A girl stands between a towering row of spinning frames, which dwarf her tiny stature. A gang of boys, dressed in the dusty uniform of the coal miner, stare blankly into the camera. Three grim-faced girls stand outside the cannery where they shuck oysters for a living.

These are some of the photographs taken by Lewis Wickes Hine, a teacher-turned-photographer who spent 1908 to 1924 travelling the United States to document child labor.

His story has been retold this week by the Alliance for American Manufacturing as part of its Unsung Heroes series. It’s a clear reminder of what photography can achieve for a cause.

Hine was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1874. As a teenager, he had to work long hours to support his family after his father died. But he kept up his education and, in 1901, moved to New York to work as a teacher.

He first picked up a camera as a teaching tool. He took his students to Ellis Island and photographed newly arrived immigrants. According to the Smithsonian, he wanted to counter growing anti-immigrant feeling by showing them as “brave, dignified pioneers of a new land”. Realising that documentary photography could be a great tool for reform, he volunteered for a major project for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), a campaigning body.

At the time, many American children worked in textile mills, mines, factories, canneries and fields, often in dangerous conditions and for long hours. Hine travelled across the country to photograph them.

To get access, he adopted a range of disguises, posing variously as a fire inspector, a postcard seller, a Bible salesman and a photographer who was only interested in machinery. This was risky work: Hine was often threatened by foremen and factory police.

The NCLC used the pictures in its lobbying campaign, and the federal Children’s Bureau was set up in 1912. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 finally brought the practice of child labor in the US to an end.

Continuing to crusade

Hine’s went on to photograph the Red Cross’s relief work in Europe during and after World War One. Back in the US, he made a series of “work portraits” celebrating the dignity of industrial workers.

Most famously, in 1930 he documented the construction of the Empire State Building. To get a good angle, he was swung out in a specially designed basket, 1,000ft above Fifth Avenue. His final years, sadly, were troubled ones. Commissions dried up, interest in his work faded, and he lost his house and had to apply for welfare. He died in 1940, aged 66.

Hine called his pictures “photo-interpretations”, which emphasized his personal involvement, as opposed to professional detachment. It was an approach that influenced generations of documentary photographers. And today, more than a century later, his images remind us that a camera, in the right hands, can help change the world.

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Read more:

50 best camera accessories, gadgets and gifts for photographers

The best books on photography

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Based in California, Peak Design has that sun-soaked West Coast vibe and laid-back lifestyle. The company was founded in 2010 on the self-proclaimed principle of ‘building happy and meaningful lives for the people that work there’. The intention is that the feelgood factor spills over in equal measure to the people who buy and use their products.

Those products include camera bags and backpacks like the minimalist Peak Design Travel Backpack 20L and the versatile Peak Design Travel Backpack 2-in-1. There’s also an innovative and highly acclaimed range of Peak Design Slide camera straps and I’ll freely admit to absolutely loving my Peak Design Pro Tripod. The bigger picture, or at least the full product catalog, also includes general travel luggage, outdoor gear, phone cases, wallets and gadget mounts for cars and motorcycles.

The Peak Design Everyday Backpack that I’m reviewing here is available in 20 liter and 30 liter options, and aims to be among the best camera backpacks on the market. I chose the smaller one, which is nevertheless large enough to stash a lot of camera gear, or none at all if you remove the dividers, or you can mix and match, giving some space to photo kit while also packing your daily essentials. Both backpacks are expandable, thanks to a clever MagLatch upper section.

For other everyday tech, the 20L has internal sleeves for a13-inch tablet and 15-inch laptop (16-inch MacBook Pro), while the 30L combines the same tablet size accommodation with a larger 16-inch laptop sleeve. Colorway options include black, charcoal, ocean, kelp, coyote, eclipse for the 20L, while the 30L omits ‘eclipse’ from the range.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Specifications

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Price

Top-quality camera backpacks don’t come cheap but I feel that the Peak Design Everyday Backpacks are very good value for money. They’re made from top-notch textiles and hardware, choc full of smart design flourishes and clever tricks, and are both Climate Neutral and Fair Trade certified. With all that in mind, I think the price of $279 / £249 / AU$529 for the 20L edition is extremely reasonable, and the larger 30L is only slightly pricier at $299 / £269 / AU$569.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Design & Handling

In two words, I’d describe the design as neat and tidy. There are hidden magnetic closures pretty much all over the place, including magnets that stick the shoulder straps to the backpack when you’re carrying it by one of the grab handles. That avoids them dangling around all and potentially getting hooked up on one of life’s obstacles. The shoulder straps themselves are fairly slim yet comfort-padded, and have stylish good looks to match the rest of the backpack.

The shoulder straps are compatible with the Peak Design Capture Clip system. This enables you to quickly and easily attach or remove your camera from one of the shoulder straps instead of having to stow it away in your bag every time you want to stash it for a few moments. Another nice touch is the axial mounting points that attach the top of the shoulder straps to the bag. These enable full and easy movement to ensure the most comfortable fit throughout a generous range of adjustment. The breathable section of the backpack that rests against your back is similarly comfortable, as well as acting as a baggage trolley pass-through sleeve.

Equally neat and tidy is the sternum strap. If you don’t feel the need to use it, you can clip both ends of it to one of the shoulder straps, or unclip it altogether and stash it in one of the pockets. It’s quick and easy to fit when you want it, and again has a generous range of adjustment for a good fit. Apart from anything else, the sternum strap avoids the risk or one or both of the straps slipping off your shoulders while you’re moving around. However, the backpack doesn’t come with a waist strap, although Peak Design offers one to buy separately as an optional extra.

Although I generally prefer a backpack to a shoulder bag for carrying camera kit, especially if there are more than a couple of lenses and other accessories in tow, I do often find it more convenient to pick up the backpack with one hand and move it around, instead of wearing it. I’m therefore glad that this one features a full-width grab handle up top, ideal for the purpose.

Given that access to the main compartment is through either side of the backpack, rather than through the front or rear, I’m also pleased that there are additional grab handles on both sides.

A smart little extra is that the bag comes complete with an ‘anchor key tether’. It’s looped around one of the side grab handles by default and drops into a side pocket, but you can reposition it as you see fit. The design will be instantly familiar if you’re accustomed to Peak Design Slide camera straps, as it features the same quick-release system.

There’s more magnetic attraction up top. The front opening to the top of the main compartment has a ‘MagLatch’ closure. This enables quick and virtually silent access, without the fuss and noise of using a zipper. It’s really neat: a small tug on the metal handle opens it, and the same motion locks it shut again.

Open the MagLatch and the first thing you’ll notice is a rack of four connection strips underneath, on the outer front surface of the backpack. Arranged like a ladder, these enable immediate, fuss-free expandability, so you can select the optimum closing height to accommodate whatever you’ve put inside.

The floor of the top section of the main compartment revealed by the MagLatch is adjustable on Velcro strips, and there are additional organizer pockets on both sides and at the front. Again, these have magnetic closures for secure but easily accessible storage.

There’s a separate zipper at the top of the bag but this is positioned towards the rear and gives access to the dedicated laptop and tablet sleeves. In fact there’s more to it than that, as the rear opening also gives access to additional organizer pockets as well as to the dual protective sleeves for a tablet of up to 13-inch size, plus a laptop, up to 15-inch for the 20L backpack and up to 16-inch for the 30L.

As I’ve touched on, access to the main compartment is via both sides of the backpack, each having a full-length zipper. There’s a neat security feature in that you can thread the zipper pulls through the bottom attachment loops of the bag, so nobody will be able to undo them without you knowing about it, while you’re wearing the bag. Once opened, you’ll have access to one side of the bag, as shown below.

Not missing a trick, the designers have also included a pair of pockets on the insides of the full-length side flaps, both left and right. When opened, the flaps therefore not only give access to the main compartment, but also feature an upper pocket with a magnetic clasp and a lower pocket with a zipper closure.

One thing that’s entirely conventional, on the surface at least, is that the backpack has adjustable dividers with Velcro strips. Again, though, there’s more to it than initially meets the eye, as the ‘origami-inspired’ dividers have fold lines and a dual wall in their top and bottom sections, or at each side, depending on which way you look at it. The net result is that you can flex and fold the dividers to create the requisite shapes for shelf-style and pass-through dividers, adapting them to various bits of kit of different sizes.

On the outside, there are more stretchy pockets for accommodating items ‘outside the box’, as it were. There’s a pair of these pockets, one on each side, for the likes of a drink bottle, a scrunchy waterproof jacket, or whatever else you want to stash. Yet again, the external pockets have magnetic closures to keep them shut when empty, or when smaller items are stowed in them. Small holes at the bottom of the external pockets enable liquid to drain out if the going gets wet.

In addition to the two side pockets, there’s an extra pocket built into the lower part of the front of the bag. And yet again, it has a magnetic closure. It’s worth noting that the backpack’s shell is made from high-quality 400D double poly-coated DWR-impregnated nylon canvas, and is 100% recycled post-consumer material. However, it’s not completely waterproof. I’d have liked to see a completely rainproof slipover cover supplied in the bottom front pocket, but that’s not featured. On the plus side, the bottom panel of the backpack does include a 900D waterproof liner, which stops moisture from getting in if you stand the backpack on wet ground.

To extend the carrying capacity of the backpack, there are multiple loop attachment points above, below, and in between. Some of these are at the top rear and bottom rear of the backpack; others are inside the side pockets and at each side of the bottom front pocket.

An ideal use for the loop attachment points is to fasten a tripod or maybe a big telephoto lens in its soft case or pouch to the outside of the backpack. With that in mind, Cord Hook external carry straps are supplied with the backpack: two long ones and two short ones, to cover different needs. They’re stowed inside the external side and front pockets, fastened to the respective internal attachment points, and ready for use.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Performance

I’m mostly delighted with the performance of this backpack. Access to my camera and mounted lens is quick, easy, and soundless through the top opening of the main compartment, thanks to the clever MagLatch closure. I also like that this top section is so easily adjustable in terms of height, to accommodate different sizes of camera body and attached lens. That’s not the only option, however, as you could stow your camera further down in the main compartment if you prefer.

The full-length zippers enable access to either the left- or right-hand side of the main compartment. A further bonus of this is that you can slip one carrying strap off your shoulder, swivel the bag around on the other shoulder, and get access to the full length of the main compartment without having to take the bag off your body and lay it down on the ground. That’s particularly good news if you’re on mucky or muddy ground.

I do like the dual-side access, but my joy’s not complete. The fly in the ointment, as far as I’m concerned, is that there’s no full access to the entire main compartment through the front or the back of the backpack. The problem I found was that if I configured the FlexFold dividers so that smaller lenses could be ranked on either side of the backpack, as shown above, you can only get at them from that respective side.

If you’re chopping and changing between different lenses, you might lose track of which lens is on which side of the backpack. It can then become a little frustrating if you’ve shuffled the bag around and opened a side flap, only to find that the lens or accessory you want is actually on the other side and that you can’t access it. You then have to flip the bag over and go through the process all over again. Ultimately, it can be a test of your short-term memory as you play the game of ‘which side did I put it in?’.

Back on the plus side, it’s certainly easy to remember where your laptop and tablet are stowed. And they’re stowed in fine style with separate, adjustable sleeves within the rear compartment of the backpack, which has its own zippered closure.

I love to take my Peak Design Pro Tripod along for the ride, and being a tall chap, I’ve got the ‘Tall’ version of this excellent carbon kit. Even so, it’s dead easy to strap it securely to the bottom of the bag, or onto one or other of the sides, using the Cord Hook straps provided, and choosing between the numerous loop attachment points.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Verdict

I feel that the Peak Design Everyday Backpack is more than just a camera backpack, because it is. Don’t get me wrong, the FlexFold dividers are endlessly adjustable to accommodate all manner of cameras, lenses, and photographic accessories with a custom fit. But I love that it only takes a few seconds to remove all three dividers and convert the bag into an ‘everyday’ backpack for daily life, with or without a camera in tow. The Climate Neutral and Fair Trade certifications add an extra feel-good factor.

If I’m using a backpack for everyday living, robustness and long-lasting quality become paramount. I’m glad that the backpack has a tough yet luxurious look and feel to it, with a 400D double poly-coated DWR-impregnated nylon canvas shell made from 100% recycled post-consumer material. Hardware is made from anodized aluminum and glass-reinforced nylon, and there are tough ‘super-durable UltraZips with abrasion-resistant UHMPE thread’. On top (or rather bottom) of that, the backpack sits on a 900D waterproof bottom liner. The main shell doesn’t claim to be entirely rain-proof, but I took the backpack on a few trips with heavy showers along the way and water didn’t seep through to the inside.

I’m a fan of the many magnets that keep the straps neat and tidy when not in use, rather than dangling around all over the place, and are used for many and varied closures. The MagLatch top opening is wonderfully quick, easy, and virtually silent in operation, while also enabling a good range of height-adjustable expansion. My only gripe is that while full-length openings on both sides offer good access to kit, there’s no front or rear access to the whole main compartment at once. That can be frustrating if you can’t remember which side of the backpack you’ve stashed any particular item that you need in a hurry. Apart from that, these backpacks are absolutely excellent. The only tough choices are which size and color to go for.

Alternatives

Northern Hemisphere finally get extended hours under truly dark skies in November 2026. The Milky Way’s bright core has slipped from view, but in its place come the rising winter constellations, dense star fields and bright targets that reward longer stargazing sessions. The month also features a well-timed new moon, a bright supermoon and a meteor shower, but it’s less about headline events and more about technique, patience and making the most of the darkness. Here’s everything you need to know about astrophotography in November 2026…

Read: 10 must-shoot events for astrophotographers in 2026

November 1-12: Dark sky window

With the new moon on 9 November, the first week of the month offers some of the year's darkest skies. Look east after sunset – preferably from somewhere that looks dark on a light pollution map – to see Orion, Taurus and Auriga rising. These regions are rich in bright stars and deep-sky objects that photograph well even under modest conditions. Use a wide-angle lens (14–24mm), a fast aperture (f/2–f/2.8), ISO 1600–3200 and exposures of 10–20 seconds to capture the starry scene. A star tracker allows longer exposures and reveals more detail in star clusters and nebulae — such as the Orion Nebula below Orion’s Belt.

Read: The best star tracker camera mounts

November 17-18: Leonid meteor shower

The Leonids peak overnight on 17-18 November, producing around 10-15 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. However, a bright first-quarter moon will significantly reduce visibility this year. Even so, you may still capture brighter meteors. Use a wide-angle lens (14-24mm), ISO 800-1600 and 20-30 second exposures, shooting continuously for several hours. Aim away from the moon to maximise contrast. While results may be modest, you have a good chance of capturing one or two bright meteors.

Read: How to photograph a meteor shower

November 21: A celestial triangle

Be outside at midnight tonight, and you’ll see, rising due east, a lovely conjunction of Jupiter, Mars and Regulus, the latter the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Use a telephoto lens (50-135mm) and try exposures of 5-15 seconds at ISO 800 to capture the trio.

Read: The best cameras for astrophotography

November 24: Full ‘Supermoon’ rises

November’s full moon is a supermoon, occurring when the moon is near its closest point to Earth on its slightly elliptical monthly orbit. It will appear slightly larger and brighter than average, dominating the night sky.

As always, the best time to photograph a full moon is at moonrise. Use a telephoto lens (200-600mm) to exaggerate its size relative to the foreground or capture it rising behind buildings, hills or trees. Use ISO 100 and fast shutter speeds — it’s a very bright object. However, bracketing exposures can help retain detail in both the moon and the surrounding landscape.

Read: How to photograph the full moon

Astrophotography shot of the month: Orion rising

November marks Orion's return as a dominant evening constellation, making it the month's standout subject. Its bright stars and distinctive shape make it ideal for beginners and experienced astrophotographers alike.

Use a wide-angle lens to capture Orion within a larger winter sky scene, or a short telephoto lens (50-135mm) to isolate the three stars of its Belt and the surrounding region. Exposures of 5-15 seconds at ISO 800-1600 will reveal detail without star trailing, while a star tracker will allow longer exposures and finer structure.

Orion also serves as a gateway to the winter sky. Follow its Belt downward to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, or upward to Aldebaran in Taurus. Including these connections in your compositions can add depth and context.

Read more:

• Astrophotography tools: the best camera, lenses and gear

• The best lenses for astrophotography

• The best star tracker camera mounts

When photography was first invented, critics argued that photographs lacked the soul of traditional artwork like paintings – but around two decades after the first daguerreotype, a jewelry-maker in Boston would bring “soul” to photography in an entirely different way: spirit photography.

William H. Mumler (1832-1884) wasn’t originally a photographer but rather a jeweler who worked in engraving silver. Mumler was experimenting with a self-portrait in another photographer’s studio, Helen F. Stuart, when a dim, spirit-like figure appeared in the final print. Mumler reportedly said that figure looked like his cousin, who had died 12 years earlier.

Mumler continued to experiment with photography, and soon word of the “spirits” appearing in Mumler’s photographs spread. At the time, America was in the midst of a Civil War, and many families were mourning the loss of a loved one.

At the time, post-mortem photography was common. A camera wasn’t yet something that many families owned, and with high infant and child mortality rates, post-mortem photography at the time was often the only photograph of the deceased that the family owned.

It’s amid that historical backdrop that Mumler’s spirit photography flourished. At one time, he charged $10 for a dozen photos – which would be more than $200 (£150 / AU$284 / CA$280) in today’s currency. A visit from a “spirit” was never guaranteed and, in some cases, required returning to the studio for additional photographs.

Mumler’s photographs weren’t without doubters, and when business began to slow in Boston, he moved to New York City. But around a year after that move, Mumler took a photograph that would alter the course of his photography career – some accounts say this person was an undercover reporter; others say Mumler photographed an undercover New York Marshall.

Mumler was subsequently arrested on charges of fraud. The trial drew a lot of attention, including P.T. Barnum, who served as a witness in the trial. Mumler was eventually acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

Mumler continued to take spirit photographs even after being publicly disproven, but his work became far less popular after the trial, and he stopped taking spirit photographs in 1879.

Mumler, who many describe as the first spirit photographer, likely used a few different techniques. A double exposure exposes the light-sensitive surface twice – which, in Mumler’s case, was a glass print negative. Exposing the same photo twice creates a semi-transparent image that overlaps the other. The long exposures required for photography at the time also likely contributed, with motion blur adding to the eerie look of the photographs.

While Mumler worked well before the invention of computer-based photo manipulation, darkroom techniques were likely also part of Mumler’s photographs. Reusing a glass plate that was only partially cleaned from the first image, hand-scraping away parts of a glass negative, and exposing two glass negatives together for a print are also techniques that likely factored into the eerie quality of Mumler’s work.

Today, dozens of his photos still exist, often housed in museums. His most famous portrait is arguably the photograph he took of Mary Todd Lincoln with the “ghost” of Abraham Lincoln.

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For more double exposures on modern film, take a look at the new Polaroid Mod or the new Instax Mini Evo 2.

I’ve just finished my review of the Nikon Z5IIC and was interested to find the Nikon Z6 trending on Google. Here we have the release of the ‘Big N’s’ latest mirrorless camera, with some seriously solid tech such as 7.5 stops of IBIS, up to 30fps burst shooting, and internal RAW 4K 30p video, and people are looking up an eight-year-old, first-generation Nikon mirrorless camera that’s long discontinued. And I think I know why…

A difficult debut

The Nikon Z6 launched alongside the Nikon Z7 as Nikon’s first foray into the world of full-frame mirrorless cameras. And while both bodies packed some seriously impressive specs for the time, they were marred by a few issues.

Firstly, the autofocus wasn’t really up to scratch. Nikon would eventually right this somewhat via a firmware update, but even then, compared to current-gen Z-series cameras, the Nikon Z6 and Z7’s AF system is a few steps behind.

Secondly, working photographers were hit with two oversights: the cameras only featured a single XQD (at the time) card slot, and there was no battery grip at launch. This made the cameras a hard sell for wedding and events photographers who rely on back-up storage and extended batteries for peace of mind.

And finally, while the Nikon FTZ Adapter made it possible to attach F-mount lenses, it was always going to take a few years before a strong lineup of native Z-mount glass was available.

Full-frame, exceptional value

Jump to 2026, though, and the Nikon Z6 has one huge advantage: its price on the used market. MPB is currently listing the Nikon Z6 from $664 / £509. That’s exceptional value for a full-frame mirrorless that was once a premium offering.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the right camera for everyone. The lacking autofocus can make the Nikon Z6 a frustrating option for photographers who rely on AF algorithms. But for those who are photographing slower subjects or are comfortable using single-point or focus-and-recompose methods, the Nikon Z6 can still prove a fine lens platform.

If you’re on a tight budget, you may wish to invest in a cheaper body, so you have more money to spend on lenses (which usually make the real difference). And while the Nikon Z6 doesn’t have class-leading AF or burst speeds, it still captures gorgeous full-frame images and could be a wonderful start for a photographer looking to pick up their first serious camera.

A word of warning. Just make sure that you factor in the price of a CFexpress card. The memory crisis has rocketed prices across the board, so finding a good CFexpress deal is a challenge.

The Nikon Z5IIC effect

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that interest in the Nikon Z6 has increased following the release of the Nikon Z5IIC. This camera is geared towards more casual users and its silver body is rather striking. I’m sure it’s encouraged more than a few people to delve further into Nikon’s Z-series.

But while the Nikon Z5IIC is a good-value camera as far as its specsheet goes, it’s still priced at $1,399.95 / £1,349 / AU$2,399 (body only). That’s a significant outlay for casual photographers or anyone on a budget.

And while the Nikon Z6 pales in comparison to the Z5IIC’s formidable specs, especially when it comes to video, it has one thing that Nikon’s latest camera doesn’t have: a viewfinder. Even if you’re coming from one of the best camera phones, an electronic viewfinder (EVF) is a nice option to have. It enables you to hold the camera with more stability, helping to reduce camera shake, and it also means you have access to a clear, unobstructed view when bright sunlight is reflecting off of the rear LCD.

So, there you have it. The Nikon Z6 might be a mirrorless dinosaur at this point, but if you’re a stills photographer on a tight budget who isn’t bothered about class-leading AF, and simply want a decent camera as a lens platform, it’s worth checking out.

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Want more of my ramblings? I think this industry interview sheds light on Nikon’s slow camera release schedule. Why does every camera need to be a specs monster? The new OM System PEN is a good stills camera at a good price – let's have more of that, please! Plus, here is the latest camera news.

Forget the spooky tales you’ve been told about British castles, because there’s nothing scary about these stunning photographic subjects. From the south of England to northern Scotland, the UK is home to some jaw-droppingly beautiful historic fortresses, and a new survey has just revealed the most-photographed.

Carried out by photo curation platform Popsa, the survey has shed light on the top 10 most-photographed castles in the UK.

To determine the list, Popsa analyzed millions of photos uploaded by users to the platform over 2024 and 2025. Each castle that appeared was given an index score of 0–100, with the top scorer receiving 100 and the rest scaled relative to it.

At number one, unsurprisingly, was the Tower of London (100). Far from the most picturesque castle on the list, but arguably the most significant, the former royal palace was founded by William the Conqueror in 1066. It went on to become an infamous state prison and now houses the dazzling Crown Jewels.

A flurry of famous and definitely picturesque castles came in second, third, and fourth. Edinburgh Castle in Scotland scored 55, while Windsor Castle (England) – an alternative royal residence to Buckingham Palace – scored 38.

Warwick Castle (England), considered by historians to be a masterpiece of medieval military engineering and defensive design, scored 24.

Three lesser-known, yet still beautiful, castles took positions five, six, and seven. Stirling Castle (Scotland), which, according to historians, was the most besieged castle during the Scottish Wars of Independence from the English, scored 18. Cardiff Castle, in the heart of the Welsh capital, scored 16, while Tintagel Castle (England) scored 13.

Saving the best for toward the end, arguably the most photogenic castles on the list scored a mere 11 and 10, respectively. St Michael’s Mount (England) came in eighth – the castle famous for its stone causeway, which is only accessible at low tide. And Eilean Donan Castle (Scotland) came in ninth, the picturesque site set against the stunning backdrop of the Scottish Highlands.

Last, but certainly not least, was Urquhart Castle, the tenth-placed castle also scoring 10. The castle is perched in a prominent spot overlooking the famous Loch Ness, where Nessie, the legendary loch-dwelling monster, is said to live.

On second thought, a run-in with Nessie would probably be spooky. Aside from that, I’ve been to a few of these castles and can tell you firsthand just how stunning these locations are for snapping a few frames.

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Here’s our expert pick of the best cameras for landscape photography. These rigs are ideal for shooting architectural subjects, especially ones located among beautiful scenery, like castles.

Wildlife photography is my self-care – and looking at wildlife photos comes in at a close second. This week, I’ve been inspired by wildlife photographers around the world, from perfectly timed fishing birds to a newly rescued elephant.

These are some of the top wildlife photos that I’ve spotted this week.

A great egret mid-catch

Getting great wildlife movement requires patience and sometimes a bit of luck. This photo by Ronen Tivony is a perfectly timed shot of a great egret tossing a fish in its mouth – even the water droplets are frozen.

The shot was captured with the Sony A9 II, a high-end flagship mirrorless, and a 400mm lens. A 1/1600 second shutter speed freezes the action.

A bird-filled tree with a rainbow

This shot from Delray Beach, Florida, by Bruce Bennett mixes a variety of dark-colored birds with a spectacular rainbow background. Among the branches are three Anhinga birds and a Boat-tailed Grackle.

Bennett took the shot with the Canon EOS R5 Mark II and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens.

A camouflaged owl tucked in a tree trunk

This long-eared owl perfectly blends with its background as it sits tucked into the trunk of a fallen tree. The photograph comes from Bursa, Turkiye, by Alper Tuydes. I love how the texture of the tree blends so seamlessly with the owl’s feathers.

A songbird amid colorful leaves and mushrooms

The colorful background and mushrooms in this photo by Paul Sawyer create a dramatic frame for the great tit (Parus Major) sitting near the water line. The photograph was taken this October in Suffolk, England.

A rescued elephant at a new sanctuary

The elephant in this photo has a name – Julie, a 45-year-old elephant, is the last wild animal to be part of any circus in Portugal. Now, she lives in the Pangea sanctuary in Vila Viçosa, Portugal. The sanctuary is the first large-scale elephant sanctuary in Europe and covers 400 hectares.

Photographer Patricia De Melo Moreria captured the photo.

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Take a look at the best cameras for wildlife photography, or the best lenses for bird photography.

AAP Magazine announced the winners of its #61: Street photography competition. The winning shots were captured in 18 countries across five continents.

Sandrine Hermand-Grisel, Editor-in-Chief of All About Photo. explains that deciding the winners was difficult: "What I particularly appreciated in this edition was the diversity of perspectives and the photographers’ ability to find meaning in unexpected situations.

"Some images were powerful in their simplicity, others surprised me through their composition, humor, or emotional depth. Together, they demonstrate how much can be discovered by simply paying attention to the world around us."

AAP Magazine #61 – Street Winners

First Prize Winner

A man warms himself on a steam grate in Northwest DC on Wednesday January 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. The area was still recovering following winter storm Fern.

McClain explains, "The photo was taken as part of daily news coverage following a winter storm. I was simply walking by when I noticed this scene. This was part of a series I did throughout 2026 called America: Red, White and Blue that centered on the 250th anniversary of the United States."

Competition highlights

Marchamalo says, "One day I decided to escape boring real life and dedicate myself to chasing light. I immediately became addicted to it, and that changed everything. This addiction has allowed me to decipher a much more exciting and irrational reality."

Torrei explains, "In a suburb of Rabat, I came across a playing field where the blue ground, the wall and the sky formed a continuous expanse. I noticed how the children moved through this vast space, their small figures like notes on a musical score. Their gestures, the distances between them and the moments of stillness created a constantly changing rhythm. Rabat, Morocco 2024."

Sunye says, "I moved to Istanbul, where my street photography turned to colour, inspired by the stylised warmth of Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain and the liveliness of that city and its people. When I moved back to Paris however, I instinctively returned to black and white mostly."

Grether explains, "Life is full of unexpected moments, often hidden in the most ordinary situations. Through my street photography, I am drawn to unusual gestures, subtle humor, and surprising connections between people and their surroundings."

Marmer says, "I took this photo during a ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo. It was a typical, grey Pacific Northwest winter day. A young couple tied a bright red hammock on the deck and climbed inside for the entire ride. The only thing that remained visible was a pair of hands holding a smartphone"

Visit the AAP Magazine website to discover more images and the stories behind the frames.

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Browse the best cameras for street photography and the best books on street photography.

The Ricoh GR series of compact cameras is so popular that the camera is often called a “cult favorite” – and now that camera series will have its own dedicated space in New York City.

On October 29, Ricoh announced that it's building a GR Space in New York City, New York, to open in the winter of 2027.

The GR Space isn’t just a store to buy one of Ricoh’s compact cameras. The space will also be built for educational programs and community events, while also housing an art gallery.

Ricoh already has GR Space locations in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Brisbane, and Seoul. The NYC location will be the first GR Space in the US.

Ricoh’s GR series is well loved by street photographers for its compact size and discreet styling, so the NYC location feels appropriate for a storefront dedicated to a single camera series.

“New York City and the GR share a natural connection,” Ken Curry, President, Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation, said in the announcement. “Both are driven by observation, spontaneity and finding extraordinary moments in everyday life. GR Space New York City gives us the opportunity to create a place where snapshooters to professional photographers can experience our products, but more importantly, where they can learn, exchange ideas and be inspired by one another.”

Ricoh hasn’t yet shared exactly where the new NYC space will be located. The company says that additional details, including the opening date, inaugural gallery exhibition, and a line-up of classes, will follow “in the coming months.”

2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the Ricoh GR series. The series' popularity stems from its pocketable design that still hides an oversized APS-C sensor.

The Ricoh GR is now in its fourth generation with the Ricoh GR IV, which also includes an HDF variant and a dedicated monochrome version. A Ricoh GR IVx with a longer lens is under development.

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Explore the best compact cameras, or read about the best cameras for street photography.

Picking up a used camera is a great way to fit high-end features into a small camera budget. The 2018 Fujifilm X-T100 is one such camera, particularly for photographers looking for a retro style on a budget.

But when I look at the X-T100, I can't help but think of another camera that's similarly priced on used markets: The Sony A6000 series, like the A6100.

The Fujifilm X-T100 is a lovely-looking camera – as are most Fujifilm rigs, for that matter – and it still packs in Fujifilm's popular film simulations.

While the 2018 Fujifilm camera does boast a 24MP CMOS sensor, just like all of the Sony A6000 models, and, admittedly, superior build quality with its sturdy aluminum top plate, I’d never peg the Fujifilm as a better device for capturing stills and video than its Sony counterparts. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a Sony shooter.

There's a key reason that I would choose a Sony’s A6000 APS-C line-up camera instead: Autofocus and video.

In terms of stills, the main difference between these two cameras is in the autofocus. The Sony A6100's autofocus system has more extensive sensor coverage and smarter features.

Sony’s specialized BIONZ X processor calculates tracking and exposure up to 60 times per second. This rapid calculation is backed by 179 phase-detection AF points. Even the earliest A6000 model from 2014 covers nearly the entire sensor, outclassing Fujifilm’s centralized, 91-point system.

Newer Sony models like the A6100 (2019) and A6400 (2019) feature advanced AI-driven AF to lock onto a subject’s eye, even through erratic motion. In contrast, the X-T100 relies on less sophisticated face-detection AF, which is more likely to lose its target if a subject blinks or turns away.

It’s not like you won’t get sharp images with the Fujifilm X-T100, but you’ve got a much better chance of consistently getting sharp images with a Sony A6000 model, especially later models.

The other big difference for me is video capability. I’ll start here by saying that the Fujifilm rig does have a better three-way tilting touchscreen than all of the A6000 models bar the most recent A6700 (2023).

This latest A6000 shooter also has a vari-angle LCD screen, while earlier generations in the lineup feature a basic up-and-down-tilting screen.

But beyond the LCD, Sony is clearly the better choice for recording. Sony introduced 4K UHD at 30fps / 1080p at 120fps back in 2016 with the A6300. Now, the Fujifilm X-T100 was released two years later with 4K UHD, but it’s strictly capped at 15fps.

Since then, Sony has only gone on to bolster the video capabilities of A6000 cameras, with later models able to shoot Full HD 1080p at 120fps, compared with the X-T100’s 24, 50, and 60fps.

The Fujifilm X-T100, which is only available used, tends to sit around the same price point as a used Sony A6100. Sony’s superior AF and video specs are enough for me to choose a Sony APS-C camera over an X-T100.

If you’re looking for a thorough breakdown of the Fujifilm rig and deep dives into the Sony shooters, then be sure to read their dedicated reviews on Digital Camera World next:

• Sony A6000 vs A6100 vs A6300 vs A6400 vs A6500 vs A6600 vs A6700: how do you choose?
• Fujifilm X-T100 review

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Here's our expert pick of the best APS-C compact cameras.

The DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2, the last of the Phantom series of drones, loses repair and technical support service as of October 31 2026, effectively ending the life of the iconic figurehead of drone tech.

It doesn't mean any drones in your kit bag will instantly shut down – just that DJI will no longer provide spares or repairs, after just four years and 2 months since the last one left the factory in the case of this model.

It also doesn't mean you need to stop flying the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 – just that DJI will no longer play a part in servicing it.

If you do want to keep operating I imagine that a product so established will find some off-brand support online but the October 31 is the last day DJI will play a part.

Several other DJI products will also reach the end of their service life in the next few days; the first Osmo Action camera and the agricultural drones Agras T16, Agras T20 and MG-1P series, but none were so iconic as the Phantom drone, the shape of which stood out as 'what a drone looks like' to many – and perhaps still does.

Before the DJI Phantom, I found myself needing to order parts and build drones to the specifications I needed, and the best I could do was to hoist a GoPro into the air – sometimes requiring a LOT of gear to do so compared to modern drones, especially when I built my first gimbal drone.

What made the early Phantom special was that it was the first off-the-shelf drone that really took photographic quality seriously.

Initially the very first Phantom was also built to lift a GoPro, just like my self builds, but very quickly DJI saw the sense in building the camera component themselves.

This saved weight, and made it possible to more easily design in the electronics to send a video signal to the controller.

These Phantom drones were had the name 'Vision' appended, and soon they were all anyone wanted.

The iconic design is some way from the compact, folding drones of today, but that unchanging form factor brought with it reliability – especially useful when the earlier software and tech had less capability for error correction.

The arms were never even slightly miss-aligned, and the camera protected with a firm physical frame that also served as the landing legs.

The Vision variants had a take-off weight in the order of 1350g – a lot more than the 249g limit common for better-specified camera drones of today – but the Phantom 4 Pro V2's reliability made it popular with 3D mapping experts until the end.

It will be missed both by the specialist niche, and the wider world – even the Big Bang Theory helped make the Phantom iconic, in episode The Graduation Transmission (s8 e22).

Since launch, though, portability, battery life, and safety have improved and you can find all the best current alternatives in my guide to the best camera drones.

2026 marks the 25th year of Panasonic’s Lumix line – and yet Panasonic has been a bit quiet this year, with only the new compact zoom Lumix L10 to mark the company’s milestone year. But in a new video celebrating 25 years of Lumix, Panasonic may have just dropped a hint that one more camera is coming.

In a video shared this week, Panasonic Lumix chatted with several photographers and filmmakers who have been using the Lumix system for years. The video looks back on favorite cameras over the years and touches on key features like splash and dust resistance.

But one line from the video in particular may have Lumix fans eager to see how the rest of Lumix’s 25th year plays out. Early on in the video, filmmaker Piotr Kwasnik says, “I’ve collected so many Lumix cameras over the years. I think I might be addicted. Wait a minute. There’s one more.”

Naturally, the video cuts there to another Lumix creator launching into their story. But the mention of “one more” sounds an awful lot like a camera teaser, and the comment has a few fans excited, including 43 Rumors.

As far as teasers go, however, the video doesn’t really have any information beyond a hint that maybe, perhaps, Lumix isn’t done yet in 2026.

So far this year, Lumix has only launched the Lumix L10 compact camera – but that launch has been rather a rousing success for the camera maker. The Micro Four Thirds compact camera saw so many pre-orders that it became backordered rather quickly.

A single camera launch in one year feels a bit unusual for Lumix. Last year, Lumix introduced three cameras, all full-frame L mount, with the Lumix S1R II, S1 II, and S1 II E. The year before brought the Lumix S9 along with the Micro Four Thirds GH7 and the bridge camera FZ80D. 2023 was also a three-camera year with the Lumix S5 II, S5 IIX, and G9 II.

Lumix isn’t the only camera maker having a quieter 2026 (I’m looking at you, Fujifilm X Series). But Lumix fans are clearly hoping for another. The question that remains is what – and when.

Panasonic launched its first Lumix cameras in 2001 with two compact cameras, the Lumix LC5 and Lumix F7. Panasonic launched the first mirrorless camera ever commercially marketed with the Micro Four Thirds Lumix G1 in 2008.

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Take a look at the best Micro Four Thirds cameras or the best Panasonic cameras.

Nikon has been making cameras and lenses for over a century, and its gear has found a place in the bags of beginners, enthusiasts and professional photographers alike.

Now, B&H Photo is offering savings of up to 37% on some of the brand's most popular kit, from capable DSLRs and versatile Z-series mirrorless cameras to a range of wide-angle, standard and telephoto lenses.

DSLRS

Bodies

Lenses

Mirrorless

Bodies

Lenses

Browse the best Nikon cameras, the best Nikon wide-angle zoom lenses, and the best Nikon telephoto lenses.

After the Kodak Charmera was released in September 2025, it didn' take take long for the tiny retro compact camera to become a viral sensation, with stocks quickly selling out. By Christmas, it was almost impossible to get hold of one – despite its very modest image resolution.

As demand grew, grey-market prices went through the roof. That's quite a contrast to its original retail price of just $34.95 / £35. And even if you managed to order one, you coudn't choose the design. Instead, you received a mystery model that might not even be the one you wanted.

Measuring just 58 x 24.5 x 20mm, and weighing only 30g, the Charmera is so small that you can attach it to your keyring. That's also the idea behind this miniature digital reinterpretation of Kodak's historic single-use and picket film cameras. And it hasn't just attracted attention from buyers: the camera has also picked up some major industry awards. So why has this low-resolution keychain camera become so popular?

The little keychain camera

The Kodak Charmera's award-winning streak shows that lo-fi image quality and thoughtful design can become highly sought-after. It won both an iF Design Award and Red Dot Design Award – two of the industry's most recognized design honors.

The keychain camera also earned a place in TIME's "Best Invention 2025" list.

The Charmera brings Kodak's disposable-camera heritage into a miniature digital format. With its retro styling, tiny dimensions, and low price, it's an easy fit for the gift market, too.

It features a 1.6MP sensor and a built-in LCD screen, delivering surprisingly decent images reminiscent of early camera phones.

The results aren't about sharpness and detail, but they have lo-fi character that's part of the appeal. The blind-box packaging adds a layer of novelty, with six regular designs and one rare edition to collect.

New to the market is the Kodak Charmera Millennium Edition, released in June 2026, available for $34.99 / £35.

What makes the Kodak Charmera so popula?

Part of the Charmera's appeal is its simplicity.

There's no need to worry about aperture, shutter speed, or ISO – you simply pick it up and shoot. So, when taking pictures, it's about capturing moments rather than getting every technical detail right.

You could, of course, do the same with a camera phone. But the Charmera offers a more hands-on experience and creative features like 7 creative filters and 4 decorative frames.

Its popularity has also reached a younger audience, with TikTok and Instagram helping introduce the camera to a new generation of photography fans.

The blind-box packaging is clever. It gives the Charmera a collectible quality that goes beyond its function as a camera – and, at its relatively low price, makes it an easy purchase to justify.

While stock was difficult to find at the beginning of the year, the camera is now much more widely in stock, making it easier to get your hands on one.

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Take a look at the best Kodak keychain cameras, the best compact cameras and the best point-and-shoot cameras.

Skylum’s flagship photo-editing software Luminar (formerly Luminar Neo) has just launched its biggest update of the year, intent on boosting some of its most prominent AI-infused tools: Enhance, Atmosphere, Crop, and AI Assistant.

The update comes following a Skylum study, which included more than 1,300 participants, on whether or not photographers wanted more AI. And, according to the Kyiv and New York-based company: “They Said No.”

And yet, the same study revealed that more than half of the participants see AI as an important part of their editing routine. Skylum’s aim, with this latest update, is to continue to deliver automated tools, without forcing the user to relinquish creative control. Here’s what’s been added…

Luminar Fall Update: Changes

Enhance AI: Luminar’s one-stop editing solution can transform an image via a single slider, boosting eight tonal parameters affecting exposure and color. The tool functions as it did before, with a main Accent slider and a Sky Enhancer AI slider. However, in the update, it has been tweaked in a bid to produce more natural results.

Atmosphere AI: Skylum has completely revamped this tool, used to add 3D volumetric fog to images. It now generates a 3D map of the image in question, allowing users to precisely overlay fog, with controls for depth, height, and density.

Smart Compositions: This new addition to the Crop AI tool could prove a great learning resource for novice photographers. It provides multiple automated cropping options that follow compositional rules such as the rule of thirds or the golden ratio.

AI Assistant: Luminar’s AI Assistant is now able to respond to more prompts than before. For example, you can now ask: “What do you think of this photo?” And the AI Assistant will evaluate the image and suggest improvements.

Signature Printing: Instead of a small print window, Luminar now includes a dedicated Print interface. Not only does this include a large preview of the image in question, but it also allows users to create and position a signature/watermark.

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Apple makes sweeping changes to Mac computing range with first-ever touchscreen laptop, and new M6 versions of the iMac and MacBook Pro. Fujifilm's newest compact camera feels like a cross between a film camera and a smartphone. The Instax Mini Evo 2 mixes digital photos, real film, and an oversized screen. Plus, here's the latest camera news.

The iPhone Duo, Apple's first folding phone, is probably the most significant new phone from Apple since the line divided into Pro and standard models in 2019. The the division was was all about offering a premium camera spec, so it was easy for me – and photography and video creators – to understand the distinction. This time it's very different.

The iPhone Duo is clearly now the top of the tree in pricing and desirability terms, but is it actually the phone that you should want? That's what I've been deciding since mine arrived.

Spoiler: the answer is going to be different depending on your needs. For example, if you like to carry an iPad Mini to review your work, but you do most of your photography on a 'real' camera, you might find there is an advantage – even a cost saving here.

For those who prefer to do their photography on their phones, the compromises (and, believe it or not, advantages) are going to involve weighing more complexity...

Price

The iPhone Duo starts at a shockingly expensive at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499 with 256GB storage, rising to $3,199 / £3,199 / AU$5,899 for the maximum 2TB tier. Personally I'd suggest the 512 or 1TB are the way to go.

By comparison a brand new iPhone 18 Pro Max – with a telephoto camera and a variable aperture – comes in at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,299 for the 256GB tier, and the current (at time of the Duo's launch) mid-tier iPhone, the iPhone 17, is less than half the price of the Duo at $899 / £899 / AU$1,399.

Looking beyond the Apple sphere, the Samsung Galaxy Z-fold, a similarly-sized passport fold from the company, is priced a little lower at $1,899 / £1,699 / A$2,699.

iPhone Duo Specs

iPhone Duo: Build and handling

I've been using iPhones since the start, and it won't surprise you at all that I've found this the most significant change since then. For younger readers the switch to my iPhone, by the way, was a matter of getting used to a touch screen instead of physical buttons, which was a big change! New to me was pinch-zoom and all sorts. Even the 2MP still-only camera felt like a step up from most phones of the day.

As an iPhone user, though, I've not risked switching my main phone account to phone until now. I've tried them, been impressed in some respects, but never enough to switch from iOS.

The upshot is that, by switching, I've got Apple's new version of iOS and the device to experience all at once – and both need to work.

The good news is that, as you'd expect, first impressions are excellent (I don't seem to be one of the unlucky few who had a cracked screen).

The handset itself, when closed, looks a little like a sawn-off hybrid of the iPhone Pro Max (the same kind if width) and the shiny metal edges of the iPhone X generation. Except, of course there are two layers!

If you've seen an iPhone Air you'll know what I mean (and I'll feel good about my suspicion that it was 'just half a folding phone').

As a right-handed user, my thumb sits very naturally on the protruding TouchID scanner. A little lower down is the camera button, while the volume controls move from where your instinctive press is (the left hand side), because that is now the hinge, to the top.

The 4 main apps (task bar?) is on the right, and just above it is room for a new round battery and signal graphic that, er, I'm sure I'll get used to, and, finally, at the top right a round punch hole camera. It's a lot smaller than the notch and looks elegant since Apple have opted for the passport design with rounded corners opposite the hinge.

iPhone Duo's camera features

I knew that the iPhone Duo came with one fewer main camera than I was used to, but there are some other aspects of the camera system which were new to me.

For example, the iPhone Duo lets you open it and use the main 7.6-inch (1878 × 2670 pixel) display to shoot and the outer display will now face your subject. Some, like my wife, love this feature as an opportunity to check their look before I shoot.

The option to fold the camera, put it down, step back and let the AI decide on the perfect moment to grab a shot is actually pretty cool. I tried it with mixed results, though once I realised that if I opened the phone nearly all the way I could rest it on a surface and use the main camera, the Duo Preview and the AI 'Smart Take' to get an idea of what it might capture.

As you may imagine, things like the peace sign help the AI, but the most important thing to do is be sure you're looking at the right lens (with the device at an obtuse angle, you'll have sight lines to both the main cameras and the punch-out selfie camera on the outer display).

iPhone Duo: Main camera performance

The main camera system consists of two 48MP cameras, a main 26mm EFL 'Fusion Lens' with a fixed f/1.6 aperture and hybrid focus pixels, and a 13mm f/2.2 wide angle lens that supports macro.

In so far as there is any telephoto, there is a center crop of the 26mm EFL which digital zoom will extend all the way to 10x zoom (but remember the 10x is only working with 12MP at 2x, and the results were exactly as bad as I anticipated.

The camera does boast optical image stabilization, though, so if you're not looking to shoot subjects at longer distances, and don't need a variable aperture, things should be fine.

For me, I'm coming from an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I did regularly use the tele lens, but of course there were no variable apertures on any of the three cameras and that never posed an issue for me.

Next are a couple of very telling comparisons between the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone Duo (swipe between). In essence the A20's extra power might give the iPhone Duo a slight edge when it comes to the computational photography for portraits, but there is nothing that the lack of a 200mm efl lens can do when it comes to telephoto.

iPhone Duo

iPhone 17 Pro Max

Overall, though image quality is impressive where you'd expect it. I don't feel it's a step backward – save for the telephoto – from the generation that impressed me most, and whether the variable aperture really offers much more is open to doubt too.

Video footage I captured also seemed to cope well with complicated lighting conditions and that, in essence, is what iPhones – including it seems the Duo – are good at: color science.

Just as before, this phone makes it easy to pick up and take a photo of the scene you can see, from face to sunset.

That said I found some things frustrated me personally that I'm going to keep testing – the speed that the focus point changed its mind in Cinematic Mode video, for one, was dizzying. It's great to have fast AF, but for a cinema shot you're also likely to want a focal point!

iPhone Duo: Selfie camera performance (outer)

The outer selfie camera is the better of the two selfie cameras, though at 12MP it is still a step down in resolution from both the Pro Max and (perhaps more surprisingly) the iPhone Air!

The pictures I took generally seemed to get color tones about right, though perhaps exaggerated imperfections in skin with a bit too much saturation, and the image sharpening really seems to go to town on my beard and hair in general. Apple's software accentuates skin pigmentation at this resolution for some reason, so if you're proud of your frekles this is your lucky day, but, to be fair, this was also true of the 17 Pro Max.

iPhone Duo: Selfie camera performance (inner)

The 1824 × 2432 pixel inner front camera is, in its way, a technical marvel, seeing as it can 'through' a screen. But the results are, inevitably, not the quality you hope for.

The 4MP pic here is comparable at first glance to the one we shot with the outer camera, but detail isn't as clear (not that I'm especially upset about that given what it did to my skin). Where the inner camera struggles more is when you're indoors – darker environments, pinpricks of light coming from lamps etc. do seem to create a halo effect.

Overall verdict

It's not easy to sum up this device in one go because, for the first time in a while, it isn't a matter of slow perfection and of polish but of compromise. In fact the elegant styling refinements seem to suggest a phone that isn't first generation, but after living with it as my main phone, certainly has some oddities.

Some of those are just the inherent strangeness of changing form factor, so my advice there is to go into that open minded. You're going to need to get used to things you expected to – bigger screens, deciding when to open it and the like – and you're also going to find little niggles that go with that.

The keyboards seem a little more sensitive to me, or less, depending on which way round I'm using the phone and there are a lot of ways to be doing that. If you're using it open you might also rotate it a bit and then be surprised to find the lock button somewhere inconvinient. My personal tip is to make sure you register both the thumb and first fingers with both hands with TouchID as soon as possible.

In my first days of use, I found the cameras very limiting, but a week on I'm already seeing merit in the things you can only do on this. Side-by-side multi-tasking is useful for social promotion, and a bigger matte screen is great (indoors anyway) for browsing photos. The A20 processor blasts through things and at the end of each day I'm always surprised to find a good chunk of battery (generally about 40%) left even if I've been using it a lot.

I can only imagine that a combination of the familiarity that comes with time and taking advantage of unique features will prevail for me, despite the camera compromise, but that's because I'm a tech nerd and I'll see it as an opportunity to use other cameras more often too. At the same time I might get some more pictures of my beautiful wife who is was usually fond of the photos I capture on my iPhone 17 Pro Max, but could definitely be persuaded by the opportunity to use the dual-screen preview.

Is this a great overall camera phone? No. Is it great for portraits? Yes. Is it a brilliant device for a photographer to have with them? Definitely. Ideally all those would be a yes, but it's a great start.

iPhone Duo Alternatives

Wildlife photography has exploded since Instagram took off, and you see so many amazing animal frames these days that sometimes they all blur into one. However, this Grand Prix-winning image at the 74th Nikkor Photo Contest truly stands out.

The frame depicts a northern gannet in action in the moment of capturing its fish prey. Entitled “The Struggle for Survival Beneath the Surface,” it was taken by Mayumi Takeuchi, who reportedly clicked the shutter while treading water and using a large housing fitted with a strobe. She told the competition judges that it was “truly miraculous” to have captured that moment.

Takeuchi’s image was selected from over 23,000 entries to this year’s edition of the photography competition, which first ran in 1953 and promotes photographers from Japan across print and, since last year, the web too. As the overall winner, she took home a Nikon Z8 camera body and ¥500,000 (approximately $3,100 / £2,300).

Mayumi Takeuchi's gear and settings

• Camera: Nikon D5
• Lens: 8.0-15.0 mm f/3.5-4.5
• Focal Length: 15.00 mm (in 35mm: 15 mm)
• Exposure: 1/250 sec | f/22 | ISO 400

There was a particularly interesting winning image (Gold Award) in the “Web Freedom” category, too. Toru Shinohara’s “Inside the Soda Water” captured a surfer riding a barreling wave, although the interplay of light and the translucent wave created the illusion of the surfer being inside the wave rather than on its surface.

Over on the print side of the competition, the Gold Award went to Sanae Ono’s “Secret Base,” which depicted four cousins who gathered at their family home over Golden Week (a major Japanese holiday period). The photographer told Nikon that the cousins had turned the living room into a “secret base” for conjuring up plans – memories I’m sure we all have.

In fact, I think all of these winning images have something unique to them. Be it lighting, a quirky composition, or a scene rarely captured, they are standouts for sure. To see all the commended images at this year’s Nikkor Photo Contest, head to the official competition webpage.

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Here’s our expert pick of the best cameras for wildlife photography.

It’s April 2024, and multi-award-winning wildlife photographer David Lloyd is leading a photography safari in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India, when his group encounters a herd of Asian elephants.

The herd instinctively gathers together to form a protective barrier around the two vulnerable calves, while Lloyd’s instinct is to raise his camera and capture the innate behavior of these imposing yet beautiful animals.

“I have seen it before. It is natural for an elephant family to herd the young ones into the middle of themselves in order to shelter them,” he says.

The image, entitled Herd Huddle, goes on to receive a Highly Commended distinction in the “Behaviour: Mammals” category of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026, Lloyd’s seventh distinction at the contest.

David Lloyd's gear and settings

• Camera: Fujifilm X-H2S
• Lens: Fujifilm XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
• Focal length: 420mm
• Exposure: 1/500 sec | f/7.1 | exposure compensation −0.67 EV | ISO 320

For Lloyd, wildlife photography should preserve the reality of any encounter, with images balancing authenticity and artistry. “Nature needs no embellishment,” he says. “I think we can compare this to photojournalism, where accuracy is paramount.”

According to the photographer, the encounter with the herd of Asian elephants lasted just a “few minutes,” giving him a mere moment to decide on his composition.

“I was very much aware that, given the presence of the calves, this encounter would not last very long at all before they melted into the forest."

By making the entire herd, rather than an individual calf, the subject, Lloyd was able to capture the relationship between the adults and their young. “I opted for a frame that is over the two calves, and I’m pleased I did.”

While Lloyd prefers natural-looking images, his approach doesn’t mean that every image should remain completely untouched in post-production. The photographer explains that, for Herd Huddle, he did something he “rarely does–" reducing the saturation to achieve the sepia-like aesthetic.

“The elephants exhibited various tones in real life, and by doing this I was able to create a satisfying duotone look."

Not encroaching on an animal, however, is always at the heart of Lloyd’s approach. According to the photographer, when an animal is disturbed for a shot, it not only puts the subject at risk, but the authenticity of the scene disappears.

“No animal should be detrimentally affected by anyone trying for a particular photo, and also the behavior would then cease to be natural,” explains Lloyd. For Lloyd, Herd Huddle succeeds because it documents the elephants’ innate, protective response rather than forcing a moment for the camera.

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Here's our roundup of the best cameras for wildlife photography

For anyone who loves great photography, the news that LIFE magazine is coming back to to print should bring a smile. On November 23, 90 years after its first issue, the title will be back on newsstands, with a 250-page, large-format issue called Where Are We Now?

But here's the kicker: a copy will cost you a not inconsiderable $45. So during a cost of living crisis, in an era when we can access billions of images for free, it's worth asking: is it likely to succeed?

To answer that question, it’s worth reminding ourselves why LIFE mattered so much to begin with.

The golden era

When Henry Luce launched LIFE in 1936, the idea of a mass-market weekly that told stories mainly through pictures was totally new. Its first cover, Margaret Bourke-White’s photo of the Fort Peck Dam in Montana, made it clear that photographs weren’t no longer just added decoration to the main story. They were the story.

LIFE sent photographers on assignments, gave them the budget to shoot properly, and the space in the magazine to tell stories properly. It brought World War Two, civil rights marches and the space race into ordinary people's living rooms. And readers loved it.

At its peak in the 1960s, LIFE sold more than eight million a week. It made household names of Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gordon Parks, W. Eugene Smith, and many others.

But then, television arrived, and sales went into decline. LIFE stopped publishing weekly in 1972, returned as a monthly in 1978, but then stopped regular printing again in 2000, other than the occasional special issue.

A new way of LIFE

So what happens now? The new LIFE, published by Bedford Media will be published quarterly in an oversized 11 x 16in format, similar to the original. It won’t carry conventional print ads, and will instead rely on subscriptions, a “founding membership” scheme, and brand partnerships.

There are also plans to extend the brand to documentaries, video, events, collectibles and special edition prints. As someone who worked in print magazines for 30 years, my gut tells me this is where the real profits will lie.

All of this sounds great, both for readers and photographers alike. But let’s be honest about the numbers. At $45 an issue, the new LIFE will be in the same price bracket as a high-end photobook or a collector’s item.

Why it's important

This is not something people will pick up on a whim at a newstand. Its readers are likely to be people who already care deeply about photography; and of course, there's nothing wrong with that. But anyone who thinks it'll attract the same mass market audience it did half a century ago is kidding themselves.

Something the new LIFE may achieve, though, is the admirable goal of helping the art of photojournalism to survive.

Editorial budgets have shrunk dramatically in the 21st century. Consequently, there's a lot less photojournalism in the world, leaving a vacuum to be filled with an avalanche of YouTube speculators and fake news.

If a modern, well-funded version of LIFE is able to send photographers out to spend time with – as the editors’ letter puts it – “scientists and artists, entrepreneurs and athletes, children and octogenarians, coal miners and drone makers”, that’s got to be good news for both photography and the world in general. I wish it every success.

Thypoch has announced a new lens in its Simera-C cine lens range. The Simera-C 100mm T1.9 is the longest entry in the now seven-strong line-up, complementing the existing 16mm, 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 75mm Simera-C lenses. The new 100mm telephoto prime is compatible with full-frame Sony E and Leica M cameras, and Thypoch also produces adaptors to convert the M-mount version to Canon RF, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z, L Mount, Arri and other cameras.

The 100mm Simera-C shares an identical mechanical design and positioning of its geared aperture/focus rings to the other lenses in the series, meaning it can integrate seamlessly into follow focus rigs. Thypoch has also taken care to ensure the 100mm is a similar weight to other Simera-C lenses to further improve common handling characteristics: the 100mm weighs just 477g in E-mount form, making it slightly lighter than the 16mm and 12mm lenses. The lens's 67mm front filter thread also matches that of the 75mm Simera-C.

The lens’s optical stack consists of 11 elements arranged in 8 groups and features a unified optical design that includes the series' low-saturation blue coating to ensure uniform color matching across the lens range. The longer focal length of the 100mm makes it easier to shoot close-ups with a shallow depth of field to better isolate your subject, while a 0.85m minimum focus distance increases shot versatility. Bokeh should also be super-smooth, as the lens is equipped with an iris consisting of no fewer than 16 blades. Focussing is manual only, but that's fairly standard for a cine lens that's likely to spend much of its time in a rig.

You can pre-order the Simera-C 100mm T1.9 now from B&H. Expect to pay $879 for the E-mount version, while the M-mount edition is priced at $959.

When I think of Sony cameras and professional sports, I naturally think of photographers lining the pitchside with enormous telephoto lenses. However, Sony invited me to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London to see its NFL technology in action, and its involvement goes far beyond photographers on the sidelines.

Sony became an official technology partner of the NFL in 2024, expanding an existing relationship in which its cameras, broadcast equipment, and Hawk-Eye technology have become increasingly important to how the sport is played, officiated, and watched.

And the scale is quite remarkable. During the 2025 NFL season, Sony cameras captured more than 1,100 hours of broadcast television across over 300 games, while Associated Press photographers shot more than 130,000 images using Sony Alpha equipment. At Super Bowl LX alone, more than 175 Sony cameras were deployed on and around the field.

Cameras that can influence the game

Perhaps the most recognisable part of Sony's NFL partnership is Hawk-Eye, a name that will already be familiar to anyone who follows tennis or soccer, where cameras have become essential to officiating (love it or hate it).

In the NFL, Hawk-Eye has a similar broad role in instant replay. Across the NFL, 12 dedicated boundary-line cameras at each stadium provide additional angles to help officials scrutinize key decision moments in the game. And during the 2025 season, these cameras supported 322 replay reviews and 141 replay assists.

One of these key areas is using Hawk-Eye's camera systems to determine whether a team has gained the required 10 yards for a first down.

Traditionally, close first-down decisions involved officials bringing out a set of measuring chains, a process that could take more than a minute and interrupt the flow of the game. Sony's virtual measurement system instead uses six cameras to determine the distance between the spotted football and the first-down line.

During the 2025 season, the system was called upon for 21 virtual measurements, and Sony says these were completed in nearly half the average time required for traditional chain measurements.

Officials are still responsible for deciding exactly where the ball should be placed after a play. Hawk-Eye measures the distance from that position, rather than independently determining where the ball should have ended up, so there is still room for human judgment and error.

Supporting photographers with kit

Of course, Sony hasn't forgotten about the army of photographers capturing every moment, and one thing I learned during my visit was just how much support goes into keeping them shooting throughout a game.

Sony told me it typically supports around 75 to 100 photographers on game days, offering everything from loan equipment to sensor cleaning and repairs (even on cameras not carrying Sony branding).

There's also an interesting mix of cameras being used to capture the action. Sony says freelance photographers have been particularly drawn to the high-resolution Sony A7R VI; now its speed has caught up with the massive resolution, while agencies tend to favor the even faster Sony A1 and A9 series.

Lens choices are interesting too, with Sony's new, significantly smaller and lighter 400mm f/4.5 and 600mm f/6.3 G Master lenses apparently already proving popular with photographers who don't fancy lugging enormous telephotos around the sidelines all day.

Sony audio on the sidelines

Sony's partnership also goes beyond photography – the headsets worn by NFL coaches.

Sony developed a completely new headset specifically for the league, drawing upon the design of the WH-1000X consumer range of noise-canceling headphones, but adapting it to an environment where it needs to withstand humid heat to freezing temperatures, as well as some abuse from frustrated coaching staff.

Sony tested its headsets using crowd noise exceeding 100 decibels, with specially designed microphones that isolate the coach's voice from the surrounding noise. I tested this out (without the baying crowd, unfortunately), but the audio beaming between the sidelines and a box far up in the stadium rafters was crystal clear.

More than 2,300 of its headsets were deployed across all 32 NFL teams during the 2025 season, recording over 1,100 hours of game-day communication, which Sony says was done so without a single hardware failure.

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15 camera lenses from Pentax, Olympus, Fujifilm and Nikon are disappearing from the market, with some officially ending their production cycle while others are listed as discontinued by major Japanese retailers, including Yodobashi and Map Camera.

The list includes everything from fast professional zooms and telephoto lenses to compact primes. While retailer listings alone don't confirm a global discontinuation, such changes at Japanese retailers can be an early indication that availability in other markets may soon follow.

Some lenses remain available in the US and UK, although stock is becoming limited and harder to find, while others have successors or alternative options. Here's a breakdown of all 15 lenses, what's known about their status, and where photographers can still buy them.

Discontinued lenses

Pentax

• HD Pentax-DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 ED PLM AW
• HD Pentax-DA 21mm f/3.2 AL Limited
• HD Pentax-D FA* 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW
• HD Pentax-D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW
• HD Pentax-D FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 ED DC WR
• HD Pentax-D FA* 85mm f/1.4 ED SDM AW
• HD Pentax-D FA 24-70mm f/2.8 ED SDM WR
• HD Pentax-DA 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 ED DC WR
• SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] DC WR
• HD Pentax-DA 35 mm f/2.8 Macro Limited
• SMC Pentax-DA* 300 mm f/4 ED [IF] SDM
• HD Pentax-D FA 150-450 mm f/4.5-5.6 ED DC AW

Ricoh officially confirmed that the 12 lenses are discontinued, following on from the announcement that production is stopping on all current DSLR cameras.

Olympus

• Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8

The Olympus silver version is now listed as discontinued at major Japanese retailer Yodobashi. There are OM System branded version of this lenses still available in black, however.

Fujifilm

• Fujifilm XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR

The Fujifilm XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR is now listed as discontinued at major Japanese retailers, including Map Camera – hopefully a Mark II version will be announced soon.

Nikon

The Nikon AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED is listed as discontinued at US retailer B&H.

Nikon never released a direct mirrorless successor to the telephoto prime. Alternatives are the Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S or the Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena.

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Sony’s upcoming Rialto 65 cinema camera with a sensor that’s 2.2x larger than full-frame is no secret – but the camera giant has just unveiled the first footage shot with the upcoming camera system, along with the camera’s price tag.

The Sony Rialto 65 is an upcoming camera sensor that works with the company’s existing Venice 2 camera system. First teased back in July, the Rialto 65 has a sensor that’s 53.75mm wide and 35.83mm high. That’s about 2.2 times larger than a full-frame sensor. Sony says that makes it one of the largest commercially available sensors on a cinema camera, competing with other medium-format camera systems.

The Rialto 65 isn’t an entirely new camera but rather a sensor module for the existing Sony Venice 2, so it comes with the color science, 16-bit X-OCN recording, and other features already available from the Venice 2. Currently, the Venice 2 has two full-frame sensor options, one that’s 8.6K and one that’s 6K. The upcoming medium-format sensor will support 65mm format lenses, Sony says.

The upcoming sensor can attach directly to the camera system, but it can also be used in an extension mode where the head and camera body are separate for shooting in more compact spaces.

Watch the first sample footage from the Sony Rialto 65

Sony already shared that the new sensor was coming, but now the company has shared the first official footage coming from the upcoming sensor. Naturally, YouTube doesn’t even support 9.6K, and the footage is in 4K, but the footage offers some insight into the depth of field and low-light capabilities of the upcoming sensor.

"Local People," by Cinematographer Łukasz Żal, PSC, shows off the Sony Rialto 65's low-light capabilities and colors

Sony also offered one more bit of information that it didn’t share when first teasing the Rialto 65 back in July: the price. The Rialto 65 is expected to retail for $80,000 / CA$ 113,800 – which is about £59,811 / AU$113,658 at current exchange rates.

Sony is still expecting the Rialto 65 to arrive sometime in the first half of 2027, though the company notes that the timeline is still tentative.

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Skygazers have long been finding shapes among the stars, but the latest photos released from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes showcase a nebula so striking that its nickname seems clear: The Cat’s Head Nebula.

NASA recently released new photographs of the Carina Nebula, a star-forming area of space located about 7,500 light-years from Earth. The new collection of photographs comes from both the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, which means the images showcase a variety of different colors that offer researchers insight into star formation.

The Carina Nebula gets the Cat’s Head Nebula nickname from its shape, which looks like a seated cat, complete with a glowing red “eye” – which is likely a young star that’s still shrouded in dust.

The Carina Nebula isn’t just delightful because of its cat-like shape – as an area where stars are forming, studying this particular patch of the sky is giving researchers additional insight into star formation.

Carina Nebula won’t always look like a cat – and because the light from the nebula has taken 7,500 years to reach Earth, it could already look quite different. NASA says that the Cat’s Head look is a temporary scene and that stars will disperse as the nebula evolves.

Using different cameras to photograph the region of star formation creates not just wildly different photographs but also offers layers of insight for researchers. The rainbow-colored photograph captured by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the visible light coming from the nebula.

The multi-colored background isn’t just dazzling to look at but offers clues as to what’s happening as the young stars form. “Hubble’s filters record scattered starlight along with light emitted from oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur,” NASA explains. “Differences in gas excitation, absorption by dust, and illumination all contribute to the changing colors.”

Photos from the James Webb Space Telescope capture the Cat’s Head Nebula using near-infrared, which can better see through some of that dust to reveal more of the structure and what’s inside and behind that cat-like dust cloud.

The James Webb Space Telescope also has a mid-infrared camera, which reveals more of the cat-shaped dust structure. NASA says the bright yellow to the right of the “cat” in the mid-infrared image is likely an infant star.

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Setting up a typical tripod usually means tightening each of the leg sections individually – and travel tripods with a higher number of leg sections are among the worst offenders. But one tripod maker is bringing its one-touch leg deploy system into a tripod that fits in a carry-on suitcase and weighs just 3.5 lbs / 1.6 kg.

The Coman T1 Mini is a travel tripod built with quick-deploy legs, a rapid quick-release plate, and modular capabilities with extension ports, a MagSafe phone mount, and an extension to allow the tripod to double as a light stand.

Each of the Coman T1 Mini’s legs has a lever that deploys all four leg sections – the company says it only takes about three seconds to deploy all the legs and get the tripod to full height.

The T1 Mini isn’t the first tripod to use legs that deploy with one lever rather than individual locks on each leg section. Coman also has the full-size T1 S snap-open tripod and last year announced a similar monopod.

But Coman says the T1 Mini is the world’s lightest one-click tripod, bringing the quick-deploy technology to a lighter, smaller tripod. The Mini uses smaller 26mm leg tubes and packs down small enough to fit inside a 20-inch carry-on suitcase with the center column removed.

The smaller size comes with a lower weight limit. The Mini supports up to 13.23 lbs / 6 kg of gear, while the larger T1 S supports 44.1 lbs / 20 kg. But the Mini is two pounds / 829 g lighter and has a maximum working height of 62.8 inches / 1.595m, just two inches / 50mm shorter than Coman’s T1 S.

Built from carbon fiber and aerospace-grade aluminum, the Mini folds down to about 21 inches / 533mm. The tripod can also be used with an optional short center tripod for more portability and to shoot as low as 6.97 inches / 177mm off the ground. Alternately, the center column can also be inverted for low-angle shots. The leg angles and length can also be adjusted independently for uneven terrain.

The Mini also uses a new Arca-Swiss-compatible quick-mount system that the company says mounts the camera in one click. The compact tripod head supports 360-degree panoramic rotation and also switches between horizontal and vertical shooting.

Three 1/4-inch ARRI ports are built in for adding accessory arms. An optional magnetic quick release plate allows creators to mount both a camera and a smartphone at the same time, while an add-on extension allows the tripod to double as a taller light stand by swapping out the center column for an extendable one.

The tripod will be available in black, silver or army green.

The Coman T1 Mini is launching on Kickstarter, where the campaign has already exceeded its original goal. Pledges that include the tripod start at about $280 / £210 / AU$396 / CA$391 – about a 30 percent discount from the expected retail price. The shorter center column, MagSafe attachment, and light stand extension are optional add-ons sold separately.

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This compact camera somehow squeezes a 61MP full-frame sensor and a Zeiss 35mm f/2 lens into a body that's smaller than almost anything else on the market – DCW described it as the most compelling model on the market.

Launched in July 2025, almost 10 years after its predecessor, the Sony RX1R III was a long-awaited addition to Sony's premium compact camera lineup. It has since earned two major industry honors: Best Professional Fixed Lens Camera at the 2026 TIPA World Awards and recognition in the 2026 iF Design Award.

For photographers who want high-end image quality without carrying a full camera system, the RX1R III is almost perfect. But what makes it so popular – and what are the drawbacks?

Why is the Sony RX1R III so popular?

The RX1R III features a 61MP Exmor R CMOS sensor paired with a Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm f/2 lens – an optic that "enables you to take photos with unprecedented freedom," as IF Design Awards highlight.

The camera's design philosophy hits a nerve with photographers.

It's small, remarkably capable, has a viewfinder, and is built around a full-frame sensor – a format more commonly used in mirrorless cameras.

In the premium compact category, the Leica Q3 is one of its closest rivals.

It's lighter than you expect (498 g), sharper than it has any right to be, and its 693-point autofocus system is, frankly, leagues ahead of most fixed-lens rivals.

That built-in electronic viewfinder is another important feature. Many photographers prefer composing images through a viewfinder rather than relying exclusively on the rear screen, yet it isn't a feature found on every compact camera.

What are the Sony RX1R III downsides?

You've heard the specs, and those certainly don't come with a budget-friendly price tag.

The RX1R III is available for $5,098 / £4,199. That puts it out of reach for many photographers, particularly those who aren't earning money from photography.

Its closest competitor, the Leica Q3, features a 60MP full-frame BSI CMOS sensor and a Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens, priced at $7,350 / £5,650.

Also to mention, the RX1R III lacks in-body image stabilization (IBIS), although how much that matters depends on your shooting style.

If you want more resolution, the Fujifilm GFX100RF takes a different approach. It features a 102MP medium-format sensor and is the highest-resolution compact camera available to date.

Ultimately, the question is how much value photographers place on combining high resolution and full-frame image quality in a compact camera.

For those who prioritize portability without wanting to compromise on sensor resolution, the RX1R III offers an almost perfect combination of features.

For others, the same budget could buy a more versatile mirrorless camera and a selection of lenses, offering greater flexibility across different types of photography.

But in the end, that money won't buy the same combination of 61MP full-frame sensor, a Zeiss 35mm f/2 lens and built-in electronic viewfinder in a body as compact as the RX11R III is.

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We love the Hasselblad X2D II 100C. In fact, we reckon it's the finest stills camera ever made. But the key word there is 'stills', as the X2D II cannot shoot video. Well, it turns out that's not completely true. A clever hacker that goes by the handle 'Cheese' has posted a short video to the Chinese site xiaohongshu.com showing an X2D II 100C capturing video.

The brief video description states that the hacker has developed a custom firmware for the camera that enables video capture, and aims to add raw, Open Gate recording in future. The video itself shows the capture and subsequent playback of a 6-second clip, as well as video record status indicators and capture controls coded into the camera's touchscreen interface. The result more closely resembles an original feature than a DIY hack.

But don't get too excited: this hack probably won't enable X2D II owners to capture video as though it was a factory-implemented feature. As Cheese points out in response to a comment, "An experimental function and a truly stable function are two different things...if you really want to do high-quality video rerecording, [the camera's] form factor will definitely need to be significantly changed" (auto translated from the original Chinese).

Though not specifically mentioned, it's highly likely that a major reason why Hasselblad never designed the X2D II 100C to record video was due to heat build-up. The camera already gets very toasty when shooting bursts of images over a prolonged period, so Open Gate raw video recording, though potentially possible, could well endanger the lifespan of key components. Even so, Cheese does say that the modded firmware will be available as open source after the code is perfected. I'd expect the firmware to include a record duration limit to help prevent destructive heat build-up.

So there you have it: the X2D II 100C can actually record video, but if I was an X2D II 100C owner, I wouldn't be risking my valuable camera by installing non-genuine firmware that has the potential to damage the camera's hardware.

7Artisans, the Chinese budget lens manufacturer, has released its long-awaited ultrawide AF 10mm f/4 APS-C pancake lens, and this thing is so light you might forget that it’s even attached to your camera.

Coming in at just 2.5oz (71g) – yes, you read that right – the new 7Artisans lens is just half an ounce heavier, if you can even use that word here, than the TTArtisan AF 24mm F3.8 Mini, which, weighing approximately 2oz (57g), is the lightest AF pancake on the market.

Acccording to Chinese technology news publisher, ITHome, The new 10mm f/4 APS-C pancake launched today, October 29, for Sony E-mount and Fujifilm X-mount, with a price tag of ¥699 (approximately $100 / £75) on the Chinese e-commerce site JD.com (unfortunately tricky to access outside of China).

Tucked inside its insanely light, 1.2-inch (33mm) body are nine optical elements in seven groups, including one extra-low dispersion (ED) element, one high-refractive-index element, and two aspherical elements. There’s also a stepping motor (STM)-driven AF system that has a minimum focusing distance of 0.6ft (0.2m).

But considering the inherently massive depth of field that an ultrawide focal length like 10mm boasts, AF might seem unnecessary. And, in all honesty, it may well be.

While AF definitely brings added convenience, when shooting at this focal length, almost the entire frame stays in focus simultaneously, arguably making precise autofocusing redundant unless taking close-up shots.

AF has increasingly crept into wide-angle pancake lenses over the last few years, with recent APS-C releases like the TTArtisan AF 27mm f/2.8 and Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 touting the feature. So, no doubt a driving force behind the decision to include AF in the 7Artisans 10mm f/4 pancake was competitiveness.

Still, if you’re not a fan of manual focusing, then, regardless of necessity, the STM AF in the new 7Artisans 10mm f/4 pancake will surely be a welcome feature. But we’ll have to wait for a wider release to find that out for sure.

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Apple has launched five new Mac computers – all of which will be of serious interest to video and photo editors.

The most exciting of these is undoubtedly the arrival of the much-anticipated Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display – the first-ever Apple laptops with a touchscreen.

But there are also two new MacBooks and an iMac all-in-one desktop computer that use the new M6 chip, first used on the Mac Mini that was released earlier in the year.

Billing itself as "the world’s best pro laptop" the PROLED XDR Macbook uses tandem OLED technology to offer with up to 2000 nits peak HDR and SDR brightness, an industry-leading 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The new Touch facility is said to open up "a whole new dimension for pros to interact with their content, from manipulating 3D models to playing musical instruments onscreen".

The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR will be available in both 14in and 16in versions with a choice of M5 Max or M5 Pro chips, with options of getting up to 16TB of onboard storage. Weighing 3 or 4lb, the two sizes of laptop provide upto 24 hours of battery life.

Prices start at $2,899 / £2899 for the 14in version and from $4,499 / £4,499 for the 16in.

Two further MacBooks are being released with a non-touchscreen Liquid Retina XDR, the 14in version benefitting from the option of having newest generation of M6 processor. Prices will start at $1,999 / $1,999 for the 14in, whilst the 16in version (which will only be available with M5 Pro or M5 Max chips) will start at $2,999 / £2,999.

The newest version of the iMac will have an integrated 24in 4.5K Retina display and will be available in a choice of seven colors. The M6 chip claims to be up to 12x faster that the iMac M1 that was launched five years ago.

The iMac M6 will go on sale from November 6 from $1,499 / £1,499.

Amazon has launched the Alexa Photo Frame, an AI-equipped digital picture frame designed to work natively with the company’s Amazon Photos cloud service.

The device features a 10.1-inch high-definition touchscreen specifically calibrated for displaying photographs. To reduce reflections and mimic traditional physical prints, the panel uses a semi-matte, anti-glare finish paired with an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts display brightness. The screen is encased in a soft-white, textured mat and bordered with a choice of black or 'real wood' walnut or birch surrounds.

The device offers seamless integration with Amazon Photos – which provides free, unlimited full-resolution image storage for Prime members – allowing users to sync albums automatically via iOS or Android. A collaborative sharing feature also allows family members to remotely contribute photos directly to a shared frame.

The frame's core feature is its onboard Alexa AI integration. The assistant analyzes images to curate photos dynamically based on facial recognition, lighting quality, exposure, and emotion (such as smiling subjects). It also selects shots based on the time of year, such as beach scenes during summer and snowscapes during the festive season.

To accommodate portrait-oriented images without introducing empty side borders, the device intelligently pairs related vertical photos side-by-side using contextual themes such as matching locations, events, or timeframes.

The AI intentionally filters out undesirable uploads, such as utility images like receipts and screenshots, while prioritizing clear, smiling portraits. The display can be controlled via touchscreen gestures or users can navigate their photo library using voice commands – such as requesting images of specific people, places, or events, requesting specific queries like “show photos from the beach trip” – or create custom slideshows on demand. Additionally, audio voice notes can be added to individual images, adding personal commentary.

The Alexa Photo Frame is initially available in the USA, with other territories to follow. It comes in a standard matte black frame that costs $199.99, or more upmarket solid birch or walnut wood finishes at $229.

It's not the first AI-billed photo frame I've seen, though it certainly offers something different from the Homture Magic Frame, which brings still images to life with AI animations, and its unique functionality should earn it a place among the best digital photo frames.

To all intents and purposes, the new Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro is exactly the same size and weight as its existing Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro and Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro counterparts. All three lenses also have identical handling characteristics, with the same set of control rings, switches and buttons. That’s undoubtedly more by design than accident, resulting in a threesome of ‘Pro’ f/1.4 primes with highly desirable focal lengths, that don’t interrupt your creative flow when swapping between them.

Typical of Viltrox, the 35mm gives you a lot of bang per buck. Optical highlights include two Ultra Precision aspherical elements, three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and four HR (High Refractive index) elements in a layout that comprises 16 elements in total, arranged in 12 groups. There’s an especially well-rounded 11-blade aperture diaphragm and HD Nano multi-layer coatings, the overall aim being to deliver ‘Pro-grade’ image quality.

Build quality is similarly high-end, with a sturdy metal barrel and mounting plate that feature a comprehensive set of weather-seals and a fluorine coating on the front element. The same applies to pro/enthusiast-grade handling characteristics, including a dedicated aperture control ring with a click/de-click switch, a customizable function button and an AF/MF focus mode switch. Autofocus itself is courtesy of a fast and virtually silent Hyper VCM (voice-coil motor) system, going one step beyond the more standard linear stepping motor.

Although new, the Pro isn’t the only Viltrox 35mm party in town. We’ve been previously impressed by the compact, lightweight and budget-friendly Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 Evo II, as well as the top-end and super-fast Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 Lab, both of which are also available in Nikon Z and Sony E-mount options. The new Pro prime sits between these two lenses in the line-up, both in terms of size and weight as well as price.

And speaking of price, the AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro launches at $829 / £739 / AU$1,299. The price tag is a bit weightier than for the Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro at $549 / £525 / AU$889, or the Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro at $598 / £569 / AU$999, but the 35mm still looks potentially very good value for money nonetheless.

For some arcane reason, I was taught Latin at school, so here’s one for you… omne trium perfectum. According to the ancient Latin ‘rule of three’, things that come in threes are complete or perfect. As if to prove the point, the new Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro for Nikon Z and Sony E completes a trilogy of full-frame compatible prime lenses with classic focal lengths and fast f/1.4 apertures. The existing dynamic due comprised the Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro and the Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro.

The triplet 35mm, 50mm and 85mm primes deliver my favorite focal lengths for everyday shooting, product photography, still life and portraiture. As well as having the same desirably fast f/1.4 aperture rating, all three lenses are virtually identical in terms of size, weight and handling characteristics. Does that matter? Well, to me it does. It means I can chop and change between lenses and everything feels the same, so there’s no interruption to the creative flow while I’m adjusting to a ‘different’ lens.

In a nutshell, the new 35mm Pro aims to be one of the best lenses for Nikon Z system cameras, best lenses for Sony E-mount cameras and best lenses for street photography. Let’s see if it can deliver on its promise.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Specifications

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Price

The Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro lists for $829 / £739 / AU$1,299. How much of a bargain is that? For context, the directly competing own-brand Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM sells for $1,498 / £1,429 / AU$1,999, while the E-mount Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG II Art costs $1,059 / £849 / AU$2,049.

Over in the Nikon camp, the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 is a more basic, low-budget lens but still has an asking price of $678 / £649 / AU$1,129, whereas the faster Nikon Z 35mm f/1.2 S (S-line lens) has a gilt-edged price tag of $2,997 / £2,899 / AU$4,899.

All things considered, I’d say the Viltrox 35mm looks to be very competitively priced, although the previous lenses in the trilogy appear to be even better value for money, with the Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro at $549 / £525 / AU$889 and the Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro at $598 / £569 / AU$999.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Design & Handling

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Viltrox looks to have taken this advice onboard, so the new 35mm Pro lens adheres to the same winning formula as its 50mm and 85mm forebears. All three lenses look, feel and work exactly the same. The 35mm lens measures 85x112mm / 3.3x4.4in and weighs in at 795g / 28oz, making it essentially indistinguishable from the other two lenses. To be really picky, it’s one-tenth of an inch shorter than the 85mm lens and 0.2 ounces lighter, but nobody’s going to notice that.

Staying on trend, the 35mm inherits the same HD Nano multi-layer coatings and fluorine coating on its front element. All three lenses also have the same 77mm front filter attachment thread. That’s naturally good news if you like using screw-in filters, as you can share one set of filters between all three lenses, without the need for using any step-up or step-down rings.

Another filter-friendly fact is that all three lenses have fully internal focus mechanisms (more on that in a moment), so the filter thread neither extends nor rotates during focusing, ideal for using the likes of circular polarizing and ND grad filters.

The autofocus system itself again follows suit in the Viltrox Pro range, being of the Hyper VCM (voice-coil motor) variety. That’s a step up in quality and performance, compared with the kind of linear stepping motor that’s usually fitted to modern lenses. Voice-coil motors tend to be even faster for acquiring and tracking subjects while still enabling smooth autofocus transitions when shooting video. They’re also virtually silent in operation, which is another bonus for videography.

There’s an AF/MF (auto/manual) focus mode switch on the side of the barrel. I always much prefer this to having to delve around in camera menus when I want to make the change. It’s so much more immediate and intuitive. Another nice touch, so to speak, is that there’s a customizable function button just below the AF/MF switch. You can typically assign this to a range of actions, depending on the camera body, but a logical choice is AF/L (autofocus lock).

Towards the rear of the barrel is a dedicated aperture control ring. It’s clearly marked in one-third f/stops, going all the way from f/1.4 to the narrowest available aperture of f/16. Again, I prefer this arrangement to a ‘customizable’ aperture ring that can be used for various functions, but lacks any markings. With the dedicated option, you can literally see where you are, or at least what aperture you’ve set. Just off the scale at the narrow end, there’s an orange A (Auto) marking, for controlling the aperture from the camera body instead of using the control ring. It’s essential for shooting in Program and Shutter-priority modes. My only niggle with the aperture ring of this and other Viltrox lenses is that there’s no locking switch or button, to safely lock the ring in its Auto position.

Hybrid photography is all the rage nowadays and to keep in step, the lens is designed to deliver premium video performance as well as being eminently suitable for stills. Towards the rear of the barrel, behind the AF/MF switch and function button, there’s a Click off/on switch. De-click mode enables smooth, silent and step-free operation of the aperture control ring, ideal for videography, whereas the option of one-third f/stop click steps enables greater precision when shooting stills.

The optical path is relatively complex for a 35mm prime lens, based on 16 elements in 12 groups. There’s actually a difference in this respect from the 50mm and 85mm lenses, both of which have one less element and one less group in their configurations. High-tech glass includes two Ultra-Precision aspherical elements, three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and four HR (High Refractive index) elements. The overall aim is to optimize sharpness and clarity, while minimizing unwanted aberrations like color fringing.

HD Nano multi-layer coatings are on hand to combat ghosting and flare and the lens is supplied with an efficient petal-shaped hood. It’s actually exactly the same hood that’s supplied with the 50mm lens, whereas the 85mm lens has a circular profile hood.

Build quality feels very robust. Again, continuing the theme set by the earlier 50mm and 85mm lenses, the 35mm has a sturdy metal barrel as well as a metal mounting plate. Extensive weather-seals are fitted throughout the lens, including a rubber gasket on the mounting plate, to guard against the ingress of dust and moisture through the joint between the lens and camera body. The mounting plate also features a USB-C port, for applying firmware updates if and when needed.

For the journey, the lens is supplied complete with a high-quality drawstring pouch. Even if you don’t use the pouch for carrying the lens, it can come in handy for protecting other bits and bobs in transit.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Performance

Having been mightily impressed by the companion Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro and Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro, I had high hopes for this lens. I wasn’t disappointed. After extensively using the other two lenses over the last few months, I felt right at home with this one. The exact same high-end handling characteristics made the lens feel instantly familiar, and I’d class the excellent ergonomics as a performance plus point, when it comes to actually ‘getting the shot’. That’s especially true when nailing a definitive moment in street photography, for which the 35mm focal length is ideal.

Sharpness is thoroughly excellent, as demonstrated in the images above and below, within the bounds of depth of field. You can be assured of capturing ultra-fine detail and texture, and sharpness remains on song right out to the edges and corners of the frame.

Clarity, contrast and color rendition are equally impressive. I found that the lens had plenty of bite even when shooting outdoors under very dull, flat lighting on an overcast day, and indoors with no artificial lighting, just a bit of dull daylight seeping in through the windows.

For front to back sharpness in street scenes (or on a railway platform in the image below), a medium aperture setting of f/8 enables a generous depth of field at moderate focus distance settings, thanks to the 35mm focal length.

Naturally, you don’t need to buy a ‘fast’ lens if you only want a large depth of field. The flipside is that the widest aperture of f/1.4 enables a really tight depth of field, especially for close-ups. Sharpness remains excellent while the quality of bokeh is beautifully soft and smooth, with a natural fall-off between focused and defocused areas. You’ll see this in the shot below, featuring a row of levers in a lever frame, for operating signals and points in a restored railway signal box.

Not exactly creating a ‘toytown’ photographic effect from a real-world scene, the following shot is of an actual model village. Again though, the f/1.4 aperture enables a tight depth of field, isolating the model train within a scene by blurring the foreground and background areas.

The quality of bokeh remains excellent when stopping down, helped by the lens’s particularly well-rounded 11-blade aperture. It’s yet another facet that it shares with the 50mm and 85mm lenses, and helps to ensure that ‘bokeh disks’ caused by defocused lights and bright spots don’t take on noticeable multi-sided shapes. Bokeh disks look nice and smooth as well, free of the ‘onion ring’ effect that’s renowned for giving rise to concentric lines within the disks.

There’s hardly any distortion to be seen, even with automatic in-camera correction disabled. That’s a marked difference to most modern lenses designed for mirrorless cameras, which often rely massively on auto correction to the extent that you can’t disable it in camera menus. The same goes for color fringing, which again is extremely negligible.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Sample Images

The following gallery contains a variety of images shot at the East Somerset Railway in the south west of England, which was inaugurated in 1855 and has more recently been lovingly restored by volunteers, the working railway being run as a registered charity. My shots were mostly taken outdoors on a gloomy, overcast day with very flat lighting, posing a challenge to any lens in terms of delivering good sharpness, clarity and contrast. That said, the sun did break through and make a welcome appearance every now and then. The indoor shots were taken without any artificial lighting, relying solely on light coming in through windows. I used wide and medium aperture settings, to give a more comprehensive picture of the lens’s performance and pictorial qualities.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Lab Results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

For such a ‘fast’ lens, sharpness across the entire image frame is highly impressive at f/1.4. Edge-to-edge sharpness becomes completely excellent at a still wide aperture of f/2 and remains that way through most of the aperture range, only dropping off by a modest amount at f/16, due to the usual phenomenon of diffraction.

Fringing:

Lateral chromatic aberration is negligible throughout the entire aperture range, even at the extreme edges and corners of the frame. Longitudinal/axial chromatic aberration (sometimes referred to as bokeh fringing) is also minimal at f/1.4, which is a particular challenge for fast lenses at wide apertures, and can occur across the entire image frame where there are high-contrast transitions just in front of or behind the plane of focus.

Distortion: 0.89

There’s the slightest touch of pincushion distortion but even with automatic in-camera correction disabled, you’d be hard-pressed to spot it in real-world shooting.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro: Verdict

I’ve been loving my Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro and Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro over the past few months. The former gives an entirely natural perspective, the latter is a pretty much perfect portrait lens. The only problem is that I tend to favor a 35mm focal length for walkabout and street shooting with a full-frame camera. This new 35mm fits the bill completely. I love that it’s a virtually identical size and weight to the other two lenses in the trilogy, so that if I’m on a shoot and need to swap between them, they feel the same and have identical handling characteristics, right down to the action and placement of the dedicated aperture ring and its click off/on switch, the AF/MF focus mode switch and the customizable function button.

Further similarities with the previous two lenses also make the 35mm a seriously pro-grade prime in its own right. These include Hyper VCM (voice-coil motor) autofocus, an 11-blade aperture diaphragm, a robust and weather-sealed metal barrel and high-end handling.

Image quality is the bottom line and it’s here that the lens really excels. It’s super-sharp with excellent clarity and contrast, even when shooting wide-open, while also delivering beautifully smooth bokeh. Meanwhile, color fringing, distortion, ghosting and flare are all negligible. It’s simply a fabulous lens that lives up to its ‘Pro’ billing on all counts, apart from its bargain price tag.

Alternatives

Canon gear could become more expensive next year on the heels of an AI-driven memory shortage. During a question-and-answer session, Canon told investors that if higher memory costs persist into next year, those higher costs will be absorbed through price increases.

The insight comes from Canon’s October 27 financial update, where Canon lowered its initial predictions for the final three months of the year due to a component shortage for compact cameras and a slight decline in mirrorless sales numbers. Despite those predictions, the company’s imaging division – and the company as a whole – is still expected to finish the year with growth from last year’s numbers.

Now, Canon has shared the translated questions and answers from this week’s presentation in Japan – and it warns of a potential price increase next year if the high costs on memory components continue.

Early on in the questions, Canon explained how the company plans to address the continued supply shortage.

“For components that are in short supply, we are using every possible means to secure the quantities we need for next year,” the company said. “As a result, we expect higher procurement costs, but our policy is to offset those increases through price increases from next year onward. We have already been making pricing adjustments in response to cost increases as they occur, and we will continue to make decisions on passing on costs from a long-term perspective, while considering the potential impact on sales volumes and balancing that against profitability.”

While the company did not say which business segments would be affected, Canon confirmed it is considering a price increase for next year in the imaging division when asked why fourth-quarter operating profit is expected to decline compared with the previous year. Canon explained the outlook is a combination of higher memory costs and cost increases stemming from conflict in the Middle East, as well as unusually strong network camera sales.

“At this point,” Canon told investors regarding the imaging division, “we have not been able to fully pass these higher costs on through pricing. If these higher costs persist next year, we will absorb them through price increases.”

One of the reasons that Canon hasn’t already adjusted its prices is that the company saw the writing on the wall and started stockpiling the memory that it would need for 2026 early, something that Canon has told investors in previous meetings.

There’s still an “if” attached to the suggested price increase. If the higher memory costs continue once Canon has burned through that previous inventory stockpile, then a cost increase is likely.

Photographers have already seen the effects of the AI-driven demand for memory as the price of memory cards and external hard drives has risen significantly this year. Even cameras without built-in photo storage require memory components, including the processor and the memory buffer.

During the same meeting, Canon also said that the component shortage would prevent the company from fully reaching its increased production goals amid the increased demand for popular cameras like the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III.

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Most photographers spend their lives protecting film from light. Lotus L. Kang does the opposite.

In her installation, shown above, long sheets of photographic film hang unfixed from steel beams. As light and humidity reach them, they slowly change color, and develop “bruises, blood and bile-like hues”.

It’s one of four projects shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2027, which rewards artists for an exhibition or book in Europe that's made a significant contribution to photography. In their different ways, they all show how far the discipline has come from simply pointing a camera and pressing a button.

Beyond the veil

Iranian-born Hoda Afshar is shortlisted for her exhibition Performing the Invisible, which draws on the archive of the French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault.

In the early 20th century, the latter took thousands of photographs of veiled women in Morocco to explore his psychoanalytic ideas around covering and fantasy. Now, in the 21st century, Afshar uses mirrors, video and sound to reverse the focus. Instead of the veiled women in the original pictures, the subject becomes the act of looking itself.

Loss and destruction

Toronto-born Lotus L. Kang’s installation, The face of desire is loss, explores how bodies change over time, what we remember and what gets lost along the way. Alongside her lengths of unfixed photographic film, there are sculptures of tatami mats, cast objects of crying birds, a film of tidal mudflats and 49 bottles of spirits. (Why 49? In Buddhism, it's the number of days a soul spends between death and rebirth. So now you know.)

Ukrainian artist Sasha Kurmaz is shortlisted for her book, Red Horse. An 800-page visual diary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it combines documentary photographs with notes, drawings, newspaper cuttings and found objects that capture his experiences and those of the people around him. On one page, a handwritten note records the 15m width of a bomb crater beside a residential building.

Finally, Italian artist Salvatore Vitale is shortlisted for SABOTAGE. Made in collaboration with South African freelancers, it looks at the hidden human labor behind the digital economy, from surveillance to algorithmic control.

Bringing together film, photography and sculptural installations, its images include a man smashing a laptop on a rocky hillside.

“From century-old photographic archives to radical contemporary experiments, the 2027 shortlist proves how urgently photography speaks to our times,” says Anne-Marie Beckmann, director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.

The winner, who'll be announced in April, will get £30,000 ($40k), and each of the other three will get £5,000 ($6,665).

Work by all four artists will be shown at The Photographers’ Gallery in London from March 10 - June 6 2027, and then at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn, near Frankfurt, from June 19 to September 26.

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Looking for competitions to enter? Here are 10 global photo contests now open for entries from October 2026 to February 2027.

Best known for its affordable anamorphic lenses, Sirui is launching another range of more conventional autofocus lenses for mirrorless cameras. The Swift lens promises compact and affordable primes, and is being launched with both a 20mm f/2.4 and a 40mm f/2.2 which will go on sale before the end of the year.

The Swift 20mm F2.4 is described as an ultra-wide lens for landscapes, architecture, street photography and vlogging. Meanwhile the Swift 40mm F2.2 is touted as giving a natural angle of view for portraits, street scenes and everyday photography.

Weighing between 207g and 215 g, depending on lens and mount, the lenses are also described as being well-suited for APS-C mirrorless cameras as well as full-frame ones (hence why they will be available in Fujifilm X-mount).

The two lenses share the same outer shell, with a diameter of about 69.5 mm, a length of 60-62 mm, a 58 mm filter thread, and a nine-blade aperture. The 20mm has a minimum focus distance of 0.2m, whilst the 40mm will focus down to 0.4m.

The 20mm F2.4 is constructed from 11 elements in 9 groups, including two aspherical elements, two ED (extra-low dispersion) elements and two HRI (high refractive index) elements. The Swift 40mm F2.2 has 11 elements in 8 groups, with one aspherical element and two ED elements.

Each lens uses an STM stepping motor for autofocus, and has a clicked aperture ring, an AF/MF switch and a customizable Fn button for AF lock or other camera functions. A weather-resistant construction is designed to the lens against dust, stains and splashes.

The Sirui Swift 20mm f/2.4 and 40mm f/2.2 will retail for $149 / £129.90 each, and will be available in Sony FE, Fujifilm X, and L-mount options.

Capture One just released updates for its popular desktop and mobile photo editing and raw processing platforms. Portrait photographers, as well as editorial and fashion shooters, are gaining more control, while clever tools will save time in post-production.

The standout updates of the Capture One 16.9 desktop and 4.2 mobile version include new Skin Tone Retouching and Stray Hair Removal, a redesigned Advanced Color Editor, Assisted Review improvements, Multi-User Sessions out of Beta and the new support for two cameras.

CEO Rafael Orta says, "We are building toward a future where the photographer is the author, not an algorithm. Our tools fade into the background so photographers can lead." – With this update, Capture One proves once again that photographers' voices get heard, and that improvements are carefully tailored to enhance the workflow of creators worldwide.

Key updates

Retouching Tools

• New tools: Stray Hair Removal, Skin Tone Retouching, and Body Skin Retouching

Theis Karger Philipsen, Senior Principal Software Engineer, on the development of Stray Hair Removal: "Portrait and headshot photographers kept asking us to solve this inside Capture One, instead of having to jump to another tool. Turned out to be a genuinely fun problem to tackle.

"We started by training the model on mannequin heads in different wigs, then moved on to real hair once it matured. Stray hair means something different in every photo, and artistic intent makes it close to impossible to know which hairs are ‘wanted.’

"So instead of trying to automate every judgment call, we built in sliders and a protection brush to keep the creative decisions with the photographer.

"We wanted to launch this feature in one of our spring releases, then pulled it a few weeks before launch because the model wasn’t where we wanted it.

"We spent the summer refining it, with professional headshot and portrait photographers alpha testing along the way. This is our first version, and the wigs are still sitting on my desk as I am waiting for feedback from our users as they start working with it.”

Redesigned Advanced Color Editor

• New Target picker and redesigned color wheel, to move any color to any other color in a few clicks
• Add exact RGB and HSL target values to match the products exact reference color
• new Uniformity control adds

The feature is available on desktop only

Daniele Brazzolotto, Product Manager for the Advanced Color Editor updates: "For this release we have redesigned one of our most powerful tools, used by photographers who take color seriously.

"We made the Advanced Color Editor more capable by adding a Target picker and a redesigned color wheel that let you move any color to any other in a few clicks. On set, that lets a digitech show a client how a prop or product would look in a different tone while the shoot is still running, so decisions happen in the moment instead of in post.

"The redesign also reads more clearly, helping newer users build confidence faster.

"Typing exact RGB or HSL values adds precision that wasn't possible before, letting e-commerce photographers and colorists match a product to its reference color without guessing, and keeping that match consistent. With Uniformity adding a further layer of control.

"We built this for users who want to control color at a higher level."

Multi-User Sessions out of Beta

• Out of Beta: Multi-User Sessions (desktop only)

Now more stable and ready for daily production work, the Multi-User Sessions gained extra features that studio teams have asked for.

Collaborators are now being able to export images, and by turning on Follow, Capture One tracks the latest image in the session automatically.

There is also a new indicator to show the sync status of the images in the session.

Additional updates

• Assisted Review (desktop only): Focus and closed eyes are now marked for each face, directly in the Viewer
• Base Characteristics (desktop only): The tool is easier to read, and now shows only the settings that apply to the current image.
• Source Filename Token (desktop only): Name output files after the original filename.
• Camera Support: Support for the Nikon Z5 IIC and OM System PEN

A free 7-day trial is available for new users here. Explore Capture One's current plans and pricing, including a one-time purchase.

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Nikon has officially announced the Nikkor Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S – a fast telephoto zoom with a built-in teleconverter – which will go on sale from the middle of November. The lens which will be become a must-have for professional sports photographers was teased as a development announcement by Nikon back in May.

The lens is the modern successor to the 300mm f/2.8, which was the standard lens of action photographers in years gone by, and is a full-frame Z-mount replacement for Nikon's own 120-300mm f/2.8E AF-S FL ED SR VR for its autofocus DSLRs.

The lens not only provides a constant aperture zoom range, but offers a 1.4x teleconverter that can be engaged with a flick of a switch - stretching the maximum focal length to 420mm (with the maximum aperture dropping to f/4).

Weighing in at 2735g, or just over 6 lbs, it is around 1.5 lb (705 g) ligher than its F-mount predecessor, despite the addition of the teleconverter.

It becomes the third pro telephoto lens in the Nikon Z lens range to come with this built-in teleconverter facility, joining the existing the Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S and the Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S.

Specifications

Mount: Nikon Z
Full frame: Yes
Autofocus: Yes
Stabilization: Yes (up to 6.5 stops)
Lens construction: 30 elements in 24 groups
Angle of view: 20° 20′ to 8° 10′ (14° 40′ to 5° 15′ with teleconverter)
Diaphragm blades: 9
Minimum aperture: f/32 / 45
Minimum focusing distance: 2m at 300mm, 0.98m at 120mm
Maximum magnification ratio: 0.14x / 0.2x
Filter size: 112mm (plus 46mm rear drop-in)
Dimensions: 5.1 x 14 in / 128 x 1,353.5mm
Weight: 96.5oz / 2,735 g)

The lens uses a Silky Swift VCM (SSVCM) autofocus motor which Nikon claims is its most advanced AF motor, driving focus elements with extraordinary speed, accuracy and quietness.

An anti-reflective Arneo coating developed by Nikon has been used in conjunction with Nano Crystal Coat, to further reduce ghost and flare effects caused by incident light entering the lens vertically. This this is allow for the outstandingly clear capture of images even when a light source is located within the frame. Diagonal incident light, meanwhile, is dealt with using a Meso Amorphous coating on the lens.

Pricing

Nikon Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S is available to pre-order from to day for $13,999 / £13,999 / AU$21,999 and is expected to start shipping from mid November.

🇺🇸 Pre-order at BH Photo for $13,999

🇬🇧 Pre-order at London Camera Exchange for £13,999

🇦🇺 Pre-order at Teds Cameras for AU$21,999

Zeiss has reminded the photography world that it is still making lenses for the Leica M-mount, and while that might sound like good news for rangefinder enthusiasts, I can't help but feel that it also highlights just how little has changed in more than two decades.

According to Leica Rumors, the German optics manufacturer recently took to social media to remind photographers that its ZM lens lineup is still very much alive, offering a respectable selection of optics for Leica's legendary M system. And while I am certainly pleased to see another established name supporting the M-mount, I do wonder whether Zeiss has become a little too comfortable relying on its past successes, rather than looking toward the future.

To put things into perspective, the Zeiss ZM system dates all the way back to 2004, when lenses including the Biogon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZM were first announced. That was 22 years ago, and while the range has seen some additions over the years, including the excellent Distagon T* 35mm f/1.4 ZM introduced in 2014, the overall lineup has remained remarkably familiar. Today, Zeiss still offers everything from the ultra-wide Distagon T* 15mm f/2.8 to the classic Planar T* 50mm f/2, providing Leica photographers with a healthy selection of focal lengths. However, when you consider just how much the camera industry has evolved since 2004, it does feel as though Zeiss has largely been standing still, particularly when it comes to developing something genuinely new for the M system.

Of course, there is absolutely no denying the optical quality of Zeiss lenses. The company has built its reputation on producing exceptional glass, and its ZM lenses are no exception, offering excellent sharpness, contrast, beautiful rendering, and the sort of mechanical construction that feels perfectly at home on a Leica rangefinder. Perhaps more importantly, they deliver much of what photographers love about Leica lenses without the considerably higher price tag that often comes with that famous red dot. For anyone looking to build a Leica M system without spending a small fortune on native optics, Zeiss remains a compelling alternative, and I would certainly never discourage anyone from considering one. After all, a great lens doesn't suddenly become a bad lens simply because it is getting older.

However, as someone who shoots with Leica M cameras regularly, I can't help but feel that the ZM system is beginning to show its age. Leica has continued to refine its optical designs, introducing close-focusing capabilities and making the most of modern digital M cameras, while other third-party manufacturers have been pushing the boundaries of what affordable rangefinder lenses can offer. Zeiss, meanwhile, seems content to keep offering essentially the same familiar designs, with little indication of a major refresh on the horizon. I would personally love to see a new generation of ZM lenses, perhaps with more compact designs, improved close-focusing capabilities, or even entirely new optical formulas that take advantage of today's increasingly demanding digital sensors. Zeiss certainly has the expertise to make it happen, which makes its apparent lack of ambition in this particular corner of the market all the more frustrating.

Then again, perhaps I am missing the point entirely. One of the greatest attractions of the Leica M system is that it doesn't demand constant technological reinvention, and a lens designed more than two decades ago can still produce incredible photographs today.

There is something rather refreshing about a manufacturer continuing to support products that have already proven themselves, rather than replacing them simply for the sake of having something new to sell. As the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and perhaps that is exactly the philosophy Zeiss has adopted. Nevertheless, while I am delighted that Zeiss hasn't abandoned the Leica M-mount, I would love its next announcement to be about an exciting new lens rather than another reminder that it still makes the old ones.

Because after 22 years, surely it is time for something new?

Check out our guide to the best Leica M lenses

You need to see this year’s shortlist from the Royal Meteorological Society’s (RMetS) Weather Photographer of the Year to truly understand how spectacular, phenomenal, and downright jaw-dropping the elements can be!

And when admiring them, why not cast your vote for your favorite of the 30 finalists? The public vote is now open until November 5, 2026 (23:59 GMT), with the winner announced on November 17.

Looking at the shortlist, which the competition organizers said was selected from over 5,500 entries from nations worldwide, a few jump out. I particularly like Lisa Kuhn’s frame of Mount Shasta, a prominent, glacier-clad stratovolcano rising to 14,179 feet (4,322 meters) in the Cascade Range, Northern California.

Kuhn told the Meteorological Society that she’d already been out to shoot the volcano that day but returned for a better view. “I was surprised to see the lovely outcome of the photo with the smooth layers on the front of the cloud,” she shared.

While it’s hard to choose individual images from the shortlist, another that catches my eye is “Fire” by Erfan Samanfar. The Iranian photographer’s striking frame depicts a farmer trying to protect their land as fire ravages all around. It takes a moment to notice the farmer, shrouded in thick, blue-gray smoke in the bottom corner of the frame.

The wider shortlist features scenes of fascinating cloud formations, heart-stopping lightning strikes, and crashing glaciers. Be sure to spend some time appreciating these fantastic images and casting your vote.

Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the RMetS, said: “Our judging panel had an incredibly tough task in shortlisting the images and deciding on the winning images, and we are now delighted to hand over to the public to vote for their favorite.”

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A few days ago, producers at the BBC told The Guardian that Blue Planet III, the latest series in the beloved David Attenborough-narrated franchise on our oceans, will feature “more organic” footage than the previous two installments.

According to The Guardian, the new series, which is set to kick off on BBC One and iPlayer on November 1 (8:00 p.m. GMT), will include cloudier and more “authentic” underwater scenes in a bid to stave off any accusations of generative AI (gen AI) having been used.

“As AI booms we will probably lean more into the more organic, murkier and less polished footage,” Elizabeth White, executive producer of the forthcoming series, told The Guardian.

Now, I can understand that the BBC, a leading institution in visual media with a huge reputation to uphold, is wary of being accused of producing AI slop.

What’s more, I can see how it would be even more cautious when this would also risk tarnishing the reputation of a cultural icon as important as Sir David Attenborough.

But as a leading institution, it’s also the BBC’s responsibility to be at the helm of fighting back against gen AI, not pandering to the pressure the technology has piled on photographers and videographers with regard to authenticity.

This situation reminds me of the high-school bullies we all knew when we were younger. Only in this case, the bully is gen AI, and the victims being forced to play elsewhere are the producers of Blue Planet III.

But here’s the thing: bullies have always been around and the only way to disempower them is to stand up to them, which is what the BBC appears to have shied away from in the production of this new series.

Sceptics, who I guess would be a bully’s entourage in my high-school scenario, have always existed too, and now that gen AI is here, there will undoubtedly be comments on whether the technology was used in the latest Blue Planet production.

Above: Trailer for Blue Planet III

But as far as we all know, the BBC has never used gen AI to create programs. And, according to The Guardian, Jack Bootle, the BBC’s head of specialist factual commissioning, even assured journalists at a Blue Planet III press screening that “no gen AI was used in this series. Not a single frame. It’s all real photography.”

So, just because gen AI now exists, it’s not as if skeptics would have any grounds for taking aim at the BBC. Like a victim fighting back, what the BBC producers really should’ve done was not use lower-quality footage out of fear of a scandal these skeptics could whip up.

Instead, it should’ve done the Blue Planet III camera crews and all the viewers who will watch the series justice by producing the highest-quality scenes we already know to be possible.

I really hope that the BBC will not make this approach of using lower-quality, “authentic” footage a concrete policy for any other productions, unless it really does add to the visual narrative. It seems like a victim mentality when, really, the institution should be leading the pushback against gen AI bullies.

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Here's our pick of the best underwater housings for cameras and phones.

Lexar Pexar is no stranger to producing the best digital photo frames. In fact, at the time of writing, the Lexar Pexar 11-inch model took pride of place as the winner in the best high-resolution photo frame category. We called it a "beautiful hi-res screen, and 100% sRGB color gamut should do even the finest of fine art photos justice."

Following in the same vein, Pexar has now released the VivKeep Pro 12.5 model, which offers not only a larger image size but also a higher resolution. Almost all other specs are the same, so the only reason to opt for the 12.5-inch model is if 11 inches doesn't quite cut it for the photos that you have in mind.

The VivKeep Pro 12.5 offers a sharp resolution, true color, and anti-glare glass that aims to keep photos looking the way they were taken. The display also comprises etched anti-glare glass that is fully laminated and boasts touchscreen functionality. It's a premium frame, but does the performance match the specs?

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Specifications

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Price

The VivKeep Pro 12.5 launched in September 2026 and retails for $249.99 / £229.99. At this price, the frame sits at the more expensive end of the market, although that's to be expected given the quality of the unit and the resolution of the display.

One of the very best alternatives around this size is the Aura Aspen, which scored an impressive five stars in our testing. Or, if you'd like something completely different, then you could opt for the Homture Magic Frame, which converts still images into short videos courtesy of AI technology.

This specific model is not available in Australia at the time of writing, although the slightly smaller VivKeep Pro 11-inch is available to Australian customers and is very similar in terms of specs.

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Design & Handling

The VivKeep Pro 12.5 is one of the most premium-looking digital photo frames on the market. The frame comprises four individual parts, each of which is beautifully designed and expertly engineered. Pexar has clearly given a lot of time to thinking through what customers want and how the design affects the viewer's enjoyment.

At the heart of the frame is a large 12.5-inch touch display that is fully laminated and etched with anti-glare technology. It features a 2120 x 1590 resolution, 100% sRGB color gamut, 1600:1 contrast, and a 170-degree IPS viewing angle. We'll cover the quality of the output in the performance section below.

The display is surrounded by a thick white plastic mount with a gorgeous textured finish that looks similar to an art canvas. The result is that it provides a warm, rooted feeling and perfectly frames any photo on the display. The mount also features a bevel in each corner to accommodate the recessed screen.

The mount is then surrounded by a refined and elegant soft gold metallic-like finish, which delivers a refined and elegant look. The material offers a soft reflection, which helps it blend effortlessly into any space. Recessed into the top of this frame is the power button.

You might have expected Pexar to have stopped there with the design details, but they've actually given as much thought to the back as they have the front. The unibody plastic panel contains an innovative cross-shaped recess that holds the upright bracket. It's easy to switch between portrait and landscape orientations, and the absence of any movable parts means the stand isn't going to fail after a little while.

The panel contains four ports: power, USB-A, USB-C, and SD card. This offers a solid selection of means by which users can display their digital photos. That is, of course, if you'd prefer not to use the app. There's also a small speaker, which offers rudimentary sound quality for videos.

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Performance

Moving onto what most people care about when they're considering a digital photo frame, the quality of the displayed images. Where it matters most, the VivKeep Pro 12.5 excels in abundance. Photos are delivered in beautiful clarity thanks to the 212 PPI capabilities, and no matter the angle you're viewing them at, they remain as vibrant as if they were being viewed straight on.

Colors are replicated with expert accuracy courtesy of the 100% sRGB color and 1600:1 contrast specs. This is ideal for people who care deeply about the color representation of their photos and those who want synergy between how their photos look on their phone as well as their photo frame.

The image quality benefits from the use of an etched anti-glare glass, which means photos stay legible even under direct light. It's amazing to see how well the images maintain their strong contrast even when exposed to bright light sources. In addition to this, a built-in light sensor auto-adjusts brightness to match the room, with the display able to push out up to an impressive 400 nits of brightness.

The frame is incredibly easy to set up, taking just a matter of minutes to plug in the device, download the app, create an account, and send some photos to the frame. Even the least tech-savvy of users will have little problem setting the device up.

The ease of use continues with the general operation of the frame. Menus and settings are easy to access and navigate, and the screen is responsive to the touch. Photos are auto-rotated at the exact moment that you change the orientation of the frame itself.

The app allows users to invite friends and family to upload photos to the frame. All you have to do is share the frame code with your loved one, who then has to enter it into their own version of the Frameo app. This is perfect for grandparents who might like to share photos with their grandchildren.

The only downside to the whole experience is that some features are restricted to paid subscription plans. If you'd like to manage frame photos remotely, access a cloud backup, send 100 photos at once, or send two-minute videos to the frame, then you'll require a Frameo+ subscription. This costs $7.99 / £7.99 per year, which isn't a significant amount, but when I've paid $249.99 / £229.99 for the device, I expect those features to be included as standard.

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Verdict

Digital photo frames don't get much better than the Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5. My only gripes are that it's very expensive for a photo frame, it requires mains power, and a subscription is required for some of the features, which I believe should be included as standard. These are small quibbles that are quickly forgotten after just a few days of use of the frame.

The device is beautifully designed with Pexar utilizing a set of high-quality materials that are paired together to deliver a pleasing and elegant finish. Every part is masterfully engineered with a generous set of ports for maximum connectivity. As for image quality, the VivKeep Pro 12.5 serves up bright, vibrant, true color photos that look fantastic thanks to the high density PPI and etched anti-glare glass. If you can afford it, the frame is guaranteed to impress.

Alternatives

I’ve started to notice an unusual trend popping up in my social media feed: Photographers are giving new life to decades-old DSLRs by adding custom firmware that gives the old cameras different film stocks to choose from.

Photographers using custom firmware for cameras isn’t particularly new – firmware hacks date back well over a decade to mods like the Canon Hack Development Kit and the reverse-engineered Magic Lantern software for Canon DSLRs.

But lately, across Instagram and Reddit, photographers have been sharing “hacked” DSLRs loaded with new software that gives the old cameras the option to choose from different film-inspired looks directly on the camera.

In many cases, the custom firmware is vibe-coded, built with coding assistance from artificial intelligence. Using AI to make photos look like film feels both like an oxymoron and like the most 2026 thing ever. And yet, as a collector of old cameras and someone who bought my current camera (a Fujifilm) specifically for the film simulations, the idea of bringing new life to an old DSLR is intriguing.

Custom firmware carries the risk of potentially bricking the camera and, in many cases, could void the warranty on a newer camera. Which is likely why the vibe coding trend seems to be drawn to older cameras, like the 2005 Canon EOS 5D – bricking an old DSLR that doesn’t cost much and is already well out of warranty comes with less of a risk. That and, with the custom firmware designed for an old-school look, using an older camera just makes sense.

One photographer on Reddit shared a beta vibe-coded hack called Soup Engine for the Canon EOS 5D that builds on Magic Lantern to give the camera 13 different looks inspired by film stocks. The looks are applied to JPEGs, while the RAW file is untouched.

In another hack, software company Latent Studios is working on firmware that puts the company’s film-inspired desktop RAW photo editor into the Canon EOS 5D and 5D Mark II. But beyond the look of the photos themselves, the software also locks photographers into a “roll” for that look.

Photographer Florin Kirtescu developed a similar hack for the Canon EOS 6D, built from Magic Lantern, that adds film-inspired looks, including color and lab-like adjustments for pushing and pulling and correcting for light sources. The firmware, called Film Roll, also limits photographers to rolls of 12, 24, or 36 shots. The software lives on the SD card, so photographers can theoretically pull the card out and use a different one (or format the card) for the camera to function normally again.

While those hacks use Canon DSLRs, other photographers on Reddit have reported trying hacked firmware with other camera brands. The Phoblographer's Chris Gampat hacked an old Sony A7 to bring back the PlayMemories App support.

Locking the camera into a color preset for the length of a typical roll of film reminds me of another trend: the screen-free camera. Some screen-free cameras have similar tools that are designed with the limitations of film.

The Fujifilm X Half’s film mode, for example, won’t show creators the files or allow for swapping the film simulation until after a roll is finished and “developed.” Truly screenless cameras like the Flashback One35 V2 are also based around the concept of digital “rolls.”

Beyond the older CCD sensors and look of older DSLRs, the creators behind some of the hacks are also drawn to 21-year-old DSLRs because the slower performance of much older tech feels closer to film than modern cameras.

Personally, I wouldn’t even consider a firmware update that wasn’t sanctioned by the manufacturer itself on a modern camera. But on a camera that was otherwise sitting on a shelf and not getting any use? The idea is far more intriguing.

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Retro camera designs are a longstanding trend in photography. But while photographers have multiple options for retro-inspired digital cameras, a retro-inspired lens is arguably much harder to find.

That’s what grabbed my attention when Sigma announced a new “CL” lens series last week, which will debut in 2027 with the L-Mount and E-Mount Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG Contemporary.

The upcoming 50mm lens looks quite retro with its metal exterior and focal distance scale. But Sigma seems to hint that the new CL lens isn’t just about a retro look to the lens itself, but to the image that it creates too.

Sigma describes the images coming from the lens as a “gentle softness within the in-focus plane” and a “soft rendering of texture that helps the subject stand out.”

Sigma has so far only announced the development of the lens for a Spring 2027 launch, but Australian photographer Mitch Lally tested an early sample at a portrait shoot and described it this way: “The subject remains sharp and detailed, but the transition into the out-of-focus areas has a softer, less clinical quality. Wide open at F1.4, the backgrounds have a softness and character that adds to the overall feel of the image.”

That “less clinical quality” grabbed my attention. Retro cameras and photographs that look like they were shot on film are trending – but the lens is half the equation to getting that look and often forgotten.

Modern camera lenses have made significant strides forward in creating tack-sharp subjects and fighting off flare and ghosting with modern coatings. But at what point does a lens become too technically perfect?

I want a reasonably sharp subject, but not so sharp that I can count the pores in my portraits. This feels particularly true lately: toss an overly sharp, “perfect” image on the internet today, and watch the AI accusations roll in. I’ve even started toning down the skin edits in my portraits. Skin without texture isn’t human.

And then, there’s lens flare. Many modern lenses brag about using coatings to prevent lens flare, but I actually love lens flare most of the time. Yes, there are scenarios when I want full clarity in challenging backlight, but most of the time, I’d rather have streaky golden light.

I’ve adapted old film lenses to my modern mirrorless camera in order to really try to get a more film-like look on digital. But I want to have my cake and eat it too – I want lenses that have both character and modern features. I’ve taken to using a warm diffusion filter on a majority of my portraits so I can get warm tones and glowing light, but on a modern autofocus lens.

Looking at the sample images from the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG Contemporary, I’m drawn to the soft colors and smooth bokeh. The subject still looks sharp, but not overly so, and there’s a nice fall-off to that soft background.

While Sigma has already shared a full set of technical specifications, the development announcement lacks a key detail: Price. The upcoming CL will be smaller and lighter than Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 Art. I think if it’s also more affordable, it may draw a lot of photographers who prefer a softer, more retro style.

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DJI has delivered new firmware for several popular older models including the Mini 3 Pro, the Mini 2, and the Mavic Air 2 even though many thought these drones had reached the end of their lives.

It's good news for owners, proving that DJI has not abandoned these models even though some are several generations behind (there is a Mini 5 Pro now, for example), and shows the company is still serving the needs of American consumers, who are unable to buy the latest DJI drone models.

• Official details of new firmware for oldest drones below
• DJI Fly updates available from DJI downloads

Also on the list of drones with an update is the DJI Mini 2, which was released back in 2020 and hadn't seen a software update in well over three years. Many might think of that as the end of life for a relatively inexpensive device (not many of us still have phones that old if we use the camera on them).

While the Mini 2 was impressive in its day, delivering 4K video and RAW photos to the 249g highly portable market, as well as reliable video at a (theoretical) 10km transmission range. The 12MP sensor isn't where DJI stopped, though.

DJI's Mini drones now stretch to the Mini 5 Pro, which has a 50MP camera, and much larger 1-inch sensor, slow-motion 4K, AI subject tracking, and obstacle sensing and avoidance tech.

The Mavic Air 2 last saw any firmware change in 2023, and the Air 2S in 2024, and both models have been superseded.

So why the changes? Well there might well be some issues, and there may be some necessities to keep working with newer phone operating systems (DJI Fly is also getting newer versions on both iOS and Android).

It's also very good news for both the American market, where the very latest DJI models are not allowed past customs at the moment, and for those looking for a good resale value. With fresh firmware, confidence in buying a used DJI Mini 2 will stay high and you can see that reflected in relatively high used prices.

It's not clear, of course, what has been changed. In the past DJI has added new features by firmware (8K video to the Osmo, vertical video to the Neo). Known issues usually just means software patches (DJI hasn't said "App and OS compatibility" though you can bet that compatibility with the latest phones and apps will have been dealt with).

Either way uploading the firmware takes a few minutes before a device restart.

Personal tip: do it at home, in the warm, where you've got a good internet connection. Far too often I've literally done it in a field! It will be offered automatically by your DJI Fly app.

It's not just older drones getting newer firmware

The delivery of firmware is especially interesting for older drones, but DJI has also been delivering for more recent devices, including the Mini 5 Pro, Air 3S, and Mavic 4 Pro.

These are arguably the most high-end consumer drones, and again all it's about is "Fixing known issues."

DJI is delivering the updates around the world, including the USA, where some of these drones are under threat of being taken from the shelves because the tech is too good (LiDAR collision sensors are being reviewed as 'military' by the FCC).

DJI's firmware rollout isn't just about drones

DJI has been delivering a batch of updates for other tech too. Three of the company's remote controls with built-in screens (DJI RC, RC 2, and RC Pro 2) have all seen updates in recent days too.

The updates

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Dash cams have become increasingly popular in recent years – but these in-car boxes can often look rather boxy or plain ugly. South Korean manufacturer Vueroid is promising to change this with the introduction of its H1 QHD, which is designed to look different from its rivals.

The key attraction is its 1.6in circular touchscreen – which is meant to give you a device that feels similar to using a smartwatch. This interactive monitor works in conjunction with voice control to make it easy to set up the dashcam and make you less reliant on the phone app. We are told that users can easily start, stop, and save a manual recording, turn audio recording on or off, and activate Wi-Fi using voice commands, all hands-free.

Another useful feature is the simple parking feature, which allows you to recording when the camera is stationary without draining the car's battery. This is achieved by plugging the camera into an external power bank via its USB-C socket while you are parked up. An optional hardwiring kit is available if you want more advanced parking options.

The H1 QHD uses a 1/2.8in Sony IMX675 sensor with a 5 megapixel resolution, recording 2.5K (1440p) video. The lens of the front-facing camera gives a 120° view of the road in front of you. There is a built-in GPS to provide location data, a polarizing filter to minimize reflections from the windshiled, and a microSD card slot.

The unit measures 55 x 80 x 60mm and weighs 121g.

The Vueroid H1 QHD is now on sale for $167.99.

Check out our full guide to the best dash cams

The compact cinema camera market has become increasingly competitive in recent years, with manufacturers finding new ways to squeeze professional filmmaking features into smaller, lighter, and more affordable bodies. However, one camera that continues to catch my attention is the Nikon ZR.

Priced at $2,199.95 in the US at Adorama, or B&H, and currently available for just £1,999 in the UK from Wex, or Park Cameras, down from £2,199, Nikon's first cinema camera developed with RED represents a particularly interesting proposition.

We're talking about a full-frame cinema camera with some genuinely impressive filmmaking credentials, yet it costs considerably less than many of the established professional alternatives. For independent filmmakers, content creators, and even photographers looking to explore filmmaking, I think that's a pretty compelling starting point.

But what exactly are you getting for your money? Well, underneath that rather understated exterior sits a 24.5MP partially stacked full-frame sensor capable of recording 6K video at up to 60fps, including internal 12-bit RAW recording using Nikon's R3D NE format, developed with RED.

That's a pretty serious specification for a camera at this price point, especially when you consider the RED color science, dual-base ISO settings of 800 and 6400, and Nikon's claimed dynamic range of more than 15 stops. There's also support for N-RAW and ProRes RAW, giving filmmakers considerable flexibility when it comes to editing and color grading. To me, this is arguably the ZR's biggest selling point. You're getting access to a genuinely sophisticated RAW video workflow without having to invest in a much larger, more expensive cinema system.

However, it's not just the image quality that makes the Nikon ZR interesting. Nikon has clearly understood that modern filmmakers want equipment that works just as well when shooting independently as it does on a professional production. The ZR features a large 4-inch vari-angle touchscreen, in-body image stabilization, intelligent subject-detection autofocus, and perhaps one of its most impressive features, internal 32-bit float audio recording.

Being able to capture high-quality audio directly into the camera, with greater flexibility to adjust levels in post-production, is a huge advantage for anyone recording interviews, documentaries, or spontaneous content. Better still, the entire body weighs approximately 540g, making it incredibly portable and ideal for handheld shooting or mounting on a compact gimbal. For someone who appreciates smaller cameras that don't compromise on their creative potential, there's a lot here to get excited about.

Of course, Nikon isn't operating in an empty market. Cameras such as the Sony FX3, Sony FX30, Canon EOS C50, and Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K have already demonstrated just how much demand there is for compact filmmaking systems. Yet I think Nikon has approached things slightly differently with the ZR, combining the familiarity and versatility of its Z-mount mirrorless ecosystem with the filmmaking heritage of RED. It isn't perfect, of course.

There's no built-in electronic viewfinder, no internal ND filters, and the inclusion of micro HDMI rather than a full-size connection might frustrate filmmakers who rely on external monitoring equipment. You also only get one CFexpress Type B slot alongside a slower microSD slot, which limits your options for redundant high-bitrate recording. Nevertheless, these are compromises I can understand when you consider the camera's size, price, and overall capabilities.

So, is the Nikon ZR worth its asking price? Personally, I think it's one of the more interesting compact cinema cameras currently available, particularly when you consider what Nikon has managed to offer for around $2,200 or less than £2,000. Naturally, you'll still need to factor in lenses, memory cards, and potentially some additional accessories, but the foundations of a remarkably capable filmmaking setup are already there.

What excites me most, however, is what the ZR represents for the wider camera industry. Professional filmmaking technology is becoming increasingly accessible, and cameras like this are challenging the idea that you need to spend thousands more to produce genuinely cinematic results. The market might be crowded, but if Nikon can continue delivering this level of performance at such competitive prices, I have a feeling the ZR could be just the beginning of something much bigger.

Godox has shrunk the size of the hotshoe flashgun yet again! The new iM10 carries on the quest that the Godox iM20 started last year offering a miniature strobe that can carry with you anywhere, and give you the opportunity to add a burst of flash to your shots when you need it.

The iM10 is smaller and cheaper that the iM20, but this new addition to the Godox iFlash family still offers the same basic manual-only flash operation. It will work with all mirrorless models and with compact cameras that have a traditional hotshoe.

It is a type of flash that there is a real need for nowadays, as more and more cameras make do without the pop-up flash that used to be a standard feature. Sure the need for flash is not so great, now that high ISO performance is so much better – but a burst of light is still invaluable in very dark conditions, or when trying to eliminate shadows when shooting portraits.

The iM10 weighs under an ounce at just 23g - but conveniently has a built-in rechargeable battery that can be recharged using a standard USB-C cable. A single charge can provide up to 350 flash bursts if the unit is set to full power. If you need less flash, there are 1/2,1/4, and 1/8 power settings available. Recycling time is 3 seconds.

The Godox iM10 is now on sale costing $24.90 / £22.

Above: watch our podcast where Mike and I discuss the demise of the built-in pop-up flash and the rise of the mini accessory flashgun

Check out our full guide to the best flashguns for your camera

For years, Micro Four Thirds cameras have been fighting an uphill battle against larger full-frame and APS-C sensors, particularly when it comes to dynamic range and low-light performance. But what if the next big leap in image quality has nothing to do with increasing sensor size?

According to a fascinating new rumor, the future of Micro Four Thirds could be about to get considerably brighter, with an entirely new generation of sensors reportedly being developed using LOFIC technology. If the claims prove accurate, we could see Four Thirds sensors capable of delivering more than 17 stops of dynamic range, potentially transforming what photographers and filmmakers can achieve with smaller cameras.

The technology in question is known as LOFIC, short for Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor, and it could represent one of the most significant developments in digital sensor technology in years. Unlike conventional sensors, which can struggle to retain information in extremely bright areas of an image, Lofic uses additional capacitors to capture excess electrical charge that would otherwise be lost when a pixel reaches its capacity.

In simple terms, this means a sensor can preserve considerably more highlight detail without sacrificing the information captured in darker areas. For photographers, that could mean greater flexibility when editing RAW files, while filmmakers could benefit from an enormous increase in exposure latitude when recording challenging, high-contrast scenes.

According to 43 Rumors, information originating from a Chinese source suggests that new Four Thirds sensors incorporating this technology could arrive between 2027 and 2028. The source claims, "New domestic M43 sensors featuring LOFIC technology are on the horizon, promising even greater dynamic range and faster readout speeds compared to their predecessors."

More interestingly, the rumored sensors could combine dual conversion gain technology with LOFIC to achieve 14-bit sampling at 60fps, more than 17 stops of dynamic range, and a claimed exposure recovery range extending from +9 to -4 EV. The report also suggests the next generation could be based on a larger Four Thirds-format version of OmniVision's OV50X sensor, although none of these developments or performance figures have been officially confirmed.

What makes this rumor particularly exciting is that Lofic isn't simply theoretical technology waiting to be proven. We have already seen what it can achieve in the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P, which features a 1-inch sensor incorporating the technology. Independent testing by CineD measured an astonishing 16 stops of dynamic range at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2, increasing to 17.2 stops at a ratio of 1.

Those are remarkable figures from such a small sensor, and they demonstrate why this technology is attracting so much attention. If similar performance could be achieved in a larger Four Thirds sensor, it could fundamentally change expectations of what compact camera systems are capable of, particularly for photographers who want exceptional image quality without the size and weight associated with larger formats.

Of course, there is still a considerable difference between a promising sensor rumor and seeing that technology inside the next OM System or Panasonic Lumix camera. The suggestion is that DJI products could receive these sensors first, with no guarantee that traditional Micro Four Thirds manufacturers would have access to them.

Nevertheless, I find the possibilities incredibly exciting. Micro Four Thirds has always offered a compelling balance of portability, lens reach, and performance, but imagine combining those advantages with dynamic range that could rival, or potentially surpass, what we currently expect from much larger sensors. Sensor size will still influence noise, depth of field, and overall image quality, but Lofic could help remove one of the format's most persistent disadvantages.

If these rumors become reality, perhaps the future of Micro Four Thirds isn't about trying to compete with full-frame cameras by becoming something bigger, but by proving just how much more a smaller sensor can achieve.

Check out the best Micro Four Thirds cameras you can buy today

Spanish astrophotographer Mikel Iraeta managed to capture not one, but two beautiful arcs of our galaxy above the world-famous Milford Sound fiord in New Zealand – although it rains an average of 300 days a year here.

Iraeta's Double arch in Milford Sound was announced as the Open Nature/Landscape category winner at the 2026 Epson International Pano Awards, the leading global competition dedicated to panoramic photography.

The final image was assembled from 107 photographs (!) and required very specific conditions: no rain, clouds, or moonlight. Iraeta told the awards how he managed to capture a scene that he describes as "a unique photo, one that I have not seen anywhere else and that I think would be very difficult for anyone else to replicate. "

Category Winner: Open Nature/Landscape

Iraeta explains, "This is what I consider an almost impossible photo because you need some very specific conditions to pull it out.

"In fact, the day before I visited, the access road was closed due to snow avalanche danger. I ventured there without any expectations, with the sole intention of enjoying the place, aware of the improbability of the task.

"It is very difficult to have an entire clear night with no rain, no clouds, no moon, and for all of this to coincide at the end of September when it is possible to capture the double arc of the Milky Way. But I thought what if..."

The photographer continues, "I still remember feeling excited under the stars, aware of what I was witnessing."

Iraeta's shot required a bit of luck, a chain of coincidences and technical skill, both behind the camera and in the editing process.

He says, "The sky is composed of two separate tracked panoramas, each comprising eight panels, with each panel in turn consisting of a stack of four 45-second exposures.

"The first panorama is taken after sunset to capture the spiral arm containing the galactic core. The second contains both Magellanic Clouds, Gum, and the Orion Nebula, captured between 2 and 4am.

"It is important to time the shots so that both panoramas are at approximately at the same height above the horizon.

"Finally, the ground needs to be captured for which the moving tides need to be considered. For this foreground I used a 14-panel 360º panorama, where each panel is created from a bracketing of three photographs, plus an additional photograph to include myself. The final image is therefore the result of combining 107 different photographs."

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Looking for competitions to enter? Here are 10 global photo contests now open for entries from October 2026 to February 2027.