Should vlogs come back?: newsletter week of 11/3
Last week, I asked what Patreon exclusive content I should make for y'all (thank you to everyone who replied and please keep 'em coming!). And while I could have predicted the behind-the-scenes, camera/lighting setup content requests, I was completely shocked when some folks asked for the return of the vlogs.
Ricoh has entered the chat: newsletter week of 10/27
Quick note before we get started- I am gearing up to make a few Patreon exclusive videos and I would love to hear what you want to see. Let me know in the comments! Ok, on with the show.
Happy belated Halloween (the best holiday of the year)! And welcome to two weeks of me talking endlessly about the $1,500 Ricoh GR IV, the company's latest high-end compact camera.
The camera:
I took 1,000 photos with Oppo's new pro phone... (ad-free)
Holy cow, the Oppo Find X9 Pro really surprised me. What do you think? (all images straight outta camera)
Trading one pair of glasses for another: newsletter week of 10/20
It has been a week of smart glasses for me as I traded the Oakly Meta Vanguard for an Apple Vision Pro.
bts of how this newsletter was writtenThis is the first time that Apple has loaned me a product for review, and what a s...
2025-10-25 15:28:26 +0000 UTC View PostOakley Meta Vanguard review: Can you trust Meta?
I loved using the $500 Oakley Meta Vanguards; they are great sunglasses with a decent camera, solid mics, and loud speakers, but I couldn’t help but notice how everyone around me felt about them.
Meta's track record regarding the use of users' data is bad. Like, real bad. Not to mention, there are numerous ways that the camera on these glasses could be used maliciously. I wish Meta provided a bit more guidance on using these glasses, with a few more principles to follow, because other...
2025-10-22 15:08:30 +0000 UTC View PostDo you trust Meta?: newsletter week of 10/13
First and foremost, if you're new around here- welcome! This is the newsletter that goes out sometime between Friday and Sunday every week. It's a little bit journal, a little bit internet links, and always hot off the press.
For the last week, I've been deep in the weeds on an Oakley Meta Vanguard review, a new $500 pair of smart glasses from Meta that are aimed directly at ath...
2025-10-20 02:20:38 +0000 UTC View PostI quit my job to become a YouTuber, here is how much $$$ I made
My first year on YouTube was the wildest roller coaster I have ever been on (and if you know me, you know that I am not a big fan of roller coasters).
I started out with a little bit of savings and loads of sheer will. Then, I quickly learned that YouTube is just as much about being a businessman as it is a creator. In this video, I talk allllll about how much money I made, how I made it, and what's next.
I took out the ad segment, but! If you want a chance to win a robot vacuum,...
2025-10-14 14:05:27 +0000 UTC View PostA rainy weekend in Brooklyn: newsletter week of 10/6
Hello from my desk in Brooklyn, NY. It has been one of those perfectly gray, sleepy weekends that don't make you feel like you missed out on too much by spending it working on a video.
The video in question.For the last week, I have been deep in the edit on a video about every cent I made in my first year as an independent creator. It's a weird one for me-- there isn't a lot to show, so I'...
2025-10-13 00:18:20 +0000 UTC View PostEditing Secrets: newsletter week of 9/28
I put out my big iPhone 17 Pro review this week, and in it are a few of my favorite video editing tricks. So in the spirit of never gatekeeping a good thing, I want to spell just a few of them out for ya!
Sound effects:
I have only recently begun to paint a fuller picture in my editing through the use of sound effects (SFX). I think it started because I was feeling bored with my typical visuals, and I wanted to up the game without having to learn After Effects ...
2025-10-03 13:33:08 +0000 UTC View PostI took 1,000 photos with the iPhone 17 Pro...
At long last! 1,000 photos and videos done with the iPhone 17 Pro. I usually remove the sponsored segment for Patreon, but since it serves as the video section, I left it in. Hope that is ok!
Here are a few of my favorite shots:
iPhone 17 Pro preview! - newsletter week of 9/22
Hello from my very messy desk in Brooklyn, NY.
It's been a while since I have spent this much consecutive time in NYC. And while I can't say that I have missed the noise, I have been reminded that there is no better feeling than hopping on a bike and watching the city fly by as you float through it.
I am deep in the throes of taking 1,000 photos with the iPhone 17 Pro, which has thoro...
2025-09-26 20:03:37 +0000 UTC View PostThe problem with GoPro's Max 2 isn't the camera...
This is the new $500 GoPro Max 2, the long-awaited successor to the 2019 Max. It's a 360-degree action camera capable of shooting spherical 10-bit 8K 30FPS video and 29MP 360-degree photos. Unfortunately, while the hardware feels robust and ready, the software feels stuck in the past.
What do you think??
(I am once again in sponsorship approval limbo, so Patreon is seeing this before YouTube ❤️)
2025-09-23 16:07:26 +0000 UTC View PostAI for your face, and your face, and your face, too - newsletter week of 9/15
Hello from the skies. I am en route home from San Francisco, where Meta showed off its latest smartglasses during the company's annual Connect event.
Disclosure: Meta flew me out and put me up for the event.
By far, the best part of the event was the failed live demos (seen here and 2025-09-19 15:01:32 +0000 UTC View Post
What a week! - Newsletter week of 9/8
Phones, cameras, and an assassination. I'll keep this to tech, but god damn, what a week.
First, the iPhones:
A new $999 iPhone Air model
"ProMotion" 120Hz adaptive refresh rate across the lineup
A wider 18MP front-facing camera with Center Stage across the lineup
Brighter and more durable Ceramic Shield 2 display across the lineup
All Pro models have 48MP sensors across the three rear lenses, mea...
2025-09-12 14:28:37 +0000 UTC View Post
The Robots Are Not Ok - Newsletter week of 9/1
Hello from Germany!
For the last few days, I have been deep in the throes of IFA, a large tech trade show held annually in Berlin. And I have been focused on one thing and one thing only-- robots, that I am sad to report are not ok.
They are falling down...
and heads are popping off!
...
Newsletter: week of 8/18
While having dinner with a friend last week, we talked a lot about our reliance/dependence on our phones, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.
A few months ago, I noticed that whenever something becomes even the least bit difficult, for example, when I'm writing a script and I don't know how to bridge two ideas, I reach for my phone. When things get boring, I grab my phone. When I'm riding the subway, I'm glued to my phone. When I'm eating my lunch, I'm on my phone. ...
2025-08-25 03:00:31 +0000 UTC View PostInsta360's worst lineup just became… my favorite? (ad-free)
The whole shtick of Insta360's GO lineup has always been that it’s a super-tiny camera that can be taken in and out of a larger camera body, which houses more battery, a tiltable screen, additional buttons, and a USB-C port. So, you could use the Go as a more traditional-looking action camera, or at any time you could pop it out and have that same action camera, but without any extra bulk.
The problem was that these tiny cameras were always plagued by small sensors that produced...
2025-08-22 15:26:37 +0000 UTC View Posthave "bad" cameras gone too far? (ad-free)
Kyu (https://kyu-core.com/en/product) is a $300 minimalist, video-only camera that, unlike smartphones, which encourage constant content creation, is designed to be intentional and simple. The problem is that in an attempt to create something non-intrusive, the company created something forgettable.
It feels like e-waste to me, despite it replicating the mini-DV look that I love. What do you think, bud?
2025-08-17 18:39:35 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter: week of 8/11
A few weeks ago, while editing my RX1R III video, I fell down a rabbit hole.
away she goesssss
My argument in the video is that, as its own standalone brand, Sony lacks deep roots in the still photography space. So, to prove this, I set out to contrast its legacy with that of Hasselblad's.
Newsletter: week of 8/4
Sorry for the delay, bud. I was lucky to have my family in town for a little NYC weekend. If you are ever here, here are a few of my favs!
Best Pizza: Saraghina Pizzeria, Brooklyn
A bakery in the morning, a sit down, whole-pie sort of place at night. Everything here is great, so be sure to come hungry!
Great City Views #1: 2025-08-11 02:52:28 +0000 UTC View Post
RX1R III review: I think Sony got the story wrong... (ad-free)
The whole time I was using Sony's latest full-frame, point-and-shoot camera, the $5,100 RX1R III, something felt off. It's small, light, Sony-sharp, and fast, but for that price, there are far too many compromises that all feel very un-Sony.
Here are some of my favorite photos, all straight out of the camera, from the RX1R III:
2025-08-04 14:36:57 +0000 UTC
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Newsletter: week of 7/28
I couldn't care less about what a 360 camera looks like.
That's what I woke up thinking this morning after seeing all of the reviews for DJI's first 360 camera that was released yesterday, the $550 Osmo 360. Shorter, wider, more battery... ehhh, it's 2025 and all of that will be on par. I just want to know about the software.
As you may heva heard 😉 I took this big ol' bike ride a month ago. On it, I took a 360 cam...
2025-08-01 14:32:14 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter: week of 7/21
Hello from Newport, Rhode Island. For the next few days, I'll be living the dream - boppin' around the Newport Folk Fest with a beer in one hand and an RX1R III in the other. (If you're here too, say hi!)
In high school, when asked what I wanted to do with my life, I often said, "Travel the world with a camera in my hand". But truthfully, I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. I just knew that 1. I loved cameras and 2. I wanted to see the world. So I just started shooting.
...
2025-07-25 12:21:32 +0000 UTC View PostI tried to replace my laptop with the Z Fold7... (ad-free)
This was a really different video for me to make. From the title cards, the lack of traditional a-roll of me talking to the camera, to not leaning on the camera to tell the story, I felt really out of my element in the edit. But I knew that the story of this device was about its size and power, so I dove in headfirst to put that to the test, and I left my old storytelling ways behind.
For a first attempt at a format like this, I think it turned out ok. But I also learned that next time,...
2025-07-22 16:03:19 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter: week of 7/14
For the last week, I have been using the Z Fold 7, Samsung's newly released $2,000 folding phone, as both my phone and my laptop.
It started like this...
I built an e-bike with unlimited range and tried to ride 450 miles on it...
There is so much that didn't make it into this video, from all the people who helped me to the many more challenges I faced (camping, in a field, through some of the brightest lightning and loudest thunder I had ever seen and heard, for example). But the biggest thing I am taking away from this video is to make sure that, at least once a year, I create a video that takes me outside my comfort zone.
This bike trip tested me on so many levels. I had never done a multi-day bike trip, I had...
2025-07-11 13:55:08 +0000 UTC View PostI took 1,000 photos with Nothing’s first “flagship” phone (ad-free)
It's a fine camera. It's just nothing special.
(I usually remove the ad segment from the Patreon videos, but I left it in so that you can see the footage from this device.)
Here are some of my favorite shots from the Nothing Phone (3):
2025-07-08 13:44:14 +0000 UTC
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Newsletter: week of 6/30
I love what Nothing is doing in the tech space. In a world of metal slabs and typical camera bumps, Nothing has continued to bring truly wild-looking devices to market. And the new Nothing Phone (3) is no exception. The phone features asymmetrical camera rings embedded into a cyberpunk-looking back, plus a "Glyph Matrix" composed of 489 LEDs that is controlled by a force-touch button. You can see battery life, the time, and even play "games" like spin the bottle, all on this tiny display.
... 2025-07-04 13:30:04 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter: week of June 23rd
Bud, I did it.
After six days and 477 miles on a bike, through a major storm and a heat wave, I made it to Rochester, NY...
2025-06-27 20:26:45 +0000 UTC View PostWe built a solar-powered bike!
I won't be sending a newsletter this week, as I'll be hitting the road instead! Here goes nothing...
2025-06-20 14:39:26 +0000 UTC View Post