Pictar Pro is like a real camera, sawn in half, that you can shove your smartphone into

The best camera’s the one you have with you. But if that’s the one on your phone, slabs of glass and metal never feel like real cameras. Enter: Pictar Pro ($119). It looks like someone sliced a classic camera in half. Shove your phone into it (most fit the adjustable clamp) and it communicates with the Pictar app using an ultrasonic connection. You then get the benefits of Pictar Pro’s grip, physical wheels (for switching modes or adjusting exposure), shutter, tripod and cold shoe connectors, and internal Qi battery when your phone’s running low on juice during a photographic moment. And if that’s in the blazing sun, Pictar Pro’s viewfinder lets you nail that perfect shot rather than get blinded by the sun reflecting off your phone’s screen, yelp, fall over on your bum, and hear everyone else note you’re no longer going to be the ‘camera guy’.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.