsive.

That said, it’s also an overpriced plastic phone with a mediocre camera and underpowered internals. Sony’s bokeh mode needs serious revising if it wants to compete. The detail it captures is exceptionally weak, and the low light capabilities.

Our best gifts for photographers guide is packed with goodies for anyone looking to upgrade their camera kit bag on the cheap.

Not everything photography based has to be expensive. Yes, the main camera (and array of lenses) may well be out of your gifting price but there are plenty of other photography gifts out there that won't break the bank.

UPDATE:We've been busy playing with the Nixplay Smart Photo Frame and like it so much that we have added it to our best gifts for photographers list.

Whether it’s a handsome shoulder bag or a secondary camera, or even just a memory card, you can grab a tasty bit of kit for an equally palatable price right now.

Want to spoil the photographer in your life? Check out the deals below.

Next up, read our best action camera test.

Best gifts for photographers

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

Raw Dublin, aka renowned photographer Freddy Kelly, knows his way around a camera. He's usually seen on the streets of Dublin, taking breathtaking pictures of the city but, like the rest of us, he's is in lockdown right now.

But that hasn't stopped him getting creative with the camera - and he wants you to do the same. That's why he has teamed up with Irish whiskey maker Bushmills to create a photography masterclass on Instagram that anyone can follow in the home.

Titled Black Bush Stories, whiskey experts and award-winning TV presenters, Neil Ridley and Joel Harrison will be joined by Kelly to chat whiskey and photography. Other upcoming 'stories' include tea maker Oscar Woolley and candlemaker Michael Morris.

"I want to inspire people to do a double take and appreciate the world around them," says Kelly about the upcoming Instagram video.

The event will be live streamed at 8.00pm tonight (6 May, BST) - head to BlackBushStories.com for more information on the show and the Bushmills Instagram channel.

Before you jump away, though, we spoke exclusively to Raw Dublin to get some photography tips. Here's what he said about getting the most out of your photography while in lockdown.

• The best Irish whiskey revealed - your ultimate guide.

1. Get creative with a steam iron

"If you’re aiming to add cool studio effects without paying for heavy or expensive photo equipment, simply switch on your iron, let it heat up and use its steam to inject another layer to your images..."

2. Use a Slinky

"Pick yourself up a cheap toy slinky from Amazon and use it to add another dimension to your photos. Stretch it out and get someone to hold the other end. Try find a nice spot in the garden and wait till the sun is low in the sky. Place the sun behind your subject and shoot."

3. Get Low, Shoot Wide

"When you are out stretching your legs switch your camera to wide angle. Get low and close to your subject. Lie on the ground and point your camera diagonally up. Don't be afraid to get wet or dirty. When we shoot from these angles we get shots that are completely unique."

4. Layer it up

"Think of layers as depth. You want as much depth as possible in your photos. You want to aim to have as many layers as possible in your shots. "Use complimentary colours to add one last layer of creativity."

5. Shooting at home

"You don't need expensive equipment, use your coffee or kitchen table, chopping boards or frying pans. There are no limits. I had fun making pancakes recently. You can see the results on my instagram @rawdublin. When photographing your food try shoot it from above, top down for a unique angle. However, burgers have to be shot from the side to see the layers. At night you may need to add artificial light from a lamp or led lights. Led strips are very cheap. I picked some up this week, battery operated for €1.50. Don't be afraid to try it. Most importantly have fun and be creative."

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst,” said Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the original masters of candid photography. Luckily for us, between all the Snapchats, WhatsApps and Instagram stories we’ve shared, not to mention those 9,999 selfies that didn’t quite make the cut, we’re likely well on our way to living our best photography life. But what’s the best camera phone to live that life with?

There are a lot of variables. Do you want one camera module to rule them all, as found on the Pixel 3, or a lot of lenses and zoom options phones like the Oppo Reno 10X's?

• This is the best mid-range phone in the world right now.

UPDATE: You'd think most brands would halt the release of new handsets in the midst of a global pandemic, but Huawei has other ideas. The Chinese tech giant swapped their usual launch event full of glitz and glamour for a live stream to announce the new P40 range. Building on the legacy of the Huawei P30, all of the new P40 models features5G and Kirin 990 processors. The P40 has a triple rear camera, 50-megapixel primary camera and an improved optical zoom. The P40 Pro has four camera and the P40 Pro Plus has a rather ridiculous five cameras. It's a strong offering from the giant, one that we'll have to test out properly in order to give you the full run-down of its strengths and weaknesses.

Do you just want to keep things simple and automatic like the iPhone Xs, or are you more into manual photography and RAW shooting - in which case, fire up the Huawei P30 Pro? Is pure photography your bag, or would you like to dabble in video too? We’ve tested the ten best smartphone cameras around so you can choose the right one for you.

• Are these a little out your price range? Check out our list of the best cheap phones
• Or have a look at our lists of best Compact Cameras or best instant cameras if you want something extra
• And, if you're a Samsung loyalist - check out our best Samsung phones

• best buys
• The shortlist
• Our expert
• test selection
• How we tested
• Test results
• Best overall
• Best value
• The rest compared

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While it might not be as versatile as the Xiaomi Mi 9, with only one lens instead of three, the Google Pixel 3A is a dream when it comes to pointing, shooting and getting a flagship quality picture almost every time. It’s simple to use, doesn’t overload users with shooting modes and is a solid performer when it comes to videos and selfies too.

The Huawei P30 Pro didn’t win every test we put our smartphones through, but it was the only phone that was at least good at everything, and excellent at specific things. Whether you’re shooting in low light, zooming across photos and videos, defocusing your background or diving into full manual photography, it’s an all-round excellent camera phone.

The shortlist: best camera phone

The expert's view

22

Phones considered

26

Hours of testing

2

Best buys

1

Experts consulted

Every camera phone on test has its quirks. The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom doesn’t use its optical zoom for video, for example, and the Sony Xperia 1 falls down in when there are bright spots in the scene. The Pixel 3 and 3A are excellent picture takers but don’t have any optical zoom or ultrawide angle additional cameras, which hold them back for gig and landscape photography. And the iPhone just can’t cope when the lights drop.

The reason Huawei’s P30 Pro beat out the competition is primarily down to its versatility across photography and video.

Author Bio

Basil Kronfli

Basil Kronfli is a journalist of ten years’ standing, working across sites like TechRadar, Gizmodo and T3, as well as print titles including Metro, Shortlist and Total Film. He specialises in computing, smartphones and cameras, dabbling in kitchen tech, too.

Best camera phones: how we selected

These ten camera phones either come from ubiquitous manufacturers like Apple or Samsung, so provide a great frame of reference for the rest, or deliver something special. That might be the Asus ZenFone 6’s unique flip-out camera, which shoots the best selfies around, or Huawei and Oppo’s periscope zoom cameras, which get you closer to the action.

The main camera combinations also range from as few as one camera in the Pixel 3 and 3A, through to three cameras across most of the line-up.

With a huge amount of variability when it comes to shooting modes, each of the phones on test also has its software nuances. Sony’s camera, for example, has eye tracking for in-focus portraits, while Google and Huawei are the leaders when it comes to low-light photography. Their phones brighten up virtually pitch black conditions. Meanwhile, Huawei, Samsung and Xiaomi all offer tools to edit background blur effects after a shot is taken.

Most of the Android smartphones also offer manual control over your photography, perfect for enthusiasts. The iPhone and Pixel series don’t. They keep their interfaces very clean and simple instead.

Then there are other variables like videos and selfies. These aren’t the focus of this comparison, but they weighed in to inform our conclusions. Sony’s Cinema Pro app, for example, is an incredibly powerful tool for videographers, giving users full manual control over video recording, and an incredibly flat colour profile - perfect for editing footage captured on it.

As for theAsus ZenFone 6 - it uses its main camera as the front camera thanks to a motorised flip motion, so it’s little wonder it captures stunning wide and ultrawide angle selfies.

Best camera phones: how we tested

There are a standard set of pictures most people will capture when given a camera: macro (close-up photography), portraits, landscapes and action shots to name a few. When it comes to smartphones, you can add selfies to that list, as well as video. These are captured across a range of lighting conditions, and zoom ranges - and this is what we worked to emulate in our comparative review.

Portraits, for example, can be shot in automatic mode, or portrait mode. If you remember to fire up portrait mode, the phone will flatter faces by softening skin and blur out the background to mimic shots taken on a DSLR. As a result, we shot portraits in both automatic and portrait mode. We also captured them in good light, and very low light, and finally, with night mode fired up.

Another factor that will likely sway your buying decision is how close a phone can get you to the action. The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom, for example, has a 5x optical zoom. Meanwhile, the Pixel 3 series only has a digital zoom.

Digital zooms are inferior as they simply crop into the full-sized image and create a lower resolution shot. Meanwhile, optical zooms have lenses that act like magnifying glasses, so the image that the phone captures is both zoomed in and full-resolution. That’s why we tested the zoom ranges across all the phones, from the ultrawide angle many capture through to roughly 10x zoom.

As for selfies, they’re a big deal, and not just for social media fans. Lifetime milestones like wedding receptions and graduation ceremonies see parents and grandparents huddling in front of selfie cameras across a range of lighting conditions.

That’s why we tested selfies outdoors and in the dark too. With some phones packing big pixel counts and autofocus, and others featuring front flashes to brighten things up - there’s a huge amount of variability in something as simple as a selfie camera.

All the phones in our round-up shoot up to 4K video with plenty of resolution and detail. That said, not all were created equal from a video point of view. We tested video across zoom ranges for example - and while the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom has a fantastic zoom for photos, it doesn’t for video. Meanwhile, the Huawei P30 Pro does. Image stabilisation is also a big deal, whether it’s optical (OIS) or electronic (EIS), so we made sure to give our test footage a bit of a wobble to put our cameras through their paces.

There are also variables not directly linked to the camera performance that might affect how you use your phone. For example, while the Sony Xperia 1 has a fantastic video capture mode, its battery life is mediocre. You’ll definitely want to plug in an external battery when filming with one for long periods.

Additionally, while the iPhone may not be the most versatile camera phone in our test, its popularity means a lot of accessories have been made for it, from clip-on lenses to external microphones and more.

With so many variables, and each offering excelling in a different way, our tests aimed to be both exhaustive from a photography point of view, and holistic from a usability point of view.

Best camera phone reviews: Test results

If you love taking pictures of people and want your portrait shots to look realistic but flattering, you can't get much better than the iPhone Xs or Google Pixel 3 or 3A. All three delivered great detail, a realistic amount of background blur and smooth, but not washed out skin detail. Huawei’s P30 Pro also performed well, however, produced an ethereal look to portraits, taking background blur to another level, which won’t be for everyone.

Drop the lights, and while the Pixels hold on to the top spot, the iPhone drops to the bottom of the pile. Interestingly, the Sony Xperia 1 produced the most atmospheric, accurate shot, which had both dark and light areas with very little grain. Meanwhile, the P30 Pro pulled out the most detail, brightening things up nicely, though it struggled with colour accuracy.

In terms of camera versatility, all our triple camera smartphones feature a wide, an ultrawide and a zoom lens, in turn, setting you up for success if you want to punch into your subject in (with) a pinch. The Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10X Zoom are the best contenders as they both have roughly five times optical zooms. That said, the P30 Pro’s is significantly more versatile.

When it comes to pictures, if you’re less than around 1.5m from a subject, for example, the Reno 10X won’t let you zoom in on it. You have to take your shot with the wide-angle camera - cropping in when editing the picture. Meanwhile, the P30 Pro effortlessly switches between cameras so you can get the shot you want straight away. Also worth noting, the Reno 10X Zoom won't engage the optical zoom when shooting vide. The P30 Pro does.

Meanwhile, neither the P30 Pro or the Reno 10X Zoom were on-par in our tests with the Google Pixel 3, iPhone Xs or Sony Xperia 1 when it came to colour accuracy. The P30 Pro warmed up most of the scenes a bit too much, while the Reno 10X Zoom ramped up the saturation, creating shots that look punchy but, at times, unnatural.

Meanwhile, the OnePlus 7 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 9 tend to sit pretty in the middle, along with the Asus ZenFone 6. They offer good value for money but seldom class-leading photography. The Galaxy S10 and the iPhone Xs were, meanwhile, consistently nearer the top of the pack.

There’s only really one winner when it comes to selfies, and that’s the Asus ZenFone 6. It uses the main camera as a selfie camera. If you’re into your videography, despite a couple of quirks, the Sony Xperia 1 is still our recommendation - just plug in a battery pack if you’re planning long shoots as its humble 3330mAh battery isn’t the best on test.

Best camera phone: overall

Huawei P30 Pro - Best all-rounder

Specs: Triple camera - 40MP wide angle (f/1.6) + 8MP 5x zoom (f/3.4) + 20MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

Huawei’s P30 Pro is the phone to get if you’re not sure what you’ll be taking pictures or videos of. It offers versatility in spades across its three cameras, and also features plenty of shooting modes, not to mention great video performance too.

Why does it win our test? It all starts with that triple camera set-up around the back and the versatility each camera delivers. The ultrawide angle is ideal for capturing landscapes with maximum impact, not to mention huge group shots. Meanwhile, the roughly five times zoom lens can outperform a human eye, get you to a front-row view at a gig, or up close and personal with wildlife from a safe distance.

The P30 Pro also has smart scene detection, so can capture shots with enough punch or pop to be Instagram-ready when fired up. Alternatively, you can go pro if you prefer - shoot in manual mode and capture RAW photos, then fine tune all the edits yourself in photography apps like Adobe Lightroom.

All the key modes - auto, pro, video and night mode work across all three cameras, unlike a lot of the competition, and photo quality is fundamentally strong across lighting conditions too. In fact, when shooting static objects, it can practically shoot in the dark, beating out even the Pixel 3’s Night Sight mode.

As for video capture, both optical and electronic image stabilisation work to great effect, and if you’re holding the phone steady, zooming in on subjects can make the P30 Pro feel like a spy cam. Audio capture is also respectable, and with excellent battery life the phone lasts all day, even with heavy camera use. And there’s plenty of room for all your photos and footage too.

In our tests, there were some areas the P30 Pro didn’t always beat the competition, specifically white balance. It had a tendency to warm things up a bit too much, making a cool scene look more sunkissed than it did in real life. Its portrait mode also ramps up background defocus to a point that looks almost ethereal at times. While impactful, anyone looking for portraits that actually resemble DSLRs might want to dive into the aperture mode and dial back the blur a touch.

Another area Huawei’s smartphone line in general might struggle is consumer confidence. The US has "blacklisted" Huawei, and it puts a question mark over whether it will get Android updates in the future. This situation is in progress.

At the time of writing this comparative review, Huawei is in the clear, as the ban on its partnership with Google has been temporarily lifted - however, the future is about as certain as the politics that dictates its outcomes. One thing Huawei has confirmed is that the P30 Pro and its current smartphone line-up will be getting security updates for the foreseeable future.

Huawei P30 Pro test shots

Best camera phone for value

Specs: Single-camera - 12.2MP wide angle (f/1.8)

The Pixel 3A does not have any of the fancy zooms or ultra wide angle cameras of the competition. But its single main camera captures excellent images and steady video time after time.

It all starts with Google’s very smart photo processing software, introduced on the original Pixel and refined over three generations. In the Pixel 3A, this is available for the first time at a midrange price.

The phone’s 12.2MP sensor and f/1.8 aperture lens may sound run-of-the-mill on paper, but once you take your shot, if you dive into the gallery, you can see the shot go from a 4/10 to a 9/10 as the image processing is applied.

It’s also incredibly important to talk about Night Sight, Google’s long exposure mode. Giving Pixel smartphones the power to see in the dark - much like Huawei’s night mode, it has the capacity to bring atmospheric, poorly lit gothic churches to life and turn a nighttime cityscape into a buzzing metropolis.

Better still, all this Google magic isn’t just applied to photos taken on the phone’s main camera. The selfie camera takes stellar pictures too, whether shooting in backlit conditions or virtually pitch black environments. Skin tones look natural, faces look flattered but realistic, and backgrounds are very seldom too dark or too bright.

In our time with the phone, the one area it doesn’t quite stack up to the flagship Pixel 3 is the portrait mode. The artificial bokeh, for example, looks a touch less clean, and like the iPhone Xs, the Pixel 3A crops into the frame, forcing you to take a big step back unless you want an extreme close-up.

Despite this, it’s still a flagship-grade camera for £349. And while its mid-range internals and plastic body don’t scream premium, it’s up to any day-to-day task for casual smartphone users, and can even handle 2D and 3D gaming too.

Google Pixel 3A test shots

The rest compared

Apple iPhone Xs - Best for Apple fans

Specs: Dual camera - 12MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 12MP 2x zoom (f/2.4)

The iPhone Xs isn’t just a phone Apple fans have to ‘make do’ with. It’s an excellent camera in its own right.

For starters, it’s very simple to use, like the Pixel, and delivers a great shot almost every time. While its two times optical zoom may not be class-leading, it’s able to take excellent portrait shots with both front and rear cameras, and thanks to optical image stabilisation, it captures smooth video too.

Low light shooting is where the iPhone drops the ball. When the lights go down, things get a bit muddy. Paying in excess of £1,000 for a phone that can’t stack up to a £399 phone at night is a bitter pill to swallow. As for the rest of the phone, however, it marries a great screen, design and a premium interface with ample power and excellent app support too.

Our iPhone Xs review sample was provided by Three UK

Asus ZenFone 6 - Best for selfies

Specs: Dual camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 13MP ultrawide (f/2.4)

Even if the Asus ZenFone 6 didn’t have an attention grabbing flip-out camera, it would still be great. Its battery life is stellar, it runs the latest version of Android, packs powerful flagship internals and at under £600, is great value for money too.

Couple that with the best selfie camera on the scene and this all-screen device has been a joy to use in our time with it.

Its 48MP sensor can grab a huge amount of detail in well-lit conditions when shooting at full-resolution. The phone has all the modes you’d expect from a flagship, and the virtually bezel-free display looks great too. Across the board, it was able to compete with the big players even if it didn’t win in any of our traditional photography rounds, and its low light performance was also respectable.

What holds its camera back is the fact optical zoom and image stabilisation are both missing, so you can’t get as close to your subjects and video stabilisation isn’t fantastic.

Google Pixel 3 - Best point and shoot camera phone

Specs: Single-camera - 12.2MP wide angle (f/1.8)

If there was a competition for best single-camera smartphone around, the Google Pixel 3 would storm it. Just like the Pixel 3A, the flagship Google smartphone captures photos better than its specs would suggest it should - point, shoot and you’ve very likely nailed it.

The main differences from a photography point between it and the 3A are the portrait mode, which serves up a wider angle on the Pixel 3, and the selfie cameras. Rather than pack just one front camera, the Pixel 3 has two, one with a regular field of view, the other with a wider angle so you can get all your friends in frame. The other key differences between the two come down to hardware. Google's Pixel 3 is a pocketable flagship through and through. From its powerful processor through to the glass front and back, stereo speakers and wireless charging, as well as water resistance - the Pixel 3 is a lot more than just a killer point and shoot camera.

OnePlus 7 Pro - Best for design

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.6) + 8MP 3x zoom (f/2.4) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

The OnePlus 7 Pro raises the bar for the brand, introducing a triple camera system and across-the-board improvements.

The OnePlus 7 Pro's camera array has a wider angle view an iPhone or a Pixel, and gives you more resolution. This doesn’t necessarily mean better pictures, but it also gets you closer to the action than an iPhone Xs, with a three times optical zoom versus the iPhone’s 2x zoom.

It also has a night mode - though this only takes effect when shooting with the main camera. Video capture does up to 4K resolution, but its stabilisation could be better.

Despite the OnePlus 7 Pro’s imperfections, it can still capture shots that compete with the best out there. That said, the one area our unit had the most trouble by comparison to the competition was focus - whether shooting close-up macro shots or low-light portraits.

It could take a couple of attempts to lock-on. If you have £699 and want the best looking phone around, pick up the OnePlus 7 Pro. Meanwhile, if you want the best camera phone for that money, we’d probably go with the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom.

Oppo Reno 10X Zoom - Best for telephoto photography

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.7) + 13MP 5x zoom (f/3) + 8MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

The Reno 10X Zoom is Oppo’s first mainstream flagship to hit the UK in a big way, and boy is it big. At over 200g, it’s the heaviest smartphone on test, and that has everything to do with its camera. The Reno 10X features a roughly five times optical zoom and gets a bit closer to the action than its main competition, the pricier Huawei P30 Pro.

It does ship with a few quirks. For starters, the optical zoom only engages when you take pictures, with video relying on the pretty crummy digital zoom. Additionally, even when taking photos, you can’t zoom in on objects that are less than around 1.5m away from you. The phone just fails to focus - you have to step back, or shoot with a wide angle and crop into your picture after your shot is taken. Finally, the Dazzle Color Mode is very, very full-on, delivering levels of zing we haven’t seen since our after school Nickelodeon days.

This can be turned off, though, and pictures the phone captures are sharp. The Reno 10X Zoom also grabs respectable dynamic range, so deals with backlit and unevenly lit conditions like a champ. And, boy, is that zoom powerful for photos when your focal point is far away. As a result, if you’re not too fussed about video and want maximum bang for under £700 - the Reno 10X Zoom is it.

Samsung Galaxy S10 - The iPhone of the Android world

Specs: Triple camera - 12MP wide angle (f/1.5-2.4) + 12MP 2x zoom (f/2.4) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 camera was consistently good to great, making for a safe bet, especially when it comes to close-up photography. It didn’t quite keep up with the Huawei P30 Pro and Pixel series when it came to low light photography, but still outperformed the iPhone Xs.

The camera was also able to deliver a good amount of detail at its widest angle, and the image stabilisation applied to video recording is excellent. In stark contrast to the Sony Xperia 1, the Galaxy S10 had a tendency to expose things a bit too much, especially when the lights went down.

With a lot of shooting modes, including full manual mode, in which you can capture RAW photos for maximum flexibility to edit them yourself, the Galaxy S10 is one of the best all-rounders on test. The Galaxy line is also the most popular Android flagship series, so accessories are abundant, from clip-on lenses to external mics like the Shure 88 MV+, which works better on the S10 than any other Android smartphone on-test.

Our Samsung Galaxy S10 review sample was provided by Vodafone UK

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus - An S10 for creative types

Specs: Triple camera - 12MP wide angle (f/1.5-2.4) + 12MP 2x zoom (f/2.4) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

The Note 10 Plus is guaranteed to be at the very least, very good as it has a virtually identical camera setup as the Galaxy S10 series.

Its 12MP primary camera has a variable aperture of f/1.5 and 2.4, with a 26mm wide angle. Dual Pixel and phase detection autofocus (PDAF) ensure it locks onto its target quickly, and optical image stabilization (OIS) keeps things steady.

As with most camera phones, including the iPhone Xs-series, the Note 10 Plus includes a telephoto (zoom) camera, with a 12 MP sensor and a roughly 52mm equivalent focal length, not to mention OIS. A 50mm lens is what pro photographers tend to use for portraits, and in turn, the Note 10 Plus switches to it when you fire up portrait mode.

As for the ultrawide camera, it packs the biggest pixel-count with a 16 MP resolution and has an f/2.2 aperture. Its 12mm focal length gives shots and video captured using it a GoPro-esque fisheye distortion, but this can be corrected for in the settings.

Unlike the standard Galaxy S10, the Note 10 Plus features a fourth Time of Flight sensor for 3D depth detection.

With plenty of shooting modes, the Note 10 Plus’s camera covers the basics with Automatic, Video, Live Focus (portrait mode), Night, Slow Motion and Pro mode.

More off-the-wall modes include Live Focus Video, which blurs out the background of videos captured, Food mode, and even an Instagram mode. Overloaded? Indeed, but an excellent feature within Samsung’s camera UI gives you the ability to hide shooting modes you don’t use. Whether you’re a traditionalist of a wannabe influencer, you won’t be fumbling through modes you don’t use to get to the ones you do.

As for the Note 10 Plus’s video camera, it shoots up to 4K resolution at 60fps, with results looking excellent. The front camera can also record 4K 30fps too, which is impressive.

Sony Xperia 1 - Best for videographers

Specs: Triple camera - 12MP wide angle (f/1.6) + 12MP 2x zoom (f/2.4) + 12MP ultrawide (f/2.4)

The Sony Xperia 1 might be a videographer’s dream, but it does a great job with photos too, for the most part.

It dropped the ball in our tests in a couple of areas. The bokeh/portrait mode was unable to capture as much detail as most of the competition, and it didn’t handle scenes with highlights and lowlights well, often prioritising the darker areas and blowing out the lighter areas (turning them into blobs of white).

If Sony was able to improve the Xperia 1’s dynamic range, that would really help the phone out when facing such stiff competition from the likes of Apple, Google, Huawei and Samsung.

One area the Xperia 1 really did do well, however, was in poorly lit conditions. The camera doesn’t artificially brighten things up like some of the Android competition, and it doesn’t buckle like the iPhone Xs.Instead, it keeps noise down, and respects the shadows in a scene, thereby creating the most atmospheric low light shots of all our flagships.

Additionally, it excels at video. Cinema Pro video capture software gives shooters full control over their recording. This extends to manual-focus mid-recording, and it does it all with a gorgeously flat colour profile, so you can edit your videos to get the exact look you want.

Honor 20 Pro - High-end specs at a lower price

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.4) + 8MP 3x zoom (f/2.4) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2) + 2MP macro (f/2.4)

The Honor 20 Pro has no fewer than four rear cameras. It's impressive given the phone’s sub-flagship price, and in one sense beats the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.

Its main camera is the same 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor used in the OnePlus 7 Pro. It shoots 12MP images by default, featuring a slightly narrower angle of view than most primary cameras with a 28mm equivalent focal length. That said, its aperture is very wide at f/1.4, which when combined with OIS and Honor and Huawei’s computational photography smarts, makes the Honor 20 Pro a low light superstar.

The phone’s telephoto camera also gets you closer than much of the competition, with a 3x zoom, rather than a 2x zoom, as found on the iPhone Xs and Samsung Galaxy S10-series. While the sensor clocks in at 8MP, the lens has an 80mm equivalent focal length and OIS.

Rounding off the trinity of core cameras and the Honor 20 Pro’s ultrawide sensor features the highest resolution of the bunch at 16MP, marrying with an f/2.2 lens. It gets plenty in frame with a 13mm equivalent focal length, and is a fixed-focus lens.

The Honor 20 Pro’s fourth camera is a very strange addition - a 2MP sensor combined with an f/2.4 macro lens. Yep, a whole camera just for incredibly close-up, low res images. How close? 4cm close. On paper, it’s a tough sell, and in real life it’s an even tougher one. Results from it are washed out and low resolution, so we’d avoid it. Still, the three main cameras perform admirably for the price - so let’s focus on them.

The Honor 20 Pro captures 4K video at up to 30fps, and with a 32MP selfie camera, grabs scarily sharp selfies. Luckily, there are plenty of beauty filters to smooth things out if you’re not a fan of pin-sharp pores, and there’s even live beautification for selfie video too.

Xiaomi Mi 9 - Best value smartphone

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 12MP 2x zoom (f/2.2) + 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2)

Xiaomi’s Mi 9 was definitely the runner up behind the Pixel 3A for best value camera phone. As a whole package, it’s actually a better value smartphone.

It offers a lot more than the Pixel - three cameras, flagship power and a premium glass and metal design.

As a camera, it’s still good, delivering versatility with its wide 48MP sensor, which can capture a huge amount of detail in good light. The zoom camera is also useful and is engaged for portrait mode photos which works to great effect. Combined with an ultrawide angle lens, the Mi 9 is ideal for anyone who wants all bases covered. That said, there are a couple of areas it just doesn’t nail it.

Without optical image stabilisation, its 4K footage is a touch shaky. The phone’s point and shoot picture quality also falls behind that of the Pixel 3, and in low light, while it’s good, it isn’t great.

In turn, If you’re tossing up between it and the Pixel 3A, it will likely come down to what you’re after. If you consider yourself more of an enthusiast or pro photography and want a powerful phone, we’d suggest the Mi 9 - it has a manual mode and more granular control over your shots. If however you want the best out of the box point and shoot camera phone £399 will buy you, then it’s the Pixel 3A.

Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro - Another great mid-range option

Specs: Triple camera - 48MP wide angle (f/1.8) + 8MP 2x zoom (f/2.4) + 13MP ultrawide (f/2.3)

Xiaomi’s Mi 9T Pro isn’t necessarily in the running for the best camera phone title, but it’s a corker given it costs £499.

Its triple camera setup is comprised of a 48MP camera matched with a wide aperture f/1.75 lens. It’s a traditional wide angle with a 26mm equivalent focal length, though it doesn’t feature OIS like top-tier flagship competition like the Note 10 Plus.

Despite no OIS (optical stabilisation), its camera array is almost as versatile as Samsung’s finest. Its telephoto camera has an f/2.4 lens with a 53mm equivalent focal length. And like the Note 10 it defaults to the telephoto camera when you fire up portrait mode. Both the wide and ultrawide camera include phase detection autofocus, which helps them lock onto subjects across photos and videos in a flash.

As for the 13MP ultrawide camera, it’s has a fixed focus lens with an aperture of f/2.4 and a 12mm focal length. Fixed focus may not sound great, but for group shots and landscapes, the Mi 9T Pro’s ultrawide camera is perfect, producing minimal distortion and sharp subjects and sceneries.

Given the phone’s 48MP main sensor, you’d think it would capture 48MP images by default, but no. Like two of the best 5G phones around, the OnePlus 7 Pro and Oppo Reno 5G, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro combines pixels to capture images at 12MP by default.

Shooting modes are plentiful and include Auto, Portrait, 48MP, Panorama, Pro and Night. Enthusiasts take note, there’s no RAW support, but you can go full manual in the Pro mode.

As for video capture, the Mi 9T Pro outguns anything else at the price. In addition to capturing slow-motion video at up to 960fps, it also captures 4K footage at 60fps, which is incredibly good for the price.

Fujifilm’s Instax cameras never take themselves too seriously - they are simply designed to be colourful, fun and provide the instant satisfaction of printing photos then and there.

And, three years on from the launch of the iconic Mini 9, there’s a new Instax camera in town - the Mini 11.

There’s a few noticeable changes - it’s much thinner than the Mini 9 and it also now comes with an ‘Automatic Exposure’ function that monitors the level of ambient light and adjusts the shutter speed and flash accordingly.

A feature we think is perfect for a camera designed for ‘entry-level’ photographers who just want to have some fun with shots and not get bogged down in settings.

The ‘Selfie Mode’ has also been improved and can now simply be activated by pulling out the lens once the camera is switched on.

It's clear that Fujifilm have put a lot of work into making the Mini 11 as easy to use as possible, while also making the camera itself lighter and more portable.

As you would expect from an Instax camera, the Mini 11 comes in five pastel colours including Blush Pink, Sky Blue and Lilac Purple.

There are even accessories that you can add to the shutter button, which are being marketed as an easy way to personalise the camera.

The options include a luminous green button that glows in the dark and a ‘jewel-look’ cover that comes in all the Mini 11 colours.

The Instax Mini 11 is set to be available from 5 March with a price tag of £69.99 and is available for preorder now from Amazon.

• Looking for a new camera? Why not try one of our best instant cameras

Smartphones and mirror-less offerings have made quite the dent in the DSLR market in recent years. Despite our seemingly insatiable desire for compact image capturing, the best DSLR camera remains the choice for first-time users and working professionals alike.

With handling and physical control a strong focus, features like 4K video recording now common and an abundance of compatible lenses, it’s easy to see why their appeal hasn’t wavered.

UPDATE: Despite new mirror-less models like the Panasonic Lumix S1 and Sony Alpha A7R III giving their single-mirror siblings a run for their money, the DSLR fan club continues to grow. We've added the powerful Canon EOS 90D to our list, complete with an upgraded image sensor - ideal for low-light image capturing. As for Nikon, the D5's replacement has finally been announced after months of speculation. Although not much is known about the new D6 model yet, the new addition is currently being field tested and is set to be released in 2020.

So which is the best DSLR camera right now? That all depends one your budget and your intentions. And while there are plenty of newer models with the same kind of tech as mirror-less rivals, for many it makes more sense to go for something a little bit older and put the money saved towards a nice lens to go alongside.

From shiny new arrivals that stack up strongly against their mirrorless counterparts through to a couple of old-timers that have now crashed to bargain prices, here are the best DSLRs right now.

Upvote the DSLR you'd buy, and add any contenders you think deserve a place in this round-up below.

Once you've read this then our best instant camera and best compact camera guides are a must.

Best DSLR camera

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

Your phone may have a great camera, but there's still room for a dedicated one if you choose one of the best compact cameras.

The idea of shelling out three or four figures on a separate camera when the camera in your phone is getting better with every upgrade might seem nuts – but they still have the upper hand in a lot of areas.

From the outside, the many physical controls and more ergonomic designs of compact cameras give them an advantage, but on the inside you’ll also typically find large sensors, big zoom lenses and a raft of additional sweeteners to help you get the shot you want.

Below you can read what we liked and disliked with all the cameras we tested but, for clarity, the best camera for value we tested was the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II. The best camera overall was the Panasonic TZ200.

Best compact cameras: overall and best value

The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II brings together a relatively large sensor and a capable zoom range with a tough body that’s comfortable to hold and easy to operate. Further niceties include a flexible touchscreen that can face the front and speedy burst shooting for action shots.

The Panasonic TZ200 is the best overall choice right now. Big on features, serious about image quality but small enough to be slipped into your handbag, manbag or even just your coat pocket, it’s a versatile option that allows you to take excellent images and very good video with minimal fuss.

Scroll down for the to see the expert's view and remember to upvote and downvote your favourites compact cameras.

Related: Best action cameras

• best buys
• The Shortlist
• The review
• Our expert
• The test selection
• How we tested
• The results
• best overall
• best value
• the rest compared
• One to avoid

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The Shortlist: The best compact cameras

We spent some time putting ten of the most popular options to the test and we think the Panasonic TZ200 is the best option for most people right now. It’s not the cheapest camera but is wonderful all-rounder, with tons of features, a huge zoom range and great image quality.

Budget doesn’t stretch to £630? The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II is our best value choice. It offers lovely image quality, comfortable handling and a great LCD screen.

Author Bio

Matt Golowczynski

Matt Golowczynski has been reviewing cameras, lenses and other photographic kit for the past twelve years for the likes of TechRadar, DPReview and Amateur Photographer. He also gained a BSc in Photography and Digital Imaging, just to prove how much of a photo geek he really is.

The expert's view

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Cameras considered

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Hours of testing

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Experts consulted

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Shortlist best buys

Best compact cameras: how we selected

The compact camera market might not be as colourful as it once was, but there are still masses of options and much to confuse. Given most people only buy such a camera if it offers them something their smartphone doesn’t, we’ve picked ten models that, in some way or another, manage to justify their place against what they already might have in their pocket.

Many compact cameras have large sensors, powerful zoom lenses, tilting displays and more control over how you capture your images, so that gap between phones and compacts is perhaps a little larger than might appear at first.

Some manufacturers have been included twice in our list, others only once. It’s tempting to view one manufacturer as better or worse than another based on you own experience, but the fact is that every brand has an option that’s right for someone when you consider features, budget, size, weight and performance.

Some manufacturers concentrate on providing cameras with large sensors and optically superior lenses for better image quality, others on providing a huge zoom lens inside a small body – albeit with a smaller sensor – to make them more practical and versatile. Some have also done well to balance the two factors in the same camera, with large sensors partnered with zoom lenses that cover a wide range of focal lengths. A couple of these feature in the following test, and they make great travel cameas..

Certain camera brands have also made a habit of keeping older models available as they are updated by newer ones, and in many cases the older models make more sense for more people. After all, depending on what it is you shoot and how, you don’t always need to fork out on the very latest wizardry, so plumping for an older model – and saving a bit of cash in the process – is often a better choice. So, if we spotted an older camera that’s still as capable as it is relevant, it was considered for the longlist.

The cameras selected here stretch across a wide range of budgets, from the low three figures through to not-so-cheap four-figure sums. We’ve chosen our models based on what key features they manage to bring, namely the sensor, the lens and other headline technologies like the viewfinder and video capabilities.

We don’t consider the number of megapixels to be hugely important, as pretty much every camera here has more than enough for everyday use, but we do consider how well the partnership of the sensor and the lens lends itself to different situations.

Practicality is also key; some cameras are wonderful performers, but if they’re too heavy or complicated to use, they’re probably not going end up getting used that often. So, cameras that you can fit into a relatively roomy pocket or in a small bag score points here.

Best compact cameras: how we tested

To make this review as fair as possible, we tested all models at the same time in as similar a manner as possible.

The playing field isn’t completely level, simply because not all of these cameras offer the same features – and their prices reflect this.

We wanted to see how easy each camera is to operate and how pleasant the general user experience was, so the clarity and order of the menu systems and the availability of physical controls were a big focus.

Some cameras are designed to be very small and easy to carry in a pocket, although this can often come at the expense of the ergonomics. They might only have a small grip, or even no grip at all, and so they may not be the easiest to hold. The use of rubber on the parts where your fingers and thumb are in contact with the body is always a big plus.

Most of the cameras are also designed with touchscreens, which make it even easier to select different options and where the camera focuses, so we wanted to see just how well these screens would respond to general prods, swipes and taps. How quickly the camera can focus on a subject when you’re not using the touchscreen is also essential for more casual photography, so this was also something we investigated on each option.

Of course, none of this matters unless a camera can marry excellent operation with strong results, so we also scrutinised images in Photoshop. Most cameras can do a good job outdoors when there’s lots of light, although some struggle at night or when shooting indoors, so we looked at sets of images captured in both conditions.

Similarly, some cameras can capture sharp and detailed results when the lens is set to one focal length, but once you zoom in it might not be as rosy, or vice versa. The quality of image stabilisation systems is also critical on cameras that have long lenses, as they can struggle to keep things sharp when you zoom far into the distance.

Most of the models on test also offer a Raw shooting mode, which allows you to decide how to process your images later on, rather than leaving it all to the camera. If a camera offered this, we made sure to check the quality of both the Raw files and the standard images before making any judgements on image quality.

Finally, video quality is also an area where manufacturers are battling strongly with each other right now. 4K video is now firmly settled in compact camera market, but this is one area where differences can be vast. Not all cameras offer 4K video too, sometimes because they’re priced too low but also potentially because of their age or target audience. And sometimes the manufacturer may have just left it out for their own reasons.

Best compact cameras: Test results

While it might seem ridiculous to compare a £100 compact like the Canon IXUS 185 HS with the £4250 Leica Q2, there are a handful of issues that anyone after either camera will probably be interested in.

Handling, for example. Canon The IXUS 185 HS is the smallest and lightest camera on test and we found it to be the easiest to operate with one hand, despite lacking a grip of any kind. Its large buttons make choosing settings straightforward and convenient, so this is a good option for kids or elderly users who don’t want to start messing with fiddly touchscreens.

The £4250 Leica Q2 also doesn’t have a grip, and while it’s not impossible to operate with one hand, its weight and design makes it considerably less comfortable.

We found some other options to be a little easier to handle and operate than others, but this isn’t always simply down to whether they had a grip or not. For example, neither Sony RX100 IV and RX100 VI have grips, so handling isn’t great in either camera, but the lens travels to a much longer focal length on the latter model, so getting a good grip is definitely more of an issue here.

We found some models far nicer to use outdoors, for a variety of reasons. The models that have viewfinders had a slight advantage over those that don’t, as you can press your face up against them and see the scene more clearly than on the LCD. The Sony RX100 IV, Sony RX100 VI, Panasonic TZ200, Fujifilm X100F and Leica Q2 were the best options here.

The LCD screens on both of the Panasonic models were really nice and contrasty outdoors too. You can see the scene's framing clearly even on bright days.

Things weren’t quite as great with the Canon IXUS 185 HS. Its low-resolution, low contrast display made composition harder in bright light. The Olympus TG-5 also suffered a little outdoors; there’s a noticeable gap between the LCD and the outer protective panel, and contrast can suffer as a result.

That said, the TG-5’s design makes for great operation underwater, and it’s the only camera here that can venture under the waves. Its mode dial is small but moves nice and easily, and the shutter release button used to capture the image has a nice action to it. It would be a fine option for travels and beach holidays, and the fact it’s so well guarded makes it perfect for kids. Or clumsy adults.

Best compact cameras: overall

Panasonic TZ200/ZS200 - £629

The Panasonic TZ200 is our pick of the bunch. It comes out on top for its marriage of a large sensor, a generous 24-360mm zoom range and plenty of other tech inside a body that’s perfectly practical and not shockingly expensive as some of its closest rivals, notably the Sony RX100 VI.

It’s not cheap for a compact camera at £629, but all of the above makes it supremely versatile. The TZ200 is small enough to qualify as an everyday camera yet capable enough for travelling and holidays.

Build quality is reassuring and the high level of physical control is matched by an excellent implementation of touch functionality through the LCD screen. There’s also a dial around the lens that allows you to quickly change important settings, which is a great use of space.

The lens also moves quickly from one end to the other but the control for this is sensitive enough to allow very small movements for more precise framing. The camera’s autofocus system is also nice and snappy, particularly in good light, so there’s less of a chance of you missing the shot.

Image quality is generally great, and the fact that you have a RAW shooting option, together with the relatively large sensor, also means that images will hold up better if you need to make any changes on a computer later on.

A RAW photo makes it easier to lift up details in the shadows a touch or bring back a little detail in highlights.

Video quality is also strong. There’s plenty of good detail in 4K footage and the lens moves steadily as you zoom it during recording. The only slight issue here is that sounds from wind can be easily picked up by the camera, but that’s definitely not an issue exclusive to the Panasonic TZ200.

No camera is perfect and there are a few things that bug us. The viewfinder, while nice and large, isn’t quite the clearest and is a little washed out. Fortunately, you can adjust the contrast, saturation and other things through the menu, which also helps to make it a little more colour-accurate. Images on the default colour mode aren’t quite as peachy as those from some of the other cameras here, although this can be easily tweaked through the camera’s menu system.

Images have a nice contrasty look to them, although the lens performs better at its wide-angle setting than when you zoom into the distance. That said, you’re unlikely to notice any significant changes unless you really zoom into your images in Photoshop or similar software.

It’s also something of a shame that you can’t tilt the LCD screen in any way for shooting from awkward angles. But the built-in viewfinder makes image composition that little bit easier in bright light, where you may normally tilt the screen to get a better view using another model.

One small Panasonic TZ200 issue we only noticed was that when you started to record videos, the subjects being recorded would take on artifacts that made them appear very sharp and jagged. These didn’t appear in the footage itself – which incidentally, is among the strongest here – but it’s bit disconcerting while you recording.

You won’t get the kind of image quality as you would from the likes of the much pricier Fujifilm X100F or the Leica Q2, but what you do get is an excellent, flexible camera for a reasonable price. That you can take the Panasonic TZ200 anywhere with you easily is a bonus. If you like the basic idea but your budget won’t stretch this far, you may also want to look at the previous TZ100/ZS100 model, which has a similar concept, but a tidier price.

Best compact cameras for value

The Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II gets our vote here. It may be one of the oldest cameras on test, which is partly why it doesn’t have all the latest tech on board. However, it Canon gets all the basics right, delivers strong images and offers great value for money.

The body has many physical controls and the small rubber grips on the front and back help you to hold the Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II securely and operate it easily with one hand. The touchscreen also responds very well to presses and swipes, while the screen’s flip-out design also makes it one of the few models here that can be easily be used for selfies and vlogging.

Its Face Detection feature notices faces quickly and holds focus on the subject well as they move around.

Its menus are clear and colour coded. And you can scroll through all the options with the dial on the back of the camera – rather than having to repeatedly press buttons until you get to where you need to be. This makes it easy to navigate at speed.

The Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II's autofocus system isn’t the most advanced, but it generally works quickly and accurately.

The 1in sensor inside the camera is also nice and large, and this helps it capture better images than the models priced beneath it. Colours in images are pleasing too, although you benefit from shooting on the Standard colour mode than leaving it to the Auto setting. You should also keep the Auto Lighting Optimizer setting on, as this keeps a nice brightness balance in different areas of the image.

Video quality is also generally very good, although not as good as the Panasonic TZ200's.

That’s one of two marks against it. The Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II is something of a video dinosaur, and one of the few without 4K video recording. Again, not everyone shoots video so this isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but given how cheap and widely available 4K televisions are these days, it means that if you do want to shoot videos they’ll be a little less futureproof in terms over their overall detail and appearance.

Also, unlike the two Sony RX100 models and the Panasonic TZ200, the PowerShot G7 X Mark II doesn’t have a viewfinder. This might not be important for everyone, but it often makes composing images easier when shooting on a sunny day. That Sony has managed to squeeze one into its similar RX100 IV body shows it’s possible to this without compromising on size.

Incidentally, a special commendation goes to the Sony RX100 IV, a very close second. While it’s not as ergonomically designed as the G7 X Mark II, and carries a slight price premium over that model, Sony throws in a crisp electronic viewfinder, a more refined autofocus system and wonderful 4K video quality. It delivers a lot for the extra outlay.

Since this review was carried out, its price has also dropped a little – so if you can find it for only a touch more than the PowerShot G7 X Mark II, it’s well worth a look.

Comparing the rest on test

Of all the cameras on test, it’s the Sony RX100 VI that boasts the highest features-to-size ratio, and great performance across the board. The pop-up electronic viewfinder is large and sharp, while the tilting touchscreen is very responsive when instructing the camera where to focus, but it’s a shame you can’t use touch functionality for general operation as you can with most of the others.

The RX100 VI’s image quality is great in good light and still strong when light levels dip, doing very well to produce pleasing exposures. Video quality is also a strong suit. True, it’s not as ergonomically designed as some other options, but this streamlined design does help to keep its size down – and you can buy an optional grip if you need it.

The Fujifilm X100F is arguably the most handsome camera here, and its many physical dials make it easy to change all the key settings quickly. It’s blessed with a clear menu system and the ability to focus promptly on subjects – if a little less so when light isn’t great.

It also delivers some of the nicest images in terms of colours and general feel. Fujifilm’s colour handling is well respected. The larger sensor means it’s somewhat bulkier than all but one option and the lens isn't a zoom which, won’t work for everyone. The lack of 4K video is also a shame.

Want to spend big?

With a sharp viewfinder, lovely LCD screen and build quality surpassed by pretty much no other compact right now, the Leica Q2 is a beautiful camera. Handling is much improved with the optional (and also expensive) grip, but the image quality is superb, even when you’re shooting indoors and when light levels fall.

Focusing performance is good and the screen responds very well to touch when setting the focus point, although, like the Sony RX100 VI, it’s a shame you can’t use this as extensively for operating the camera as you can on the others. You also have to really need 47MP images to justify dropping this kind of money on it, although Leica cameras do hold their value well if you ever get buyer’s remorse.

The Sony RX100 IV is a much more affordable alternative to its bigger Mark VI version above, and while you don’t get quite the same zoom range from the lens, you do get a crisp viewfinder, fast operation, very good focusing and cracking 4K video.

Low light image quality is also a big plus, and that you have a relatively wide-aperture lens – ie one that can let in a lot of light in a given situation – means that images are typically less grainy than would otherwise be the case.

As for its foibles, it’s not quite the most user friendly. The RX100 IV's menu system is very dense and lacks any colour coding to make it as convenient to navigate as some others. That tiny body could really use a grip to make it easier to hold too, so it’s just as well that you can get one if that starts to grate.

The Panasonic TZ80 might be one of the most affordable cameras on test, but it also happens to be one of the nicest to use. It’s packed with features and has a clear and easy-to-navigate menu.

It is also blessed with an LCD that is clear, bright and responds very well to touch. The electronic viewfinder is understandably small but relatively clear.

Image quality is a little mixed. The image stabilisation system does a good job, exposures are generally sound and images show good contrast, but colours aren’t always the most pleasing and telephoto results can be a little soft.

If you’re happy to process your RAW files you can get good results. Video quality isn’t too bad, although an effect known as rolling shutter makes things look a bit wobbly.

The Nikon A1000 looks great and has a good level of physical control, and the manner in which the screen tilts ups and down makes it flexible enough for low-angle shooting, selfies and everything else.

That all-encompassing zoom lets you really home in on more distant details where other cameras would struggle, and the image stabilisation system is clearly effective here.

But the overall experience is marred by a hit-and-miss focusing system and it’s not the nicest camera to operate. Image quality is also less than ideal, with a smearing of details common to see as the camera tries to make images less grainy than they otherwise might be.

The Olympus TG-5 is very well specced for an everything-proof compact camera. This one's tough.

It handles very nicely and focus is generally speedy when used on land. Once you get used to the method of changing key settings, you can do so quite quickly.

That said, the main menu is a bit disorganised and the purpose of some features isn’t always clear from the way they appear in the menu.

It’s not that consistent in terms of its image quality either. For a camera with such a small sensor it doesn’t fare too badly, but fine details are lacking and occasionally bright images can make colours a little washed out. In more balanced conditions, such as on a bright day indoors, it can do a very good job though.

Video quality is not great, and the sound of the zoom is very noticeable as you record and the focusing system struggles to keep things looking sharp.

The Canon IXUS 185HS is the cheapest model on test, as well as the smallest and lightest. It is the easiest to operate with one hand.

It’s simple in what it offers and relatively easy to use without the manual, while the nice big buttons make it easy for all users to operate.

But that’s pretty much where the fun ends; image and video quality are relatively poor, focusing is a little slow and the LCD is difficult to view in bright sun and from different angles. We’re also a bit concerned about the flimsy door to the battery and memory card compartment on the underside. It’d be understandable if you got what you paid for but here you sadly get a little bit less.

One to avoid

The Nikon A1000 turned out to be something of a disappointment. It looks great and the spec sheet is relatively up to date, but it’s just a little frustrating in use and the results are mixed.

For a start, the body has many physical controls, which is a plus, but some don’t really have enough room on such a small body to be operated comfortably. It’s also not as responsive as you’d expect such a camera to be. Today’s cameras are set up to be far more intuitive to presses and nudges, but here you often need to key a control twice for the camera to register a change.

Images straight out of the camera aren’t quite the best, and much of that is down to that small sensor. Fine detail is just a little too smudged, although the camera’s saving grace is that it offers a RAW mode. That means you can process these images yourself later on a computer, and you can generally achieve better results by doing so – if you’re inclined to do that, of course.

The Canon IXUS 185 HS is also a camera that holds far less appeal in today’s market than it might have done a few years ago. To its credit, it’s very small and easy to use, and the convenience of an 8x optical zoom also shouldn’t be overlooked, so for complete technophobes it might be fine.

That said, most modern smartphones can take better images and have the added convenience of far better video recording, much larger touch-sensitive displays and the ability to send images out into the wider world without you needing to go anywhere near a computer.

To add to its woes, when you consider just how many far more capable older models you can bag for just a little bit more outlay, it doesn’t seem to offer particularly good value for money – despite it being the cheapest option on test.

Fancy piloting your very own drone? It has never been easier or cheaper - as this best drone list proves.

Drones are some of the hottest tech items out there, and they come in all shapes, sizes and prices. However, if you’re new to drones, are trying to keep up to speed with where they're going, or need to know the rules and regulations, we’ve done a lot of the legwork for you.

During the course of compiling the best drone for 2019 we’ve covered all bases, from testing these flying machines to deciding which one is best suited to a certain type of buyer.

UPDATE: If you like drones, we have some space drone news this week, NASA has revealed more about its Dragonfly drone, which will visit Saturn's Moon Titan. The mission was officially announced by NASA earlier this year. But NPR has reported that more details of the tech involved, as well as the mission are now available. Dragonfly will be launching from Earth in 2026 and arrive on Titan in 2034.

After all, there’s little point in spending a small fortune on a high-end professional-level drone if really all you're after is the occasional fun afternoon out. Of course, there are all points in-between too, so we’ve handpicked a drone for every occasion and budget.

You can read our in-depth reviews below and how we came to our best drones conclusion. But, after much testing, the Ryze Tello is our best value pick and DJI Mavic 2 Pro is our favourite overall.

• Best buys
• expert's view
• The shortlist
• Test selection
• How we tested
• The rest compared
• best overal
• Best value
• Drone tips and advice

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While the name may not seem as familiar as DJI or Parrot, Ryze’s Tello is a sensible choice if you have minimal cash to spend. Conversely, you actually get maximum value from this little drone, as it has a feast of features and functionality that makes it appealing, but it’s also easy to use for the fledgling drone operator.

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro has to be our best overall choice as it has the lot in terms of drone appeal. It’s small, light and therefore wonderfully portable, but at the same time bristles with features, including 4K video. Considering its beefy spec, the DJI Mavic 2 Pro price is pretty reasonable.

The expert's view

19

Drones considered

22

Hours of testing

2

Best buys

1

Experts consulted

Author Bio

Rob Clymo

Rob Clymo is a long-time technology journalist who has first-hand experience of the action camera market after being editor of Digital FilmMaker magazine for the last six years. He’s filmed footage upside down in a light aircraft, going sideways in a rally car and beneath the waves while scuba diving.

The shortlist: best drone

Best drones: how we selected

Drones come in all shapes and sizes but they do have one thing in common; they’re all flying machines.

As such, if you’re a newbie to drones you are best off starting with an entry-level model and then progressing up the drone-piloting ladder until you get the machine you’re really after. That’s the main reason our best drone 2019 guide features ten models from across the pricing spectrum.

While the principles of flying a drone are essentially the same if you’re piloting a cheap and cheerful machine or a professional-level craft, the pitfalls can be more dramatic with an expensive model. That’s why we’ve singled out the likes of the budget-level Ryze Tello alongside the more upscale models such as the DJI Mavic 2 Pro, the Parrot Anafi and theYuneec Typhoon H.

Bear in mind there are also other models available that might tend to fall in a more ‘novelty’ or ‘toylike’ category and we’ve omitted them for obvious reasons (most are rubbish), though we do have plenty of budget level models on show here.

Most drone owners aspire to fly better and subsequently capture cool stills and video from the air. As a result, we spent our testing time looking for quality of build, features, usability and overall durability too.

Drones, by their very nature, are subject to all sorts of stresses and strains, ranging from unpredictable piloting from their owners through to tackling adverse weather conditions. So if you're new to the world of drones you’ll tend to see that a few manufacturers tend to carry the bulk of the best models, simply because they’re so good at it.

DJI is perhaps the strongest player in the drone field, but there’s also Parrot and Yuneec too, all of which produce drones that are perfect for anyone with a penchant for carrying out quality aerial work.

Lower down the budget spectrum there are plenty of options for the beginner, though bear in mind our cheaper models generally come with less on-board options. And flight times are lower too, thanks to their smaller batteries. That’s no bad thing, though, as if you're starting out it's perhaps a good feeling to know that your maiden voyage will probably be fairly-short lived and hopefully uneventful.

Drone pictured: Ryze Tello

We also considered the implications of repairs if you do end up running your flying machine into the trees.

Drones can be great for shooting aerial video and taking still images, and that scenario was at the core of our selection process, but as always, specifications are often compromised on the cheaper models in our round up.

If you spend more then you’ll generally get access to bigger camera sensors, meaning better quality footage, while things like range and smoothness of what is captured can be better on machines that cost more, for obvious reasons.

Best drones: how we tested

The more you pay the more you get: that’s certainly the case with drones. Some of the high-end models cost a lot but have more tech than you can shake a stick at.

However, we tested a range of products across the price spectrum, and expected different things at different prices.

With a beginner’s hat on we thought carefully about how easy the drone would be to fly, and also what sort of challenges it produced during take-off and landing. We also paid close attention to performance characteristics, as some of the more professional-level drones can be hard to fly if you have to carry out other tasks as you pilot the craft, such as working the camera and so on.

We were also keen to keep an eye on running costs, such as replacing parts and buying spares in case we ended up crashing or, worse still, losing the drone altogether. If you’re nervous about flying a drone, it really is worth starting out with a basic model to master the technique of piloting a craft from the ground.

Once you have the basics down these skills can be transferred to a more upscale machine. But, without a basic understanding of what makes a drone fly, you’re opening yourself up to problems with your purchase.

We therefore looked closely at what was involved in keeping the drone in the air, including battery life and range, both of which varied wildly across the different models we looked at.

Drone pictured: Yuneec Typhoon H

Another big deal for anyone heading into the world of drones with a view of capturing both moving and still images is the quality of the on-board camera. Controlling one of these can also seem like a bit of a dark art, which again is why it’s often a good idea to cut your flying teeth on a budget-level model and then transfer those skills to a higher specification model further down the line.

We also considered that not everyone wants to go down the video and stills route, so we had a look at models that can be flown just for the hell of it. Indeed, we also decided to include a more race-like option just in case you simply want to enjoy the adrenaline rush of flying a small buzzy electric aircraft around an open space.

Ultimately, however, most drone purchasers want to see what sort of results they can get from the on-board cameras that are often the centrepiece of these flying machines, so we kept a keen eye on what sort of results we got on that front once our drones returned to terra firm.

Best drone: test results

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is our best-ranked drone. It’s a nicely rounded package that allows you to do everything you want to do with one of these portable flying machines. The software lets you squeeze the best out of it, while making it hard to ditch thing even when faced with difficult weather conditions.

And, naturally, being armed with a built-in Hasselblad camera means the Mavic 2 Pro is superb for shooting video and taking stills.

The DJI Inspire, on the other hand, has even more potent capabilities but also needs a custom camera added to complete the package, which makes it less of a newbies’ option. It also costs a lot of money.

If you're after high-quality footage, the Parrot Anafi, Yuneec Typhoon H andYuneec Mantis Qare all top-notch performers that pack high-resolution film and stills capacity. At the same time though, they are not the ideal first choice for a beginner as all three are quite an investment.

Want to spend less? All of our shortlist options are rock-solid in the air, and we’ve found them all to be able to fly in a variety of conditions. Even the lower-cost Hubsan H501S X4and Holy Stone HS100 Navigatorare surprisingly nimble, while the Ryze Tello crops up again as one of the simplest options in terms of delivering a simple but effective dose of drone action.

Perhaps the only real outsider here is the TBS Oblivion, which is in essence more of a racing drone and therefore not so suited for shooting everyday video and stills. However, it can go very, very fast.

If you’re angling towards a bit of a sporting future on the drone front, this little beauty is well worth checking out.

Every one of our selected drones has plenty of positives worth shouting about. Better still, now that components have improved and design and manufacture is becoming better they're all pretty durable machines too.

We found that the way they stood up to outdoor use was admirable and while some are better than others in terms of battery life, as you’ll see from our individual overviews, they're all able to stay up in the air long enough to deliver a thrilling taste of what it’s like to fly a drone.

Finally, the other crucial consideration for us while we were testing the units was their portability. A drone like the DJI Inspire is a pretty big machine and is therefore not very portable, but it’s favoured by professionals. On the other hand, a unit like the DJI Mavic 2 Pro is perfect for average users as it’s not too bulky, but still offers high-end performance.

However, if you're looking for something that’s easy to pack in a bag between flights then we’re back to the Ryze Tello once again. It’s basically a simple-but-effective drone solution.

Best drone overall

DJI Mavic 2 Pro £1343

DJI’s Mavic 2 Pro is, as the name suggests, a follow-up to the hugely popular Mavic Pro. The two are similar, but DJI made some notable improvements this time. It can stay in the air for 31 minutes, a couple more than the older incarnation, while it's a shade faster going through the air too, topping out at 44 miles per hour.

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro’s software is great too. It works in tandem with a raft of on-board sensors to ‘see’ and duly avoid obstacles in its flight path.

Its Hasselblad camera is a star performer, with a 1-inch CMOS sensor and adjustable aperture. This adjusts how much light enters the camera, and noticeably change the depth of field when your subject is relatively close.

Sure, you can stick to Automatic mode if you’re a newbie, but these features also build in a certain futureproof charm. The Mavic 2 Pro capture genuinely great video and stills.

There’s no zoom feature mind, although DJI does have its Mavic 2 Zoom model to cater for that. Granted, that underlines the only slight drawback of this drone. It has a static camera that you’re stuck with.

However, it performs beautifully for most general film and photo tasks. Combine that with the way DJI builds its drones and you have a fine combination. The build quality of the Mavic 2 Pro is second to none, with a great use of design and materials to produce a drone that feels like its price tag is justified. And, going back to the software for a moment, DJI has done a grand job in fine-tuning this to make the Pro pretty easy to fly considering its potent shooting potential.

The software is intuitive too, and will bail you out of any sticky situations, which is a boon for less experienced users. Of course, anyone with a desire to have a model that allows you to work with different cameras mounted might prefer to investigate the DJI Inspire 2. But for folk at the lower end of the drone-learning/buying curve that could prove to be a little too expensive and complicated a move initially.

As an out-of-the-box solution then the DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone is a great model to consider as you can be up and running in no time and enjoying the fruits of your labours, without too much in the way of manual reading and machine configuration.

Best drone for value

Ryze Tello £79

We love the Ryze Tello, even if its low price and status as more of a toy mean it will never gain star status in the drone world. Of course, that is reflected in the overall construction and technical specification too, but it does tick a lot of boxes if you’re after a quick-fix.

The Ryze Tello is particularly great for novice flyers as you need little knowledge or experience to get it flying. It is compact and lightweight too, which makes it ideal for heading to a safe flying location and bringing it back again without too much in the way of faff.

Its basic-but-functional app lets you fly it using a smartphone or tablet and is the perfect accompaniment for it too, although downsides include limited flying time of around 13 minutes and basic shooting capabilities.

The 720p live feed video provides a fun view from the air, but it’s not up to snuff if you’re angling to make ‘proper’ movies using the HD video feature. Nevertheless, for less than a hundred quid the meat ‘n’ potatoes video and 5-megapixel still images are easy to forgive.

A neat party trick that it can take off and land in/on your hand, which is great fun. And, at just 80 grams it’s as light as a feather – which incidentally, can make it a little more of a handful to pilot in windy conditions.

That’s something that can affect other drones obviously, but for something so light this could be a limiting factor if you live in one of the more exposed areas of the country.

The Trello controller app

A definite plus is the safe feel of the Ryze Tello, with propeller guards protecting all four blades and anything they subsequently touch. It’s also low-maintenance, with batteries that can be charged on-board using a microUSB port and that camera is fixed in place, so you get stabilisation electronically.

That means there’s very little to do once you’ve taken the Ryze Tello out of the box. For many beginners that is perhaps the most appealing aspect of all and a fairly conservative range of between 50 and 100-metres means you won't see it disappearing into the distance either, which will doubtless be reassuring to parents who’ve decided to give their eager offspring a go at flying it.

Important advice for drone owners

While flying drones is seen as being a lot of fun you’ll also need to remember that buying one comes with a level of responsibility.

We’ve all seen stories in the press about drones and not all of the exposure has been positive. Drones are viewed by many as antisocial and an annoyance. And, at their worst, drones have been used to cause chaos, particularly when they're flown unauthorised near airports and airfields.

In that respect you’ll definitely want to follow the code of conduct for drone flying, which involves avoiding the aforementioned airports and airfields, staying below 120-metres off the ground and also maintaining eye contact with your flying machine.

Needless to say, don't go anywhere near other aircraft and use common sense too. Many people get irritated if a drone is flying overhead and not only can they cause injury or damage if anything does go wrong, they might be straying into private property.

Based on that thinking, we’d underline just how useful it might be to start off with a smaller and cheaper model, something like the Hubsan H501S X4 or Holy Stone Navigator and, if you have a desire to do things more professionally or indeed commercially, move on up to machines like the DJI and Yuneec drones.

We’d also recommend visiting the Civil Aviation Authority’s website for guidance and how to stay safe and on the right side of the law. Check out Dronesafe too for tips on doing things right.

If you have children who’ve seen drones on their travels and look longingly at the skies hoping they too can get up in the air then something like the Ryze Tellomakes a cheap and fun entry point into the world of flying. If they subsequently lose interest then you haven’t laid out too much cash and can probably find another willing new owner to take it on if it’s surplus to requirements.

That said, even higher-end drones are popular items on the secondhand market, so it should be reasonably easy to pass on any kind of model just as long as it’s in good shape and performs as it should. Most drone manufacturers are smart enough to produce spares for their models as they too know that we can all do damage to these fairly fragile flying machines. But if you're particularly accident-prone then it might be an idea to consider a model that can be returned to its original glory without breaking the bank. The same needs to be considered when it comes to things like batteries and rotors too, as on some models these can be annoyingly expensive things to replace.

The best action camera makes capturing top-quality video much easier than ever before. Action cams are powerful gadgets that are a fraction of the size of a traditional camera but are often just as capable.

We’ve rounded up the best action cameras you can buy today, evaluating how easily they can be used, how well they shoot video, and just how durable these go-anywhere gadgets really are.

UPDATE: Although it came out after our big action camera test, we've added the GoPro Hero 8 to our list of the best action cams this week. It's GoPro's latest top-end action camera and boasts advanced stabilisation, it's slimmer than the Hero 7 at just 28.4mm thick and you can use it to livestream at 1080p.

• If you're looking for a GoPro, check out our best GoPro of 2020 list

We spent a couple of weeks testing a selection of models from the likes of GoPro, Sony and Yi Technology, and put the cameras through their paces in a variety of shooting scenarios.

Below you can read what we liked and disliked with all the cameras we tested but, for clarity, the best camera for value we tested was the GoPro Hero7 White. The best camera overall was the GoPro Hero7 Black.

Best action camera: value and overall

If you’re looking for a competitively priced action camera that works brilliantly every time, the GoPro Hero7 White is ideal. It’s a minimalist edition of others in the GoPro range, but has features and functionality that let you capture video in a simple-but-effective fashion. Added to that, it has the same build quality found in their premium models. It’s a safe bet for anyone with an action-packed hobby.

The GoPro Hero7 Black is a hard act to follow if you’re after an exceptional action camera that is easy to use, comes packed with useful features and delivers excellent quality video in all conditions. It’s our best overall choice, an action camera that can do it all and has capabilities carefully honed over successive model releases.

Scroll down for the expert's view, or have your say by upvoting and downvoting on our shortlist below.

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The Shortlist: Best action cameras for epic adventures

The Expert's View

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EXPERTS CONSULTED

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SHORTLIST BEST BUYS

For our money the GoPro range is still the best for its ease of use, features and functionality and, above all, durability. And thankfully GoPro now offers a model to suit most pockets and requirements, but don’t worry, we also have the verdict on the best of the rest.

Author Bio

Rob Clymo

Rob Clymo is a long-time technology journalist who has first-hand experience of the action camera market after being editor of Digital FilmMaker magazine for the last six years. He’s filmed footage upside down in a light aircraft, going sideways in a rally car and beneath the waves while scuba diving.

Best action cameras: how we selected

Action cameras have improved immeasurably over the last few years. There is now a huge range to choose from. Specifications and prices vary, and the models reviewed here range from £179.99 to £499. We want to cater for any budget or requirement. Of course, the core point of an action camera is its ability to capture video, and take photos, in any kind of geographical situation along. They need to make filmmaking simple and fuss-free.

GoPro swiftly became the action camera brand a few years ago, but other manufacturers have been quick to get in on the act. As a result you can now find one to suit any budget and, depending on what you want to do with it, film anytime and anywhere. That said, you’ll notice a lot of GoPro devices on our list, because they now offer a range of different models to suit all needs – whether you’re a spelunking specialist or new parent.

Elsewhere, other action camera models like those from respected brands such as Sony, TomTom and Yi Technology, are also very good at capturing high-quality footage. While some don’t have every high-end feature, each device we tested produces perfectly serviceable video.

It’s not just about the camera though. You’ll want to be able to attach your action camera to all sorts of things. That might include cars, bikes, boats, surfboards, skis, crash helmets, people and pets, too. Therefore, one of your main considerations is just how easy that’ll be and what kind of mounting accessories come with the camera.

Some, though not all, action camera bundles come with accessories included. If they’re not provided, be sure to factor in the additional cost of add-ons such as clips, harnesses, suction pads and so on. Similarly, check that it comes with a simple-but-effective solution for moving footage from the unit to your smartphone, laptop, storage or TV. After all, your video, no matter how ‘extreme’, is going to be useless if nobody can see it.

Many action camera models have supporting software and, increasingly, an app that can be installed on your smartphone or tablet to allow easy transfer of footage and basic editing functions. If you’re more ambitious, look out for standalone editing software, either for your mobile device, laptop or desktop computer.

Options include free software that let you edit your video in simple steps, through to complex programs that can turn your footage into something rather special. They can also spruce up any substandard audio you’ve captured.

Finally, be sure to have a memory card or two to hand – most action cameras use the microSD card format. These things are small and annoyingly easy to mislay, but they’re also affordable and come in a range of speeds and sizes, from those that handle a few clips through to others that hold feature-length movies and more besides. Stick with a decent brand rather than the cheapest you can find for extra reassurance and better recording/playback performance.

Best action cameras: how we tested

Action cameras are designed with rough-and-tumble situations in mind. They are perfect for anyone into outdoor pursuits. We took ours to a windswept beach in Cornwall and tried them out in the surf, and while mountain biking over the dunes.

However, because an action camera is small, light and robust it can be used in just about any kind of situation – and that doesn’t have to be the great outdoors. Action camera specifications are so good they are a great choice if you will film indoors, underwater, inside caves and so on.

Dealing with less than ideal lighting situations is less of an issue than it used to be, although if you’re looking to improve your video-making prowess there are lighting accessories that you can investigate further down the line.

You can even buy ‘rigs’ that let you attach extra lights, microphones and batteries if you really want to push the boat out. We also tried fixing our test models to a car using a special suction mount and bracket. However, starting out, all you’ll need is a fully charged action camera and a means to attach it to something, although if it is practical you can always hold it in your hand.

Ease of use was one of the main things we were looking for in our testing. We wanted to select a range of action camera models that work in any environment and still deliver great results, without the need to spend hours picking through manuals.

If you’re on the go and want to record video with little or no advance warning, a decent action camera needs to be operational in a second or so. All of the GoPros models tested excel at this, and can be powered up and shooting in an instant. We also wanted to be sure of top quality results, too, in a format that can be used anywhere, from social media posts through to professional filmmaking.

How easily it lets you make use of the footage is another important aspect of the action camera. Sharing video or repurposing it for others needs to be quick and easy. For each camera on test we checked how simple it was to download, edit and share a short clip. We looked for models that ideally had everything we needed to get us started inside the box, or if they didn’t, whether they were compatible with things like mounts and tripods.

Storage capacity was another consideration, as was battery life, particularly considering many action cameras are used in inhospitable surroundings, where something like extreme cold, for example, can severely deplete the life of a battery.

And, naturally, we were keen to see just how robust our range of action cameras would be, so we spent time looking at build quality, ergonomics and just how well components including lenses and activation buttons were designed and engineered. And yep, we dropped them and dunked them all, both deliberately and accidentally!

One final point we were keen to explore was how well each camera worked alongside our phones, which is often the first port of call for anyone wanting to check over footage, especially if there’s no built-in screen on the camera itself.

Best action camera reviews: The test results

A decent action camera should ooze fun from every corner, set-up should be simple and operation a breeze. The whole point of an action camera is to not be bogged down with lots of complex settings. Capturing video or still images, when you’re often not in a position to consider the finer points such as lighting conditions and composition, needs to be quick and easy.

This is why there’s a model here for every occasion. GoPro is the go-to brand. Its models do everything you’d expect from an action camera, and you can just pick the one that suits your needs and budget.

We also liked the usability factor of the Yi 4K+, the Sony, TomTom Banditand Veho models. That said, the compact designs of the Nikon and Olympus models made them handy for more straightforward shooting, when they were not mounted to anything. Nevertheless, they each have a thread that lets you attach them to a tripod or similar accessory.

The Veho scored highly for the assorted accessories included in the package. You can get up and shooting, quick.

Another great thing about using an action camera, or action compact camera for that matter, is that unlike conventional designs such as DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, they are light, and easy to take with you.

Every model tested was wonderfully portable and the unobtrusive designs meant they could be chucked in a bag or pocket when not needed. That’s hugely beneficial if you like to travel light or want to head to filming locations where lugging around a bulky camera is not a good idea. The same goes for filming unobtrusively. A big, regular-style camera can attract unwanted attention, so filming with an action model means you can get great footage in a low-key way.

All of our action cameras managed this, particularly the models with understated colour schemes. Black or grey fades into the background and it’s often difficult for people to see if you’re even shooting with one. It is perfect if you’re looking to carry out a covert – not in a seedy way, obviously – operation.

As for the resulting videos and photographs we captured along the way, all models performed admirably. The GoPros were most forgiving, and ironed out many irregularities in the quality of our shots. In fact, the way a GoPro Hero7 Black can smooth footage on-the-fly is really quite something.

However, we also took a shine to the Sony FDR-X3000R 4K. It has a real ability to deliver video that oozes quality. Its additional live preview screen accessory is another thing to carry but works to good effect. All of the resulting video captured was also easy to edit, and we found the smartphone-friendly Quik app as good as anything if you’re just looking to do some rapid editing.

The best action camera overall reviewed

GoPro Hero7 Black review, £379.99

We love the GoPro Hero7 Black. It’s the latest iteration of the long-running series of action cameras. If you’re prepared to pay the premium – it costs upwards of £300 – you’ll be rewarded with the finest suite of features and functionality on the market.

Because the GoPro Hero7 Black can shoot in 4K you get crystal clear moving images and high-resolution stills. There are other video settings, however, so you can pick and choose depending on what you need your video for, bearing in mind that higher-resolution video uses up a lot more storage space and requires more of your time to edit. You’ll also need a 4K screen to enjoy the best possible playback.

The Hero7 Black is also better than most at capturing audio, which is an often-overlooked aspect of filmmaking. As GoPro was more-or-less the original action camera maker, it has become very good at cramming lots of technology into a small form. The Hero7 Black has a hugely robust shell that will happily get bashed about or taken to depths of up to 10 metres underwater.

While the rubbery camera body sits nicely in your hand, it also feels almost indestructible. That said, if you have chunky fingers you might find opening the battery and memory card doors a bit challenging. The mounting frame that comes with the camera and allows you to fix it to just about anything is similarly robust.

You could perhaps level the same criticism at the touchscreen functionality on the Hero7 Black. It’s a little fiddly. But GoPro has worked hard to make this more intuitive and, by and large, it just works, which is all you need it to do. More importantly, basic but vital stuff, like how much space you have left on your memory card, is clearly flagged up so you don’t miss a video opportunity due to your storage being full.

At just 118 grams, the Hero7 Black is one of the lightest action cameras on the market, and battery life is respectable during normal use. We got a couple of hours of shooting between charges, although opting for the high-resolution 4K setting meant this dropped to about 45 minutes in cold, wintery conditions. GoPro has also done a nice job with the user interface and, considering its beefy shooting capacity, actually getting to see your shots is easier than ever.

There’s plenty of help on hand from the camera but if you are keen to get more creative, the ProTune feature lets you take a deep dive into the manual controls and tweak and fine-tune still images.

More adventurous users can even opt for working the controls using voice commands, leaving you hands-free and needing only to say ‘GoPro start video recording’ in order to record footage.

The best action camera for value reviewed

GoPro Hero7 White review, £179.99

Choosing the GoPro Hero7 White means making a few compromises. It doesn’t have the same GP1 processor as the mighty GoPro Hero7 Black, but it still very good.

Considering the camera is rather like a ‘lite’ edition, it still features an unbeatable body design and housing ready to take on whatever you want to throw at it. The other bonus: it’s less than half the price of its market-leading relative. This is a rock-solid choice if you don’t want to break the bank but demand the quality and reliability of a decent brand.

Better still, you also get many of the cool features that the higher-end models boast, so there’s a touchscreen display, voice control and it’s safe to a depth of 10 metres underwater without the need for an additional protective case. As for the all-important footage, you won’t get quite the same level of quality – 1440p or 1080p at 60 frames per second as opposed to full-on 4K – but considering this is an action camera that can cost you up to £200 less than the GoPro Hero7 Black, that is a reasonable compromise.

You’ll find that video is still perfectly serviceable and stills images aren’t bad either. But you don’t get the likes of the Hypersmooth video or TimeWarp video options offered by the pricier GoPro. While that may put off people with high-end needs or the desire to produce cutting-edge videos, it’s hardly a dealbreaker.

And, as you’d expect, the other bonus about this model is the ease with which you can mount it to anything because it’s so light and unobtrusive. GoPro makes all manner of accessories to help out. The little GoPro is also brilliant at fending off stuff that wants to stick to it, with sand in particular finding little on the smooth lines of the body to adhere to.

Comparing the rest on test

Generally speaking, the more money you choose to spend the better quality video you’ll get, so if you want to start producing footage to use in a professional environment then that’s something to consider carefully. The Sony FDR-X3000R is a good bet if you have a decent budget and want the super-stabilised 4K footage. And a live view remote gizmo can be attached to your wrist, and gives you a preview of your footage from a separate location.

But, the best for everything accolade has to go to the GoPro Hero7 Black, which is well suited to any kind of shooting scenario. It has great stills potential too. The GoPro Hero7 Silver, meanwhile, is best for that middle ground if you want quality and features but less damage to your bank balance. Cheaper still is the GoPro Hero7 White, which obviously sacrifices a little specification-wise but offer the best value for money.

Similarly, the DJI Osmo, although not a true action camera, delivers slick-looking footage that’s made all the better by its gyroscopic gimbal camera mount that provides movie-like filmmaking in one tiny package.It’s the smart option for any budding movie directors. We also like the TomTom Bandit, which has to be the best you can buy in terms of GPS tagging capability.

Conversely, if you are just after something to capture holiday memories, family occasions and other random video opportunities, you’ll want ease of use and convenience. The Nikon Coolpix W300 or Olympus TG-5 action compacts are the best for this arena. They are very family friendly. Best for coming with everything in the box is probably the Veho Muvi KX-2 PRO 4K.

Of course, as with any other camera, there seems little point in buying a model with more features and functionality than you’ll ever need. While we all tend to start exploring features once we get acquainted with a new gadget, lots of us just require a record button and that’s about it. Similarly, while you might like the sound of taking still images on an action camera, they’re often bettered by modern smartphones.

However, having one at your disposal is still pretty handy if you want off-the-cuff snaps, but can’t be bothered with the bulk of a traditionally proportioned camera. It’s also the reason a GoPro is a hard act to follow. They are so “simple but effective”. The design of their cases makes them additionally appealing because you can get sand, mud and any other kind of dirt off them with a quick wipe over or a splash under the tap.

Any action cameras to avoid?

While there aren’t any action cameras on our list that we’d advise you not to buy, there are many out there that aren’t exactly great.

While you might see lots of fizzy marketing descriptions as you shop around online, be warned – the internet is full of cheap but not so cheerful action cameras that, while they might capture video, do it poorly. It's therefore probably prudent to stick with a tried and trusted brand name, such as these we've listed here.

Price is critical for many of us, but if you go in too cheap and plump for a dubious looking model from a budget supermarket or petrol station then you might have to live with substandard video, poor stills quality and, even worse, an action camera that isn’t as robust as you’d have hoped for.

Compromises on build quality can result in seals leaking, allowing water, dust and dirt to get in, while other weak areas can be disappointing battery life and a lack of mounting options. Worse still, some low-budget models are frustrating to use, with clunky interfaces and sluggish controls.

What did we miss?

Tell us, and we'll feedback to our reviewers so we can include it going forwards.

GoPro is to action cameras what Google is to search engines. It has fresh competition from the surprisingly brilliant DJI Oslo Action. But for now at least, GoPro is the name to beat. But which is the best GoPro to buy?

UPDATE:We've updated this guide for the tail end of 2019, complete with some notes on its latest 360-degree camera the GoPro Max. It lets you take crazy, scene-bending footage, or you can use it just like a normal GoPro.

We’ve used all of the current models, and those from the last generation you can still buy. We attached them to bikes and became “that person” running along awkwardly with a GoPro attached to a selfie stick. The things we do for you.

There are no duds in the GoPro action camera line-up. Here are some insights into which model may be right for you.

And for a wider look, be sure to check out our best action camera group test.

Best GoPro

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

If you’re looking to buy a new camera - whether that be a instant camera or something more high spec - these End of Summer Sale deals from Amazon could help you out.

We have put together the best Amazon deals we have found on the site’s End of Summer Sale to find some quality cameras with major discounts.

Don’t forget to head to our best Amazon End of Summer Sale deals page for more discounted products - there is everything from mobile phones to luggage. Be sure to check back in, too, because we’ll continue to update it through the sale to bring you more of the best deals.

• Want to try out some other options? Here are our top picks for the best DSLR camera

End of Summer Sale: Best camera deals

You’re (hopefully) aware your phone or computer can be hacked, and that your smart home devices might be vulnerable. You may be more surprised to hear your DSLR camera is also at risk.

A report from Check Point Software Technologies has found malware can be installed on a Canon DSLR camera via its ‘Picture Transfer Protocol’, a USB or WiFi enabled method of transferring your pictures to a phone or computer. If a WiFi access point is “infected”, anyone who connects to it could be vulnerable.

As The Verge points out, a connection to a camera is perfect for a hacker. Cameras often contain all sorts of images that people don’t want leaked to the public. If access is gained, a hacker could easily extort a victim.

Canon is working on the vulnerability, according to Check Point. It told the company it had found the problem back in March. Canon has responded by telling users to “avoid using unsecured WiFi networks” and to install the just-released security patch.

It might not just be Canon camera that are affected, though, so if you have another device it’s worth bearing Canon’s advice in mind – don’t connect to unsecured networks.

• Now you know what to look out for, there’s no reason not to invest. Our list of the best DSLR cameras will give you the lowdown

If you’re looking to invest in a new camera, you could do much worse than the Sony Alpha A7, currently on sale for less than half its usual price on Amazon.

You’d normally have to cough up over £1,500 for the model – but its price has been slashed to just £659 during Amazon’s Prime Day 2019 sales.

£650 is still a lot of money, of course. But what you get is significant thanks to the sheer power of its full-frame sensor. Designed to be portable yet hardy, the Alpha A7 can slip into your bag with ease.

But it still has some impressive features alongside its portability. The viewfinder is particularly interesting – Sony claims that it presents the image “directly from the sensor”, which means you can see more easily what your finished image is going to look like, taking the guesswork out of your picture taking.

One particularly noteworthy feature is its wireless sharing. Like many modern cameras, it has Wi-Fi, meaning you can download your photos on the go. But it also uses NFC, the same contactless technology that lets you pay for things on your phone, so you can just tap your camera with a compatible device and have all of your photos instantly.

Sony has also developed a new range of lenses specifically for the camera, so you can really make the most of its functionality.

We should probably note that the camera is designed for professional use – hence the hefty price tag. So if you’re an amateur snapper who only uses your camera on high days and holidays, you might be better off going for a slightly cheaper and simpler model.

But if you’re looking to take your skills to the next level, are semi-pro or you have a serious passion for photography, it could be a good time to invest. Here are some more Prime Day deals for photographers.

The shortlist for the Sony World Photography Awards Professional competition has been announced. The competition winners will be selected on the 17th April 2019, with all the shortlisted works being exhibited at Somerset House from 18th April until May 6th.

The photos, some of which are below, were chosen by a panel of expert judges across photography, culture, media and academia, and span across ten diverse categories. The photos are all part of larger bodies of work by each photographer, and the overall winner will received US$25,000 as their prize. Not bad aye?

You may also like

Look at all these excellent pictures of animals from Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Take a look at just some of the shortlist here;

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(Main Image: © Mustafa Hassona, Palestine, State of, Shortlist, Professional, Documentary, 2019 Sony World Photography Awards)

Wildlife photographer sounds like a really cool job until you realise it’s probably a lot of sitting around and waiting, and perhaps getting a decent shot after ten hours sitting in the cold. 

It’s all worth it for these amazing snaps that came top of their class in the Natural History Museum’s annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, though - take a look at some of the LUMIX People’s Choice winners below, plus the original winners, and the image that took the crown of the Grand Title, below:

The image above, by David Lloyd, won the LUMIX People’s Choice Award, as voted for by the public. Nice, innit?

This photo (above) won the prestigious Grand Title of the competiton, and its photographer Marsel van Oosten was named Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The image shows two golden snub-nosed monkeys in the forest of China’s Qinling Mountains, which is the only habitat these endangered primates live in. Pretty good aye?

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is still on at the Natural History Museum until 30th June 2019. You can book tickets here.

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Have you got an eye for the moment, the scene, the situation?

• These are the best cheap phones to buy if you're on a budget

Whether you’re a pro or an amateur street photographer, we want to hear from you!

MyTown is a street photography competition on the hunt for images that capture the uniqueness and diversity of UK cities.

Not only will you be in the running to win a Fujifilm X100F camera and a UK City Break, but you’ll also get the chance to have your photo featured on Clear Channel digital screens across the UK, as part of the UK’s biggest outdoor exhibition of street photography.

Winning and shortlisted entries will be selected by our judging panel of renowned street photographers Dougie Wallace, Linda Wisdom, and Ronya Galka.

To take part, simply upload your best picture(s) via the official upload page.

You can use any kind of camera, but please ensure photos are a minimum of 300dpi, otherwise we may not be able to use them. You can submit up to five images.

Deadline for entries: 11 November 2018

Winner announced: 5 December 2018

Please read the terms and conditions carefully and take extra note of the rules around post-processing images. You can touch up and add filters but they must be kept real. Clear Channel won’t accept composite images or anything that’s been faked in any way.

Find out more and enter at: mytown.photography

ENTER HERE

To enter, Eligible Entrants must, during the Competition Period, upload a photo to the MyTown microsite: http://mytown.photography/ and enter the mandatory information found listed here. Entry is free and is open to UK residents only aged 18 years and over (“Eligible Entrants”). Entry is by individual and not by company. Information on how to enter and prizes form part of these conditions of entry. Submission of an entry is deemed acceptance of these conditions of entry. Normal exclusions apply. Competition commences 12:01am on 17/09/18, and entries close and must be received by 11.59pm on 11/11/18 (“Competition Period”). An entry is deemed to be received at the time of its receipt by Clear Channel and not at the time of transmission by the entrant. Full terms and conditions here. Promoter: Clear Channel UK Limited. Supplier: Clear Channel UK Limited. This is an external competition with entries having no direct affiliation with Shortlist Media.

Please see Clear Channel’s Privacy Policy for more details. Entrants should direct any request to access, update or correct information to Clear Channel.

Sad news today, as we hear of Burt Reynolds passing at the age of 82, moustashioed legend of film - a man that made hairy arms cool (RIP Robin Williams) and who popularised the bow and arrow way before Jennifer Lawrence jumped on the bandwagon.

The thing about Burt was that he was cool, he was… just… cool. Cool old dude, was Burt. Real cool, coolio, cool-cool-cool.

Don’t believe us? Well, to prove it, we shall simply display 14 photos of the man that are undeniably cool. Like, you can’t look at these pictures and disagree with the sentiment - it is impossible. 

Just try it, we dare you:

See? You can’t, can ya?

RIP Burt.

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(Images: Getty)

Farah has teamed up with legendary British photographer Martin Parr for their high summer collection, with a selection of imagery shot in Broadstairs – and an exclusive limited run of hoodies and t-shirts featuring Parr’s work. 

To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with Farah to give one lucky reader the opportunity to win two of these exclusive products, access to the in-store launch event and a £350 Farah voucher.

Check out the Farah X Martin Parr collaboration here. 

For details on how to enter online, specific Shortlist competition T&Cs and the competition form, please see below. The competition closes at midnight on 15/05/18. The winner will be selected from all entries received before the closing date. Standard T&Cs here. Privacy Policy here.

By entering this competition you’ll be signed up to the weekly ShortList competitions email featuring a whole load of exclusive reader offers and competitions.

If you ever wanted to take a look at something to make you feel entirely inadequate, the Smithsonian Photo Competition fits the bill.

You might have spent days or even weeks touching up your best snaps, whether on your phone or on a professional camera, and you’ll not have come close to the quality on show here.

Smithsonian Magazine received more than 48,000 submissions from photographers in more than 150 countries for its 15th annual competition, and the eight winners are truly stunning.

They are divided into eight categories: the Grand Prize, Readers’ Choice, Natural World, The American Experience, Travel, People, Altered Images and Mobile. The full gallery can be found here, but these are the winning entries along with the descriptions included on Smithsonian.com

Grand Prize: ‘Breakfast at the Weekly Market’ by Thong Huu

“In northern Vietnam, people come to the weekly market to exchange goods and culture. They usually wake up very early to go to market and have breakfast here.”

Readers’ Choice: ‘Rare’ by Sara Jacoby

“This is Maggie. She has two rare chromosome duplications, one of which she’s the only child on record to have. This photo captures not only her vulnerability, but also the magnitude of the science for which we are so grateful. A little girl and her “Gigi” already way too familiar with hospitals and doctors offices than any child should be.”

Natural World: ‘Pinnacle of Existence’ by Oreon Strusinski

“Energy travels hundreds of miles across the ocean and comes to a dramatic end when it reaches our shores.”

The American Experience: ‘Backflip Submission’ by Dan Fenstermacher

“A wrestler does a backflip off the ropes of a wrestling ring in an attempt to defeat an opponent.”

Travel: ‘Making Incense’ by Tran Tuan Viet

“Decoratively dyed bundles of incense dry in Quang Phu Cau, a commune in Hanoi, Vietnam. In Buddhist countries like Vietnam, incense is an irreplaceable part of traditional festivals and religious ceremonies.”

People: ‘Rain’ by Seyed Mohamed Sadegh Hosseini

“Niloofar is an Iranian nomad girl living in the Babanajm nomad region south of Shiraz city in Fars Province, Iran.”

Altered Images: ‘Stairs’ by Adam Żądło

“There are not many other animals as productive as sheep. They give us wool, milk, meat. Their memoirs are usually short. The pool of names is repeated every two years on our farm. We have already had two Queens, three Theos and four Fables.”

Mobile: ‘Shadow Highlight’ by Mohammad Mohsenifar

“A couple of ladies are passing in front of graffiti.”

With nearly 50,000 entries, there were always likely to be some great entries which missed out on top honours.

Here are a few of the other featured entries:

Natural World: ‘Joy’ by Erika Valkovicova

“A seal pup enjoys the morning breeze on Düne Island in Germany.”

People: ‘Ronja on the Day of Her Confirmation Ceremony’ by Silvia Varela

“Ronja grew up as the only girl on the remote and enigmatic island of Mykines, the westernmost of the Faroe Islands and home to some of the richest bird cliffs in the world. Her confirmation was the first to be celebrated in Mykines since 1962 because no young people had lived permanently on the island since then.”

The American Experience: ‘After a Long Day’ by Geoffrey Giller

“At the end of the night—after the after-party and the after-after-party—in, yes, the hotel lobby, the bride and groom finally retire to their room. This is the last glimpse of the bride before the door shut.”

Mobile: ‘NYC’ by Tatiana Borodina

“This picture was taken during the New Year holiday in NYC from the Roosevelt Island aerial tramway. Despite the rain, there is a festive mood in the frame. Raindrops resemble Christmas balls.”

People: ‘Green’ by Gareth Bragdon

“A vendor at a fun fair in The Meadows, Edinburgh”

If you’ve looked at the above photos and think you could do better, entries are already open for the 2018 competition. Find out more here.

(Images courtesy of The Smithsonian, copyright the respective photographers)

As you might have noticed, we’ve had a bit of snow in the UK this week.

I know, weird that no one’s really talking about it, right?

While we know being cold is bad, and being colder is even worse, one thing is even worse than both of those.

That’s right, we’re talking about bad photos of snow.

You’ve been on Instagram this morning to see wall-to-wall snow, blindingly white to the point you can’t really tell what you’re meant to be looking at. And yes, some of those photos are ones you’ve taken yourself.

Either that, or you’ve managed so somehow miss all the snow on the ground and capture what might be snowfall but could just be dandruff. Either way, it’s not good.

But how do you take a good snow photo, save for ensuring there’s a dog frolicking in the stuff (obviously all dog photos are good photos)?

Well, it’s a question that has plagued us for years, and instead of sitting there putting up with mediocrity, you can find a way to do better.

Chances are, unless you’re really prepared, you’ll only be armed with your phone – especially if there’s heavy snowfall in the middle of your working day, as we’ve seen this week.

That means some of the preparations you might make for a professional camera won’t necessarily apply, but there are still some handy tweaks you can make.

One of the main ones, which is certainly doable on iPhone cameras, is to tweak the exposure manually. While this might leave you with slightly off-looking photos in normal circumstances, here it can actually help make the snow look whiter.

Often, the colour you associate with snow doesn’t actually come out in real life, and certainly not on camera, so in effect you’re changing the set-up to make it look more ‘real’.

As explained by Jill Emmer of iPhone Photography School: ‘The problem with snowy scenes is that the large areas of white can trick the iPhone’s camera into under-exposing the photo. Basically, the camera looks at the scene, sees all the white, and thinks it’s too bright. So it reduces the exposure which effectively makes the snow look grey.’

While we’re on the subject of brightness, it can be just as important to ensure you don’t wait for sunny skies.

We’re basically asking you to ignore everything you’ve been told about avoiding overcast weather when nipping out to take some photos – the combination of sun and snow can, you guessed it, make things too bright.

“Direct sunlight rarely makes for a great picture, but the snow has a poor tendency to amplify that overexposure and make for a painfully bright photograph. Instead, aim to shoot snowy scenes when it’s slightly overcast or the sun is otherwise hidden behind trees, houses, or mountains,” explains iMore’s Serenity Caldwell.

We can’t always get a perfect backdrop, and we don’t always have time to wait. If you’re rushed into getting whatever you can on your lunch-break then the black-and-white filter is your friend.

Perhaps light from elsewhere will give you the brightness you want, but without the colour you expect from snow, but you can remove orange or yellow tints by going black-and-white.

If all else fails, though, maybe you want to use the snow as a backdrop, not the main event.

Yes, animal photos might be the pinnacle of this, but even the most mundane objects can gain an intensity when flanked by heaps of snow, in an American Beauty carrier-bag-in-the-wind sort of way.

As Dena White writes for Digital Photography School: “Autofocus can have a hard time locking on, when everything is white. It helps to focus on something dark, like the bark that’s just below a lump of snow on a tree branch. Your camera’s autofocus system needs contrast to focus on, so a plain white mound of snow may cause issues”.

Oh, and one more tip, which pretty much everyone will tell you: don’t delete any photos until you’re back home in the warm.

You might think it doesn’t look up to scratch but head home, play around with it and who knows, it might look a whole lot better than you thought.

There you go, now get out there and take yourself some better photos right now, before all the snow melts.

(Images: Genessa Panainte/Unsplash/iStock)

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been eight long months since the winners of the Dog Photographer of the Year Awards were announced.

What a wonderful time that was, taking time out from the hustle and bustle of the constant capitalist nightmare rat race we all subject ourselves to day in day out, just to look at lovely pictures of lovely dogs.

Well, in case you feel like you can’t make it through to June, when the next set of dog winners are announced, we’ve got another treat for you: the winners of the Underwater Photographer of the Year contest.

Close your eyes - OK, close them a bit but not too much that you can’t read this article or see the pictures, that would be ridiculous - imagine the waves lapping at your feet as you lie on a sandy beach with not a care in the world.

Now immerse yourself in these beauties, the winners in their respective categories, and enjoy the stories of those talented photographers who took the winning snaps (and if you want even more, you can download the free 160 page UPY yearbook by clicking right here). 

What a wonderful world we live in.

1. Wide Angle

Greg Lecoeur: “Each year, I go to Tonga to lead a small group of nature enthusiasts to photograph humpback whales. Tonga offers probably the best opportunity to interact with the whales in blue water. This year was very special, with my friends we had sone of my best moments in my underwater photographer’s life: Very curious and playful whales came to investigate us and adopt the spy hopping posture in front of our masks. Although weighing several tens of tons this mammal showed incredible agility and power in holding itself vertically in the water. It was very impressive and we could feel the power of nature but we were also invaded at the same time a feeling of gentleness. I had the chance to freeze this moment with a split shot to recreate a spectacular moment.”

2. Macro

Shane Gross: “The pond I was in has the highest density of seahorses on Earth, but I’ve never seen three together like this before. I was camping on shore and had all night to shoot with the idea of backlighting a single seahorse, but finding three together was a real gift. I was super careful not to disturb them because they will swim away if they’ve had enough. I had my off-camera strobe and an underwater flashlight on a small tripod which I placed behind and below the trio. Then I waited for them to all turn in way that you could see their silhouette. The sun was setting and as it got darker the plankton really began to pile up. When the seahorses ate some of the plankton I could tell they were relaxed. We are still working on getting this special place protection so I cannot reveal the exact location.”

3. Wrecks

Tobias Friedrich: “For a few years now I had had this image in mind as the motorcycles on this truck inside the Thistlegorm lie so perfectly together, but you can only barely capture it because the wall is very close and you can’t move backwards enough to capture the whole scenery. As a result I had to create a panoramic image of the same scene to capture the whole cargo deck, including some lights that give the image more depth.”

4. Behaviour

Filippo Borghi: “In winter time in the Izu peninsula in tokio area the asiatic cormorant stop for couple of month before moving to China. So this is the best moment for try to shoot this amazing sea bird during diving and fishing. I Was in this area and I spent two days in a very shallow waters from 5m to 8m waiting for the opportunity to take a right moment for have this photos. Luckily four birds for two days stay in this aera in search of sardine and don’t care about my presence during his diving session give me the chance to sort it.”

5. Portrait

Tanya Houppermans: “I always look forward to diving the wreck of the Caribsea and seeing the fierce-looking, but docile, sand tiger sharks that frequent the wreck. On this day as I descended to the wreck, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Millions of tiny fish, collectively known as “bait fish”, were grouped together in an enormous bait ball above the wreck, with dozens of sand tigers lazily meandering among the fish. As I slowly swam to the center of the bait ball, I looked up and noticed a sand tiger a few feet above me. I swam on my back underneath her, trying not to startle her. As I moved with the shark through the water the bait fish parted way, giving me a clear shot of the underside of this beautiful shark, and also one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had yet as an underwater photographer.”

6. Black and white

Borut Furlan: “When diving was finished for the day, I asked the divemaster to take me back again to a place, where seawater crocodiles are usually seen. I wanted to shoot them in low evening sunlight, when the sky turns into warm colours. When we arrived, the sun was already on the horizon and it was very dark in the water. I pushed ISO settings high to get some warm ambient light into the picture and set the power of my strobes low. Fortunately the crocodile was very cooperative and since we were both very calm, beautiful reflections appeared on the surface. I shot many images with his reflections and this one was my favourite. Since there is a strong graphic element in this picture, conversion into black and white made it even more powerful.”

7. Compact cameras

Simone Matucci: “Escaping the New Zealand winter for a magical week in Tonga’s underwater dreamland dancing with whales, my wife and I spent 5 days and nights at sea, sailing the Ha’apai islands & swimming with humpbacks. Not another single boat was in sight all week. The beauty of the encounters that we had are truly transcending. These two adult humpbacks had such a connection with us in the water, literally “dancing” .. it was the most wild & incredible thing I have probably witnessed in my entire life. Humpback whales are such a magnificent species and they need our protection. The entire ocean needs our help. Now is the time more than ever, before it is too late .. before we lose it all. I hope that my photography brings out the ocean conservationist in all of us and helps to spread awareness to help save the ocean!”

8. Up and coming

Man BD: “When I was shooting this nudibranch I was focusing on it’s behaviour to get just the right shot. While this happened a moray eel suddenly appeared out from the blue behind the nudi. I was shocked for a while but decided it would be a great composition. As a few minute flew by to my surprise another nudi appeared right behind the other one maybe to mate. Having both nudi’s and a moray eel was a double surprise for me. I then decided to wait a while longer for the nudi to be in frame with the moray eel roaring behind. It took about 30 minutes to get this shot and it was well worth it.”

9. British waters wide angle

Grant Thomas: “I have always been fascinated by over-under photography, connecting the everyday terrestrial world that we all know with the less familiar underwater secrets. I chose Loch Lomond as the location for this shot due to its idilic scenery, water access and friendly swans. My initial idea was to frame a split shot of one swan feeding below the surface of the water but when I noticed how comfortable they were around me I was confident, with some patience, I could get that magical shot of the two. It was mid-day, sun high in the sky, I waded slowly into the shallow water, allowing the swans to become comfortable with my presence. When they began searching for food below the water line I just had to wait for that perfect moment of synchronicity.”

10. British waters macro

Henley Spiers: “Despite appearances, these two Tompot Blennies are not kissing but engaged in a ferocious battle over mating rights. The British summer is mating season amongst Tompots and competition is fierce. I went diving under Swanage Pier in search of these charismatic fish and was delighted to encounter one with the ornate, blue facial markings designed to attract a partner. To my surprise and wonder, he was soon joined by another male and they started tussling. At one point, the dust settled and they remained motionless, jaws locked together, just long enough for me to capture this image. It was a very fortunate encounter and I am delighted to be able to share it through this photo.”

11. British waters compact cameras

Vicky Paynter: “I had a free weekend so took-up a last minute space on our club trip to The Farne Islands. The Farne Islands are home to thousands of grey seals (also known as Atlantic seals), and each autumn hundreds of pups are born here. We’d arrived just before then but there were still plenty of younger seals keen to interact and explore these strange bubbling divers. This picture was taken on the 2nd dive of the day, when my 2 buddies acted as seal magnets and we had some glorious encounters.

“This seal obviously had an itch to scratch, as at one point he lay on his back waiting for his belly to be rubbed and as we were leaving him he was giving his tail a good scratch, pulling some interesting shapes in the process and which must have led to the satisfied grin he appears to be sporting!”

Imagine the scene: you’re sitting on your sofa, watching your two little angels playing football in the back garden, your dogs are happily bouncing around in front of you, you turn round to look at your beautiful wife and you think: “Yes, I am a lucky man. I have been blessed with a wonderful life. I am happy and content. We should document this moment so that we can cherish it in later life and remember to count our blessings. We should get some professional family photographs taken and it will be a very special thing indeed.”

You then proceed to call in a photographer. On the day they come over - what luck! - it’s a beautiful sunny day. You’re all happy. All is bliss. The shoot goes like a dream.

And then you get the photos.

And - lo - they are… not what you were expecting.

But in the very best way possible.

We’ll let Pam Zaring explain. On Facebook, she wrote:

“OK. This is NOT a joke. We paid a photographer, who claimed to be a professional, $2-250 for a family photo shoot. Please see these FOR REAL photos she delivered to us… She said the shadows were really bad on the beautiful, clear, sunny day and that her professor never taught her to retouch photos. Feel free to share! I literally have not laughed this hard in YEARS!!!!! You can’t make this stuff up… again, this is NOT a joke - final product!”

You want to see the photos? OK here are the photos:

Incredible.

The photos were taken by Lesa Hall, and Pam was keen to stress that she’d found the whole thing hilarious, writing:

“This is not a joke. This is legitimately the final product I received in the mail yesterday. I passed my furious mark months ago when she wouldn’t send us anything. I was fully prepared to be scammed, money gone, and no final product! So the humour was much easier to find. Trust me, at one point my blood boiled anytime I was asked about the status of our photos!!

“In no way is this post meant to be vicious. It was worth the money we spent for the humor we received!!!! I hope y’all have laughed as hard as we have!!!!

“I️ called her and asked her if we looked like cartoons on her end like we were seeing! Her response was “yes, but the shadows were hard to work with””

Naturally, the internet did its thing:

(Main image: iStock)

Twitter is bad for a number of things, mainly giving terrible people a large outlet for their heinous opinions; but it’s also good for things, too, like making me spit my Fruit Shoot out all over my keyboard. And one such account that consistently makes me spray my Nesquik over my screen, is Dark Stock Photos.

Now, I love stock photos as it is, but the darker, the weirder, the more worrying they get, the more I like them. Thankfully, this account had trawled the very depths of the internet to find the worst (and therefore, most hilarious) images and stuck them all in one handy place for you. Good Guy Dark Stock Photos, here to save the day.

So, to help you out, I scrolled through the entire account (for research, for work, this is my job) and have picked my favourites - the ones that really made me spew out my out-of-date Panda Pops all over the postman’s face. AND HERE THEY ARE FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE:

(Oh, also, trigger warning, I guess?)

Amazing, yes, well done, good work, props, respect, I’m spent.

(Images: Dark Stock Photos, obviously)

Going to the fireworks is a relatively easy and stress-free experience. You rock up to a muddy field with your family and friends, stand around drinking over-priced mulled wine and stare into the sky for around 15 minutes. 

But trying to take some not-embarrassing pictures to put on social media to prove you have a life and were having fun? Now that’s much more difficult.

Thankfully, the very helpful people at Samsung have come up with some genuinely useful tips to help you step up your Instagram fireworks game.

Step 1: A steady hand

The first and most important thing you need to know: stability is everything. Ideally, you should use a small tripod but if you don’t have access to such luxuries, just try sitting down or leaning against a solid structure.

Step 2: No flash

You should never, under any circumstances, use flash. Even though you’re in low light conditions, the flash won’t be able to light up enough of the sky to make a big impact. Results will be better without it and instead you’ll show the depth of colour needed for the perfect pic.

Step 3: No digital zoom

Sounds pretty basic but when it comes to fireworks, your camera will capture much more detail if you aren’t zoomed in. 

Step 4: Get the settings right

First, HDR (High Dynamic Range) should be turned off because long exposure slows down the capture which won’t be ideal for burst shoot images.

ISO (sensitivity of the digital camera sensor) should be set to a low value such as 100 to reduce the chance of overexposure.

And you can adjust the aperture to fine tune the image brightness as it controls the light coming into the camera. 

If all this sounds a bit scarily technical, just set all the settings to automatic and use exposure compensation functions to adjust the brightness of your images after you’ve taken them.

Step 5: Burst shoot

You should capture as many snaps as you can by using the burst shoot function. 

Step 6: Try another angle

It sounds counter-intuitive but try pointing your camera away from the sky. Surprisingly, some of the best photos of fireworks are selfies with fireworks in the background. 

(Images: iStock)

According to Shelter, there are 170,000 people currently homeless in London. That’s more than the population of Bedford.

Each year, Cafe Art gives these people a voice with the MyLondon Photography Contest. One hundred disposable cameras are handed out at St. Paul’s Cathedral, with the brief to capture the London that they know and love. 

This year, 2,500 photographs were narrowed down to a shortlist of 20, which are currently on display in Spitalfields Arts Market, 

A final 12 will then be chosen for a calendar by a public vote - you can buy that calendar here.

This shot of Canary Wharf, taken by Karina, reminds us of those classic pictures of Grand Central Terminal.

“In school I was bullied, which interfered with a lot of my education. Things were disrupting at home. I got removed from home at 14 and by 15 I was homeless. I ended up in shelters and never got permanent accommodations. Then I got help and was able to stay in a shelter.”

This shot, taken by Maya in Shoreditch, is too adorable for words.

“My model is Jonathan, the son of two of my best friends. He’s five years old. It’s such a sweet age: full of curiosity and still so innocent. You hear that old adage never work with kids, but because he’s my little buddy, making him smile and laugh for the photo wasn’t an issue.

“I had a vision for capturing this spot, but when we arrived I realised he wasn’t tall enough to fit the wings, so had to find something to add a bit of height. I asked around eventually managed to borrow this mini step ladder which was perfect.”

Husna stumbled upon the location for this gorgeous shot while cycling with a friend.

This instantly iconic picture, taken by Maya, showcases London’s most beloved mural and some truly great knitwear.

“Being able to combine my love of music and street art in photography is really cool. I met Tashomi around 10 years ago at a gig, so when I had the idea for this shot, he came to mind. I asked him to play his sax while taking the pictures, which meant we attracted some attention.”

According to photographer Lou Danby, “This is Mick Taylor, known as Teapot, Little Harvey and more nicknames. Lots of people know him as he’s been round a bit. People had thought he was dead so I took a photo of him in front of this mural on Brick Lane!”

Mick, 72, says Lou is “A great help. She comes around and takes me for walks.”

This might well be the prettiest shot of the Shard we’ve ever seen; it looks like it’s been beamed back from the future.

Photographer Hugh Gary says: “I visited London Bridge to take a photo of the platform, turned around and saw the full length of the shard, and thought the line of the platform canopy merged perfectly with the building.”

Hugh became homeless two years after a 10-year stretch in the British Army, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He found shelter with west London mission’s Big House, a hostel for veterans, and is now in his final year of a Photography degree at the University of West London.

This is a very good picture and, crucially, also a very good boy. It was taken by Ella Sullivan, a trained hairdresser who’s just finished a pre-foundation course in Art and Design at Mary Ward Centre in London.

“There was a doggie dress up contest. I went across and took some shots of the dogs I liked, including Ace who seemed to be posing.”

(Images: MyLondon/Cafe Art)

Martin Parr has spent the last 40 years wondering what exactly it is that makes the British so British. Like Alan Bennett armed with an SLR, he’s dedicated much of his working life to conducting a forensic examination of national identity. From the Whitby Goth Weekend to the so-called Rhubarb Triangle, royal wedding celebrations in Walsall to snowned-under shopping centres up north, there are very few inches of the country left untouched by Martin Parr.

The recently published Oxford – which, as the title suggests, is a collection of photographs taken in Oxford – is a continuation of Parr’s insatiable investigation into how the UK’s ruling establishments work. Or, at least, how they’d like to be seen working.

Oxford saw him spending two years roving around the institution’s seemingly-endless series of colleges, each of which required individually-mandated permission to be photographed. That level of immersion is a hallmark of Parr’s body of work, whether he’s cataloguing methodism in the West Yorkshire hippy enclave of Hebden Bridge or memorialising chip shop-congregating holidaymakers on the Wirral peninsula.

The result of those two years, split between 50 to 60 visits, is a beguiling assortment of photographs that give the viewer the briefest glimpse into a world that both resembles our own—students prodding at iPhones and draining cans of Diet Coke—and something almost completely other. A world where mundanity meets arcane ritual. Where tuxedo-clad future statesmen hurl each other into rivers. Where George Galloway leans nonchalantly against an ornate wooden box while a girl in a fur shawl stares impassively at the back of his trilby. Where mortarboard wearing dignitaries scoff strawberries in a staid marquee during a garden party.

It manages to make Oxford, arguably the world’s most prestigious seat of learning, seem alternately quaint, commanding, and undeniably odd. In that sense, it is vintage Parr: a series of British idiosyncrasies laid bare by a master of his art.

Speaking to me over the phone from Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, Parr tells me that thanks in part to the efforts of a producer he’d been put in touch with by Bodleian Library, he found himself gaining access to “around 80%” of the colleges and events he’d wanted to photograph. Given the university’s clandestine ways, he figures that was extremely good going.

“Oxford life is very secret. Traditions are kept secret and reveal themselves slowly,” he says, adding “It is very much a hidden society. Most mortals won’t even get a chance to even go into a college, unless its an open day. This is a chance to see behind the scenes. I’ve gone and explored and documented it so other people get a chance to see what’s going on.”

To his credit, Parr’s lens refuses to blend that level of secrecy with a kind of bland romanticism that it’d be all too easy to apply to his subject. There’s very little tenderness in, say, the close-up shots of ruddy-faced, tear-stained, pissed-up post-ball revellers clutching at their loosened bow ties, or the image of a mulleted man posing for a life drawing class at the Ruskin School of Art.

Yes, there are gowns and rowing boats and morris men and ostentatious banqueting halls and David Attenborough and Stephen Hawking, but more importantly, we’re taken from term to term, college to college, in a way that somehow lessens the often-deafening thud of privilege that comes with whatever peeks were given into the Oxbridge machine. It is that searching for, and finding the quotidian rhythms in the spectacular, the grand, and the glamorous that makes Oxford an integral part of Parr’s work. As he says, “I think the every-day is very underrated when it comes to photography.”

In Martin Parr’s hands, Oxford stops being this rigidly imposing symbol of the potency of power, and becomes a place of work. “I’ve photographed things like the City of London, and Christ’s Hospital,” he says, regarding his recent explorations of the upper echelons of society. “I’ve been to Harrow, I’ve visited the British army in Germany.” Studies in power, and power structures, these works are just as important to the Parr oeuvre as the shots of hanky-wearing granddads and Irish cattle auctions. “These places run the country! So really, if you’re thinking about documenting contemporary Britain it’d be an oversight not to include establishments like that.”

He’s also keen to stress that despite the almost antiquated place Oxford holds in the public imagination, the university is a living, breathing, modern thing. “It is at the cutting edge of contemporary Britain. It isn’t out of sync. Think about the huge and very impressive research that goes on in Oxford. Although it has that sense of tradition, it’s alive now. And that’s what makes for this interesting contradiction.”

One of those contradictions is serious and impossible to ignore. Any discussion about the University of Oxford is also, implicitly at least, a discussion about class and inequality. Recently over 100 MPs called for “urgent action,” over the Oxbridge admissions processes, and Oxford itself has come under justifiable fire for what critics understandably refer to as “social apartheid,” after it was revealed that in 2015, one in three colleges failed to admit a single black British A-level student in 2015.

I ask Parr whether he got a sense of how monocultural the student body was during his time there. “This stuff has been in the press recently and it’s completely true,” he said, cagily. “There are obviously more white people from independent schools. The colleges are very keen to try and reverse that trend. But,” he admits, “that’s easier said than done.”

With our time very nearly up, I question Parr about his long-term commitment to defining and redefining Britishness. Does, I wondered, he think that we’re so wrapped up in trying to work out what a national identity is that we’re invariably losing sight of what “national identity” even means?

“Well,” he says, “It’s a yes and no thing. I still think we are peculiarly British. Although the world’s getting more homogenised, we still have our quirks and our traits, which I find very appealing. I have a love/hate relationship with Britain, which I explore through my photography. It’s very therapeutic in that way.”

Martin Parr’s Oxford is out now on Oxford University Press. 

Way back in July – hey, do you remember July? – we reported a story about a photographer David Slater locked in a long and costly legal battle with animal rights organisation PETA, since 2015, as to whether a macaque called Naruto owned a ‘selfie’ ‘taken’ by the monkey when Slater tricked it into clicking the shutter button on the camera. 

It was full of genuinely gob-smacking quotes.

Like this:

“It wasn’t serendipitous monkey behavior,” Slater told the Guardian. “It required a lot of knowledge on my behalf, a lot of perseverance, sweat and anguish and all that stuff.”

Slater argues whether or not the organisation has even identified the correct macaque. “I know for a fact that [the monkey in the photograph] is a female and it’s the wrong age,” he said. “I’m bewildered at the American court system. Surely it matters that the right monkey is suing me.”

And some seriously questionable diversion of funds by PETA, who spent years destroying the credibility (and bank account) of Slater.

The photographer was left essentially bankrupted by the expensive court case, and lamented the effect it was also having on his seven-year-old daughter.

“I can’t afford to own a car. There’s no camera equipment for her to inherit if I die tomorrow,” Slater said at the time. “She should inherit this [copyright], but it’s worthless.”

He resorted to coaching tennis in order to scrape together enough money to pay his bills.

But now the fight is finally over, and Slater has won – well, mostly won.

The settlement agrees that Slater will donate 25% of any future revenue earned from the aforementioned selfies to charities dedicated to protecting macaques in Indonesia. 75% is 100% better than the zero he was threatened with being entitled to, so you'd imagine he was quite chuffed. 

"PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for non-human animals, a goal that they both support, and they will continue their respective work to achieve this goal," Mr. Slater and PETA said in a joint statement.

Maybe stick to taking your own pictures next time, Dave.

(Images: iStock / Wikipedia)

OH MY GOD, somebody is about to take a photo.

Sure, you look nice, your hair is pretty swish and that’s a sweet shirt you’ve got on there bro, but what, in the name of thunder, are you supposed to do with your fucking hands?

Terror sets in, your forehead becomes moist, heart rate rises, bum is squeaky, hands flail like a pair of suffocating squids tied to a ceiling fan.

*click*

Oh no, one thumb up, one thumb down? What is that? You look like an absolute berk, mate. You’re getting rinsed in the comments when that goes up on Facebook.

Thing is, I feel for you: it’s hard to know what to do with your dumb hands when someone goes in for a photo. So I’ve put together a handy little guide – here are the options for what to do with your hands, and what it says about you if you choose them.

One thumb up

Can’t really go wrong with this – it’s a little earnest, but it’s nice and friendly. People will think you’ve got your shit together, basically. The camera won’t capture your internal screams.

Two thumbs up

A bit Christian Union, this, a bit children’s TV presenter. You can get away with it if you’re “a bit of a card”, but otherwise, I’d stick to one thumb. Don’t want people thinking you’re a pervert.

Thumb(s) down

This is funny if you’re like at a wedding or something, or perhaps even funnier if you’re at a funeral, but any other time it’ll just make you look a bit weird, really. Unless every single one of your Tinder profiles pics is you doing that. That is: also funny.

A-OK

If you’re posing for a photo underwater, then you may find yourself inexplicably making this hand sign, but above ground it doesn’t really come into play, unless you’re standing over some food or something.

The A-OK sign below your waist

SOMEBODY ‘BOUT TO GET PUNCHED.

Waving

Don’t wave in pictures because you will look like a future murderer. Unless you are over 30 metres away from the camera, then it is the only thing you should do.

Holding a beer

This says nothing about you, apart from that you drink. It only makes a statement if you are, I don’t know, on a rollercoaster or something. So carry on as normal, keep holding your beer, even lift it to your lips if you want – that’ll show the haters that say you don’t like pints!

Pointing at the camera

Pointing is fine, because it means “Hey, you caught me!” or “Hey, I know your game, Mr Photo Man!” or “Look out! There’s a train!”. Pointing is therefore often employed by your standard popular dude. That may or may not be you – but keep pointing, and one day it might be.

Pointing at a friend next to you

This is fine, and a rather gracious way of subtly saying “Cor, gedda load of THIS guy!” You’re politely deflecting attention over to your photo-mate by heaping the praise, and guiding the eye, towards them. Maybe you’re a bit shy, but you’re a nice guy.

Two fingers pointing at the camera

Straight from popular dude to overzealous car salesman. Swiftly from happy-go-lucky life-of-the-party to winking perfume con-man. If you’re going to point, then keep it solo.

Hand grasping chin, with finger on cheek, feigning deep thought

This is always accompanied by an eye-brows raised, distant look, diagonally upwards. You most likely play rugby, and you most likely do this look in every single one of your photos. Also, put your collar down – that’s not a thing anymore.

Devil horns

This is good if you’re at Download Festival or are posing at a meet-and-greet with someone like Dave Grohl, but if you’re in a Pizza Express, then you’ve slipped up somewhere along the line.

West side

Unless you’re actually in a gang, then you shouldn’t be throwing this up, even ironically. Saying that, it is a very nice feeling in the old fingers when you do it, soooooo.

East side

Rarer than the westside because not as many people know how to do it, but you should still stop doing it either way, regardless of how fun it may look from the comfort of your red chinos.

Bunny ears behind someone’s head

You are tired and old.

Covering bottom half of face

You are a graffiti artist, and you cannot reveal your identity. Either that or you’ve got a giant cold sore or something. I once spent a whole night out at uni with my hand over my mouth because I had a giant spot on it. Luckily everyone just thought I was a graffiti artist.

Hang loose

You are a time-traveller from the ‘90s or you are a surfer – these are the only two possible situations where this is acceptable.

Flicking the V

Very good, and always acceptable. If you’re wondering what to do with your face, a scrunched up forehead and aggressively-bitten bottom lip will go down a storm. A good, wholesome all-rounder.

Flicking the V with your tongue in the middle

Wayoooo! You! You’ve had sex before!

Flipping the bird

Like flicking the V, this is ALWAYS acceptable no matter the situation and works great as a one-handed or double-handed endeavour. It’s fun to do, fun to look at, and also makes you look a stone-cold hard-nut, and no mistake. I love you.

Wanker sign

This only works depending on the camera. If you’ve got a slow shutter speed then the blur will make it obvious that you “are doing a wanker”, but if you’re on a high-speed cam, then it’ll just look like you’re doing a donut sign or something equally confusing.

Peace sign

You are either an ex-pat in Japan, a hippie, or someone that uses Instagram too much (must be paired with a pout). So, slowly but surely, concentrate, keep your fingers in the same position, turn your hand around 180 degress, there, muuuuuch better.

Hands by your side

You don’t know what you’re doing, either in the moment, or in life, so you’re doing a fucking Gormley in the middle of the pub like you’ve just been given a detention. Strange boy.

Shhhing

Best to do this looking over your shoulder while you jut your arse out – it makes people think you’re a bit of cheeky beast. It’s either that or narrow your eyes, purse your lips and smoulder directly into the lense. In both cases you are a highly-sexed and overtly sensual hound, and you don’t care whoooooo knows it.

Upside down batman face

Funny. No matter where you are. Always good.

Gun fingers

I don’t think this is problematic, but then I have been described on two occasions as “the least woke person in the office”, so maybe I’m wrong. If you’re at a gig and you’re doing this in a photo I think it’s fine. Good songs demand gun fingers. Even if it’s Taylor Swift.

Finger tips and thumb on one hand touching the fingertips and thumb of the other hand

You are a balding, yellow billionaire megalomaniac. Only do this if you’re getting your photograph taken sitting in a big red velvet chair. Or maybe you’ve sat on the Game of Thrones throne at a tiresome event somewhere. It’ll do, but better options include: thumbs down and upside down Batman face.

Crossed arms

This is very good, because doing this literally hides your hands, so dispenses with any stress. It also means you are a nightclub doorman, or a child that has been denied a Hot Wheels loop-the-loop set. Unless it’s very obviously cold in the picture (snow, frozen geese), in which case you are just: cold.

Hands behind back

This is similar to crossing your arms, as it hides your hands and eliminates hand-pose-based worry. Only thing is, you will unavoidably look like a 65-year-old man in a museum.

Come and have a go if ya think ya hard enough

So, arms outstretched, all four fingers beckoning inwards, chest pumped forward, mouth halfway through saying “fuck” – you know, bottom lip right out there – and knees pointing outwards in opposite directions. Acceptable to do at the football, at a house party, in a pub, at a wedding, the street, an artisan bakery – actually, anywhere. Do this everywhere. Nobody will punch you.

Hanging over a friend’s shoulder

You’re an amicable guy – look at you, with your mate Steve on your left, your mate Sqwozz on your right, arms draped round their shoulders, this is life. This is life because you don’t even need to think about what to do with your hands – you can just let them hang there, or alternatively, actively grasp onto their shoulders. Easy-going, friendly you, loadsa mates, relaxing in the pub, nice dry arse.

Hoverhands

UT OH. Now there are girls in the picture, one on each side – things are hotting up, and quickly. Suppose you had better put your arms around them – BUT NOT TOO MUCH CONTACT THERE BUDDY. Leave a couple of cm between your hands and their bodies – don’t want to overstep the mark. Hover juuuust over their shoulders there, but curl your creepy fingers round to give the illusion you’re not afraid to touch a lady. You have the world fooled. YOU AIN’T AFRAID OF NO GIRLST.

Throwing up your deuces

Probs only best if you’re in a gym, have met Sylvester Stallone, are doing one of those white-collar boxing events or your mates are literally taking photos of you having a fight with your uncle at your cousin’s wedding. If you do this any other place you are insufferable.

Clenched fist underneath/in front of chin

This really only works if you rest your elbow on your thigh, so when you’re crouching down on one knee or something. Like you’re doing some sort of “Imagine this is my new mixtape” type joke.

Hands clasped in front

You are an usher at a wedding.

Flower chin

You’re doing this in an irionic Instagram post, only, right? Because if you’ve been caught gazing across the room at the object of your affections, then you are a 11-year-old girl, I guess. And who’s taking pictures of 11-year-old girls? Remove him.

Phone hand

You are on the final of X Factor.

Hands in hair

Literally only do this if you are a model and it is for a photoshoot and you are very good looking. If you are doing this in a pub, then, well, what are you doing. I mean, do it in a pub if you are doing it so obviously ironically, that it’s funny, like, with your arse out or something, but don’t actually do it thinking you’ll look good.

“My mate took this picture and posted it without me knowing but I’m not going to delete it lol!”

You’re a fraud.

Live Long And Prosper

Shut up, nerd.

***

You’ll thank me in the long run for this.

(Images: Our terrible, terrible lives)

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PETA have spent an untold sum of money fighting for the intellectual property rights of Naruto, an Indonesian crested macaque, a selfie of whom photographer David Slater set up by encouraging the monkey to click the shutter button while looking into the camera lens. This seems like... not the most useful way for them to spend their time. 

“It wasn’t serendipitous monkey behavior,” Slater told the Guardian. “It required a lot of knowledge on my behalf, a lot of perseverance, sweat and anguish and all that stuff.”

But PETA says that Slater deserves nothing, that the monkey is the artist and, as such, deserves to retain total copyright of its art. 

Slater argues whether or not the organisation have even identified the correct macaque. “I know for a fact that [the monkey in the photograph] is a female and it’s the wrong age,” he said. “I’m bewildered at the American court system. Surely it matters that the right monkey is suing me.”

“When science and technology advance, the law adapts,” said Jeffrey Kerr, PETA’s general counsel, in a statement. “There is nothing in the Copyright Act limiting ownership based on species, and PETA is asking for an interpretation of the act that acknowledges today’s scientific consensus that macaque monkeys can create an original work.”

PETA filed its initial lawsuit on the macaque’s behalf in September 2015 after Slater attempted to register the monkey’s photograph as his own with the US Copyright Office, but the Copyright Office announced that it “will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants.”

It’s kinda funny that this has gone to court and actual professionals are arguing as to whether a macaque can “acquire or hold money” (says Judge N Randy Smith) until you find out that Slater himself has a seven-year-old daughter and is flat broke after spending all of his money fighting the protracted case, and couldn’t even fly out to San Francisco for his own legal hearing. 

Judge Carlos Bea says: “In the world of Naruto, is there legitimacy and illegitimacy? Are Naruto’s offspring ‘children’, as defined by the statute?”

“I can’t afford to own a car. There’s no camera equipment for her to inherit if I die tomorrow,” Slater told the Guardian. “She should inherit this [copyright], but it’s worthless.” Now he’s trying to become a tennis coach, hoping to earn enough money even to try and pay his own income tax. 

“I’m even thinking about doing dog walking,” he added.

(Main Image: Wikipedia / Public Domain… we think)

You know when you take a picture and upon looking back at it, there’s a surprising addition that you didn't expect? Like it looks like you’re floating, or your mate’s leg really looks like a dick, or there’s a giant lion in your kitchen, or you’re not in the photo because you’re literally a vampire?

Well, it happened to some “peeps” over in Florida. They were off out on a nice sail when they took a picture – so far, so standard – but when they got home, hoooooo boy, were they in for a surprise! They were harmlessly browsing through their photos when, BOING! They noticed this:

That's *quite* the photo, I think you’ll agree. Looks like something out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I have only seen one of these) or The Ten Commandments or something. I like it a lot.

But how did it happen? What sorcery was put in place to create such an arresting image?

Well, a camera malfunction was the first hypothesis, but it turns out that it probably wasn’t that. You see, if you put something on Reddit, there will 100% be someone that will have the specific knowledge to debunk your claim or solve your mystery – that is where the cleverest people on the planet live. Their brains are constantly hooked up to the information superhighway, scouring the threads for users needing help in extremely niche arenas and jumping to their assistance without a moment’s notice. Not all heroes wear capes. They wear Metallica t-shirts.

But really, if we’re being honest here, it’s not that complicated – I think we can all see what’s gone on. Whoever was taking the photo put it on panoramic mode and then turned the camera 90 degrees mid-pan. So, still a mistake, but a not-as-confusing one as before. 

Regardless, great photo – the actual truth of which really resonates with the militant flat-earther in me. YOU’RE BEING FED LIES YOU SPHERE-LOVING ROBOTS.

(Image: Reddit)

Trying to appear like you’re a total legend on social media is an incredibly tiring business. If, like me, you actually are a total legend, then it’s obviously a little bit easier, but even then you’ve got to spend all that time constantly thinking of great #aspirational photo content, lining up the shot, getting the lighting right and nailing that perfect take of you casually doing some low-key but actually massively high-key-compared-to-what-you’re-doing-mate #goalachieving. Still. it’s important that the world does know you’re a total legend so on one must troop.

But a new app is here that seeks to act as the antidote to all of that perfecting posing and pouting you have to do on Instagram, Facebook and the rest – something which is potentially important given that, according to one study at least, 40% of teens feel pressure to post content that makes them look good to others.

The mission statement of minutiae is to be “an anti-social media app that uses a simple but unique concept to compel participants to photograph the normally undocumented moments of life”. And that tool? Once a day, it will send out an alert to its users that it’s time to take a picture – wherever you are, and whatever you’re doing – and you have just five seconds to take it. And if you don’t line something up? It’ll take it automatically anyway.

The idea is to take photos of the ‘in-between moments’ of your life – the ones that people would never think to take because they’re not ‘events’, yet are important and just as valid parts of your life that you should be documenting. It’s basically a mundane Instagram.

Eventually, you’ll take a photo during a different second of every day until, after 1440 days, you’ll have a complete 24 hours of your life, second-by-second.

After you take each photo, you’ll be able to briefly see your collection – once you’ve completed it you’ll be able to download the lot – and you’ll also be able to take a look at one other random user’s collection – but they’ll be anonymous, with just a location. You have no profile, and you can’t like or comment on anyone else’s photo. What a bloody relief.

The app’s creators, Martin Adolfsson, a photographer and Daniel J Wilson, an artist and film-maker, describe it as "your automated self-portrait. Real life. Uncurated. Unfiltered. Unfollowed."

And their manifesto reads:

YOU ARE NOT YOUR TIMELINE

Social media was supposed to keep us in touch with our friends but has instead turned us all into unwitting monkeys filling out the world’s longest consumer survey. Facebook doesn’t want your money. It wants your time. minutiae is a response to our current moment: an anonymous anti-social media app that forces its users to document the in-between moments of life.

A collaboration between artist and participant that retrieves forgotten moments and celebrates the ordinary.

minutiae is not a normal app

minutiae does not provide instant gratification

minutiae is not interested in your data

minutiae will not increase your efficiency

minutiae is not a popularity contest

minutiae is (let’s be honest) not for everyone

minutiae is your automated self-portrait

minutiae is random moments.

minutiae is forgotten memories.

minutiae is life. Real life. Uncurated. Unfiltered. Unfollowed.

minutiae is a marathon, not a sprint.

The app costs an eye-watering $15 (which they say is purely to pay for the costs of the app, as they are not making any money from your data or images) and 100 lucky users will be able to order a book, featuring all 1440 images, spread over 2880 pages, published in two volumes. Oh, it costs $1440. Maybe just stick with the digital version then.

The creators write: “Underestimating the value of rediscovery is linked to people’s erroneous faith in their memory of everyday events. By documenting the present, people provide themselves with the opportunity to rediscover mundane moments that may otherwise have been forgotten.”

(Image: iStock)

If someone had just six words to get me interested in something, “Dog Photographer of the Year contest” would be right up there at the top in terms of winners. All photos of dogs are good, by nature of all dogs being good, but these photos of dogs are something else. They’re pictures that really do these good boys and girls justice.

Now in its 12^th year, the ‘Dog Photographer of the Year’ competition 2017 had nearly 10,000 entries from people in 74 different countries around the world. That’s a lot of dogs. There could only be one overall winner, but there were also top threes named in 10 different categories: ‘Man’s Best Friend’, ‘Dogs At Play’, ‘Dog Portrait’, ‘Puppies, ‘Oldies’, ‘Dogs At Work’, ‘Rescue Dogs’, ‘Assistance Dogs’, ‘I Love Dogs Because… (ages 11-17)’ and ‘Young Pup Photographer (under 11s)’. The winners are all being shown at Kennel Club in Mayfair, London, if you fancy seeing them all in the flesh.

But if you can’t make it, well, we’ve got you covered. Here they all are, in all their glory. Take your time.

Overall winner and Man’s Best Friend 1st place: Maria Davison Ramos, Portugal

"For me, capturing real and candid moments is what photography is all about. This is one of those moments. My friend had just adopted Yzma and while we were chatting in the kitchen I was taking some photographs. The location and the light were far from perfect, but I ended taking one of the photos I’m most proud of."

Man’s Best Friend 2nd place: Emma Williams, UK

“I have studied photography obsessively over the last 5 years and love to experiment and push the boundaries of photography. Eight months ago I started 'freelensing' and this was how this image of my beloved Whippet Gus was taken, out walking in the Derbyshire Peak District.”

Man’s Best Friend 3rd place: Annemarie King, UK

“This photo was captured during a private commission. The image was taken on a ‘Muddy Good Hike’ (my name for the photo shoot adventures I offer to clients) I’m a big believer in photographing dogs in a natural environment - they love it and I think there’s nothing more fun than lacing up a pair of walking boots, packing a rucksack and setting off into the forest with your best friend! That’s where memories are made.”

Dogs At Play 1st place: Kaylee Greer, USA

Petey and I stood there together on the water’s edge in awe as the day bowed out to the night and the sun slipped its yellow head behind the horizon. Pastel colours painted themselves across the Summer sky above our shoulders in stripes of pink and cobalt blue as we quietly revelled in that perfect, endless moment. Then, just as suddenly as the sky had lit itself on fire, Petey clumsily jumped into the water with a joyful little sparkle in his eye, beckoning me to come along. I followed him in and giggled until my sides hurt as he would push his paw down into the warm, salty water, sending little crystal droplets flying through the air all around him. With each happy splash came the realization of the perfection in those tiny moments, and of the unmatched purity of the canine heart.”

Dogs At Play 2nd place: Rodrigo Capuski, Brazil

"This photo was taken a week before the chamomile harvest, on a weekend we decided to look for new locations to photograph. The chamomile field is 50 km from Curitiba, in a rural location with several varieties of plantations. It was a day when Leica had a lot of fun and went back home yellow and smelling like chamomile."

Dogs At Play 3rd place: Will Holdcroft, UK

“This photo was taken during a private commission for a client. I always ask people to bring their dog’s favourite toy with them during the photoshoot, so Purdey decided that she would like to bring her toy bunny to play with. I particularly like this photograph because she has a lovely nature, which I think really comes across as well as how happy she is to be playing with her favourite toy.”

Dog Portrait 1st place: Anastasia Vetkovskaya, Russia

“This magnificent Afghan was incredibly nice to shoot – he is very expressive and emotional.”

Dog Portrait 2nd place: David Yanez, UK

“This image was taken of ‘Ray' after a long woodland walk. It struck me whilst sitting opposite him how majestic and regal Ray looked whilst taking up most of the sofa! Many people are drawn to him whilst out and about and frequently refer to him as a ‘tiger’ due to his beautiful brindle markings. ‘Sleeping Tiger’ seems an apt title for my image."

Dog Portrait 3rd place: Noel Bennett, UK

“Bella is always ready to pose for me, so when I saw the fallen leaves at the top of the garden, I knew it was an opportunity too good to miss.”

Puppies 1st place: Mirjam Schreurs, Netherlands

"I am from the Netherlands and live in a small village. I have photographed for 4 years now and since the end of last year I took the step of photographing only dogs and children. Dogs are loyal friends and I love them a lot, that’s why I focus on dog photography. The picture of Tyson was a wow moment for me and during this shoot I knew that I would like to continue photographing dogs. This picture was made at the end of the shoot, the dog sat down and had a wonderful concentration to his owner this was a wonderful moment.”

Puppies 2nd place: Tracy Kirby, Ireland

“I am a photographer originally from England but live in County Galway, Ireland and volunteer for Madra, a dog rescue charity I take photographs of the dogs to help find them forever homes. I suffer with a chronic illness so when I am able to go to the kennels it is therapy for me as the dog’s courage and resilience inspires me. Faye was a cheeky, tiny boxer cross puppy with a huge personality who was looking for her forever home. I’m pretty sure Faye was a world class super model in a former life. She knew instinctively how to sit and pose for the camera and demanded her fee (chicken) after every few clicks of the camera.”

Puppies 3rd place: Ruud Lauritsen, Netherlands

"I was asked to photograph the three month German Shepherd, Aiko, at the beach in Holland. Aiko had the time of his life. He was running and playing and tried to meet as many other dogs as possible. And after a half of a hour Aiko was sitting down and then is was able to shoot this picture."

Oldies 1st place: John Liot, UK

“This image was taken as part of a commissioned shoot with three rescue dogs. It was a beautiful and bright November day and the Sun was creating an intense light through the windows, warming the client’s house. Kelly, an apprehensive 12 year-old collie-cross, found her spot in the God rays heating up the arm of a sofa and had a nap. She was a cautious girl with a sad backstory and had challenging behavioural issues prior to being adopted. Happily though, she has found rejuvenated life with her new family in Jersey who are giving her all the love and attention she sorely missed in her younger years.”

Oldies 2nd place: Igor Abramovich, UK

“I was visiting my grandmother in Ukraine who has an old dog and two cats. Rex was a stray puppy that my grandmother took home years ago. During my stay there I have took a bunch of photos of all the animals and one of the best photos was this one. This photo was taken on a very hot day (31 degrees celsius) in Ukraine. The dog spent most of the day motionless in his doghouse trying to hide in the shadows from the burning sun.”

Oldies 3rd place: Tracy Kirby, Ireland

“I am a photographer originally from England now living in County Galway, Ireland and volunteer for Madra, a fantastic dog rescue charity. I photograph the dogs to help find them forever homes. I suffer with a chronic illness so when I am able to go to the kennels it is therapy for me as the dog’s courage and resilience inspires me. Red is an 11 year old Madra rescue dog who was adopted by my friend and fellow Madra volunteer. My own dear dog passed away last year so her mummy brought her for a visit to comfort me. I couldn’t resist photographing her. Red lives a life of luxury filled with love now.”

Dogs At Work 1st place: Sarah Caldecott, UK

“The photograph of Rita was taken during a training day in February this year on the moors in County Durham the weather hadn't been kind and the light was fading fast."

Dogs At Work 2nd place: Lucy Charman, UK

“This particular photo was taken after a long, very wet and stormy November day last season where the dogs and picking up team were pleased to get back into the pickup for some respite from the weather after a wet but enjoyable day.”

Dogs At Work 3rd place: Peter Steffensen, Denmark

“This photo is of Marley, a dog who had a second chance at life, when a vet refused to put this healthy dog to sleep, and instead found a loving forever home for him with. He now enjoys oodles of time in the fields, doing what he loves most; herding!”

Rescue Dogs Charity 1st place: Alexandra Robins, UK

“Chloe and Tess came to Bath Cats and Dogs Home when their owner died. I had the pleasure of photographing the sisters while they were playing in one of the grass paddocks, when I captured this special moment between Chloe and her carer.”

Rescue Dogs Charity 2nd place: Martin Tosh, UK

“Fly was originally an unwanted family pet before being taken by a farm to be a cow dog. Unfortunately he didn’t take to such work and as a result endured a miserable life there, left tied up all the time without being walked. Happily he now has a much better life after being rescued by my sister, Anni and her partner, Alison who live in The Peak District. This photo was taken at sunset on a family trip to Hunstanton beach.”

Rescue Dogs Charity 3rd place: Kaylee Greer, USA

“Joshua sat behind the bars of his cold cage at the shelter wondering why people kept passing him by. Every day, he held out hope, wagging his tail furiously as people would peer in curiously at him, and then move on. The hours turned into days, the days turned into months, and still, Joshua waited. For eight long months, he curled up on that concrete floor, dreaming of the love of a family. Wasn’t he a good boy just like all the others? Then, one morning, on a day that started just like all the ones that came before, Joshua wagged his trademark tail wag right into the heart of passing stranger and suddenly, his story changed forever. That passing stranger was me, and in that moment, my heart was filled with more love, kindness and purity than I had ever known before. Joshua came home with me later that day and officially became a part of my family. The next morning after adopting him – only 12 hours or so since he left his well-worn place in his shelter cage - we went on our first walk together as human and dog, and I was lucky enough to capture this moment. This is the definitive, tiny slice of time in which the joy can only be measured by the size of his perfect smile. A moment in which Joshua realized that he had finally found freedom. A moment in which he had finally been given the second chance at life that he so deserved. A moment in which Joshua discovered he was finally home.”

Assistance Dogs 1st place: Alasdair Macleod, UK

“I was just looking for her loving eyes to catch the attention of one of the residents, RAF veteran Mr Duncan Currie (a pilot for the Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, Dam Busters) who has Dementia, he is 95 yrs old.”

Assistance Dogs 2nd place: John Ferrett, UK

“This particular photo was taken at a local park during a session with a fellow photographer. Reno, who is pictured with his owner, a double amputee never left his side. I wanted to capture the true bond between them. His owner tells me that he has trained Reno himself to assist him in everyday life and shared with me that Reno is a Godsend and is a massive part of his life.”

Assistance Dogs 3rd place: Julie Morrish, UK

“This photo was taken during an October afternoon amongst the peaceful herb garden on a residential stay at the charity Veterans With Dogs. Milo, has a very close bond with his owner and it was a pleasure to photograph them together.”

I Love Dogs Because… (ages 11-17) 1st place: Julian Gottfried, USA

"I especially enjoy this photo because it exemplifies what I love about my dog. In the image you can easily see his cuteness, personality, and playful manner. Combined with the snow, they create a truly lively photo."

I Love Dogs Because… (ages 11-17) 2nd place: Summer Clark, UK

"I took this photo of my beloved Border Terrier, Earl, having fun on a Devonshire beach during a family summer holiday."

I Love Dogs Because (ages 11-17) 3rd place: Kirsten van Ravenhorst, Netherlands

“This photo was taken on a lazy Sunday afternoon walk in The Netherlands. The dog in the photo is Fenrir, my youngest dog. He is the perfect model, and the reason why I picked up the camera again.”

Young Pup Photographer (under 11s) 1st place=: Dylan Jenkins, UK

"If I see something really, really special, I have to take a photo or video of it. I love taking photos and videos of Mosey because she is so funny, gentle and sleepy! I also like taking photos and videos of the birds at WWT (Llanelli), especially the Nene geese. I took this photo in my garden. We had some cake and Mosey came to sniff it. I took about twenty photos and this was the best and the funniest."

Young Pups Photographer (under 11s) 1st place=: Jay Case, UK

“This photo was taken on New Year’s Eve, the day we brought Asa home. He had been running around all day, exploring and getting to know his new home. He decided to finally lay down on my old baby blanket & have a rest and I managed to get this picture.”

Young Pup Photographer (under 11s) 3rd place: Samantha Hung, USA

“This specific photo was taken on a bright and sunny Sunday morning while on a walk with our energetic and eager puppy. Cuddles is a very friendly, cheerful companion to have by your side.”

Brooklyn Beckham has found himself on the receiving end of some scathing reviews following previews of his new photography book, What I See. 

The book, intended to be an intimate look at the 18-year-old’s life, has come under criticism for its out of focus photos and somewhat… interesting caption work.

Two photos from the £16.99 book have come in for particular ire from social media users. One shows a picture of an elephant in the shadows, the caption read: "elephants in Kenya. so hard to photograph, but incredible to see." Another, shows a blurry shot of a crowd at a restaurant, he wrote: "dinner. i like this picture - it's out of focus but you can tell there's a lot going on."

Some users chose to defend the book, calling it a harmless hobby from a teenager finding himself.

While others pointed out the now viral images were only a small sample of Brooklyn's work.

The debate reached such a point that Brooklyn's publisher, Penguin Random House Children's, saw it fit to offer a statement supporting the book. "What I See is a book for teenagers, by a teenager, which gives Brooklyn's fans broader insight into his world seen through his unique and creative perspective," said Francesca Dow, Managing Director of Penguin Random House Children's, in a statement to The Independent.

What I See is released via Penguin Books on 26 June. We think it's a pretty good first try from a teenager trying out a new hobby.

Over the years, the iPhone’s camera has gone from serviceable, on-the-go snapper to a stupidly capable juggernaut. You won’t find serious photographers – the kind that have at least three tripods in their bookmarks bar at any given time and think Instagram filters should be illegal – leaving their DSLRs at home just yet, but for the rest of us, Apple’s device is good enough for any spontaneous photo op.

Thing is, though, you might actually be wasting its functionality. The iPhone 7 camera (and even more so its dual-lens bigger brother, the iPhone 7 Plus) is loaded with fancy features that amateurs have no idea how to properly take advantage of.

Rather than continue to rub our faces in it with those annoyingly great “Shot on iPhone” posters that line every single wall of the London Underground, Apple have uncharacteristically decided to publish a host of handy tutorials. You can either head to the fancy new section of the website dedicated to photography how-tos (it really is nice) or just browse the same clips on the YouTube account. While a lot of it is fairly self-explanatory, it’s worth scanning for a few tips. You want to take better pictures of your Spaghetti Bolognese don’t you? DON’T YOU?!

We’ve picked out a few of the more useful ones.

How to shoot a great portrait

Nothing says “I do photography now” like the iPhone 7’s Portrait mode, complete with that arty depth-of-field effect that mimics much more powerful cameras. It’s so cool that you’ll actually enjoy taking pictures of your better half next time you go out for a meal. For the first 27 times anyway. 

How to shoot a close-up

This one shows you how to take the most effective close-up of your dog. Take pictures of your dog, people. Every single day. Social media depends on it. 

How to shoot a vertical Pano 

Have you ever taken a vertical panorama before? Yeah same. Loads. Were you even aware you could do it? Same. Best feature I reckon.

How to shoot without a flash

This is just a simple tip on how best to shoot without your flash on, but it’s a handy one, especially when low-light has always been the bane of smartphone cameras.

The Apple site is brimming with video, some of them more complex than the ones above. There’s nothing mind-blowing in there, but if you, like millions of others, regard your smartphone as your primary camera now, it’s good to know you’re making the most of it.

Now go forth and spam everyone with your selfies.

(Images: iStock/Apple)

Jersualem. An absolute tune, and also home of the lyric “England’s green and pleasant land”, which by the looks of these stunning views, is an understatement.

Because ‘pleasant’ isn’t quite enough to do justice to these breathtaking vistas, all located in good old Blighty.

To mark the forthcoming launch of their Galaxy S8 smartphone, Samsung has revealed the results of a study to discover the 20 greatest British views, with over 2,500 people polled for their favourites (with photographer Matthew Cattell taking three of the snaps below on said phone).

Frankly, any one of these would have been a worthy winner, so feast your eyes on the below and remind yourself how lucky you are to live on this Sceptred Isle.

20. Kings College – view from the River Cam, Cambridge, England

19. Bournemouth pier and beach, Hampshire, England

18. Seven Sisters, Sussex, England

17. Bamburgh Castle – view from the coast, Bamburgh, Northumberland, England

16. Spires of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

15. Durdle Door, Dorset, England

14. Brecon Beacons – view from the summit, Wales

13. Peak District – view from Stanage Edge, Derbyshire, England

12. Edinburgh from Arthur’s Seat, Scotland

11. Ben Nevis, Lochaber, Scotland

10. Loch Lomond – view from Conic Hill, Dunbartonshire, Scotland

9. Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

8. Parliament and Big Ben - view from Westminster Bridge, London, England

7. Buttermere, Lake District, England

6. Loch Ness – view from Dores, Highland, Scotland

5. Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England

4. St Ives Bay, Cornwall, England

3. Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England

2. Scottish Highlands – view of Three Sisters mountains, Glencoe Valley, Scotland

1. Snowdonia – view of Llyn Llydaw from Mount Snowdon summit, Wales

Shamrock is a twat. 

So says the retired racehorses’s traumatised owner, who found out the hard way that while you can take the horse out the competition, you most definitely can’t take the competition out of the horse. 

Semi-amateur rider Nick Bull was out for what was supposed to be a relaxing countryside trot, but Shamrock – the twat – had other ideas. In a slickly-edited PoV GoPro video you can deduce from Nick’s many “whoah’s” that things are taking a more high-octane turn than he’d anticipated. 

As the pleas (and swear words) ramp up, so does Shamrock’s speed, until he might as well be running the final furlong at Aintree. 

“Shamrock is a retired race horse,” Nick writes in the hilarious video’s description. “On this day, he forgot he was retired, or that I'm not that experienced a rider and decided to take me for the ride of my life. Please excuse the bad language and girly screams at the end…”

Luckily, it doesn’t sound like rider or horse picked up any serious injuries, although it’s fair to say it doesn’t end well for poor Nick. 

FFS Shamrock. 

(Main image: Nick Bull/YouTube)

Sometimes, the universe just gifts us things and, instead of analysing them, we should just look up to the stars and be grateful.

But we’re not grateful, we are fearless newshounds in pursuit of the truth and we will not rest until we have found it.

The image above went viral today, for good reason. Seven nuns? Aka ‘sisters’? At Seven Sisters tube station? Unbelievable. What an image, as 33-year-old Ben Patey explained, saying: "I had just had a long day and I was waiting to jump on the train when I looked across and saw the nuns and the sign. I had to do a double-take. It was one of those strange but amusing moments."

But did he? Is what he actually saw in fact EIGHT nuns? But thought: “Hmm, that doesn’t really make a gag. Even though, technically, if there are eight nuns there, then there are seven there as a subset of the eight – as opposed to if there were six, there would not be seven at all – it doesn’t really work on that instant comedic level that I will need in order for a photo to go viral on the internet.”

What if Ben thought: “Hey, if I tactically take this photo with a pillar obscuring the eighth nun who is sitting down, then the visual gag works absolutely perfectly. After all, does it really matter if I bend the truth a little to cheer up people’s days, albeit briefly? After all, we all need a little light relief in these troubled times.”

Well, Ben, it does matter. It does matter to us. And you can’t pull the wool over our eyes that easily. And you know who else knows the truth? The Big Man upstairs, and he will give his verdict on judgement day, especially when it’s his girls you are lying about.

We hope you can live with yourself Ben.

Still, there are seven there. There’s just another one as well. We’ve ruined it for ourselves haven’t we? Yes we have.

[Image: SWNS]

We know that there are millions of tiny things happening in human and animal anatomy every second that are wondrous feats of nature, but they are invisible to the naked eye. 

Thankfully, the Wellcome Image Awards have rolled back around to blow our minds with the most incredible images from the science world over the last year. Using cutting edge artistic and scientific techniques, this year’s winners include a close up of an AI contact lens, a bioluminescent Hawaiian bobtail squid and a 3D reconstruction of white matter language pathways of the brain. So a bit more impressive than that last selfie you took.

Get lost in the amazing images below:

Intraocular lens ‘iris clip’

“This image shows how an ‘iris clip’, also known as an artificial intraocular lens (IOL), is fitted onto the eye. An iris clip is a small, thin lens made from silicone or acrylic material, and has plastic side supports, called haptics, to hold it in place. An iris clip is fixed to the iris through a 3 mm surgical incision, and is used to treat conditions such as myopia (nearsightedness) and cataracts (cloudiness of the lens). This particular patient, a 70-year-old man, regained almost full vision following his surgery.”

Cat skin and blood supply

“A polarised light micrograph of a section of cat skin, showing hairs, whiskers and their blood supply. This sample is from a Victorian microscope slide. This sample is from a Victorian microscope slide. Blood vessels were injected with a red dye called carmine dye (here appearing black) in order to visualise the capillaries in the tissue, a newly developed technique at the time.ck) are all visible... Here, fine hairs (yellow), thicker whisker (yellow) and blood vessels (black) are all visible.”

Pigeon thermoregulation

“BriteVu, a novel contrast agent allows researchers to see the entire network of blood vessels in an animal, down to the capillary level. Images are taken from computed tomography scans. The intricate network of blood vessels in this pigeon’s neck is just visible at the bottom of the picture. This extensive blood supply just below the skin helps the pigeon control its body temperature through a process known as thermoregulation.”

Language pathways of the brain

“The brain is composed of two types of matter. Grey matter contains cells, and is responsible for processing information. White matter connects these areas of grey matter, allowing information to be transferred between distant areas of the brain. Areas responsible for speech and language have been mapped to two different brain regions. This image shows a 3D-printed reconstruction of the white matter pathway connecting these two areas (here shown from the left) which is called the arcuate fasciculus.”

Hawaiian bobtail squid

“Native to the Pacific Ocean, Hawaiian bobtail squid [measuring just 1.5cm wide] are nocturnal predators that remain buried under the sand during the day and come out to hunt for shrimp near coral reefs at night. The squid have a light organ on their underside that houses a colony of glowing bacteria called Vibrio fischeri. The squid provide food and shelter for these bacteria in return for their bioluminescence.”

Surface of a mouse retina

“The retina, located at the back of the eye, contains light-sensitive cells responsible for converting light into electrical nerve signals that the brain can process. As a result of ageing or injury the retina can lose this function, causing vision loss. This image was created by digitally stitching together over 400 images to form one large image, so as to show the entire surface of a mouse retina.”

Developing spinal cord

“The spinal cord is formed from a structure called the neural tube, which develops during the first month of pregnancy. This series of three images shows the open end of a mouse’s neural tube, with each image highlighting (in blue) one of the three main embryonic tissue types. On the left is the neural tube itself, which develops into the brain, spine and nerves. On the right is the surface ectoderm – the word ‘ectoderm’ comes from the Greek ektos meaning ‘outside’ and derma meaning skin – which will eventually form the skin, teeth and hair. The middle image shows the mesoderm (also from Greek, meaning ‘middle skin’), which will form the organs.”

Blood vessels of the African grey parrot

“This image shows a 3D reconstruction of an African grey parrot, post euthanasia. The 3D model details the highly intricate system of blood vessels in the head and neck of the bird and was made possible through the use of a new research contrast agent called BriteVu (invented by Scott Echols). This contrast agent allows researchers to study a subject’s vascular system in incredible detail, right down to the capillary level.”

Unravelled DNA in a human lung cell

“This picture shows the nucleus of one of two new daughter cells. The DNA in this cell has somehow become caught, and is being pulled between the two cells. This has caused the DNA to unfold inside the nucleus, and DNA fibres can be seen running through it. As the new cells have moved apart, the tension distributed by the rope-like DNA has deformed the nucleus’s usually circular envelope.”

Vessels of a healthy mini-pig eye

“A 3D model of a healthy mini-pig eye. The dent on the right-hand side of the image is the pupil, the opening that allows light into the eye. The blood vessels shown are bringing energy and food to the muscles surrounding the iris, which controls the amount of light entering the eye. The smallest vessels seen here are 20–30 micrometres (0.02–0.03 mm) in diameter. The other large vessels are feeder vessels for the retina, the light-sensing region at the back of the eye.”

“It's better. Down where it's wetter. Take it from me.”

Sebastian the crab knew what he was talking about if these breathtaking photos are anything to go by.

They’re the winners of the sixth annual Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, which is organised by the Underwater Photography Guide, and showcase an exceptional array of images, selected from thousands of entries by photographers from all over the world.

They feature rarely-seen animal behaviour and innovative shooting techniques, capturing animals including sharks, whales and even the odd human. The Best of Show image, seen below and shot by Matty Smith in New South Wales, Australia, is a truly incredible photo of a dangerous Portuguese Man Of War, contrasting ‘raw dramatic lighting with the delicate nature of the creature.

You can check out all of the placed images, alongside each ‘story of the shot’ on the 2016 Ocean Art Contest website.

When the sun sets on 14 November at around 4:44pm, the largest ‘supermoon’ you’ve ever seen is set to rise over the eastern horizon. 

The moon hasn't been this close to the earth since 1948, and you can read all about ‘why’ it’s happening right here – but this is about the more important ‘how’ to take a super shot of said supermoon, an event that isn’t going to occur again until 2034. 

NASA senior photographer Bill Ingalls has shared his tips on how to take a pro photo of tonight’s lunar event, using anything from a smartphone camera to a more professional set up. 

You’ll be able to use your phone’s camera

No, a smartphone camera won’t take a picture that can rival a DSLR with a long lens – but Ingalls doesn’t see why you can’t embrace the challenge and use whatever camera you’ve got to hand.

“It’s all relative. For me, it would be maddening and frustrating – yet it may be a good challenge, actually. You’re not going to get a giant moon in your shot, but you can do something more panoramic, including some foreground that’s interesting. Think about being in an urban area where it’s a little bit brighter.” 

In order to get the best photo of the supermoon from a mobile, you’re going to want to use a tripod, or rest your phone on a flat, stable surface to take the shot. “Tap the screen and hold your finger on the object (in this case, the moon) to lock the focus. Then slide your finger up or down to darken or lighten the exposure.”

Make sure you’ve got a point of reference

“Don’t make the mistake of photographing the moon by itself with no reference to anything,” said Ingalls. “I’ve certainly done it myself, but everyone will get that shot. Instead, think of how to make the image creative – that means tying it into some land-based object. It can be a local landmark or anything to give your photo a sense of place.”

Scout out a local landmark you can include in your shot

“It means doing a lot of homework. I use Google Maps and other apps – even a compass – to plan where to get just the right angle at the right time.”

You’ll need to be aiming your lens toward the eastern horizon from 4:44 onwards, when the moon is set to make an appearance. 

Get creative

Don’t live near a significant landmark? No problem – work with anything around you, from trees to people.

“There are lots of great photos of people appearing to be holding the moon in their hand and that kind of thing. You can get really creative with it.”

Pro tip: try setting your camera to a daylight white balance

Ingalls uses a daylight white balance when using his digital SLR camera, as the light of the moon is reflected sunlight. It’s also worth keeping in mind that the moon is a moving object; “It’s a balancing act between trying to get the right exposure and realising that the shutter speed typically needs to be a lot faster.”

(Images: NASA/Bill Ingalls, Rex)

[Via: NASA]

Remember that photo you got of your dog/cat/lizard doing that hilarious thing with your TV/computer/child?

The one that got you all the likes on Facebook and rekindled several forgotten friendships with comments of "Lol!" and "OMG brilliant!"?

Well it's got nothing on these. The shortlist for the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards makes your pitiful attempt at animal humour look like a child's crayon scribble. 

As the competition's title suggests, this is a contest that takes a lighter approach to the po-faced world of professional wildlife photography. But its not just for cheap internet chuckles - the contest also helps promote the Born Free Foundation and its fight for compassionate conservation. Go and check them out after you've had a laugh, right? Good.

(Images: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards)

With Hollywood running out of wholesome leading men by the second, it’s great to know that one actor remains impervious to tabloid scandal in this TMZ-tinted world, a glorious ray of sunlight in an otherwise gloomy time for the A-list.

That's right: Tom Hanks, who, continuing his run of being utterly lovely to random strangers – and not in a creepy Bill Murray sense – just approached a couple of newlyweds in New York’s Central Park to congratulate them on their eternal union, and even found time to pose for a few impromptu photos.

And they say don’t meet your heroes…

So without further ado, come with us as we celebrate all the reasons we should feel honoured that we exist in the same universe, at the same time, as Tom Hanks...

He truly is the king of the photobomb

Of course, this isn’t the first time the Oscar-winning actor has caught unsuspecting randomers off-guard. He doesn't even care if you're sleeping.

We know this doesn't count, but still...

Remember this Carly Rae Jepsen video?

I Really Like You. A song not written about Tom Hanks but, given how much he made us collectively swoon, probably should have been.

He collects typewriters

A boring hobby? Think again. Owning over 50 typewriters produced in the 1940s, Hanks is only too aware of how rustically cool these classic machines are, even choosing to write much of his correspondence on them - which ultimately proved his downfall in 2012, after the "diabolical" people at Nerdist persuaded him to go on their podcast by gifting him with a "snazzy" 1934 Smith Corona portable, resulting in this excellent letter.

Oh and he's right:

His goodness is infectious

The acting giant's attempts to go incognito while working in California last year were rumbled when he bought four boxes of Girl Scout cookies and tipped $20. The parents noticed it was him and once his cover was blown he helped the girls sell even more treats by posing for snaps with passersby in return for sales.

The good karma clearly paid off as just a few weeks later Hanks lost his credit card in New York and one man returned it. God bless you, Tony.

Eventually stumbling upon someone else's ID card, he took to Twitter to find the owner, the bloody charmer.

This is how he once autographed Toy Story

Talk about a Buzz kill.

He has better anecdotes than you ever will

Even Alan Partridge himself would struggle to eclipse that. But if you thought his 'Peeping Tom' gag was good, just wait until you watch this emotional clip, taken from the funeral of his late Green Mile co-star Michael Clarke Duncan.

Wait, does he think he's in an actual movie?

On the one hand, it would explain the man's eternal merriment. On the other hand, let's enjoy it while it lasts.

He signs off his Tweets with 'Hanx'

If anyone should be saying Hanx, it's us. The world owes you a huge debt. Keep up the good work, sir.

"They knew no shame and no limit. Whether I was sitting on the potty or lying naked in my crib, every step of mine was photographed and subsequently made public."

These are the aggrieved words of one Austrian teenager, unpacking her grief to Die Ganze Woche magazine that due to her parents refusing to remove some 500 Facebook photos documenting her childhood, she's been forced to take her parents to court.

"I see no other way than to sue," the teenager (whose name can't be given for legal reasons) told Die Ganze Woche, a personification of Millennial angst, arming itself with legal weapons to rile against parental mistreatment. "I'm tired of not being taken seriously by my parents."

The photos don't depict any form of child cruelty or bad parenting - the case of built by the teen's lawyer Michael Rami is one of breach of privacy. If he can prove that the images have violated her rights to a personal life, he believes his client can win the case. The teen's parents believe that as they took the photos, they have the right to publish the images to their 700 friends. "I consider it my right to be able to publish these photos," said the girl's father. "After all this is our child, and it is a lovely family album for my wife and me."

The first case of its kind in Austria, Rami will draw on international examples of disputes over images on social networks to frame the case - with the potential to form future case law for Austria over historic image privacy rights. Proceedings will begin in November. 

In March this year, an internet privacy expert warned French parents that they should stop posting images of their children as their offspring could eventually sue them for breaching their right to privacy.

Whatever happens, we can't even begin to imagine how tense Christmas dinner is going to be at their place this year. 

[Via: ITV News]

(Photo: iStock)

We like a bit of danger here at ShortList. Just last week one of the team drank from a mug of tea that still had the spoon in. Mental, right?

Okay fine, we're a bunch of wimps who prefer our thrills to come on occasional trips to theme parks or by sitting down too quickly. 

Besides, when Instagram is able to give us the following stomach-lurching rushes from the likes of base jumpers, building climbers and nutty thrill seekers, why would we bother endangering our own lives?

From rooftopping to sky diving, these are the best 'extreme' Instagram accounts out there.

(Image: iStock)

ASVP Shooter

Oh would you look at the time - we need to have a good lie down on the cold hard earth and wait until our head stops spinning. 

ASVP Shooter's account is a feast of urban cool, including the odd product placement. 

Follow here

Oliver Shou

This San Francisco dare doer is currently exploring the rooftops of Shanghai, providing a feed that will please thrill seekers and architect appreciators alike.

Follow here

@svvvk

We have two questions: foremost, how to pronounce 'svvk', and secondly, how svvk came to find himself in this position. You'd think he'd take his camera off first, but no...

Follow here

Chasing Rooftops

An aggregator and curator of rooftop shots, this Toronto-based account is a great place to find new climbers and accentuate your own fear of heights.

Follow here

Kirill Vselensky

Another rooftoper who's courted his fair share of trouble; Vselensky illegally climbed the Great Pyramid of Giza in 2013, sparking outrage amongst tourism officials. 

When he's not scaling ancient landmarks, he's usually hanging off skyscrapers, capturing incredible sunsets. The tyke.

Follow here

Ivan Beerkus

Beerkus gained a heap of new followers after he and fellow Russian climbers Ivan Semenov and Alihan managed to climb the Eiffel Tower in the early hours of a June morning. 

He's the only man we're happy to see using a selfie stick. 

Follow here

@raskalov

Good grief man, that's a wet ledge. One good gust of wind and you'll be on a slippy trajectory toward a much closer encounter with Times Square.

Vitaliy Raskalov also mixes up his dare doing with lovely shots of rugged landscapes. A must.

Follow here

Ivan Semenov

Those suffering from vertigo should steer well clear of Semenov's account. The vast bulk of his images force you to appreciate the absurd heights of his shots. We'd call them 'suicidal selfies', but we don't want to tempt fate.

Follow here

Vadim Makhorov

In addition to some lovely filter work, many of Makhorov's images will cause you to unintentionally clench your bottom. The man just doesn't seem to respect the nature of gravity. A good friend of Vitaliy Raskalov, they often climb ridiculous buildings together, the scamps.

Follow here

Mike 'Rooftop' Escamilla

Mike Escamilla tends to spend most of his life either jumping out of planes, mucking about on a BMX or living the life of a grown up eight-year-old. An eight-year-old with an amazing camera.

Follow here

Christian Pondella

Pondella is an incredibly talented adventure sports photographer - down largely to his habit of following his subjects up insane mountains before promptly jumping off them/sliding down them. The nutter.

Follow here

Mustang Wanted

Ukrainian roofer Mustang Wanted doesn't really play by the rules. Those rules being "please don't climb our building, you're not allowed up here". This results in him getting some of the most incredible skyline shots while coming within inches of finding the quick way down, often employing the "Viselnik" image (which translates to "hanged man", and employed in this shot). Don't encourage him - but by all means marvel at his pictures.

Follow here

Brody Leven

Self confessed "forest tourist", Leven's Instagram account is chock full of stunning natural shots - usually taken at the foot of a big hill, promptly followed by the view from the top of it. He'll make you want to get on a plane to the nearest mountain range - though we'd recommend against standing quite as close to the edge as he does.

Follow here

Angela Nikolau

The Instagram bio of model and photographer Angela Nikolau reads "No limit, no control". Not a sentiment we'd subscribe to when mucking about on the edge of a skyscraper.

Follow here

Tanya Stolyarovich

A fledgling account from a Russian #roofer with a passion for exploring New York from the top down.

Follow here

Khan Dadaev

Another of the Eiffel clamberers, Dadaev mixes up his shots with some subterranean urban exploring, resulting in an Instagram feed that goes from nosebleed shots to moody, gloomy tunnels in the scroll of a finger.

Follow here

You rarely get to see people in their happiest element, but here is a video of multi-million-dollar filmmaker and playboy arsonist Michael Bay dancing around (hopefully) a set, filming stuff explode with a custom camera made for him by RED called the ‘BAYHEM’:

Just watch Michael Bay, giddy as a toddler discovering a new place for the first time, pointing his little BAYHEM at fireballs and debris and people getting their limbs blasted off, while Tchaikovsky plays in his head. Pure serenity. The sight of tank being ripped apart or a torso flying through the air is to Michael Bay as sinking into a bubble bath is to the normal person, and he wants to share a small slice of that with the world. And now RED have made it easier for him, with the “lightest, most advanced hand held motion picture camera in the world.”

You might note that they’ve called it the ‘BAYHEM’ and painted it a hideous luminous green, exactly like a child dizzy on a lemonade would, rather than a serious filmmaker, but halt your criticism. Michael Bay isn’t bothered by such trivial concerns as: ‘framing’, ‘lighting’, or ‘not filming something so it feels like you’ve been pushed down a hill in a zorb with a load of pots and pans, which are on fire’, Michael Bay just wants to film as many explosions and severed limbs as quickly and as indiscriminately as possible. Michael Bay will only stop filming indiscriminate explosions and limbs to occasionally linger on the exposed cleavage of his female protagonist.

Michael Bay lingers on the exposed cleavage of his female protagonist, counting in his head, “…28…29…30!” then whirls off and returns to the explosions and the limbs. You get the impression Michael Bay is annoyed by formal constraints such as ‘plot’, ‘acting’ and ‘filming things that aren’t explosions.’ You get the feeling Michael Bay just wants to waltz around a battlefield with his BAYHEM until it runs out of battery.

With that in mind, we have written Michael Bay’s ideal BAYHEM-ready script:

If you're a representative of Michael Bay, or Michael Bay himself, drop us an email and we'll send over our PayPal details. Let's make movies.