Think augmented reality is just for making silly Snapchat faces? A new app could help photographers experiment with poses, lighting, and setups with nothing but a smartphone. Photo Studio AR is an augmented reality photo studio headed up by a Hollywood visual effects technician that also assisted on Snapchat filters. The app allows photographers to place models, lights, and props inside any scene.
Developed by Superba AR, the new iOS and Android app allows users to conjure up studio settings anywhere without having to buy the gear or even hire a model. Using the smartphone camera, users can choose a model to place in the scene. According to the developer, those models are all based on real people. The app allows users to choose from different poses as well as modifying poses or the model will move around impatiently while you choose the rest of the set.
Photo Studio AR also includes AR lighting, including different types of studio lights and modifiers that can be arranged in the scene. The app even allows users to adjust the direction of the sun. The app applies the light from those AR sources to the models and props in the scene, including the resulting shadows.
The lighting and posing practice also mixes in with props and even entire scenes, swapping the boring office you’re actually sitting in with a beach or a desert. The app can also turn on fake rain and snow. Like other augmented reality apps, the different models and props can be re-arranged and scaled to different sizes.
Of course, the app includes a built-in camera, so once everything is in place, you can take a photo of the setup and even share on social media. The app’s camera will also apply color corrections via a set of different filters that can be used as you shoot in real time.
The app is designed to help photographers visualize a shoot ahead of time, pre-planning for different lighting setups and poses. That same pre-shoot experimentation could also be useful for new photographers that want to experiment with how different lights work before actually choosing which light to buy in real life.
Developer Superba AR, based in California, also offers a Film Studio AR app, a similar project except that it is designed for pre-visualizing movie sets. The company was co-founded by Raffael Dickreuter, its current CEO, and entrepreneur Donald LeMastus. The CEO moved to the new company after working on visual effects in Hollywood for over a decade, including working on films like Iron Man and Man of Steel.
Photo Studio AR may allow photographers to practice without investing in lighting or hiring a model but the app sells as a $10 download, with in-app purchases for additional models. The app is available from the App Store (including an iPad version) and Google Play.
Full-frame cameras tend to be chunky beasts, but Sigma wants to prove that big imaging doesn't need a big body. Enter the Sigma FP2, the successor to its tiny, boxy fp mirrorless camera. It keeps the same modular design but packs in some serious upgrades, including a 24.5-megapixel partially stacked full-frame sensor, improved autofocus, 6K video recording, and 70GB of built-in storage. Sigma calls it the world's smallest full-frame camera, and while it might be tiny, the same cannot be said for its price tag.
Sigma FP2 brings faster shooting and 6K video
A phone thermal camera is one of those tools you don’t think you need until the first time it saves you from an expensive problem, and the Thermal Master P3 just got easier to try. For Halloween, it’s discounted with the code THERMCAM10, a 10% cut that works out to $107 off the total. It’s also fresh off a win at the 2026 Tom’s Guide AI Awards for best phone thermal camera, which is the kind of third-party nod that separates a serious tool from the cheap clip-on sensors that flood this category.
We are nearing Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days, which officially run October 6 and 7. But there is no need to wait until the sale begins to start looking. Early offers are already live, and camera gear is one category where I found enough worthwhile discounts to put together a proper creator-focused list.
I’ve deliberately gone wider than interchangeable-lens cameras here. There are pocket and action cameras, a 360 camera, an instant camera, two wireless microphone systems, and a pair of webcams covering very different budgets. Prices were checked on October 2, and as always with Amazon, they can move quickly.