Who wants to talk megapixels and tetraprisms? In this episode, recorded shortly after Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Kirk and Jeff look at the specs and possibilities of the newest cameras-that-also-make-calls.

In episode 111, we talked to the founders of the photo app and community Glass about their approach to making a social photo service that isn’t exhausting or frustrating like Instagram or many others. For this episode, we catch up with Daniel Agee, the head of Marketing and Community at Glass, to talk about Glass’s two year anniversary, eschewing VC funding, and how community is making such a difference.

“With writing I’m trying to use a story to create images, and with photography I’m trying to use images to create a story.” That’s S J Watson, best-selling novelist of Before I Go to Sleep and occasional street photographer. In this episode we talk to him about how photography feeds his writing and vice-versa, and the way different endeavors contribute to creative mindsets.

Is photo editing too difficult? Layers and sliders and specialized apps and lots of options are available to us for processing our digital photos. How much is too much, and are we moving away from photography and getting lost in software?

When we record PhotoActive, Kirk is at the end of his day in the U.K. and Jeff has just begun in Seattle, which means we both start off with steaming mugs of our favorite caffeinated beverages. For a change, we thought we’d make this the tea and coffee episode, essential ingredients for any photographer.

He really went and did it. When Kirk decided to simplify his photography setup, he sold all of his Fujifilm cameras and lenses, put the Leica Q2 Monochrom up for sale, and bought a brand new Leica Q3. In this episode, we talk about the reasons behind such a drastic move and the advantages of simplifying your gear.

If you’re like Jeff and Kirk, you probably have multiple photo libraries spread across your disks. Whether it’s because you use several editing apps, or some libraries are tied to outdated applications (RIP Apple Aperture), you don’t want to lose track of all those photos. This week, Matthieu Kopp of CYME joins us to talk about converting and managing multiple libraries using CYME’s utilities Avalanche and Peakto, and why both tasks aren’t as simple as you might think.

The weather is warming up, the skies are clearing, and we point our eyes and cameras to the sky. But capturing the night sky well requires more than just snapping a photo of the heavens. Mike Shaw, author of the new book _The Beginner’s Guide to Astrophotography_, joins us to talk about what gear you need—yes, you can do it with a smartphone!—and how to make stunning star photos.

The folks behind Pixelmator Pro have just released Photomator for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and it’s won us over. Designed as a straightforward photo editor (versus the can-do-everything that is Pixelmator Pro), Photomator is surprisingly deep for an app that on the surface is non-intimidating. In this episode, we look at the new Mac version and why it’s likely to become Kirk’s main photo editor.

Camera resolution is easy, right? More pixels, more quality, more options, more better! But as soon as you start digging into it, from the iPhone 14 Pro’s 48 megapixels to Sony sensors with 60 megapixels, all sorts of considerations make themselves known. Do you need that much resolution? How did we survive with less than 20 MP in the recent past? We pixel-peep and also look at the big picture.

Adobe added a new AI-assisted denoise feature to Lightroom and a Remove tool in the public beta of Photoshop, both of which are impressive. But how many photographers find themselves using these and other tools?

It’s time to rant. Are photographers spending too much energy in front of the computer instead of behind the camera? Does posting a photo to a public forum make it an invitation for criticism? And is there actually a good street photo of a woman looking at her cell phone amid all the copycats out there? This isn’t just curmudgeonly banter—we dig into some photographic issues that have been gnawing at us.

Chris Niccolls joins us this episode to talk about zoom lenses! Chris gets to shoot using most new cameras and lenses for DPReview TV, so we wanted to tap into his extensive hands-on experience with zooms. Do they require too many compromises? Why are some so expensive? And can we put to rest the idea that real photographers only shoot with prime lenses?

Chris Niccolls joins us this episode to talk about zoom lenses! Chris gets to shoot using most new cameras and lenses for DPReview TV, so we wanted to tap into his extensive hands-on experience with zooms. Do they require too many compromises? Why are some so expensive? And can we put to rest the idea that real photographers only shoot with prime lenses?

Do you use a particular lens or photographic technique because someone said that was the only way to do it? In this episode, we break down some common photo preconceptions.

“I never metadata I didn’t like.” Do we need to spend hours entering metadata for our images? Or do we even care about metadata? Jeff and Kirk look at why metadata is important, and at some automated solutions like AI-assisted object recognition in the Photos app, Lightroom, and other tools.

We’re excited to welcome photographer Mike Hipple to talk about his latest book “Lived Through That: 90s Musicians Today.” What started as an artistic distraction to photograph creative people spawned a book of iconic 1980s musicians, 80s Redux!, which he followed up with this book of notable music makers of the next decade. We talk about working on such a large project, dealing with unexpected adversity, and improvising on the fly.

What will your photography look like in the new year? Although Kirk and Jeff are wary of making any New Year’s resolutions, they each came up with photographic goals to chase that involve learning new skills and pushing out of their comfort zones.

Perhaps you’ve heard that there’s an ideal focal length that is the closest approximation to the human eye. Or perhaps you’re a purist who can’t imagine shooting anything but a 50mm prime. In this episode, Jeff and Kirk dig into these preconceptions and talk about how focal length affects your photography.

October and November bring a deluge of new camera announcements, which gets our minds to thinking, “Do we need new cameras?” But buying a camera today is different than it was just a few years ago, with factors such as AI-based autofocus systems and much higher megapixel sensors that affect everything from memory cards to computer storage.