Laowa appears to be working on a new macro lens. This in itself isn't particularly noteworthy, as according to the official Venus Optics website (the parent company of the Laowa brand), there are currently 17 Laowa macro lenses. However, this latest lens is rather special thanks to it offering up to 10x magnification.

For context, a typical macro lens usually offers a 1:1 reproduction ratio (1x). 1x magnification means the object you're photographing is reproduced at exactly the same size on the image sensor of your camera as it appears in real life.

Laowa already produces a macro lens with 5x magnification - the 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro - yet this new lens promises double that, which is no mean feat.

The 10x Ultra Macro optic is said to have a working distance of 40.35mm in the 1-5x magnification range, and 22.5mm if you want 5-10x magnification. Further details and specifications are currently limited, but it's said that this is a full-frame lens compatible with multiple mounts. Judging by the early product shots, it seems the lens could ship with a native PL mount, with separate adapters sold to convert this to RF, Z, E, or L mounts. This system is used by the even more specialist Laowa Aurogon FF 10-50X NA0.5 Supermicro APO macro 'lens' (it's actually a kit containing an objective lens which can be fitted with one of four extension tubes, each offering a different level of magnification, up to a whopping 50x!).

We're also told that the lens will be light and compact and its exterior length will not change when adjusting magnification. The full-range parfocal focusing design also means focus shouldn't shift when changing magnification. As with many other Laowa macro lenses, this latest offering should keep aberrations to a minimum thanks to its APO (apochromatic) optical construction which is designed to supress both lateral and longitudinal fringing. This is crucial for high magnification close-ups where even minor fringing could otherwise be very distracting.

We don't yet have details on pricing, availability, or even an official lens name. But considering the existing Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro lens retails for $399, while the highly specialized Laowa Aurogon FF 10-50X NA0.5 Supermicro APO will set you back $1500, it's likely the new 10x lens will be priced somewhere in between.

Story credit: Weibo, Camera Beta

I've used my fair share of extension tubes, close-up filters and macro lenses over the years, but never macro bellows. So I was extremely excited to get my hands on the Novoflex Automatic Macro Bellows and use them to shoot an extreme close-up.

Macro bellows are essentially adjustable extension tubes. They work by increasing the distance between optic and sensor, which in turn increases the minimum focusing distance.

This means you can transform a standard lens, like my Nikon Z 40mm f/2, into an optic with true macro capabilities and beyond. You can pick up compatible bellows for various camera systems relatively cheaply.

Nikon even released its own range of F-mount bellows, some of which you can still find on the used market. The problem with conventional bellows is the lack of electronic connectors necessary for the camera and lens to communicate.

This means you have to control everything manually. You can’t even change the aperture unless your lens has a manual aperture ring.

That’s where the Novoflex Automatic Macro Bellows comes in. This German-made accessory maintains the connection between camera and lens, and is available in a huge range of mounts: Canon EF/RF, Nikon F/Z, Sony E, Fujifilm X, L-Mount and Micro Four Thirds.

So, read on and I'll show you how this incredibly fun piece of kit works. And don’t worry if you don’t have the same bellows as me; most of these tips and tricks are entirely transferable to other macro bellows and even macro photography in general.

1. Set your macro bellows up

Unscrew the locking mechanism and extend your bellows to achieve the desired magnification – move the entire setup to alter the composition.

If you want to know how to achieve a specific magnification ratio, you can use an online extension-tube calculator. Bear in mind that at higher magnifications, less light is let into the camera. Live view is very useful here.

2. Camera settings

Traditional bellows prevent camera-lens communication, so you’ll need to use a lens with an aperture ring to alter the aperture. My Novoflex Bellows communicates seamlessly to provide full functionality, including AF.

I used a narrow aperture of f/16 to increase the unavoidably shallow depth of field. You may need to up your ISO if camera shake is an issue.

3. How to focus

Even with my Automatic Bellows, I still recommend focusing manually. You can focus by retracting and extending the bellows, but this will alter the magnification.

This leaves using a focusing rail or focus ring. A rail is more precise, but moving the setup to focus when focus stacking can cause anomalies due to altering the framing, as can focus breathing.

4. Dealing with super-shallow depths of field

Extreme magnifications yield incredibly shallow depths of field (as you can see above). Unless you’re shooting something with very little depth you may need to focus stack.

Choose what you want sharp, focus on the area closest to the camera and capture the image. Adjust focus to where the image begins to soften and take another shot. Repeat until you’ve covered the entire subject.

5. Import your stack

Helicon Focus is a popular dedicated focus-stacking software, but you can achieve desirable results in Adobe Photoshop.

Begin by opening your focus-stacked sequence in Adobe Bridge. Highlight the images in the stack and select Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. All of the files will now load into the Layers panel of the same Photoshop document.

6. Align and blend

Highlight the stack in the Layers panel and select Edit > Auto-Align Layers. Ensure only ‘Auto’ is ticked in the Auto-Align Layers window and hit OK.

Once the images are aligned you can start the blending process by selecting Edit > Auto-Blend Layers. Check ‘Stack Images’ and ‘Seamless Tones and Colors’ in the Auto-Blend Layers window and hit OK to start the blend.

More Macro

If you want to get as close to your subject as possible, you can of course attach a macro lens to your bellows. But a standout feature of the Novoflex Automatic Bellows is the ability to detach the Reversing Adapter and use it as a fully automatic reversing ring with compatible lenses.

However, you can go a step further by pairing the reversing ring with the bellows to achieve even greater magnification (up to a whopping 6:1 magnification ratio and higher).

You might also like...

Check out the best camera for macro photography, the best macro lenses and the best extension tubes.

It seems a day barely goes by without affordable lens manufacturers such as TTArtisan, Viltrox or 7Artisans releasing a cut-price lens for mirrorless systems. Just this week, I wrote stories about the new 7Artisans AF 85mm f/1.8 for Nikon Z mount and the TTArtisan AF 75mm f/2 for Nikon Z and Sony E. 

These aren't just cheap manual focus primes for smaller sensors. They are relatively fast, full-frame-compatible autofocus lenses, designed to compete directly with the optical behemoths of the world. And there's no sign of the affordable arms race slowing down, either. It's been reported that Chinese lens manufacturers are developing autofocus zoom lenses, which would really put the proverbial cat among the pigeons.

We all know that some manufacturers have taken steps to limit third-party lens production. And on the face of it, it isn't hard to see why. More people buying cheap third-party lenses must mean fewer people buying premium glass, right? But how much market share are affordable manufacturers siphoning, really? 

I don't have the figures, but I'm pretty sure that a photographer who's always bought Nikon, Sigma or Canon glass will continue to do so. And if you're saving up for that dream Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S, say, the 7Artisans 85mm f/1.8 isn't going to compete with that Holy Grail purchase. But, it might provide an affordable stopgap in the meantime.

And this is the beauty of affordable lenses. They enable photographers on a budget to fill up their kitbags quicker and enjoy their photography. I fail to see how this differs from the Nikon FTZ II Adapter and Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R enabling users to mount cheaper DSLR glass.

An entry-level gateway

I think a large proportion of the mirrorless market – especially full-frame equipment – has become rather elitist. I've been writing about photography for so long, that I find myself calling the new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Macro affordable. Compared to other macro lenses out there it's a very competitive price, but it's still $699 in the US!

As a self-confessed Nikon fanboy, I think the Big N has done a decent job of offering affordable, full-frame mirrorless lenses, what with its budget Holy Trinity of f/2.8 lenses maxing out at roughly $1,300. Expensive, but considerably cheaper than S-Line counterparts. Then you have the likes of the Z 40mm f/2 and Z 28mm f/2.8 at $309.95, and more recently the Z 50mm f/1.4 at $499.95 – a good price for such a fast aperture. 

Tamron is also producing Z-mount lenses and, having recently picked up the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III VXD G2, I've been very impressed with its middle ground between price and quality. And yet, you simply cannot sniff at a 7Artisans 85mm f/1.8 for $299. (Caveat: We’ve not yet reviewed it.) 

I've spoken to an awful lot of hobbyist photographers during the mirrorless revolution who had all but discounted the move from their DSLR, based purely on the expense. But in 2024, cheap lenses have become a gateway to mirrorless systems. Now that mirrorless has come of age, you can pick up a decent camera for a decent price on the second-hand market, buy an affordable 50mm f/1.8 and you're ready to rock and roll. 

For some, that cheap camera and lens combination will be the genesis of a lifelong mirrorless camera obsession – and a long-term customer for the system in question. So, far from yanking customers and coffers away from the big camera companies, I'm certain that cheap lenses are encouraging latecomers to buy into mirrorless systems. 

If I'm right, blocking third-party manufacturing could prove very costly in the long run. There are still plenty of potential consumers who haven't yet made the move to mirrorless out there. 

Affordable gear might be the only way to get them through the door. 

You might be interested in the best Nikon lenses, including the best Nikon Z lenses for its mirrorless system. 

For years Tamron's 90mm macro lenses have received many accolades from DSLR users and film photographers, and at long last this fantastic lens has now come to the world of mirrorless.  

Tamron has announced the new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Macro designed specifically for Sony E- and Nikon Z-mount mirrorless camera systems. This highly anticipated full-frame lens is said to deliver outstanding performance for portrait and macro photography, offering photographers a versatile tool for capturing everything from lifelike close-ups to beautifully composed portraits. 

Tamron is currently celebrating the 45th anniversary of Tamron’s original 90mm macro lens, originally introduced in 1979, and this latest iteration maintains the legacy of high optical performance with cutting-edge features. 

One of the lens's key features is its 1:1 maximum magnification ratio and a minimum focusing distance of just 9.1 inches, making it ideal for detailed close-up shots.

Sample Images

This lens stands out as the first in Tamron’s lineup to feature a 12-blade circular diaphragm, producing smooth, rounded bokeh and creating impressive starburst effects when stopped down. 

Weighing only 1.4 lbs and measuring 5 inches long, the lens is both compact and lightweight, allowing for comfortable handheld shooting during extended sessions. This compact design ensures portability without sacrificing performance, making it an excellent choice for photographers on the go.

At the heart of this lens is Tamron's VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) motor, which offers quiet and precise autofocus performance. Ideal for both photography and video work, the VXD system also includes a focus limiter switch, preventing unnecessary focus hunting and allowing for more efficient shooting in challenging conditions. This combination of advanced autofocus features makes the lens well-suited for capturing fast-moving subjects while maintaining exceptional sharpness and detail.

This new 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Macro lens also includes a newly designed lens hood with a sliding window, allowing photographers to rotate polarizing filters with ease without needing to remove the hood. Additionally, it is compatible with Tamron’s lens utility software, which allows users to customize lens settings and update firmware for enhanced functionality. This attention to both hardware and software ensures a seamless, user-friendly experience for all photographers.

By filling a focal length gap in their mirrorless lineup, this lens offers photographers the chance to explore new creative possibilities. From portraiture to macro photography, the new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Macro is set to become a standout option for both professionals and enthusiasts alike.

This new lens is only available in Nikon Z-mount or Sony E-Mount currently and can be pre-ordered from B&H for $699  or at Wex Photo Video for £599.

In this issue's lead feature, Getty Images’ editorial photographer Leon Neal shares 22 hand-picked tips for reportage and news photography, so you can learn to shoot the types of images that make the headlines. 

Meanwhile, our apprentice learns how to capture larger-than-life images of insects with award-winning macro maestro Tony North, creating creative close-ups of dragonflies and damselflies in the wild.

Back in October 2017, we unveiled the brand-new Nikon D850, still regarded as the finest DSLR ever made. But times have changed; the D850 is still on sale, but Nikon has since fully embraced mirrorless with its groundbreaking Z-series range and, to that end, in this issue’s Big Test we evaluate all 10 current models. 

N-Photo interviewee Agorastos Papatsanis proves to be a fun guy, as he tells how he cooked up a career shooting mushrooms and fungi. And barge-dweller Tracey Welch tells of her photo assignment to document the characters who live out their lives on Britain’s waterways.

Plus there's our usual mix of shooting and photo-editing projects for you to try your hand at. 

N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine is a monthly magazine that's written by Nikon enthusiasts for Nikon enthusiasts, you can be sure that all the content is 100% relevant to you! So for the best Nikon-focused news, reviews, projects, and a whole lot more, rush down to your local newsagent to pick up your copy of N-Photo today!

Tamron has been knocking it out of the park with its recent lens releases, and thanks to a leak, we now have information about a brand-new macro lens.

According to the leaked press release which has appeared on many camera rumor sites (including SonyAlphaRumors), the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD 1:1 Macro lens will be officially launched later this week, with Tamron stating that its 'legendary 90mm macro is reborn for mirrorless'. The lens will be available for full-frame Sony E and Nikon Z mounts and hosts impressive features to rival most macro lenses.

The 90mm f/2.8 will feature Tamron's first 12-blade aperture diaphragm enabling users to capture circular bokeh and minimal vignetting when using the lens for macro. Tamron states that the 12-blade design creates 12 rays for stunning starburst effects when stopped down, making it ideal for dramatic images with point light sources.

The lens has been ergonomically designed to be held in the palm for an extended amount of time, measuring just 126.5mm long and weighing 630g, it is considerably compact for a 90mm f/2.8 macro lens.

Tamron lenses have recently been praised for quick and efficient AF and this lens looks to follow suit with the addition of a focus limiter that can restrict the AF coverage. This may sound counter-intuitive however, when you are focusing on a stable subject with a macro lens, it prevents the AF from hunting the lens range of focus enabling quicker adjustments.

Manual focus is still an option, and a preference for some when shooting macro, and the rotational torque of the focus ring has been calibrated to assist with precise manual adjustments.

Other notable features include a new hood design with a sliding window for filter adjustments, compatibility with Tamron Lens Utility software enabling users to further fine-tune lens settings, and a minimum focusing distance of just 0.23m.

From what we've seen, the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD 1:1 Macro lens will be priced at just $699 / £525 – $400 less than Sony's 90mm macro equivalent.

The original Tamron 90mm macro lens was a fan favorite among users, and this lens has the potential to be the same, especially at such an attractive price!

It is also worth noting, that although the leaked information and images appear to be taken from an official Tamron press release, no official announcement has yet taken place.

You may be interested in our guides to the best Sony lenses, the best Nikon lenses, and the best macro lenses.

Innovative lens-maker 7Artisans has unveiled a 60mm f/2.8 macro lens that can capture images up to 2x life-size, enabling incredibly detailed close-ups at double the resolution of a standard macro lens. 

With a maximum 2x magnification ratio, it enlarges the tiniest details to reveal a staggering amount of detail that is impossible to see with the naked eye. And as a full-frame-compatible lens, it makes the most of the greater light-gathering capabilities of the latest mirrorless cameras, such as the Nikon Z6 III, Canon EOS R6 or Sony Alpha 7C II. 

The manual focus lens features markings on the lens barrel to show the depth of field through its f/2.8 to f/22 aperture range. It has been constructed from 14 elements in 12 groups, including two Extra-low Dispersion (ED) and two High-Refractive elements to effectively suppress chromatic aberration and deliver exceptional image quality while providing accurate color reproduction. This optical design also helps reduce edge distortion and other aberrations.

With a 0.17m minimum focus distance, as measured from the focal plane, the lens enables photographers to get incredibly close to subjects, but unlike some ultra-macro lenses, it is also capable of focusing all the way to infinity, where its 60mm focal length makes it ideal as an everyday standard prime. The bright f/2.8 aperture and full-frame compatibility, in combination with its nine aperture blades, enable backgrounds to be blown out to create beautiful bokeh, making it double as a fabulous choice as a portrait lens.

The lens barrel has an all-metal construction for enhanced durability, yet it's pretty lightweight at just 550g. A 67mm thread enables the attachment of filters. 

The 7Artisans 60mm f/2.8 Full-frame 2X Ultra-Macro joins such oddities as the incredibly fast 7Artisans 50mm f/1.05 nifty fifty or 7Artisans 10mm f/2.8 fisheye, which surely makes the company one of the most diverse and experimental lens makers out there.

The new lens is available in Canon RF, Nikon Z and Sony E mounts and has a recommended price of $335.

Check out our guide to the best macro lenses

We've been fans of the Leica Q3, or in fact the Q-series of full-frame compact cameras, for a while. But what could be next? Lots of users online have said they  wish Leica would produce a 50mm lens equivalent of the very popular 28mm f/1.7 Summilux found on the Leica Q3, Q2, and the original Q.

The rumors mills started churning a few weeks ago saying that Leica could launch a Q3 with a 40mm lens. Then Leica Rumors and others on the social media platform Threads late last week were hinting that this Leica Q3 43 is real, sharing what looked like official marketing material.

Now there has been no official word from Leica, nor should we expect one until the company is ready to announce this apparent camera, but I must admit these "official" looking slides do showcase the camera off rather well, which does suggest that this new Q3 variant could soon be announced to the word.

Included in these slides is a list of the anticipated specs for this new Leica marvel which as we expected, are just the same as the Leica Q3 - but of course, there is one key factor that sets this camera apart.

This new Leica Q3 43 (if that's going to be its official name) is a 43mm APO-Summicron f/2 ASPH fixed lens incorporating the handy macro mode as seen in all Q-Seires cameras.

Another feature that is said to be "new" is that this Q3 43 will be a new color and feature a grey leatherette panel – a textured grip that would be a new feature to the Q range.

Taking a look at this new camera, the new 43mm lens does look a little bulky when you compare it to the 28mm equivalent, and while it might seem front-heavy in the images, the 43mm focal length is said to be the rough equivalent of what your eyes see. At least that's what the marketing angle Leica is going with on this Leica Q3 43 - although we have all be told for years this is what a standard 50mm is designed to give us.

What I will say though is I have used the Leica Q, and the Leica Q2, while also really enjoying the Leica Q2 Reporter I always wanted the 28mm lens to be longer, rather than having to either crop in later or use the 50mm built-in "zoom" on the Q2, so I openly welcome a higher Q-series camera to the Leica family.

While we have no official stats from Leica it has been reported via Leica Rumors that we could have an announcement as early as September 26. Until then we will have to take these rumors with a big pinch of salt!

Check out our guide to the best full-frame compact cameras

Ever noticed a symbol that looks like a zero with a slash through it on the top plate of your camera? This often-ignored icon lines up precisely with the focal plane – essentially the surface of a digital camera's image sensor, or a film camera's film cell – and is your point of reference for measuring focus distance, no matter what focal length you're using. 

Some lenses – particularly vintage lenses – feature focus distance markings on the focusing ring. Match up the right marking with an object at the same distance and it'll be in focus. However, where do you measure from – the front element of your lens? Nope. The rear element? Nah. The lens mount? Try again… 

It's actually the front surface of the digital sensor or film cell. So, camera manufacturers like to give you a helping hand by including a handy little focal plane mark as a point of reference. Go ahead, check your Nikon Z6 III, Fujifilm X-T5, Canon EOS R6 Mark II or Sony A7 IV – they all have one. 

Now, if autofocus made the focal plane mark redundant, you'd assume that a combination of live view, EVFs and focus peaking would have finished it off with a suplex. After all, plenty of modern lenses have ditched focus ring markings altogether. But there are a few applications where the focal plane mark still comes in handy, even today. 

Many macro photographers still swear by manual focus and, while it's by no means a necessity, the focal plane mark still has its uses here. For example, you may use it to precisely measure your macro lens’ minimum focus distance.

It's also useful for pre-focusing. If you set up a camera on a tripod to photograph, say, garden birds on a bird table, measuring from the focal plane mark to the center of the bird table and focusing your lens accordingly would provide you with a good ballpark for capturing sharp visitors. 

And of course, the recent boom in film cameras means that the focal plane mark is definitely worth being aware of if you own a manual-focus-only body. 

But there's one area of image-making where the focal plane mark is readily used to this day: filmmaking. You see, manual focus is still very much a filmmaking staple. Higher-end productions employ dedicated focus pullers, whose job solely revolves around manually focusing cinema cameras. And they often measure the focus distance and focus the lens accordingly.

Skilled focus pullers get very good at gauging focus distance by eye, but nothing beats using the focal plane mark for ultimate precision. Rather handily, some cinema cameras such as the Canon EOS C500 Mark II (above) have a focal plane mark, which protrudes from the camera. This not only provides a reference for measurements, but can be hooked onto the end of a tape measure for speedy manual readings.

So there you have it. You might not ever need to use the archaic focal plane mark on your camera, unless you're an avid macro photographer, film camera buff or professional focus puller. But now you know what it is and why it's there.

You might be interested in the best cameras for filmmaking, as well as the best cine lenses.  

One of my favorite things about owning an interchangeable lens system is that I can simply swap over lenses when I need to shoot wider, more zoomed-in, or macro and close-up depending on the specific subject matter I’m shooting and what I’m trying to achieve creatively. While superzoom lenses such as 18-300mm exist and bring many focal length options into a single lens, they simply don’t cut it for professionals who need both razor-sharp glass and super-fast apertures too. 

When taking photos of fast-paced events, sports, or weddings however you rarely have the time to switch your lenses and that’s where a double camera harness can be a game-changer. Important aspects to look for in a good dual camera harness are first and foremost security - you want to be able to trust that your pride and joy aren’t suddenly going to go crashing into the ground. Secondly, there's comfort: if you’re shooting for a whole day with two heavy cameras loaded up, you’ll need decent padding to save your shoulders.

I recently got hold of both BlackRapid’s Double Breathe and Blackline II dual camera harnesses to test them out. On face value they look very similar - they’re both dual camera harnesses that allow you to carry two systems with different lenses attached, making them a good fit for weddings and events. The Blackline II however is a third more expensive, so I was keen to put it through its paces and find out if it’s really 33% better!

Specifications

Price: $199 / £199
Size: One size fits all
Colours: Black
Features: 2x Locking Swivel Carabiner ConnectR CR-3
Includes: 1 x CoupleR II; 2 x Nylon-Coated FastenR FR-5 (1⁄4-20”); 2 x Lockstar II; 2 x Camera Safety Tether II
Shoulder Pad material: Highly breathable Polyester Mesh, TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer) Foam and Polyester Air Mesh
Shoulder Pad Size: Length: 16ʺ (40.5 cm); Width: 2.2ʺ – 3.7ʺ (5.5 cm – 9.5 cm); Thickness: 5mm
Webbing: 100% Nylon; Webbing Width: 1ʺ (2.5 cm)
Adjustable Strap, Maximum Length: 63ʺ (160 cm)
Weight: 11.6 oz / 45.3g

Features

I’ve recently reviewed BlackRapid’s Sport Breathe, Blackline I and Double Breathe camera straps, and following suit the Blackline II harness uses the exact same mounting system that I’ve raved about in those other reviews. 

It uses a ConnectR and FastenR system to secure your camera to a metal carabiner, this is then secured with a spring-loaded metal piece on the carabiner, and the LockStar Gate is clipped shut to stop it from being accidentally opened - the LockStar Gate can also only be closed in place with the carabiner fully secured and locked down for added security, you do this for both cameras on either side of you. Many of these security features are patented too, so you'll only find them on BlackRapid products.

For even more peace of mind, the Blackline II comes with two safety tethers which can be lashed to each carabiner and then to the strap lug on your camera for another point of camera and a failsafe should the main connection fail, though in our testing everything felt totally rock-solid and we never felt like it would be needed, though it’s nice to have nonetheless.

The camera straps on your left and right are both height adjustable so you can get them hanging precisely where you need them to be within easy grasp which you need to quickly grab one and start shooting. Unlike the Double Breathe harness however, there’s no Slim model, though it has to be said the shoulder pads are already a little slimmer than the Double Breathe and its padding is softer, so perhaps this isn’t needed as much here.

As with the Sport Breathe, Blackline I, and Double Breathe that I’ve previously reviewed, the Blackline II has front and rear bumpers on both left and right straps. These can be adjusted with just one hand to limit or expand the area of travel the carabiner with your attached camera can travel along. 

The rear bumper acts as a good backstop to stop it moving too far back out of reach, while the front bumper is great for those times you need to lean forward to adjust a lightstand or bend over to pick something up, as the front bumper can be slid down to prevent your camera from coming hurtling forward.

Performance

The Blackline II put in a solid performance by being constructed from high-quality materials and parts patented by BlackRapid. The FR-5 FastenR is metal but nylon coated for a premium feel and has a 3mm thick rubber disc to help you add just the right amount of tension when screwing it into your camera’s tripod mount port or lens foot. The metal carabiner feels high quality too and screws down to secure it in place, with the LockStar II gate then shutting to keep it from opening accidentally and keeping your kit safe.

One big difference between the Blackline II and the Double Breathe is that, as the name suggests, it has an all-black design. The Double Breathe has a bright white logo on the front right shoulder pad and a shiny metal buckle on the back too, whereas the Blackline II is dressed more like a ninja with all-black plastic buckles and a blacked-out rubber logo on the front too. This makes it much more nondescript and makes it easier to blend in, whether you’re wearing a tuxedo at a wedding, or just want to keep a low profile while shooting street photography.

Another noticeable upgrade from the Double Breathe is the Blackline II has slightly smaller yet more comfortable padding and larger ventilation holes too for ‘ultra’ breathability. I found this to be notably more comfortable as it molded to the contours of my shoulders a little better.

Both the back and chest straps have an elasticated piece of material in them so they move with your body a little and there’s some give which increases comfort. When using mirrorless camera bodies loaded up with lightweight primes or small zoom lenses you hardly notice you’re wearing it as the strain is on your shoulders rather than your neck. However, load them up with heavier DSLRs and big telephoto lenses and you’ll inevitably start to feel the strain a bit sooner.

We had full faith that the Blackline II could handle the weight of whatever we could throw at it. It’s a solid bit of kit with sturdy metal carabiners and attachment points that give you plenty of peace of mind. The carabiners also glide like butter over the nylon straps so you can effortlessly raise your camera up to eye level to take a shot and never get in the way.

Verdict

Alongside this harness, I’ve recently reviewed BlackRapid’s Sport Breathe and Blackline I slings as well as the Double Breathe Harness, and while I’ve been thoroughly impressed with all four products, in my opinion, this is the best camera harness to go for. It has a fully blacked-out design which makes it more nondescript and better padding too.

The padded shoulders are softer and also a little smaller than the Double Breathe, so this will potentially be a better fit for women and people of smaller stature without the need for a slim model (like the Double Breathe). Plus, it shares many of the great features of the other straps I’ve mentioned, such as the FastenR and LockStar Gate to keep your camera secured to each strap, in addition to an extra safety strap and bumpers to limit the travel of your camera.

Okay, it might not have the bougie style of a leather (or faux leather) strap, but it prioritizes substance over style with this reliable and solid harness, and for what it’s worth I think the all-black design looks pretty good! The shoulder pads can also be separated and you can use just one as a cross-body sling for those times when you just want to shoot with one camera which adds to its value too.

Another year, another flagship GoPro Hero Black camera. But with much of the specs sheet reading the same as the previous generation, it's unsurprising to hear many out there arguing that we might have hit peak action camera in the last few years.

GoPro obviously still believes there is space to grow, and this year's model, the GoPro Hero13 Black, does come with a whole heap of new features and upgrades, including new lenses, accessories, a new battery pack, and an awesome new slow-mo mode.

But is there enough to tempt new users, or existing users to upgrade? And with the GoPro Hero12 Black frequently discounted, how do you decide between the two? I am here to guide you through how the two cameras compare and help you pick the right one for you. Let's dive in...

Lenses

GoPro Hero13 Black: HB-Series lenses (Ultra-wide, Macro, ND Filters, Anamorphic)
GoPro Hero12 Black: Max Lens Mod 2.0

The Hero13 Black is all about lenses, with four new ones to play with including an Ultra-wide lens for up to a 177º field of view, a Macro lens for close focusing to 4.33in/11cm, ND filters to slow the shutter speed for more creative blur in videos, and an anamorphic lens (on the way in 2025) for a cinematic look to footage straight out of the camera.

These lenses also have a clever trick where the Hero13 Black can detect what lens is attached to the camera and adjusts all the settings automatically for optimal footage – especially important for the ND filters where the camera can guide you through which is the best of the four strengths of filter based on the light available.

The Hero12 Black only has one lens – the Max Lens Mod 2.0, which is equivalent to the HB Ultra-wide lens, although lacks any of the auto recognition smarts. Unfortunately, none of the HB series of lenses are backward-compatible with the Hero12, but the Max Lens Mod 2.0 is compatible with the Hero13 Black, however, settings will have to be dialed in manually.

If the possibilities of what the HB series of lenses could do for your footage has you intrigued then it's a straightforward pick of the Hero13 Black, however, even if you aren't sold on lenses right now, might you be in the future? The Hero13 Black might be a way to future-proof yourself.

Video Specs

GoPro Hero13 Black: 5.3K/60, 4K/120, 720p/400 Burst Mode
GoPro Hero12 Black: 5.3K/60, 4K/120

Unless you are into very very slow footage then there isn't much to separate the two Heros when it comes to video specs. Both cameras share the same sensor, and the top output for both is 5.3K/60 or 4K/120 (although a huge range of options are available). Otherwise, available aspect ratios are the same, and most features like Hindsight and 24.7MP frame grabs are found on both models. A slight advantage for HDR fans – the Hero13 does feature the latest HLG HDR video, which can give even more detailed highs and lows.

Slow-mo is the biggest difference between the two. It all comes down to a new burst speed mode on the Hero13 Black which allows you to shoot for up to 15 seconds in a huge 400fps in 720p, 360fps in 900p – or even 120fps for 5 seconds in 5.3K. If you film a lot of super slow motion, then this might be an essential new tool.

But, how interested you are in the HB Series of lenses might be the key differentiator between which one to buy. The new lenses offer an opportunity to get creative that you don't get with the Hero12 Black – new options like the anamorphic lens should provide cinematic footage that you'd expect to get from far more expensive lenses, or the ND filters can create more cinematic blur with slower shutter speeds whilst maintaining HyperSmooth stabilization.

Photo specs

GoPro Hero13 Black: 27MP
GoPro Hero12 Black: 27MP

As standard, the GoPro Hero13 Black offers the same imaging experience as the Hero12, with both cameras featuring the same sensor, generating 27MP photos in standard, SuperPhoto, or RAW formats.

But alas, it again comes down to lenses – the new HB-Series of lenses offer new opportunities to take better shots and are only compatible with the Hero13.

The new macro lens gets closer than what is possible with the standard lens on either camera, which has always been a GoPro weak point. The lens, while not a true macro, offers focus up to 4.33in/0.11m versus the standard lens’ 12in/0.31m. The lens also has a manual focus ring and highlight peaking for ultimate focus precision. The longer throw of the macro lens also works to improve subject separation to make the photos look more like they were taken on a larger camera without resorting to any AI trickery.

When it comes to ultra-wide shots, it's a little closer between the two, with the GoPro MaxMod 2.0 going head to head with the HB Ultra-wide, both have a field of view (FOV) of 177° and not much else to separate them. The ND filters offer new opportunities for long exposures like light painting and star trails.

Stabilization

GoPro Hero13 Black: HyperSmooth 6
GoPro Hero12 Black: HyperSmooth 6

Both the Hero 13 Black and Hero 12 Black use GoPro's Hypersmooth 6.0 stabilization, or can access Hypersmooth Pro with a subscription to GoPro’s Premium+ service. So not much to separate them here.

Power

GoPro Hero13 Black: 1900mAh Enduro Battery, Contacto Battery Door
GoPro Hero12 Black: 1720mAh Enduro Battery

For the Hero13 Black, GoPro has both resigned the thermals inside the camera and included a 1900mAh capacity battery, which is a 10% bigger capacity. These combined mean the Hero13 can record in 5.3k30p for around an hour and a half and 1080p for around two and a half hours in good conditions, however, both figures are with GPS turned off.

The average battery life improvement over the Hero12 with airflow is 13.5%, while in situations with no airflow, the improvement is an even greater 26.7%. Generally, the biggest improvements are found with the highest frame rates, so for anyone who really likes to push their GoPro to its limits, you should find the Hero13 goes for longer.

The Hero13 Black can also be used with the new Contacto battery door and magnetic cable for MagSafe-style charging and continuous power either from a power bank or DC supply. The cable is fully waterproofed, even for continuous power while submerged (although the power supply should remain somewhere dry). This is a simpler and more elegant solution than the optional USB-C pass-through on the Hero12. The downside – the Contacto kit is an expensive add-on at $79.99.

Mounting

GoPro Hero13 Black: Fold-down finger mount, Magnetic latch mount, 1/4-20 thread
GoPro Hero12 Black: Fold-down finger mount

Both cameras have GoPro's built-in mounting fingers that flick down from the base of the camera to mount securely onto accessories.

However, the Hero 13 also has a new optional magnetic latch mount for quick and easy snap-on and off accessories like the new magnetic ball mount. There is also a 1/4-20 thread in the base of the Hero13 for mounting on tripods or gimbals that use this common connection.

An easy win for the new model.

Connectivity

GoPro Hero13 Black: WiFi 6, GPS, Bluetooth Audio
GoPro Hero12 Black: WiFi 5, Bluetooth Audio

Both cameras work alongside the GoPro Quik app for offloading content to your other devices, but the Hero13 Black adds WiFi 6, which offers four times faster transfer speeds than the WiFi 5 found in the Hero12. If your shoots demand fast turnarounds then this can make a big difference to your workflow.

Both cameras also feature Bluetooth microphone compatibility, which can connect to any microphone with Bluetooth – including the microphones in Apple's AirPods. However, the Hero13 adds audio tuning which can set audio recording to a standard ambient pickup, or isolate your voice.

Finally, after its strange omission in the Hero12, GPS has made a comeback in the Hero13, with optional overlays of location and telemetry data on videos to make them more immersive and contextual. If you are the type of person who likes to geotag all your content or does a lot of high-speed action, the latest model is your best bet.

Price

GoPro Hero13 Black: $399.99 launch price
GoPro Hero12 Black: $399.99 launch price

There is no change in the launch price of the Hero13 Black, although you can now find regular deals on the Hero12 Black for around $100-150 off, which makes the older model much more of a bargain.

The big selling points of the Hero13 Black are also all additional extras, which can jack up the price significantly. The lenses range from $69.99 to $129.99 each, the Contacto battery door is $79.99, the magnetic latch mount is $24.99, and a magnetic ball joint mount is $39.99. So you easily rack up the costs if you get carried away.

Conclusion

Based on the camera alone, it is really hard to separate the Hero13 Black and Hero12 Black. GoPro hasn't made any revolutionary changes inside the camera where I can say that the Hero13 Black is definitively better, with minor updates like WiFi 6 or the new high frame rate burst mode, being quite niche updates for only people who really need them.

The choice comes down to how interested you are in GoPro's new ecosystem of lenses and accessories, and how much additional money you are willing to spend beyond the purchase of the camera itself. Although you of course don't have to get it all on day one, and the Hero13 Black will be more future-proof for adding lenses and accessories later down the line.

TTArtisan has just unveiled its third 100mm f/2.8 lens in 12 months... and this time the focus purely on macro photography. 

Earlier this year, we saw the Chinese lens specialist bring out a similar lens which had additional shift functionality. And last year, we saw a 'Bubble' 100mm which specialized on its bokeh performance.

The new manual focus macro lens is available in an impressive range of DSLR and mirrorless camera mounts. There are options for Sony E, Nikon Z, Nikon F, Canon EF, Canon R, Fujfilm X, and Leica L mounts. A Fujfilm GFX version is also being sold - although we are warned that this will create vignetting at the higher magnifications.

The 100mm lens provides up to 2x life-size magnification - with a close focusing distance of 0.25m. 

The lens is constructed from 14 elements in 10 groups - including six high index elements. The diaphragm has 12 blades, and at the front there is a 67mm filter ring. The metal-bodied lens weighs between 700 and 750g, depending on the mount chosen.

The telephoto macro lens is especially useful for extreme close-ups of insects and the like - but the focal length means it can also prove an effective portrait lens.

TTArtisan 100mm F/2.8 2X Ultra Macro will sell for $319.

Check out our guide to the best macro lenses currently on sale

Tamron is launching a Nikon Z version of its 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD superzoom. The full-frame mirrorless lens was launched in Sony FE mount in 2022, and this 8x zoom will now become Tamron's fifth lens available in the Nikon Z mount.

The lens is unusual as it dramatically increases the range of the established 100-400mm range twofold - turning a telephoto zoom into an all-in-one superzoom that can be used for a wider range of subjects than just sports and wildlife. 

Furthermore, the lens offers closer focusing than you might expect from a lens of this type - offering a 1:2 magnification at the 50mm end, making it a useful substitute for a true macro lens. The minimum focus setting is just 0.25m (9.8in) at this setting - whilst at 400mm you can focus down to 1.5m (59in), with a 1:4 maximum magnification.

In our Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD review we noted that "For action, sports and wildlife photography when you need to swap between a standard field of view and serious telephoto reach for different compositions, there’s always the risk of missing a great shot while you’re changing the lens on your camera body. This  solves the problem with its unusual 50-400mm zoom range, giving you both options in one package. It’s quite weighty for standard focal length shooting, at more than a kilogram, but has refined handling, fast autofocus, and effective optical stabilization".

The image-stabilized lens is constructed from 24 elements in 18 groups - including two XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion), three LD (Low Dispersion), one GM (Glass Molded Aspherical), and one Hybrid Aspherical lens elements. The lens weighs 1,180g (41.6oz).

The iris diaphragm uses nine blades, and it has a 67mm front filter ring. There is a connector port for use with Tamron's Lens Utility that allows you to update firmware and to implement a Focus Limiter function.

Existing Nikon Z-mount Tamron lenses include the 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2, 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD, 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD, and 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD.

The Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD will go on sale from September 19 for $1,299/£1,249, and comes supplied with a flower-shaped lens hood. An Arca-Swiss compatible tripod collar is sold as an optional extra for $129/£109.

The Beijing International Radio, TV & Film Equipment Exhibition (BIRTV) is one of the most significant events dedicated to the broadcasting, film, and TV industries in Asia. Laowa was among the brands showcasing new equipment including many exciting new cine lenses, including macro, anamorphic, and tilt-shift options!

Laowa has been releasing some incredible cine lens options of late, and much like its range of photography lenses, covers just about every shooting scenario imaginable. At this year's BIRTV not less than 6 cine lens ranges were on display, including some exciting new offerings.

According to Asobinet, Laowa's new, and to the best of my knowledge first, Ultima 12-120mm 10X S35 Broadcast lens was on show, and although not much is known about the release of the lens, there are a few features that look to impress.

Laowa states that the 10X zoom range lens offers an 'excellent optical design' with 28 lenses in 20 groups, and is ideal for 8K broadcast cameras, especially as it is Equipped with a server and can be connected to a channel system.

Also showcased was the 'soon-to-be-released' Laowa Sword series of full-frame macro cine lenses. The series will feature 6 lenses covering a focal range of 15mm to 180mm, with a maximum magnification of 1X to 2X.

Multiple ED lenses are included to suppress chromatic aberration and a large aperture of T2.9 enables 'excellent' low light performance. Again, there is no further information regarding when these lenses might be available, but I expect later this year.

Laowa is renowned for creating unique lenses, and it certainly maintains this mantle by providing a look at its upcoming tilt-shift cinema lenses. Tilt-shift lenses are of course very common in photography, however, I can't recall any cine-specific tilt-shift lenses.

Potentially still in production, all we know about these two lenses is the focal lengths of 15mm and 20mm, which have a T4.8 and T4.1 aperture respectively. Laowa does state that they will both have a 'unique tilt-shift function that achieves a tilt-shift of ±11mm'.

Ultra-wide prime cinema lenses, 1.5X Anamorphic Macro Cinema lenses, and the Laowa Ranger 16-30mm T2.9 FF were also on display, a statement from Laoea that it means business.

In addition to creating unique lenses, Laowa produces fantastic optical-designed glass at more often than not a competitive price point. As these new cine lenses are ready enough to show off at an event such as BIRTV, I can't imagine it will be too long before we see them released.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best cine lenses, the best cinema cameras, and the best tilt-sift lenses.

Most Apple users will have woken up with an email in their inbox announcing an event on September 09. While Apple doesn’t tell us what these events are going to focus on before the date, it's widely accepted that this one will reveal all the highly anticipated details on the iPhone 16 series.

The range will include four new models: the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. 

Rumors about what the new series phones will look like have been circulating for months, including the introduction of iOS 18, AI smart features in the form of Apple Intelligence, and an updated Siri. 

Some of the most significant upgrades however, are in the camera department. 

Earlier this month I reported the latest rumblings about the camera button that looks to be coming to the iPhone 16 family, and now new information obtained by Apple Insider appears to confirm a wide range of exciting camera updates. 

Some of the outlet's longstanding sources have "not only confirmed these details… but added to them."

iPhone 16 and 16 Plus

The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will keep two vertically stacked cameras on the back, as shown in many dummy units and mock ups over recent months. There will be a primary wide camera that provides a 1x and 2x zoom, and a secondary ultra-wide camera for the .5x zoom out.

The primary camera will be staying the same at 48MP, with an f/1.6 aperture and optical quality 2x telephoto capabilities. The ultra-wide camera, however, will get a faster f/2.2 aperture (over the f/2.4 it had before), enabling more light to hit the sensor and improving low-light shots.

Non-Pro models in the 16 range are expected to get a macro photography mode for the first time, usually only available on the Pro and Pro Max models.

Not many details have been released on this but, unlike the more basic iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the current 15 Pro and Pro Max ultra-wide cameras have autofocus, enabling the lens to focus close up for sharp macro shots. This suggests that if the 16 and 16 Plus are getting macro capability, then they might also get autofocus.

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max

The two Pro-level phones are seeing the biggest changes, while keeping their three cameras on the back – a wide camera, an ultra-wide and a telephoto.

Their primary specs will remain unchanged; a 48MP sensor complete with an f/1.78 aperture lens, capable of 12MP images (via pixel binning) up to 2x.

The addition of a new 5x telephoto lens to the Pro is the biggest change in this tier. This is the first time that the 5x unit will be available on the smaller non-Max model, and it replaces the 3x telephoto lens on the current 15 Pro.

Delivering up to four times the resolution of the current Pro models, the new model will get an all new 48MP ultra-wide camera, which will reportedly be able to switch between 24MP and 48MP modes.

Lastly, the two Pro models are also predicted to be able to support the JPEG–XL image format – which delivers smaller files than standard JPEGs at the same quality, as well as native support for HDR.

New Capture Button

The most unusual change to the new iPhone series is the addition of a special, touch sensitive camera button, which is expected to appear on all four models.

It is expected to mimic the two-stage shutter buttons on standard DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, pressing once to autofocus, and again to take the photo. The button is capacitive, meaning that your finger is needed to activate it, so you won’t get hundreds of pictures of the inside of your bag or pockets.

Sliding your finger along the button will activate the zoom function, as well as other features.

Other products expected to be announced at the September 09 event include new Watches and AirPods, but Apple Intelligence AI features aren’t expected for another month after that.

Take a look at our guides to the best iPhone for photography, the best camera phone, and the best lenses for iPhone and Android camera phones.

AI is quickly becoming present in all-new technology in one form or another, and there are many ways in which it can be utilized, it now seems artificial intelligence has made its way to the youngest generation toys.

Leading kids camera manufacturer myFirst has just announced the myFirst Camera 50, a new camera aimed at 5-12-year-olds that includes AI features. 

myFirst has a track record of making some of the best kids' cameras on the market however its previous releases focus on photography first and foremost, with little to no bells and whistles, whereas the Camera 50 has them all.

The camera is equipped with a 20MP rear camera featuring a wide-angle lens and a 20mm macro lens, enabling the capture of wider scenes and intricate details. A new shutter has been introduced that enables half-press focusing, much like standard cameras enabling an easier experience when the inevitable step up to a more advanced camera.

In addition to the front camera, there is a selfie camera with adjustable LED lighting that offers three warm lighting modes.

The myFirst Camera 50 is super thin at just 80mm and lightweight weighing only 150g, ensuring it is manageable ergonomically for its tiny users. Constructed from PC ABS and TPU plastics it is shockproof, scratch-resistant, durable, and strong handling most drops and bumps with ease. It has a 16GB internal memory, and a microSD card slot to expand the number of stills and video you can recorded.

MyFirst states that the AI features of this camera aid with "turning everyday moments into creative masterpieces". AI assistance is used in curation and editing tools, enabling the enhancement of photographs and videos. Unlike what we may be used to in Photoshop and Luminar, to the best of my knowledge this does not mean retouching, but rather adding stickers, drawings, and voice notes.

"The AI intelligently analyses content, recognizing facial expressions, scenery, and colours, to create perfectly curated stories with minimal effort," we are told.

The design of the camera leans more towards that of a smartphone than a camera, and additional features also follow this trend. The myFirst Circle App enables kids to share their creations within a 'controlled environment', with full parental controls and added security, as this can also be used with the built-in Wi-fi.

myFirst Camera also aims to aid with children's mental health by adding a myDiary feature, which enables kids to record diary entries as a form of journaling. Also using AI to generate prompts and 'encourage self-expression'.

An AI camera for kids sounds worrying, but myFirst is billing this as a camera for a new generation of content creators. "This camera is designed to help the kids document their life and make it easier for video editing through our all new AI-assisted curation", says myFirst founder G-Yay Young. "We want to make it easier for the next generation storytellers to create content easily, share the content safely in a safe environment and express themselves with one click of a button."

The myFirst Camera 50 is available to preorder now for release on September 19, will cost $129.99 / £109 (Australian prices to be confirmed).

You may also be interested in our guides to the best kids' cameras, the best waterproof cameras, and the best selfie cameras.

Last month, Astrhori teased a new macro lens on its social media while asking for product testers. It appears the tests have now been completed as the new Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 macro lens has just been announced.

Astrhori is one of many new Chinese third-party lens manufacturers, offering budget lenses for a wide range of cameras including the market's best mirrorless cameras. Its already extensive lineup includes fish-eye, tilt shift, and macro lenses with the new 120mm release its longest focal lengthed macro to date.

The Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 macro lens is a manual focus full-frame lens, currently available for Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, and L Mounts. Despite its low price point of just $369, it's packed with premium features that wouldn't look out of place next to other offerings in our guide to the best macro lenses.

The lens is constructed of 14 elements in 9 groups which is key for its large f/2.8 max aperture. The 13 aperture blades produce a more rounded diaphragm, which Astrhori states provides "balanced sharpness and attractive bokeh". The quality of the out-of-focus areas of macro lenses is a key factor as the focus plane is often much smaller.

The lens' 2X magnification enables users to capture intricate details on a 'microscopic' level, and by looking at the sample images, the proof certainly is in the pudding. Insects, plants, and product shots enable captures that are not possible with the naked eye.

Macro photographers often shoot delicate subjects or subjects that can be easily affected by too much movement or sound. The Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 macro lens has added a considered de-click function to its lens.

The macro effect is enhanced further by the long 120mm focal length coupled with a minimum focusing distance of just 0.3M. This enables sufficient image compression and a closer look at those finer details.

Unlike Astrhori's macro probe lenses, the 120mm f/2.8 is more versatile and can be used to capture a wide range of scenes including portraiture. Macro lenses are often used for portraits when the photographer wants to create a dreamy feel, as the compression and bokeh are smooth and uniform.

The Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 macro lens is available to order now for $369 / £285 / AU $550 (UK and Australian prices are approximate conversions from the US price).

You may also be interested in our guides for the best macro lens, the best cheap lens, and the best lens for portraits.

I’m a fan of NiSi photographic filters and accessories. Founded in 2005 and with 20 patents under its belt (and counting), the Chinese company has made a name for itself by producing high-quality products and selling them at very competitive prices around the world, via local e-commerce channels. 

The NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail picks up the baton from the now-discontinued NM-180, which is highly acclaimed in all quarters. The new edition gives a longer overall range of movement and is ideally suited to the best macro lenses and even the best telephoto lenses, enabling ultra-precise positional movements and pinpoint manual focusing, even when you’re contending with a paper-thin depth of field. 

It’s also a godsend for the art (or science?) of ‘focus stacking’. For the uninitiated, this is a process where you incrementally shift the point of focus by small amounts, through a sequence of images, subsequently merging them into a single composite image that has a much larger depth of field.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Specifications

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Price

You can buy cheaper macro focusing rails, mostly from brands you’ve probably never heard of, but they often feel a bit wobbly and imprecise in operation. I think that the $199/£159 price tag hanging from the NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail actually makes it great value for money, considering the quality of its design and manufacture, and how well it works. That said, it’s unsurprisingly more expensive than the outgoing NiSi NM-180, which was 20mm shorter in length and is still available from some retailers for around $129/£105.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Design & Handling

To use a yesteryear catchphrase, I love it when a plan comes together. It’s clear to me that a lot of thought has gone into the design of the NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail. Equally importantly, there’s been no skimping in the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) high-precision engineering of the aluminum parts, which have a reassuringly high-quality anodized finish. Suffice it to say, that the NM-200s is designed and built to satisfy the most demanding photographers, and it really looks the part as well.

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way upwards. I like that I can mount the NM-200s on pretty much any tripod or tripod head. The underside of the main rail has a 3/8-inch threaded socket, complete with a ¼-inch adapter, which covers most bases.

Better still, the entire length of the rail has an Arca-Swiss compatible profile, which enables me to mount it on my like-minded tripod heads in whatever I consider to be the ideal position. In fact, I find the NM-200s works really well even without a tripod.

 The lower section has four removable feet, which are knurled and simply screw on or off, enabling me to use it as a standalone, table-top focusing rail. Usefully, the aluminum feet have non-slip rubber pads, to keep the rail solidly planted and avoid any unwanted movement.

Next up is the threaded rod that runs the entire length of the rail. There’s a knurled adjustment knob at each end, the more purposeful one of which has a calibrated scale marked in increments of 1/100th of a millimeter. A complete 360-degree rotation of the knob results in a longitudinal movement of just 1mm. Now that’s what I call fine adjustment. 

I find the main control knob very easy and intuitive to use but, if you prefer, it has a fold-out handle for an alternative control method. In addition to the calibrated markings on the control knob, the main rail has a marker pin on each side and a measurement scale in 1mm increments.

Up top, the moving section (or head) that holds the camera has an Arca-Swiss compatible mount, again with calibrated markings that stretch to +/-20mm on either side of the central position, in 1mm increments. As well as traveling back and forth along the rail, I like that I can rotate the upper section laterally through a complete 360 degrees. This is done by loosening the knurled locking knob, rotating the plate, and locking it off again. 

Interestingly, because the bottom of the rail and the upper moving section are both Arca-Swiss compatible, you can mount one NM-200s on top of another, the joined pair enabling 2-axis movement and ultra-precise 4-way movement.

With a complete 360-degree turn of the control knob only giving 1mm of movement, it can take a while to get the optimum focusing distance into the right ball park. NiSi’s answer to this is to add a pushbutton that disengages the head from the rail’s threaded rod. This enables you to simply push and pull the head along the track, returning to the control knob when you’re in approximately the right position.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Performance

I tested the NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail with my heavy-duty 3 Legged Thing Winston 2.0 tripod and trusty Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro lens. As I’d hoped, the NM-200s gave me all the versatility of movement coupled with ultra-fine and precise adjustments that I needed for the most demanding macro shots. Pinpointing the focus distance proved quick and easy, while focus stacking was an absolute breeze.

It's vital in macro photography that the camera remains absolutely still, as even the slightest movement can degrade the sharpness of the resulting image. There was no hint of unwanted flexing or wobble from the NM-200s, giving me a 100 per cent hit rate.

For quick and simple shooting of highly reflective and shiny macro subjects, like coins and the faces of wristwatches, I like to point the camera downwards, bouncing a hotshoe-mounted flash off the ceiling directly above. This gives an even illumination with the camera casting a shadow from the central area of the bounced flash, thus avoiding any glare. 

I found that in this configuration, the NM-200s kept its position perfectly, without any unwanted creeping on the threaded rod, with the full weight of the camera and lens tugging on it under gravity. All in all, performance is flawless.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Verdict

The NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail is simply the best of its breed that I’ve ever used. With ultra-fine, high-precision adjustments on tap, it takes all the hard work out of macro shooting. It’s also a really useful tool for ‘focus stacking’, so you can extend the tiny depth of field in macro photography to cover everything from the front to the back of 3-dimensional subjects. Build quality is hugely impressive, the finish is fabulous and it’s a top performer. And all of this comes at a very competitive price, making it a real bargain.

Alternatives

The Vivo V40 and V40 Pro have just been announced with Zeiss-tuned camera systems and a new fill light with temperature control. Positioned as a pair of upper-midrange portrait camera phones, the lower-cost V40 goes up against the OnePlus Nord 4 while the pricier V40 Pro takes on the Google Pixel 8a and Honor 200 Pro.

While both phones look almost identical, the key differences are power and cameras, with the Pro getting a specced-up MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chipset and a 2x telephoto portrait camera, as well as a slightly more premium primary camera sensor.

Both phones pack the same ultra-wide and selfie cameras, huge batteries, great-looking 1.5K displays. and Zeiss features when you dive into the camera app.

With both available in India at launch, with a more widespread rollout expected in the coming months, if you've got your eye on a Vivo V40 or V40 Pro, which one's right for you?

Vivo V40 and V40 Pro price and availability

The first deciding factor between these two phones is price, with the Vivo V40 costing significantly less than the V40 Pro. 

While global pricing is yet to be confirmed, the V40 costs roughly the same as the priciest OnePlus Nord 4 in regions it has launched, so will likely come in at around £450-500 (roughly $570-635) in Europe

The V40 Pro's price matches the Pixel 8a and Honor 200, suggesting a £500-£600 price (roughly $635-760) globally.

Vivo looks to be making its phones more widely available in the West, with the V40 Series part of its Euros sponsorship, and recent legal wins that unblock it from selling in Europe, not to mention rumors of the upcoming X200 flagship launching on EE in the UK, it's looking promising that the V40 Series could be more widely available in the coming months.

V40 and V40 Pro cameras

Both the Vivo V40 and V40 Pro have the same ultra-wide and selfie camera hardware, while the primary cameras feature different sensors and the Pro gets a telephoto camera. All their cameras are also 50MP, a trend we're seeing across more phones of late, including the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus.

V40 and V40 Pro 14mm ultra-wide camera

The V40 Series's ultra-wide cameras have 50MP sensors with a 1/2.76-inch size matched with an f/2 lens and a 15mm equivalent focal length. They also feature autofocus, so support macro photography as near as 4cm from a subject.

V40 and V40 Pro 20mm selfie camera

Both phones' selfie cameras are powered by the same 1/2.76-inch Samsung ISOCEL JN1 sensor in the ultra-wide camera, though this time with a 20mm equivalent focal length.

Aura Lighting

Both phones also feature an Aura Light ring as well as a traditional flash. These shine a bright fill light to help when capturing portraits, and also offer control over color temperature which is a great touch to add a bit of warmth or cool down a subject.

Vivo V40 and V40 Pro wide cameras

While the Vivo V40 uses a 1/1.57-inch Samsung ISOCELL GNJ sensor, the V40 Pro uses a 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX921 sensor. Both are 50MP and are combined with f/1.88 aperture lenses and OIS, so they have very similar properties, though the Sony sensor creates slightly more natural-looking detail than the Samsung sensor of the V40. The V40 Pro also has a slightly wider 23mm equivalent focal length, versus 24mm from the V40.

V40 Pro telephoto camera

With a 2x telephoto camera that delivers a 50mm equivalent reach, the V40 Pro brings back the 1/2.51-inch IMX816 of the V30 Pro for portraits, combining it with an f/1.85 aperture, though no OIS.

The video credentials across both V40 phones are also impressive, with the V40 able to capture 4K 30fps across all its cameras, and the V40 Pro upping that to 4K 60fps across all its cameras.

You can see some photos above captured on both phones, with our first impressions being very positive for the price.

The Zeiss Natural color profile creates detailed, croppable shots. While white balance wasn't always consistent, photos from both the V40 and V40 Pro enjoy a wide dynamic range and natural levels of saturation.

In bright environments, the V40 Pro edges ahead with its zoom, creating a much more natural-looking shot than the AI-enhanced V40. However, in dark scenes the Pro switches to the main camera for zoomed-in shots, and results are more comparable.

The Zeiss Portrait Mode is a nice touch for anyone who's happy with artificial bokeh. The degree to which you can dial it back means you can create subtle effects that look natural. Both phones also deliver impressive night photography and video capture for their respective prices.

Vivo V40 and V40 Pro features

While the Vivo V40 Pro is poised for intensive tasks like 4K video editing and demanding gaming, the V40 is more of a casual user's phone. This largely comes down to the chipsets in each, with the Pro getting a flagship MediaTek Dimensity 9200+, and the V40 powered by a midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. They also have different RAM and storage speeds as well, helping the Pro earn its name.

Whichever phone you go for, each is available with 256GB or 512GB storage, with the V40 adding a more entry-level 128GB to the mix.

Vivo includes a huge 5500mAh battery inside the slimline V40 and V40 Pro, which is roughly 500mAh larger than most of the main competition despite both phones' slender 7.58mm profiles. With 80W fast charging, they can hit a 50% charge in roughly 25 minutes.

The V40 and V40 Pro also have large 7.58-inch displays with 1.5K resolution, giving them a pixel density of 453 pixels per inch. With a sky-high peak brightness of 4500 nits for HDR content, and a respectable 1200 nits in direct sunlight, we had no issues seeing the screens even in bright environments. Both phones also support Netflix HDR10 out of the box which isn't typical at the price.

The main drawback compared to the best from OnePlus and Google is Vivo's software support, with two years of major OS updates and three years of security updates expected for both the V40 and V40 Pro. By comparison, OnePlus offers four years of OS updates and six years of security updates with the Nord 4, while Google offers seven years of OS updates for its Pixel 8a.

Early verdict

Both the Vivo V40 and V40 Pro are great phones on first impression. While they provide the same core experience making the V40 a great value option, the Pro edges ahead for gaming, demanding tasks like 4K video editing and its cameras reach further and capture at higher frame rates.

Each phone enjoys fantastic battery life, fast charging, relatively premium styling (albeit with a plastic, not metal frame), great-looking screens and impressive cameras.

The Vivo Zeiss highlights across the V-Series aren't as extensive as on the flagship X Series. There's no T* coating as found on the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro or X100 Pro, for example. However, the refined photo processing and Aura Light are welcome additions, making the V40 Pro impressive midrange camera phones.

I find that geared heads lead the way for precise positional adjustments of my camera when using a tripod. Especially for the likes of landscape and architectural shooting, I can make the finest adjustments to keep my horizon level and ensure that uprights are unerringly upright. The range of adjustment is often far greater than I need for these sorts of scenarios, as well as for shooting extreme close-ups.

The Novoflex Qube Goniometer system aims to take accuracy to the next level but with a more limited overall range. Derived from two Greek words, Wikipedia states that "a goniometer is an instrument that either measures an angle or allows an object to be rotated to a precise angular position". Enough said. 

Each ‘Qube’ delivers on this premise, while more advanced kits add greater versatility. They’re billed as ‘designed to enable precise alignment of SLR and mirrorless cameras, technical cameras, bellows devices, complex macro setups, binoculars, telescopes, and rangefinders’. That’s certainly a wide remit but I think they’re best suited to high-precision macro shooting and for using really long, hefty telephoto lenses, where tiny positional adjustments can make a big difference. The kits are very expensive to buy but aim their sights on being among the best geared tripod heads in the business.

Novoflex Qube: Specifications

Novoflex Qube: Price

Novoflex has been making top-end photographic and cinematic accessories for more than 70 years. While many long-established big names in the business, and most new wannabes, have manufacturing plants in China and other far-eastern countries, Novoflex products are still designed and built in Germany. Naturally, Germany has long had a particularly strong reputation for engineering excellence, bit it tends to come with high price tags. 

There’s no exception here, as the ‘basic’ singular Novoflex Goniometer Head Qube costs $949 / £660. As its name suggests, the Novoflex Goniometer Head Qube Duo-Kit doubles up on heads and comes in at $1,559 / £1,100. The top-end and most versatile Novoflex Goniometer Head Qube Pro-Kit comprises two modular Qube heads and adds a Panorama-C panoramic base, with a purchase price of $1,799 / £1,250. As they say, you pay your money and take your choice, so let’s see what each kit has to offer...

Novoflex Qube: Design & Handling

Strong and robust, the Qube has a weighty maximum payload rating of 10kg / 22.05lb, which should cater to pretty much any combination of camera body and lens that you want to place on it. Qube by name, cube by nature, the standard item looks like a square block of metal and is reassuringly heavy in the hand. It has an Arca-Swiss style mounting plate at the bottom, with a 3/8” threaded hole at its center for attaching it to a tripod. A 3/8” to 1/4” adapter is also supplied, for attaching to smaller tripod studs. There’s also an Arca-Swiss clamp at the top, for attaching a camera via a quick-release plate (not supplied) or a second Qube – more on that later.

The upper and lower halves of the Qube are connected by a geared brass driving mechanism. This enables up to +/-15 degrees of angular shift. Depending on which way around you fix your camera to the head, you’ll therefore get either 30 degrees of overall movement from side to side, or from front to back – but not both. For angular shift in both planes, enabling both tilt and swivel movements, you need two cubes connected together, one on top of the other. That’s the idea behind the Duo-Kit.

Making positional adjustments to the Qube is very straightforward. There’s a locking thumbwheel that needs to be loosened to enable adjustments and tightened again to lock the upper section in place. Adjustments themselves are made by turning a blue knurled knob, which enables incredibly fine and precise movements with excellent tactile feedback. A calibrated scale on the side of the Qube is marked in single-degree increments, and there’s quite a distance between each and every degree.

So far so good but what if you also want to be able to make rotational adjustments to the camera’s position? That’s where the premium Pro-Kit comes to the fore. It’s based on the same dual Qube combination as the Duo-Kit, but also adds a Panorama-C panoramic base. This enables a full 360-degree lateral rotation of the camera, covering off the remainder of the tilt, swivel, and pan trilogy. The panoramic base again enables very precise adjustments, this time with a calibrated scale marked in 5-degree increments and larger 10-degree numbered steps.

Like the Qube itself, the panoramic base has an Arca-Swiss profile on top and bottom. The top includes a clamp mechanism and bubble level, whereas the bottom has a 3/8” socket at the center, complete with a 3/8” to ¼” thread adapter. With the word ‘base’ involved, it might seem natural to attach the panoramic base to the tripod, with one or two Qube modules stacked on top of it. 

There’s a better way though. Mount the panoramic base on top, above the Qube modules, and with the camera level on the head, it’ll stay level throughout any and all panning adjustments, even if the tripod legs aren’t properly leveled. That can be a real bonus for keeping everything level when panning during video capture, or for shooting a sequence of panned stills to stitch into a panoramic image.

Novoflex Qube: Performance

The Pro-Kit gives you everything from tilt and swivel adjustments to full 360-degree panning. Well, almost everything. The +/-15 degree limit on the Qube adjustments means that you’re limited to shooting at fairly shallow angles upwards or downwards. It also means that if you want to shoot with the camera in portrait (upright) orientation, you’ll need to use an L-bracket, unless you’re using a large lens that has a tripod mounting ring. 

However, the nuts and bolts performance of the Qube kits is excellent. True to their promise, they enable ultra-fine and incredibly precise adjustments. Using one or two Qube units plus a panoramic base, sturdiness, and resistance to unwanted flexing or vibration are absolutely exceptional. I found no degradation in performance when connecting two or all three modules together, compared with using a single Qube on its own. That’s always a challenge for any ‘modular’ system with separate components that connect together.

In practical terms, the Qube system is quick and easy to use. The controls are intuitive and simply work brilliantly well. The brass geared track and its connected parts pay dividends in smoothness and high-end feel, while the roller bearings in the panoramic base do a similarly superb job of ensuring a really fluid feel during panning.

Novoflex Qube: Verdict

I love the incredible precision and ultra-fine control that’s delivered by the Novoflex Qube Goniometer Head Pro-Kit. Out of the three options, I’d definitely go for this range-topping kit that includes two Qube modules plus the panoramic base. It gives much greater versatility than the kits that comprise one or two Qube modules on their own, enabling full tilt, swivel, and panoramic adjustments. 

I’ve found that performance is superb, not only for stills but also for effectively leveling the panoramic base when shooting video – competing with some of the very finest video leveling systems in this respect. The only thing I’m not so keen on is the very high selling price which, for me at least, puts the Pro-Kit somewhat beyond my budget for a tripod head. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one.

Alternatives

Sigma has announced a firmware update that enables several of its E-mount lenses to be compatible with the maximum 120fps burst shooting rate of the Sony a9 III. Three lenses have been given the update:

• 50mm F1.4 DG DN | Art Ver.02 (Sony E-mount)
• 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art Ver.04 (Sony E-mount)
• 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN | Art Ver.04 (Sony E-mount)

Read more: Sony a9 III full review

We were stunned by the a9 III and its incredible global shutter that enables 120fps full-resolution RAW continuous shooting, with no strings attached. Except that last bit was only true providing you were using the camera with a supported Sony lens - third-party lenses from the likes of Sigma were not compatible with the maximum 120fps burst shooting rate. Whether or not that was because of legitimate technical reasons, or just because Sony was intentionally restricting this stand-out feature for use with its own lenses, is up for debate. But now it is available with select Sigma optics, albeit still with a rather large caveat!

While these Sigma lenses are now compatible with the a9 III's 120fps mode, this is only when used in AF-S, DMF or MF focussing modes. You can't use AF-C; the very focussing mode you're most likely to want when shooting a continuous burst of stills. Granted, you'll still be able to track subjects moving across the image frame at a consistent distance from the camera, but you won't be able to maintain focus of a subject like a cyclist or racing car that's approaching you.

Of course it is plausible that only Sony lenses have the necessary processing ability to facilitate AF-C autofocus at 120fps. But on the other hand, Sigma is more than capable of producing world-beating optics with top quality AF, so we can't help but wonder if this is just Sony artificially reserving uncompromised 120fps a9 III burst shooting for use with its own lenses.

The Ricoh GR IIIx HDF is a new variant of a long-running camera design. It houses a 24MP sensor in an unfeasibly small body and comes with a choice of two lenses. The regular Ricoh GR III has a 28mm equivalent f/2.8 lens, while this new version of the Ricoh GR IIIx tested here has a 40mm equivalent f/2.8.

These lenses are fixed and non-interchangeable. You have to choose the focal length you want when you buy the camera. There is a wide-angle adaptor you can get for the 28mm model and a tele adaptor for the 40mm version, but these are pretty bulky and not cheap.

It's pretty limited, then, but the Ricoh GR IIIx is still one of the best compact cameras for its combination of size, control and an APS-C sensor. Some might say it's also one of the best cameras for street photography, or one of the best cameras for travel, depending on how highly you rate pocketability and whether you like the simplicity and discipline of a fixed focal length lens. If you're looking for the best vlogging camera, though, this isn't it. The fixed rear screen and limited video resolution – it's full HD only – rule out out.

There’s no viewfinder on this camera – images must be composed and viewed on the fixed rear screen. You can get clip-on OVFs that go on the accessory shoe, but these too are quite expensive. Another compromise of the small design is a small battery with a lowly 200-shot capacity.

There are some useful and clever features, though. The GR IIIx has built in 3-axis 4-stop image stabilization, a macro mode and an ‘AA filter simulator. The sensor itself has no AA filter but just in case you do see any moiré effects in patterns or textures, the AA filter simulator can help.

The key feature of this GR IIIx HDF model is its HDF or ‘highlight diffusion filter’. This is activated instantly by a button on the back of the camera and lends a soft glow to highlights for a more ‘analog’ look. This replaces the 2-stop ND filter on the regular non-HDF version. (The ND filter is simply to help when shooting in very bright light, not for any particular creative effect like long exposures.)

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Specifications

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Price and availability

The Ricoh GR IIIx HDF is available now and costs $1,146 / £1,099 / AU$1,899. This makes it a cheaper alternative to the wildly popular Fujifilm X100 VI, but more expensive than several decent APS-C mirrorless cameras. There is also a regular GR IIIx version which offers a switchable ND filter rather than the HDF filter in this camera, and if you prefer a wider 28mm equivalent angle of view there’s the regular GR III, which also has an HDF variant and is typically slightly cheaper.

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Design and handling

The Ricoh GR IIIx HDF really is remarkably small. You can carry it around in a trouser or jacket pocket where no other camera would fit, and you still get the high-end image quality of an APS-C sensor. It’s a pretty remarkable achievement in that respect.

Also remarkable is the way Ricoh has managed to make its controls so effective in the limited space available. It has two control dials, the rear ‘Adj’ dial with a click action so that you can choose the setting you want to adjust and a sprung left/right lever action for making changes.

In fact, there’s a third control dial if you count the rear dial around the four-way controller, and this can be used for menu navigation or manual focusing, for example. 

But this camera’s size does affect its handling. There’s what appears to be a grip on the right hand side, but if you curl your fingers around it, your fingernails are scraping the lens barrel. You don’t get an EVF, which perhaps is understandable in a camera this small, but you don’t get an articulated screen either – it doesn’t even tilt. This makes it pretty difficult to compose shots at low angles – and you’ll almost certainly need to increase the brightness for outdoor use, which you can do in the menus.

There’s a locking button above the mode dial so that you don’t accidentally change it while handling the camera, and the shutter release offers a ‘snap focus’ mode which defaults to a fixed focus distance if you press the shutter quickly in a single action; otherwise, you can half-press to autofocus normally.

It’s a small camera so, not surprisingly, it has a small battery. Ricoh says the DB-110 cell is good for around 200 shots, which might be fine for casual snapping, but you might need to take a spare for longer sessions. You can charge the GR IIIx HDF via USB, though, so you could top it up with a portable power bank.

The accessories are worth a mention, for good reasons and bad. The regular 28mm equivalent GR III can  take an optional 0.75x GW-4 adaptor for a wider angle of view, while for GR IIIx there’s a 1.5x GT-2 tele adaptor that takes its effective focal length from 40mm to 60mm – or further if you use one of the camera’s crop modes. These adaptors look reasonably priced at around $225 / £225, but then you do have to buy an adaptor on top of that at around $40-$50 / £40-50. The combination of the converter and adaptor is as large as a comparable APS-C prime, so you’re certainly not dealing with a pocket-sized camera any more.

Our sample GR IIIx was supplied with an optional GV-3 optical viewfinder which clips into the camera’s hotshoe. This is a ‘dumb’ optic which does not transmit or display any kind of camera information but still costs a jaw-dropping $250 / $299. 

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Performance

In terms of image quality, there’s little to complain about. The 40mm equivalent f/2.8 lens delivers consistent edge-to-edge sharpness, though the camera does employ some in-camera corner shading correction, so if you’re shooting raw files you’ll need software with a matching correction profile, or you can do it manually.

The image quality at higher ISOs is good too. Unlike a lot of cameras, the GR IIIx HDF doesn’t attempt to smudge noise out of existence and maintains a good balance between noise and detail right up to around ISO 6400, where magenta mottling is starting to appear in darker areas. You can go all the way up to ISO 102,400 if you want to, but it all depends on how much image quality you’re prepared to sacrifice, and by ISO 102,400 it’s a bit of a mess. 

The autofocus is good without being great. There’s a good choice of AF modes, including pinpoint focus, for when you want to use a wide aperture for differential focus effects, though the AF speed itself is very average by today’s standards. The snap focus is much faster but you need to be able to judge the fixed focus distance you want to set it to.

The burst mode is distinctly lackluster. Ricoh doesn’t quote an official burst speed, but it feels like about 4-5fps, and if you’re shooting raw the buffer fills up very quickly, so this is not a camera for fast bursts.

The GR IIIx is snappy enough (no pun intended) for the kind of street / travel photography it’s become known for, but many of its rivals are just as responsive or better. The HDF filter is interesting but, frankly, it’s so subtle its value is questionable and you will often have to check the image data on the back of the camera to remind yourself if you used it or not.

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Lab results

For our lab data comparison, we pitched the GR IIIx HDF against similarly compact cameras with relatively large image sensors: the Fujifilm X100VI, Leica D-Lux 8 and the Olympus PEN E-P7.

Resolution (line widths/picture height):

Resolution is measured using standardized text charts which give results in line widths / picture height, which is independent of sensor size.

The GR IIIx scores well for a 24MP APS-C camera, but ultimately the 40MP X100VI was always going to come out on top for resolving fine detail.

Dynamic range (EV):

Dynamic range is a measure of a camera's ability to record extreme brightness ranges and still retain detail in the brightest and darkest parts of the scene. It's measured in EV (exposure values, or 'stops').

Though the GR IIIx doesn't quite lead the pack at low ISOs, it captures excellent dynamic range as sensitivities increase.

Signal to noise ratio (decibels):

This test compares the amount of random noise generated by the camera at different ISO settings as a proportion of the actual image information (the 'signal'). Higher values are better and we expect to see the signal to ratio fall as the ISO is increased.

All four cameras are closely matched here, but the GR IIIx just comes out on top when you average the results across the whole tested ISO range - it does a good job of controlling image noise.

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Sample images

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Verdict

If you must have a camera small enough to fit in your pocket, then the Ricoh GR III is the only camera that fits the bill. The GR IIIx reviewed here has a 40mm equivalent lens but is the same size as the regular 28mm equivalent GR III, and the substitution of an HDF filter for the regular ND filter makes it an interesting creative alternative.

It’s pretty amazing that Ricoh should have been able to cram so many effective hands-on controls and dials to this camera without making it feel crowded. It’s harder to enjoy the overall handling experience, though, with grip that looks the part but is far less effective on a camera scaled down this far. It’s a small camera because it has to be, but if you can accept carrying a camera in a bigger jacket pocket or a bag, then there are many other cameras only a little larger which will provide a much nicer handling experience – with interchangeable lenses, too.

The lack of an EVF and the fixed rear screen does make the GR IIIx HDF hard work at times, especially outdoors in bright light, where you have to manually increase the screen brightness, and the 200-shot battery life can be limiting for longer outings and expeditions.

The electrically-driven lens focuses quickly enough, probably and there’s always the ‘snap’ focus mode, though this itself  is not quite instantaneous. The lens quality is first rate, though, so no complaints there.

The GR III is a unique camera with a strong following, but by modern standards it’s limited and distinctly awkward to use. There are no other APS-C cameras this small, but that compactness comes at a cost.

Alternatives

The world’s leading digital photography magazine, Digital Camera launched in 2002 and has been helping photographers of all skill levels to improve their images ever since. 

Every issue is packed with technique tips, tutorials, inspiring images and expert buying advice, plus the latest news and equipment reviews, as well as a selection of bonus gifts (see below). 

Lovers of wildlife photography are in for a real treat this month. Our cover feature adapts some key content from two chapters of the updated edition of The Wildlife Photography Workshop by Ben Hall and Ross Hoddinott. 

Learn how to improve your wildlife compositions and take control of the ideal settings for exposure and white balance while shooting in the field… plus, the authors share their insights on the best lenses to use for this popular genre of photography.  

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to Digital Camera magazine and get the magazine delivered to your door every month. Choose between a print or digital subscription, or a bundle of the two. 

All subscribers to Digital Camera magazine can now access digital back issues dating from 2009 (when using iOS) or 2012 (when using the Pocketmags Magazine Newsstand app or the Pocketmags website). 

There are more outdoor projects to enjoy in Photo Active. Find out how to capture the glories of the British seaside holiday (above), even when decent weather decides to stay at home. 

Also this month, learn how to shoot vintage camera gear with a macro lens, use fill-flash to rescue portraits taken outside, and photograph puffins like the one featured on the front cover of the magazine. 

Photo Active’s four-page project sees us go on location with music photographer Steven Christie – he shares his smarts for capturing the essence of rock bands for the publicity photos you see on album covers and gig posters. 

Our latest monthly reader challenge is ’Sunsets’, so to be in with a chance of winning a £50 voucher towards Cewe Wall Art, send us your best shot. You’ll find all the details in project 10, on page 38. 

Other highlights in August’s Digital Camera

For many beginner and enthusiast photographers, the perceived complexity of flash lighting is something best avoided, but August’s Camera Clinic shows that there’s nothing to fear. 

Discover how flash can be used as a powerful creative tool that can transform your photography. Expert user Will Cheung takes you the various forms of artificial light to show you what’s possible, and how to get started on your flash journey. 

Our wildlife focus continues in the One to One pro masterclass, where we travel to The Red Kite Feeding Centre at Gigrin Farm in Wales, to watch Paul Way photograph the daily avian invasion. 

See what happens as hundreds of red kites descend for feeding time, and discover how Way uses his deep knowledge of the birds’ behaviour to capture some amazing photographs of this majestic raptor.  

This month’s Hotshots gallery showcases the winning entries from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award 2024. 

Launched in 2021, these awards were created to reward photographers who put their creativity to good use in raising awareness of protecting planet Earth.

We take to the skies with Donn Delson for August’s interview. Delson is an aerial photographer, but one with a distinctive approach – he uses a helicopter to fly higher than a drone, on a mission to capture scenes that look entirely different from what they are in reality. 

Discover more about his ’down’ shot technique, where he leans out of doorless helicopters – yes, really – to get a unique perspective on what’s below. 

With holiday season starting this month, don’t head off on your travels without our recommendations for the best photo books to enjoy this summer. 

We’ve curated a collection that will be at home in suitcases or on coffee tables… from technique manuals to career retrospectives and collections of documentary photography, there’s something for all readers. 

This month’s Practical Photoshop section comprises three tutorials to immerse you in the latest creative features of Photoshop and Lightroom. 

Starting with Tool School (above), see what Photoshop’s all-new Adjustment Brush can do for your captures. Included in the latest update of Photoshop CC, it allows you to paint tonal adjustments over an image. 

Get the Look (above) suggests four ways to transform drab landscape photos, including sky replacement and adding creative blur. 

Fundamentals turns its lens on portraits with shiny faces. Learn how to use masking techniques in Lightroom Classic to tame any distracting shine in your people pictures. 

August’s Kit Zone starts with a hands-on preview of the Fujifilm X-T50, the latest entry level interchangeable lens camera from the brand. 

With a 40MP APS-C sensor, the X-T50 promises to be a great stills camera – read our early verdict on it from page 102. 

Also on test this month is the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II Art, an updated ’trinity’ lens for Leica L-Mount and Sony E-mount cameras. 

With optical and handling improvements over the original, it certainly impressed our test team. Find out why from page 112.  

Also dropping this month is the DJI Mini 4K. This new camera drone for budget-conscious beginners delivers 4K video at a sub-£/$300 price tag. 

Other hot products in August’s Kit Zone include the GoPro Hero12 Black action camera, and the Fujinon GF120mm F4 Macro R LM OIS WR, a powerful medium-format lens that’s ideal for extreme close-ups. 

The latest issue of Digital Camera comes with an unrivaled selection of digital gifts 

This month’s bonus gifts include nine all-new photo tip cards, three packs of software extras for Photoshop and Lightroom, 46 minutes of video tutorials, and two photography eBooks. 

Here’s the full list of the bonus gifts that are bundled with Digital Camera’s August 2024 issue: 

• Nine new photo tips cards covering landscapes, wildlife, macro – and more! 
• 46 minutes of video tutorials for Photoshop and Lightroom 
• 15 software extras for Lightroom and Photoshop
• 196-page ’Shoot Like a Pro’ photo projects eBook 
• 250-plus-page Camera Buyer’s Guide eBook full of buying advice

Subscribe now

Every issue of Digital Camera magazine is packed with tips, techniques, pro advice, reviews, news and inspiration. 

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to Digital Camera magazine and get the magazine delivered to your door every month. Choose between a print or digital subscription, or a bundle of the two. 

All subscribers to Digital Camera magazine can now access digital back issues dating from 2009 (when using iOS) or 2012 (when using the Pocketmags Magazine Newsstand app or the Pocketmags website). 

You can buy limited back issues of Digital Camera magazine in print at our Magazines Direct secure store.

Alternatively, there is a range of different digital options available, including:

• Apple app (for iPad or iPhone)
• Zinio app (multi-platform app for desktop or smartphone)
• PocketMags (multi-platform app for desktop or smartphone)
• Readly (digital magazine subscription service)

Buy our back issues USB stick

For any readers who would like to enjoy every digital back issue from 2022, plus all the bonus gifts, a special Digital Camera 2022 Collection USB stick for Windows and Mac users is on sale now. 

Using Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat, you can browse, search and print out issues 250-262. The Digital Camera 2022 Collection is available for UK readers for £19.99 including postage – for international readers, overseas postage fees will apply. 

German camera accessory specialist Novoflex is launching two specialist tripod heads – both aimed at providing precision camera positioning for different types of photography. 

The new Novoflex Kopf2 is a gimbal head that provides fine movement control in two separate axes – a design favored by architectural and studio photographers.

The Novoflex Qube, meanwhile, is a goniometer tripod head—and even more specialist tripod accessory—that provides arc-shaped camera movement in one or two planes. These swiveling controls are said to be particularly useful for macro and close-up photography. The Qube will compete with similar goniometer heads made by Alpa and Swebo.

The two new heads are on display at Global Birdfair 2024, which opens today and runs until July 14 in Rutland, UK.

The Qube can be bought in three different configurations. The base model offers one swiveling function, allowing precise movement of attached cameras, bellows, and other devices by 15° to the right and left. The Qube-Duo is essentially a pair of Qubes stacked to provide movements in parallel to each other or in planes at 90° to each other. 

The device is not just meant for use with DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, but can also be used to control SLR technical cameras, bellows units and other complex macro setups, binoculars, telescopes, and rangefinders.

The third option, the Qube-Pro, adds a panoramic base that fits on top of the Duo set-up - providing third axis of adjustment. This has attaches to the Arca-Swiss mounting of the Qube, and has its own Arca-Swiss plate at the top.

The Qube is now on sale for $949 / £660. The Qube Duo will set you back $1,559 / £1,100, and the Qube Pro is $1,759 / £1,250.

The Novoflex Kopf2 has two fine-tuning knobs with zeroable scales offering 0-90° of movement both directions), enabling extremely fine adjustments. There are built-in spirit levels and the head is equipped with Arca-compatible profiles to aid compatibility with a variety of accessories. The head is designed to be able to support a camera and lens combination weighing up to 5kg / 11 lbs. 

The Kopf2 is available in three different versions. The base model comes without coupling and panoramic rotation. The Kopf2-Basic is supplied with a  Q=MOUNT quick-release plate and a panoramic head. The Kopf2-Pro then adds a pair of  CAST-FINE-K handles that offer even finer control over movement.

The Kopf2 sells for $1,819 / £1,340 – with the two kits costing $2,079 / £1,500 and $2,219 / £1600 respectively.

See our guides to the best gimbal heads, best panoramic tripod heads and the best ball heads.

AstrHori is a relatively new Chinese lens manufacturer that develops affordable manual focus lenses for modern mirrorless cameras, and just in time for the summer weather to appear (hopefully!), it has announced a new 120mm macro lens.

The AstrHori 120mm f/2.8 Macro lens will be the company's longest focal length lens to date and will offer users the opportunity to focus closely on their subjects. No stranger to macro lenses, Astrhori produces some of the best macro probe lenses on the market, and although not a probe lens, the new 120mm will provide an alternative macro experience to its existing offerings.

Not much has been released regarding lens specifications, as the official announcement via its social media channels states the lens is 'coming soon', but by looking at the poster, we know that it is designed for full-frame and will feature on - Sony E, Canon RF, Leica L, Nikon Z, and Canon EF mounts.

This provides an option for most mirrorless cameras, and although the price has yet to be disclosed, Astrhori lenses come in at the lower end of the market. 

With no specifications released, we only have an image of the lens from which we can extrapolate some information. The lens looks to have a durable build quality with an all-metal body, an aperture ring, and a precise focusing ring - vital for all manual focus lenses, especially macro. 

The announcement was made on AstrHori's social media, in a post asking their community if anyone would be interested in reviewing the new lens. The caption states, "Now recruiting Reviewers. I sincerely hope that all Youtubers, Vloggers, or macro photographers will not miss the recruitment plan. Please see the posted photo for specific participation conditions".

As expected there has been an influx of comments requesting the lens, however, this opportunity will remain open until July 12, 2024, so there is still time to submit. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best macro lenses, the best wide-angle lenses, and the best tilt-shift lenses. 

The new issue of Digital Photographer is out now!

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This month we have another amazing issue for you, featuring professional tips, reviews, and practical how-to guides. Here's a sneak peek of what's inside!

Shoot fairytale macro photos brimming with detail and colour

Macro photography is a truly magical medium. It allows us to see the world in a completely new way, revealing details we never knew existed. In our main feature this month, we’re joined by two expert instructors, Ross Hoddinott and Catherine Régnier, who explain how to find and photograph closeup subjects creatively. Find out how to craft the perfect background for your macro studies, develop new lighting techniques and master the delicate art of fieldcraft. 

Shoot with just one lens

In our second feature of the issue, we delve into the world of lenses, in particular, how to shoot using a single optic. It’s easy to think that buying more lenses is a route to better images, however, this isn’t always practical and if you’re on a budget it might not be possible. Discover how our guest professional photographers choose and use their lenses to their maximum capacity, learning to get the most value from any type. Save money and get better shots with improved composition in the process.

The Danger Zone - master tough shoots!

Our Shoot Like a Pro feature in this issue is an exciting one. We joined photographer, Jon Parker Lee for an industrial commercial shoot in a quarry in the Peak District to learn how he manages complex briefs, directs large shoots and works in potentially high-risk locations. The pressure is on to capture the essential images for his client, with millions of pounds and many livelihoods at stake, so come along and go behind the scenes of this fascinating photoshoot. 

Add flash to your landscape shoots

Have you ever used flash in your landscape photography? If you answered no, you won’t be alone. In our creative project, we reveal how a speedlight can be the perfect tool for adding colour and detail to your scenic shots and can even apply a stunning sunset effect to your photos. Fill in the shadows, add sparkle to foregrounds and even add sunlight to your scenic shots!

Explore Tokyo with Richard Koek

Richard Koek has spent years exploring the world with his camera and, in this month's interview slot, he explains why he wanted to capture Tokyo, one of the world's biggest cities, in a unique way. Dive in to find out how Richard gained special access to a Sumo Stable, captured the people and explored Tokyo to reveal Japanese culture as you've never seen it before, going beyond the tourist's view.

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Essential exposure technique: settings for seamless backgrounds

Photo therapy: the art of patience - why it's worth waiting!

Adapt and conquer! Learn to use lens adaptors the right way

Lighthouse photography: learn to compose images of very tall subjects

It’s the third week of March and the wet winter is ensuring a soggy start to spring, but that isn’t dampening Tony North’s spirits – or his initiative. “I was out early this morning doing some photography because it was cloudy and not windy, which is good for macro,” he tells me from his home near Manchester. I’m already wondering what he could have been shooting because it’s too early for many insects and flowers, but then he reveals the unexpected: “There’s not many insects about yet, but I’ve got one that I brought back from Florida – a chrysalis of a zebra swallowtail – and just recently it emerged, so I was photographing that this morning.” 

As any macro photographer knows, cool weather and early morning are the best times to photograph insects in the field as they will remain still until they have warmed up enough to move. And so it was for Tony’s new arrival from Florida. “I was out at 6.30 because it was less windy. This butterfly I was photographing is native to the southern United States, so it was probably pretty cold for it.” Not half – it certainly wasn’t March in Miami! 

Tony says he’s only been taking photography seriously since 2016, and macro since 2017, but in just seven years he is already a winner of some major international awards for his startling images…

This interview first appeared in N-Photo magazine. 

You might be interested in the best Nikon cameras along with the best Nikon lenses – and particularly the best Nikon Z lenses designed for its mirrorless cameras. 

The International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) is now in its 18th year, and continues to produce some of the most stunning nature imagery of any competition.  

This year, the winner of the IGPOTY Macro Art Photo Project competition and £250 ($315) prize money is Henrik Spranz from Austria, with his photograph entitled ‘Pale Rider’. 

Spranz captured the image of a pale clouded yellow butterfly in September using: a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and Sigma APO Macro 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM lens, with and exposure of 1/800sec at f/3.2, ISO 400. 

He used tonal correction post-capture, as well as denois, contrast, dodge, burn tools and basic image management in PhotoShop, and “to get that rainbow stripe to appear in the lower right part of the photo, I used a piece of glass in front of my lens,” Spranz revealed. 

Tyrone McGlinchey FLS FRSA, IGPOTY Head Judge said:

"Henrik is a 'master of the macro' and with this shot has shown artistry via selection of lens, subject, and background – with the rainbow effect delivered tastefully."

All the winners, finalists and highly commended images will be exhibited at Kew Gardens in London, England, and will then tour the rest of the country, continent and world.

Check out the other winners, and a selection of the other high skilled entries.

Tony North won second place with his image Silver-Studded Blue, taken in Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria. 

"A silver-studded blue butterfly (Plebejus argus) on a meadow clary flower spike. This shot was captured handheld, in a meadow in southern Bulgaria. I positioned myself to get some foreground blur on the left from some other flowers of the same species."

Equipment used: Nikon D500, Nikon Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 macro lens + Nikon 1.4x teleconverter. Exposure: 1/50sec at f/11, ISO 640. Post-capture: use of crop and denoise tools, basic image management.

Third place was won by Zsolt Varanka with The Flowers of the Night, taken in Tahitótfalu, Pest County, Hungary. 

"These night-swarming mayfly (Ephoron virgo) were attracted to the area by light; I used two wireless flashes (with rear curtain sync) positioned sideways, (opposite each other) to freeze their flight, whilst two small video LED lights were placed by the tripod-mounted camera to evenly light the insects’ path. I regularly switched off the lights to allow them to continue."

Equipment used: Sony α7 Mark III, Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD lens, Tripod, 2 wireless flashes, 2 LED lights.. Exposure: 1/10sec at f/14, ISO 1250. Post-capture: use of crop, noise reduction, and dodge and burn tools, basic image management.

A finalist, Richard Kubica took Reflections in Myjava, Trenčín, Slovakia.

"A handheld focus stacked photo of a fly, comprised of twenty photographs – for better depth of field. I took this in the early morning, whilst everything was covered in dew, and the insect was very calm."

Equipment used: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro lens. Godox flash with homemade diffusor.Exposure: 1/60sec at f/9, ISO 200.  Post-capture: focus stacked 20 images together, use of crop and contrast tools, basic image management.

Dragonfly Dawn was taken by Jay Birmingham, a finalist, at RSPB Middleton Lakes, England, United Kingdom.

"A skimmer dragonfly, photographed against the rising sun, in the RSPB Middleton Lakes nature reserve – which is self-described as ‘a mosaic of wetlands, meadows and woodland in the heart of the River Tame Valley’."

Equipment used: Canon ROS R5, Sigma 180mm f/2.8 EX APO DG Macro OS HSM lens. Exposure: 1/200sec at f/2.8, ISO 320. Tripod. Post-capture: use of white balance, contrast and saturation tools, basic image management.

Diana Chan captured this image, Going to Fly, in Hong Kong, China.

"The moment of take-off for this tiny weevil is captured. Through the use of a macro lens, the details are revealed of the structure of this beetle’s shiny, glitter-like body, particularly the wings which are seldom opened."

Equipment used: Nikon D850, Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro VC USD lens, and tripod. Exposure: 1/200sec at f/14, ISO 200. Post-capture: use of crop tool, basic image management.

Check out our guide to the best cameras for macro photography, and the best lenses for macro photography. 

We've also got a guide to the best cameras for wildlife photography.

Six years after the launch of the EOS R system, Sigma has finally released its first Canon RF mount lens: the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C. 

While it will physically fit any RF mount camera, the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C is specifically an RF-S lens – which means it is designed for EOS R bodies with an APS-C sensor, such as the Canon EOS R7, R10, R50 and R100, though it can be used on full-frame EOS R cameras in crop mode.

The lens has an equivalent focal length of 28.8-80mm and boasts a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture along with weather sealing, which effectively makes this a standard trinity lens – but one that, thanks to its Contemporary designation (the "C" in the name), is as portable as it is powerful.

Weighing only 300g and measuring just 69.2 x 74.5mm at the wide end (though it does extend as you move to the tele end), this unbelievably small optic pairs perfectly with compact bodies like the EOS R100 – which is one of the cameras I used for my Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C review. 

It should be noted that this is not a lens designed exclusively for the RF mount, but is an existing lens that has been available since 2022 for Sony E, Fujifilm X and L-Mount cameras. 

As such it carries broadly the same specifications and optical formula, with 10 groups consisting of 13 elements including a super-low dispersion lens and a trio of aspherical lenses. 

That means it also inherits some of the existing optical foibles, such as fringing, uninspiring corner sharpness and pretty profound distortion (though the latter is corrected in-camera). 

Still, like its forebears, I found it one of the best APS-C lenses I've had the pleasure of using. "Sigma's debut on the Canon RF mount is a triumph," I wrote in my review. 

"Super light yet super fast, pint-sized yet power-packed, I keep coming back to the same key selling point: this is a standard trinity lens that fits in your pocket. What's not to love about it?"

The Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C for Canon RF goes on sale July 11, priced £479 in the UK (US and Australian pricing to follow). 

Take a look at the best Canon RF lenses, along with some of the best standard zoom lenses currently on the market.

In our busy, always-on world, the art of macro photography can be a balm for mental health. When you’re engaged in capturing the intricate details of flowers and insects, it’s harder to focus your attention elsewhere. For many photographers, macro enables them to escape their everyday stressors – on top of being a rewarding and creative outlet in itself.

Canon pro photographer Matt Doogue has been photographing close-ups in nature for over a decade and has found comfort by immersing himself in the beauty of the miniature world. Based in the UK, he has become something of a mental health speaker, and he regularly gives talks on how the slowness of the genre can create a sense of calm and concentration. With a profound respect for the natural world, Matt often describes what he does as photo therapy and credits photography with being a life-saver in his darkest times.

Macro may help with mindfulness, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy from a technical point of view. For a start, you’ll need a dedicated macro lens that’s capable of focusing at close distances. And even then, it can be very challenging to precisely focus on extremely small subjects and manage a shallow depth of field at higher magnifications. One technique that Matt uses to increase the sharpness throughout his images is focus stacking, both manually and using the latest automated stacking features in Canon’s EOS R5 and EOS R7 mirrorless cameras.

Discover how macro helps Matt to stay connected to the present moment, plus the technical skills he uses for the sharpest shots.

A longer version of this interview originally appeared in Issue 214 of PhotoPlus magazine. Click the link below to see our latest special subscription deal!

As well as the best macro lenses, you might want to check out the best cameras for macro photography to really maximize your macro work.

The world of microscopy can sometimes seem inaccessible to beginners, who aren't ready for slide preparation, staining and other technical setups. Stereo microscopes (also known as dissecting microscopes) solve this by lowering the magnification and increasing the working distance, meaning you can drop any small object onto the stage and instantly see close up details. 

Celestron has a long-founded association with optics, having started in the 1950s as Valor Electronics, specialising in telescopes. The Celestron Labs S20 is their budget stereo microscope, ideal for observing everyday objects like coins, insects, rocks, leaves and fossils, blurring the line between macrophotography and microscopy.

Celestron S20 specifications

Price

Coming in under a hundred pounds, the Celestron Labs S20 microscope can be seen as a budget microscope. It isn't available on the Celestron website, but you can find it for around $60 / £70. At this price you get a lot of fun for your buck, while you don't have to worry about a child breaking a valuable piece of equipment. 

Building and handling

The Celestron Labs S20 has a durable metal body, with a slight dappled effect, which is pleasing to the touch. Other elements, like the focus knob, are made of a more tactile plastic. As a whole, this microscope is lightweight and on the smaller side, making it easier to carry around and great for kids to store in their backpacks. There is no carrying case, protective cover or caps for the eyepiece tubes, so you may have to be creative to keep it safe and clean. The base is small and doesn’t have any grip, so it isn’t a particularly stable platform.

Two objective lenses are built into the head and the kit comes with two 10X eyepieces, combining to provide the listed 20X magnification. The eyepieces can be removed from the tubes, but do not click back into place, so can easily fall out. The eyepieces can be broken down for cleaning, but I would only recommend doing this if you know what you’re doing as you can easily end up damaging or losing elements. 

The two lens systems are inclined around 15 degrees of each other, retaining stereoscopic vision and rendering the image in three dimensions. The dual eyepieces stand upright, which does not make for the most comfortable viewing position, but they can be adjusted to suit various interpupillary distances.

As a stereo microscope, this model has a lower magnification than might be found on compound microscopes, but has a maximum working distance of just over 10cm, so it’s perfect for large, bulky objects. Because of the low magnification, sizes can be estimated by using a ruler placed alongside a specimen. 

The head is attached to a rack-and-pin spine, which cranks up and down to focus in and out. There is one coarse focusing knob attached to the head and at this lower magnification a finer control is not necessary.

An LED light hangs just behind the two objective lenses, facing down towards the lower plate and producing a bright, cold light. It is battery powered, so you can use this microscope in the field, at school or sat on the sofa, wherever you like. I left the light on for many hours and it didn't get hot, while there was no impact on performance.

There is a button that turns the light on and off, but there is no control to adjust the power. It’s a shame the light source is fixed in place, as a removable light source can sometimes reveal more details when used at a different angle.

Two clips on the base can be used to hold specimens in place, which work well enough, but can also be removed to keep the space clear. The lower plate is removable, revealing a small well beneath that allows you to use additional lighting (if you have a light that fits).

The two insect specimens, provided with the kit, really show off the advantages of this microscope – the Cupreous Chafer glitters with an indescribable iridescence and the hornet's compound eyes are enhanced by the 3D view. It would be nice if there were more examples provided, but you should have no difficulty in finding other objects to try out under the lens.

Performance

This microscope doesn’t come with instructions, which highlights how easy it is to get started. Pop the batteries in (requires a small screwdriver to get inside) and adjust the eyepieces to suit your interpupillary distance – this will ensure you make the most of the 3D compound image – and you’re off. Neither of the eyepieces have a diopter adjustment control, so people with visual impairments might have issues.

The first thing I tried with this microscope were the two insect specimens that came with the pack. Under natural light they were both flat and boring, but the moment you turn on the LED reflecting light source, they are transformed into something spectacular. The beauty of a dissecting microscope like this is that you don’t have to prepare slides, but can grab anything you see and look at it (although some things might try to wriggle away). I took it up to my allotment and tried it with flowers, leaves and grasses. It's amazing what's revealed in the most unassuming objects by even a low magnification.

The lenses are fairly good quality and the image is sharp across the whole view. There is no camera connected to this microscope, so while you can take pictures down the eyepiece with your phone, it's hard to share your discoveries.

The LED provides an intense white light, which can’t be adjusted, losing detail on some specimens. It can help if you add a dark piece of card behind the specimen to reduce the reflection. 

Verdict

There's a lot of fun to be had with this microscope. It's small and portable, making it perfect for taking outside and getting close to nature. You don't need any experience to get going and the results are impressive. The LED provides a constant, bright light that illuminates most specimens well, but you might have to add a darker background for some more reflective objects.

Ultra-wide zooms are very popular amongst landscape, travel and architectural photographers for their ability to squeeze everything into the frame even when you’re right up close. They are also useful for filmmakers and vloggers who need to film themselves at arm’s length and get the background surroundings into the frame too.

However, ultra-wide zooms for the best full frame cameras are typically big, heavy and expensive. Either that, or their performance is only mediocre. The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO really turns that on its head. It’s not very expensive, but it is rather good. In fact, for anyone trying to keep the costs down, it's got to be one of the best L-mount lenses to get.

Here are a few reasons why. First, it has a macro capability… well, sort of. It can offer 0.5x magnification at its maximum focal length of 28mm, and while that’s not a true 1:1 macro magnification, it still gets you a lot closer to small objects than a regular lens.

Second, by full frame zoom standards, this is not a big lens. It’s about the same size as Panasonic’s f/1.8 primes and the Lumix S 20-60mm kit zoom. Better still, it’s designed not to change length during use, so once it’s balanced on a gimbal, it should stay balanced. This makes it ideal for use on the Panasonic Lumix S5 II and Lumix S5 IIX, two of the best hybrid cameras right now.

It’s dust, splash, and freeze resistant, it has fast and silent AF actuators for video as well as stills photography, and it takes 77mm filters – unlike many ultra-wide lenses in this range, it doesn’t use a fixed petal-shaped lens hood, so using filters won’t be a problem.

On the downside, it has a modest 2x zoom range – but then there are plenty of modern ultra-wide zooms that don’t even offer this – and the f/4-5.6 maximum aperture looks a little weak too. But then, if that’s what it takes to keep the size and the cost down, maybe it’s worth it.

The key factor will be the optical performance. We can forgive a lot of things if a lens delivers really good results.

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Specifications

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Price and availability

The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 is on sale now, costing around $698 / £699. No, that’s not a mistake, that’s really what it costs. The variable maximum aperture obviously needs to be taken into account, but a 1 f-stop drop at full zoom is not much, and this lens really does look like great value. The Lumix S camera range doesn’t just include some powerful, competitively priced cameras, it also has a good choice of affordable and highly competent lenses. 

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Design and handling

The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 is about as plain as you can get, but that is the style of Panasonic’s Lumix S lenses. There’s a zoom ring, a focus ring, an AF-MF switch and that’s it. There’s no focus distance scale and no physical aperture ring, de-clickable or otherwise.

Is that a bad thing? Maybe not. There’s no fuss, no complication, just a plain and basic lens design with the aperture controlled from the camera body. 

This is not an expensive lens, but it does feel well-made. The zoom and focus rings turn smoothly and the weather sealing is reassuring to have – and good to get in a lens at this price.

The most noticeable thing is the size. This is a very compact lens for an ultra-wide full-frame zoom, and while the penalty is a more restricted f/5.6 maximum aperture at the 28mm end of the zoom range, I for one would be perfectly happy to accept that in exchange for the compact size, lightweight and highly agreeable price!

The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 is a little boring to look at and use, but that’s not going to bother practically-minded photographers who just want a lens to do its job. It’s also very close in size to Panasonic’s f/1.8 prime lenses and the 20-60mm kit lens. They make a very cohesive lens collection that could appeal to stills photographers and videographers alike.

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Performance

Zoom lenses often lose optical quality at the longer end of the range, especially ultra-wide zooms, but the Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 holds up extremely well. The lab tests confirm the impressions you get from real-world photography, and this is a lens you can use at any focal length and any aperture without worrying about any dip in image quality.

The corner sharpness is typically lower than the center sharpness, but it’s never less than good, even wide open. 24mm is probably the weakest focal length for edge sharpness, but even here you’d have to do some fairly intense pixel-peeping to see the difference. Otherwise, this is a lens that reliably delivers good visual edge-to-edge sharpness, whatever the aperture or zoom setting. It’s an excellent performance for a lens at this price point, and you would have to pay a lot more for professional optics to improve on what this lens can do.

The explanation might lie in the optical construction, which is actually quite sophisticated, consisting of 14 elements in 10 groups and includes an aspherical ED element,  a regular aspherical element, three ED glass elements, and one UHR (ultra-high refractive) element. Thanks to the digital lens corrections applied in-camera and by programs like Lightroom, there’s no visible distortion, corner shading, or color fringing. 

The autofocus performance is impressive too. It’s fast, essentially silent, and perfect for video as well as stills photography. What’s more, the extra wide 14-28mm focal range is handy for selfie-vlogging on a gimbal or grip.

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Sample images

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Lab results

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

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

Sharpness:

Center-sharpness is impressive and remarkably consistent throughout the entire zoom range. Corner sharpness is more of a mixed bag, being excellent at 14mm, but more lacklustre as you zoom in. At longer focal lengths you'll need to stop down to f/11 to get the best sharpness right into the corners.

Fringing:

Color fringing is very well controlled at all focal lengths and apertures - the lens never produces any hint of aberrations.

Distortion:

Barrel distortion is extreme at 14mm and still very noticeable at 18mm. By 24mm it's reached an acceptable level, but realistically you're going to want to enable in-camera distortion correction at all times - the lens has been engineered to rely on it.

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Verdict

I wasn’t expecting to find the The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 an exciting lens to use. One look at the exterior confirms that this is a basic, no-frills lens, physically at least. But its small size, light weight and smooth, fluid operation did win me over. But not as much as the optical performance and overall image quality. This lens doesn’t quite deliver the razor sharp results of pro full frame lenses, but there’s not a whole lot in it, and it’s a whole lot cheaper. The main thing was that there weren’t any focal lengths or apertures I had to avoid, like there are on most inexpensive zooms. I could shoot at any settings without worrying that the edges wouldn’t be sharp. The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 has a fairly limited focal length/aperture envelope, but you can use all of it.

For me, the key thing is the price. This is not a lot to pay for an ultra-wide zoom with such consistent and reliable performance. And don’t forget you’re getting weather sealing and high-speed, high-precision autofocus too. The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 may not look or feel like the most exciting lens in the world, but it absolutely does the job, no question.

Panasonic Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO: Alternatives

Venus Optics has just announced a new super-fast cine lens series that takes its inspiration from the existing Laowa Argus photography range and is available across three sensor size formats. 

On top of producing some of the photography market's best macro lenses, Laowa has also been making some incredible cine lenses offering anamorphic and cine zooms at a great price with superb optical quality. 

Laowa continues to expand its cine lens range further by introducing the Laowa Argus T1 Cine Series available for full-frame, Super35 (APS-C), and MFT. Releasing a range that has the capabilities to cover most cameras is an inspired idea, and will no doubt appeal to a wider range of users.

With these three formats, the Argus cine lenses are available for Canon RF, Sony E, Nikon Z for Full-Frame, Canon RF, Sony E, Nikon Z, Fuji X mount for Super35 (APS-C), and M4/3 for MFT format. 

The focal lengths on offer upon launch do vary between sensor sizes with 28mm, 35mm, and 45mm available for full frame, 18mm, 25mm, and 33mm available for Super35 (APS-C), and 18mm and 35mm for MFT. 

One of the things that distinguishes the best cine lenses is consistency across the range, and all of the Argus Cine lenses have a maximum aperture of T1. This is extremely fast and offers users a remarkably shallow depth of field with smooth bokeh in the out-of-focus areas. 

Shooting wide open with large apertures such as T1 can also provide its own challenges such as chromatic aberration, however, Laowa assures users "the Argus T1 Cine series is meticulously designed to deliver exceptional optical performance. These lenses minimize chromatic aberration, ensuring maintained contrast and sharpness even when shooting wide open at T1 aperture."

The consistency continues with the build design as each lens has professional cine housing incorporating a 0.8 mod gear, an 80mm outer diameter with 77mm filter thread to accommodate most matte boxes, internal focusing, and a lens supporting thread. This is extremely important when swapping lenses as the similarities will mean minimal equipment adjustments and settings changes. 

Laowa also ensures consistent optical performance including color tone and contrast throughout the range. Laowa states, "Every focal length within the Argus T1 Cine Series is meticulously crafted to deliver consistent color rendition and lens performance. This minimizes the requirement for extensive editing in the post-production process after utilizing different focal lengths, ensuring seamless visual consistency across your projects".

Other notable features include low-focus breathing, a short minimum shooting distance (varies across focal lengths), and an average 270-degree focus rotation. 

The Laowa Argus T1 Cine Series is available now. The full-frame lenses are priced at $1499 | £1499 individually or $3999 | £3999 for the 3-lens set. The Super35 (APS-C) lenses are priced at $899 | £899 individually or $2499 | £2499 for the 3-lens set. The MFT $699 | £699 individually or $1259 | £1259 for the 2-lens set. (Australian prices to be confirmed). 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best cine lenses, the best cinema cameras, and the best hybrid cameras.

Sirui is expanding its Sniper Series of prime lenses by releasing two new focal lengths, adding more width and telephoto options.

Sirui launched its first AF photography lenses dedicated to mirrorless APS-C cameras late last year, and due to its affordable price point and wide aperture, the Sniper Series quickly became a fan favorite. 

The series currently consists of 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm f/1.2 prime lenses, however, they will soon be accompanied by the Sirui Sniper Series APS-C AF 16mm f/1.2 and the Sirui Sniper Series APS-C AF 75mm f/1.2, to further compliment the series.  

The great thing about the Sniper Series is that there are many consistent features throughout the range, which is no different from the new offerings. 

A main draw for the Sniper Series is the extremely fast f/1.2 max aperture, enabling shallow depth of field captures and exceptional low-light performance. The 75mm offers a full-frame equivalent focal length of 113mm which falls in the range of a great portrait lens, and when combined with the wide aperture, offers great subject separation. 

Much like Sirui's cine lenses, the company has put a considered emphasis on keeping the lenses in the series consistent, meaning that other than the focal range, not much changes between them. 

The size and weight are almost indistinguishable throughout the series, meaning that swapping lenses when using gimbals and stabilizers does not require changes to calibration or settings changes, making the Sniper Series a great video lens option. 

Color tone and lens characteristics are also uniform throughout, further providing the user with confidence that they know what to expect from each lens.

AF lenses are a relatively new product line for Sirui, as they have up until recently, focused on manual focus photography, cine, and, macro lenses. The Sniper Series however offers fast and efficient AF capabilities with Eye AF for stills and video. The STM motor also reduces focus hunting and noise even in fast-paced environments. 

Other notable features include a 360-degree focus throw, a USB-C port for firmware updates, HD Nano coating, and uniform color options throughout the rest of the Sniper Series. 

The Sirui Sniper Series APS-C AF 16mm f/1.2 and the Sirui Sniper Series APS-C AF 75mm f/1.2 will be available for Sony E, Fujifilm X, and Nikon Z mount. The lenses will be available to back on Indiegogo from June 17 with shipping expected to start June 19.  

Sirui continues to offer extreme value in an affordable package as each of the new lenses will cost just $399 | £346 | AU $535 each! (Early backer discounts are available via the Indiegogo page) Sirui also offers the Sniper Series as part of a set for further discounts, so keep an eye out for these as there are great deals to be had!

Sirui certainly means business and has been ramping up in production, offering affordable cine and photography lenses with fantastic optical performance, and I can only see further releases improving on this.

You may also be interested in the best lenses for Nikon Z mount, the best Fujifilm lenses, and the best Sony lenses.

Ricoh has released two new cameras into its line-up of waterproof digital compact cameras with two new models: the entry level Pentax WG-1000 and the more advanced Pentax WG-8. 

While some might think this is an exciting expansion of the adventure camera market, to some eagle-eyed followers of Ricoh, including our less than impressed Imaging Labs manager Ben Andrews, it may be hard to spot the updates. Ricoh bought Pentax back in 2011, and looks like it is now starting to use the Pentax brand more widely - using it for compact cameras once again

A quick comparison would suggest that our initial fears were correct, and there is no difference between the Pentax WG-8 and its predecessor the Ricoh WG-6 – other than the change of brand and model number.

Both can withstand temperatures of minus 10° C, remain waterproof down to depths of up to 20 meters, and are shockproof against falls from a height of 2.1 meters. 

They’re even the same price at $399.95 / £479. 

The 20-megapixel camera has a 5x zoom range, with an equivalent focal lens range of 28-140mm f/3.5-4.5. The camera has built-in GPS for geolocation, and has an microscope-like macro mode that is aided by a built-in ringlight.

A key difference is that the WG-8 will be available in green, as well as black (the Ricoh WG-6 was offered in orange or black). It will go on sale from July.

With the WG-1000 joins the Pentax range as the baby brother to the WG-8 and the the previously released Pentax WG-90, that was launched in January.

The budget model can  manage depths of 15 meters for up to one hour of continuous use. It's shockproof against a fall from a height of 6.5 meters, but is not designed for sub-zero temperatures

The WG-1000 features a back-illuminated 16.35-megapixel CMOS image sensor with approximately 16.35 effective megapixels, and has a 4x zoom lens.

The key attraction here is the price - which at $229.99 / £249 makes it an attractive low-cost option for use on the beach or for water sport activities. It will be sold in a choice of grey or olive colorways when it goes on sale at the end of June.

Despite these slightly confusing ‘updates’ on the new releases, we applaud Ricoh for continuing to make compact digital cameras when many other brands have abandoned these pocket cameras entirely - following continuing improvement to camera phones.

If you don't want a Pentax, check out our guides to the best travel cameras, the best action cameras, and the top waterproof cameras around. 

Photography is my hobby – in particular, flower and plant macro photography. Everyone is capable of taking good photos of plants and flowers, even with a camera phone, but how do you capture a really great photo, or produce an eye-catching image? 

I have a good quality but entry-level camera, a macro lens and some accessories. I sometimes enter my images into competitions but I find it daunting and challenging to produce an image that is different, perhaps unique, and that captures the imagination of the viewer. 

Post-processing software, such as Affinity Photo and Photoshop, offers a multitude of tools and creative filters that I can use to create beautiful and different images, which give me enormous pleasure and fun.

I use Affinity and Photoshop Elements, both of which are easy to learn if you approach them with a sense of curiosity. Simply by exploring the tools and filters in these programs, I have often stumbled across techniques that produce stunning and unique images – and which are easy to execute. 

Go ahead and explore the endless options available to you. You will have good fun producing great images – and, who knows, perhaps a competition winner.

1) The original image

My starting point was a nine-shot image of a dahlia from my garden, focus-stacked using Affinity Photo. It is underexposed and rather dull, but reasonably sharp from front to back.

2) Enhance the tones

Use the Exposure and Contrast sliders, along with the Clarity and Sharpening tools and filters, to enhance the image.

3) Black background

Using the Selection Brush Tool, select the flower, then invert the selection and turn the background black using the Luminosity slider in the HSL Panel. This produces an eye-catching, high-quality look and feel against the black background.

4) Enhance color

In the Adjustment Panel, select Warm under Black & White, then set the Blend Mode dropdown to Overlay. This produces the stunning final image.

You might be interested in the best cameras for macro photography, and the best macro lenses to get those super close-up shots.

Have you ever come back from a far-flung destination, only to be disappointed to discover your memory card is full of so-so holiday snaps? We’ve enlisted the advice of travel pro Steve Davey, who shows you how to get under the skin of a location to capture the ‘sense of a place’ and show the side that you don’t see in the holiday brochures. 

Our apprentice stays closer to home, exploring the West Country to capture bluebell woods, rapeseed fields, stately homes and ancient monuments, under the instruction of landscape pro Mark Bauer. 

Emma Dunham tells how she transformed her career from taking portraits of people to foodie photos in the N-Photo interview. Plus Motorsports supremo Jon Nicholson shares a lifetime of images of capturing everything on four wheels, from banger-racing to Formula 1.

We take a super-close look at eight of the best macro lenses for F- and Z-mount Nikons, to help you take larger-than-life shots of everyday items. And we also check  out Nikon’s stunning new superzoom, with its gargantuan 28-400mm focal length range. 

We have our usual mix of practical shooting and editing projects, including how to shoot road bike racing, get close-ups of bees, capture the excitement of a football match, and take sporty portraits with a stroboscopic effect, as well as mastering Affinity Photo’s HSL tool and adding a misty effect to scenes in Photoshop CC.

N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine is a monthly magazine that's written by Nikon enthusiasts for Nikon enthusiasts, you can be sure that all the content is 100% relevant to you! So for the best Nikon-focused news, reviews, projects, and a whole lot more, subscribe to N-Photo today – with our unmissable subs deal!

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Subscription deals: Our guide to the best photo magazines

The SpeediGimbal is a monopod/tripod head that is designed to offer instant support to take the weight of a camera with large lens attached. Unlike other tripod heads it is not designed to provide a secure attachment – but offers unrivalled manoeuvrability for capturing moving subjects.

It’s the brainchild of wildlife photographer Colin Brister, who developed it after having spent many years handholding heavy lenses, but found standard gimbal heads didn’t offer the manoeuvrability he needed.

It consists of a two-part ball-and-cup design, with one part mounted to the lens bracket and the other fitted atop a monopod or tripod. Both parts have 3/8in UNC threads, and come with standard 1/4in UNC adapters, too. 

Manufactured from Black Nylon 66, it’s a high-performance product designed to withstand long-term wear and tear effects. The device is perfect for sports, wildlife and macro, and also works with spotting scopes, making it ideal for birdwatchers too. The lightweight, compact head is less than three inches in size, enabling it to be easily stashed in a spare corner of a camera bag. 

The SpeediGimbal is available directly from Colin Brixter's website and the £79 price (around US$100 or AU$150).

On Thursday 23 May, OM Digital Solutions Co, previously known to photographers as Olympus, announced that its interchangeable lens, the M.Zuiko Digital Ed 90mm F3.5 Macro IS Pro, has won the 2024 Technology Award from the Society of Photography and Imaging of Japan. 

In 2023, the company won the same award for its mirrorless camera the OM System OM-1, making this the second consecutive year the company has been awarded the accolade. 

The award is given to innovators who have made outstanding technical achievements in photography and other related fields. Specifically, the award was for “expanding the scope of photography with the macro-oriented OM System M.Zuiko 90mm Macro.” 

The winners were Yuge Kazunori (Product Development), Hayashi Osamu (same company), and Hayashi Tetsuya (EL System) from the Development Division of OM Systems.

The judges were impressed by the 4x macro magnification in 35mm format, its fast and accurate focus mechanism, and its depth of field correction technology. The lens was also praised for its image stabilization function which allows handheld macro photography, allowing users to use their cameras in situations where a tripod would usually be needed. 

On 01 January 2021, 95 percent of the Olympus Imaging Division was transferred to holding company OJ Holdings, Ltd, owned by Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), with Olympus retaining a five percent stake.

As of 2021 Olympus cameras – such as the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III and Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III – along with new products began being sold and serviced by OM Digital Solutions Corporation.

In 2022, the first camera bearing the OM System brand logo was released, the OM System OM-5. In 2023, OM Digital Solutions opened its Production Technology Center, “a base for lens innovation.”

It said: “Located in Hachioji City, Tokyo, near our R&D center, this facility delivers one-stop verification of processes from the planning and development stage of optical lenses to the polishing, molding, coating, bonding, and exterior coatings. Traditionally this is a difficult process for mass production and is the key to accelerating OM System's lens development in the future.”

Check out the best OM Digital Systems cameras, as well as the best OM Systems lenses.  

We've also put together the definitive guide to the best macro lenses.

After reviewing the Sony Xperia 1 VI, it's clear that the telephoto macro trend in smartphones is really hitting its stride. Telephoto macro photography, also known as telemacro, involves using the telephoto lens to capture close-up photos and offers numerous benefits. It adds distance between the subject and the photographer (particularly handy for shots of insects). This, in turn, eradicates shadows typically associated with macro photography and also eliminates wide-angle distortion. 

Telephoto macro lenses are anything but a new concept. The popular Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L from 2009 is still one of the best macro lenses available in 2024, serving up high-impact close-up capture to pro photographers. However, it is a relatively new concept on smartphones, with the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra and Sony Xperia 1 VI being the best implementations to date. But can you really take a smartphone macro camera seriously?

I reviewed the Huawei P60 Pro and was blown away by how incredibly detailed its macro stills were. You can see some examples of stills captured on it above. What particularly impressed me about the Sony Xperia 1 VI more recently is its telemacro video, captured at up to 120fps at 4K resolution. Huawei has also integrated a tele-macro camera into its new Pura 70 Ultra, producing crisp Instagram-style telemacro snaps.

But Huawei and Sony are far from the first smartphone makers to dabble in macro photography on their phones; they simply represent the latest (and most impressive) incarnations of the feature to date. In this piece, I’ll explore the different ways to take a macro photo on your phone, explore other macro offerings, and dive into Huawei and Sony’s best-in-show phones in more detail.

A history of smartphone macro photography

Macro photography has been possible on smartphones for years. Before dual-camera phones hit the scene, It was a simple case of getting as close to the subject as the main camera would allow, and cropping into your shot. The next big step forward was the auto-focusing ultra-wide camera, featuring 4cm macro capture, with the Huawei Mate 20 Pro being the first (or one of the first) to pack this tech. It was great for GoPro-style barrelled expansive macro pictures, but not flower or insect shots and other typical macro staples, making its utility limited and requiring a bit of distance.

Alongside all these high-end macro developments, budget smartphones were being loaded up with a poor substitute for a dedicated macro camera. These 2MP resolution fixed focus modules locked on at around 4cm from a subject, gracing hundreds of phones including the Poco X3 Pro and Realme 8 Pro. 

These 2MP macro cameras were little more than marketing tools to unlock terms like triple camera and quad-camera while delivering worse results than a crop from the primary camera. It’s great to see smartphone makers start to ditch this trend with budget offerings like the Nothing Phone (2a). 

The real era of the telemacro camera began with the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 11, which had a 5MP macro camera with autofocus and a 48mm equivalent focal length (roughly 2x zoom). This is also featured on the Xiaomi-made Redmi Note 10 Pro, a significantly cheaper phone, taking respectable telemacro photography to a mainstream price point.

Two years later, the Xiaomi 13 Pro took telemacro capture to new heights with a 50MP 75mm camera. This was the first phone to combine a quality high-resolution sensor with macro focus and serious reach for impressive macro results.

It wasn’t just Xiaomi that was getting in on the macro action. Fellow Chinese smartphone maker Oppo launched its Find X3 Pro, which featured a telemicro lens captured with an almost microscopic focus. This was actually the camera phone that helped me identify the specific type of weevil that was wreaking havoc in our pantry, living in our bags of flour, chomping on our dried pasta, and making its way into our chocolate chips. It was super-helpful for that specific situation, but because it had such a microscopic lens that didn’t extend to traditional macro-type photography, the Find X3 Pro telemicro camera’s practical use was limited.

Before we talk about the latest generation telemacro cameras, specifically from Huawei and Sony, it’s worth talking about almost telemacro cameras. That is to say, the cameras that can capture relatively close-up subjects using telephoto cameras like zooms on the OnePlus Open, Oppo Find X7 Ultra, Vivo X 100 pro and Xiaomi 14 Ultra. These are all fantastic for product photography, with the far-reaching focal length combined with near-focus creating beautiful depth when snapping subjects around 20-70cm away, and are my choice over the zoom lenses on an iPhone, Pixel, and Galaxy flagship right now.

The problem with the iPhone 15 Pro Max in particular, is its tetra-prism telephoto camera can’t focus nearer than around 1.2m from a subject, so it’s the worst telephoto camera for close-up photography on any mainstream smartphone I’ve tested.

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra

Onto the best telephoto cameras for close-up photography out now, and the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is my choice for photos. It has a 1-inch sensor primary camera that pops out and has a variable aperture. As impressive as the main camera is, though, the telemacro camera with its 50MP resolution, f/2.1 aperture, and 5cm near focused distance, is the star today.

Fire up the camera and you could just take a standard 3.5x zoom picture of a close-up subject, and it will focus near or far like a champion. You can also get much more impactful shots if you open the dedicated super macro mode. The reason this mode is so much more high-impact is because its processing crisps everything up masterfully to make your photo clarity pop, and you can also activate manual focus for those hard-to-lock-onto subjects.

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra can also capture 4K video at up to 60fps, and this looks very impressive and sharp out of the camera. However, if you want to take the reins on focus, it records with a much more stepped, less smooth focus panning than our video macro champ, the Sony Xperia 1 VI.

Sony Xperia 1 VI

On paper, the Sony Xperia 1 VI’s telephoto camera is probably the most impressive piece of smartphone camera engineering around. It has a continuous zoom from 85mm to 170mm with a periscope structure, and on top of its moving parts and relatively wide aperture, it also has macro capabilities at the 120mm mark.

Focusing as close as 4cm from a subject, the Xperia 1 VI captures with a ridiculously shallow depth of field, but also an impressively wide focus range. Its photos look very flat out of the camera, making them easy to edit if you know what you’re doing but not ideal for anyone who wants a point-and-shoot shot to share.

What’s more impressive than the Xperia 1 VI’s telemacro photos, though, is its telemacro video. Able to capture it up to 120fps, the phone gives you plenty of scope for slowing down footage, but also does an excellent job of smoothing out focus so you can create beautiful, silky, professional-looking focus pans that wouldn’t look out of place on a landscape documentary.

Thanks to that 120fps video, the Xperia 1 VI’s macro footage is also excellent when you can’t quite capture a winning still shot, as you can simply pull a 12MP 16:9 still from the video and edit the results.

Can smartphones really compete with dedicated cameras?

As with all things smartphone camera-related, it would be misguided to think Huawei and Sony’s new phones will make macro lenses on dedicated cameras redundant. What they will do, however, is provide incredibly compact alternatives when photographers need to travel light. 

So while a macro lens might not sway your decision when deciding on your next phone, if you love capturing close-up, detail-rich photos and video, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra, and Sony Xperia 1 VI could be the best camera phones of 2024, delivering powerful pocketable cameras that niche down and level up like no other.

If you want to go the camera route, take a look at the best cameras for macro photography, along with the best macro lenses to pair with them. 

In my years as a photographer I’ve bought my way through a few systems worth of cameras and lenses. Be it a medium format film system right through to my current Fujifilm setup as a former ambassador (the program ended, not my love of the system). My current lens setup runs from a 7.5mm fisheye up to 600mm (using a 300mm with a 2x teleconverter). Despite this, I still firmly believe that anyone could be happy with two lenses and shoot the most common subjects with them with ease.

I bet you think I’m going to say the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8. Sure it’s the classic professional set, but they’re big and bulky and not at all an agile set for the average photographer. The two biggest genres of photography are scenics and portraits. Both of these can be covered with the lenses I’m suggesting. Wide lenses suit landscapes, cityscapes and broad nature, while medium telephotos suit portraits.

In full-frame terms, the lenses I’m suggesting are the 16-35mm and the 85mm. On my Fujifilm X system, it’s the Fujinon XF 10-24mm f/4 and the XF 56mm f/1.2. Now, I’d prefer if there were an f/2.8 version of the 10-24mm for astrophotography, but f/4 is still fine for scenics, where you’d normally be shooting at f/11. The zoom gives you room to change your view and enhance the foreground. 

85mm (56mm on an APS-C crop-sensor camera) is a very flattering lens focal length for portraits. The compression allows the nose to balance well with the face and helps the ears look proportional. Wider lenses make the nose look larger and bloat the face.  I’ve even shot ¾ portraits using this by zooming with my feet. 

Being a prime, you also get beautiful bokeh with the shallow depth of field. While most are f/1.2, Canon’s RF 85mm f/2 is a gorgeous lens for the money and a worthy investment, especially as it also does macro. I love the new 56mm for Fuji, especially the weather sealing.

Best of all, the combined weight and size makes this set easy to bring everywhere. They’re well suited to a smaller messenger bag, or a day bag with your lunch and laptop. You no longer need to worry if you can bring a camera with you for light travel because you know these lenses will cover most of your needs. 

Checkout our complete guide to the best Fujifilm XF lenses

AstrHori's first full-frame autofocus lens has now been released for the Nikon Z mount – and at just $420 for an 85mm f/1.8, it might be the best value-for-money portrait lens released so far this year. 

AstrHori is a third-party lens manufacturer that makes some of the market's most affordable lenses, including tilt-shift, macro, and fisheye – and in recent times, the low price point does not mean low performance. 

Following the example of other third-party Chinese lens manufacturers that have historically only produced manual focus lenses, AstrHori has started to develop AF lenses. It recently released its first full-frame AF for Sony E mount, and now it has come to the Z mount. 

The AstrHori 85mm f/1.8 full-frame AF lens offers one of the most popular portrait focal lengths, enabling the user to isolate the subject and compress the background. The lens can also be mounted on APS-C cameras, providing an equivalent focal length of 127.5mm – not far from the Nikon Plena. 

The lens is constructed with 9 elements in 8 groups, and the wide f/1.8 aperture offers low light performance and creative potential. The shallow depth of field combined with the focal length produces extremely soft bokeh, which AstrHori states is "well-suited for a rich detail of a portrait".

The autofocus capabilities are what sets this lens apart from the rest of the ArtHori lineup, offering a fast and accurate AF system compatible with eye and face tracking. This is particularly useful in combination with the stepping motor, which drives quiet continuous autofocus, making the lens ideal for stills and video alike. 

Other notable features include electronic contacts for communicating and transferring EXIF data, a USB-C port for future firmware updates, and a multi-layer coating that has also been applied to suppress flare and ghosting. 

The AstrHori 85mm f/1.8 full-frame AF lens is available now for $423 direct from AstroHori. Although we have yet to get our hands on this lens and put it through DCW testing, for the price and the specs alone it strikes me as a great deal – and perhaps even the best bargain of the year.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best Nikon Z lenses, the best Nikon camera, and the best lenses for portraits. 

Nikon picked up most gongs at the 2024 Camera Grand Prix Awards, including the best lens of the year.

The Sony A9 III won camera of the year, while the Nikon NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena won lens of the year, as well as the reader-voted choice of lens of the year. 

The Editor's Award and Technology Prize was also won by Nikon with the Z8 Auto Capture Function. 

The Nikon Z8 and the Nikon Zf took second and third positions in the top five camera models with 126 and 49 points respectively, beaten only by the Sony α9 Ⅲ with 307 points.

The Fujifilm X100VI came in fourth position with 38 points, and the Canon EOS R8 came in fifth with 37 points. 

Unsurprisingly, the Nikon NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena came in first place in the lens category with 169 points, followed by the Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS with 92 points, the Canon RF 10-20mm f/4 L IS STM with 65 points, the Sigma 500 f/5.6 DG DN OS / Sports with 58 points, and the Panasonic LUMIX S 100mm f/2.8 MACRO came in fifth place with 53 points. 

Nikon won the most awards of the night with three, Sony and Canon came next with two each and Fuji, Sigma, and Panasonic all got one each. 

Nikon has been having a good awards season so far, picking up four Red Dot Awards for product design, with two of the best Nikon cameras and best Nikon lenses among the winners.

Two flagship Nikon full-frame mirrorless cameras were among the winners, the Nikon Zf and the Nikon Z8. The Nikon lenses, the 135mm f/1.8 S Plena and the Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S. 

The Red Dot wins come off the back of even more awards for Nikon at the TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) awards, where Nikon was recognized in two categories for both lenses and their cameras 

The Nikon Zf was judged the Best Full Frame Expert Camera and the Nikon Z8 came top in the Best Full Frame Professional Camera. 

The Camera Grand Prix is held every year by the Camera Journal Press Club (CJPC), a group of representatives from magazines and websites specializing in photos and cameras. 

“The Camera Grand Prix “Camera of the Year” is awarded to a still camera recognized as the best of all released during the period. “Lens of the Year” is awarded to the best lens launched in the Japanese market, while the “Readers Award” is determined by general camera users’ votes on a dedicated website.

Check out our list of the best Nikon cameras and lenses in our 2024 guide.

Sony's flagship Xperia 1 line has offered pro photo and video features and a 21:9 4K screen for years, but for its 2024 installment, the Xperia 1 VI, Sony has made an altogether more mainstream phone. While competitor devices like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra are leaning into advanced manual photo and video capture with variable apertures, 1-inch sensors and LOG mode, Sony seems to be playing it a bit safe with the Xperia 1 VI, at least on paper.

Costing £1,299, which is roughly $1,650 or AU$2470, the Sony Xperia 1 VI is significantly more expensive than an iPhone 15 Pro Max with the same 256GB storage.

When it comes to hardware, the main camera and ultra-wide are identical to those of the Xperia 1 VI, though Sony has extended the continuous zoom range to an impressive 85-170mm. Sony also ditched its three camera apps this year – Cinema Pro, Photo Pro, and Video Pro – and opted for a single all-in-one solution that's missing pro-grade video features until an Autumn update. 

Even the Xperia 1 VI's screen spec is more pared back than its predecessor, with a FullHD+ panel instead of the 4K display Xperia 1 series phones have become known for. But is this mainstreaming a bad thing, and can Sony really command an asking price that makes the iPhone 15 Pro Max look affordable?

Sony Xperia 1 VI: design and screen

Unlike every other modern flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 VI is loaded with traditional elements like a brilliant, spongy, and clicky two-stage camera button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, front-firing speakers, and a SIM card slot that can be removed with a fingernail – no fiddly pins required – plus microSD card expansion. These elements alone will make it an obvious choice for a certain type of user.

The main design difference between the 1 VI and past Sony phones is the screen aspect ratio, which has gone from 21:9 to 19.5:9. This makes the phone a little wider, a little shorter, and a little bit better for typing, watching, gaming, and capturing or editing photos.

Unlike the iPhone 15 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Xperia 1 VI isn't made of titanium, but its metal frame nevertheless feels robust and premium. Textured sides give it some grip, and the matte glass back (also textured) feels great.

Sony was the first smartphone maker to add IP68 water resistance to its phones, and the Xperia 1 VI carries forward flagship durability with a Gorilla Glass Victus 2 display and a Gorilla Glass Victus back panel. The phone's camera bump is also very modest, especially when compared to alternatives like the Honor Magic 6 Pro and Vivo X100 Pro.

All the Xperia 1 VI's buttons are on the right side, with that excellent camera button, a fingerprint scanner/power button combo, and a volume rocker. At the top of the phone is the 3.5mm headphone jack, at the base is a USB-C port (with MHL/video out support), and the NFC point is around the back.

Available in three colors: black, Khaki Green, and Platinum Silver, Sony also sells matching kickstand cases for the Xperia 1 VI. However, the phone doesn't ship with a case or a pre-fitted screen protector, nor is there a charger or cable in the slimline, entirely recyclable box.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI's new 19.5:9 OLED screen measures 6.5 inches, and benefits from no notches or punch-hole selfie cameras. Instead, Sony puts the front camera and speakers in the bevels at the top and bottom of the display.

The move from 4K to Full HD is an interesting one. When we were briefed on the phone, Sony explained that the 4K panel prevented battery saving and brightness benefits the Full HD resolution makes possible. Side-by-side with an Xperia 1 V, the Xperia 1 VI does look less crisp when viewing pictures and 4K video content. However, the difference is imperceptible to the naked eye for day-to-day tasks.

There's no getting around the fact the Xperia 1 VI has the least sharp display of any modern-day flagship phone with 396 pixels in every inch. Most people won't notice this, especially since many elements within modern phones are rendered at Full HD, but if you know your eagle eye is a stickler for clarity, you might want to consider a sharper alternative like the OnePlus 12 or Google Pixel 8 Pro.

The 1 VI's display is optimized by Sony's Bravia division, is 50% brighter than last year's Xperia, and has a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, a first for Sony. Outdoor viewing was great even on a sunny day, though the phone's auto-brightness does take a bit longer to adjust than other phones. The screen was also very responsive, and colors looked vibrant and punchy set against deep blacks and bright highlights.

Open the Xperia 1 VI's display settings and you can enable Creator Mode, which displays everything in a 10-bit BT.2020 color space, and customise white balance to suit your eyes.

Unless you plan to shoot in 21:9 (which the phone won't be able to do until autumn 2024), the new aspect ratio is a very good move in our opinion. In the past, when watching 16:9 YouTube videos in either portrait or landscape orientation, the tall 21:9 screens of Xperia phones of old had us squinting. Now, we have just a little bit more width when holding our phone in portrait, and a little bit less letterboxing when holding the phone in landscape.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: camera overview

The Sony Xperia 1 VI has three cameras around the back:

Ultra-wide: 16mm, f/2.2 lens with a 12MP 1/2.5-inch sensor.

Wide: 24mm, f1.9 lens with a 52MP (48MP effective) 1/1.35-inch sensor

Telephoto: 85-170mm, f/2.3-f/3.4  continuous zoom lens with  a 12MP 1/3.5-inch sensor.

With its continuous zoom telephoto, you could argue that Sony's optical range gives you the benefits of quad-camera or penta-camera systems like that of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

24mm wide camera

Unlike the 1-inch sensor packing competition from Xiaomi and Vivo, the Xperia 1 VI has a 52MP 1/1.35-inch sensor. This isn't a normal 4:3 sensor – it features a 4.3:3 aspect ratio, slightly wider than a traditional camera to give more space for electronic stabilization in video, and it shoots 4:3 photos with a 48MP resolution, which is then pixel-binned down to 12MP. 

As the full 52MP sensor is 1/1.35" and the phone captures stills at 48MP, that's an 8 percent reduction in utilized sensor for photos. In turn, relative sensor size is roughly 1/1.45". This isn't terrible, but neither is it class-leading, so we anticipate more modest dynamic range than 1-inch sensor competition.

16mm ultra-wide camera

While Xiaomi opts for a 12mm ultra-wide in its 14 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 13mm equivalent focal length, the Xperia 1 VI's is a tight 16mm. This isn't particularly ultra-wide and adds modest value when the main camera has a 24mm angle of view while promising such superior picture quality given its spec. On the plus, the Xperia 1 VI ultra-wide does pack autofocus and can take impressive macro shots in bright environments.

85-170mm telephoto camera

Sony's showstopper camera on the Xperia 1 VI is the 85-170mm camera. Purely as a technological showcase, a continuous zoom periscope camera with this much reach and a wide f/2.3-f/3.4 aperture is impressive. The fact the camera also supports macro focus when set to 120mm, giving you manual focus as near as 4cm from a subject is the icing on the cake.

Considering competing periscope cameras tend to cap out at the 120mm mark, the fact Sony's goes further and does more is undoubtedly impressive.

As for the Sony camera app experience, three apps have been consolidated into one, and photographers won't mind as it retains plenty of manual control. Videographers who need more control than manual focus and shutter speed, however, probably will. Sony's pro-grade video features aren't available on the Xperia 1 VI on launch, with an update dropping in Autumn that will bring it nearer parity with past Xperias.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: camera performance

Typically, when the light is right, from 16mm through to 170mm and beyond, Sony delivers a reliable point-and-shoot experience.

Sony leans towards cooler tones than the competition. There is a bit of inconsistency in the white balance between lenses, and the phone does expose brightly, so the exposure slider in the camera interface is a great tool to dial things back. Sony's saturation isn't overly boosted and neither is contrast or sharpening when compared to Apple and Samsung.

While Sony has integrated some computational photography smarts in its auto processing, it's far less noticeable than the more HDR-heavy competition. This means you will have to tweak results to get anything close to a Google Pixel look from photos taken on the Xperia 1 VI. The need for edits won't appeal to typical smartphone users, but enthusiasts who love to take the reigns may appreciate it.

The new telephoto camera system is much better than that of the Xperia 1 V. Able to compete with the best out there right up to the 7.1x optical range, pair it with good light and/or a steady hand, and the results should impress.

Sony seems to not use AI zoom, which has become a popular tool used by brands like Asus, Honor and Samsung to clean up digital zoom shots. The result is softer images beyond the 7.1x optical zoom, especially given the 12MP resolution in the telephoto camera, leaving no scope for in-sensor cropping.

When the lights drop, the Xperia 1 VI's main camera can hold its own, however, the secondary cameras really struggle. This is where the Xperia 1 VI feels less like a robust system than the best from Xiaomi or Oppo for example. We appreciate that in order to keep its phones slim, Sony can't use massive sensors, but Xperias have started to fall behind at night, so this is something Sony needs to address in future either through more aggressive computational processing, or larger, better camera hardware.

The 48MP mode, new to the Xperia line, captures full-resolution JPGs, and they grab huge amounts of detail in bright environments. It would have been ideal if RAW photos could have been captured at full-resolution, but they are limited to 12MP.

The phone's party trick, its macro telephoto camera is a real highlight for photographers. While it can be finicky to capture stills owing to an incredibly shallow depth of field, the fact it records at 4K resolution up to 120fps means stills pulled from it look fantastic. The manual focus slider means you can manually rack focus in video, and it also means you can pinpoint focus for stills.

The Huawei P60 Pro and Xiaomi 13 Pro put telemacro on the map, with Huawei's efforts blowing us away when we tested its phone. The Xperia 1 VI brings Sony up to Huawei's level and beyond in some respects, especially when it comes to video. Our main gripe with Sony's macro shots is that they look a bit soft and need editing to crisp them up. Meanwhile, Huawei masterfully processes its macro shots to look as textured as possible, which makes for a more wow result out of the camera.

Despite the lack of pro-grade video capture, the Xperia 1 VI still impresses with its 4K footage across all cameras, and its rear cameras capping out at 120fps. Better still, with the continuous zoom, gliding between 85-170mm is buttery smooth, and the phone's stabilization is also good, especially from the main sensor.

There are some manual video tools. For example, you can adjust exposure, white balance (with a slider, not with Kelvin values), focus, and shutter speed. Sony's product showcase feature is also available on the rear camera, and subject tracking is excellent, as is eye AF. The 399 focus points when shooting with the main camera and physical camera button lock on quickly, but we do wish Sony included a zoom slider rather than just the on-screen zoom numbers.

Selfies are also respectable from the phone, and it's a boon that the front camera can shoot 4K video. Unfortunately, it lacks autofocus, a feature that would have paired well with the Product Showcase function.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: additional features

The Sony Xperia 1 VI's processor is a top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, matched with modest 256GB storage and a respectable 12GB RAM. With microSD card expansion, you can bump up the storage by 1.5TB at an additional cost, but SD storage isn't as fast, so it can result in slowdown unless you stump up for the nippiest storage around.

The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is responsive, and with a large 5,000 mAh battery that Sony states is made of a new, dense battery material, the phone lasts a very comfortable day when using it heavily – plenty of photography and video – and if you're going easy on it, you can get two days out of it, which is seriously impressive.

With 30W charging, the Xperia 1 VI powers up full in around 82 minutes, though can charge up by 50 percent in 22 minutes. Wireless charging is even slower, so Sony definitely isn't catering to anyone who needs to charge and dash.

Gaming on the Xperia 1 VI and general heat management was reliably good, with steady performance, modest throttling, and no overheating shutting down the camera in our time with it, unlike the 2022 Sony Xperia 1 IV.

The Xperia 1 VI runs Android 14 and promises three years of software updates and four years of security updates, which is up a year when compared to past Xperias but still falls behind Apple, Google, and Samsung by some margin. 

Sony's interface is clean, smooth, and easy to navigate. It does feel a bit dated in some areas – very similar to past Xperias – but we'd take its dialed-down experience over an overbearing one like that of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: verdict

Sony's flagship for 2024 is a great phone that's a joy to use with no major chinks in its armour beyond its price, but that is one big £1,299 chink. 

The Xperia 1 VI could be the best phone for macro photography on the market, but it definitely isn't the best camera phone of 2024 given how fierce the competition is. In particular, the 1 VI's lowlight performance from the tele and ultra-wide cameras and the lack of pro video features hold it back, even with that super macro capture.

If the Sony Xperia 1 VI was less expensive, it would be a great option for anyone who wanted an impressive all-rounder. Photographers who love pared-back photo processing and want an excellent screen and speaker setup will enjoy what Sony's doing here too. It's also ideal for gaming and watching on, and Alpha camera owners who want a phone to double up as an external monitor and recorder may well find the price easier to swallow.

So while the Xperia 1 VI is the most accessible Sony phone of late with its more comfortable display, improved battery life, and simpler camera experience. Until Sony either bests the competition on spec and features or drops the price, its phones look set to remain niche options despite all their merits.

Making underwater photography more accessible than ever, Sealife has released a new and improved smartphone casing for use down to depths of upto 130 feet (40 meters).

With significant improvements over the original SportsDiver case, the new SportDiver Ultra is almost universally compatible with modern smartphones, from the iPhone 8 and later, as well as the larger Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy Ultra series. 

The phone case is made from polycarbonate, stainless steel, aluminum, and optical grade glass – offering near-neutral buoyancy depending on the phone model. 

Designed for comfortable handling and ease of use in the water, the SportDiver Ultra allows snorkelers, scuba divers, spear fishers, or even just swimmers to take incredible photos with their phones underwater.  

Advanced external settings include zoom control, exposure adjustment, auto/manual focus, white balance, lens selection, RAW+JPEG mode, and more (also depending on the phone model). The SportDiver camera app is available for both Android and iOS platforms. “This app seamlessly switches between photo and video modes, harnessing the native camera technology of the smartphone to deliver the high-quality images and videos users have come to expect", says Sealife, who notably introduced first ever non-housing underwater digital camera back in 2017, 

For those worried about data protection, the app does not require or ask for your email address, phone number, or personal information.

One of the new and improved features is the Leak Avoidance System, a pre-dive pressure test to ensure the housing is airtight and completely waterproof before entering the water. Another failsafe feature is an internal moisture sensor, which activates a five-second alarm and on-screen warning “in the unlikely event the waterproof seal is compromised.”

For complete peace of mind while using your precious phone underwater, the new interior design protects delicate electronics from any excess water they may come into contact with when opening the case. Lastly, the ‘Moisture Muncher’ capsule prevents fogging and internal condensation.

Practical as well as versatile, the SportDiver Ultra case features seven tripod mounting point to be allow it to be used with different underwater lighting options. 

Accessories that will be launched with the new underwater casing include two dome port options to allow the use of a smartphone's ultrawide angle lens, and an adapter that allows the use of external wide-angle and macro lenses with your phone.

Released this month, the SportDiver Ultra is now on sale for $349.95  (approximately £278 GBP, AU$528). A bundle that combines the casing with SeaLife's own Sea Dragon 2500 light will retail for $749.95 (around £600 / AU$1,135). 

Check out our guide to the best waterproof cameras, the best underwater drones, and the best underwater fishing cameras for all your water based needs. 

Plenty of manufacturers were showcasing new products at the China International Photograph & Electrical Imaging Machinery and Technology Fair 2024 (China P&E), and Laowa was key among them showing off two new tilt-shift lenses.

Laowa is a third-party lens manufacturer, making some of the best macro lenses and wide-angle lenses on the market. The recently released Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF is the first ever AF lens developed by the company to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Not wanting to stop there with firsts, these tilt-shift lenses are also a first for the brand. 

Tilt-shift lenses are going through a bit of a resurgence of late, thanks to social media, with many drawn to the aesthetic of making everyday scenes look like miniature worlds – and they're also a staple in the kit bags of architecture photographers, for whom they're a standard tool of the trade. 

The two new lenses on display from the Chinese manufacturer are the Laowa FFII T/S 55mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1 and Laowa FFII T/S 100mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1, both to be released for the Fujifilm GF, Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z and L Mount. 

Although shown at China P&E, Laowa has yet to announce anything on its channels so information regarding availability, sample images and pricing is sparse. What we do have, however, is a list of specs that provide us with a little more information on the performance expectations. 

Starting with the similarities, judging by the photographs only, both lenses look to follow Laowa's design and build quality. They are both dust and splash-proof and are of course limited to MF, as with all tilt-shift lenses. The aperture ranges from f/2.8 - f/22, and they both offer a maximum shooting magnification of 1x. 

Other notable features included an aperture ring, ±12mm shift, ±10° tilt, 360° revolving in 15° increments, and 90° rotatable tilt/shift (55mm only).

As for the differences between the lenses, the 55mm f/2.8 has a total of 15 aperture blades, and a lens design configured of 14 elements in 11 groups. It measures 168.5 x 85mm, weighs 1,345g and has a minimum focusing distance of just 0.27m. 

The 100mm f/2.8 also has a total of 15 aperture blades but varies in configuration to house 13 elements in 11 groups. The size and weight also differ as the 100mm measures 162 x 85mm and weighs 1,215g, surprisingly lighter and thinner than the 55mm. 

Laowa is a well-respected lens manufacturer and it has been making some exceptional glass of late, so I am looking forward to seeing these in person, especially as they have a large enough coverage to use on the Fujifilm GFX system. 

Fujifilm has recently released two tilt-shift lenses, the Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S and the Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro, both ranking very highly in our reviews. The sticking point for many here is, however, the price point, so it will be interesting to see whether the new tilt-shift lenses by Laowa turn out to be great budget alternatives. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best Fujifilm lenses, the best super-wide angle lenses, and the best lenses for landscape photography.

It’s the time of year that many of us are planning our summer getaways, packing our Nikons, naturally. So in this issue’s lead feature, intrepid photographer Iain Afshar shares his tips for getting off the beaten track and capturing your best-ever travel images. 

You don’t have to go to the ends of the earth for incredible scenic shots, though. Landscape pro Ian Asprey leads his apprentice through the Eryri (Snowdonia) national park in North Wales, where an unexpected dusting of spring snow transformed the mountains into something truly magical. 

A ‘nifty fifty’ should be in every photographer’s kit bag, and in our Big Test we rate eight FX and DX lenses with a 50mm-ish effective focal length for Z-mount Nikons, plus highlight the F-mount options that are still available. We also check out the Astrhori 25mm f/2.8 Macro 2-5x, a fun optic that renders subjects up to five times larger than life – and at a bargain price, too. And we pit the Manfrotto Befree Advanced and Novo Helix T50 travel tripods against each other. 

We speak with macro maestro Tony North about his amazing images of minibeasts and mushrooms in the N-Photo interview, while in our On Assignment section, Alfie Bowen tells how his affinity for horses helped him through tough times and set him on the road to be a wildlife photographer. 

Plus we have a plethora of projects to try your hand at, shooting reflections, festivals, birds of prey and making a party photo booth! 

N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine is a monthly magazine that's written by Nikon enthusiasts for Nikon enthusiasts, you can be sure that all the content is 100% relevant to you! So for the best Nikon-focused news, reviews, projects, and a whole lot more, subscribe to N-Photo today – with our unmissable subs deal!

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Subscription deals: Our guide to the best photo magazines

For portraiture with a full-frame camera, I tend to grab an 85mm fast prime, at least when I’m using a full-frame camera. And I’m certainly not the only one. The field of view is ideal for head-and-shoulders and half-length shots, so I can be close enough to engage with my subject, without invading their personal space. 

The short telephoto focal length also gives a slight compression in perspective, which can be flattering. Designed for medium format Fujifilm GFX cameras, this 110mm lens gives an ‘effective’ 87mm focal length in full-frame terms, which is as near to 85mm as makes no difference. 

With its ideal focal length and fast f/2 aperture, this lens aims to be not only the best portrait lens for GFX cameras, but one of the best Fujifilm GF lenses in the whole line-up, and a must-have lenses for the best Fujifilm cameras.

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Specifications

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Price & Availability

Launched back in 2017, the Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR was one of the first GF lenses to come onstream and, at the time of writing this review in 2024, was priced at £2,599/$2,799 but has been widely discounted since. 

For the sake of comparison, other GF telephoto lenses in the line-up include the Fujifilm GF 120mm F4 Macro R LM OIS WR at $2,699 / £2,499 / AU$4,199, the Fujifilm GF 250mm F4 R LM OIS WR at $3,299 / £2,799 / AU$4,399.

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Design & Handling

Using the Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR, I’m reminded that depth of field is governed more by the ‘actual’ rather than the ‘effective’ focal length of a lens, taking the crop factor into account. The upshot is that I like the way this lens gives a perspective and depth of field that feel very similar to using an 85mm f/1.4 lens on a full-frame camera. 

As such, it’s billed as a portrait lens and is similarly suitable for still-life photography. Indeed, action, sports, and wildlife photography are within its remit, and pretty much any scenario which requires a short telephoto focal length and a fast aperture for freezing movement with quick shutter speeds, as well as for gaining a tight depth of field.

It's the nature of the beast that medium format lenses are chunkier than equivalent full-frame lenses, and more especially than lenses designed for crop sensor cameras. The GF 110mm is a case in point, measuring 94x126mm and weighing in at 1,010g. That’s only 40g or about 1.4oz less than the Fujifilm GF 100-200mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR telephoto zoom lens but, while the latter is supplied complete with a tripod mounting ring, the GF 110mm has none. 

Either way, I find it’s perfectly comfortable even for long periods of handheld photography. Typical of fast-aperture lenses, the GF 110mm also lacks the optical image stabilization of the ‘slower’ GF 100-200mm F5.6 zoom and Fujifilm GF 120mm F4 Macro prime.

The GF 110mm has quite a complex optical design for a prime lens, featuring 14 elements arranged in 9 groups. They include no less than 4 ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements to enhance clarity and minimize chromatic aberrations. As usual with GF lenses, I like the aperture control ring, which enables a full range of hands-on adjustment from f/2 down to f/22, in one-third f/stop click steps. The lock release button is also handy for avoiding accidental nudging of the aperture ring when it’s in A or C positions, for controlling the aperture from the host camera body.

Rainy day portraiture might seem an odd mix but wedding and event photographers would disagree. When something’s firmly fixed in the diary, you have to crack on whatever the weather. As such, and again typical of GF lenses, the GF 110mm is extensively weather-sealed. The overall build quality feels very robust and solid.

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Photo Performance

For this type of lens, the quality of bokeh can be every bit as important as sharpness. The GF 110mm delivers on both counts. I tested the lens with a Fujifilm GFX 100 II camera body, and it was able to make good use of all 102 megapixels to give excellent sharpness even when shooting wide-open at f/2. 

Meanwhile, the tight depth of field ushers in beautifully soft bokeh, along with a very natural-looking roll-off between focused and defocused areas within images. ‘Fast’ lenses with wide apertures are often prone to axial chromatic aberration, also called bokeh fringing. This can create color fringing around high-contrast transitions, just in front of or behind the plane of focus. The GF 110mm does well to keep this aberration to minimal levels.

Lateral chromatic aberration, which is more common towards the edges and corners of the image frame is also very well controlled, and there’s negligible distortion. All in all, image quality and all-round performance are superb. There’s no optical image stabilization but that’s fairly common in ‘fast’ primes, and the lens can make good use of IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilization) featured in all recent Fujifilm GFX cameras.

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Sample Images

The example images in the following gallery were taken in sunny conditions at Bristol Docks in the UK, using the lens with a Fujifilm GFX 100 II camera body.

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Lab Results

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

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

Sharpness:

This is quite possibly the sharpest lens we've ever tested! Center sharpness is simply awesome, particularly from f/2.8 through to f/8. The GF 110mm also retains superb sharpness across the whole image frame, right into the corners, even when shooting wide-open.

Fringing:

Color fringing is well controlled and remains of a low order right out at the edges and corners of the image frame, although lateral chromatic aberration can be very slightly noticeable at medium to narrow apertures.

Distortion: 0.44

There’s just the merest hint of pincushion distortion which will generally be very hard to spot in real-world images.

Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR: Verdict

The Fujifilm GF 110mm F2 R LM WR is my pick of the entirely excellent GF crop for portraiture. The focal length and fast aperture make it simply the perfect tool for the job, but it’s equally adept at still life photography. Fast autofocus also makes the lens a strong contender for action, sports and wildlife photography. All in all, it’s a brilliant lens that combines scintillating sharpness with beautifully smooth bokeh.

Alternatives

I entered the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards again this year because I loved the competition so much last year. I remember leaving the ceremony at the Tower of London and saying to mum and dad: “I want to win this one day!” And with that I set myself a challenge and goal to try to capture images that would be good enough for me to have a chance.

The idea of photographing our turkey Frederick came to me while I was wandering around my garden with my camera just looking for things to photograph. I spotted him in his pen looking at me through the bars – he was being kept inside because of bird flu. He had a curious look in his eyes so I thought I’d try to get a different image of a turkey while he was standing there looking at me... this is where the photo of him came about and was also the idea for the portfolio of a turkey. I wanted to do something different and unique with the portfolio of the turkey as people overlook turkeys. 

Fred is great, he is quite tame and I enjoy spending time with him, so I thought I’d try to capture the beauty of his feathers by using a macro shot to show-up their iridescence. I also wanted to get a real detailed photo of the caruncles on his face and neck. They were particularly red and puffed up, so I asked dad to help hold a flash up for me in his pen while I tried to get the photo of him square on – it was tricky as he would not stay still! And I had to adjust my f-stop and shutter speed quite a bit to finally get the image I wanted.

I’ve used Nikon from day one because that’s what dad James has. He has used Nikon over many years as he enjoyed photography as a hobby. At the moment I shoot with Nikon Z 9 body and various lenses depending on what I’m looking to capture and where I am. For the photo of Frederick, ‘Not Guilty’, which won the overall prize, I used a Nikon Z 24-120mm lens with a Nikon SB-910 Speedlight… and dad as a flash holder!

For the horse photograph, I used a Sigma 150-600mm lens, and for the caterpillar image I used the Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8 macro lens with the Nikon SB-910 Speedlight. I took the ‘Turkey Eye’ picture with dad’s Nikon D500... I didn’t start with a Z 9! As I got better, dad trusted me with his newer camera – the D850. We then sold old kit and saved up to get the mirrorless Z 9, which made a massive difference when taking photos of wildlife as it is so much quieter and faster.

I love nature and wildlife and this is all the inspiration I need to take photos. My mum and dad give me as many opportunities as possible to get out into the wild. We do a lot of research on where to find certain birds and animals and what type of habitat they are likely to live in and when. 

We get up early to go to places to try to find them. We like to travel a lot around Wales and have started going a bit further afield into England. Lots of times I don’t manage to get the photo I want or I miss the bird or animal altogether. But that makes the time that I do get it right that much more amazing. I like to live by Bear Grylls’ motto – ‘never give up’.

I was so chuffed at winning the Pet Portrait category last year that I started taking more photos straight away when we got home! There’s a group of horses on the moorland near where we live in Wales, and we went up there late afternoon on a pretty rough day. As the sun was setting, the clouds parted for just a few minutes and lit up the herd. This beautiful animal looked across at me with this sort of curious look about him… so I decided to call the image ‘Curious George’.

The ‘Head Underwater’ shot of the swan was commended in the Under-12 category. I took this while I was trying to get a photo of the water droplets coming off the beak as the swan lifted its head out of the water. I didn’t manage to get that photo but I did capture this image.

The ‘Staring at the Sun’ image, of the caterpillar, was commended in the Small World category. He dropped out of a cabbage onto the kitchen worktop and crawled his way on to dad’s phone. I loved playing around a bit with different shots while he was crawling around. 

A Year in the Life of a Turkey

About the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards

This year is the 200th anniversary of the RSPCA, so the Young Photographer Awards 2024 is set to be bigger and better than ever. Anyone under 18 can enter, with categories including age categories, the macro of Small World and showcasing Pet Personalities. Entries open in May.   

Canon has just introduced six new Explorers of Light to its exclusive program, filled with industry-leading creatives. 

Until now Canon's Explorers of Light has been reserved for stills photographers, but it has now opened its doors to filmmakers. Each of the new members is working at the top of the field and, as a part of Canon's program, they have shared insights into the industry, along with their favorite equipment and some filmmaking tips. 

Let's meet the new Canon Explorers of Light: 

Christine Ng (Cinematographer)

About Christine: Christine Ng is a Hong Kong-born, New York-raised cinematographer and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her cinematography work spans commercials, music videos, documentaries and narrative. The first commercial she shot was filmed on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon lenses and aired during Super Bowl XLVI. The first feature-length documentary Christine shot was the Emmy-nominated and Critic’s Choice Award-winning Everything is Copy for HBO.

Top Gear Picks: RF 50mm f/1.2 L USM, RF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM, RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM, RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, RF 24-105mm f/2.8 L IS USM Z, vintage Canon K-35 Primes, the Canon 50mm f/0.95mm “Dream Lens” and a 3D-printed Totoro figurine.

Advice for Filmmakers: “Stay humble and true to yourself, always say yes to every opportunity when you’re starting out. You never know who you will meet and how that initial meeting will influence your career later.”

Claudia Raschke (Cinematographer)

About Claudia: Claudia Raschke is a world-renowned cinematographer, best known for her ability to bring rich tones of the motion picture to a diverse spectrum of films, from purely commercial ventures, through feature-length documentaries, to lower budget works of art. Among her notable award-winning films are: Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning RBG, God is the Bigger Elvis.

Top Gear Picks: Canon Cinema EOS C500 Mark II, Cinema EOS C300 Mark III, CN-E 35mm T1.5 L F, CN-E 50mm T1.3 L F, CN-E 135mm T2.2 LF, Cine-Servo 17-120mm T2.95-3.9, Compact-Servo 18-80mm T4.4 EF, a spot meter and a small sketchbook.

Advice for Filmmakers: “Experiment as much as you can with the tech tools you have access to and create a playground to challenge yourself to think outside your limits. Be fierce and fearless.”

David Klein, ASC (Cinematographer)

About David: Cinematographer David Klein, ASC has spent over three decades perfecting his craft and captivating audiences with his visual storytelling. His remarkable career includes lensing iconic indie film classics such as Clerks, Clerks II and Mallrats with director Kevin Smith. In 2014 and 2016, Klein received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series for his work as the Director of Photography on Showtime's Emmy-winning series Homeland. Most recently, David has been on the forefront of virtual production shooting cutting-edge episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett for Disney+.

Top Gear Picks: EOS R5C, CN-E 15.5-47mm T2.8 L SP, CN-E 30-105mm T2.8 LS, a set of Canon PL Cinema Primes, and a Suunto compass/inclinometer combo.

Advice for Filmmakers: “Never forget it’s our job as cinematographers to tell the story in a unique way, but it’s also to be invisible. To paraphrase Roger Deakins, if somebody sees something I’ve shot and says ‘that was beautiful cinematography’ before they talk about the story, we have failed.”

Matthew Heineman (Director/Cinematographer)

About Matthew: Matthew Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated, nine-time Emmy-winning, and two-time DGA Award winning-filmmaker. In 2019, he received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First Time Feature Film Director from the Directors Guild of America for his narrative debut, A Private War — making Heineman and Martin Scorsese one of only two filmmakers ever nominated for both narrative and documentary DGA Awards. 

Top Gear Picks: Canon EOS C500 Mark II, RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM, RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

Advice for Filmmakers: “When I was 21 years old, I heard documentarian Albert Maysles give a talk that would shape my view on filmmaking. He said, ‘If you end up with the film you started with, then you weren't listening along the way.’ Be open to the story changing. Don't be dogmatic. And this is something that I've held very close to my heart both in a macro sense (the films I choose to take on and how I find my way to them) and in a micro sense (within each shoot, shoot day, scene, lens change). Look around the frame at all times! I love embracing this type of unpredictability and adaptation inherent in making verité films. By doing so, my goal always is to try to humanize stories that often seem so far away or are relegated to stats or headlines.”

Rudy Valdez (Director/Cinematographer)

About Rudy: Rudy Valdez, a two-time Emmy-winning filmmaker, is known for his commitment to telling engaging stories that explore a variety of cultural, social, and political themes. Through his distinct cinematic approach, Valdez captures the essence of human emotions and experiences, earning him critical praise and recognition as an influential figure in the film industry.

Top Gear Picks: Canon EOS C500 Mark II, EOS R5C, CN-E 50mm T1.3 L F, CN-E 35mm T1.5 L F, and a monopod

Advice for Filmmakers: “Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. As much as you possibly can. Find out what works for you.”

Shana Hagan, ASC (Cinematographer) 

About Shana: Shana was the first woman to shoot on the hit reality series Survivor and was nominated for an Emmy for her work on Survivor: China. She shot four seasons on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, was the Second Unit DP on Netflix’s Arrested Development, and has shot commercial spots for Disney, Electronic Arts, Kohl’s, the US Army, Kodak, Verizon, and others.

Top Gear Picks: Canon EOS C300 Mark III, EOS C70, EOS R5C, RF 14-35mm f/4 ISUSM, RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS USM, RF 70-200mm F4 L IS USM and an old compass from the Girl Scouts.

Advice for Filmmakers: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you need help with something. Find a mentor. Also take some of your own footage and edit it. You’ll find out what’s working and what’s not working, and it will allow you to make adjustments next time you’re out in the field shooting. I can’t stress how important this process is for young DPs.”

By having these industry titans as Canon Explorers of Light, it means that we can all benefit from their industry knowledge. The program is designed to not only highlight the performance abilities of Canon products, but as an educational platform to to 'foster creativity among the global filmmaking community'.

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