The octopus is known as an intensely curious creature – and when one spotted a snorkeler’s 360-degree camera, it decided to try it out. The octopus not only swam away with the camera, but took some uniquely tentacled shots in the process.

The humorous underwater photography mishap was shared on social media by Konstantinos Mousis and later picked up by Insta360, as the eight-legged thief stole an Insta360 X5.

The video starts with a shot that was clearly taken from the octopus's underbelly, with eight legs framing the snorkeler. The octopus then swims away, still holding the camera, and gets some occasionally quite good shots that frame the snorkeler amid a ring of tentacles.

The snorkeler initially tries to follow the camera, then waits and holds back while the octopus explores the camera.

The video is far from the only time that a curious octopus has stolen a camera. The creatures have been known to grab an unsuspecting diver’s camera, often creating humorous footage and some occasional selfies in the process.

But the fact that the stolen camera was a 360 camera helped create footage that wasn’t fully obstructed by tentacles. The design of a 360 camera played a big role in what the octopus was able to capture.

As DCW’s 360 camera expert Adam Juniper says when writing about the X5, “The magic of this is that you don’t need to point the camera when you’re capturing any action.” Capturing footage from every direction means the whole lens wasn’t obstructed by the underbelly, allowing the video to be cropped to a view framed by those curious tentacles.

Marine biologists are often quick to point out that an octopus with a stolen camera doesn’t actually think it's taking a selfie, but is rather exhibiting its curiosity. Octopuses tend to be curious creatures and are known for exploring unidentified objects with their tentacles.

The “stolen” camera is a relative favorite among 360 cameras, though the newer Insta360 X6 has taken its place at the top of DCW's best 360 cameras list. The Insta360 X5 boasts impressive 8K footage and low-light capabilities, along with a durable build – or should I say "octopus-proof" build?

You may also like

Take a look at the best waterproof cameras, or the best 360 cameras.

The compact camera sits among the photography industry’s biggest trends – but a new report suggests that there’s actually a non-pro, compact category that may be outselling the viral point-and-shoot: the gimbal camera.

A new report from market research firm IDC hints that brands have sold nearly 2.8 million gimbal cameras in the second quarter of 2026 alone, a massive 87 percent increase over the same time last year.

Looking at data from the Camera and Imaging Products Association – which only tallies numbers from participating Japanese brands – the number of compact cameras sold in all of 2025 numbered 2.3 million.

That means that, globally, gimbal cameras sold more in three months than compact cameras from Japanese camera brands for all of last year.

Comparing the numbers that only come from Japanese brands and a global report is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. CIPA data includes the biggest camera makers from Japan, but in the compact camera category in particular, that’s going to exclude point-and-shoots like those from Kodak. Some Kodak-branded cameras have been particularly popular, like the viral Kodak Charmera, so excluding brands outside Japan may skew the numbers more than just a little bit.

Regardless, the numbers are staggering and suggest explosive growth for the gimbal camera category. The gimbal camera was first popularized by the DJI Pocket series, but the viral success of cameras like the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 – now on its fourth generation with the Pocket 4 and 4P – has led to an uptick in competition, such as the Insta360 Luna Ultra and the upcoming Hohem Eyepic.

The report predicts that gimbal cameras, together with action cameras and 360 cameras, could reach 41 million cameras sold annually by 2030 – and the gimbal camera is currently the largest of those three categories.

According to the report, gimbal cameras outnumbered the more standard action camera category in the second quarter as well, selling 2.8 million compared to 2.55 million action cameras. “Panoramic cameras” – better known as 360 cameras – grew four percent but numbered far fewer at 530,000 in that three-month period.

I immediately understood the draw of the gimbal category after first trying one out. Gimbal cameras are built for stabilized video without the complexity of pro rigs, but beyond that, they can track moving subjects and simplify cinematic camera moves. Video tends to be the medium with the most engagement on social media in recent years, likely adding even more to the appeal of a capable but uncomplicated video camera.

Another relatively new camera format is also rising in popularity, according to the report. IDC says that “thumb cameras,” tiny action cameras that detach from a larger base, have grown 300 percent compared to the same time frame last year. The category includes tiny wearable cameras like the Insta360 Go 3S and the DJI Osmo Nano.

The report also offers an unusual look at what brands are dominating those three camera categories. DJI remains the dominant player, responsible for 73 percent of the cameras in those categories shipped in the second quarter. While DJI has led the segment for some time, IDC says that’s a record high and an 11 percent jump from the same time last year.

While DJI is responsible for nearly three out of every four cameras in those categories, Insta360 follows with around one in five. Perhaps even more interesting is that other brands, including GoPro, account for only around ten percent.

That data highlights GoPro’s recent financial struggles as the action camera maker finalizes plans to merge with another company to pay off its debts. IDC suggests that GoPro’s second-quarter camera sales declined 49 percent compared to the same time last year.

But several recent changes will make it interesting to see where future reports put the camera known for creating the action camera category in the first place. First, GoPro has now launched a new larger sensor series, the GoPro Mission 1. The camera is arguably less unusual than the introduction of DJI’s Pocket series, but brings a long-awaited larger sensor as well as a more niche mirrorless camera.

The other factor that will be interesting to watch play out is shipments to the US. DJI’s newly announced products – including the Pocket 4 and Osmo 360 II – can’t get the necessary FCC approval to be officially sold in the US. The IDC data suggests that 65 percent of GoPro’s sales are already focused on the Americas.

The report predicts that the “handheld smart camera” category that includes everything from gimbal cameras and action cameras to thumb cameras and 360 cameras will grow to 41 million by 2030, a one million camera increase over IDC’s prediction from earlier this year.

You may also like

Browse the best gimbal cameras or the best action cameras.

The Fujifilm X-Half brings the brand’s popular film simulations into a digital compact camera built with the intentional limitations of film – but the compact camera just got a new film-like option, thanks to a firmware update.

Part of the X-Half’s more film-like charm – beyond the screen-free film mode and advance lever – comes from the camera’s built-in filters. Firmware 2.0 brings one more option to those retro looks: Soft Glow.

The soft glow option is built to imitate the look of a diffusion filter – or the softer highlights of old film lenses. Fujifilm says this mode softens highlights to enhance the glow.

The Fujifilm X-Half already had a similar mode called halation, but halation and glow are two similar yet distinct image qualities. Halation is a subtle glow that adds a bit of warm tones. On film, this effect was simply a result of the light hitting the film and scattering.

A soft glow traditionally differs from halation because it doesn’t add warm tones and is the result of using softer lenses. A glow effect typically spreads out light sources.

I’m a big fan of using diffusion filters to get a glow, so I love that the X Half now has an option like this built in, without adding filters. The Soft Glow is part of the X Half’s filter effects, which are a separate mode and not used at the same time as the camera’s film simulations.

Along with the addition of Soft Glow, the firmware adds 12 and 24-frame options to the camera’s film mode. The X Half’s film mode locks several settings and disables previews, essentially locking the screen and creating a “screen-free” compact camera. Now photographers can choose to shoot as little as 12 images per roll, allowing for swapping settings between rolls earlier than with a roll of 36.

The firmware update also includes a handful of performance enhancements, including improving the start-up time, enhancing autofocus timing, and reducing the delay between shots.

It’s great to see Fujifilm continue to expand on the X Half’s different built-in filters – and the soft glow looks like a welcome addition. But, as with most firmware, it’s often best to wait a few days (or even weeks) to avoid any potential early bugs.

The new firmware 2.0 for the X Half is available to download directly from Fujifilm.

You may also like

Take a look at the best retro cameras, or the top screen-free cameras.

Most screen-free cameras aren’t beach-ready without extra housing. But one binocular brand is branching out into compact cameras – and the first launch is a screen-free camera that’s actually splash-proof. The Nocs Portal AFN7 Adventure Camera is a screen-free compact camera that takes on an unusual shape – but an even more unusual support for “zoom” using binoculars.

Screen-free cameras tend to opt for a traditional optical viewfinder to be truly screen-free. The Portal uses an electronic viewfinder instead – but that’s very much by design. The front of the camera has a mount that allows the camera to be used with Nocs’ monoculars and binoculars.

Using a traditional cut-out optical viewfinder wouldn’t have supported a preview of the shot when using binoculars for added reach, so Nocs went with an electronic viewfinder instead. But, like other screen-free cameras, the Portal purposely leaves out the option to view photos on the camera in a design built for screen fatigue.

Supporting the use of a monocular or binocular on the front adds more reach for a category that typically doesn’t offer any form of zoom at all. But, that’s not the only unusual feature on the new camera. The Portal is IP56 weather-sealed to resist splashes, rain, and dirt in a design that’s built for living screen-free outdoors – though it’s not meant to be submerged.

Many screen-free cameras shoot only stills (or only video, like the Camp Snap CS-8), but the Portal shoots both 16MP stills and 4K 30p videos on its 1/3.06-inch sensor. Outside of the binocular support, the camera uses a 22.5mm equivalent lens and has built-in digital zoom.

Like most screen-free cameras, the Portal is going for a retro feel to the images, supporting six built-in presets. That list includes two Kodak-inspired looks: Kodachrome and Kodak Gold.

As a camera built for the outdoors, the Portal doesn’t use the typical rectangular box of a screen-free camera. The Portal is designed both for use while wearing gloves and for keeping a hiking pack light. The Portal AFN7 uses a cutout that gives the hand room to wrap around the grip while keeping a lightweight, 140g / 4.9 oz design.

The camera uses a rechargeable Li-ion battery rated to about 500 shots or 30 minutes of video. Photos and videos are stored on a MicroSD card, with a 4GB card included in the box.

Nocs Provisions, a company that builds binoculars and monoculars made for the outdoors, hints that the AFN7 may just be the first camera in a new series. “Portal AFN7 is the first camera in the new Portal series — a dedicated new product platform for Nocs. We're not detailing what's next yet, but Portal was designed as a series from the start,” the company wrote.

The new Portal AFN7, announced on October 01, is already shipping directly from the manufacturer, as well as from REI. The camera retails for $179 – which is about £135 / AU$257 / CA$254. International shipping is available.

You may also like

For more adventuring and less screen time, take a look at the best screen-free cameras or the best waterproof cameras.

LK Samyang, known as Rokinon in the US, has finally announced the release date of the long-awaited 28-135mm f/2.8 Sony FE full-frame standard zoom, which the company says will come to market in February 2027.

The Korean budget lens manufacturer made the announcement on its Instagram on September 30, with a second post finally giving us the technical specs we’ve also been dying for – following the zoom's earlier appearance at CP+ in February.

Honestly, I’m impressed, and I think we’ve got a real contender that could shake up the “do-it-all” focal-length segment of the lens market for the first time in a while.

Swipe to see the Samyang AF 28-135mm f/4 FE specs

The obvious eye-catcher is the versatile 28-135mm focal length combined with the fast f/2.8 aperture.

This is a seriously versatile setup — in fact, it’s the first-ever lens to combine this specific zoom range and maximum aperture — and, on paper, I’m inclined to believe Samyang when it says the forthcoming kit will work for “every moment.”

Although, the maximum wide angle of 28mm does cut you off at a slightly awkward point. My go-to lens is the Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G Master, and I can tell you that those extra 4mm do make a difference.

These often save me having to change to my dedicated wide-angle and I can’t see the Samyang being quite as helpful at the wide-angle end, despite the claims.

The other big deal here is the voice coil motor (VCM), which is another first for Samyang, as none of its previous AF lenses have featured this kind of motor.

VCMs can handle large-aperture glass smoothly and pretty quietly, too. It’s good to see Samyang seemingly paying serious attention to AF performance in a lens that, in theory, could be used to shoot subjects like wildlife.

The weather-sealed zoom will weigh 854g and is constructed with 20 elements in 16 groups.

Going by the announcement, I have to say this lens looks promising, to say the least. Funnily enough, I recently scratched my Sony 24-105mm f/4 and am now getting mad lens flare.

If the build quality is there and Samyang prices the lens in line with how it normally does, maybe the forthcoming 28-135mm f/2.8 could be its replacement. Though, we’ll see if this is all too good to be true in a few months time.

You might also like…

Here’s our expert pick of the best Sony lenses: top E-Mount lenses for Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras.

Think of the word "rewilding" and you'll probably imagine remote valleys and wide open spaces, far off in the countryside. But rewilding can be just as impactful in urban environments, and the winning image in this year's Rewilding Europe Award is a great example.

Captured by Jan Wieczorek in 2025, the night-time shot features three beavers lurking in the shallows, two of them nose-to-nose.

They're surrounded by gnawed stumps and stripped branches, the unmistakable signs of beaver engineering. And roads and railway lines cross their territory, and new housing going up nearby, support from local residents and the city authorities means the animals are thriving.

Wieczorek, who has been observing these beavers for around 15 years, explains why that matters.

"The story behind the photograph shows that nature doesn't always exist somewhere far away," he says. "It can thrive right next to our homes, beneath our bridges, and in the centres of our cities. By framing the housing development alongside the wetland created by the beavers, I wanted to show that it is possible for humans and wildlife to share space."

How it was shot

His kit list is short: a Sony A7R III, a 16-35mm f/4 lens, a tripod and an infrared sensor. The framing is wide, low and close, allowing the lens to pay proper attention to the animals in the foreground, without losing that city background.

The A7R III is gaining in years now, having launched in 2017, but its 42.4MP sensor delivers plenty of detail, and the setting of ISO 1600 is well within its comfort zone.

Monochrome is a smart choice, too. A night scene like this typically might mix orange streetlights, cool skylight and the hues of whatever lit the foreground. Opting for black and white instead nullifies such potential clashing colors, and turns the mist into a soft, glowing backdrop.

Why it won

Rewilding Europe Award, now in its fifth year, is a special category within the GDT's European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. It's run in partnership with Rewilding Europe, a non-profit organization dedicated to making Europe a wilder place.

"The winning and commended images capture the essence of how humans and wildlife can live side by side," says judge Viktoria Pezzei. "Photography like this translates the complex relationships between humans and wildlife, ultimately helping us understand them better."

Wieczorek will be honored at the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year ceremony on October 23, 2026.

It turns out, like humans, animals too only want their best angles snapped, with several of the finalist images at this year’s Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards striking some seriously sexy poses.

The global photography competition has revealed its shortlist for the 2026 edition, which saw more than 10,000 entries, the highest number in its history, from 112 countries.

Among them is a praying mantis strutting the sexiest look you never knew an animal could do, captured by Peruvian photographer Diego Perez.

Perez told the competition organizers that he had first tried photographing the entire insect, but the images “felt too familiar,” subsequently lowering his position to get the promiscuous

Then there’s a caiman, photopraphed by Italian Paolo Torre, who appears to be rocking an Elvis-esque hairstyle while giving the camera the most seductive side-eye only the King of Rock ’n’ Roll knew how to.

According to Torre, the animal had emerged from the water in an area with a lot of floating vegetation, some of which had remained on its head.

Finally, US photographer Scott Suraino snapped an Alaskan brown bear showing off its fantastic physique during what appeared to be a morning calisthenics routine. Suraino said that it seemed like the “beach babe” was getting her summer body ready.

Perez, Torre, and Suraino will now compete, along with all of the other finalists, to be crowned the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year and win a safari trip to Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Other prizes include a Nikon Z6 III, Z50II, and ZR, plus rucksacks from ThinkTANK.

The overall winner, category winner, and highly commended images will be announced on Tuesday, December 8, at an awards night in London. This will be followed by a one-week exhibition in December for all the 2026 finalists at the OXO Gallery in London.

You might also like…

Browse the best cameras for wildlife photography and the best lenses for bird photography and wildlife.

Tenba has launched a new line-up of camera shoulder bags: DNA v2. Sporting a design reminiscent of vintage shoulder bags from the film photography era, DNA v2 bags are intended to pair perfectly with cameras like Fujifilm X-series bodies, the Nikon Zf and Z fc, as well as Leica M cameras.

But although DNA v2 bags may look retro, they're very much constructed from 2026 materials. Each bag is made from a brushed polyester twill with a durable water-repellent finish on the face and a double PU coating on the reverse, while every exterior opening is protected by water-repellent zips. These are styled to look like metal, in-keeping with the retro look, but are actually polymer, so won't scratch your gear. Additional weather protection is provided by an included silver/black reversible rain cover, with the silver side intended to reflect sunlight on hot days.

The DNA v2 shoulder bag is available in four size options: the smallest DNA v2 Shoulder Bag 10 fits a mirrorless, rangefinder or compact DSLR camera with 3–4 lenses, plus a tablet up to 11 inches. Step up to the Shoulder Bag 14 and there's space for a mirrorless or DSLR camera with 3–5 lenses (up to an unattached 70-200mm f/2.8), plus a 14-inch laptop. The Shoulder Bag 16 has a similar capacity for camera gear, but can hold a 16-inch laptop, while the largest DNA v2 Shoulder Bag 16 Pro has been designed to store a pro-size mirrorless or DSLR camera with a grip, 4–6 lenses up to an attached 70-200mm f/2.8, plus a 16-inch laptop. All four variants come in either black or blue colorways.

Whichever size you choose, you get 3-Stage dual-zip top access that allows immediate, unobstructed access to your gear (the top flap folds back and attaches to the interior sidewall, so it is completely out of the way). The laptop/tablet pocket is accessed separately to the camera compartment, making it easy to remove a laptop when passing through airport security.

Additional pockets on the front provide space for batteries, cables, memory cards and other accessories, while an elastic side pocket secures a water bottle. An extra zipped side pocket offers quick storage for a lens or other larger items. There's even a hidden Bluetooth tracker pocket compatible with AirTag and Tile. Everything is suspended on shoulder strap pad made from memory foam, which Tenba says should give body-contouring all-day comfort.

Tenba DNA v2 bags are available now, and are priced very keenly. Expect to pay from an $169.95/£140 for the smallest DNA v2 Shoulder Bag 10, up to $219.95/£180 for the range-topping DNA v2 Shoulder Bag 16 Pro.

Researchers conducting camera-based surveys off the coast of one of Samoa’s smallest populated islands found something unexpected when they looked at the footage: An endangered leopard shark.

A group conducting surveys with National Geographic Pristine Seas was dropping baited underwater camera systems, also known as BRUVs, off the coast of Samoa’s Apolima Island. That's when they managed to capture footage of the rare leopard shark, or Stegostoma tigrinum, which is sometimes also called a zebra shark:

While the endangered species has been caught on camera before, this was the first time that the shark has been recorded in Samoan waters. Previous reports suggested that the species could occasionally be found there, but the researchers say the footage is the first verifiable evidence that the shark is also found near the Samoan islands.

But beyond adding evidence of the shark’s range, the footage helps illustrate the importance of deploying cameras in wildlife research. BRUVs are unmanned baited cameras that are typically left alone in the ocean for about an hour in an attempt to document wildlife that may be more skittish around human presence.

Impressively, the zebra shark was actually captured on the team’s first camera deployment in the region earlier this summer.

“A single camera deployment can reveal something entirely unexpected and add an important piece to our understanding of a species distribution,” said National Geographic Pristine Sea scientist Jett Walker.

The leopard shark is a slow-moving shark that’s typically found along sandy bottoms, as the shark prefers a diet of gastropods and bivalve mollusks, such as snails, clams, and mussels. But the footage also adds to growing evidence that the sharks can be found in coral reefs.

The successful capture on the group’s first baited camera drop in the region also gives the researchers a “promising start” to their work in the region.

National Geographic’s Pristine Seas mixes filmmaking and underwater photography with scientific research. The group’s work has already helped to support the establishment of 31 protected marine reserves.

The footage isn't just aiding in conservation – it adds to a growing pile of evidence of how camera traps can aid wildlife research and conservation.

You may also like

For more inspiring ocean research powered by camera technology, read about the shelling dolphin captured on camera. Or, for a laugh, read about the tiger shark that stole a camera.

Optical illusions aren’t just for internet entertainment – new research suggests that the patterns in butterfly wings serve as an optical illusion to help the winged creatures avoid predators.

The study was made possible using slow-motion cameras capable of capturing videos of butterflies taking off at more than 1,000 frames per second. The researchers from England’s University of Essex and the University of Exeter recorded the takeoff of five different butterfly species against a green screen background at 1,057 fps per second.

Then, the researchers fed the footage through a bird-vision computer model and compared the movement suggested by the slow-motion footage to how the butterfly had actually moved.

“The first slow-motion video of a butterfly I put through our bird-vision computer model was glowing with downward motion even though the butterfly was moving up,” said researcher Dr. Jolyon Troscianko. “First I checked this wasn’t a coding error, that I’d swapped up and down somehow, but then it dawned on me that this would be a perfect way to confuse attacking predators.”

Troscianko explained that the patterns in the butterfly’s wings create an illusion that works a lot like the “barber pole illusion” – even though the classic red-and-white barber pole is only turning sideways, the stripes appear to be moving upward. On a butterfly’s wings, this illusion can cause a bird to miss the butterfly entirely or hit a less delicate part of the insect.

The team looked at five different species – two of which had different patterns between males and females, creating seven different patterns to study. The researchers then looked at patterns for about 400 different European butterflies and found similar patterns that could create an optical illusion once in motion.

The researchers also asked a computer model to “evolve” 50,000 wing patterns, and found computer-generated patterns that were very similar to actual butterfly species.

The research could help answer a longstanding question about butterflies. Many butterflies have muted colors and camouflage patterns on the underside of their wings, helping them to blend in when the butterfly lands. But many species have bright colors on the top side of their wings that seem the opposite of that camouflage.

The new research suggests those bright colors and patterns skip camouflage for an optical illusion designed to make predators miss. The researchers are hopeful the work could open up future work into how patterns across the wider animal kingdom, from zebras to birds, could be a trait built to confuse predators.

The research was published on September 30 in the journal Nature and has already been peer-reviewed.

You may also like

Love photographing butterflies? These are the best macro lenses, picked by real photographers.

Camera brands have been warning of increasing costs all year – and now a major camera maker has raised camera prices in Japan due to “a surge in material costs.” On October 01, Fujifilm Japan issued a notice that the prices of some cameras, lenses, and instant cameras/printers have increased.

The price increases range from six to 23 percent and cover a handful of cameras, one lens, and a few Instax products, but not Fujifilm’s entire lineup. That list includes popular X-series models, including the viral X100VI compact camera as well as the X-T50 and X-E5 mirrorless cameras. The medium format GFX100 II, GFX100S II, and GFX100RF have also been affected.

Just one lens is affected so far – the XF 500mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WR – but the kit price with a bundled lens for the X-T50 and X-E5 also increased in Japan.

Hybrid Instax sees the steepest increase, with changes ranging from six to 23 percent. Affected products include the Instax Mini LiPlay, LiPlay+, Mini Evo, Mini Evo Cinema, and Wide Evo. The smartphone photo printers Mini Link 3 and SQ Link are also impacted.

Fujifilm has been warning investors of rising costs since 2025, but in 2026 those warnings shifted from general inflation to the rising cost of memory components due to an AI-driven memory shortage earlier this year. The rising cost of silver is also a factor, particularly for Fujifilm Instax film, which uses silver halide technology.

The increase in costs in Japan for Fujifilm raises two key questions for photographers. First, will other regions follow suit? And second, will other camera brands also increase prices?

The increased prices in Japan have already gone into effect. In the US, the affected products appear to remain unchanged, keeping the same list price as after Fujifilm’s second tariff-fueled price hike last year.

In the UK, a few Fujifilm products now sit at a higher price point – though it’s unclear if those changes came on October 1 or as part of the September increases in Europe. The Fujifilm body-only X-E5, for example, is now £1,399, which is £100 above the launch price. The popular X100VI compact camera, once £1,599, now sits at £1,749.

While it’s unclear if other brands will raise camera prices, Fujifilm isn’t alone in warning investors of rising manufacturing costs. Canon, Sony, Nikon, Leica and GoPro have also warned of rising manufacturing costs amid the memory crisis and AI boom.

Adjusting list prices also isn’t the only possible response to the increased costs. Canon has told investors that it pre-bought most of the memory stock that it needs for 2026, for example. Photographers could also potentially see the impact not in increased list prices, but in reduced frequency of camera sales and deals.

Newly launched cameras could also already be taking the increased manufacturing costs into account, as a number of 2026 launches sit at a higher price than their predecessors – but increased features and inflation could also be playing a role in those price changes.

You may also like

Take a look at the best Fujifilm cameras or the best Fujifilm lenses.

Film cameras came with the anticipation of finally opening a pack of photos, unseen since the moment unfolded. Now, a new all-digital camera wants to recapture some of that magic by skipping the screen and instead mailing out physical prints every month. Await is a film-inspired compact camera that aims to bring the anticipation of shooting film to the digital world.

At its core, Await is a compact camera with an 8MP 1/3.2-inch sensor, a 26mm equivalent lens, and a built-in filter inspired by film. But the most unusual part of the Await camera is what happens after the photo is taken.

Using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi or a USB-C cord, photos from the Await are transferred to a mobile app, one “roll” of 24 shots at a time. Like with film, those rolls cannot be viewed until a full roll is finished and developed in the app (though there’s a desktop computer shortcut).

But Await wants to make sure those photos exist as more than files – and every month, sends out a full pack of 6x4 inch prints from the camera. Await allows photographers to choose to either automatically print every roll shot on the camera, or to manually select what photos to print.

The physical prints aren’t the only way Await wants to bring a film-like experience to digital compact cameras. The number of shots is limited to a roll of 24 images. The camera’s internal memory can hold up to three rolls at a time.

The Await, a new sister brand from the Swiss company Rolling Stone, aims to join the growing list of screen-free compact cameras built for digital fatigue. Instead, the Await camera trades out the screen for an OLED that shows essentials like the battery life and the number of shots remaining in the “roll.”

But screen-tree isn’t the only trend that the Await hits. The semi-transparent body is inspired by retro 1990s tech, while a magnetic, swappable faceplate allows for changing up the look of the camera.

The upcoming camera also hits on the compact camera trend – the brand says the camera is only around 44 percent larger than a credit card, measuring 98mm x 68mm x 55mm / 3.86 x 2.68 x .59 inches.

While the physical prints are what make the Await stand out from other screen-free compact cameras, the prints – and their costs – are optional. Users can choose to automatically print each roll, which will cost around $8.99 a roll in the US, manually choose which photos to print at $9.99, or just enjoy the digital photos without recurring costs. (International print pricing has not yet been announced.

Await was first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show at the start of 2026. Now, the camera is launching on Kickstarter, where the campaign has already more than doubled its original goal.

Pledges with a camera start at €89 – about $101 / £76 / AU$145 / CA$143. The Await camera’s expected MSRP is €129, or about $146 / £110 / AU$210 / CA$208. If production proceeds as expected, the company expects to begin shipping the camera in December 2026.

You may also like

Got digital fatigue? These are the best screen-free digital cameras for staying in the moment.

With mirrorless rigs now the go-to technology, many wildlife photographers these days wouldn’t sniff at a DSLR camera, especially bird photographers, who often want the fastest and sharpest kit available.

But US-based photographer Erich Podbielski has just proven that DSLR setups still have the firepower to compete with any new, shiny mirrorless, using one to recently gain an honorable mention at the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards.

With a Canon EOS 90D, a seven-year-old 32MP APS-C DSLR, extremely modest by today’s standards, and a Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD lens, Podbielski snapped the frame of a flock of brown pelicans at Oregon’s Cannon Beach.

Erich Podbielski's gear and settings

• Canon EOS 90D
• Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD
• 1/2500sec | f/5 | ISO 320
• Species: Brown Pelican 
• Location: Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States 

Talking to the competition organizers, Podbielski explained that he was visiting the beach, famed for its iconic pyramid-esque Haystack Rock, a year after honeymooning there with his wife, when “squadron after squadron” of brown pelicans flew low across the water.

“Mesmerized,” Brown continued roughly a mile farther along the shore, discovering the birds frolicking against the picturesque backdrop of Haystack Rock. “I positioned myself so I could capture one flock and got eye-level with the pelicans,” he explained.

“I was physically shaking after the experience: an iconic coastal species at an iconic coastal landmark, reminding us that people and birds can share the shore,” he added.

As an honorable mention in the “Birds Without Borders” category, the judges’ commented that Podbielski’s image “beautifully” showcased the movements of migratory species over long distances and connected habitats.

The judges added that the "soft fog, muted colors, and iconic landscape" created an atmospheric scene, while the lone flying bird and the bustling flock below added dynamism.

The Audubon Photography Awards celebrate outstanding bird photography and videography while highlighting the diversity, beauty, and conservation challenges facing birds.

Organized by the National Audubon Society, the event features multiple categories, with separate competitions for photographers in the US and Canada and in Chile and Colombia.

Jacqueline Burke was the Grand Winner in this year’s edition of the competition with her image of a roseate spoonbill at an alligator farm zoological park in Florida, US.

You might also like…

Browse the best cameras for wildlife photography and the best lenses for bird photography and wildlife.

Xtra has used its official social feed to share a release with an apology for the delay in the promised Muse 2 and Muse 2 Pro, cameras which were trailed on August 13 but have yet to appear on sale.

The US-based camera and drone company seems to be trying to fill the gap in the market that is being left as the American government clamps down on free trade in general and Chinese company DJI specifically, which has meant the recent DJI Osmo Pocket 4 and Pocket 4P have been released everywhere except America.

The Muse 2 Pro pocket gimbal camera seems to offer very similar specifications to the Pocket 4P (as, some have observed, the original Muse did the Pocket 3). Indeed Xtra has taken the opportunity not just to make its apology, but to point out that the original Muse is still available and an appealing prospect at its current price.

If you're planning on waiting, it's worth remembering that while Xtra's last re-iteration of the launch was in August, it actually showed the Muse 2 Pro in July at a launch event, which is a long time to not release a product.

Even before that, DJI is being clamped down on by the US government, so any connection between the companies (and the technological similarities are undeniable). At first what was just a ban on drones now seems to cover all new DJI products in 2026, while the FCC – which imposed that ban – expanded its investigation to include Xtra. This was based on a claim that the XTRA devices were exact hardware copies.

Xtra has also issued refunds to pre-orders made after that announcement, around the same time the FCC proposed a $25,000 penalty to Xtra, partly because it didn't respond to the Commission's investigations.

Many saw the Muse series as the way round the DJI ban, but clearly that was a temporary phenomenon at best.

That said, those looking for the best action cameras and the best pocket gimbal cameras may now be more interested by the Insta360 Luna Ultra as a credible alternative to the chimaera of a Muse 2 Pro – it is already on sale (and I was thoroughly impressed in my review).

Most of us have a ton of photos that we never look at. They may be stored digitally, tucked away on an ageing hard drive. Or they may simply exist as negatives, gathering dust in a shoebox. Either way, you haven't looked at them for years, and you don't really want to. Because, to be honest, you remember them not being very good.

We all have that very human response to stuff we did a while ago. Personally, as a writer, I shudder to think of the nonsense I was churning out 10, 20, 30 years ago. But every now and again, something I penned back then gets resurfaced online. And blow me down, it often turns out to have been pretty good.

That seems pretty much what happened to Dave Jordano. In early 1972, aged 24, he was a photography student at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit. He spent around a year roaming the city and its environs with a 35mm film camera, but printed very little of what he shot. He kept the negatives, sure, but ultimately put them to the back of his mind for several decades.

When he uncovered them in 2013, though, he was surprised to find a substantial, impressive body of work. A selection of these shots has since won All About Photo's Solo Exhibition competition. Titled The Year I Arrived, it's exhibiting online on the All About Photo website throughout October.

A city a'changing

Looking back at these pictures now is a heady experience. Back in 1972, Detroit was still Motor City. Five years on from the 1967 riots, big societal changes were afoot. Yet Jordano's shots don't focus on any of that, at least not directly. Instead, his lens gets close to people going about their ordinary day.

At a lunch counter, two members of a motorcycle club sit with their backs to the camera, their customised vests dominating the view, while a waitress in the foreground shoots the camera a look that tells you exactly what she's thinking.

In Greektown, a group of young women sit outside an electrical store, with a hand-painted sign advertising soft drinks for 25 cents, all lost in thought. At an anti-war rally, a young Jane Fonda speaks into a mike while fellow activist Tom Hayden chats in the crowd and fairground ride seats dangle overhead.

Then there are the suburbs. In Sterling Heights in 1973, a small child clutching a purse stands on a sidewalk flanked by freshly laid lawns and spindly new trees. It's an image of a child, but it also points to where a lot of inner Detroit residents were heading at the time.

The lead image is the one I love most. Coffee Break, shot in the Michigan town of Bad Axe in 1972, shows two young women in a diner booth. One has a look of total boredom, fist pressed to her mouth. The other has a 35mm camera clamped to her face. And it tells you a lot about what makes these pictures work.

Jordano wasn't sneaking shots from a distance. His subjects knew he was there. Many of them look right down the lens. And that level of directness gives these images an atmosphere that much street photography lacks.

What we can learn

So what happened next? Well, you might say life got in the way. Jordano graduated in 1974, set up a commercial studio in Chicago in 1977 and spent years shooting advertising for clients including Starbucks, Kellogg's and Nintendo.

Later he built a second career as a fine art photographer, publishing books including Detroit: Unbroken Down and winning the $50,000 AIMIA-AGO Photography Prize in Canada.

By the time he looked at the negatives again, aged 65, he'd had a wide range of life experiences. Consequently, he judged them from an entirely different perspective than he'd had at 24.

The lesson is simple, yet profound. Your early work may not be as bad as you remember. In fact, it might be incredible. So dig out that box, that hard drive. If it's awful, at least you'll realise how far you've come. And if it turns out to be better than you expected, well, the sky's the limit.

Brightin Star's latest MF 50mm F2.0 Tri-Sight lens seems fairly normal with its fixed 50mm focal length, but it stands out from the crowd by boasting user-selectable 'rendering modes' which alter the character of out-of-focus highlight points. Choose from Smooth bokeh (soft highlights), Prime (sharper, more defined highlights), or Foams (dreamy, bubble-like light flares)

The system works using a dedicated control ring positioned between the focus and aperture rings. This moves a floating group of lens elements back or forth within the barrel to vary the focus distance, altering the convergence characteristics of light rays passing through the lens. This then results in the change in bokeh style, depending upon where the light converges relative to the focal plane.

This feature alone would make the MF 50mm F2.0 Tri-Sight pretty special, but Brightin Star also includes four circular plate inserts with novelty aperture cut-outs. These turn what would otherwise be round out of focus highlights into a choice of butterfly, star, triangle, or four-leaf clover shapes. The effect is certainly eye catching, though not entirely unique, as Lomography implemented a similar feature in its Petzval and Daguerreotype Achromat lenses. Brightin Star's method of fitting the inserts is more unusual though, as rather than slotting them down into the barrel, you instead unscrew a locking ring at the lens mount, fit the plate, then re-attach the ring. There is also a slot in the barrel, but this is designed to take conventional drop-in 37.5mm filters.

The barrel itself is made entirely of metal and features a neat retractable hood. Weight ranges between 429g and 454g, and length between 70mm and 74mm, depending on mount option. The aperture diaphragm is comprised of a generous 11 blades and is de-clicked for smooth aperture transitions when shooting video. Videographers may also appreciate the included detachable focus lever that helps with fine focus adjustments - useful, as the MF 50mm F2.0 Tri-Sight does not have autofocus.

Inside is a 7-element optical stack arranged in 6 groups. Up front is a custom-made protective lens made from precision-ground, ultra-thin glass measuring just 0.7mm thick. This is necessary as the floating group of elements which adjust the bokeh appearance actually extend forward of the main barrel when in Foams mode, making the front element more vulnerable to damage. Consequently, Brightin Star recommends the lens is stored with the bokeh control set to Prime mode, where the barrel is retracted.

The Brightin Star MF 50mm F2.0 Tri-Sight lens is available now for full-frame and APS-C Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, and L-mount cameras, priced at $349.99/£263.99

Laowa has just announced "the world's first full-frame AF 35mm lens with true 1:1 magnification", promising the unique life-size rendering of a macro lens with the environmental context of a wide-angle lens.

Unlike traditional macro optics, built around longer focal lengths that carve a subject out of the scene, the new Laowa Acris 35mm f/2.8 1x Macro Apo brings a 1:1 reproduction ratio to a much wider perspective – and combines it with a fast f/2.8 aperture and advanced autofocus.

Well, the autofocus part comes with a bit of an asterisk: the lens will be available with AF on Sony E, Nikon Z and Canon EF mounts, while on Canon RF and L-Mount it is manual focus only.

The AF versions offer what Laowa is calling a Dual-Mode Hybrid Focusing system designed to work across all distances.

The Standard Autofocus mode (from infinity to 0.5m) "delivers fast, responsive, and accurate subject acquisition for everyday shooting, street photography, and environmental portraits."

Then there is Macro Focus Assistance (from 0.5m to 1:1), which "takes over in the close-up range to provide tactile micro-step manual precision. This setup integrates seamlessly into focus-bracketing workflows, making handheld or tripod-based focus stacking simple, efficient, and exceptionally accurate for high-depth-of-field macro shots."

As the name suggests, the Laowa Acris 35mm f/2.8 1x Macro Apo boasts Laowa's apochromatic optical design, which the manufacturer says "virtually eliminates both longitudinal and lateral chromatic aberrations (CA) in both in-focus and out-of-focus areas."

The optical design features a total of 13 elements in 10 groups, with 9 aperture blades in the AF version and 13 in the manual. The minimum focus distance is 180mm, with a minimum working distance of 48.6mm.

Weight and dimensions vary across the various mounts. The Sony version is a good representation of the mirrorless versions at 79mm x 114mm and 560g, with a 72mm filter thread, while the Canon DSLR version measures 79mm x 87.4mm and weighs 530g, with a 67mm filter thread.

All versions of the lens are weather-sealed, which makes this a very capable option for shooting outdoor subjects or working in damp and dusty environments.

The Laowa Acris 35mm f/2.8 1x Macro Apo is on sale now, priced $449 (£339 / AU$645).

You might also like…

Take a look at the best macro lenses and the best cameras for macro photography.

Photographer Carl Bovis was shocked to be told by former New York attorney Regina Alberty that she was blocking him on social media for the heinous crime of posting an unflattering photo of a bird.

She implied he had deliberately made the image look bad because he disliked the woodpigeon, saying: "Usually photographers try to take pictures that favor the subject. Do you even like the subject of your pics?" before telling him not to answer, as she would be blocking him.

I got in touch with Carl, who is based in Somerset in the UK – not so far from where Digital Camera World started life – and asked him how it felt to be on the receiving end of this.

He said "I'm usually quite sensitive to criticism but I found that hilarious!" which, if I'm honest, I was expecting – as he'd shared the image on socials "knowing my followers would be similarly amused" he said, "but I didn't quite expect the reaction it got."

As he also notes, "I definitely gained more than I lost. Regina didn't even follow me, but was so offended by my harmless woodpigeon in the rain that she had to block me, and made sure I knew why!"

Others are asking for more 'offensive pigeons' – could this be a new genre in photography? – and Carl has even sold prints on the back of this exchange (see Carl Bovis print sales).

There have also been a lot of funny replies defending Carl on social platforms. He picked out: "I didn't even get *that* testy after I saw my own passport photo." while I enjoyed: "Yeah, the pigeon can't use that on Tinder! What a worthless photoshoot."

Oddly, the pigeon incident might only be "one of" the strangest discussions he has had about his photography.

"One woman once insisted that all my birds in flight photos were dead, and 'posed' in mid-air by string.... that was strange, but I don't think she blocked me!"

I asked Carl about his history in photography (beyond unusual exchanges). He told me "I've always loved birds, and I started taking photos of them back in 2006 when I bought my first DSLR camera, a Nikon D50, so I could have a record of what I'd seen."

He started sharing them on the now-defunct Fotothing, and was surprised by the positive response: "I got very popular there, but the site started to go downhill when other bigger rivals started appearing, such as Flickr and Facebook."

He still uses social: "I started posting on both, then eventually joined Twitter in 2015. That's now where I share most of my work because that's where most of my followers are."

His camera is now a Nikon Z9, and "I like to walk about hand-holding it with Nikon Z 180-600mm lens to get my photos."

He let me into one more secret about the 'singing woodpigeon' as the title suggests: "When I'm at home I take photos of the birds in my garden from my bathroom window as it offers the best view. That's where I took the 'singing woodpigeon in the rain' photo. The pigeon was actually having a bit of a preen in the rain, This is a good time to get unusual angles and poses as the birds shake their feathers and stretch to reach different areas of their plumage. This Woodpigeon wasn't actually singing (or cooing), it had just shaken itself, and I used a very fast shutter speed to freeze this split second in time."

Check our guides to the best camera for wildlife photography and best lenses for bird photography.

I've tried three different pairs of smart glasses in the same day and one was noteable simply because it didn't say "Ray-Ban" or "Meta" on it. That was the new Vive Eagle, with built-in camera and ring-fenced access to multiple AI chatbots.

The concept of the Vive Eagle glasses isn't a million miles from the established Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with camera – the third generation of which was launched just days ago – but there are some key differences as well as similarities.

Like the Ray-Ban Meta, the 'smart glasses' are designed to pair with your phone and offer AI assistance via a chat bot you talk to (there is no 'screen' or display), and they have a built-in camera which lets you take 3MP video or capture photos – and lets the AI "see" its environment.

The 12MP camera can power AI features like visual translation, too (live translation is an option, but you'll need your phone out to share the conversation).

There are speakers above each ear in the arms of the glasses; these have 'virtual bass' to reduce noise leakage.

Where things differ significantly from Meta's product is that the AI does not belong to HTC/Vive, and so – I was told – the company has been keen put privacy first. Meta, on the other hand, uses its own AI, and interactions with it are used by Meta as part of the development of its LLM.

To be clear, this isn't the same as Meta keeping your photos and videos, which are protected by the company's policy.

Because Vive isn't working on a LLM, there is what can be seen as a significant advantage – it can use both Gemini and ChatGPT for its functionality. That offers choice.

"Wait! What about the fact that those services use personal data as part of their development?" you might ask. Well, for now at least, the Vive Eagle doesn't allow you to connect to your personal chatbot account – so it can only get the plain answer. Fine for queries like "What is the weather going to be like?" or "Read this to me in English" but there will be some who may actually prefer

This is a feature that'll be looked at, I was told. In the meantime, you have your phone's assistant accessed effectively as if through headphones – be that Google Assistant or Siri.

The Vive glasses boast a button on either side. There is a status LED that faces the user (just in the bottom right of your field of view) and another facing out (with tamper sensors).

In terms of style, they might not be called 'Ray-Ban' but there are a number of colorways, including the black pair with sunglass-style lenses I am testing, as well as red and brown alternatives and clear glass. There are more rounded frames, called Pantos, and more square ones (as pictured). Lenses are Zeiss, a name that'll please readers here!

The lightest pair is 48.5g and they do feel light to wear, but a nice touch is that a small additional battery can be magnetically attached without adding a lot of weight if you need a boost. This may detract from the style, of course, depending on your hair!

Check our guide to the best camera glasses.

If you've ever written names on the back of a photograph, then consider yourself a hero. Because future generations will thank you, whether they're descendants trying to figure out their family lineage or historians analyzing stuff we don't even know will be important 100 years from now.

Here's a great example. Back in the last century, someone handwrote "Clyde Barrow" and "Bonnie Parker" on a snapshot that turned up in a battered old photo album that a Texas man found in a garage. And he's spent the last 15 years trying to convince everyone that he's found unseen photos of American history's most notorious outlaw couple.

Timothy Phelps, from Corpus Christi, unearthed the album while helping a friend clear out his late father's garage. It stayed closed for a year. When Phelps finally examined it, he found the labelled print – and others that seem to show Bonnie, Clyde and other members of the Barrow Gang, who robbed and killed their way across the southern US during the Great Depression.

ABOVE: Watch the report by KIII 3 News

Now forensic artist Lois Gibson, who holds a Guinness World Record for the most identifications by a forensic artist, has told TV channel KIII 3 News that there's "absolutely no doubt" the couple is who Phelps says it is.

Gibson came to this conclusion by overlaying Phelps' prints on known photos of the pair.

"I put it in different degrees of transparency on top of the known Bonnie Parker photo, and every single feature lines up," she told the broadcaster. "You can tell it might be a little different in time. There might be different fat content, but the bones beneath the skin all are the same."

Reason for caution

Others, though, urge caution.

"Camera distance and angle change how a face renders," notes Alex Cooke from Fstoppers, "which is why the guidelines insist on matching viewpoints" (he's referring to recommendations from the Facial Identification Scientific Working Group, which the FBI launched in 2009). And he makes a good point.

You don't need to be an expert to notice how shooting distance changes facial proportions, which is why a phone held at arm's length gives you a bigger nose than an 85mm lens from across the room. Swap a sharp lens for a simple 1930s box camera and the issue only gets more complicated.

On the other hand, we generally have good reason to think that unseen pictures of Bonnie and Clyde might be still out there, because both were keen amateur photographers. Indeed, the reason their most famous images exist is that, in April 1933, the gang fled a shootout in Joplin, Missouri, and left behind a camera and several rolls of film.

One of the most memorable shots showed Bonnie clutching a revolver with a cigar between her teeth. It was a jokey pose among friends, yet it defined her public image as a cigar-chomping moll for eternity. A cautionary tale, perhaps, for anyone joking about in front of a friend's lens: you'll have no control over how future generations may interpret that photo.

The family kept plenty of pictures, too. Last September, an archive of around 600 belonging to Clyde's sister Nell, some of which featured the couple, sold at auction for $23,750 (approximately £17,900 / AU$34,159).

If Phelps decides to sell his prints, though, there'll be awkward questions about provenance. He was told that the album might have been found in an abandoned shack somewhere in the California desert, but even that remains unclear. It's far from the documented chain of ownership that a buyer would hope for.

On the plus side, retired museum administrator Mark Hall-Patton – a familiar face from the reality TV show Pawn Stars – found the album, prints and handwriting consistent with the period.

Whatever ultimately happens, though, the broader lesson is clear. When you caption your prints, add a name, a date and a place. Future historians will thank you from the bottom of their hearts.

You might also like…

Whether you're photographing your friends or notorious outlaws, make sure you're using one of the best cameras for portraits and the best portrait lenses!

Lomography has taken one of the most recognizable looks in experimental photography and pushed it into completely new territory, with the Joseph Petzval Métamorphose 35mm f/1.8 – a new focus-coupled, bokeh control art lens designed for both photographers and filmmakers.

Available for Sony E, Canon RF and Nikon Z mounts, the new optic moves beyond the classic Petzval swirl and introduces a far more aggressive, almost vortex-like rendering that can be adjusted in-camera directly.

The Petzval name is already synonymous with wonderfully strange backgrounds, swirling bokeh and portraits that look as though they have been dragged straight out of another century – but the Métamorphose takes that character considerably further.

At its strongest bokeh setting, Lomography says the lens creates a perception-bending optical warp around an incredibly sharp center, with points of light stretching into comet-like shapes and the background appearing to surge around the subject.

At closer focusing distances that effect becomes even more pronounced, combining stretching and swirling bokeh to make the subject appear almost as though it is jumping out of the frame. At the opposite end of the scale, the effect can be dialled back for a much calmer rendering, with softer edges and soap-bubble-style bokeh textures.

The strength of the effect is adjustable across seven levels, while further changes can be made through aperture and focus, giving photographers and filmmakers considerably more control over just how strange they want their final image to look.

Lomography sees the lens as a creative storytelling tool, capable of adding a sense of speed to static scenes, creating feelings of confusion or movement, and even recreating some of the visual language associated with classic horror films.

What makes the story particularly interesting is where the optical design comes from. Lomography says its inspiration stretches back more than 200 years to the work of German mathematician and physicist, Carl Friedrich Gauss.

His Single Gaussian lens design from 1817 suffered from significant coma and astigmatism – optical characteristics that saw it deemed unsuitable for photography and instead used for telescopes. Lomography has deliberately embraced those imperfections, rather than correcting them, using the historically rejected design as the starting point for a modern photographic and cinematographic lens.

The 35mm lens uses 6 elements arranged in 5 groups and offers a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture, closing down to f/22 through a stopless iris-style aperture system. There is also support for drop-in rear aperture plates, a 62° field of view, a minimum focusing distance of 0.35m and a 67mm filter thread.

There are no electronic contacts, as you would probably expect from something this deliberately old-school in its optical philosophy, with focusing handled entirely manually through a helicoid mechanism.

Sample images

Lomography has clearly paid particular attention to filmmakers as well. The Métamorphose features a 180° focus throw, mod 0.8 follow-focus gearing and stopless control rings for focus, aperture and bokeh adjustment.

There is also a built-in quarter-inch lens support for tripod, handheld and gimbal setups, while the focus-coupling mechanism is designed to prevent unwanted focus shift as the bokeh effect is changed. That means the character of the background can effectively be altered during a shot, opening the door to gradual transitions and increasingly pronounced subject isolation without interrupting focus.

I have always liked lenses that do something genuinely different rather, than simply chasing another tiny improvement in sharpness, and the Joseph Petzval Métamorphose certainly looks as though it falls into that category. This is not a lens pretending to be clinically perfect; its entire appeal comes from exaggerating the optical characteristics lens designers spent generations trying to remove.

For photographers and filmmakers who enjoy creating their look in-camera rather than adding everything afterwards, this could be one of the more unusual 35mm lenses we have seen for some time.

The lens is currently available for presale through Lomography's website, with delivery beginning in December, and will carry a price of $649 (approximately £489 / AU$930).

You might also like…

Take a look at the best Lomography lenses for more creative art optics!

NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency), the operators of the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb), have released a new image taken by the telescope that depicts a cluster of galaxies warping the light emitted from more distant cosmic bodies.

Known as “gravitational lensing”, the phenomenon – which was first theorized by Albert Einstein – occurs when gravitational forces produced by massive objects, such as galaxies, bend spacetime, which in turn warps and magnifies light traveling in their path.

The newly released image was made the Webb Picture of the Month for September by NASA/ESA. In the foreground we see a handful of extremely bright stars, along with a cluster of galaxies – which appears to contain a compact subgroup of distorted orange galaxies.

According to NASA/ESA, the galaxy cluster in the foreground is MACS J0454.1-0300 – which, to Webb’s instruments, appears as it was when the universe was roughly 8 billion years old.

The warped orange cluster of galaxies is, meanwhile, seen as it was when the universe was about 2 billion years old, a point in spacetime much further away from Earth than the location of MACS J0454.1-0300.

However, as the light from the more distant orange galaxy cluster is gravitationally lensed by MACS J0454.1-0300, it appears as though we are seeing a single, closer and highly packed galaxy cluster.

The astronomers explained how, in this image, some of the distant galaxies that have been gravitationally lensed appear multiple times.

According to the scientists, gravitational lensing can also cause the same image to be projected more than once, creating an optical illusion that the astronomers called a “cosmic house of mirrors.”

I don’t know about you, but now knowing what NASA/ESA astronomers deal with when capturing images with Webb, I don’t think any of us regular photographers can complain about working with tricky subjects ever again!

You might also like…

Here’s our expert’s pick of the best telescopes for astrophotography and stargazing.

This year’s ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition saw some truly unique images, perhaps none more so than the winner of the “Our Moon” category.

Taken by Czech astrophotographer Petr Horalek, the image depicts a rare lunar occultation of Venus, as the Moon passed in front of the planet for roughly one hour during a September afternoon last year.

“The most beautiful moment was when Venus had just started to disappear behind the crescent,” Horalek told the photography competition organizers. “It looked like a bright pearl on the lunar limb.”

Petr Horalek's gear and settings

• Sky-Watcher 10″ FlexTube Dobsonian telescope
• Nikon Z6 III
• f/5 / ISO 250 / multiple 1/8,000sec exposures
• Location: Ústupky, Seč, Pardubice Region, Czechia, September 19, 2025

To capture the creative frame, Horalek snapped multiple 1/8000 sec exposures as the bright planet began to move out of sight.

“It was a big challenge to find both objects in the sky and produce good shots of this unusual view,” he explained. “Fortunately, the weather was perfect and I was able to do it.”

Raul Cantemir's gear and settings

• Custom DocTelescope 16″ f/4.5 truss Newtonian
• GreatStar ADC
• APM 1.25″ coma-correcting 2.7x Barlow lens
• Sky-Watcher EQ8-R mount
• ZWO ASI178MC camera
• 4,860mm / f/4.5 (without Barlow lens) / f/12.2 (with Barlow lens) / 164-sec exposure
• Location: Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany, August 13, 2025

Two other impressive images were also commended in the “Our Moon” category this year.

Runner-up Raul Cantemir, from Germany, captured an “exceptionally detailed” close-up of the prominent crater Plato, which measures approximately 101 km (63 miles) in diameter.

Cantemir explained that the floor of the crater is covered in solidified basalt, a sign of “ancient volcanic activity”.

British astrophotographer, Tom Williams, was also highly commended for his frame of Pythagoras Crater, another prominent impact crater located near the northwestern limb of the Moon.

Williams explained that a “favorable lunar phase” meant that the central mountainous rise within the main crater was clearly visible.

The ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year is the world’s largest astrophotography competition, hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London.

This year’s overall winner was Ali Alobaidly (Kuwait) for his depiction of the rarely photographed Shark Nebula, snagging him £10,000 (approximately $13,000 / AU$19,000) along with the competition accolade. Category winners took home £1,500 (approximately $2,000 / AU$2,800).

You might also like…

Here’s our expert’s pick of the best telescopes for astrophotography and stargazing.

Whether you're a seasoned photographer, a beginner just getting started or someone who loves capturing beautiful moments, submitting your images to photo competitions is one of the best ways to gain exposure and recognition.

Entering contests isn't just about winning – though prizes and publicity are great bonuses! – it's also a chance to dive into your archives, rediscover your best images and refine your personal style. Many photographers say that competitions were the stepping stone that helped them build a name, grow their audience or land their first big feature.

And with so many open calls across all genres, there's something for everyone. So, here's a list of photography competitions with open calls that are accepting submissions from October 2026 until February 2027. It's a small selection to spark inspiration, but there are countless others out there…

Fine Art Photography Awards

Deadline: Early deadline: October 11 • Final deadline: February 14

Fee: Amateur: $19 single image, $24 series • Professional: $24 single image, $29 series, category fee: $10

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Amateur & Professional categories: Abstract, Architecture, Conceptual, Experimental, Fashion, Fine Art, Landscape, Nature, Night Photography, Nudes, Open Theme, Panoramic, People, Photojournalism, Photomanipulation, Portrait, Seascape, Street Photography, Travel, Wildlife / Animals

Prizes: Amateur: Grand Prize $2,000 • Professional: Grand Prize $3,000

Travel Photographer of the Year

Deadline: October 12

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: From £14, entry is FREE for young photographers aged 18 and under

Portfolio categories: Adventures & Journeys, Cultures, Traditions & Celebrations, Landscapes – Nature & Urban, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife

One Shot categories: In Nature, People of the World, Street, Travel in Black & White,

Special Awards: Travel Photographer of the Year, Young Travel Photographer of the Year, Travel Image of the Year, Rising Talent Award, People’s Choice Award

Prizes: Cash prizes from £1,000 to £200, industry portfolio reviews, media exposure and more

Wellcome Photography Prize

Deadline: October 21

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Issues on health, science, and the human experience

Categories: Striking solo photography, A storytelling series, The marvels of scientific and medical imaging

Prize: £10,000 for each Category Winner, 22 entries from across the three categories will be awarded £1,000 each, extensive international media coverage

Insta360 Global Awards

Deadline: October 30

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers and videographers of all levels

Requirement: Entries must be shot on Insta360 or Antigravity products

Format: Videos: 30sec-3min MP4/MOV, single image only under 20MB

Categories: Street, Travel, Life, Portrait, Sports, Night

Prizes: $150,000+ prize pool with over 100 winners to be announced

Environmental Photography Award

Deadline: November 01

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Environmental photography that raises awareness of environmental protection and explores the relationship between humans and nature

Categories: Polar Regions, Forests, Ocean, Changemakers, Human vs Nature

Prizes: €8,000 in total grants; winners and shortlisted photographers will feature in the award's exhibition and book

IAPB World Sight Day Photo Competition

Deadline: November 18

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Eye health and the role vision plays in everyday life, as part of IAPB's #LoveYourEyes campaign

Categories: Love Your Eyes, Love Your Child's Eyes, Love Your Eyes at Work, Love Health for All, Making the World See the Value of Vision (new for 2026)

Prize: $1,000 cash prize each for the professional stream winner and the amateur stream winner

World Sports Photography Awards

Deadline: November 23

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Eligibility: Up to 10 images taken between December 2025 - November 2026

24 categories: American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Combat Sports, Cricket, Cycling, Equestrian, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Motor Sports, Nautical, Other, Racquet Sports, Rugby, Skate, Special, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Urban & Extreme, Venues, Views & Crowds, Winter Sports

Prizes: Prizes are provided by sponsors of the World Sports Photography Awards, details TBA

Sony World Photography Awards

Deadline: November 27 (Student), January 5 (Youth + Single Images), January 12 (Series)

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Competitions: Series (previously Professional competition), Single Image (previously Open competition), Student, Youth

Categories: up to 10 different categories depending on competition

Prizes: Cash prizes up to $25,000, top-tier Sony equipment, and global exhibition opportunities

The Tideway Prize

Deadline: December 31

Open to: UK photographers of all levels, with three age categories: Open, Youth (16-24), and School Student (ages 11-15)

Fee: Free

Theme: "Standing by the Thames" – photographs capturing the River Thames, including its people, wildlife, recreation, work, industry, architecture, infrastructure, and everyday life

Prizes: Open winner: £2,000 in photography vouchers; Youth winner: £1,000 in photography vouchers and a half-day photography masterclass with Matthew Joseph, and more

Oppo Photography Awards

Deadline: December 31

Open to: Photographers and videographers of all levels, shooting with Oppo, OnePlus or RealMe devices

Fee: Free

Theme: "Super Every Moment"

Categories: Me, Journey, Video, Zoom, Live, Snap

Prizes: $76,500 prize pool across 38 awards

You might also like...

For even more inspiration, browse the best photography awards and contests.

HikMicro has unveiled the new Habrok 4K HH35L 2.0, a multi-spectrum binocular that combines thermal imaging, 4K digital viewing and laser rangefinding in a single unit – and having experienced HikMicro’s Habrok technology firsthand, this is one new pair of binoculars that has immediately caught my attention.

I first got properly acquainted with the Habrok concept at The Photography & Video Show, where I was able to try HikMicro’s Habrok Pro multi-spectrum binoculars for myself. I came away incredibly impressed, particularly by the idea of combining conventional digital viewing with thermal technology inside something that still feels and operates much like a familiar pair of binoculars. At the time, I described what I had seen as the future of thermal imaging, and HikMicro certainly doesn’t appear to have slowed down since.

The new Habrok 4K HH35L 2.0 takes that multi-spectrum idea and packages it into HikMicro’s latest Habrok 4K 2.0 platform. At its heart is a 384 x 288 thermal sensor with a sub-15mK NETD sensitivity rating, paired with a 35mm f/1.0 thermal lens. HikMicro says the combination delivers greater thermal detail and smoother imaging at longer distances, with a claimed detection range of up to 1,800 meters.

That thermal channel is joined by a 3840 x 2160 4K digital sensor and a 60mm f/2.2 optical lens, giving users a conventional full-color digital view when thermal imaging isn't required. The digital channel offers magnification from 5.5x to 22x, while the thermal system runs from 4x to 20x. There are also interchangeable 940nm and 850nm infrared illuminators for night use, with HikMicro quoting a digital night-viewing distance of up to 400 meters.

One of the more interesting changes is the redesigned control system. HikMicro has introduced a rear focus wheel positioned where your fingers naturally sit, alongside a rear toggle for quickly switching between thermal and digital viewing. That's exactly the sort of seemingly small ergonomic change that could make a significant difference when actually using these binoculars in the field, particularly when you've spotted something through thermal and want to quickly switch over to the 4K channel to identify exactly what you're looking at.

There's plenty happening beyond the two imaging systems too. The HH35L 2.0 incorporates a laser rangefinder capable of measuring out to 1,000 meters, Picture-in-Picture viewing, electronic image stabilization, GPS, a digital compass, video and still-image recording, 64GB of internal storage, and connectivity with the HikMicro Sight app. HikMicro's HSIS shutterless thermal technology is also included, which is designed to remove the momentary image freezing traditionally associated with thermal sensor calibration and provide a more continuous viewing experience.

Despite packing all that technology into the body, HikMicro has kept the HH35L 2.0 to around 900g without batteries, with a magnesium construction and IP67 weather protection. Battery life is rated at up to 6.5 hours, and replaceable rechargeable 18650 batteries are used rather than relying entirely on a permanently integrated power source.

What interests me most about the Habrok range is that HikMicro isn't simply building another thermal monocular and expecting users to adapt to it. These genuinely feel like an attempt to rethink what binoculars can become. Thermal detection lets you find wildlife or subjects that would otherwise be almost impossible to see, the 4K channel lets you properly observe and identify them, and the laser rangefinder adds another useful layer of information without requiring a second device.

After being so impressed by HikMicro's multi-spectrum technology when I first experienced the Habrok system at The Photography & Video Show, I'm very interested to see how far the company has pushed things with this latest generation. On paper at least, the combination of a more sensitive thermal sensor, 35mm thermal optics, 4K digital viewing and revised ergonomics makes the Habrok 4K HH35L 2.0 look like a serious evolution of an already fascinating idea.

The HikMicro Habrok 4K HH35L 2.0 price in the US is yet to be confirmed, but it is now available in the UK priced at £1,649.99

Gen Z has long been blamed for trends like the return of single-digit megapixel compact cameras and the rise of disposable film cameras – but a new study hints that a large majority of those between the ages of 13 and 39 use analog tech.

According to a study from YPulse , as much as two-thirds of Gen Z and younger Millennials use analog tech. That tech includes not just old digicams, instant film, and film cameras but tech outside of photography as well – including vinyl records and flip phones.

The statistic comes from a survey of around 1,500 people in the US and Canada between the ages of 13 and 39. The same market research company focused on the younger generations suggested that the trend is driven largely by digital burnout.

Vintage tech has been on the rise over the past few years – but for a 16-year-old picking up a film camera, it’s not about nostalgia. The rise in analog film cameras, instant film, and screen-free digital cameras rides on a greater movement toward being mindful of screen time.

For photography tech, part of that movement could also stem from a desire for photos that are less perfected and feel more like a memory. That movement feels particularly notable amid the rise of generative AI.

The report from YPulse is far from the only report putting numbers to the rise in analog tech and “anemoia, or the “nostalgia” for a time that you weren’t even alive for. Fortune described the analog tech movement as “at least a $5 billion opportunity.”

PEW Research Center has noted the rise of teenagers who reported being online “almost constantly” compared with a decade ago. While four in ten of those age 13 to 17 say they are almost constantly online, 2025’s numbers saw a slight dip in those numbers, the first time since 2022.

You may also like

For new tech that feels old, try a screen-free digital camera or a hybrid digital instant camera.

Most photography exhibitions are pretty similar in terms of format: frame photos, stick them on walls, done. And there's nothing wrong with that. But occasionally, you see something different, and it really makes you think.

Case in point: Lexar, the memory card manufacturer whose factory I toured in April, invited me to an intriguing exhibition they were running in collaboration with Leica in Amsterdam.

Threads of Time: A Journey Through Silk and Lens ran at Leica Gallery Amsterdam: a lovely little two-storey building opposite the Stedelijk and Van Gogh museums. This unique show brought together two artists from China who'd never met before this project: a traditional silk weaver and a film photographer. You'd expect the photography to document the weaving. But actually, it was more interesting than that.

For context: the weaver, Jingwei, works in Suzhou in Eastern China, using kesi. It's a form of silk tapestry going back centuries, in which a set of silk threads is stretched tight on a loom to form the base, and the weaver then works in colored threads by hand. It's very slow and very fiddly – indeed, the Chinese have a saying: "an inch of kesi, an inch of gold." Jingwei makes pieces based on classical Chinese paintings, as well as work driven by his own ideas.

The photographer was Jing Huang, a university professor who won the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award in 2011 for his series Pure of Sight. Huang spent time in Jingwei's studio and around Suzhou, shooting on 35mm film using a Leica III, a black and nickel rangefinder from the 1930s.

Instant emotion

How the pairing came about couldn't have been more random. Grace Su, who runs Lexar in Europe, spotted Jingwei on a home makeover TV show she was watching with her dad in Shanghai. She arranged a visit to his studio, and the idea grew from there.

The way the exhibition was set up was very different from most photography shows and I found it a breath of fresh air. You started with the kesi craft: the silk, the materials and how the weaving is done. From there, Jingwei's finished tapestries and Huang's photographs shared the space, and you could wander between them as you liked.

Huang's prints might seem weird, arty and off-putting to some: they're small, grainy and warm grey, floating in wide borders of near-black. But for some reason, they spoke to me immediately.

A blur of lines, a patch of shadow, the back of someone's head: none of this offers a clear narrative, or even a clearly defined image. But they provoked an instant emotional reaction in me – and as a viewer, you can't hope for more.

After a few minutes going back and forth between silk and the photos, the connection between them became clearer. A fan of pale lines in the photos echoed the thread stretched across the loom. Curving blades of grass resembled loose threads. A whitewashed Suzhou rooftop became a study in shapes.

Typically, when a photographer is sent to cover a craftsperson, you expect the maker and their work to become the subject. Huang deliberately avoided that. "I was not trying to explain kesi through photography," he explained. "I wanted to respond to what I encountered in Suzhou: the threads, the atmosphere and the spaces between things."

Helping you to see

To me, the cleverness of the exhibition was the way each artform helped you see the other. Huang's photos trained my eyes on line, rhythm and empty space, and when I returned to the tapestries, this helped me notice things I'd missed the first time.

The lesson here for galleries? Don't be afraid to put photographs next to painting, pottery, textiles or furniture; you might get results that are more than the sum of their parts.

There's a lesson for photographers too. If you're ever stuck in a creative rut, try spending an afternoon watching someone make something by hand. But don't photograph them: photograph something else, using something you've learned.

Finally, this exhibition provided an answer to the question Lexar wanted the show to raise: what's photography worth when AI can make an image in seconds? Because while AI can make photorealistic images pretty successfully these days, one thing it can't do is sit in a weaver's studio for days, making friends, drinking tea, and come away thinking about the world in a new way.

A British diver and underwater filmmaker has spotted a rarely seen humpback whale off the Pembrokeshire coast in West Wales, capturing footage of the moment the ocean giant swam by his vessel.

Dan Abbott, who makes a living as a professional filmmaker and ocean educator, was scuba diving near the Celtic Deep, a 100m depression in the West Wales seafloor, when the whale made an appearance.

At this moment, the cinematographer was aboard his group’s boat with smartphone in hand to capture the incredible scene. “It is a humpback!” Abbott shouted in jubilation as the whale drifted by, spraying a plume of water from its blowhole, while other group members shouted in excitement.

Above: watch the moment the humpback whale appeared near Abbott's boat

The sixth-largest whale species in the world, humpbacks can grow up to 48 to 62.5 feet (14.5 to 19 meters) in length and weigh up to around 40 tons. They have dark bodies with white undersides, a small hooked dorsal fin on a distinctive hump, and knobby bumps called tubercles on their head.

While Abbott said that seeing a humpback in Welsh waters isn’t unusual, it’s far from an everyday scene. “There have only been a couple of sightings in the last five or six years,” he explained in an Instagram post. “As you can hear in my voice, I was quite surprised,” he added.

However, according to the Marine Conservation Society, humpback sightings are increasing in the UK.

While the organization is unsure exactly why, it believes this could be down to increasing whale populations following the 1986 Moratorium (ban) on whaling, as well as warming oceans amid climate change causing the migratory species to change its movements.

A humpback whale was previously spotted off the coast of Pembrokeshire in 2024. According to the BBC, the animal was “quite small” and covered in scars and had “signs of previous viruses.”

You might also like…

Here’s our pick of the best cameras for wildlife photography as well as our take on the best underwater housings for cameras and phones.

Pixel peepers love to analyze the look of a lens’ bokeh – but one new third-party, multi-mount lens is giving photographers a slider to choose how those out-of-focus areas render. The Brightin Star MF 50mm f/2.0 Tri-Sight is a full-frame lens built around bokeh control.

Using a slider on the lens, photographers – and videographers – can choose from three different styles. The Prime setting is a standard mode for sharp subjects and well-defined, circular bokeh in the background.

The “Foams” setting creates a well-defined edge to those bokeh balls, sometimes endearingly dubbed “onion ring bokeh.” Brighton Star says this setting also creates dreamy lens flares.

On the opposite end, the Smooth setting on that bokeh slider creates softer, larger bokeh from points of light. This setting also creates a softer overall look, much like using a diffusion filter.

So how does building three different looks into one lens work? Brighton Star says that adjusting those Tri-Sight bokeh settings slides the lens groups back and forth. This movement will either over or under-correct spherical aberration, which also helps shape that bokeh.

While the bokeh slider is perhaps the new lens’ most unusual feature, that’s not the only way creators can manipulate bokeh. The lens ships with a set of drop-in discs that shape the bokeh, including a triangular shape inspired by old cinema lenses, a star, a butterfly, and a four-leaf clover. Using cut-outs to shape bokeh is a common photography trick, but Brightin Star is building the feature into the lens with a rear insert.

Those bokeh-focused features are wrapped up in a metal lens barrel, including a built-in, retractable hood. The focus ring has an optional lever, while the aperture ring is the de-clicked style.

The Tri-Sight lens launches in four different mounts with full-frame coverage: Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, and the L-Mount. While the size varies slightly by mount, Brighton Star calls it a compact lens, with the length of the lens varying from 7 cm to 7.4cm depending on the mount.

If the Brightin Star MF 50mm f/2.0 Tri-Sight sounds familiar, that’s because the lens was first teased as a prototype earlier this year. Now, the lens has been officially announced, with orders opening up and retailers beginning to list pre-orders.

The lens retails for $399 / £302 (about AU$572 / CA$566).

You may also like

Take a look at the best 50mm lenses, or browse the top diffusion filters.

Nano Banana, the viral generative AI image platform built by Google, can now generate photos inside Lightroom. Prompt to Edit is a new, experimental beta tool inside Adobe Lightroom that allows photographers to edit an image using written prompts and generative AI.

Introduced on September 29 as an early public access beta, Adobe says that the new Prompt to Edit is powered by Google’s Nano Banana and uses generative AI.

The Edit to Prompt inside Lightroom doesn’t adjust sliders but uses generative AI to make changes to an existing image. In a demo video, Adobe noted that when using the feature, “the entire photo is regenerated.” The edited images are generated using Nano Banana 2.

Prompt to Edit is located inside Lightroom on desktop devices in a new dedicated space in the sidebar. At the top, Lightroom will suggest some prompts to try, while users can also build or write their own prompts. When clicking on one of the sample prompts, the prompt box autofills with the written prompt, which can also give users a hint at how to write and structure their own prompts.

In demos of the new feature, Adobe showed how the beta tool could be used to remove dust and scratches from an old photo and recolor a black-and-white image, but also how the generative AI could be used for tasks like replacing a sky or adding fog to a scene.

As with creating presets inside Lightroom, Prompt to Edit also allows users to save their prompts for reuse on other images. Generated images are saved in a stack with the original image and can be further refined with Lightroom’s existing tools.

Prompt to Edit does use Adobe’s generative credits, but Adobe did not indicate how many credits the feature uses.

The launch of Prompt to Edit follows Photoshop’s AI Assistant, but the beta Lightroom tool includes some notable differences. Photoshop’s AI Assistant can make traditional edits as well as making generative AI adjustments.

Photoshop’s AI-assisted Editor also uses Adobe Firefly, an AI that’s built on licensed images, while the new Lightroom feature works with Nano Banana 2. Google does not disclose where the training data for Nano Banana comes from, but Nano Banana 2 is capable of using images from a Google Search during image generation.

The Prompt to Edit is an early access tool – which is Adobe’s term for a beta feature that’s still in testing – and is available for the desktop version of Lightroom.

The September 2026 Lightroom update also brings improvements to the Reflection Removal tool, as well as support for newly announced cameras and lenses.

You may also like

Take a look at the best Lightroom alternatives or the best photo editing software.

The Sony A7 V has dominated best-seller charts since its launch late last year – but while the A7 V leads the latest best-seller list from a major Japanese camera retailer, another Sony hogs two spots on the list, despite being three years old: The Sony A7C II.

The insight comes from Yodobashi’s rankings for the second half of August. The first five names on the top ten mirror the same cameras from the first half of the month – so if the age of ranking cameras like the Sony A7C II isn’t enough of an indication, the consistency suggests those top five cameras aren’t short-lived trends.

The Sony A7 V takes the top spot on the list of best-selling mirrorless cameras – the fifth time in a row that the camera has done so, not to mention dominating trends at other retailers as well. The A7 V’s mix of speed, resolution and price has proven highly successful for Sony.

But the next-ranked camera, the A7C II, takes both second and fourth place. The camera ranks second in a kit with the 28-60mm f/4-5.6 lens but also ranks fourth as a body-only option. Introduced in September 2023, the A7C II has remained consistently popular, thanks to a mix of a full-frame sensor with a more compact, rangefinder-inspired design. I wonder, with body-only and kits being treated separately, would the Sony A7C II surpass the A7 V in total sales?

The Fujifilm X-M5 with its XC15-45mm kit lens takes third place. The X-M5 was initially hard to find at launch – and its popularity seems to still be going strong. Part of the X-M5’s draw is that it’s Fujifilm’s most affordable mirrorless body (without buying used), but it’s also the company’s smallest and lightest in the category as well.

The fifth-place camera on the list is a budget favorite: The Canon EOS R50 in a kit paired with two zoom lenses. The R50 is Canon’s second most-affordable mirrorless camera just after the R100, and the R50’s accessible price point makes it a regular name among Japan’s best-selling cameras.

With the first five cameras on the list matching those from the first half of August, the second half of the list hints at what cameras are moving up. The Sony A7 V with its 28-70mm kit lens takes seventh place. With more photographers picking up the number one-ranked body, but the kit still making the list, I suspect some of those buyers are newer photographers or those coming from other brands.

Yoodobashi says the seventh-place Fujifilm X-T30 III with its 13-33mm kit lens hasn’t made the list for the last three months, but the budget retro mirrorless climbed in sales for the second half of August.

The eighth-place camera likely rose in the trends for the same reason that the Sony A7C II is doing so well. The Sony ZV-E10 II uses an APS-C sensor and not full-frame, but the vlogging-focused camera prioritizes a small size and a budget price point. In the rankings, it’s the option with two zoom lenses that is selling well in Japan.

The ninth-place camera bucks the trend for small and affordable cameras for 100MP of luxury: The Hasselblad X2D 100C. Budget cameras like the Canon EOS R50 and Fujifilm X-M5 are far more common to see on best-seller lists than medium-format pro cameras. But the Hasselblad X2D 100C has done unusually well for the medium-format category and was even Yodobashi’s number one for the first half of November 2025.

The top ten list is rounded out with another repeat offender: the Canon EOS R50 is on the list a second time at spot ten, but this time with a single 18-45mm kit lens rather than the dual-lens kit. While the dual-lens kit is a regular name among the best-seller lists, Yodobashi says that this is the first time the single-lens kit has made the top ten.

The best-selling interchangeable lens cameras at Yodobashi for the second half of August 2026

1. Sony A7 V body only
2. Sony A7C II with kit lens
3. Fujifilm X-M5 with kit lens
4. Sony A7C II body only
5. Canon EOS R50 double zoom lens kit
6. Sony A7 V with kit lens
7. Fujifilm X-T30 III with kit lens
8. Sony ZV-E10 II double zoom lens kit
9. Hasselblad X2D II 100C
10. Canon EOS R50 with kit lens

You may also like

Trends may offer a good hint – but these are the tested top mirrorless cameras.

VSCO has announced the first 25 images of The Fifty, an initiative to display 50 images from 50 different professional photographers on billboards or large-format out-of-home placements in their home state.

In these times of unprecedented uncertainty for photographers, the photography and social media platform wants to highlight the creativity and dedication from artists all over the country.

“We wanted to use the largest canvas we could find to put photographers front and center,” said Eric Wittman, VSCO CEO, adding that photographers in every corner of the country, not just the main creative hubs, “deserve to be recognized.”

Earlier this year, VSCO began an open call for emerging and well-established professional photographers to submit their work, with the judges on the lookout for “impactful” frames.

Over 13,500 submissions and a breadth of genres later, the judges have now chosen the first batch of 25 shots, which they've said “stop you in your tracks.”

These include Colorado-based Constance Jaeggi O'Connor’s documentary shot of Escaramuza — a female-led equestrian performance rooted in Mexican-American identity.

And then there’s Utah-based Axel Molina’s cinematic frame of a motocross rider, as well as Idaho-based Weston McGhee’s powerful monochrome dance scene.

Judges were also seeking “distinct points of view,” with an image of the Statue of Liberty, from New York’s Joana Meurkens, gaining particular praise.

“As a native New Yorker, it’s easy to get tired of photos of the Statue of Liberty, but Joana Meurkens made it feel new,” said VSCO's Lead Curator, Jon Feinstein. “The photograph is distinctly her own,” he added.

VSCO said that the first billboards went live yesterday, 28 September, and will continue to be rolled out over the coming weeks, starting in Washington (Seattle), Illinois (Chicago), Georgia (Atlanta), and New York (NYC), with all billboards live for up to a month.

The company added that the second batch of 25 images will be unveiled in early November. You can see all 25 of the first batch of The Fifty on the official event webpage.

You might also like…

Check out our expert reviews of the best medium format cameras. The large sensor format captures stark detail and is ideal for printing your images.

Fotorgear’s cases make a smartphone look and feel like a retro camera – but the company’s next move could be even more enticing for retro camera enthusiasts. The Fotorgear Campix is a retro digital camera with a waist-level finder and mechanical dials.

The Campix is a compact digital camera that sports a waist-level electronic viewfinder. That classic design that pairs with a film wind dial, film simulation dial, and retro black-and-silver look.

The waist-level viewfinder is a vintage feature that I’ve long hoped would arrive in modern digital cameras inspired by classic designs. Canon has toyed with the idea on a concept camera, and toy cameras like the Chuzhao use this concept.

Fotorgear has only released teasers about the upcoming Campix, so there are a lot of details that have yet to be revealed. But, the Campix’s teaser video showing the film wind dial, the film simulations, an app for “developing” photos, and low-fi retro images hints that the upcoming compact camera may fit in with budget, retro compact cameras like the Camp Snap CS-Pro, the Rewindpix, and the Flashback One35.

A teaser video on Instagram shows that flipping up the top waist-level finder reveals a screen, not an optical waist-level finder. A dial at the top will swap between six different film simulations, while an app will allow creators to upload custom presets or LUTs.

A large pop-up next to the viewfinder houses a TTL Xenon flash.

Fotorgear also says that the Campix will have a 26mm lens built in, but will also support swappable lenses over that lens, much like the way iPhones can add lenses over the built-in lens rather than directly over the sensor like a mirrorless camera.

For now, the Campix is just a teaser of what’s to come. Fotorgear says that the Campix is coming to Kickstarter “soon.”

The company has opened a $5 deposit (about £4 / AU$7 / CA$7) for fans to access exclusive discounts and an additional one-year warranty once the campaign launches.

Fotorgear hints that the camera could retail for $209 for the base camera and up to $509 with a three-lens bundle, but Kickstarter pricing is expected to include a discount ranging from $100 to $150. International pricing has not yet been announced, but that converts to about £158 / AU$299 / CA$296 before Kickstarter discounts.

You may also like

The newest Instax camera has a waist-level screen too. Or, browse the best screen-free compact cameras.

DxO and Affinity have joined forces to make the journey from RAW processing to full image editing considerably easier, with the new DxO PhotoLab 10.1 introducing one-click export directly into Affinity.

Available now as a free update for existing PhotoLab 10 users, version 10.1 marks the first stage of a wider partnership between DxO Labs and Affinity by Canva.

At the heart of the integration is Affinity’s native .AF file format, enabling photographers to develop a RAW image inside PhotoLab before sending it directly into Affinity for more advanced retouching, compositing, typography and layout work.

The idea is to combine what both applications arguably do best. PhotoLab remains responsible for RAW development and DxO’s image-processing technology, while Affinity takes over when photographers need a more traditional layer-based editing environment.

Each export creates a native Affinity document containing the fully developed photograph, with users also given the option of including the untouched original image as a second layer for comparison, masking or blending later in the process.

“We’re thrilled to see DxO tightly integrating with Affinity to make it seamless for photographers to combine world-class RAW editing with cutting-edge editing, retouching and design,” says Duncan Clark, CEO of Pro Design for Canva.

“Photographers and designers have been telling us loud and clear that they want simple, smooth workflows instead of fighting to get different products to talk to each other. This partnership is further evidence that a new generation of creative tools is meeting that need.”

The integration is particularly interesting because Affinity’s Pixel, Vector and Layout studios all operate within the same .AF format. In practical terms, that means a photograph can begin as an image-retouching project and eventually become part of a finished design or page layout without requiring users to keep moving between different file formats.

Anyone who does not already have Affinity installed can also create a free account and begin installing the software from within PhotoLab.

“For more than 20 years, DxO has focused on extracting every ounce of quality from a RAW file,” says Jérôme Ménière, founder and CEO of DxO.

“What happens after the RAW is developed – retouching, compositing, layout – deserved a partner of the same caliber. With Affinity, PhotoLab users now have a complete professional workflow, from RAW file to finished page, with no subscription required.”

This is only the beginning of the partnership. DxO says further Affinity integrations are planned across its software range, beginning with Nik Collection, while support for the .AF format inside PhotoLab will continue to expand with additional workflow improvements expected before the end of the year.

That could make the relationship particularly appealing to photographers already using Nik Collection for black-and-white conversion, film emulation and creative finishing alongside their main editor.

DxO PhotoLab 10.1 is available now as a free update for DxO PhotoLab 10 users on macOS and Windows, while a 30-day trial of PhotoLab is also available. Affinity is free on macOS and Windows, with its long-awaited iPad version scheduled to arrive in November.

You might also like…

Take a look at the best photo editing software, the best free photo editing software and the best Photoshop alternatives.

Camera tricks like light trails and double exposures are typically complex processes that require understanding at least a bit of camera jargon. But Polaroid’s newest camera wants to make photography tricks almost as simple as turning a mode dial.

The Polaroid Mod, unveiled on September 29, is a fully analog instant camera designed around experimental photography. The Mod looks quite a bit like other recent full-sized Polaroids except for one big feature: a mode dial wrapped around the lens. Take a look in my quick guided tour video of the camera below:

The mode dial has, of course, an automatic mode that gets the typical shots. But the other four spaces on the mode dial are dedicated to experimental photography, including double exposures and light painting.

A split shot mode uses a half lens cap to cover half the lens to get two photos into the same iconic Polaroid white frame.

A “motion freeze” mode mixes a long exposure with a rear-curtain sync flash – photography jargon that means it creates a light trail but uses flash so the subject is still sharp.

On a typical camera, those four camera tricks typically require leaving auto mode and entering full manual mode. The Polaroid Mod makes those tricks more accessible by treating long-standing camera tricks like scene modes.

There’s still some know-how required to use the Mod. For example, you need to know that the light painting mode requires a tripod (or a table, since the bottom of the camera is nice and flat) – and that’s all explained in the intro instructions that come with the camera. Similarly, the best double exposure shots come from understanding that high-contrast shots and textures work well.

I think the Polaroid Mod’s biggest trick is that both new and seasoned photographers alike are able to have some fun experimenting with the same camera. I’m a pro photographer, and while I did wish for manual mode to make the light painting exposures a bit longer and brighter, I still had a lot of fun with the Mod.

While the Mod doesn’t have manual modes, it does have an exposure compensation dial as well as the ability to turn the flash off. Like other modern Polaroid cameras, the battery is rechargeable via a simple USB-C.

The Mod is a refreshingly fun camera that rebels against pixel-peeping perfection. The Polaroid Mod is launching in the US on October 06, with additional countries to follow in early 2027. The Mod lists for $169.99 / £149.99 – which puts the camera between options like the Polaroid Now+ Gen 3 and the Polaroid Flip.

You may also like

Read the full Polaroid Mod review for more insight, or browse the best instant cameras.

OnePlus has taken to Weibo to announce the launch of its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 16. As impressive as the specs are, and we'll get to those in a minute, the most notable part of the announcement is that it will not be released in US or European markets.

At the back end of 2025, we praised the "blistering speed, battery stamina, and solid camera system" of the OnePlus 15. At the time, we were already looking forward to the release of the 16, expecting significant improvements and for the brand to expand its market share.

It was, therefore, with disappointment that in July, OnePlus announced that they would no longer be selling their products in North America and Europe. That put an abrupt end to a decade of building market share and influence in these fiercely competitive regions.

A new 200MP main camera

Diving into what most of us will now miss out on, beginning with the camera system. The OnePlus 16 will feature a huge 200MP main camera with a 1/1.4-inch sensor. It will also support a special mode called Expert, which includes film-like colors and a Hasselblad-inspired aspect ratio.

The three remaining cameras boast 50MP sensors. This covers the ultrawide, telephoto, and even the selfie camera. The most notable improvement here is that the telephoto camera has been upgraded to a Sony IMX882 1/1.95-inch sensor with larger 0.8µm pixels. This will capture more light and deliver better results in low-light locations.

The OnePlus 16 promises to be fast

According to the Weibo announcement, the OnePlus 16 will be "among the first to feature the 6th generation Snapdragon 8 Super Edition, paired with a new generation of gaming kernel, pre-programmed into the chip for maximum performance!"

The result will be flagship performance that will be noticed by all types of power users, including photographers, creative professionals, and gamers. In fact, the last of these will enjoy the fastest FPS gaming experience with a 185Hz refresh rate.

The OnePlus 16 will be available in three unique colors: Tomorrow’s Starlight, The Dark Forest, and A Martian Masterpiece.

We still hope to test and review the flagship device, but if you'd like to get your hands on one for yourself, then you'll have to be satisfied with an import. The phone will be released in China on October 12th and is already available on display at OPPO stores.

You might also like...

Find more of the best Android phones for photography or the best camera phones in our guides.

Six years after the release of the groundbreaking Sony A7S III, it's being reported that the A7S IV is finally on the way.

The Sony A7S IV has been the subject of camera rumors for the best part of half a decade, as its core architecture was used for cameras like the Sony FX3 and Sony ZV-E1.

Indeed, with the launch of subsequent models in both those dedicated video lines, it had been speculated that the A7S series might have been abandoned. After all, the "S" stands for sensitivity; with the dedicated FX and ZV lines, the A7S felt a bit like a camera without an audience.

However, it looks like the tables have been turned. Where the A7S III was the technological basis for the FX3, it's being reported that the Sony FX5 might return the favor and serve as the foundation for the A7S IV.

Sony Alpha Rumors is reporting that a camera recently registered in China, code WW261362, is a "mid- to high-end model". While a number of other bodies might fit the bill, the outlet concludes, "My bet is that this will be the new Sony A7S IV."

ABOVE: Watch a video version of the report

This is based upon Sony's typical four-year update cycle, which would disqualify successors for the other possible candidates – the A9 III (2023), A7C II and A7C R (2023) and A1 II (2024).

The site predicts that the Sony A7S IV will possess the same 16MP sensor as the FX5, with Sony's beloved 9.44 million-dot EVF and the same processor, IBIS and autofocus of the A7R VI. However, the FX5's internal RAW codecs are unlikely to be ported across.

The sting in the tail, if indeed the report is accurate, is that Sony is still struggling to fulfil FX5 orders:

"AI companies are buying all the DRAM they can, which may be why Sony cannot begin shipping the FX5 yet. So, I wonder whether Sony will be forced to delay the launch of the A7S IV until it has fulfilled the FX5 preorders. I fear that, although Sony registered the camera with the intention of announcing it in November, we may see the announcement delayed."

Part of me is highly suspicious of A7S rumors these days, as it feels the line has been too long abandoned to remain relevant. However, with Sony coming out of left field and reviving the RX1R III and RX10 V, I wouldn't be entirely surprised!

You might also like…

Take a look at the best Sony cameras on the market right now, along with the best cameras for video. And it's a pretty safe bet that the best lenses for the Sony A7S III will also be ideal for the mark IV!

Many astrophotographers capture images of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis), but snapping the awe-inspiring frames of the solar activity dancing in our atmosphere requires not only skill, but timing too.

For Bulgarian astrophotographer Radoslav Sviretsov, during a trip to Iceland this January, the timing was spot on. And now, the image he captured has been awarded first place in the “Aurorae” category of the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award.

Sviretsov was on the hunt for the Northern Lights during what he told the photography competition organizers was a “particularly strong” geomagnetic storm.

Radoslav Sviretsov gear and settings

• Canon EOS R
• Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2
• 15mm | f/2.8 | ISO 3200 | 2.5 seconds
• Location: Fúlipollur, Krýsuvíkurvegur, Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, 20 January 2026 

He came across a traditional Icelandic church between the small coastal town of Keflavík and the capital city, Reykjavík, far from light pollution. The dark sky intensified the already strong solar activity, enabling Sviretsov to snap the Northern Lights in a way, he said, they’re “rarely seen”.

"In moments like this, I feel nothing but gratitude for being in the right place at the right time,” he added.

Phil Halper's gear and settings

• Sony A7S III
• 15 mm | f/2 | ISO 3200 | 2.5 seconds
• Location: Kjósarhreppur, Capital Region, Iceland, 12 November 2025 

British astrophotographer, Phil Halper, clinched second with his frame “Aurora Between Two Continents.”

He told the competition organizers how, in November last year, he traveled to Iceland with just one day’s notice to snap a “multitude” of powerful CMEs – or coronal mass ejections (large eruptions of plasma from the Sun’s surface) – which had sent aurorae “rippling far beyond” their usual reach.

“On the Edge of Glory” was the final commended image in the “Aurorae” category, and it came from US photographer MaryBeth Kiczenski.

MaryBeth Kiczenski's gear ad settings

• Sony A7 IV
• Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
• 24 mm | f/4 | ISO 2500 | 2.5 seconds
• Location: Skibotn, Troms, Norway, 6 November 2025 

Taken in Norway late last year, Kiczenski explained how moonlight and clouds are often “overlooked” when aurora chasing, but that, in the Arctic, they can provide an unmatched “dreamlike quality”.

The ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year is the world’s largest astrophotography competition, hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London.

This year’s overall winner was Ali Alobaidly (Kuwait) for his depiction of the rarely photographed Shark Nebula, snagging him £10,000 (approximately 13,000 / AU$19,000) along with the competition accolade. Category winners took home £1,500 (approximately $2,000 / AU$2,800).

You might also like…

Here’s our expert’s pick of the best telescopes for astrophotography and stargazing.

The Ocean Photographer of the Year not only recognized stunning ocean imagery, but also complex conservation issues playing out within our planet’s waters.

And at this year’s edition of the event, Mexican diver, tour operator, and underwater photographer, Daniel Taylor, highlighted the challenging relationships between conservation groups and local shark fishermen in Baja California, Mexico, with two powerful images.

In the first of Taylor’s frames commended in the “Conservation (Impact)” category, we see a silky shark, which he told the competition organizers was circling “helplessly” while snagged on an illegal longline.

And in the second, we see the deadly fate of these prized sharks, as a pair lie side by side on the beach, the bodily wounds from their fateful last struggle visible.

Daniel Taylor's gear and settings

• Canon EOS R
• Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8
• NA-R Nauticam underwater housing
• ISO 800 | f/10 | 1/500 sec

According to the Convention on Migratory Species, a United Nations initiative, in some areas, silky shark populations have declined by up to 90% due to overfishing.

In response, last year, the Mexican Government banned commercial longline vessels from capturing, retaining, storing, or landing silky sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and broader Atlantic waters managed under international treaties.

However, the Pacific side of the country, where Baja California lies, follows a seasonal shark fishing ban from May 01 to July 31, introduced by the government in 2012, to enable fishing, albeit more sustainably.

Taylor explained that he shot both photos in the hours after the ban lifted but that longlines – very long main lines with hundreds or thousands of baited hooks attached – remain illegal because they cause severe overfishing and accidental bycatch.

Daniel Taylor's gear and settings

• Canon EOS 70D
• ISO 100 | f/ 10 | 1/320 Sec

But Taylor said that he didn’t take these shots to “condemn” the fishermen, rather, he wanted to confront the ongoing “complex relationship” where threatened wildlife and human livelihoods intersect.

What's more, the diver and photographer hopes that the images will further highlight the “urgent” need to provide local fishermen with more sustainable income alternatives.

The Ocean Photographer of the Year is an annual competition run by London-based Oceanographic Magazine and co-presented with Blancpain to celebrates the sea and highlight marine conservation.

Selected from over 15,000 entries, the 2026 competition featured multiple core categories and key winners, which you can see here.

You might also like…

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

Camera traps continue to provide vital evidence and data for zoologists. A recent study in Tanzania by the conservation organization Panthera involved over 300 camera traps occupying an area the size of West Africa’s Cape Verde. The result was more than 150,000 images of the location’s diverse range of wildlife, providing valuable insight into the location’s ecosystem.

Such data has included photographs of servals with a rare morph coat pattern for the first time in Tanzania, as well as some of the first records of aardwolves, bat-eared foxes, and springhares in the country’s western region. The project has also provided evidence of dwindling lion populations in Ugalla and Luganzo-Tongwe Game Reserves.

I got to talk with lead scientist Paolo Strampelli about Panthera’s methods when distributing camera traps and collecting data...

How camera traps are used by conservationists

You might also like...

Interested in the part photography plays in wildlife conservation? Photographer captures octopus riding rarely seen dolphin, provides valuable evidence for ongoing research. Photography is at the heart of remarkable discovery of a new cat species – even if it was science that delivered the definitive proof. Plus, here are the best cameras for wildlife photography.

When the original Canon PowerShot SX740 HS launched in 2018, the compact camera market was dominated by straightforward point-and-shoots, while premium compacts like the Leica Q3 43 were far less common.

According to the latest sales data from major retailer Yodobashi, the little PowerShot triumphs again as the No.1 compact camera in Japan right now.

In 2024, Canon introduced the PowerShot SX740 HS Lite, a lightly updated version of the original camera.

Despite changing just one small feature, the model has proven just as popular. Since its original launch 8 years ago, it has become a cult favorite, with second-hand prices higher than its original retail price of $549.99 / £549.99.

Canon's unchanged formula continues to win for buyers looking for a genuinely pocketable camera with a powerful zoom lens.

While the PowerShot SX740 HS comes with a 20.3MP 1/2.3-inch-type CMOS sensor, Yodobashi's Top 10 also features models with significantly larger sensors, with the top model featuring a 60MP full-frame sensor.

Yodobashi's Top 10 best-selling compact cameras, 2nd Half Aug 2026

1. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite | Silver | Black
2. Sony ZV-1 II | Black | White
3. Fujifilm X100VI | Silver | Black
4. Panasonic Lumix TZ99 / ZS99 | Black | White
5. Kodak Pixpro C1 | Brown | Black
6. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III | Black | Silver
7. Canon IXY 650 / PowerShot Elph 360 HS A / Ixus 285 HS A | Black | Silver
8. Sony RX10 V
9. OM System Tough TG-7 | Red | Black
10. Leica Q3 43

The two extreme compact camera types in today's market

Yodobashi's latest Top 10 reveals the compact camera market's current state.

There are two extremes: the cheap and cheerful, straightforward models like the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite (No.1), or even simpler and more affordable models like the Kodak Pixpro C1 (No.5), available for only $99.99 / £94.

On the other side, there are premium compacts like the hugely popular Fujifilm X100VI (No.3) and the high-end Leica Q3 43 (No.10), a full-frame 60.3MP model, with a hefty price tag of $7,950 / £5,890.

Also in demand, and back in Yodobashi's Top 10, is the OM System Tough TG-7 (No.9), a 12MP adventure companion that withstands freezing temperatures of -10°C (14°F) and is waterproof up to 15 meters (50 feet).

You might like...

Browse the best compact cameras, the best APS-C compact cameras, and the best point-and-shoot cameras.

Honor has officially launched its Magic 9 series in China, and while there are a couple of new models, it is the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max that is the most exciting for photographers and filmmakers.

The headline feature is an ambitious triple-camera system developed around Honor’s new partnership with cinema camera specialist ARRI. This is the second Honor-ARRI collaboration after the niche Honor Robot phone – which put a pop-up gimbal camera on the back of a smartphone – and the first taste of ARRI’s contributions in a mainstream device.

ARRI’s involvement goes beyond simply lending its name to the cameras. The Magic 9 Pro Max can record up to 4K 60p using an ARRI Cinema Mode, with ARRI LogC3, 10-bit color and ARRI Wide Gamut 3. For more tuned footage straight out of the camera, there are 14 ARRI Looks built in, with access to a wider library of 87 Looks that can be imported and applied to footage.

The Magic 9 Pro Max camera system consists of a 200MP main camera with a large 1/1.28-inch sensor, f/1.57 aperture and OIS, alongside a second 200MP telephoto camera using a 1/1.4-inch sensor and f/2.6 aperture, while a 50MP f/2 ultrawide completes the trio.

Up front is a 55MP camera paired with a 3D depth sensor, with an Apple-style square-format sensor allowing landscape or portrait compositions without physically rotating the phone. It’s unclear at this stage if either the front or rear cameras support open gate recording.

Honor is making particularly bold claims about stabilization. Both the 200MP main and telephoto cameras carry a CIPA 8.0 stabilization rating, while the main camera offers what Honor calls 3-degree “gimbal-level” stabilization, designed to compensate for considerably more movement than conventional smartphone OIS, and without having to rely on electronic image stabilization (EIS) cropping into an image.

While internal audio often gets overlooked on phones, with wireless mics so cheap and prevalent, the Magic 9 has ambitions to make internal audio recording more feasible without needing additional accessories with a four-microphone Cinematic Directional Microphone system. Honor is promising targeted directional pickup, isolating background noise around your subject, even from a distance. The demos so far look very cool, but I’m eager to see how this compares to external mics in less controlled situations.

Finally, in the camera department, it seems no modern Chinese flagship phone is complete without an optional photography kit, so Honor is treating us to a new Photography Master Kit that includes 200mm and 500mm teleconverter lenses. The Magic9 Pro Max also supports a dedicated SmallRig mobile video kit with handles and connection points for accessories, including a cooling fan for long recording sessions.

Powering all of this is Qualcomm’s newly announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, paired with Honor’s own H1 imaging processor. Interestingly, despite Qualcomm advertising support for 8K/60p and 4K/240p capture from the Extreme chip, the Magic9 Pro Max itself tops out at 4K/60p.

The other number of note is the enormous 8,800mAh battery (although that number is likely to be lower when the phone reaches the EU due to battery regulations) with 100W wired and 80W wireless charging. There is also a 6.8-inch 1-120Hz LTPO OLED display, and up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Honor Magic 9 series has just gone on sale in China, and Honor has confirmed that an international launch is planned, although it has yet to say when the Magic 9 Pro Max will arrive in markets including the UK and Europe (the US, as usual, won’t get an official launch).

When it does make the journey overseas, the Magic 9 Pro Max looks set to be one of Honor’s most serious attempts yet to challenge the best camera phones and best phones for video.

At just 14 years old, wildlife photographer Camilo Sanabria Grajales became Audubon Photography Awards' first youth prize winner from South America, Camilo Sanabria Grajales. Now, his image showcasing a Ruby-topaz Hummingbird has received an Honorable Mention in the 2026 competition. The highlighted image is a colorful split-second capture, shot at 1/2500 sec. "I searched for the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird for years," says Camilo.

Camilo explains to Audubon magazine that there were several attempts at photographing the species, including one where he had to deal with an allergic reaction, as well as trips to Uva National Park in Colombia where he had no luck seeing the bird. "But then it came, my big day. I was invited to a site that was full of flowers in Buga and was in for a surprise: more than ten hummingbirds, both male and female."

Since the birds were fluttering around Camilo so quickly, it was a challenge to capture their beauty in sharp focus. He says, "Then one approached me. I focused on it just in time. As it was about to dart away, I got this unique photo that captures its sun-drenched colors."

Honorable Mention: Youth

Contest: Chile and Colombia
Species: Ruby-topaz Hummingbird
Location: Guadalajara de Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) + Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C
Exposure: 1/2500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200

Judge’s Take (Jaír F. Coll)
"The photographer captures the dynamic flight of this hummingbird and integrates it into a harmonious dreamlike setting where the flower’s orange hues play off those of the bird.

"The bird’s subtle expression, as if absorbed in its surroundings, conveys a sense of peace, immersing the viewer in a natural trance where time seems to stand still."

The Audubon Photography Awards
The Audubon Photography Awards is a competition celebrating photographers who use their skills to highlight the beauty, challenges and threats facing birds across Chile, Colombia, Canada and the United States. You can explore all 2026 winning images here.

You might like...

Browse the best cameras for wildlife photography and the best lenses for bird photography and wildlife.

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

Jessops camera store business has been sold by Dragons' Den star Peter Jones to the white goods retailer AO for an undisclosed sum.

Jones' PJ Investment Group bought the UK photographic business out of administration in 2013, but struggled to turn the purchase into a success, with the company forced into administration again in 2019 and 2021. Jessops made a pre-tax loss of £1m in 2025 on a turnover of £19.8m.

The purchase by the well-known fridge and washing machine business "supports our strategy of expanding into adjacent categories, giving customers and members more reasons to shop with AO and increase our share of wallet,” AO World commented to The Guardian newspaper.

“Jessops brings a trusted brand and specialist expertise in cameras and optical technology, while its re-commerce business, Camera Jungle, is highly complementary to our existing musicMagpie operations and further strengthens our circular economy credentials.”

AO posted a turnover of £1.27 billion and an adjusted pre-tax profit of £50.5 million in its most recent financial results.

Jessops was founded by Frank Jessop in 1935 in Leicester, and the family business was then grown by his son Alan into a well-known high street brand and mail order business. Following a management buyout in 1996, the company saw rapid growth, and at one point had over 300 stores.

AO is planning to keep the seven existing Jessops stores open in London, Kingston-upon-Thames, Shrewsbury, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Glasgow.

If you don't know much about fashion photography, you might assume it's relatively straightforward stuff: dress a model, pose a model, shoot a model. A quick flick through the pages of a modern fashion magazine though, and you'll be swiftly disabused of that notion. At the high end of the market, a contemporary fashion shoot is more like fine art, and there's no finer exponent than British photographer Tim Walker.

Known for his outsized props, elaborate sets and scenes that look like they've escaped from a children's picture book, he's spend the last three decades filling the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, W and i-D with epic, thrilling and outlandish images. So when I first glimpsed some of the press images for his latest exhibition – a series of standard-looking portraits shot against plain white backgrounds – I assumed I'd opened the wrong folder on my computer.

But there was no mistake. Walker is going in a very different direction here.

50 years of activism

Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends at London's National Portrait Gallery brings together 250 new portraits celebrating "over 50 years of Queer activism, community and love", with subjects range from little-known activists and nurses to actors such as Ian McKellen, Ncuti Gatwa and Ben Wishaw and musicians including Lady Gaga, Kay Tempest and Chappell Roan.

The stark look of many of these portraits was a deliberate choice: Walker assisted Richard Avedon in New York in the 1990s, and the press materials describe the white backdrops here as a nod to his old boss. But ultimately, a successful portrait is not about the background, it's about the sitter. And across this collection, Walker demonstrates his usual ability to bring out a unique element of their personality.

Walker asked some of the sitters to bring an object that meant something to them. Author Jane Cholmeley brought the original shop sign from Silver Moon Women's Bookshop, founded in 1984. Filmmaker Isaac Julien holds a conch shell, a motif from his 1989 film Looking for Langston. And photographer Sunil Gupta, naturally enough brought his camera; by the look of it, a Leica rangefinder.

Walker's portrait of Ian McKellen, titled Love, goes further, with a tangle of hands forming the letters of the word in front of him.

Kitsch in sync

If you're a fan of the epic and fantastical, though, don't fret; that's also represented in the exhibition, which was designed by Shona Heath; a longtime collaborator of Walker who won both a BAFTA and an Oscar for her production design on the 2023 movie Poor Things.

The show opens with portraits of founding members of the Gay Liberation Front and Stonewall, styled after the Tudor portraits of Hans Holbein the Younger and Nicholas Hilliard; Walker calls them his "queeristocracy".

A central room, meanwhile, is given over to large-scale portraits of the post-punk collective the Rebel Dykes, inspired by Karlheinz Weinberger's photographs of 1960s biker gangs. One shows four women in leather jackets and towering beehives, sitting on chairs in a field. The word "peak kitsch" comes gloriously to mind.

The second half of the show turns to fashion and performance, including a rococo tableau of two British comedians – Julian Clary and the late Paul O'Grady and – as the Glitter Queens, and actor Ben Whishaw lit by a vertical stripe of rainbow light from a prism. It all closes with a room of staged erotic scenes that subvert fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

Coming full circle

Walker was born on 27 November 1970, the same day as Britain's first gay rights protest on Highbury Fields, and he sees the show as a full circle moment. "Just as I learned from the queer artists who came before me, some of whom I'm lucky enough to have met and photographed here, Fairyland is me saying you are not alone," he says. "I want visitors to the exhibition to remember that your difference is your power."

Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends runs from 9 October to 7 February on the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery, and members can enter for free. The show is accompanied by a 320-page catalogue (£35), which includes an extended interview between Walker and Brown, plus essays by Travis Alabanza, Russell T Davies, Shon Faye, Lisa Power and Joelle Taylor.

Tether Tools has released two new storage products designed for a rather unusual location: the space between the legs of a tripod. These 'tripod hammocks' turn what would otherwise be dead space into somewhere to place frequently used gear, keeping it safe, off the ground, and easily accessible during a shoot.

Two hammock versions are available: the Tripod Hammock Sport, and the Tripod Hammock Multi-Pro.

Tripod Hammock Multi-Pro

Priced at $99.99, this is the premium offering. It serves not just as a temporary open storage hammock, but can also be zipped up and transported as an enclosed triangular kit bag. Inside are three segments, separated by removable padded dividers. Within each section are three removable pouches, each large enough to fit a small lens, or other accessories like batteries, filters, or cables. Around the edge of the main hammock unit you'll also find multiple exterior quick-access pockets ideal for memory cards.

The Tripod Hammock Multi-Pro is suspended from a tripod's legs using a magnetic quick-connect system that holds securely but is still easy to attach and remove. This enables rapid setup and teardown, after which the hammock can be zipped closed and moved using the integrated carry handle, or attached to a backpack. A durable, weather-resistant rip-stop construction keeps the hammock usable in inclement conditions.

Tripod Hammock Sport

If you like the idea of having a convenient place to put gear during a shoot, but don't need the enclosed storage design of the Tripod Hammock Multi-Pro, then the Tripod Hammock Sport is for you. It's priced at $49.99, and does away with the closable top of the Multi-Pro, as well as its interior dividers and three separate storage pouches. Instead you get a single open area to temporarily place frequently used gear, though there are small, quick-access pockets on the side where you can keep smaller items. Thanks to its more minimalist design, the Sport is able to fold small for compact transportation, but still features a protective PU coating and a tear-resistant design for enhanced durability and weather resistance.

Both the Tripod Hammock Sport, and the Tripod Hammock Multi-Pro are available to buy now from B&H.

Shooting super-slow-motion video can be a great way to create engaging content, or to better understand intricate processes in technology or the natural that would otherwise go unnoticed by the naked eye. Many cameras have slow motion settings - some up to around 1000fps - but even this frame rate is nowhere near fast enough for a viewer to fully appreciate every moment of a really fast 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' event.

That's where high-speed cameras come into their own. Some can be highly specialized devices for industrial applications, but others are more consumer-orientated, with (relatively) accessible price tags. And it's in this latter category where the new Chronos Q12 camera from Kron Technologies belongs. Measuring 188mm x 111mm x 53mm (7.40" x 4.37" x 2.08") without a lens, and weighing just 1.32 kg, it's amazingly light and compact for a high speed camera. It's been designed for researchers, engineers, scientists and industrial professionals, but is also suitable for creatives wanting to record captivating slow-motion footage, enabling viewers to appreciate events that happen too quickly to observe with conventional cameras.

At its maximum 2560 x 2016 resolution, the Q12 can shoot at 2,313fps - that's more than twice as fast as most consumer cameras max out at. But there's more. If you're prepared to lower your capture resolution, the Q12 is capable of even more speed. Just by dropping to 2560 x 1440, 3,116fps is possible, while 1080p footage can be captured at an incredible 5,148fps. If you really want to max out a Q12, a barely-believable 29,515fps is possible, though only by setting the video resolution to a largely-impractical 128 x 32. And remember, this is all from a camera not much bulkier than a typical Sony or Canon mirrorless body.

The Q12 uses an APS-C image sensor that records in full color (some very high speed cameras can only capture in monochrome). Two versions of the camera are available, differentiated by the size of their internal memory buffer. The 64GB model is capable of recording 5.7 seconds of video in one burst, while the 128GB Q12 can record 11.5-second clips. That might sound paltry, but remember, the kind of fleeting moments you'll likely want to record with a camera like this - a bullet shattering a pane of glass, for instance - will be over in a fraction of a second, let alone 5 or 10 full seconds. When the internal memory is full, video can be stored on the Q12's built-in 1TB NVMe SSD, or there's an SD card slot. A USB-C SSD can also be attached to the camera to supplement the internal storage.

Video can be shot in Raw or compressed H.264/H.265 formats, with 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit user-selectable color modes available. Settings are controlled via a large 5-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen display, which can also be used as a field monitor thanks to its high 1000-nit brightness, negating the need for a separate monitor or tethered laptop. The camera can be paired with a lens of your choice, with support for C-mount, E-mount, F-mount, EF-mount, PL-Mount, and MFT-mount lenses via an interchangeable lens mount.

The Chronos Q12 is available now, with pricing starting at $19,995 for the 64GB model and $21,995 USD for the 128GB version. Obviously that's quite a lot more than a more conventional APS-C mirrorless camera, but when you consider that high speed cameras can cost well into six figures, Kron's pricing is fair.

Ever got frustrated that your camera's subject-detection AF missed some small detail in a picture? Spare a thought for David Koppel. For him in the 1980s and 90s, a bad day at work involved David Bowie climbing onto a table and punching him in the head.

That wasn't a one-off, either. Along the way, the London paparazzo was thumped by Mick Jagger, swatted with a rolled-up newspaper by Bob Dylan, put in a headlock by Pierce Brosnan and scolded by Joanna Lumley.

It all adds entertaining color to his new book, Spotlight, which brings together some of his best images and the stories behind them. And if that were not enough, Frank Sinatra, Princess Diana, Marlon Brando and Kate Moss all make appearances too.

Spotlight is the second volume of his archive, following 2025's Limelight, which reflected on his years as house photographer at the eponymous Soho nightclub. But where that book captured a scene, this one's all about the chase.

Take his Marlon Brando picture from 1992, shown below. A tip about the iconic actor arriving at Heathrow Airport turned out to be a bust, so he and a rival pap went for a Chinese meal in Bayswater, only for Brando to walk in and sit at the next table.

Koppel waited in a parked car until he left, then opened the door of Brando's taxi and fired six frames in two seconds. The picture ran across the national papers the next morning and earned him around £5,000 (approx. $6,625), the equivalent of around £15K (approx. $19,875) today.

Six frames in two seconds won't sound impressive to anyone used to the burst modes on a modern digital camera, or even a phone. But back in those days, all Koppel had to work with was a roll of film, no screen to check and no idea whether his shots were in focus until he'd processed it.

His kit was top of the range for the time, though. John Stoddart's portrait of him shows him with a Nikon F4, a second body, a flashgun and an Aircall pager clipped to his belt. But being a pap wasn't about the equipment; it was about getting yourself in the right place at the right time. That wasn't always as easy as it might seem, but he usually found a way around it.

For instance, he wasn't on the press rota for the 1991 royal premiere of the comedy musical movie Stepping Out. So he bought a ticket, smuggled a dismantled Nikon past security, reassembled it in the toilets and posed as an usher. His shot of Diana greeting Liza Minnelli made the front page of The Sun newspaper, which, despite his request to leave him uncredited, printed his name in large type. "There goes the knighthood," he reflects.

Rude awakening

To get his lens in front of as many celebs as possible, he drew on a network of drivers, doormen, PRs, hotel staff and informers, and stood outside hotels for as long as it took. He found the GoldenEye set in Monte Carlo after a tip from a friendly electrician. He caught Bob Dylan and his son Jakob by sprinting after their car into a hotel car park and shooting through the window.

While most of us can admire his ambition, in 2026, few of us nowadays will admire his profession. It's hard to argue with Bowie's verdict that Koppel was "SO rude" after he'd climbed down a fire escape into a club kitchen to shoot him and Jagger after being asked not to.

Public tolerance for this kind of pursuit finally collapsed after Diana's death in Paris in 1997. When Koppel bumped into Brosnan again in Phuket around that time, the actor called him "paparazzi scum" and walked off. It was Koppel's last paparazzi job.

The pictures endure, though, because they're unguarded. As the Sunday Times once wrote, he caught stars "without their minders, their make-up and the airbrush". And in an age of carefully managed Instagram grids, that's rare.

Spotlight by David Koppel will be published by Pap Art in November, priced £75. For more information, visit www.davidkoppel.co.uk.

For the second time in a row, Norwegian photographer Tobias Gjerde has won the Fritz Pölking Junior Prize with an atmospheric image series titled The magic of the Nordic wilderness. The photos showcase Nordic birds in his homeland, masterfully using fog, light, and minimalist composition to highlight the wildlife.

The 23-year-old photographer also won last year's Fritz Pölking Junior Prize with powerful portraits of resilient Norwegian wildlife braving extreme conditions. Now he has scooped the 2026 competition with quiet moments of birds in the barren tundra and endless forests in the early morning or late evening.

Gjerde's skillful use of the mysterious magic of light and dusk draws the viewer's eye beyond the animal itself to the character of the landscape as a whole, awakening curiosity and calmness.

Gjerde is an established member of Norske Naturfotografer / NN – an association for professional Norwegian nature photographers and served in the Norwegian Army as a combat photographer for the Arctic Ranger Battalion (GSV) for his national service.

Why Gjerde's work is award-winning

Gjerde's work convinced the jury due to its "exceptional coherence" of "style, subject matter and a sensitive handling of light and space combine the individual images into a unified body of work."

The jury explains that his portfolio is an excellent result of "technical skill, a fine sense of composition and countless hours of patient observation in the field," inviting the viewer to wonder what lies beyond the visible.

Gjerde will be honored as part of the official award ceremony of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 competition, held at the International Nature Photography Festival on the evening of October 23, 2026.

Discover more of Gjerde's work

Gjerde combines technical skill with a deep passion for nature and wildlife conservation.

In 2025, he began sharing mini-documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube and Instagram, inviting us to witness the raw realities of wildlife photography in the extreme world.

You might like...

Browse the best cameras for wildlife photography, the best trail cameras, and the best professional cameras.

Gordon Parks is one of the towering figures of 20th century American photography. Born in Kansas in 1912, he bought his first camera secondhand for $12.50, taught himself to use it, and worked his way from Farm Security Administration trainee to Life magazine's first black staff photographer, a post he held for more than two decades.

Known for capturing poverty, segregation and the civil rights movement alongside fashion and portraiture, he described his camera as a weapon against racism and injustice.

Now a major exhibition of his work is opening in New York. But this is by no means a conventional retrospective.

Instead of curators or critics providing the context for Parks' work, the gallery has gone back to the people who stood in front of his lens and asked them what they remember.

Why it makes sense

That's an unusual way to build a photography show, but it makes sense in the case of Parks. His pictures have been reproduced, studied and analysed so much, there's a danger the people begin to feel like symbols rather than individuals in their own right. Marking the 20th anniversary of the Gordon Parks Foundation, Gordon Parks: Voices in the Mirror, aims to reset that balance.

Take At Segregated Drinking Fountain, Mobile, Alabama, shot in 1956 for a Life essay on daily life under the Jim Crow laws. One of his subjects, Cora Taylor, recalls not knowing who to trust that day and warning her mother about the photograph in case anything went wrong.

The 1947 Doll Test series featured Dr Kenneth and Mamie Clark's psychological experiments about the effect of segregation on black children. Their daughter, Kate Clark Harris, remembers Parks's gift for reaching past the surface of a scene. Another highlight is Eldridge Cleaver and His Wife, Kathleen, Algiers, Algeria? Taken in 1970 while Eldridge, a Black Panther leader, was in exile, it's accompanied here by words from Kathleen Cleaver on how photography can isolate what matters from a place.

Others contributing reflections include Lonnie Ali, widow of the iconic boxer Muhammad Ali, and Qubilah Shabazz, daughter of the civil rights leader Malcolm X. They're joined by Anderson Cooper and Isabella Rossellini whose mothers – the artist and writer Gloria Vanderbilt and the film star Ingrid Bergman respectively – were both photographed by Parks.

And that's not all. The show also draws in people who worked alongside Parks or have studied his legacy closely: filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson, author Alice Walker and her daughter Rebecca Walker, curator Thelma Golden, photography historian Deborah Willis, artist Hank Willis Thomas and Ambassador Andrew Young, who was present at the 1963 March on Washington that Parks photographed.

Parks, says DuVernay, didn't bring elegance to black life; he captured the elegance that was already there. And surely that's as good a tribute as any photographer could ever hope to receive.

Gordon Parks: Voices in the Mirror runs at Jack Shainman Gallery, 46 Lafayette Street, New York, until 6 November.