I have always had a slightly complicated relationship with Leica's Q cameras. I loved shooting with the Leica Q2 Reporter when I reviewed it around its launch, and I have spent plenty of time with the Leica Q3 as well. Both are exceptional cameras in their own right, but there was always one thing stopping me from completely falling for them: that 28mm lens.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Leica's Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH. In fact, optically it is superb, and on both the Q2 and Q3 it makes for an incredibly capable combination. The problem was simply me. At the time, I was almost exclusively a 50mm shooter, so moving to 28mm always felt like I was standing just a little too far away from the photograph I actually wanted to make. The camera was brilliant, but the way it saw the world did not quite match the way I did. The Q2 and Q3 could simulate longer focal lengths through their crop modes, but I always wanted that tighter field of view to be there optically from the start. Then, in September 2024, Leica threw something of a curveball.

Rather than simply updating the Q3 again or releasing another special edition, Leica launched the Q3 43. Fundamentally, it was the Q3 that people already knew, complete with its 60MP full-frame sensor, autofocus system and compact form, but on the front was something completely new: an APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH. fixed lens. Suddenly the Q was no longer a camera that effectively told you that 28mm was the Leica way of seeing the world. There was another choice. And for me, that changed everything.

I had always thought that if Leica produced a Q with something closer to a 50mm lens, it would make far more sense for the way I photograph. Leica did not quite give us 50mm, but I actually think its decision to go with 43mm was more interesting. The company reasoned that 43mm provides a perspective close to natural human vision, allowing the photographer to see something, raise the camera, and photograph it with relatively little change in perspective. Leica described the focal length as closely mirroring natural perception, and while arguments about exactly which focal length best represents human eyesight will probably continue forever, I completely understood what Leica was trying to achieve.

It also meant Leica did not simply take the existing Q3 and bolt a longer version of the same lens onto it. The APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH. gave the camera a completely different identity. Some photographers inevitably questioned why Leica had gone from the f/1.7 Summilux on the 28mm Q3 to an f/2 Summicron, but I think that misses the point slightly. This was an apochromatically corrected lens designed specifically for the Q3 43, and Leica clearly wanted outright optical performance as much as outright speed. The company says the lens was engineered to deliver high sharpness and contrast even at its maximum f/2 aperture. More importantly, it opened the Q system up to photographers like me.

Twenty-eight millimetres is fantastic for environmental work, travel, street photography and situations where you want to place a subject firmly within its surroundings. But not everybody sees photographs that way. Some of us naturally isolate things. We see a person across the road, a detail on a building or a moment happening slightly further into a scene and instinctively want to tighten the frame. With 43mm, the Q suddenly allowed you to do that without immediately reaching for a digital crop. That, I believe, is why the Q3 43 mattered far beyond being another Leica launch.

To be clear, Leica did not invent the idea of putting a more normal focal length onto a premium fixed-lens camera. Ricoh had already launched the Ricoh GR IIIx in 2021 with a 40mm-equivalent lens, specifically in response to photographers wanting an alternative to the 28mm GR III. What Leica did differently was take that idea into the very top end of the market and prove that photographers were prepared to spend serious money on it. I do not have Leica's internal sales figures, so I cannot tell you categorically how many Q3 43 bodies were sold compared with the regular Q3. But I can tell you what I saw.

Around the launch, getting hold of one appeared incredibly difficult. Stock disappeared, retailers had waiting lists, and for a while the Q3 43 seemed to be one of those cameras that people were desperate to find. Then something happened that really stuck with me. I was out shooting in London not long after launch and saw six Leica Q3 43 cameras being used in a single day. A week or so later, I saw another two being used on a beach in Cornwall.

Eight cameras might not sound remarkable when you are talking about Canon, Sony or Nikon, where thousands upon thousands of bodies are circulating. But eight examples of the same brand-new Leica, a camera costing several thousand pounds, appearing in front of me within roughly a week? That got my attention.

It suggested to me that the Q3 43 was reaching beyond the traditional Leica audience. These did not feel like cameras being bought simply because somebody wanted another Leica for the collection. The Q3 43 made sense as a standalone photographic tool, and I suspect it brought plenty of photographers into the Leica ecosystem who might never have considered an M camera or an interchangeable-lens SL. That is where I think its wider influence becomes particularly interesting.

Within months, the premium fixed-lens camera market suddenly felt far more important. Fujifilm unveiled the GFX100RF in March 2025, taking its 102MP large-format sensor and putting it into the first fixed-lens GFX camera. Its native lens remained a 28mm-equivalent design, so it was not copying the Q3 43's focal length, but the philosophy was remarkably familiar: take extremely high image quality, pair the sensor permanently with a carefully optimised prime lens and build the whole thing into a camera that photographers could carry without an interchangeable-lens system.

Then Sony returned to a category it had effectively left dormant for almost a decade. In July 2025, it launched the Sony RX1R III, combining a 61MP full-frame sensor with a fixed 35mm f/2 Zeiss lens. Sony even added Step Crop Shooting for 35mm, 50mm and 70mm framing, leaning heavily into the idea that a high-resolution sensor and one exceptional fixed prime could provide more flexibility than the words "fixed lens" might initially suggest.

Can I prove that Leica's Q3 43 caused Fujifilm to build the GFX100RF or persuaded Sony to resurrect the RX1R? No, and development cycles mean those cameras would almost certainly have been taking shape long before the Q3 43 reached customers. But I do think Leica helped validate where the market was heading. It showed there was serious appetite for an expensive, highly specialised camera that deliberately removed the choice of interchangeable lenses and instead concentrated on giving photographers one excellent way of seeing. That is an important distinction.

For years, camera development was largely about giving us more. More lenses, more focal lengths, more megapixels, more video modes, more autofocus modes and more buttons. Cameras like the Q3 43 work almost in the opposite direction. They give you an incredibly capable sensor and then deliberately restrict one of the biggest choices a photographer normally has. Here is your lens. Here is your field of view. Now go and make photographs. And photographers clearly embraced that.

Today, the situation is very different from those first frantic months after launch. In the UK, major retailers now show the Q3 43 either in stock or available in limited quantities rather than with the long waits that surrounded it early on. Park Cameras currently lists it as in stock, while Wex has recently shown limited stock. It has gone from being the Leica everybody appeared to be hunting for to an established part of the Q family.

I think that is perhaps the greatest compliment you can give it. The Q3 43 did not feel like a novelty that Leica produced simply because it could. It became a genuine alternative to the regular Q3. And that changed the conversation around fixed-lens cameras.

The question was no longer simply whether you could live with a fixed lens. It became which fixed lens you wanted.

That sounds like a small difference, but I think it is enormous. Leica effectively turned focal length into a model choice rather than a limitation. Instead of choosing between a compact camera and an interchangeable-lens camera, photographers could start choosing between different interpretations of the same compact-camera philosophy.

The original Q3 remains an incredible camera and, for photographers who naturally see the world at 28mm, it probably remains the better choice. But for those of us who always wanted to step slightly closer without physically doing so, the Q3 43 finally made the Q concept click.

I wanted a Q with a tighter lens for years. Leica eventually gave me one, just not quite the 50mm I expected. And in doing so, I think it helped reshape what the premium compact camera could be.

Shop Leica Q3 43

The Technaxx TX-164 is a tough piece of kit. Dustproof, heavily splashproof and able to operate in temperatures ranging from -20°C up to more than 50°C, it’s the kind of time-lapse camera you could mount securely on a construction site in the windiest and rainiest of climates and not worry about leaving it there.

However, unlike some specialist time-lapse cameras, which can carry price tags brushing up towards four figures, the Technaxx TX-164 is also very affordable. If you’re looking to capture the kind of long-term imagery that a smartphone or mirrorless camera simply wouldn’t be suitable for, then it’s a cost-effective means of doing so – and it comes with a range of mounting accessories that allow you to tie it to a tree or pole, or even screw it into a wall.

But of course, none of this is much use if the imagery itself isn’t up to snuff. Unfortunately, I don’t currently have any multi-month construction projects on the go (maybe next year), so instead I took the Technaxx TX-164 out to create some short timelapses to get a better idea of what it can do.

Technaxx TX-164: Specifications

Technaxx TX-164: Price & availability

As mentioned, the Technaxx TX-164 is on the affordable end of the time-lapse camera scale. Its listed price from its (German) manufacturers is €179, and it can be found via third-party sellers like Amazon for around $256 in the US or £101 in the UK. This is cheaper than the entry-level Brinno BCC300, and a similar price to the tiny ATLI Eon.

However, one thing that is both essential and not included is a microSD card, meaning that if you don’t have one already, you’ll need to add the cost of one to that price tag.

Technaxx TX-164: Build & handling

A chunky black box of a thing, the Technaxx TX-164 is not about to win any camera beauty awards, but it earns points for functionality. All the various mounting accessories already mentioned give you enormous flexibility for how you want to set the camera up, and you can use the screws, clamp and rope to make sure it is extremely secure if you plan to leave it for a long period. For quicker, simpler mounting, the TX-164 also has two standard tripod screw threads – one on the base and one on the rear.

You get more than just the camera in the box – it comes with a range of mounting accessories, including a mounting rope, a clamp and a wall-mounting kit with screws and plugs. There are also twelve AA batteries included – a slightly odd choice, given that the camera takes eight. The makers claim that these batteries are enough to keep the camera going for as much as six months, making it a potential good choice for extremely long-term projects.

The camera opens up, lunchbox-style, revealing on one side the battery compartment, and on the other, the controls, screen, card slot and micro USB port. This port allows you to download your files directly rather than taking them off the card, and the makers have included a micro USB to USB cable – which is handy, because I’m not sure if I even own a micro USB cable anymore. Come on, lads – we’re firmly in our USB-C era.

The screen makes the camera completely self-sufficient, with no mucking around with apps required. It provides a real-time image preview for composing your shot, and the buttons below allow for navigating the menus and selecting your shooting mode. It takes a little getting used to – I’d advise spending some time reading the manual and familiarising yourself before you head to your location – but I felt I was up to speed pretty quickly. I recall the menus on the Brinno BCC300 being much more of a headache.

On the front is the lens, which sports a 110° field of view, and above it is an LED to provide a burst of illumination for night-time capture.

Technaxx TX-164: Performance

The shooting options provided by the Technaxx TX-164 are pretty basic. You can capture your timelapse as a video, converted in-camera to an AVI file, in a maximum resolution of Full HD. Or, if you prefer, you can retain the content as a sequence of photos, with a maximum resolution of 2MP.

Recording can be scheduled for set times and days; alternatively, you can simply activate ‘Endless’ mode and the camera will keep recording images at your chosen intervals – if the microSD card fills up, it will simply overwrite the oldest files and keep going. Interval-wise, you can choose from a minimum of 3 seconds to a maximum of 24 hours. There’s not a lot of control you can exercise over the actual look of your images, save for an exposure-compensation function that allows you to dial in +/-3EV, in case it’s needed.

I set the Technaxx TX-164 up next to my local river. With a minimum interval of 3 seconds – other specialist time-lapse cameras will go as fast as 0.5 sec, which is more useful for shorter-term projects – it was going to take some time to capture a video long enough for testing. So, I parked myself next to it and sat by the river reading a book and drinking a Coke Zero while the camera did its thing (reviewing’s a tough gig sometimes). Once sufficient time had elapsed, I retrieved the TX-164 and hit the button to stop recording – only to be confronted with a dead screen and an unresponsive camera. Hmm.

Naturally my first thought was that the video would have failed to capture, and this would necessitate another peaceful forty to fifty minutes sitting by the river (clearly something to avoid at all costs). Fortunately, checking the card revealed that the video had indeed been successfully captured, and removing and reinserting all the batteries was enough to get the camera working again. Still, not ideal – and I can only imagine that kind of heart attack I would have experienced if I’d been retrieving the camera after a six-month project.

As for the video itself: it’s okay. The image quality is about what you’d expect from a small 1/2.7-inch sensor – there’s a decent amount of details with near and far subjects legible, but the dynamic range is poor, with bright skies easily blown out. The final video file that the camera creates also lacks a polished feel, due to the fact that it outputs at just 5fps. There’s none of the smoothness you get from Brinno or ATLI timelapse cameras, which produce video at much higher frame rates. Granted, you could always save the sequence as individual photos and stitch them together yourself in editing software – but part of the point of a time-lapse camera is that it does this leg-work for you.

Technaxx TX-164: Sample video

The sample video was captured over a period of just under an hour, with the TX-164 capturing at 3-second intervals. It was converted to video in-camera.

Technaxx TX-164: Verdict

The Technaxx TX-164 is a cheap time-lapse camera that I would describe as functional. I appreciate its sturdy build and the raft of mounting accessories included in the box, but with video quality that’s adequate at best, the content it creates is serviceable rather than awe-inspiring.

Still, it’s more affordable than many of its competitor time-lapse cameras, and if you are looking for a long-term solution for capturing something like a construction project, it’s a cost-effective choice. It offers robust scheduling functionality, but very limited scope for tweaking the actual image – and the 5fps output of the in-camera converted output makes for a juddery viewing experience.

Alternatives

The memory crisis is showing no signs of stopping. For photographers and tech consumers alike, it’s an alarming time. I bought a Nintendo Switch 2 this month; I’d been mulling over the idea for a while, but an impending price increase strong-armed my decision. Then a colleague of mine bought an Apple MacBook Neo for his daughter’s birthday, and I was surprised to find it had increased by $100/£100.

All across the consumer tech industry, prices are increasing. And although the memory crisis isn’t solely to blame – tariffs, component shortages, and a rising cost of living – it’s having a huge impact. As a photographer, it’s especially worrying because we rely heavily on storage. Memory cards and SSD drives were expensive enough – now they’re through the roof!

But a strange byproduct of all this is that I now find what I once considered aging tech – the humble SD card – to be an absolute lifesaver. Don’t get me wrong, many SD card prices have risen exponentially, too. But they still pale in comparison to XQD and CFexpress prices.

Thankfully, all but the very pro-tier, flagship cameras tend to have either an SD card slot or a dual SD and CFexpress slot. And I have to wonder if that trend will continue as long as the memory crisis. It seems remarkable to me now that Nikon launched its full-frame mirrorless Z mount back in 2018, with two cameras that only contained a single XQD/CFexpress slot.

I mean, cameras are expensive enough as it is, but now the camera and the lens and the spare battery aren’t enough. You’ve got to spend $100/£100+ on a CFexpress card. Don’t get me wrong, CFexpress cards are certainly preferable to their SD card counterparts. They’re faster, more robust and more reliable. But they’re also a lot more expensive.

There is another angle, and that’s built-in storage. I’ve just recorded another episode of Bokeh Face: The Digital Camera World Podcast, and in our Gear Up section we talked about the Sigma BF. Not only is it a gorgeous-looking camera with some impressive specs, but it also doesn’t have a memory card slot. Instead, it has 230GB of internal memory.

Don’t get me wrong, a device with built-in memory isn't immune to the memory crisis, but at least you don’t have to worry about buying a collection of cards. And in 2026, a few CFexpress cards could set you back $400/£400+. That’s madness!

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Want more of my ramblings? Orwellian UK government pamphlet contradicts police on photography law. Imagine if Martin Parr had been prevented from taking photos in public. Modern autofocus isn’t the cheat code everyone says it is – you can still miss regularly. “Vertical video is driving me INSANE” says sports videographer. And no, open gate isn’t necessarily the answer…

Film photography has been enjoying a remarkable resurgence over the past few years, but that renewed enthusiasm has also pushed the prices of good second-hand 35mm cameras increasingly higher.

Thankfully, manufacturers are beginning to respond with genuinely new analog cameras, and Lomography's Lomo MC-A has now received one of the biggest endorsements yet after being named the EISA Analog Camera 2026-2027.

The Lomo MC-A is a compact 35mm film camera that bridges the gap between the simplicity of a point-and-shoot and the control offered by more traditional enthusiast cameras. Its solid metal construction gives it a more premium feel than many modern film cameras, while the option to shoot automatically or manually should appeal to complete beginners and experienced photographers alike.

At the heart of the camera is Lomography's Minitar II 32mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens, paired with autofocus and support for DX-coded film. EISA praised the lens for delivering sharp images, while the 32mm focal length should make it particularly well suited to everyday photography, travel and street shooting, where having something small and quick to use can make all the difference.

Sample images

However, the MC-A is not simply about recreating the film cameras of the past. Lomography has packed in several features designed to encourage experimentation, including a built-in optical viewfinder, multiple-exposure shooting and an integrated flash with creative effects filters. That combination feels very much in keeping with Lomography's philosophy of making film photography fun, accessible and slightly unpredictable.

What makes this award particularly interesting is what it says about the state of analog photography in 2026. For years, photographers wanting a serious 35mm camera have largely had to rely on decades-old second-hand equipment, often at increasingly inflated prices.

Cameras such as the Lomo MC-A suggest that this could finally be changing, and if more manufacturers continue to invest in brand-new film cameras, photographers may no longer have to look backwards to enjoy shooting analog.

Shop the Lomo MC-A

The ATLi Eon is all about making time-lapse photography easy. A small, simple, app-controlled camera, its operation is about as close to point-and-shoot as a time-lapse camera gets, so if you’re a novice looking for a time-lapse camera, it’s the kind of option that will likely capture your attention.

Some time-lapse cameras are hardy things, designed to be screwed into walls and left for months on end for seriously long-term projects like documenting building construction. That isn’t really the ATLi Eon’s bag – it’s a small, non-weatherproof device that’s about the size of an action camera, better suited for indoor timelapses like houseplant monitoring or brief outdoor sojourns.

Still, with a manual-focus lens, tripod mount and full manual settings control via the app, the ATLi Eon offers a surprising depth of control for such a lightweight and affordable time-lapse camera. Could it be the ideal entry point for time-lapse enthusiasts? Let’s find out.

ATLI Eon: Specifications

ATLI Eon: Price & availability

The ATLi Eon is one of the cheaper dedicated time-lapse cameras on the market. Its price fluctuates regularly; at time of writing, it can be bought for around $179 / £127, either directly from ATLi or via third-party retailers like Amazon. I bought mine a few weeks ago for £97, so don’t be surprised if you see the price move significantly in either direction. Other entry-level time-lapse cameras tend to be more expensive – the Brinno BCC300 costs $249 / £269 standalone without any accessories.

ATLI Eon: Build & handling

Upon unboxing the ATLi Eon, I was quite charmed. In form, shape and size it essentially resembles a GoPro with a big round lens stuck on the front, smaller and lighter than many other time-lapse cameras. There are minimal physical controls – just the power button on top – and no screen, meaning that you’re going to need to use the app to operate the camera.

With that said, there is one piece of manual control that I found rather delightful – the manual focus lens. The f/2.8 optic on the front turns with a smooth, well-regulated action, allowing you to bring your chosen subject sharply into focus, with a range spanning from 7cm to infinity. Not everyone will like this piece of physical admin, but for me, it made the ATLi Eon feel much more like a real camera than other webcam-style time-lapse cameras do. Plus, that 7cm minimum range opens up some interesting potential for macro shooting.

This focus range makes the ATLi Eon suitable for a broad range of time-lapse applications, from tracking the growth of a houseplant to capturing the changing view outside of your bedroom window. The ATLi Eon also has a tripod screw thread on its base to make it easier to set up in a secure, consistent position – ideal for long-term projects.

However, as we’ve discussed already, there is one aspect of the camera’s design that majorly restricts the time-lapse functions it can be used for: it isn’t waterproof. The ATLi Eon is not designed to be used in rain, unlike many other time-lapse cameras which can be left for months in the worst of the elements and still capture usable footage. Previous versions were apparently sold with a weatherproof silicon casing, but mine was not.

If you’re looking for a time-lapse camera to leave outdoors for long periods, I’d go with the Brinno BCC300 (as long as you get the waterproof housing).

ATLI Eon: Performance

As a rule I’m not a huge fan of cameras that are dependent on an app to function, but I suppose it makes a reasonable amount of sense for a timelapse camera, and the ATLi app is a good one. The shooting interface is simple and well-designed, making it easy to set up, shoot or schedule a time-lapse, or switch to photo and straight video capture modes. The photo mode isn’t bad – it’s difficult to imagine getting much use out of it, not least because you have to awkwardly juggle the camera and your phone, but it captures acceptable-looking images.

You can output your timelapse as a Full HD video, a photo sequence to stitch together yourself (which will give you the higher 2.7K quality of the camera’s photo mode), or both. Delve into the settings on the app and you’ll find a wealth of options for customising the look of your content, including exposure and white balance controls. There are profiles for different conditions such as ‘Sun’ and ‘Cloudy’, or you can take complete manual control over your shutter speed, aperture and white balance – useful once you’ve got the hang of the basics.

Still, no matter how many settings you tweak, you are ultimately still at the mercy of quite a small sensor, and the resultant narrow dynamic range can be a problem. During my time testing the ATLi Eon, the UK was experiencing extremely hot and sunny weather, and those scorchingly bright skies blew out very easily. The conditions also presented challenges for the lens – I found that harsh directional sunlight could easily cause an unsightly lens flare, and there’s no means of attaching a hood.

In less harsh light, though, it acquits itself well, producing bright and vivid imagery with a decent amount of detail.

I’d call the image quality sufficient. It’s no great shakes, and your smartphone is almost certainly capable of producing better-looking video without even trying, but you’re not going to leave your smartphone in front of a houseplant for two weeks – and there’s a lot to be said for the straightforward time-lapse functionality of the ATLi Eon. Once you’ve set it up, you can simply close the app, leave it to its own devices, and then come back to pick up your completed time-lapse.

ATLI Eon: Sample video

The following video was captured over a short period of 20 to 30 minutes, with the camera shooting at 0.5-sec intervals. It was converted to an MP4 video in-camera.

ATLI Eon: Verdict

The ATLi Eon isn’t going to produce the kinds of stunning, Einaudi-soundtracked, Icelandic starscape time-lapses you’ve seen on YouTube and Vimeo – those are made using proper mirrorless cameras with expensive lenses. However, what it will do is produce a decent-looking timelapse in most conditions, even when operated by someone who has little familiarity with cameras.

This ease of use, combined with the temptingly low price tag, makes the ATLi Eon a solid choice for anyone looking to dip their toes in the world of time-lapse. And once you’ve got a handle on the basics, its range of settings controls provide a solid platform for improving the quality of your footage – before, perhaps, you upgrade to something more sophisticated.

Alternatives

Eight of the Top 10 best-selling lenses in Japan right now come from third-party manufacturers, according to the latest BCN Raking data.

Sigma and Tamron dominate the chart, with four lenses each, while only one Nikon and one Sony lens make the Top 10 – and there isn't a single Canon optic in sight.

The biggest winner is Sigma, whose 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C takes the No.1 spot for Sony E-mount. The same lens also appears at No.2 in Canon RF-mount and No.4 in Fujifilm X-mount, making it one of the most successful individual lens designs in the ranking. Sigma's 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN | C also takes third place, giving the brand four spots in total.

BCN's Top 10 best-selling lenses, July 2026

1. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (E-mount)
2. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (RF-mount)
3. Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN | C (E-mount)
4. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (X-mount)
5. Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD (E-mount)
6. Tamron 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 (E-mount)
7. Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S
8. Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 (E-mount)
9. Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS
10. Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD (E-mount)

Sigma's third party lens success in Japan

Launched for Canon RF in 2024, the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C was Sigma's first AF (autofocus) lens for the mount – a long-awaited release for Canon EOS R users.

It's an ideal choice for APS-C cameras such as the EOS R7, R10, R50 and R100 and is priced relatively affordably at $659 / £468 (RF-mount).

It offers a useful standard zoom range equivalent to roughly 27-75mm in full-frame and is lightweight, weighing 290g in Sony E and L-mount versions, 285g for Fujifilm X and 300g for Canon RF.

In our review, we highlighted its lightweight design and constant f/2.8 aperture as its major strengths. We also found its AF to be fast and virtually silent, while build quality and weather resistance were further strengths.

Tamron also claims four spots

Tamron accounts for four of the Top 10, with the 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD at No.5, followed by the 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 at No.6, the 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 at No.8 and the 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD at No.10. All four are Sony E-mount lenses.

Together, Tamron's lenses span everything from fast standard zooms to all-in-one travel lenses and long telephoto zooms – great alternatives to often larger or more expensive first-party options.

That leaves just two first-party lenses in the chart. Nikon's Z 24-120mm f/4 S comes in at No.7, while Sony's E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS takes ninth place.

Canon, meanwhile, is completely absent from BCN's July Top 10 – despite its hugely popular RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM previously claiming top spots across different Japanese retailers, like Kitamura.

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Browse the best telephoto lenses, the best budget telephoto lenses, and the best standard zoom lenses.

DK-Optic has launched a rather beautiful new 50mm lens for Leica M-mount cameras, but rather than chasing the ultra-sharp, clinically perfect look we have come to expect from modern optics, the new Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 is looking firmly to the past. In fact, its inspiration comes from one of the most celebrated British lenses of the 1930s: the Dallmeyer Super Six 2-inch F1.9.

The Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 takes both its optical character and styling cues from that classic lens, while DK-Optic says it has rebuilt the concept using modern materials and contemporary manufacturing tolerances. The result is a manual-focus, full-frame Leica M-mount lens designed to deliver the softer tonal transitions, atmosphere, and natural sense of depth associated with vintage glass, rather than simply prioritizing outright resolution above everything else.

Things get particularly interesting when shooting wide open. DK-Optic says that around f/1.9 the lens produces a noticeably softer, more characterful rendering, before becoming progressively clearer and more defined as the aperture is stopped down. That gives photographers the ability to effectively change the personality of the lens depending on how it is used, which is exactly the sort of behavior that has made classic lenses so appealing to photographers in the first place.

There are also two versions to choose from, and they offer more than just a cosmetic difference. The Blue Coating model is designed to provide stronger color reproduction and contrast, while the uncoated version deliberately embraces the flare, glow, and light bleeding associated with much older optics. Both versions are limited to just 150 examples worldwide, making this a pretty exclusive proposition for Leica M shooters looking for something a little different from the usual modern 50mm. Each version is priced at $1,599.

Underneath that vintage-inspired exterior is a relatively simple six-element, four-group optical design, with an aperture range of f/1.9 to f/22 and a minimum focusing distance of 0.75m. Importantly for Leica users, the lens is coupled to the camera's rangefinder, while its compact 52mm-diameter, 46mm-long body weighs just 178g.

There are plenty of technically brilliant 50mm lenses available for the Leica M system, but the Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 is clearly trying to offer something different – a lens where imperfections, flare, softness, and character are not problems to be corrected, but part of the reason you would want to shoot it.

Check out our guide to the best Leica M lenses

It’s taken me a while to get my hands on the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow, one of the company’s most popular non-cellular trail cameras. Bushnell has long been recognised for its outdoor optics, and this unit is aimed at wildlife enthusiasts or spotters who want a good level of visual detail with little fuss.

If you’re interested in specs, the camera’s main shoutouts include 4K video at 20fps, 30MP stills (interpolated) and improved storage up to a 512GB SD card, meaning you can leave the camera for longer without worrying about filling the memory too quickly.

The S-4K No Glow isn’t a new model. Released around mid-2021, it’s effectively the slightly more affordable sibling to the Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow (the DS standing for double sensor) that we tested back in 2022. The S-4K shares the same heavy-duty casing and 4K capability but uses one 4K sensor that relies on an automatic mechanical IR filter to switch between day and night capture.

The S-4K No Glow faces tough competition in our guides to the best trail cameras and best wildlife cameras, but on paper at least it excels in a few areas. Firstly, the camera offers what I’ll call ‘true’ 4K video resolution. I’ve come to realise that many budget trail cameras advertise 4K video, but actually use software interpolation to take a lower-resolution sensor (like 1080p or 720p) and stretch the pixels to fit a 4K frame. And the result is footage that still looks pixelated.

So the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow records full 4K, which promises better fine detail to the picture. But of course, resolution is only one element in determining footage quality; dynamic range, flash range, and trigger speed all contribute, too. With a trigger speed of 0.2 seconds for photos, 0.4 seconds for video, the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow is near the top of its class for response time among ~$200 non-cellular cameras. And as its name suggests, the camera also has completely invisible IR flash, meaning it shouldn't spook shy mammals or alert walkers-by to its location.

One thing niggling me about the S-4K No Glow was the spec that footage maxes out at just 20fps in 4K. I don’t want stuttery footage when recording fast-moving animals, and anything under 25 or 30fps can create that. It is possible to set higher frame rates with the S-4K No Glow, but only by dropping the recording resolution down to 1080p.

With the Core S-4K, it feels like Bushnell is pitching an unpretentious, reliable workhorse for serious wildlife watchers who want sharp footage but don’t need apps and remote footage. But it’s about five years old now. Should this make us worry about outdated tech, or does it still hold its weight against newer rivals from Browning and Spypoint? I took it out into my local British woodland to see if its single-sensor setup and fast trigger rates delivered the premium picture promised, or if I’d end up missing the remote convenience of a cellular connection.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Specifications

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Price

The Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow retails at around $200/£190, putting it in the premium tier of traditional, non-cellular trail cameras. At first, I thought that tag sounded steep for a camera that can’t send images directly to your phone, especially when budget brands like Stealth Cam or GardePro offer entry-level models for half this price. But Bushnell is targeting wildlife enthusiasts wanting native high-resolution video and instant trigger speeds over wireless phone updates.

Where the Core S-4K leads the market is that, unlike cheaper 4K cameras that use digital interpolation to fake resolution, it uses a dedicated dual-sensor array to capture true, native 4K video. It is also one of the few cameras in its class to support full 512GB SDXC storage, allowing you to shoot 4K clips for longer without filling the card.

The camera faces some competition from the Browning Recon Force Elite HP5 Ultra (2026 model). This maxes out at 1440p, but offers a smoother 60fps frame rate for action shots compared to Bushnell's 30fps at 4K, and half the trigger recovery time at 0.5 seconds. Being a non-cellular model, of course, there are no data subscriptions to factor in. The Core S-4K No Glow is a fair price for a high-end trail camera, though it’s not exceptional value either.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Design & Handling

To look at quickly, the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow resembles any quintessential camo trail camera. Its tree-bark-inspired camouflage is designed to blend into woodland trunks, and doesn’t do a bad job – though the cool reads a little too cool gray for a UK woodland in summer.

It’s a minimalist cubed design, and the only indication of external branding is a subtly embossed 'B' on the front door. Size-wise, it’s a relatively light and compact model measuring 6.5 x 10.5 x 15cm, as there's no cellular antenna or solar panel to consider. It sits nearly 2cm flatter than the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 I tested most recently, so it sits more flush against a tree trunk or flat mounting post out in the field.

The camera’s handling also follows a familiar layout for anyone who has used modern trail gear. There’s a heavy-duty latch holding the fold-open front door shut with a solid snap. I couldn't find an official IP rating for weatherproofing.

I tested the camera during the UK’s fifth heatwave of the summer, so while I can’t vouch for its ability to keep out water, I’ll say that the Core S-4K certainly feels solid and well-constructed. The weather sealing is handled by a thick rubber gasket running along the inner rim to keep the internal buttons isolated from rain and humidity.

As is standard again for trail cams, you open up the secure latch from right to left to reveal the control center. The layout is super simple: a four-way plastic arrow pad with a central OK button, a dedicated menu button, an on/off toggle switch, and an eject button for the battery compartment. The plastic buttons feel a little more rattly than some rivals I’ve tested, but they respond predictably enough – and realistically, nobody buys a trail camera for its button feel. It’s a shame they don’t light up, mind.

On the right side of the casing is the SD card slot and a 9V DC external power jack. Placing the SD slot on the side rather than the bottom makes inserting and retrieving memory cards easy, even when the unit is strapped to a tree. The same can be said for pressing the release button to drop out the 6 x AA battery tray.

The batteries load smoothly, which isn’t always the case, and I found that the tray slides smoothly up and back into place. Though Bushnell says you might get a year out of full batteries, it’s reassuring to know that you can swap power in seconds without needing to unmount the camera from its position.

Above the control panel sits the welcome 1.5-inch color LCD, useful for double-checking your framing and camera angles before walking away. Because of its small size and basic resolution, I found it functions more as an alignment guide rather than a precise monitor for reviewing footage. I struggled to pick out any fine details and had to wait to view clips on a proper laptop monitor when I came home.

Setting up trail cameras can be more fiddly than it needs to be. But running through the Bushnell settings menu using the arrow keys makes for one of the simplest setups I've experienced. The interface has a high-contrast black-and-white design, and while I think this would make navigating menus in dark woods easy, the small display size still meant my (usually good) eyes struggled a bit, forcing me to get up close to read what settings I was changing. Still, for usability and hassle-free mounting, the S-4K No Glow gets the core fundamentals right.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Performance

Above: Sample clips from the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow

I’ve been testing several trail cameras over the past few months, and like those other models, I strapped the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow to a tree in my local British woodland for several weeks. I regularly swapped between 30MP stills and 4K video clips to see how its single-sensor setup holds up in real-world conditions. One big perk over other models I’ve tried is that you can also set it to ‘hybrid’.

This 2-in-1 mode where it’ll shoot an image first, then begin recording a full 4K video clip (for whatever duration you set. It’s the mode I found myself using most often, particularly as you can’t change the mode remotely without cellular. That way, I got a still image for quick identification, backed up by motion footage to observe the animal more closely.

Working this way adds a slight operational delay compared to running it in photo-only mode. Because the camera has to capture/process a photo and then switch to recording 4K video, there’s a tiny lag between the initial photo and the start of the video clip. There’s also a slightly longer recovery time before the camera can trigger a second sequence.

Supposedly, running Hybrid Mode also burns through battery power faster, but this isn’t something I noticed. After two weeks of running the camera in a set-and-forget way, the battery gauge looked nearly full. In Bushnell's menu system, when the camera is set to its highest infrared output (Long Range or High illumination mode), nighttime video clips are limited to 15 seconds to prevent battery drain and thermal overload.

With the camera set to its highest trigger sensitivity and its quoted 0.2-second trigger speed, I found it genuinely responsive. Looking at my test frames in photo mode (not hybrid), both a trotting fox and a roe deer were captured in the middle of the frame rather than disappearing off the edge. However, even with rapid firing, fast animal movement in low light still produces noticeable motion blur, particularly around shuffling legs and paws.

Despite Bushnell touting 30MP stills and true native 4K video, the visual reality under a dense canopy is mixed. Looking at my daylight capture of a roe deer, the hair textures on its flank looked a little smudged and painted rather than tack-sharp – a reminder that high megapixel counts can’t overcome a single sensor struggling with dynamic range.

Color balance is partly a personal choice, and every trail camera renders slightly differently in this respect. Comparing the daylight capture of a roe deer directly against a very similar shot from the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 highlights the Bushnell's variation. Where the Browning renders natural, warm woodland earth tones with soft highlight roll-off, the Bushnell shifts heavily toward a cold, teal-tinted white balance. Vibrancy is also punchier, where the Browning leans towards a more natural appearance overall.

Transition periods and night captures highlight the strengths and limits of the single sensor. An early-morning grayscale capture of a squirrel on a fallen log demonstrated that while the resolution is sufficient to spot small mammals, low-contrast dawn light leaves the image looking flat and washed out, making it tricky to pick out subjects.

But at night, the completely invisible "No-Glow" IR array comes into its own. The light beam is spread evenly across the middle distance without there being bright hotspots in the middle, In one shot I tracked a cat without spooking it or triggering any eye-glare reactions (don’t ask me what it was doing in the middle of a wood, though). Close-range auto-exposure is a bit harsher; when a muntjac deer grazed the bottom edge of the frame, the lower LEDs hit more directly, overexposing its back – but that’s getting into picky territory.

You can record media with or without data strips imprinted onto the bottom. Here, I’ve chosen to include them for illustration – the Bushnell records time, date, moon phase, and temperature. Like most trail cameras I’ve tested, the internal thermometer ran a couple of degrees higher than ambient woodland temps, but as a basic logging tool for local animal activity, it does the job.

Switching over to 4K video clips, the impact of the 20fps cap is apparent, but by no means awful. Watching a nocturnal fox pace across the scene, the footage is sharp and undeniably clear for identifying species, but the tail and stepping paws have a slight, juddery motion that lacks the fluid polish of 30fps or 60fps video.

Again, the No-Glow IR matrix leaves animals completely unbothered, and the fox trotted past without a single glance toward the tree. Audio capture is more than functional. It picked up the faint crunch of footsteps on dry leaves, and though the microphone introduces a background hiss that gives it a slightly tinny, compressed edge, this is something all trail cams contend with.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Verdict

The Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow is an honest and practical choice for wildlife watchers who want high visual resolution without a monthly data subscription. I'd be confident in the batteries lasting months, but if you do want to go long stretches without checking the camera, you'll need a high-capacity SD card (and the camera supports up to 512GB).

Unlike Low-Glow models, I found that the Bushnell's stealthy No-Glow IR flash performed brilliantly at night, illuminating woodland paths without scaring nocturnal creatures. I also particularly rate the Hybrid Mode, which lets you capture a high-resolution photo alongside motion-backed 4K video for easy field monitoring.

The optical claims aren't without caveats, though. Under a dense and leafy woodland canopy, I found that the sensor could struggle with dynamic range – blowing out sunny highlights and pushing shadows toward an unnaturally cold, teal. Heavy internal processing left finer fur textures looking a bit smudged, and the 20fps cap at max resolution introduces a subtle judder to fast-moving animals.

If you want fluid 60fps action or remote app transfers, newer cellular trail cameras from Browning or Spypoint might suit you better. But if your main goal is long-term, unpretentious local recording with dependable 0.2-second response times and fantastic 2-in-1 captures, I think the Core S-4K No Glow is still a solid contender.

Alternatives

Check out our full guides to the best trail cameras, and also the best cellular trail cameras

Action camera brand GoPro has pulled off a pivot, branching off the longstanding Hero line to launch the Mission 1 series of cinema-action cameras, complete with the first mirrorless GoPro. But if GoPro has anything to say about it, it’s this: GoPro isn’t done yet.

The shift to the Mission 1 series couldn’t have come at a better time for GoPro, which is facing serious financial struggles and looking for a potential buyer amid a downturn in sales. Yet, amid the company’s struggles and the biggest GoPro launch in years, the company is still looking towards what’s next.

“We’re going to continue to build from there,” GoPro’s senior vice president of product management Pablo Lema told me. “We've got exciting new products coming in different categories that are not even Mission. We're excited to put the same power that we put into Mission One into those new products when they come out and see how the world takes them. I think they're gonna want them.”

While GoPro couldn’t talk specifics about what’s next, Lema’s comments hint that GoPro is still working behind the scenes on what’s next, even amid a financial downturn and the company’s biggest launch in years.

The Mission 1 series is, Lema said, the GoPro that fans have been asking for since the Hero7 Black. The move to Mission jumps to a larger one-inch sensor, along with specs like 8K and slow-mo down to 960fps.

Among the series is perhaps the most unusual GoPro yet: the Mission 1 Pro ILS mirrorless camera. While GoPro’s first mirrorless was teased alongside the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro, the ILS isn’t set to make its debut until September.

The ILS carries much of the same specs as the Mission 1 Pro, including the same sensor, resolution, and frame rates, but slices off GoPro’s usual ultra-wide for a Micro Four Thirds mount.

GoPro fans have been asking for a camera with a larger sensor for years, and the Mission 1 series marks that much-requested shift – though Lema says there’s still space for "Hero-like” cameras in GoPro’s line.

“What we do best at GoPro is to be authentic listeners of the core user base that uses these products and what they need,” Lema said. “We have the best relationships with some of the best videographers in the world. And from them, we can get all the input on what we need to go next. If there's a next Mission, if there's a Mission after that.”

“And that's where we're cranking on, so we're excited to get those out when it comes,” Lema continued. “But first, we'll get ILS in the hands of folks and start to build out that powerline. And then we'll see what goes from there. We continue to work as hard as ever on our products.”

The Mission 1 launch comes as GoPro faces a downturn in sales. The company’s stock market filings suggest that the company could “be required to significantly reduce, restructure, cease operations, or seek protection under the Federal bankruptcy laws” if the company doesn’t manage to turn things around.

The Mission 1 cameras – and the unnamed future products Lema alludes to – aren’t the only solution that GoPro is working on. CEO Nicholas Woodman says that he fully supports GoPro’s search for a potential buyer or merger.

This is part four of a four-part series on the GoPro Mission 1 series and what’s next for GoPro. Read more about GoPro’s first mirrorless camera, the future of the Hero line, and why the Mission 1 is the biggest launch in years.

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Take a look at the best GoPro camera or the best action cameras.

Traditionally, professional Mac-based photographers would probably not be using Apple Photos as their main image-editing app. Apple Photos is great for organizing images, syncing them between devices via iCloud, and sharing them with friends and family. However, the photo-fixing tools in Apple Photos are relatively basic. For example, you can’t make mask-based selections in Apple Photos, which limits its use as a serious photo fixer. Mac-based photographers (such as myself) would need to rely on third-party apps such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, among the best photo-editing software, to perform more complex or creative edits.

With the acquisition of third-party apps Pixelmator Pro and Photomator in 2025, Apple dramatically boosted its in-house photo-fixing powers. Photomator is the little sister app to Pixelmator Pro. Think of Pixelmator Pro as an Adobe Photoshop alternative, providing the ability to composite images in layers and use vector-based text to create designs for posters and flyers, for example.

The streamlined Photomator app enables users to fix common problems with color, tone, and composition without getting bogged down by Pixelmator Pro’s suite of graphic design tools. Think of Photomator as a more focused digital darkroom app that offers professional photo editors much more control over editing camera Raw files than they’d get with Apple Photos, such as the ability to make non-destructive mask-based adjustments.

Photomator: Requirements

Photomator: Price

Photomator is available for a yearly subscription of $34.99 / £29.99 / AU$49.99, which works out to around $2.90 / £2.50 / AU$4.15 per month, which is a far better deal than the monthly subscription cost of $7.99 / £7.99 / AU$12.99. So, for around half the price of a cup of coffee per month, you get access to a collection of more powerful image-editing tools than you’ll find in the free Apple Photos app. This is far cheaper than paying $12.99 / £12.99 per month for Photomator’s sister app Pixelmator Pro, although this is part of a bundle with high-end pro apps such as Final Cut Pro in the Apple Creator Studio – Apple’s answer to the Adobe Creative Cloud.

There is also a lifetime license if you wish to purchase the software outright, at $119.99 / £119.99 / AU$199.99, which pays for itself if you're confident you'll still be using the software in four years.

So, if you’re primarily using Apple Photos to organize, edit, and share your iPhone-snapped images, then Photomator is well worth considering thanks to its more powerful toolset. Photomator also slots perfectly into the Apple ecosystem as it enables you to access and edit images stored in your iCloud library.

You can also run Photomator on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and edits made on one platform are synced on the others. If you’re not sure about Photomator, you can take it for a free seven-day trial run, but make sure that you cancel the subscription via your Apple account before the end of the trial period, or the annual subscription will kick in.

Photomator: Interface & Usability

When you launch Photomator, the first thing that you see is the browser, which is similar in layout and design to the browser in Apple Photos. Here you can explore assets by flicking through Albums that you’ve already created in Apple Photos, or you can create new Albums in Photomator, and they’ll appear in Apple Photos after syncing via iCloud. So, Photomator is firmly and effectively embedded in the Apple ecosystem.

A key interface difference between Photos and Photomator is the color scheme. Unlike the white background in Apple Photos, Photomator’s interface is a neutral black and gray, which echoes the look of pro photo-fixing apps such as Adobe Lightroom. The black-and-gray interface also brings Photomator in line with the look of other Apple apps such as Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro. The Photomator browser also enables you to manage your assets with more control than you can with the Apple Photos browser. For example, in Photomator, you can assign star ratings to shots and then filter for specific ratings.

But Photomator’s key strengths lie not in the browser but in the edit windows. Double-click on a photo and it appears in a clean black-and-gray workspace. At the top, in the menu bar, is a series of icons that access a range of image-editing workspaces and tools. These icons are ML (which unleashes a range of machine learning adjustments to color and tone in a click), Repair tool (providing a more advanced way to remove unwanted elements than you get in the Photos app), Clone tool (for manually sampling and relocating pixels), Crop tool (more on that in the Performance section), and the main workspace – Color Adjustments. It’s in Color Adjustments that you find most of the action in Photomator thanks to a host of photo-fixing and AI-powered digital darkroom tools. We’ll delve into this workspace in the Performance section of this review.

Also in the toolbar is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) button. This enables you to see a wider range of colors and tones if your device’s display supports that feature, but you can toggle it off, which is especially useful if you’re editing for print. There’s also an ellipsis (...) icon that provides access to other tools, such as an ML-powered Super Resolution tool. This will prove useful if you want to enlarge typically low-res files produced by generative AI.

Oh, Photomator also looks and behaves in a similar way on the iPadOS version of the app, though that does lack some of the macOS version’s tools, such as the Black & White and Color Monochrome panels. This isn’t a major issue, as both the Mac and iPadOS versions are included in the subscription, so you could start editing on the iPad and then finish off with the extra tools on your Mac’s version of Photomator.

Photomator: Performance

If you’ve used any image-editing app before, you’ll take to Photomator like a duck to water, thanks to a collection of typical tools such as a Basic panel with sliders that adjust Exposure, Shadows, Highlights, etc. A good place to start is by clicking on the ML button, as this causes AI to analyze a shot to tweak colors and tones. You’ll then notice that sliders in the Color Adjustments panel have been repositioned. Tools are grouped into panels that can be toggled open (or collapsed), making it easy to focus on specific photo-fixing tasks. Some tools, such as Selective Color and Curves, look and behave the way the equivalent tools do in the Photos app, so there’s no steep learning curve to climb.

However, you soon begin to see Photomator’s superiority over Apple Photos when it comes to making selective adjustments. At the top of Photomator’s Color Adjustments panel is a Layers panel. By default, you’ll see the image layer. Click on the "+" icon to access commands such as Select Subject. This uses AI (ML) to create a mask that enables you to adjust properties such as color, tone, clarity, etc., for a person without changing the background. You can use the Select Background command to create a new mask on a separate layer and apply selective adjustments to the background.

This makes it easy to produce creative edits such as a spot-color effect, where a person in full color stands against a black-and-white background, for example. You can also use masks to adjust the Clarity of background brickwork while preserving the smooth skin tones of a model, for example. See the video below to see layer-based editing in action.

You can also use Photomator to apply edits (such as tweaking tone curves) as adjustment layers – just like you can in Adobe Photoshop. This makes it easy to fine-tune the look of your edited photo, as you can tweak an adjustment layer’s properties with ease or toggle it on and off to see what it brings to the image-editing party! I found that Photomator’s AI-powered mask-creating tools worked really well, though you can fine-tune them using brush-based tools if necessary. But if you need to combine images as composited layers, then you’ll need Pixelmator Pro, not Photomator.

As well as photo fixing, Photomator enables you to indulge in some creative processing, courtesy of one-click color and tone tweaking filters. Filters are presented in a filmstrip of thumbnails along the bottom of the workspace, with each thumbnail previewing the look that the filter will apply to your currently open photo. Filters are grouped into themes such as B&W (Black & White – obviously) and CN (Cinematic – less obviously!). The handy thing about filters is that they instantly alter a host of properties in various sections of the Color Adjustments panel, so they teach you more about how these adjustment tools work. A nice touch is the ability to manually tweak a host of image adjustment tools to get a look that you like, and then save these adjustments as a custom one-click filter.

Another quick way to produce a wide range of mood-changing creative looks is to experiment with the options in the LUT (Look-Up Table) section of the Color Adjustments panel. Here there are some excellent Grayscale Conversion filters that mimic the different looks that you get when placing different colored filters over the lens when shooting with black-and-white film, such as using a red filter to darken blue skies in black-and-white prints. Unlike Filters, LUTs don’t change the position of sliders in the Color Adjustments panel. You can also export custom filters that you’ve created as LUTs (in .cube format), which some photographers will find useful.

Talking of file formats, Photomator offers comprehensive support to photographers who prefer to shoot and edit in their camera brand’s own Raw format, including, of course, Apple ProRAW .dng (Digital Negative) files from iPhones such as the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. Photomator currently supports over 750 Raw formats, and as it is an annual subscription-based app, support for new Raw formats should be added over the year.

Photomator: Verdict

If you’re a long-term Apple Photos user who wants to "up" your photo-editing skills without climbing a steep learning curve or spending a lot of cash, then Photomator is well worth considering, especially thanks to its effective AI-powered selection tools and layered, non-destructive, mask-based editing powers. The Repair tool is marginally better at removing unwanted objects than Apple Photos’ Clean Up tool, though both fall short of Adobe’s much more powerful and effective Generative Fill and Remove tools. I particularly enjoyed the ability to start editing a shot on the iPadOS version of Photomator and then continue editing it via my macOS version of the app, courtesy of syncing via iCloud. Photomator is an effective and affordable addition to the Mac photo-fixing ecosystem.

Alternatives

It looks like TTArtisan is trying to capture the budget end of the 85mm market, as the Chinese lens manufacturer has just released the most affordable full-frame 85mm prime lens available to consumers.

While the TTArtisan AF 85mm f/1.8 Neo – currently available for Nikon Z-mount and Sony E-mount – might be as basic as they come, at just $99 (approximately £72 / AU$138) this lens could be a tantalizing prospect for anyone looking to pick up a fast yet highly affordable prime.

The new Neo combines a fast f/1.8 aperture with a light telephoto focal length – becoming effectively even longer on an APS-C camera, with an equivalent 127.5mm length – making it an ideal portrait lens that's able to achieve subject separation while flattering features.

With 12 optical elements arranged in 8 groups – including 2 extra-low-dispersion optics as well as 2 high-refractive-index elements – for a cheap lens it boasts a promising formula. However, where you don’t get as much bang for your buck is in the focus.

ABOVE: Watch the promotional video

The 85mm f/1.8 Neo AF is powered by a stepping motor (STM), which is near-silent but not as fast as the magnetic linear motors powering the AF in premium primes such as the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II.

But there's also no manual focus – nor any lens barrel switches or weather sealing, so there are no bells or whistles here. However, the Neo’s basic design means it’s customizable – and you’re able to personalize the exterior with stickers, paint or 3D-printed shells.

Does any of this bolster performance? No, but it’ll probably appeal to youngsters and collectors who want a quirky piece of kit where the price is more important than pixel-peeping. If you want to add a fast 85mm to your kit bag without breaking the bank, at $99 this makes a lot of sense.

The TTArtisan 85mm AF f/1.8 Neo is available now at B&H Photo, Amazon and from TTArtisan directly.

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It’s been about five years since I discovered 3 Legged Thing, a British company specializing in tripods and other supports. My first encounter was with the Winston 2.0 and AirHed Pro kit. I instantly fell for Winston, and it’s still my favorite full-sized tripod to this day. Even so, a lot has happened in the last five years, and 3 Legged Thing has branched out in all sorts of different directions, currently catering to photographers and videographers, as well as ramping up its endeavors for field sports and birding, plus shooting and target sports. I’ve reviewed many 3 Legged Thing tripods and heads, desk mounts, window mounts, phone mounts, microphone arms, light stands, L-brackets, camera straps, and other items along the way, being highly impressed by pretty much all of them.

Bringing things up to date, there’s a dynamic duo of new 3 Legged Thing video tripods in town, going by the names of Ridley and Wes. They’re both similar in many ways and are named after master movie directors. Ridley (Scott) is the larger three-section tripod of the two, whereas Wes (Anderson) is the smaller sibling, with a travel-friendly, fold-down-small five-section leg design. Both carbon fiber tripods are available as sets of legs on their own, or as full kits with the same fluid head. They aim to be among the best carbon fiber tripods and the best video tripods, while the Wes that I’m reviewing here also eyes up a spot as one of the best travel tripods for videographers.

3 Legged Thing Wes: Specifications

3 Legged Thing Wes: Price

Quality seldom comes cheap, and sure enough, a set of the premium Wes travel tripod legs will set you back $399 / £379 (AU$ TBA). Go for the complete kit with the addition of a high-performance fluid head, and you can expect to pay $599 / £569. They’re both fairly substantial chunks of money, but the features, design and build quality make them well worth the outlay, especially as both options feature a built-in leveling base, smart padded soft case and handy little extras. All in all, they’re very competitively priced.

3 Legged Thing Wes: Design & Handling

Wes Anderson has proved himself as an ingenious, stylistic, and very versatile movie director over the last 30 years, so Wes is an inspirational and aspirational name for this new video travel tripod from 3 Legged Thing. Available in gray and black with orange accents or in all-black, the legs are made from premium Japanese eight-layer carbon fiber with an aerospace-grade magnesium alloy canopy. But when shooting a video narrative, I feel that legs are only half the tripod story, so I went for the full kit that adds a fluid head. More on the head later, but I’ll begin with the legs.

The small stowage size of the Wes tripod legs equates to just 44cm / 17.3in in length, or 54.8cm / 21.6in with the fluid head fitted. To my mind, that makes the kit small enough to take on pretty much every journey to any location, whether I’m pounding around local city streets or jetting off to the other side of the world. For the latter, the tripod is small enough to fit within the cabin baggage regulations of most airlines.

Fully extending all five sections of each leg reveals ever-decreasing circles, in terms of the relative diameters. Even so, the thinnest bottom sections have a perfectly respectable 14mm diameter. Not only is that significantly greater than in many travel tripods that I’ve seen and used, but it also enables a strong payload rating of 14kg / 30lb, even when the tripod is at full stretch.

There are a couple of potential drawbacks to five-section legs that can outweigh the allure of compact stowage. First up, each joint is a possible point of weakness, where flexing and wobbling might be introduced. The second is that you end up with no less than 12 separate leg section locks to contend with when fully extending and contracting the tripod. That can equate to a lot of time and effort.

Thankfully, the twist-action section locks featured in the Wes only require minimal rotation to unlock and relock them. You can easily grab the full set of them for each leg when the sections are contracted, and tighten or loosen them with a single flick of the wrist. Ultimately, they’re surprisingly quick and easy to use, while maintaining super-solid locking that avoids any unwanted flexing or movement when the tripod is in use.

While the twist-locks for the leg sections are a brilliant piece of design that’s thoroughly well executed, the same applies to the locks for the three alternative leg angles. The leg angles themselves measure 23, 55, and 80 degrees from the vertical, so there’s plenty of room for maneuver. Moreover, the simple yet highly effective spring-loaded, push-lever locks ensure maximum speed and ease when playing all the angles. Unlike many travel tripods, including the more stills-centric 3 Legged Thing Leo 2.0 + AirHead Pro, there’s no time wasted swinging the legs up around the center column for compact stowage, as the Wes has no center column anyway.

One place you generally don’t want any angles coming into play is in the platform on which the head is mounted. If you try to compensate by adjusting the level of the head itself, you’ll find that your horizons go wonky as soon as you start panning. One method is to meticulously adjust the overall height of each leg, so that the tripod canopy is level. However, this tends to be an arduous, time-consuming process, especially if you’re working on uneven ground.

To make things quick, simple, and highly effective, the Wes features a built-in leveling base that is an absolute doddle to use. It has a single locking screw with a spring-loaded handle mounted on a six-sided shaft, so you can pull out the handle and rotate it for your favored orientation. Another aid to leveling up is that the base features a bubble level, which can be rotated through a full 360 degrees for easy viewing from any angle.

With the opposite of a soft underbelly, Wes has a pair of solid, robust weight hooks extending from the bottom of its magnesium alloy leveling base. They’re ideal for adding ballast to avoid the tripod swaying in the breeze if you’re shooting outdoors in windy conditions.

Intent as ever to cram as many crafty design flourishes into a tripod as possible, 3 Legged Thing has doubled up the usefulness of the weight hooks. The hooks also form the T-section of an Allen key that mounts to the underside of the leveling base via a QD (Quick Detach) mechanism. A simple press of a button is all that’s required to release the Allen key, which you can then use for securing your camera to the head’s quick-release plate, or for anything else that uses the same-size Allen key.

I’ve written a full, standalone review of the revamped and updated 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head, and as part of the complete kit, it’s an ideal match for the Wes tripod legs. It ensures wonderfully smooth tilt and pan operation and excellent all-around performance. The favorable feature set includes an adjustable, telescopic panning arm that can mount on either side for left-handed or right-handed use, and an extra-long XP100 Ultra Plate quick-release plate, which is Arca-Swiss compatible.

Another bonus is that you can use that QD-mounted Allen key that I mentioned just now to remove four screws and rotate the orientation of the head’s camera platform through 90-degree increments. The upshot is that the long QR plate can run from side to side instead of just from front to back. The sideways orientation can be more ideal if you’re using a cage, and definitely if you’re using an L-bracket like one of 3 Legged Thing’s camera-specific L-brackets or the universal 3 Legged Thing Lexie.

Going from top to bottom, or rather from head to foot, the legs are fitted with rubber pads that give a very firm and stable footing on most surfaces. There’s also a variety of alternative footwear on offer from 3 Legged Thing as optional extras. These include Heelz (metal spikes), Stilettoz (elevated metal spikes), Clawz (metal ice/rock grips) and Vanz (dual metal spikes and rubber pads).

There are many and varied tripods on the market, in which you can unscrew one of the legs and use it as a monopod instead. It’s a good idea in that it saves carrying two separate bits of support kit. With the Wes, however, you can remove all three legs if you wish, which adds even greater versatility.

A neat trick is that if you remove all three legs, you can use the canopy of the Wes with the optional Vanz footwear that I mentioned just now. These dual metal spikes with rubber pads can screw directly into the canopy, effectively transforming the Wes into a tabletop tripod.

There’s a handy multi-function tool supplied with the tripod kit, aptly named the 3 Legged Thing Toolz2. It has a keyring attachment and includes two different sizes of hex keys, a coin/flat blade key, a bottle opener, and a carabiner. It comes in useful for a whole range of tripod/photographic tasks, as well as for popping the tops off bottles when all that videography makes you work up a thirst.

Attention to detail in both design and manufacture is carried over from the tripod itself to the high-quality padded soft case that it’s supplied in. The case features a pair of internal securing straps for the tripod and an internal mesh pocket, all with Velcro fasteners. There’s also a side pocket for additional storage complete with a zippered three-section organizer (the zippers have comfy pullers for easy opening and closing). There’s a detachable, adjustable shoulder strap, a carrying handle, plus a carabiner-style hook. The hook is ideal for attaching the bag to one of the weight hooks on the tripod after popping a few weighty objects inside.

3 Legged Thing Wes: Performance

Travel tripods sometimes get a bad press, not least from me. Sure, I like that they tend to be lightweight to carry and fold down to unfeasibly small dimensions, but I feel that the lack of rigidity and meagre maximum operating height often makes them somewhat unfit for their intended purpose. I’m happy to report that while the maximum operating height of the 3 Legged Thing Wes kit isn’t exactly towering, it’s definitely tall enough for the vast majority of videography shooting scenarios, equating to 134.5cm / 53in complete with its fluid head. That’s actually pretty generous for a videocentric travel tripod that omits a center column.

Just as important, or maybe more so, is the fact that the Wes supplies firm, solid, and stable support even at its maximum operating height, with all of the leg sections fully extended. That’s no mean feat for a relatively lightweight tripod with 5-section legs.

Another factor that I’m happy to include under the ‘performance’ umbrella is that I like a tripod to enable ultra-low-level shooting without too much fuss and bother, or the need to invert the center column and shoot with the camera upside down, which is a bit of a non-starter for videography anyway. With its head in place, the Wes can shoot down to nearly ground level for creative effect, with a minimum operating height of just 21cm / 8.3in.

I found that the multiple leg angles made it easy to work around obstacles like low walls and staircases, as well as catering to rough terrain. Another bonus is that the middle leg angle setting enables a firmer footing when shooting from fairly low operating heights, adding stability and making the tripod less at risk of being knocked over accidentally or falling foul of very windy conditions.

I’m tall at 6ft 5in and found that the Wes was a little short for me in regular monopod mode, at least when using the viewfinder of a camera. Even so, I didn’t have to crouch very much, and like many of us, I’m much more likely to shoot video using the rear screen of a camera rather than putting my eye to the viewfinder. In this configuration, the monopod proved tall enough for me at its maximum height with the head fitted. And if you hanker after a taller monopod, you could connect two or even three legs, top to toe, after removing the feet from two or three of the legs, respectively.

3 Legged Thing Wes: Verdict

The 3 Legged Thing Wes ticks all of the boxes on my wish list for a video travel tripod. It folds down small and is very lightweight to carry, yet reaches a decent maximum operating height while being sturdy and resistant to flexing and vibrations. I’m generally wary of tripods with five-section legs because the bottom leg sections are often very thin and spindly, resulting in a drop in rigidity and stability when they’re extended. There was no hint of this when using the Wes, and I found it gave solid support throughout its entire operating range, from just above ground level to its maximum height.

The premium carbon fiber legs with their aerospace-grade magnesium alloy canopy are a great buy on their own. However, the recently updated 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head is such a great match for the legs that I feel the complete kit is the best option. As a complete travel tripod for videographers, it’s hard to beat.

Alternatives

The Alpa Reflex 1 (commonly known as simply the Alpa Reflex) is one of the most fascinating early 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras.

Although it never achieved the production numbers of the Kine Exakta or later German and Japanese SLRs, it established Switzerland as a maker of precision photographic equipment. It became the foundation of the prestigious, if somewhat quirky, Alpa series of cameras.

The camera's story began in the late 1930s in Switzerland, the home of Pignons SA – best known for manufacturing watch components. It wanted to diversify into photographic equipment and had commissioned Kyiv-born engineer and inventor, Jacques Bogopolsky (1895-1962), to design a compact 35mm reflex camera.

Bogopolsky (who also worked under the names Jacques Bolsky, Jacques Boolsky and later Jacques Bolsey) was already well known as the designer of the famous Bolex H16 movie camera. His SLR design was completed by 1939, just as Europe entered World War II.

The first prototypes appeared between 1939 and 1942 and carried “experimental” names, such as Bolca, Teleflex and Viteflex. Most were made for testing and only a very small number were exported. By the end of the war, they had settled on the Alpa name – chosen because it evoked the image of Switzerland.

The Alpa Reflex was officially introduced at the Swiss Trade Fair in April 1944. It was a beautifully machined, exceptionally compact, hand-built camera. In 1944 some 115 cameras were made, while 1945 saw that almost quadruple to 434 cameras.

The Alpa Reflex combined two different focusing systems: the expected waist-level finder as well as a coupled optical rangefinder with its separate bright-line viewfinder. The coupled rangefinder was retained until the Alpa 6 came along in 1956. It included a split-image focusing aid, eliminating the need for a separate rangefinder.

Even then, the Alpa 7 (sold concurrently with the Alpa 6) continued to have the rangefinder for those who did not trust ground glass focusing – although your scribe knows of no other firms to attempt this arrangement. The Praktina and a few others had a direct viewfinder in addition to their reflex finders, but not with a coupled rangefinder.

The Alpa Reflex quickly earned a reputation for extraordinary craftsmanship. Production was intentionally small; Pignons preferred quality over quantity and even accepted special-order modifications from customers.

Unlike many manufacturers, Alpa did not manufacture its own optics, instead commissioning lenses from leading European makers including Kern & Co (the famous Kern-Switar series), Angénieux (France), Schneider (Germany) and others.

Most early cameras carried fast 50mm standard lenses of exceptionally high optical quality, often from Kern or Angénieux. Pignons even guaranteed the performance of the lenses it sold with its cameras!

These first-generation Alpa Reflex cameras were built in several production series, designated C (1944-45 – first commercial production, D (1945-47 – improved manufacturing techniques) and E (1947-51 – final version), though these letters were not marked on the cameras.

In 1949 Alpa introduced the Prisma Reflex, replacing the waist-level finder with a fixed pentaprism. It was only the third pentaprism-equipped 35mm SLR, following the Rectaflex and Contax S, though the eyepiece, rather oddly, is angled upward at 45°.

Only these first-generation Alpas had the rangefinder and, in all, around 5,000 first-generation cameras (including the Prisma Reflex variants) had been produced by 1952.

In 1952, Pignons completely redesigned the Alpa line with new die-cast construction and updated mechanics. These second-generation cameras retained the Alpa name but were substantially different internally, marking the end of the original Reflex I design.

In 1959, the then-current Alpa 6, 7 and 8 became the 6b, 7b and 8b models, gaining a rapid film advance lever and an instant-return mirror.

While most cameras of the era wound with a lever that swept back-to-front, the Alpa swept front-to-back – which many photographers initially found odd. Reviewers noted that, although unusual, it quickly became natural in use and enabled the film to be wound without removing the camera from the photographer’s eye.

One of the interesting quirks of Alpa is that the model numbers do not indicate the sequence in which they arrived. Instead, they denoted different specification levels offered at the same time.

The short-lived 4 series was an economy body with a waist-level finder. The 5 models offered a pentaprism and the 6 added a split-image focusing aid. The 7 series had a Leica M-style, coupled rangefinder in addition to the reflex finder, while the 8 models were pure SLRs with every bell and whistle they offered.

The later series of models (the 9, 10 and 11) were named in the order introduced and added metering, and then TTL metering.

Alpas were always a limited production affair, with its peak production being in 1965 when roughly 1,300 cameras were made. Between 1944 and 1990, production was about 45,000 Alpa cameras of all models – making every Alpa Reflex comparatively rare today.

That, however, is not the end of the story. After Pignons ceased camera production in 1990, the Alpa trademark lay dormant until 1996 when it was purchased by Ursula Capaul and Thomas Weber.

Their vision was not to revive the old 35mm SLR, but to build a Swiss-made, medium format camera of the finest possible precision for landscape, architecture, industrial and fine-art photographers: the Alpa 12 series.

They anticipated that digital imaging would eventually replace film, so they designed the system from the outset to accept interchangeable film backs and digital backs from various makers. Even today, you can mount the latest Hasselblad CFV 100C digital 100MP back!

Capaul and Weber sold the company in 2022, although they took great care to ensure that it remained an independent, Swiss manufacturer. Today, the firm is known as Alpa of Switzerland AG.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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New cameras often sit at the top of the best-seller list, but this three-year-old mirrorless camera is still so popular that it ranks in the top three on both the new and used sales lists in Japan: the Sony A7C II.

In the latest data from Japanese retailer Map Camera, the Sony A7C II sits at the very top of the used camera rankings. But the camera also ranks third among the new camera sales for July 2026.

The data highlights the A7C II’s longstanding popularity. Released in 2023, it puts a full-frame Sony sensor into a smaller, rangefinder-inspired camera body.

Mixing parts from other Sony cameras into a smaller body, in his Sony A7C II review my colleague Gareth said it's “still one of your best bets” for creators looking for pro features in a small body.

While the A7C II isn’t cheap, the $2,499 / £2,099 / AU$2,999 / CA$2,999 price point makes it not only a more portable option but also a more affordable one than full-frame cameras like the new Sony A7 V or the A7R VI.

While the A7C II continues to trend in Japan, it isn’t the only camera that hits both new and used lists: joining it are the Canon EOS R6 Mark II and Fujifilm X-E5.

Perhaps even more interesting, however, are the cameras that are trending used – but not as popular among new-in-box sales. The Fujifilm X-T5 sits in the second-place spot on the used list, but not on the new list despite being a current model.

Map Camera, however, says that Fujifilm is facing some supply issues in Japan. The X-T5, the store says, is readily available used.

The Nikon Z50 II sits in the third-place spot on the list of trending used cameras, but doesn’t feature among the new options – though its full-frame sibling, the Z5 II, does.

The Z50 II is one of Nikon’s most affordable mirrorless cameras, but it adopts some of the autofocus features of Nikon’s pricier bodies in a smaller crop-sensor camera.

While Nikon only appears once in the top ten list for new cameras, it hits three times on the used trends list. Besides the Z50 II, the Nikon Zf ranks eighth. And appearing on the used top ten for the first time is the Nikon Z8, which Map Camera says has always tended to be overshadowed by the retro Zf.

The list also highlights how new releases bring older models back into the spotlight among shoppers looking for a used deal. The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 ranks in seventh place on the list, in part due to some users trading up for the newly announced DJI Osmo Pocket 4 and Osmo Pocket 4P.

Trending used cameras at Map Camera for July 2026

1. Sony A7C II
2. Fujifilm X-T5
3. Nikon Z50 II
4. Canon EOS R6 Mark II
5. Sony A7 III
6. Fujifilm X-E5
7. DJI Osmo Pocket 3
8. Nikon Zf
9. Canon EOS R7
10. Nikon Z8

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Don't buy a camera just because it's trendy – these are the best mirrorless cameras, as picked and tested by expert photographers.

The GoPro name is synonymous with the action camera, but the brand’s latest launch sits somewhere between action and cinema camera territory. The move, however, was a long time coming: GoPro says that the Mission 1 series is the biggest leap since the introduction of HyperSmooth.

I met with GoPro’s senior vice president of product management, Pablo Lema, after the launch of the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro and ahead of the launch of the company’s first mirrorless camera.

Lema, who has worked with the action camera brand since 2014, says that the series is the GoPro that fans have been asking for since the Hero7 Black in 2018.

“Mission 1 has been a long time coming for us,” Lema said. “I don't say this lightly when I say it to other folks: it was the most important camera we've launched since Hero7 Black. The step up in performance is real, and it's valued by the user reception of it. And we're gonna continue to build from there.”

The Hero7 Black introduced GoPro’s HyperSmooth, a stabilization algorithm that made a significant difference in capturing steady footage from the variety of mounting scenarios that GoPro is meant for.

HyperSmooth continues in the Mission 1 – and in fact, the combination of HyperSmooth with interchangeable lenses is one of the reasons that Lema is most excited for the company’s first mirrorless camera.

But, while DIYers have been hacking GoPros to use different lenses since the Hero4, what GoPro fans have been asking for for several years is a larger sensor. The Mission 1 series delivers that with an 8K-capable 1-inch sensor

GoPro users started getting particularly loud about demanding a larger sensor as competitors like DJI and Insta360 began introducing 1/1.3-inch and 1-inch sensors on competing action cameras.

“The Mission 1 series is probably the GoPro that everyone was asking us for since Hero7 Black,” Lema said. “Myself and the teams, we were pumped to be able to finally get it out to the world. And what's good is that it gave us insights and motivations as to what to build next, which we're already working on.”

While GoPro couldn’t share data on just how many Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro cameras the company has sold so far, Lema said the series has been “the best reviewed and best-received camera we’ve had at a product level since Hero7 Black.”

But, with the move to a larger sensor comes an entirely new category. GoPro isn’t calling the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro an action camera, but refers to the series as a “compact cinema camera” instead.

“We saw that the types of creators that would extract the most out of a 1-inch type sensor with big dynamic range, massive fps, much better low light capabilities as a result of the imaging package were, what we considered to be, well, for lack of a better word, compact cinema creators,” Lema said.

“The high-creativity folks that are on Instagram and YouTube are the ones that we extract the most out of a package like this.”

While GoPro isn’t calling the Mission 1 an “action camera,” the company’s love for accessories remains with the new series. Lema said that the new point-and-shoot grip and wireless microphone – a GoPro first – have been particularly well received, along with bundles that pair the Mission 1 Pro with the Fluid Pro gimbal.

GoPro’s most-asked-for camera couldn’t have come at a better time. The launch of the Mission series comes as the action camera giant faces significant financial struggles.

The company’s latest financial reports indicate a 38% drop in camera sales. Stock market paperwork filings indicate that the company could “be required to significantly reduce, restructure, cease operations, or seek protection under the Federal bankruptcy laws” if the Mission 1 doesn’t help to turn its finances around.

The action camera company is also in the “later stages” of looking for a potential buyer or merger.

The GoPro Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro have already begun shipping, but GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman says the ILS will be arriving next month.

This is part of a four-part series with an exclusive interview on the GoPro Mission 1 series. Read part one on the Mission 1 Pro ILS here, or read what GoPro says about the Hero series in the Mission era here.

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Take a look at the best cinema cameras or the best GoPro cameras.

I have always been a bit of a lens snob. Not necessarily a red-ring, G Master absolutist, but I've always had a preference for first-party lenses.

Up until now, all my Canon cameras have had Canon glass and my Fujifilm cameras have Fujinon optics. My logic followed the consensus that first-party lenses offered the best autofocus, the cleanest compatibility and, supposedly, the fewest compromises.

However, recently I purchased a Panasonic Lumix S9 – and had the world of L-Mount lenses opened up to me. Panasonic makes its own fantastic glass, but there are 11 players currently in the L-mount Alliance including big hitters like Leica and Sigma – as well as rising stars like Viltrox.

I had played around with some super-cheap Viltrox lenses several years back, and optically I thought they were good but I wasn’t sold on the excessively “budget” feeling of the lenses.

However, I was recently sent the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 to test for DCW – and honestly, this lens has shifted my opinion of the brand dramatically.

The AF 16mm f/1.8 is a full-frame autofocus ultra-wide prime available for L-Mount (as well as Sony E and Nikon Z mounts). Outside, it’s built with a solid metal barrel, aperture ring, customizable buttons, dust-resistant sealing and even a small color display showing focus information.

This certainly does not feel like a “budget” lens – despite costing far less than many first-party equivalents. More importantly, it does not shoot like a budget lens either.

It has a fast f/1.8 aperture and a 105.6° angle of view. Inside are 15 elements arranged in 12 groups, including 4 ED and 3 aspherical elements. It is impressively sharp in the center at f/1.8, performs strongly toward the edges when stopped down and controls distortion remarkably well for such a wide lens.

There are still some compromises. At 550g, the Viltrox is hardly featherweight and its autofocus is not quite as polished as the very best first-party motors. Wide-open vignetting is also noticeable.

Yet none of that feels as important when the lens costs around $580 / £530. Meanwhile, Panasonic’s narrower Lumix S 18mm f/1.8 costs $1,099 / £799 and, for Sony shooters, Sony’s own FE 16mm f/1.8 G is $899 / £849.

The bigger story is what this says about Chinese lens makers. Brands such as Viltrox are going from cheap curiosities to genuinely compelling alternatives.

I still understand the appeal of first-party glass, but I am no longer convinced that the logo on the barrel deserves quite such a large portion of my budget.

I’ve been reviewing 3 Legged Thing gear for five years and counting, since first encountering the rather epic Winston 2.0 and AirHed Pro kit from the Pro 2.0 range. Indeed, it’s been my go-to full-sized tripod ever since, and I’m no stranger to the company’s supersized video tripods either, like the 3 Legged Thing Legends Tommy. Over the ensuing years, I’ve also tested and reviewed a bunch of other 3 Legged Thing tripods great and small, desk mounts, window mounts, phone mounts, microphone arms, light stands, L-brackets, camera straps, and other paraphernalia. The company’s product catalog is nothing if not diverse, ranging from photography and videography kit, through field sports and birding, to shooting and target sports supports and accessories.

One constant is that I’ve always been impressed by 3 Legged Things’ design flair and the company’s ability to turn its clever design concepts into expertly engineered and beautifully finished products. The set of Ethan 4 tripod legs that I’m reviewing here is a mighty, super-strong set of carbon fiber legs that aims to stick with that tradition, billed as a professional hybrid photography and tactical tripod system for photo, video, shooting, and tactical pursuits. Let’s see if it lives up to its claims, not just as one of the best carbon fiber tripods, best video tripods, and best tripods for photographers, but for a variety of other duties as well.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Specifications

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Price

A full-sized tripod with a mighty 60kg / 132lb payload rating and built from premium Japanese carbon fiber and aerospace-grade magnesium alloy, the Ethan 4 doesn’t come cheap. The legs list at $499 / £429 (AU$ TBA), and bear in mind that you’ll have to factor in a head and maybe a leveling base, if you don’t have them already, which will add to the cost. Even so, I think the legs are set at a very fair price, considering their specifications, so long as the build quality and performance stack up. That’s what I’m here to test.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Design & Handling

Designed as a ‘tactical’ tripod for shooting and target sports as well as photography and videography, Ethan 4 takes its name from Ethan Hunt of Mission: Impossible. As such, it’s ‘engineered for chaos, built for legends’, as 3 Legged Thing likes to say. It’s certainly very tough and endlessly adaptable. In the realm of shooting pictures, I’d say that pro-grade videography is its best fit.

Suitably hard as nails, Ethan 4 is made from premium 3K weave Japanese carbon fiber with an oversized outer leg section diameter of 32mm. Metal parts are constructed in aerospace-grade magnesium alloy, and fixings are made from corrosion-resistant stainless steel. For the style-conscious, the tripod is available in Darkness (black), Olive Drab Green, and Lava colorways; the last of these with orange accents.

With four telescoping sections in each leg, a bonus of the chunky 32mm outer is that even the narrowest bottom sections have an impressive girth to them. The upshot is that the tripod has a super-sturdy payload rating of 60kg / 132lb. Naturally, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a camera and lens combination that weighs anywhere near that much, but the Ethan 4 can also support additional accessories, as I’ll come to later.

There’s an endless debate over whether twist-locks or flip-locks are better for tripod legs. Personally, I generally prefer twist-locks, especially if they’re the kind featured in this tripod, labelled as ‘Oversized Helical Strake’ leg locks. As such, they’re quick and easy to use with minimal rotation required to loosen or lock each section. As with other elements of the tripod, they have a top-quality look and feel, and are fitted with grippy rubber pads. They’re also designed for quick and easy strip-down and reassembly if and when they need cleaning.

While the twist-locks are pretty standard fare, the three-position leg-angle locks have a new patented trigger-pull design. The idea is that you can pull out the mechanism in the more time-honored fashion, or simply squeeze a trigger-action release with your finger.

As I mentioned at the outset, the Ethan 4 is sold as a set of legs, rather than as a complete kit. Especially for videography, to which the tripod legs are ideally suited, you’re best off adding either of 3 Legged Thing’s LevelHed Leveling Base or 75mm Half Bowl, as well as a fluid head. The tripod is supplied with a flat plate for the former, and there’s an optional 75mm bowl mount that you can swap to if you buy it separately.

Naturally, you can attach your camera or whatever else you’re shooting with to the flat plate itself, without using a leveling aid or tripod head. With that in mind, the plate features a dual 1/4in mount with a 3/8in adapter sleeve, catering to both industry-standard threaded sockets.

Keeping moving parts to a minimum, the bubble level is fixed on the side of the chassis, rather than having a rotating base. Being positioned off to the side, it’s easy to keep an eye on and is large enough to see clearly when leveling the tripod.

The Ethan 4 can support more than just its primary load. A threaded socket on the side of the chassis enables the attachment of a magic arm, LED lamp, microphone mount, monitor screen or just about anything else you might want to add on.

Going one better than the standard threaded accessory mount, the tripod chassis also includes a QD (Quick-Detach) socket. Compatible with 3 Legged Thing Axis QD straps and all sorts of other gadgets that use this kind of mount, it enables ultra-quick-and-easy mounting and detachment with a simple pushbutton mechanism.

A ballast hook is featured under the flat mounting plate and also serves as the grab handle for tightening or loosening the main dual 1/4in and 3/8in threaded mounting screw with sleeve. Using the ballast hook enables you to hang a weight off the tripod, again taking advantage of its hefty payload rating and adding stability if you’re shooting in windy conditions.

When it comes to tripod heads, you can naturally fit pretty much anything that takes your fancy. One that works particularly well for videography with the Ethan 4 is the revamped and revitalized 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head, which I’ve reviewed separately and very favorably in the past. The head has a list price of $249 / £229 and is available in black or grey colorways.

The tripod comes with chunky rubber feet, which give a very firm and stable footing while also doing a good job of absorbing vibrations. They’re not the only choice, however, as alternative footwear is available as optional extras from 3 Legged Thing. Choices include smaller Little Bootz (rubber pads), Heelz (metal spikes), Stilettoz (elevated metal spikes), Clawz (metal ice/rock grips), and Vanz (dual metal spikes and rubber pads).

In keeping with the multi-talented nature of Ethan 4, you can remove one, two, or all three of the legs. Each of the legs can work independently for monopod duty, and leaving two of the legs attached to the chassis enables use as a bipod. Removing all three legs might sound counterproductive, but I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Getting back to the optional Vanz footwear that I mentioned just now, these dual metal spikes with rubber pads can serve up a neat trick. If you unscrew all three legs from the chassis and then screw the Vanz into the empty sockets that are revealed, you can effectively transform the Ethan 4 into a tabletop tripod, stretching its versatility even further.

The tripod comes with a 3 Legged Thing Toolz2. It’s a neat multi-function tool, with a keyring. It acts as two different sizes of hex keys, a coin/flat blade key, a bottle opener, and a carabiner. It’s handy for a whole range of tripod/photographic tasks as well as for grabbing a quick drink when the going gets thirsty.

It annoys me when some of the most famous tripod manufacturers sell very expensive tripods and don’t bother to bundle a carrying bag of any sort. The situation here is quite the reverse. The Ethan 4 comes with a very high-quality padded soft case and, typical of 3 Legged Thing, it’s not short of crafty design flourishes. There’s an internal mesh pocket and two securing straps, both with Velcro fasteners. You also get a side pocket with additional room and a zippered three-section organizer. The zippers themselves have comfy pullers for easy operation. There’s also a detachable, adjustable shoulder strap, a carrying handle, plus a carabiner-style hook. I’d use the last of these for attaching the bag to the ballast hook on the tripod, after popping a weighty object or two inside.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Performance

Let’s cut to the chase. Performance of the Ethan 4 is exemplary in every respect. It gives rock-solid support for even the heaviest of cameras and accessories, right up to and including its maximum operating height of 162cm / 64in (without head). The legs and rubber feet combine to give excellent resistance against unwanted flexing and vibrations, even when the leg sections are fully extended.

As with most video-friendly tripods, there’s no center column, but an upside of this is that when the legs are splayed to their widest locking angle, you can shoot from ultra-low levels for creative effect, without the center column getting in the way. Again, without an attached head, the minimum operating height is a mere 14cm / 5.5in. The 4-section legs also enable a fairly compact carrying length of 61cm / 24in.

While the maximum payload rating is a huge 60kg / 132lb, the tripod itself is easy on the back for carrying around, weighing in at 2.4kg / 5.3lb. It’s also very easy to live with from an operational perspective. The twist locks work with simple efficiency, requiring minimal rotation to lock and unlock the leg sections. The trigger-action leg angle locks are similarly simple and intuitive. As well as enabling ultra-low-level shooting and working on uneven terrain or around obstacles, the multi-angle legs add stability at their intermediate setting when shooting at low to middling heights.

Not just a tripod, the Ethan 4 works equally well in bipod mode or with any of the three legs removed for monopod duty. You can attach a camera or anything else to the mounting screw in the flat base, but the addition of a head makes monopod shooting more refined.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Verdict

Ethan Hunt is a very ingenious, versatile, and action-packed (if fictitious) character, giving his namesake tripod, the Ethan 4, a lot to live up to. True to the role, however, this 3 Legged Thing tripod can take on a barrage of different scenarios and win out against seemingly impossible odds, delivering a sure-fire success rate.

I love that the Ethan 4 tripod is so rock-solid and utterly dependable, and so resistant to any unwanted flexing or vibration. The twist-locks for the leg sections work impeccably, and the new trigger-action leg angle locks are a pleasure to use. Ultimately, this tripod offers wide-ranging versatility while also being entirely intuitive and simple to use, so you can concentrate on your creative flow rather than wrestling with a finicky tripod.

The fact that it also works flawlessly as a bipod or monopod reinforces its credentials as a ‘tactical’ tripod for photography, videography, shooting, and target sports. Just add a head, and you’re good to go.

Alternatives

3 Legged Thing is a British company that’s earned a really solid reputation over the years, mostly for making really solid tripods and other supports. The current catalog caters to photography and videography, field sports and birding, and shooting and target sports, covering a very wide remit. I’ve reviewed many 3 Legged Thing tripods, desk mounts, window mounts, phone mounts, microphone arms, light stands, L-brackets, camera straps and other bits and pieces over the years, generally being so impressed that I’ve bought a few myself, and the Winston 2.0 and AirHed Pro kit that I first encountered five years ago remains my personal full-sized tripod of choice.

The Ridley I’m reviewing here is from a dynamic duo of new videocentric tripods that take their names from movie directors; this one is named after Ridley Scott, while the smaller sidekick Wes is named after Wes Anderson. There’s also a simultaneously launched set of hybrid photography and tactical tripod legs by the name of Ethan 4, after Mission: Impossible’s Ethan Hunt. The Ridley and Wes are both carbon fiber tripods that are available as legs-only or as full kits with a fluid head. Ridley is the larger of the two, with 3-section legs, whereas the Wes is a more travel-friendly option with 5-section legs. Both aim to be among the best carbon fiber tripods and the best video tripods, while the Wes is also a contender as one of the best travel tripods for videographers on the move.

3 Legged Thing Ridley: Specifications

3 Legged Thing Ridley: Price

Pay your money and take your choice. The complete Ridley kit with fluid video head costs $649 / £619 (AU$ TBA). If you’d rather bring your own head or have one already, you can buy just the Ridley legs with built-in leveling base and padded soft case for $449 / £429. Neither is a cheap option, but I feel that the prices represent great value considering the features, design, and build quality. Ultimately, of course, it all comes down to performance, which I’ll get to later.

3 Legged Thing Ridley: Design & Handling

The sci-fi sensations Alien and Blade Runner absolutely blew me away when they first came out, and have definitely stood the test of time, so the 3 Legged Thing Ridley has a lot to live up to, being named after the movies’ director, Ridley Scott. The tripod is available in gray and black, or all black, the latter looking suitably dark and menacing – that’s the one that I went for. I also went for the complete kit that includes not only the set of legs made from premium Japanese carbon fiber with an aerospace-grade magnesium alloy canopy, but also the fittingly epic 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head, which I’ve recently reviewed as a revamped video head in its own right. But let’s kick off with the legs, which seems only logical.

There’s a lot to be said for tripods with four or even five sections in each leg, at least in terms of compactness for stowage. I personally don’t mind tripods being a bit longer when carrying them around, and generally prefer three-section legs for ease and speed of setup, with fewer section clamps to contend with. Another bonus is that the bottom section of each leg tends to have a wider diameter and is thus sturdier.

Another factor in the speed and ease of setup and takedown is the efficiency of the section clamps. Some like twist-locks; others prefer flip-locks. I’m in the twist camp, so long as they release smoothly and lock firmly with minimal rotation. That’s certainly the case here, and adjusting the leg sections is a very speedy, smooth, and simple operation. I also like the grippy rubber pads on each twist-lock, making them feel nice to the touch.

Another potential pitfall is that leg angle locks often seem to be more fiddly than they need to be. Again, the Ridley wins out with simple, spring-loaded catches that have a push-to-release action. Like the twist-locks, they have non-slip textured rubber pads for an extra feel-good factor. Three lockable leg angles are available: 23, 55, or 80 degrees from the vertical. The upshot is that it’s easy to adapt to tricky terrain or work around obstacles when you’re setting up the tripod.

A key element of setting up a video tripod is that you level the platform on which the head sits, rather than making leveling adjustments via the head itself. The latter will result in your horizon going on the slant as soon as you start panning. To ensure accuracy with fast and simple setup, the tripod features a built-in leveling base. A single lock/release screw has a handle that’s mounted on a six-sided shaft, so you can pull it out and reposition it for your preferred fit.

To further enhance leveling up, the adjustable base comes complete with a bubble level that’s large enough for a clear view. It’s also mounted on a rotating platform, so you can swing it around to whatever angle works best for you, through an entire 360 degrees.

Down below, the leveling base has two weight hooks. These are ideal for adding ballast to steady the tripod if you’re shooting outdoors in windy conditions. Adding some ballast to the soft case that’s supplied with the tripod is a handy option, but more on that later.

A clever design flourish is that the weight hooks aren’t just weight hooks. They also form the T-section grip of an Allen key that mounts to the bottom of the leveling base via a QD (Quick Detach) mechanism. As such, you can push the QD button and simply pull out the Allen key to secure your camera to the head’s Arca-Swiss-compatible quick-release plate, or for anything else that uses the same size Allen key.

I won’t talk too much about the 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head that’s part of the complete kit, as I’ve already created a full, standalone review of it. Suffice it to say that it’s an ideal match for the Ridley, offering wonderfully smooth tilt and pan with excellent all-round performance. The head features an adjustable, telescopic panning arm that can mount on either side for left-handed or right-handed use, plus an extra-long XP100 Ultra Plate quick-release plate, which is Arca-Swiss compatible.

Another nice touch is that you can use the QD Allen key that I just mentioned to remove four screws and rotate the orientation of the head’s camera platform through 90 degrees. This enables the long QR plate to run from side to side instead of from front to back. It can be a more ideal orientation if you’re using a cage, and definitely if you’re using an L-bracket like the universal 3 Legged Thing Lexie, or one of the camera-specific options in the line-up.

Dropping down from head to toe, the legs feature removable feet. The supplied feet are chunky rubber pads that give a very firm and stable footing while also doing a good job of absorbing vibrations. However, they’re certainly not the only choice. As alternative footwear, 3 Legged Thing offers a range of optional extras. These include smaller Little Bootz (rubber pads), Heelz (metal spikes), Stilettoz (elevated metal spikes), Clawz (metal ice/rock grips) and Vanz (dual metal spikes and rubber pads).

I’ve often seen tripods in which one leg can be unscrewed and used on its own as a monopod, either with or without attaching it to the center column. Typical of video tripods, the Ridley doesn’t actually have a center column, but you can use any leg as a monopod, unscrewing it from the canopy and attaching the head directly to it. Moreover, you can unscrew all three legs from the canopy if you wish, but why would you want to? Let’s see…

Unscrewing a single leg gives the option of using the tripod as a bipod, or the removed leg as a monopod. However, if you remove all three legs, you can use the canopy with the optional Vanz footwear that I mentioned just now. These dual metal spikes with rubber pads can screw directly into the canopy, effectively transforming the Ridley into a tabletop tripod and adding yet more versatility.

A nice little extra included with the tripod is the 3 Legged Thing Toolz2. It’s a smart multi-function tool, with a keyring attachment. It includes two different sizes of hex keys, a coin/flat blade key, a bottle opener, and a carabiner. It’s handy for a whole range of tripod/photographic tasks as well as for grabbing a quick drink during thirsty work.

3 Legged Thing generally goes the extra mile, and that’s certainly the case (so to speak) with the Ridley. It comes complete with a high-quality padded soft case that packs plenty of design flourishes, as well as the tripod kit itself. There’s a pair of internal securing straps for the tripod and an internal mesh pocket, all with Velcro fasteners. A separate zippered side pocket gives additional storage complete with an internal zippered three-section organizer. There’s a detachable and adjustable shoulder strap as well as a carrying handle, plus a carabiner-style hook. I’d use the last of these for attaching the bag to one of the weight hooks on the tripod, after popping a suitably weighty object inside.

3 Legged Thing Ridley: Performance

The sheer quality of the 3 Legged Thing Ridley is so impressive that I’m happy to just sit and look at it, or play with its cleverly designed features. But naturally, the kit’s performance as a tripod is what really counts. There’s good news all around, as it gives really solid support for even heavyweight cameras, boasting a payload rating of 14kg / 30lb. The tripod retains excellent resistance to unwanted flexing and vibrations, all the way up to its maximum operating height of 164cm / 64.6in (including head). That’s pretty lofty for a three-section tripod, considering that there’s no center column, as is the case for most video tripods.

Although the built-in leveling base precludes the addition of a center column, a bonus of this is that when the legs are splayed to their widest locking angle, you can shoot from ultra-low levels for creative effect, without a center column getting in the way. With the fluid head in the mix, the minimum operating height gives you the literal lowdown at just 24.5cm / 9.6in. And despite having 3-section legs, the folded length of the complete kit for stowage is reasonably compact at 79cm / 31.1in.

The complete kit (including fluid head) weighs in at 2.4kg / 5.3lb, so Ridley is easy to take along for the journey. From a performance standpoint, it’s also very quick and easy to use. The twist locks only require minimal rotation for locking and unlocking the leg sections, and the leg angle locks are similarly simple and intuitive. The multiple leg angles also make it easy to work around obstacles or on very uneven terrain, as well as enabling ultra-low-level shooting.

Remove a leg, and Ridley works well as a monopod with the head attached. I’m 6ft 5in tall and didn’t think that a 3-section leg would extend to a sufficient height for my personal monopod use, without a center column to add into the mix. However, full extension in monopod mode worked out just fine for me. If you’re a complete giant, you could always remove two legs and one of the feet, then screw the top of one leg into the bottom of the other to double the available height.

3 Legged Thing Ridley: Verdict

I just love the 3 Legged Thing Ridley tripod. It’s a first-class, fully pro-grade set of legs that’s easy to live with and genuinely fun to use. The built-in leveling base works a treat for videography and for shooting sequences of stills for stitching into panoramas. The twist-clamps for the extending leg sections and the pushbutton leg angle locks couldn’t be any quicker or easier to use, and everything’s cleverly designed, expertly engineered and immaculately finished.

So yes, the Ridley is a great set of legs, but I’d definitely go for the complete kit that includes the similarly fabulous 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head. Not only is the head a perfect match in terms of design, features, and performance, it’s also available in the same choice of colorways, satisfying my sense of style (if I actually had one). Sure, neither the legs on their own nor the complete kit come cheap, but they’re both worth every cent of their asking prices and more besides, if you’re in the market for some pro-grade support.

Alternatives

Japanese electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera has released its top-selling camera rankings for the second half of July 2026. The Sony A7 V reigns at the top spot and, for the first time, its kit bundle featuring an FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II cracked the chart, landing in the tenth spot.

Yodobashi releases its top 10 best-selling cameras report twice monthly, for the first and second halves of each month, compiling sales data from its online store as well as 24 brick-and-mortar locations across Japan.

Positions 2 to 8 remained the same as for the first half of July, with the 100MP medium format Hasselblad X2D II 100C continuing its unexpected Japanese momentum in third place with the renowned Canon EOS R5 II in seventh.

But the dominance of the A7 V, the latest in Sony’s prosumer A7 lineup, is worthy of note. According to Map Camera, another major Japanese retailer, following its release in late 2025 the A7 V “swept through the market,” dominating Map’s charts for 4 months consecutively.

Yodobashi top 10 digital cameras (second half July 2026)

1. Sony A7 V
2. Sony A7C II kit (FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6)
3. Hasselblad X2D II 100C
4. Sony A7C II
5. Fujifilm X-M5 kit (XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ)
6. Canon EOS R50 double zoom kit (RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM + RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM)
7. Canon EOS R5 Mark II
8. Nikon Z50 II double zoom kit (Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR + Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR)
9. Canon EOS R10 kit (RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM)
10. Sony A7 V kit (FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II)

It’s no wonder Sony has topped sales charts, considering how well the A7 V is geared toward both stills and video.

The hybrid camera features a 33MP partially stacked sensor, up to 30fps blackout-free shooting, 7.5 stops of in-body image stabilization, plus oversampled 4K 60p video with 4K 120p in a Super35 crop.

However, the Sony rig sits at the higher end of the prosumer hybrid setup price range, with an RRP of $2,899 / £2,799 UK / AU$3,999.

Currently a Sony A7 III shooter, I certainly recommend the A7 V – but there’s an alternative that doesn’t appear in Yodabshi’s best-selling list I’d look at before deciding: the Panasonic Lumix S1R II.

This is Panasonic’s flagship full-frame mirrorless hybrid, featuring a 44MP sensor, Phase Hybrid AF with AI tracking and internal 8K video recording.

Since moving away from the old Depth From Defocus (DFD) contrast-based AF system to the newer Phase Hybrid AF system, Lumix cameras have seen their performance bolstered and popularity grow.

What’s more, not only do the S1R II’s specs rival the Sony A7 V’s, but it’s a flagship model for just $100 more in the US (£100 less in the UK / AU$1,000 more in Australia). So, just because Lumix doesn’t make Japan’s top-10 sales ranking doesn’t mean it isn’t worth considering.

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For years camera phones struggled to match 'proper' standalone cameras for zoom reach, but now telephoto and periscope telephoto modules are standard in flagship phones and increasingly common in mid-range models. Consequently many phones now have enough focal range for a majority of shooting scenarios. On-sensor cropping and AI zoom up to 120x zoom is also possible with some flagship phones, providing you're happy for your shots to be more of an interpretation than a faithful representation of your subject.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra vs. Hasselblad X2D II - can a camera phone out-shoot a $7,800, 100MP medium format goliath?

But what if you don't want to rely on AI and its potential processing pitfalls for telephoto shots from a camera phone? Clip-on lenses from brands like Moment and Apexel can optically increase the focal length of a phone's primary camera, and there are cheaper alternatives from marketplace retailers. The downsides of aftermarket clip-on lenses is restricted phone compatibility (many are only available for iPhone), and questionable image quality.

In the last few years two of the most innovative camera phone brands have launched flagship handsets available with separate, bespoke telephoto lenses. Vivo partnered with Zeiss to produce a dedicated 200mm teleconverter lens for the X200 Ultra, and it now offers a 400mm lens for the X300 Ultra. Not to be outdone, Oppo launched a Hasselblad Teleconverter adapter lens alongside its Find X9 Pro, and its most recent teleconverter lens is a 300mm Hasselblad-branded optic designed exclusively for its current flagship phone, the Find X9 Ultra.

To get your hands on the 300mm teleconverter, you'll need to buy the Oppo Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit. This contains the teleconverter, along with the bespoke phone case to which the lens mounts, as well as a tripod collar for the lens, plus other small accessories.

Pricing and availability

If there's one downside of the Oppo Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit, it's not easy to get hold of. It's only available in select Asian and European regions, and won't be sold in North America. In the UK it's priced at £499, which is strong money for such a niche accessory, but the price reflects the no-compromise build and performance. This is also a product that will never sell in large numbers, so can't benefit from economies of scale.

Build and handling

I've always thought of clip-on phone lenses as tacky plastic affairs, but the Oppo Hasselblad 300mm Explorer Teleconverter (to give it its full name) is quite the opposite. It's a beautifully crafted, metal-barrelled lens that feels reassuringly weighty, tipping the scales at just over 400g with the included detachable tripod mount fitted. The lens is styled to look like a slimline Hasselblad XCD optic, and combined with the stellar build quality the lens really does feel worthy of the Hasselblad branding.

To attach the lens to the Find X9 Ultra, you first need to first need to fit the Oppo Hasselblad Explorer case to the phone. This is included with the lens and features a bayonet thread that encircles the phone's camera island. A separate circular metal plate can then be twisted onto the thread and it’s this that contains the necessary bayonet mount to which the teleconverter lens can be attached.

This teleconverter is positioned in front of the phone's 3x telephoto module, rather than the phone's primary camera, but this arrangement means the teleconverter can be smaller than it would be if it was designed to be used in conjunction with the phone's primary (1x) camera. And thanks to the sensor in the Find X9 Ultra's 3x module being almost as large as that in the 1x module, there's no noticeable difference in image quality.

The lens attaches to the bayonet just as smoothly as any other interchangeable camera lens mount I've used from the likes of Canon or Nikon, and once the lens is fitted, there's very little wobble or flex between phone and lens - not bad considering the supporting case is only clipped onto the phone.

The case doesn't just function as a lens mount; it also contains a physical two-stage shutter button with half-press to focus, and a zoom rocker enabling seamless focal length adjustment with the Find X9 Ultra's built-in cameras and the teleconverter lens. The physical controls connect to the camera app via Bluetooth, and power for this comes from a battery built in to the case's hand grip (which must be charged separately to the phone). Sadly, unlike Vivo's X200 and X300 camera cases, the battery in the Oppo case can't be used to boost the phone's own battery capacity - a missed opportunity.

To actually shoot with the teleconverter lens, you first need to select the phone's dedicated Hasselblad Teleconverter shooting mode. If you only select the 3x camera module while the teleconverter is fitted, the image frame will be inverted by 180 degrees. Though the phone's other three camera modules aren't directly covered up by the teleconverter lens, you will still need to detach the lens in order to use them, as the lens itself significantly encroaches into their fields of view.

The 300mm focal length equates to 13x optical zoom as standard, or as much as 43.4x zoom (1000mm) when combined with on-sensor cropping. There's even a 60x (1380mm) mode, but this requires AI processing, which in my opinion partially negates the 'purity' of having the teleconverter's proper optical zoom.

Sample images

Lab results

Given the lens’s quality build, and the Find X9 Ultra's top-class image processing, I wasn't particularly surprised that the teleconverter lens produced some stunning photos. However I was keen to see how much of this stellar image quality was down to the phone's processing, and whether that might be compensating for any optical shortcomings in the lens itself.

Fortunately at Digital Camera World we have a dedicated laboratory for testing the optical quality of camera lenses, but until now we haven't tested a teleconverter lens for a phone. To ensure a level playing field we need to shoot our lab test images in Raw, however the Hasselblad Teleconverter shooting mode only records JPEGs. To capture Raw stills with the Find X9 Ultra, you must use the phone’s Hasselblad Master Mode, which isn’t directly compatible with the teleconverter. To get around this, I used Master Mode to gain access to Raw capture, manually selected the 3x telephoto camera module in order to shoot through the teleconverter lens. This workaround meant our test images were inverted, but that's an easy fix in post-production.

To better quantify the teleconverter’s image sharpness and levels of fringing, I've compared its lab results to several other 300mm prime lenses designed for full-frame DSLR cameras, as well as two more modern zoom lenses for mirrorless cameras that cover 300mm in their focal range. Sure, the Oppo lens is obviously not a direct rival for any of these lenses, but the purpose here is merely to see if a (relatively) small camera phone teleconverter is able to even come close to the optical quality of a ‘proper’ camera lens. The Oppo lens has a fixed f/2.2 focal length, so I've selected the aperture from each comparison lens that yielded the highest sharpness score, to make things as tough as possible for the Oppo lens.

Sharpness:
(line widths/picture height)

I was fully expecting the Oppo lens to at best deliver mediocre sharpness without the help of JPEG processing, but I was shocked to see that its sharpness scores are actually up there with those from far larger and more expensive optics. The Oppo lens manages to beat Nikon's AF-S 300mm f/4E lens for center sharpness - a lens that when new cost around $2000. That's now an old, discontinued lens, but the Oppo lens still performs well when compared to the much more modern Tamron 70-300mm Di III RXD set to 300mm.

Fringing:
(values closer to zero indicate less fringing)

As for chromatic aberration, the Oppo lens is the clear winner in the group, as it produces no noticeable fringing in any part of the image frame. This will be in part due to the lens’s fixed aperture, which enables it to be more easily tuned to produce the lowest possible fringing. However, there could also be a chance the Find X9 Ultra is baking in some aberration correction to its Raw files. While I've attempted to make this comparison as fair as possible, a camera phone simply doesn't have the same granular image quality settings as a dedicated mirrorless camera to disable things like aberration correction, so we simply don't know whether the lens is benefitting from software enhancement in this area.

Verdict

Oppo is trying hard to gain greater brand recognition in the west, and strapping a big-ass lens to the front of its latest flagship phone is a sure-fire way to turn heads. But until now I'd assumed lenses like this were more of a marketing stunt than a genuinely useful hardware upgrade. However, after extensively testing the Oppo Hasselblad 300mm Explorer Teleconverter, I'm happy to report that this is no gimmick: it's a seriously impressive piece of kit with build quality and optical performance worthy of the prestigious Hasselblad name.

As good as the teleconverter is, it's not an everyday tool, but then it's not designed to be. The Find X9 Ultra alone is easily able to capture 99%+ of your photographic requirements: the teleconverter is for special occasions - concerts, sporting events, etc - when you want to record and archive memories without resorting to AI zoom, which often makes a mess of replicating faces. And in doing so, it further closes what was already a very slim gap between the capability of a flagship phone and a standalone mirrorless camera.

The teleconverter also serves to highlight how lazy the likes of Samsung and Apple have become with the camera hardware in their flagship phones. Samsung, for instance, has recycled its 200MP primary camera sensor since the Galaxy S23 Ultra, relying primarily on AI to differentiate each subsequent generation of S Ultra phone. Meanwhile, Oppo has been incorporating larger sensors, telephoto modules with longer focal lengths, and is now upping the ante with bespoke camera grips and teleconverter lenses.

We rate the Find X9 Ultra as "the most versatile and photography-focused camera phone around" in our list of the best camera phones currently on the market, and this is thanks in no small part to innovations like the superb Hasselblad 300mm Explorer Teleconverter.

There was a lot of discussion surrounding the Panasonic Lumix L10. But it's fair to say that the bulk of it was about, well, the bulk of it.

It was pretty unaninmous that the L10 is a fantastic compact camera – but it was also pretty unanimous that it was too big to be considered "compact".

Indeed, a lot of people lamented that it's bigger than the Lumix LX100 – a camera that Panasonic doesn't make any more. But just because Panasonic doesn't make it any more, doesn't mean you can't still buy it!

There were so many people saying, "I would buy this if it was smallerm" and "This would be the perfect compact camera if it was the size of the LX100".

Folks, the LX100 already exists! You can buy it right now!

It's always baffled me that camera reviewers – and tech reviewers in general – seem to forget about anything that isn't on the shelves right now. I understand that people want to read about what's new, but kit doesn't cease to exist just because it's not currently being manufactured.

The Lumix LX100 is a perfect case in point.

Right now, everyone is looking for a truly pocketable, powerful compact camera. Everyone wanted that luscious Leica 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens in a smaller body. What they're looking for is the LX100 – or perhaps the Lumix LX100 II.

The Lumix LX100 packs a 16.84MP sensor while the LX100 II's is 21.77MP sensor, with both cameras offering the same multi-aspect ratio shooting experience as the L10 (for up to 12.7MP or 17MP resolution respectively).

The autofocus is Panasonic's more leisurely DFD system (Depth From Defocus, aka contrast detect), which isn't as snappy as the L10's Phase Hybrid AF, but for the sedate kind of everyday, travel and street shooting you'll be doing, it's absolutely fine.

When it comes to continuous shooting, the LX100 actually out-bursts the L10's 30fps by offering up to 40fps in Super High speed mode, though the caveat is that these are low-res 3MP files. Otherwise, both the LX100 and LX100 II match the L10's 11fps mechanical speed (but bursts with AF are limited to 5.5 and 6.5fps respectively).

Obviously there is a gaping chasm in video capability, with the L10 offering 5.6K 60p with all the bells and whistles, while its predecessors are capped at more basic 4K 30p – though pretty much everyone concedes that these are primarily stills cameras.

Still, the most important aspect of this conversation is the size: where the L10 lumbers in at 127.1 x 73.9 x 66.9mm and 508g, the L100 is a mere 114.8 x 66.2 x 55.0mm and 393g while the LX100 II is a bit more butch at 115.0 x 66.2 x 64.2 mm and 392g.

Those numbers may not look like much on paper but, as you can see, in practice they make all the difference. The L10 is the same size as the Lumix S9, a full frame mirrorless camera, while the LX100 (in particular) and the LX100 II are truly compact compact cameras.

The only issue, of course, is that these cameras aren't current… but again, they are still very much available! The LX100 you see here came from MPB, a used camera specialist that's a great equalizer when it comes to conversations like this.

When you buy from somewhere like MPB, you're not limited to what a company is trying to sell you right now – you can explore its entire back-catalog to find the camera you actually want. So, if you want a camera that's closer to the LX100 than the L10, I recommend you give it a look.

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The leading camera brands have seen another shakeup in rankings, according to a report by Japan’s largest financial newspaper. Retro-camera maker Fujifilm’s viral fame has propelled the company into third place, dropping longstanding Nikon out of the top three.

The insight comes from the Nikkei Industry Map 2027, an annual report coming from the region’s largest financial media outlet, analyzed and shared by Digital Camera Life. The report examines Japan’s camera makers and ranks each brand by the number of cameras shipped.

Canon continues to lead in terms of market share and has strengthened that lead by adding nearly a million camera shipments compared to 2024’s data. That leaves Canon with a 45.7% share – that means nearly half of all digital cameras shipped from Japan bear the Canon name.

That’s followed by Sony, which has now held the number two spot for seven years, thanks to the rise of the Alpha mirrorless series. Sony saw slight growth from 2024’s numbers, moving from 2.33 million cameras shipped to 2.42 million.

But the real shakeup comes in third place: Fujifilm. Nikon has held the third spot since the Sony Alpha series pushed the company down to third in 2019. Nikon’s drop to fourth place is affected somewhat by lower sales – dropping from 960,000 to 880,000 – but Nikon would have held onto the third place spot if Fujifilm hadn’t also seriously jumped up in sales at the same time.

The report suggests that Fujifilm shipped 1.16 million cameras in 2025, up from 740,000 the year before. The data gives concrete insight into Fujifilm’s viral fame.

Fujifilm, known largely for its retro-inspired cameras and color science, started seeing accelerated growth after the X100VI went viral, a two-year-old camera that is still in such demand that it’s hard to find in stock without a wait list.

The X100 series' success has bled into other models, like its mirrorless sibling the Fujifilm X-E5, while more budget-friendly models like the X-M5 and X-T30 III have also sold well for the brand.

Neither Nikon nor Fujifilm has announced a new mirrorless camera yet in 2026.

Although Nikon revised its 2026 projections for slightly lower sales during the last investor report, the company says it expects the interchangeable lens market to remain solid over the medium and long term.

While the numbers drop Nikon out of the top three, that’s not the only unusual shakeup. Ricoh has surpassed OM System, moving from seventh to sixth, behind Panasonic. The reason? Ricoh’s camera shipments tripled over the last year.

While the report doesn’t specifically detail how many of each camera were shipped, Ricoh’s growth is likely due to the success of the Ricoh GR IV series.

The pocketable camera that packs an APS-C sensor has long been a popular option, but Ricoh’s refresh of the series last August and the growth of the compact camera segment is likely giving the brand a significant boost.

That puts OM System in seventh place, the last on the rankings, with 150,000 cameras shipped, which is about 10,000 less than the year before.

Panasonic hasn’t changed rank, in the fifth-place spot, but the numbers show a steep growth from 280,000 cameras to 430,000.

While a majority of the largest camera-makers are based in Japan, the Nikkei report’s regional focus means that brands like Leica (Germany) and Hasselblad (Sweden) aren’t tallied and ranked in the report.

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Browse cameras from your favorite brand – these are the best Canon cameras, the best Sony cameras, the best Fujifilm cameras, the best Panasonic cameras, and the best OM System cameras. Or, compare the popular Ricoh GR series options.

The rise of the camera phone was met with a near-instantaneous plummet in the traditional camera industry. Now, more than a decade later, the industry is starting to show signs of a recovery – but can video cameras say the same thing?

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan – where several key camera brands are located, including Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Nikon, Panasonic, Ricoh and OM System – recently shared statistics suggesting that camera production is showing signs of recovery after both the growth of the smartphone and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report echoes what the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has already shared, but the chart that tracks the rise of the smartphone with the crash of the camera industry highlights another interesting trend: while the camera industry is recovering, video cameras are not.

Video, which is represented in blue while stills cameras are orange, drops off the chart entirely in 2021 – and, despite signs of recovery for still cameras, does not reappear in subsequent years.

Social media algorithms are far more video-heavy than ever before, so why aren’t cameras for video more popular than before? I believe there’s a very simple technological shift that highlights why video cameras have not recovered despite the popularity of the format on social media: the hybrid camera.

Dedicated camcorders are becoming fewer and farther between, as the industry shifts towards a hybrid approach. The transition towards hybrids started slowly with the rise of the mirrorless camera. While DSLRs could shoot video (albeit without the optical viewfinder), the transition to mirrorless brought smoother, smarter autofocus performance and in-body stabilization.

While camcorders are more scarce, “video cameras” are not – they’ve just taken on a new format. Video-focused mirrorless cameras have risen along with the social media video trend. Nearly every major manufacturer now offers at the very least a hybrid camera, but most now have entire series of mirrorless cameras that are video-first, photo-second.

Sony has the FX cinema camera line that includes models like the FX3 and dedicated cameras for vlogging like the ZV-E10 series. Canon has models designed with V for video, like the Canon EOS R50 V, and C for cinema, like the Canon EOS R5 C.

Nikon went and bought cinema-maker Red and launched the Nikon ZR. The Panasonic Lumix S1H even earned the Netflix stamp of approval, a first for mirrorless, with bodies like the Lumix S5IIX being a staple for content creators.

While the chart looks worrying for video cameras, it all comes down to how cameras are categorized. Cameras like the Sony FX3 are technically a mirrorless camera, but are far more geared towards video than still photography.

As the technology has shifted, cameras are becoming increasingly versatile – and harder to fit in just one single category.

And while camera makers have been selling more in the past couple of years than in the early 2020s, CIPA is predicting a slight slowdown for mirrorless cameras in 2026…

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Take a look at the best hybrid cameras, or dive into the best cameras for video.

The new episode of Bokeh Face: The Digital Camera World podcast is now live on our YouTube channel and available to stream from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all your favorite podcast services.

New episodes of Bokeh Face are released bi-weekly, every other Friday, so our next episode will be released on September 04.

DCW's Content Director, Chris George, joins me, James Artaius, DCW Editor in Chief, for our usual format where we discuss a burning issue in the world of imaging, dive into the kit bag to examine what we've been shooting with lately, and then troubleshoot a technical or creative camera issue.

You can watch the episode in full below:

We Gear Up with the Polaroid Go Gen 3, while delving into one of the greatest comeback stories ever told. Make no mistake, the instant camera is more than just a flash in the pan!

In Focus this episode, we delve into the whip-fast world of AI-powered autofocus. But has it taken the skill and/or fun out of photography?

And in Trouble Shooting, James and Chris broach the truly riveting subject of lens hoods. What are the benefits? Are they essential? And should they come with every lens that you buy?

We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the show, along with any questions or troubleshooting queries you might have, so please get in touch with us at bokehface@futurenet.com. We hope you enjoy the episode!

• Watch on YouTube
• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts

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Check out all our previous episodes of Bokeh Face, take a look at the best instant cameras, and if you haven't got a lens hood, try lens flare photography!

The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III launched in 2019 at a time when compact cameras were losing steam to smartphones. But then, five years after it launched, something unusual happened: influencers discovered what the camera’s one-inch sensor and zoom lens could do. And suddenly, the aging G7 X Mark III was a viral sensation.

But because the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III’s viral fame came as point-and-shoots were declining, the camera’s fame came at a cost – literally. With the unexpected surge in popularity, the G7 X Mark III quickly went out of stock. Used prices shot up, and third-party sellers started charging far more than the camera’s $879 / £859 / AU$1,349 list price.

Canon hasn’t been sitting on the trend, either – the camera maker has already increased compact camera production several times. Last August, Canon officially said that the G7 X Mark III was among the models that had increased production and the company resumed orders for the popular camera in Japan.

But one year later, the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III is still so popular that it’s hard to find in stock – at least, at list price. In the US, even used models of the G7 X Mark III are selling for more than $1,500 at reputable used camera stores like KEH, MBP and Adorama.

The PowerShot’s popularity isn’t unwarranted. The camera uses a 20.1MP, 1-inch sensor that’s larger than that of the average point-and-shoot camera.

But while compact cameras with larger sensors aren’t hard to find, the G7 X Mark III also packs a 24-240mm equivalent zoom lens. That longer lens is more flattering for portraits, helping to drive the camera’s viral popularity among influencers and content creators.

But creators also rave about its built-in flash, which is far more powerful than that of a smartphone's. Where a phone uses LED lights, the G7 X Mark III uses a Xenon flash – which is more powerful and helps deliver that more retro direct flash look.

As compacts have resurged in trends, camera makers have been scrambling to add new options – and there are now far more to choose from than when the G7 X Mark III first went viral in 2024. Yet the camera still has a unique blend of sensor, lens and flash.

The new Panasonic Lumix L10 has a larger Micro Four Thirds sensor and a 24-75mm equivalent zoom, but there’s no flash.

The longtime favorite Sony RX100 VII – released the same year as the G7 X Mark III – has a longer lens and still has a flash, but the aperture isn’t as bright, and the list price is far higher (though about equal to what used G7 X Mark III’s are selling for).

Canon’s own PowerShot V1 has a similar sensor, but uses a wider lens with a shorter 16-50mm focal range for photos. Because the V1 is meant more for vlogging, the camera doesn’t have a built-in flash (though there’s a Multi-Function Shoe that supports some Canon flashes and standard flashes with a hot shoe adapter).

This year marks the PowerShot series’ 30th anniversary – and the milestone is coming at a time when compacts have made a comeback, despite the capabilities of camera phones.

Canon has increased compact camera production multiple times since the G7 X Mark III went viral and said that production will increase again in the second half of 2026. The question that remains is this: when will the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III be readily available at list price?

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Don't want to wait? These are the best cameras with zoom. Or, take a look at the best compact cameras.

The earliest camera phones came with megapixel counts that required a decimal point. But as modern camera phones are surpassing the triple-digit megapixel mark, one camera store in Japan has noticed a trend: the low-resolution compact cameras from two decades ago are suddenly in high demand.

A used camera store chain in Japan, Five Star Camera, has such a large selection of older cameras – and, in particular, CCD-sensor-based compact cameras – that the store says around 90% of its customers come from overseas.

But a recent interview with the store’s representatives highlights a few key trends in the used camera industry – especially the dominance of early 2000s compacts, which have become so popular that some now sell for 400% their original price.

“Among compact digital cameras, models equipped with CCD sensors of around 5 to 7 megapixels are particularly popular,” Ryoya Hayakawa, the manager for the Nishi-Shinjuku branch of Five Star Camera, told Japanese publication DC Watch (translated by Google).

“Their grainy image quality is favored as a retro style that iPhones can't replicate. However, there's a tendency towards prioritizing looks over specifications, a trend often referred to as the ‘Y2K style.’”

While early 2000s digital compact cameras have been trending for a few years now, the interview highlights a key reason behind the trend: “Looks over specifications.”

The demand for 20-year-old compact cameras is about getting a certain look to the images. Digital cameras have now largely moved away from CCD sensors to CMOS, but the older sensor format is particularly well known for its color rendering.

Whether or not CCD sensors deliver a more “film-like” look is a highly debated topic among photographers, but Y2K-era cameras in themselves have a unique retro look: the lower-resolution files, early digital color science and cheaper lenses inside basic point-and-shoots create a certain quality.

That was often paired with a powerful direct flash that, in itself, also carries a retro vibe.

The drive ”backwards” towards less perfect, low-tech cameras is an interesting turn as digital photography reaches exceedingly advanced capabilities with high resolution, global shutters, and faster frame rates.

The trend towards older cameras highlights the fact that the value in a photograph is often not the technical quality but the memory itself.

Yet there is a downside to the continued trend towards using old compact cameras: price. Five Star Camera noted that some models are going for four times their original price, such as early Ricoh GR series cameras.

The interview echoes a previous report from another camera store in Japan, Komehyo, that hinted the demand for used compact cameras has increased five times over what the market looked like five to six years ago.

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Want the retro look but with modern tech? These are the best retro cameras.

The compact camera trend is putting portability back in the spotlight, but one start-up is working to build a camera so small, it’s only about the size of a lipstick and weighs less than a golf ball. The SNYP Pocket Camera is an unusually shaped camera with a rotating lens.

The SNYP Pocket Camera weighs just 33g, but the rectangular shape and small size mean you'd be forgiven if you mistook it for a tube of lipstick.

The size isn’t the only unusual feature. The camera’s lens, which sits at the top of the “lipstick” tube, can rotate 360 degrees. That rotation allows users to still see the 1.45-inch screen when snapping selfies.

The small camera still manages to fit in a 16MP resolution for stills and 2K for video, though the start-up doesn’t say what size or kind of sensor is tucked inside the tiny camera.

The SNYP Pocket Camera comes with a handful of built-in filters that swap with the press of a button. There’s one inspired by retro film, but there’s also another inspired by CCD sensors and early 2000s compact cameras.

Because of the small size, there's no built-in flash.

Along with shooting photos and videos, the camera has an audio-only mode, allowing it to double as a voice recorder.

At the bottom, the camera has a microSD card slot and a USB-C port for charging and transferring images. At the top, the camera has a vent for cooling and heat dissipation.

The size of the Pocket Camera reminds me a bit of the Kodak Charmera. The camera from SNYP lacks a keychain and comes with an unusual rotating lens and higher resolution, but the compact design, built-in screen, and different filter options feel like the upcoming camera could be trying to go after the same audience.

The SNYP Pocket Camera is launching on Kickstarter, with the campaign ending on August 26. Pledges begin at $49 (about £36 / AU$69 CA$68), with shipping estimated for November 2026. The camera is expected to retail for twice that outside of the crowdfunding platform.

All crowdfunding pledges carry some risk. The Pocket Camera is the first campaign from the startup SNYP.

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Take a look at the best keychain cameras or the best compact cameras.

One researcher at Michigan State University says he’ll be spending the next three months pulling memory cards on more than a thousand trail cameras – yet the data powered by the camera traps is proving to be more reliable and less intensive than traditional methods of monitoring the health of the endangered gray wolf population.

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the gray wolf population has recovered enough that the species may no longer need to be labeled as endangered, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The insight comes from a series of 1,311 trail cameras, the first time the state has successfully tracked and monitored the gray wolf population for an entire year.

While the gray wolf is still a federally protected species, the latest research suggests that the numbers have exceeded the DNR’s population recovery goals. Data from the camera surveys could help the gray wolf be officially reclassified as a recovered species.

While researcher and doctoral candidate Matt Nelson says he will be pulling memory cards to gather the next year’s worth of data from now until October, the series of trail cameras is proving to be a less labor-intensive and less weather-dependent method of monitoring the species’ population.

Previously, the DNR would track the population of the gray wolf using snow tracks in the winter, which could follow wolf packs across as much as 60% of the Upper Peninsula. But monitoring the health of the species by snow tracks only offers a seasonal insight into the population and can be highly weather-dependent.

Using a series of trail cameras, researchers used machine learning software to analyze the images and flag wolves and disregard other species, with researchers fact-checking the computer program for accuracy. The count was then put into an “event-to-space” algorithm that estimates the population based on what the cameras detect.

At the same time, researchers continued to use snow tracks while the trail cameras were used. Both studies found a similar estimate for the wolf population, suggesting that the trail cameras have a similar accuracy.

The snow tracking method estimated 768 wolves, while the camera survey estimated 773 during the winter of 2024. In the fall months, the camera population estimate exceeds 1,000 wolves, with the highest being 1,198 in October 2024.

The fact that the trail camera survey didn’t lead to any surprises compared to traditional survey methods suggests that the tech is accurate. “There were no real surprises. The camera survey worked really well and aligned with what we know about wolf ecology,” Nelson said.

By using a series of trail cameras, researchers were able to monitor the fluctuation of the wolf population across an entire year, noting that the count was the lowest in the winter but surged again in the spring after the birth of new pups.

The cameras tend to detect the most wolves in the fall, as that’s the time of year when the younger pups are old enough to join the pack instead of staying behind in the den.

The Michigan DNR has a similar program for tracking the gray fox, but the trail camera system could eventually be used to track the population of more than those species.

Next, researchers are pulling SD cards from more than 1,000 cameras for the 2025 data.

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Browse the best trail cameras or the best cameras for wildlife photography.

I hear a lot of people talking about autofocus as if it’s some kind of cheat code: it’s taken the challenge away from photography – you can’t miss. And while I certainly think that AF algorithms have advanced tenfold in the era of the mirrorless camera, changing the game forever, it worries me that beginner or intermediate photographers might feel like they’re doing something wrong when they miss focus.

Let me tell you, I’m a photography educator with years of experience and I still miss focus regularly. Granted, how much you’re likely to miss depends on what you’re shooting. But it also depends on your standards for critical focus. I’m somebody who likes to know that I’ve absolutely nailed my focus and it really bugs me when I haven’t.

Other photographers have different standards – and that’s not to say they’re wrong. Something I’ve had to work on in recent years is my tendency to overemphasize the importance of critical focus and be a bit more lenient with my images. But what I’m interested to know is where does this myth that you can’t miss actually come from?

The ‘you can’t miss’ myth

Autofocus is so much more than camera tech. The lens, aperture, light, and subject all affect your hitrate. It’s one thing for a camera reviewer to test a body with a ‘nifty fifty’ at f/8 in broad daylight, and a whole other ballgame for a wildlife photographer shooting in drab weather at f/2.8 with a 200mm lens, trying to focus on a red squirrel that won’t keep still! Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been that camera reviewer and the time you get with a new release and the lens that comes with it means that the latter scenario is rarely an option. But you get my drift.

As someone who enjoys photographing both sports and wildlife, I can tell you that no current autofocus system is capable of hitting a darting critter’s eye or the helmet of a superbike rider consistently. These situations usually require long lenses, which complicate things further. You’re usually shooting at a fast aperture in order to gather more light so you can increase your shutter speed and compensate for camera shake.

All of this results in a much smaller depth of field, allowing far less margin for error if you don’t quite hit your intended point of focus. And since long lenses amplify camera shake, the setup is moving around a lot more, causing the camera to refocus more than usual. Add low light into the mix, and even advanced hybrid-autofocus systems will find the situation more challenging. So, not matter how good your autofocus system is, you absolutely can miss. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

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Want more of my ramblings? Nikon never bothered to support the Nikon Zf and Zfc with retro-cool lenses, but thanks to Voigtlander it doesn’t need to. You can’t buy heritage: Why Nikon still rules as it celebrates its 109th birthday! Plus, “Overwhelming” demand forces Nikon to halt Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S orders (report).

Compact cameras have been rapidly rising in trends, but the latest list of trending cameras from Japan hints at another trend that may be prevailing over size: zoom. Some 40% of the best-selling compact cameras in Japan have at least 15x zoom, including the newly launched Sony RX10 V bridge camera.

The data comes from Japanese camera retailer Yodobashi’s list of best-selling compacts for the second half of July. While the list includes several repeat offenders – like the top-ranked Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III, the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS and the viral Fujifilm X100VI – one camera on the list is so new that sales were only open for a single day in July.

The RX10 V only became available on July 31, but the bridge camera came as a surprise announcement after Sony had previously discontinued the 1-inch sensor zoom series without a sign of a replacement.

The RX10 V is hardly a “compact” camera; it weighs about 2 lbs / 1,111g, thanks to a highly versatile 24-600mm equivalent lens. As a bridge camera, it looks more like a small DSLR than a point-and-shoot camera, but Yodobashi defines anything with a fixed, non-removable lens as a “compact camera,” so the superzoom made the list.

The Sony RX10 V sits squarely in the middle of the top ten at spot number five, but that’s quite an impressive ranking for a camera that, technically, only had one day of sales compared to the other cameras on the list that were available during that entire time period.

The RX10 V is one of four cameras on the list with a versatile zoom lens. The PowerShot SX740 HS (second place) has the longest of the bunch with a 40x lens, followed by the Panasonic Lumix TZ99 / ZS99 with a 30x zoom (eighth place), the RX10 V with 25x (fifth place) and the Panasonic Lumix ZS300/TZ300 with a 15x zoom lens (tenth place).

The list hints that zoom remains a key feature for compact cameras – even when that zoom makes the camera no longer pocketable, as is the case with the Sony RX10 V.

While the list is dominated by cameras with zoom, compacts with oversized sensors remain highly popular. The Fujifilm X100VI sits in third place, but is out of stock and likely could have ranked even higher had more been available.

The Ricoh GR IV – which, like the X100VI, has an APS-C sensor – is also so popular that it’s out of stock at the retailer, but still manages to earn a sixth-place spot in the rankings.

While much of the list leans towards cameras with zoom, the GR IV and X100VI use lenses without optical zoom, instead fitting a larger sensor and brighter aperture into a portable design.

The list also includes one popular vlogging camera, the Sony ZV-1 II, which has an 18-50mm equivalent lens.

The list also highlights the popularity of point-and-shoots that sit on the more affordable side, with two budget models on the list, the Canon PowerShot Elph 360 HS A (known as the Canon IXY 650m in Japan) and the Kodak PixPro C1.

The best-selling compact cameras at Yodobashi, second half of July 2026

1. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III
2. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS
3. Fujifilm X100VI
4. Sony ZV-1 II
5. Sony RX10 V
6. Ricoh GR IV
7. Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 HS A
8. Panasonic Lumix TZ99
9. Kodak Pixpro C1
10. Panasonic Lumix ZS300/TZ300

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Take a deep dive into the top-ranked compact cameras, or the best cameras with zoom.

When you think of the world’s largest camera manufacturers, your mind probably jumps straight to Canon, Sony or Nikon. Leica? Probably not.

Leica is the luxury option; the beautifully engineered German camera brand that makes expensive rangefinders, exquisite M lenses and cameras assembled with an almost obsessive attention to detail. But I recently started counting Leica’s current cameras and something rather surprising happened: I got to 16!

Yes, Leica currently makes 16 distinct camera models. Look at the M-System alone and you have the Leica M11, M11-P, M11-D, M11 Monochrom and the new Leica M EV1 on the digital side. And it still manufactures the M6, MP and completely mechanical Leica M-A for film photographers.

That's eight cameras before we have even left the M-System.

Then there is the SL mirrorless system. Leica currently offers the SL3, SL3-S, and recently introduced Leica SL3-P, giving photographers and filmmakers three distinctly different full-frame professional bodies.

The SL3 concentrates on high-resolution 60MP photography, the SL3-S takes a faster 24MP hybrid approach, while the SL3-P sits between them with a 44MP sensor and some seriously impressive photo and video credentials. Suddenly we are at 11 cameras.

And we are nowhere near finished. The Q family now consists of the Leica Q3 with its 28mm Summilux, the Q3 43 with its more natural 43mm perspective, and the Q3 Monochrom, which takes the same fundamental idea and builds it around a dedicated 60MP black-and-white sensor.

Add the Leica D-Lux 8, a premium compact camera, and the Leica Sofort 2, a luxury hybrid instant camera, and there it is: 16 cameras currently sitting within Leica’s portfolio.

What makes that number even more remarkable to me is that 14 of those 16 cameras are arguably aimed squarely at serious photographers, advanced enthusiasts or working professionals.

I would probably exclude the Sofort 2 and, depending on how strict you want to be, the D-Lux 8 from that description. Everything else is a serious photographic tool.

Leica is not inflating its range with dozens of inexpensive beginner bodies separated by tiny specification changes; it has film rangefinders, digital rangefinders, an EVF-equipped M, dedicated monochrome cameras, professional mirrorless hybrids and some of the most capable fixed-lens full-frame cameras money can buy.

So, does that secretly make Leica the largest camera manufacturer of them all? Literally, no. I am not suggesting for one moment that Leica produces more cameras by volume than Canon, Sony or Nikon, nor that it has suddenly overtaken the Japanese giants in market share.

But judged by the sheer number of serious current camera bodies available from what we continue to think of as a small, specialist luxury manufacturer, Leica suddenly looks enormous. Sixteen cameras is not a boutique selection any more. That is a proper ecosystem.

I think our perception of Leica simply has not caught up with what the company has become. We still talk about Leica as though it essentially makes “the M”, with perhaps a Q sitting alongside it.

Yet today you can buy a completely mechanical film camera with no battery, a metered film rangefinder, a 60MP digital rangefinder, a screenless digital M, an M with an electronic viewfinder, a dedicated monochrome body, a 30fps full-frame mirrorless camera, an 8K-capable professional hybrid or a fixed-lens full-frame compact.

Few manufacturers cover such wildly different interpretations of photography while retaining such a clear identity across all of them.

There is also something rather refreshing about the way Leica has done it. Rather than trying to build one camera that supposedly suits everybody, Leica seems increasingly happy to make highly specific cameras for highly specific photographers.

Want color? There is an M for that. Want black-and-white? There is an M for that, too. Hate rear screens? Leica has you covered. Want an EVF but still want M lenses? That now exists. Want autofocus and interchangeable lenses? Buy an SL. Want the whole experience condensed into one body and one lens? Buy a Q. Want film? Leica will still sell you a brand-new mechanical camera in 2026.

That is why I think Leica might be the camera giant hiding in plain sight. Not the largest by sales, production numbers or market share, but perhaps one of the largest when it comes to the breadth of genuinely serious photographic choices coming from a single premium brand.

For a company whose reputation is built around exclusivity, simplicity and doing things the old-fashioned way, Leica has somehow ended up producing 16 distinct and diverse cameras at the same time. And the strangest thing is that almost nobody seems to have noticed.

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Take a look at the best Leica cameras, along with the best Leica M lenses for rangefinders and the best Leica SL lenses for mirrorless.

Viltrox has a further five new lenses due shortly, increasing its rapidly-expanding lens line-up. The new lenses include the:

• Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro (full-frame, E-mount & L-mount)
• Viltrox AF 18mm f/1.2 Pro APS-C (E-mount & L-mount)
• Viltrox AF 40mm f/1.2 Pro APS-C (E-mount & L-mount)
• Two new Air lenses

As the lenses are yet to be officially announced, we don't yet know many specifications. They are however on display at the BIRTV2026 show in Beijing, which takes place August 19-22.

Photorumors.com has several hands-on photos of the AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro, as well as a few details about it. The lens is said to have a 77mm filter thread, a minimum focusing distance of 0.3 meters, VCM (voice coil motor) focusing, and a metal barrel.

As for the 18mm and 40mm lenses; I'd fully expect E-mount variants, but I’m surprised to see that L-mount versions are supposedly due to follow at a later date. This seems a strange mount option, given both are APS-C lenses. There are no new APS-C L-mount cameras, and the few that were produced such as the Leica CL and TL have now been discontinued.

There is a faint possibility that Viltrox might actually be ahead of the game here though. There has been a recent rumor that Panasonic could ditch the Micro Four Thirds sensor format in favour of APS-C. Assuming it would stick with the L mount, then APS-C L-mount lenses would suddenly be in demand.

Back to Viltox though and we can likely expect full details, including pricing and availability of its five new lenses in a matter of days.

Sony’s latest cinema camera, the FX5, was announced back in July to enormous fanfare, huge excitement and massive sales. However, those who put their pre-orders down are going to have to wait – as the previous warnings of shipping delays until September have now turned into an indefinite postponement, with no official release date.

In a statement on its Japanese website, Sony announced that the release of the FX5 and its related accessories – an OLED viewfinder, an XLR handle unit and a timecode adapter cable – will be postponed due to unspecified "production issues".

The announcement comes pretty close to the last-minute, shortly before the camera’s stated release of August 21. And Sony has been unable to specify a new release date, meaning it could be a while before filmmakers can get their hands on the new camera.

The FX5 is billed as a lightweight cinema camera for professionals, slotting into the range between the Sony FX3 and FX6. Its headline feature is its capacity to shoot 5K 60p open gate video that uses the full 3:2 sensor area – though many features like 5K 120p open gate and cropped 4K 240p modes have been confirmed as coming along later, via firmware, and won't be present on the camera as released.

Billed as 'handheld Hollywood', the FX5 proved much more popular than Sony anticipated, with pre-orders flying in immediately after the camera was announced on July 28. It’s unclear whether the delay is related to the huge volumes of pre-orders, or some other unanticipated issue – Sony is remaining pretty tight-lipped about the specifics.

The Sony FX5 costs $4,898 / £4,700 / AU$7,849 body-only, or $5,498 / £5,200 / AU$8,849 in a bundle with the XLR handle. Pre-orders are still open – but I’d say it might be worth holding off for the time being. There are plenty of other excellent Sony cinema cameras you can get your hands on instead…

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Check out our roundups of the best Sony cameras and the best cinema cameras for some options that you CAN get your hands on.

Most multi-colored lights can only reach maximum brightness on the white color setting, but the brand known for its retro-styled lights has introduced a light that can still hit full power up to 120W at every one of its 36,000 possible colors. The Harlowe Max Spectra is a portable LED video light that is not only built for color but uses a “magic lens” to project moving special effects.

Harlowe says that no other light in the same class can create such a wide range of colors at full brightness. The difference comes from designing the LED light so that every color channel has its own power allocation. The light can blend the red, green, blue, cool white, and warm white channels into thousands of different colors, without losing brightness.

While the ability to switch colors without loosing power is key, Harlowe also gave the Max Spectra another unusual feature: a “magic” lens that allows the light to project different patterns. Those patterns can be mixed with the color capabilities to build creative effects, like imitating the look of water ripples.

Harlowe says the lens attachment can be used to create special effects without a gobo projector or VFX, creating special effects – or custom backdrops from a plain white background – using the light and lens attachment.

Besides the lens attachment, the lens uses a magnetic mount that supports modifiers, with a barn door, frosted dome, and honeycomb grid included with the light. A fresnel lens attachment will also be available to boost the light’s brightness by four times.

The light comes in at three different available strengths. The 40W is the lightest and most affordable, the 80W sits in the middle, and the 120W is the most powerful in the lineup. All three lights use the same battery pack, so the 40W can get about 2 hours and 18 minutes at full power, while the 120W can get about 40 minutes at full power.

The light is built to be used on-site with an aluminum build and an IP65 weather-proof 99.36W battery, but the light is also compatible with AC power for studio use. The light can be controlled from the built-in screen and dials, or using a wireless connection to a smartphone app.

The Harlowe Max Spectra launches in three different power variations, but each light also comes in either a standard Creator Kit that includes modifiers, a handle, an AC adapter, and a carrying case, while the Magic Kit adds the lens for creating patterned light. The 40W Creator Kit starts at $849 / £649.20 / CA$1,195.

The light is available directly through Harlowe, with pre-orders also open in the US at B&H Photo.

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Micro Four Thirds (MFT) users received a shock last month when news filtered out that Panasonic had abruptly discontinued three more Micro Four Thirds lenses.

The Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/4, Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7, Leica G 12-60mm f/2.8-4 and Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 II were all listed as discontinued on Panasonic’s Japanese website.

Of course, manufacturers discontinue products all the time. But it’s normally because the products have direct replacements already in the ecosystem – which these lenses don’t.

And this, combined with the fact that there was no formal announcement of the discontinuation, has led some users to be concerned about how committed Panasonic is to the future of Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses alike.

It was in this frame of mind that I sat down to watch a recent Q&A video by Australian YouTuber, Geeky Nerdy Techy (real name Shane – he’s great), in which he posits that Panasonic might be planning on introducing Super 35mm / APS-C cameras for L-Mount.

Further, that the next camera in its video-centric GH line – presumably the GH8 – might end up joining the L-Mount Lumix S system, with a Super 35mm sensor rather than full-frame.

ABOVE: Watch Geeky Nerdy Techy's video

It’d be similar to what Sony did with the FX30 and, as Shane says, it would make a lot of sense.

The larger sensor could assuage the concerns that some users have over MFT’s low-light ability – even though, as Shane points out, and as my editor James is no doubt screaming as he reads this, that hasn’t really been an issue for several generations now.

It also could be useful for people who are already invested in the ecosystem of L-Mount lenses, enabling them to construct a setup where they can switch between full-frame and Super 35mm and keep using the same glass.

But where would that leave Micro Four Thirds? That’s the thorny question – and Panasonic’s unceremonious discontinuation of its MFT lenses doesn’t inspire confidence.

While manufacturers generally won’t tell you that they’re giving up on a system, products being discontinued without new ones to replace them is often a sign that, as Shane says, "the writing is on the wall".

Look at Canon and Nikon. They never formally announced that they were giving up on DSLRs – they just stopped making new ones. I’m sure if asked, Panasonic would reaffirm that it is committed to Micro Four Thirds. But how many years did Sony spend making the same claims about A-mount?

An MFT to L-mount adapter unfortunately isn’t really possible, due to near-identical flange distances of the two systems (it’d have to be inconceivably tiny).

We’ll have to wait and see what Panasonic’s plans are for the venerable MFT system that it co-founded with Olympus – but I’m hoping there’s still life in the old dog yet.

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Our roundup of the best Micro Four Thirds lenses includes many fantastic options still plentifully available for the system.

Japan's latest compact camera sales rankings are in – and the same three point-and-shoot cameras are dominating the top of the chart once again.

At number one is the Kodak Pixpro FZ55, which was crowned Japan's overall best-selling camera of 2025 – a ranking that included mirrorless cameras, not just compacts. But close behind sits the real retro everyday champion.

The Pixpro FZ55 was originally launched in 2023 and features a 16MP sensor with 5x zoom. Available for only $139.99 / £129, the little camera is a familiar face at the top spot. But also on the podium is a camera that we've seen several times: the Kodak Pixpro C1, taking the second and third spots in different color variations.

The Pixpro C1 is a camera you can throw in your bag for casual fun. Compared with the Pixpro FZ55, it features a 2.8-inch rear LCD screen that flips up 180°, making it useful for selfies and shooting from different angles. Priced at just $99.99 / £79, it's the cheapest compact in the list – and its retro look is a big part of its appeal.

BCN+R compact camera ranking (Jul 26)

1. Kodak Pixpro FZ55 | Black
2. Kodak Pixpro C1 | Black
3. Kodak Pixpro C1 | Brown
4. Canon IXY 650 M (aka Elph 360 HS A / Ixus 285 HS A) | Silver
5. Instax Mini Evo | Brown
6. Lumix TZ99 / ZS99 | Black
7. Kodak Pixpro WPZ2
8. Kenko Tokina KC-AF11 BK | Black
9. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite | Black
10. Instax Mini Evo | Black

Sales data compiled by BCN+R, which aggregates nationwide sales figures from major electronic retailers and online platforms across Japan.

The Kodak Pixpro series is popular in Japan

In BCN's Top 10 compact cameras of July 2026, 40% of the models are from Kodak's Pixpro line – all relatively low-profile models compared with most mirrorless cameras.

These little point-and-shoots don't chase the latest AI autofocus or 8K video. They're built simply, are easy to carry and require very little photography knowledge to operate.

Those qualities may sound basic, but they are exactly what make these compacts so popular in Japan. For many, simplicity and affordability still beat a long specification sheet – and that's unlikely to change any time soon.

Older compact cameras rule the Japanese market

Japan's best-selling compact models are nearly three years old on average, even as we've seen a new wave of point-and-shoot camera launches.

While that may not seem particularly old for a camera, it's a striking figure in a market known for rapid product cycles.

The oldest model is the Kodak Pixpro WPZ2, released in October 2019, while the newest model is the Kodak Pixpro C1, released in April 2025.

For buyers in Japan, familiarity clearly matters. Established compact cameras have proven themselves over time and continue to sell steadily, even without major updates. And the trend isn't limited to one brand.

There is also a strong element of nostalgia and retro appeal, with compact cameras increasingly seen as fun, lifestyle-oriented devices rather than professional tools.

That's what we see in the success of the retro-styled Pixpro C1, which combines a low price with a design that feels very different from camera phones that most people carry every day.

Sometimes, it seems, people just want a little camera they can take everywhere. And in Japan, some of those cameras have been doing exactly that for years.

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Kodak has overtaken Fujifilm to become the most-used film brand among photographers responding to FilmFocus' latest survey, as new figures suggest that the analog revival is continuing despite the ever-increasing cost of shooting film.

The 2025 Survey on the Current State of Film Photography gathered 1,337 valid responses, up considerably from 802 respondents in the previous year's survey.

Conducted between November 30 and December 31, 2025, the Japan-focused research found that 71% of respondents had used Kodak film during the previous year, narrowly placing it ahead of Fujifilm at 68%.

That reverses the positions seen in 2024, when Fujifilm led with 84% usage compared with Kodak's 81%.

However, perhaps the more interesting story is that usage of almost every major film brand has fallen.

Ilford dropped from 52% to 41%, while Lomography fell from 38% to 30%, with photographers seemingly becoming more selective about the films they buy.

The average number of major brands used by each photographer fell from 3.0 to 2.2, while Kentmere – included as a survey option for the first time – was already being used by 16% of respondents.

With black-and-white film often costing less than color negative film, affordability appears to be playing an increasingly important role.

Despite those rising costs, however, photographers do not appear ready to abandon film.

The average 35mm photographer used around 13.9 rolls during the year, almost identical to the 13.7 rolls recorded previously, while 120 users averaged 7.0 rolls compared with 6.9 the year before.

In total, 28% of respondents said they were shooting film more frequently, compared with 26% who said they were using it less. Cost was once again by far the biggest reason for reducing film use, cited by 62% of those shooting less.

The results also suggest that newer photographers are helping to keep the format alive. Among people who had been shooting film for less than a year, 49% said their usage had increased, while only 6% said it had decreased.

The opposite was true among photographers with more than a decade of experience, where 40% reported shooting less film.

Buying or acquiring a new film camera was the most common reason for increasing film use, with cameras such as the Pentax 17 specifically mentioned by respondents as helping to bring people into – or back into – analog photography.

There are plenty of other encouraging signs for film photography, too. Some 95% of respondents had shot at least a single roll of 35mm film during the year, while 53% had used 120 film.

Color negative remained the most popular type at 82%, followed by black-and-white at a substantial 61%.

And when choosing where to have those rolls processed, photographers still value results over simply finding the cheapest option, with 41% saying developing and scanning quality was their biggest priority compared with 24% choosing price.

Kodak may have taken the top spot from Fujifilm this year, but the wider takeaway is arguably even more important: photographers are adapting to higher prices rather than giving up on film altogether.

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Take a look at the best film cameras, along with our picks of the best 35mm, 120 and roll film you can buy right now.

When it comes to Pokémon-themed cameras, I'm such a catch-'em-all addict that I once dropped $300 on the worst Canon camera I've ever used just because it had a Pikachu design.

Thankfully, now I don't have to spend nearly that much money to get a Pikachu camera that's lightyears better.

Polaroid has just announced an epic new collaboration that brings us a trio of Pokémon-themed instant cameras, a trifecta of Pokémon-themed film and a bundle of Pokémon-themed accessories.

It's all in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Pocket Monsters franchise, which has become part of the DNA of 90s kids (and beyond).

The star of the show is undoubtedly the Polaroid Go Gen 3 – Pokémon Pikachu Edition. At its heart is the fantastic Polaroid Go Gen 3, but this superb special edition comes in lightning-bolt yellow with Pokémon branding and a Pikachu tail instead of a strap.

Then there's the Polaroid Go Gen 3 – Pokémon Sylveon Edition, in gorgeous pink and white split tones with a matching strap (which is functional, rather than the decorative Pikachu tail).

While the two Pokémon-themed cameras are both, fittingly, of the super-small Go variety, the final camera is based on the full-fat Polaroid Now Gen 3. Styled after a Pokéball, the Polaroid Now Gen 3 - Pokémon Pokéball Edition boasts a red-and-white body and strap.

Launching alongside the cameras are three Pokémon-themed instant film packs – two Polaroid Go varieties in Pikachu and Sylveon boxes to match the cameras, and one Polaroid i-Type pack.

As you'd expect, all three film packs contain unique Pokémon-themed frames – but you may not have guessed that they also feature special edition dark slides, which are adorned with numbered and collectible Pokémon silhouettes!

There are also a slew of brilliant Pokéball-themed accessories that demand to be collected, including a camera case and photo album for Go-sized cameras along with a strap that fits all models.

Everything is available for preorder on the Polaroid website from August 27, with the official launch commencing on October 12.

The Polaroid Now Gen 3 – Pokémon Pokéball Edition will be priced $139.99 / £129.99, with the Polaroid Go Gen 3 – Pikachu and Sylveon Editions costing $99.99 / £89.99.

The i-Type Film – Pokémon Edition will sell for $22.99 / £21.99, with the double packs of Polaroid Go – Pokémon Light Frame or Dark Frame going for $24.99 / £21.99.

The Polaroid Go Camera Case – Pokémon Edition will carry a $24.99 price tag, with the Polaroid Go Photo Album – Pokémon Edition selling for $24.99 and the Polaroid Camera Strap – Pokémon Edition $14.99 (international pricing to follow).

Phew, made it through the entire article without saying gotta catch 'em all… gah!!!!

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A few days ago, all the rumor sites were buzzing about a new pancake lens from 7Artisans following a series of teaser images shared on Chinese social media platform Weibo by the manufacturer.

The APS-C lens is touted to feature a fast f/2 aperture, a wide-angle fixed 18mm focal length, autofocus and all-metal construction – which, in theory, would rival models like the Sony E 20mm f/2.8 and the Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 Evo.

After first appearing in silhouette with a question mark, the brand later identified the mystery lens as the 7Artisans AF 18mm f/2.

It also confirmed its release for Sony's E-mount, its amazingly low 109g weight and its APS-C design – which would give it an equivalent 27mm field of view on crop sensor cameras, making it ideal for street, travel, reportage and documentary photography.

Rumor sites have been suggesting that, following its release for Sony cameras, it would follow in Nikon Z and Fujifilm X mounts – though this has yet to be confirmed by 7Artisans itself.

Interestingly, amid all these rumors, I’ve come across a company called Etoren, based in Singapore, that seems to be selling the lens already.

Now, considering 7Artisans is yet to actually release the lens, I’m not sure I'd feel safe placing an order. Despite a few red flags in the form of Trustpilot scores, I did try reaching out to Etoren – the contact form gave me error after error and never actually sent.

I'd certainly recommend waiting for the official announcement from the manufacturer and stocking from more well-known retailers.

The 7Artisans AF 18mm f/2 is the latest in a series of pancake lenses lately, following the likes of the Kase AF 24mm f/3.8 and the Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 Evo, along with the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 and Lensbaby Twist 28 in new mounts.

If you're wondering why pancake lenses are back in fashion, my colleagues James and Mike covered the subject on the latest episode of DCW's Bokeh Face podcast (which I've teed up at the start of the conversation below).

It seems like we could be seeing even more delicious pancakes throughout 2026!

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Here's our pick of the best pancake lenses your money can buy, along with the best Sony lenses of all shapes and sizes.

The Sony A7 V has led multiple best-seller lists since its launch in late 2025 – and the trendy mirrorless camera has once again slid into the top spot in Japan.

But while the number one camera is hardly a surprise, the list of Japan's best-selling cameras in July 2026 highlights a few unusual trends, from Fujifilm's "serious supply shortages" to the resurging popularity of Nikon's most affordable full-frame camera.

The top cameras for July from Japanese retailer Map Camera read like a who's who of the most popular models, with the top three being names that have regularly dominated trends.

The list is led by the full-frame Sony A7 V mirrorless camera, the still-viral Fujifilm X100VI retro compact camera, and the Sony A7C II, a camera that feels like a combination of those two trends as a compact full-frame mirrorless.

Those top three cameras are regular names on Japan’s top ten, but the latest best-seller list highlights a few unusual trends – both in what cameras made the list and the trendy cameras that have fallen out of the top ten.

The Nikon Z5 II has climbed to the top 5

The fourth-place camera hasn’t appeared on Map Camera’s monthly trends list in the last four months – and before that was always sitting towards the bottom of the list: the Nikon Z5 II.

While the Z5 II has climbed unusually high, it’s a well-deserved ranking for the mirrorless camera that puts a full-frame sensor and excellent low-light autofocus into a body that sits at a more entry-level price.

The Canon EOS R6 Mark III is suspiciously absent

While Canon’s PowerShot cameras have regularly appeared on the top ten, the popular brand’s mirrorless cameras have been – rather strangely – less frequent on Map Camera’s list lately.

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II sits in eighth place this time and the EOS R6 Mark II in ninth place. But perhaps even more unusual is the Canon that’s not on the list.

The Canon EOS R6 Mark III debuted in November 2025 – one month before the Sony A7 V – and instantly rose to the number one spot at Map Camera. But it dropped off the retailer's top ten list the following month and has yet to return.

While its predecessor, the R6 Mark II, remains a top seller in Japan, the R6 Mark III brings 7K 60p open gate video and 40fps bursts for still photos. The R6 series is so popular in Japan that both the original R6 and R6 Mark II were among the top three most traded used cameras earlier this summer.

And, in the US, the R6 Mark III has been a regular attender on best-seller lists from B&H – which begs the question, why hasn’t the R6 Mark III seen the same success in Japan?

Fujifilm is "facing a serious supply shortage" in Japan

Another name that appears far less frequently on the July list is Fujifilm. Map Camera says the X-T30 III, X-E5, and X-M5 have been regular best-sellers on the list since the launch.

Fujifilm has the X100VI at number two and the camera that many call the mirrorless version of the X100VI at number ten, the X-E5. But that's it for the brand on the July list.

Map Camera says that the absence of some of Fujifilm’s most popular models isn’t a sign of popularity but of limited stock, noting that Fujifilm is “facing a serious supply shortage.”

While a wait time is typical for Fujifilm’s most popular cameras, like the X100VI, the company has discussed the shortage of memory and silver in recent reports.

A 2023 Sony has risen dramatically in popularity

The Sony A7 V wasn’t the only Sony mirrorless on the top ten list, as the Sony A6700 was ranked at number seven.

While the compact A6700 mirrorless has spent the last seven months on the top ten list, Map Camera notes the camera didn’t appear on the list at all in 2024 and 2025 despite launching in 2023 – suggesting an unusual resurgence in popularity as a bit of an older model.

There’s another Sony camera worth noting that’s not on the list: the Sony A7R VI.

When the A7R VI launched, it debuted at second place on the Map Camera rankings just after the more affordable but lower resolution A7 V – Map Camera suggests the A7R VI's price may be impacting its popularity.

Another Sony had only one day of sales in July, but still rose up to 14th place: The Sony RX10 V, the company’s new superzoom bridge camera. With the camera only being released on July 31, it will be interesting to see where it ends up on the August list.

While the latest trends list from Map Camera contained several surprises, the top ten was also dotted with several expected repeat offenders, like the Ricoh GR IV in fifth place and the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS in sixth. The full list of the top ten cameras from Map Camera includes:

1. Sony A7 V
2. Fujifilm X100VI
3. Sony A7C II
4. Nikon Z5 II
5. Ricoh GR IV
6. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS
7. Sony a6700
8. Canon EOS R5 Mark II
9. Canon EOS R6 Mark II
10. Fujifilm X-E5

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I like to think I’m careful with my camera gear – but I have to admit, reading this research report from insurance company Aviva did cause me to feel a little guilty.

The report reveals that more than 1 in 5 of us (22%) leave our phone or camera unattended in a public place to photograph or film ourselves. And yeah… I have done that.

I’m already rationalizing with the usual excuses, which I’m sure you are too if you’ve done the same. It was only for a few seconds! I had my eyes on it the whole time! And so on and so on.

But the fact is that camera or phone theft can be the work of a few seconds, and the thief can be off with your belongings before you have time to react – especially given the increased prevalence of things like e-scooters.

You might not be surprised to learn that the people most guilty of this behaviour are content creators.

Almost 2 in 5 (38%) of people who reported engaging in this behaviour to create social media content, while a similar 34% reported that it was for the purpose of travel vlogging or travel photography.

And don’t think this is purely a young people problem!

According to the research, it was the Gen X age cohort (45-60 years old) who self-reported as the worst offenders, with 41% having engaged in the behaviour in the process of creating social media content or professional content for work.

This was followed by 40% of millennials (29-44 years) and 38% of Gen Z (18-28 years).

As Aviva points out, even if you are conscientious and have taken out travel insurance, your ability to claim might be affected if you do not take reasonable care of your belongings.

Makes sense. I could hardly leave my mirrorless camera and lens on a streetside cafe table in Paris all day and reasonably expect to make an insurance claim if someone had made off with it by sunset.

When out in public by yourself, you’re always better off holding a camera selfie-style, keeping a firm grip at all times to deter opportunistic thieves.

This is why a vlogging-style camera with a flip-around screen is such a boon for travel vloggers and the like. And if you can attach a secure wrist strap, so much the better!

For my part, I’m certainly going to stop tempting fate when I’m out and about in public. The camera stays in the hand – no matter how good the shot might be!

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Here's our guide to the best travel cameras, as well as our roundup of the best camera bags for keeping your precious gear safe on the move.