If I were stranded on a desert island with just one lens, I’d want it to be a 70-200mm f/2.8. At the wide end, you've got a versatile short telephoto that can be used for everyday snaps and portraits, while the zoom range provides enough reach for wildlife photography. This class of lens also tends to work very well for close-up work if you don’t need true 1:1 macro.

But if you’re thinking of stepping up to a full-frame camera or even switching systems, who makes the very best 70-200mm? Well, everyone’s favorite Hong Kong-based photography YouTuber Matt Granger has answered that question, pitting pro-grade f/2.8 telephoto zooms from five of the top manufacturers against each other in a real-world head-to-head battle.

During the video, Matt tests the autofocus, build, image stabilization, and image quality of each lens, attached to a high-resolution camera. The Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 70–200mm f/2.8 ASPH is used with the Leica SL3, the Canon RF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS USM Z on the Canon R5 Mark II, the Nikon Z 70–200mm f/2.8 VR S II on the Nikon Z8, the Sigma 70–200mm f/2.8 DG DN OS Sports on the Sigma fp L, and the Sony FE 70–200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II on the Sony A7R V.

Ultimately, Matt concludes that the Nikon, Canon and Sony exist in a class of their own, but there are a few caveats, so to find out his opinion on each lens, make sure you watch the video (above) all the way to the end. If you’re interested in finding out the telephoto lenses that Digital Camera World rates, check out the best telephoto lenses.

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Want a lens that's a little shorter? Check out the best standard zooms. If you're after something with more reach, here are the best lenses for bird photography. And to stay up to date, here's the latest camera news.

Getting into photography is an expensive business. Long gone are the days when you could pick up an entry-level Canon or Nikon DSLR for a few hundred bucks - heck, now even a fairly typical compact camera like the Panasonic ZS99/TZ99 will set you back around $700! So I completely understand anyone trying to find cheaper options. And if you head to Amazon, you'll find no shortage of cameras which boast impressive specs, yet cost well under $200 (some can even be picked up for as low as $40). Most even have customer reviews averaging more than 4 stars. So are we simply being ripped off by the established camera brands, or are these cheap no-name alternatives too good to be true?

To find out, photographer, YouTuber and Sony shooter Arthur R bought one of these cut-price cameras that's been styled to look suspiciously similar to a Sony ZV-E10. He then did a side-by-side performance comparison with his own genuine ZV-E10 II. For context, the cheap clone costs $130, whereas a proper ZV-E10 II with Sony's 16-50mm kit lens will run you to $1100. Then consider that the clone camera has a 72MP sensor (compared to Sony’s 26MP chip), 6x zoom, and it can record 5K video - Sony execs should be trembling in fear, right? Well, not just yet.

As you could probably predict, looks (and advertised specs) can be very deceiving. The clone camera's sensor is a tiny 1/3-inch chip that'd be more at home in a cheap dash cam than a camera purporting to be serious piece of kit. Though it does produce images with dimensions equating to 72 megapixels, Arthur R clearly demonstrates that there's no way the camera is actually capturing shots at anything close to this resolution.

Judging by the total lack of fine detail visible in the clone camera's images, it's almost certain that the sensor has a true megapixel count somewhere under 20MP, then software is blowing up each shot to 72MP dimensions, just as you could do in Photoshop if you wanted. You're not gaining detail here, just increasing file size - there is no upside. Unsurprisingly, Arthur R also finds the '5K' video is equally devoid of detail - it's also likely 480p footage (or lower), up-scaled to 5K. The clone camera's autofocus reliability is equally disappointing, and the 6x zoom is, at best, only partially optical.

Maybe this kind of overzealous marketing is an isolated case, though? Not from our experience. We've recently reviewed cameras like the Yashica FX-D 300 and encountered a very similar case of a sky-high megapixel rating, but on examining the actual photos they look suspiciously like far lower resolution shots, just up-scaled to match the dimensions of a higher megapixel image.

And this isn’t just us being snobby here. The image and video quality from these cheapo cameras is worse than even a base model Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot from 5+ years ago (I tested many such cameras back in the day). Considering a camera like that can now be picked up used for a similar price to these cheapo no-name models, if you're on a very tight budget, that's definitely the better option.

Alternatively, if you use even a modest Android camera phone, it'll almost certainly capture far more detailed shots than a sub-$100 new standalone camera, so stick with that. And if you want to hone your photographic skills with a proper camera that doesn't cost a fortune, pick up something like a used Nikon D3400 with kit lens for around $200 - it'll be a bona fide photographic tool you can rely on, not some plasticky sham that's all marketing and no substance.

The YouTube Hype button might sound like one more throwaway engagement gimmick, but content creators should not dismiss it that quickly.

In a platform economy where discovery is everything and audience loyalty is often more valuable than raw vanity metrics, Hype is YouTube’s attempt to turn passionate viewers into active promoters. That matters because it shifts support from being passive, like a thumbs-up, into something that can actually help a video travel.

So what is it? Officially, Hype is a feature for eligible long-form videos from YouTube Partner Program creators with between 500 and 500,000 subscribers. Viewers can use it on videos uploaded within the last seven days, and when they do, that video receives points. YouTube then adds bonus points based on the creator’s subscriber count, with smaller channels getting a bigger lift, which is clearly designed to stop larger mid-tier creators from steamrolling everyone else.

Why is it there? Because YouTube knows a lot of creators do not fail because their content is bad, they fail because discovery is brutal. The company has said Hype was built to help emerging channels connect with new audiences and to give fans a more active role in helping creators grow. In other words, this is YouTube acknowledging that likes, comments, and even shares are no longer enough if it wants smaller creators to feel like they have a fighting chance.

Using it is fairly simple, at least from the viewer's side. In the YouTube mobile app, a user opens an eligible video, finds the Hype option in the carousel under the video, taps Hype, and selects the number of points to send. In the free version of the feature, viewers can hype up to three times per week, either on the same video or across different videos, and that allowance refreshes every Monday at midnight local time.

What does that actually do to a creator’s content? Turns out, quite a bit, potentially!. A hyped video gets points immediately, can climb onto a country-specific leaderboard in the Explore section, may display a special hyped badge, and can benefit from fans publicly sharing that hype through posts on their own channel tabs. YouTube also says the leaderboard is updated frequently and is not personalized, which means a hyped video is being pushed into a broader discovery surface rather than just recycled back to the same loyal audience.

That is why creators should care. Hype is not just another shiny button for viewers to mash; it is a discovery tool wrapped in fandom. If you are an up-and-coming creator, especially one sitting below the mainstream algorithm sweet spot, this gives your most engaged viewers a structured way to help your latest upload break out during the most important first week of its life.

The catch is that it is not universal: it applies to eligible long-form videos, not Shorts, private or unlisted uploads, or live streams while they are still live. Creators are auto-enrolled when eligible, but they can opt out in YouTube Studio if they do not want the feature.

My take is simple: creators who ignore Hype are probably overlooking one of the clearest signals YouTube has introduced for community-powered discovery. No, it is not a magic fix for weak content, and no, it does not replace good thumbnails, sharp hooks, or consistency.

But if YouTube is giving your audience a direct way to help a fresh upload gain points, visibility, and momentum, then smart creators should absolutely educate their viewers on how to use it. In 2026, attention is currency, and Hype is YouTube’s latest attempt to let fans spend some of theirs on your behalf.

Video streaming giant YouTube has begun to crack down on channels potentially earning millions of dollars publishing “AI slop” content created solely using artificial intelligence (AI).

In a recent move, the platform either completely removed or wiped content from 16 leading AI-driven channels which, collectively, had amassed over 35 million subscribers and 4.7 billion views.

In an open letter to the public published in January this year, YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan, said the platform is “actively building” on established systems that have been “very successful” in combatting the spread of “low quality AI content”.

The action comes after a report published by the video creation platform Kapwing identified the “AI slop” YouTube channels with the most subscribers and their earning potentials, thought to be in the millions.

“AI slop” is widely regarded as content generated entirely using AI tools that's low-quality and repetitive. AI slop channels typically publish new posts at much higher rates than human-content-led channels to maximize engagement and advertising revenue.

Also called ‘AI brainrot”, videos often include historical themes littered with inaccuracies and surreal, nonsensical scenarios, typically reusing the same script, music and visuals.

One of the leading AI slop channels identified in Kapwing’s report which subsequently had the majority of its content wiped was Three Minute Wisdom (1.7 million subscribers / 2 billion views).

According to the report, the South Korean channel, which initially had 140 videos depicting “photorealistic(ish) footage of wild animals being defeated by cute pets”, but now only shows 20 live videos, was potentially earning $4,036,500 in annual ad income.

Other AI slop channels that have been completely removed from YouTube following Kapwing’s report include CuentosFacianantes (FascinatingTales), which published “low-quality Dragon Ball-themed videos", and Imperio de Jesus (Empire of Jesus), a religious channel which had over 5.8 million subscribers.

However, not all of the lucrative AI slop channels mentioned in the report seem to have been penalized by YouTube.

Bandar Apna Dost, an Indian channel with over 3 million subscribers and 2 billion views, and an estimated annual ad revenue of $4,251,500, still has over 400 videos live.

Kapwings report also calculated that over 20% of videos shown to new users on YouTube are AI slop. But as yet, it’s uncertain how YouTube plans to strike a balance between promoting AI-generated and human-crafted content to viewers.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan previously stated that generative AI has been “a revelation”, saying that it can do for video what the synthesizer did for music.

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Social media has become increasingly video-focused in recent years, as even the once photo-focused Instagram focuses on Reels – but video giant YouTube is planning on adding support for still images sometime in 2026, according to CEO Neal Mohan.

Tucked inside an extensive list of plans that YouTube has in store for 2026 are three simple words that indicate the video-focused platform is planning to roll out support for still photos this year.

“This year we'll bring even more variety to Shorts by integrating different formats – like image posts – directly into the feed, making it easier to stay connected with your favorite creators,” Mohan writes.

Mohan doesn’t offer any additional insight into what the image posts will look like or when in 2026 the feature will arrive. But the CEO indicates that image posts will be a part of Shorts, which are YouTube’s short-form vertical videos.

YouTube has always been traditionally video-focused, although creators do already have the ability to share images to the Community Tab, along with editing them into a video.

The addition of image posts is an interesting one, as platforms gravitate towards vertical video. Even Instagram, once known for its photo sharing, has shifted to vertical video, and head Adam Mosseri said earlier this year that “that feed is dead.”

ABOVE: Watch the CEO explain YouTube's 2026 priorities

Image posts aren’t the only thing that creators may have to look forward to on YouTube in 2026. The still image support is just three words in a long list of features that the CEO has planned for the platform this year.

That includes giving creators the ability to create shorts with an AI using their likeness, expanding monetization tools and building on parental controls. The list of planned features also includes the ability to buy products without leaving the YouTube app, new brand partnership tools, AI-generated games and specialized YouTube TV plans.

Mohan also says that 2026 will also include building tools to manage AI slop.

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve learned not to impose any preconceived notions on the creator ecosystem. Today, once-odd trends like ASMR and watching other people play video games are mainstream hits. But with this openness comes a responsibility to maintain the high quality viewing experience that people want.

“To reduce the spread of low quality AI content, we’re actively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low quality, repetitive content.”

Mohan’s article was shared alongside a video interview, where he described creators as the “epicenter” of the platform.

“We are the world’s original and largest creator economy,” Mohan said. “We intend to remain that way. I’m incredibly proud of the fact that, over the last four years, we’ve paid out over a hundred billion dollars to creators, artists, media companies, and other partners.”

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If there’s one area of photography I could improve upon, it’s studio photography, so I jumped at the chance to watch Adorama and Gavin Hoey’s ‘3 Smart Ways to Use Grip Arms in Photography’. What’s a grip arm? I hear you say. Well, as Gavin points out, a grip arm – sometimes misidentified as a boom arm – is an extendable rod with a grip that can be used to position lighting, modifiers, flags, and generally acts as a very useful bit of lighting kit.

Above: watch Gavin Hoey demonstrate how he uses grip arms in his photo studio

Gavin’s first tip is to use a grip arm to extend the height of a lighting stand. Pretty simple stuff, but essential if you’re using shorter lighting stands. His next tip is to use the grip arm to 'boom' a light outwards, and what I like about this section is that he takes the time to talk about the proper way to do this safely. As a photographer, you’ve got a responsibility to keep everybody in your studio safe. And while photo studios aren’t inherently dangerous, you do need to be mindful of potential areas of concern, such as trip hazards and falling lights.

When using a grip arm as a boom, you need to be particularly wary of the latter, which can cause the light stand to become top-heavy. As such, Gavin explains that the grip arm should be boomed over a C stand’s longest leg or any leg on a more traditional stand with equal leg lengths. He then drapes a small sandbag over the top of the leg in question to provide extra stability.

To find out more of Gavin’s tips for using a grip arm, as well as some very useful insights on how to use sandbags, make sure you watch the rest of the video. You even get a fantastic, creative portrait project that you can try at home at the end.

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I've just watched Casey Stern from the YouTube channel Camera Conspiracies accidentally become the primary videographer at his fiancée's best friend's wedding. And it's not just a hilarious video. It's the best advertisement for hiring a professional videographer that I've ever seen.

To set the scene, the Canadian presenter turns up on the day with the intention of grabbing some artsy slow-motion B-roll with his Canon R5 II and RF 50mm f/1.2. Perhaps, he muses, he can later set the footage to music as a wedding gift. Noble intentions. Lightweight kit. Zero pressure. 

But then he discovers that the groom's plan for his brother to film the wedding has fallen through. Why? Because the supposed "8K" camera they'd ordered online turns out to be terrible. Suddenly, Casey's holding the only proper camera at the wedding. Panic stations.

What follows is 20 minutes of frantic documentation that perfectly illustrates why asking your mate with "good gear" to make a wedding video is not the same as hiring a professional… not by a long chalk.

Autofocus becomes the enemy

The Canon R5 II is, by his account, a magnificent piece of kit with brilliant autofocus. Except when it isn't. Casey's running commentary as his camera decides to focus on flowers instead of the bride walking down the aisle is painful. "Oh, there's my bride. Okay, focus on them. Oh, no. Not happening, huh?" The mother giving away her daughter? Canon says no thanks, let's look at that bouquet instead. 

We're talking key moments, completely botched by technology that works brilliantly 95% of the time – which isn't nearly enough when you've only got one shot at filming someone's mom walking them down the aisle.

A professional would have had backup plans, custom AF modes or manual focus skills honed over dozens of weddings, and probably wouldn't be shooting wide open at f/1.2 for critical moments. Casey admits he'd have been "done for" without autofocus. That's not a backup plan; that's a prayer.

Audio is a disaster

Casey is woefully unprepared for the task thrust upon him. After all, he's rocked up with no shotgun mic, no wireless lavs, nothing. And this means capturing vows and speeches with in-camera audio from 40ft away. Even with AI noise removal in post, it's a disaster. 

Professional wedding videographers spend hundreds, sometimes thousands, on audio gear because they know you can't fix terrible audio. You can color grade dodgy footage, but you can't resurrect the bride's vows from ambient church reverb and rustling dresses.

Casey shoots everything at 4K 60fps, then doesn't slow most of it down because he needs the audio. So he's got enormous file sizes for no benefit. Meanwhile, he's shooting in standard profile instead of C-Log because he thought the couple might want "raw clips" they could grade themselves. Dude, they were going to film the wedding on a phone; they won't want to colour grade anything.

My favorite bit is when Casey tries to film the first dance whilst simultaneously dancing with his fiancée. He's holding his hand out to her whilst keeping the camera trained on the couple. The stabilization is "a little jerky at times", he notes. You don't say.

Why this matters

This not just about laughing at someone's misfortune. It's also a great demonstration what couples are actually paying for when they hire a wedding videographer. Yes, they've got good gear. But more importantly, they've got redundant audio solutions. Experience at knowing which moments matter. The ability to direct people and manage a scene. 

Backup cameras and lenses. Proper lighting equipment. Years of practice at manual focus when autofocus fails. Knowledge of which settings to use and when. The skill to deliver finished, usable footage. Need I go on?

Casey's setup – a $4,000 camera with a $2,500 lens – is arguably better than what many wedding photographers use. But he still manages to miss key moments, get unusable audio, and create jerky footage whilst trying to be in two places at once. And remember, he's no newbie. He's an experienced videographer with professional gear. His YouTube content is slick and professional. His channel has 172K subscribers. And yet he still struggles when thrown into an unfamiliar situation without preparation. 

So, next time a relative says they can't afford a wedding photographer or videographer, and asks "Can you bring your camera instead?", show them this video. Then tell them hire a pro. They're expensive because they're worth it, and this chaotic, hilarious video shows exactly why.

YouTube has been an internet mainstay for more than 20 years – and now the online video platform is giving creators a glimpse into what the future may bring for the longstanding video platform. During the Made on YouTube event on September 16, the platform unveiled a long list of new features, from tools using AI to create to using the technology to fight deepfakes.

The event highlights a number of features coming to YouTube across its traditional videos, Shorts, Live, and Studio, and even introduces a way to add visuals to podcasts to tempt audio creators over to the platform. Some of the key features introduced at Made on YouTube include:

• New tools for YouTube Studio, including an AI chatbot capable of delving into analytics, an AI-powered inspiration tab, and a collaboration tool
• The largest update to YouTube Live yet in the platform’s history, which brings a practice option before the real livestream, streaming across vertical and horizontal formats simultaneously, live reaction videos, AI-powered live highlights, livestream games called Playables, and a new side-by-side ad format
• Expanded AI tools for Shorts using Google Veo, including sound generation, animating still photos, stylizing videos, adding objects to a video, an AI-built first draft tool, and a new Speech to Song remixing tool

That’s a lot to unpack, but the event offers a glimpse at where YouTube is focused for the future. Unsurprisingly, that future includes the tech buzzword of the decade: AI.

The list of updates coming to YouTube includes both AI tools to create and tools to fight deepfakes. On the list of updates announced today alone, creators on YouTube can use AI to add objects to videos, edit shorts, and chat with a bot about analytics and ideas for new videos.

With AI, YouTube also aims to empower creators to enter new genres of work: AI tools make it possible to animate still photos into videos and turn podcasts into videos.

In a way, AI tools make more sense on YouTube because the platform supports anyone from channels led by a single person to multi-million dollar operations like Mr. Beast. That’s exactly the sentiment that YouTube Chief Product Officer Johanna Voolich put to words among today’s announcements. “Anyone with an idea – whether an individual, artist, studio or brand – can become a creator here,” Voolich wrote.

AI isn’t just used to create, but to analyze analytics and ideate potential follow-up ideas. YouTube Studio’s new chatbot has the ability to answer questions and make suggestions on viewer engagement. Studio’s new inspiration tab highlights suggested topics based on your feed, along with using audience behavior to suggest why an idea may work.

On the flipside, the introduction of more AI tools often comes with increasing concerns of a platform filled with “AI slop,” and AI-wary creators have even noticed “AI enhancements” happening behind the scenes in beta tests. I think AI tools need an easy way to opt out, for both creators and viewers.

AI will, in a way, become a weapon against itself here, too. YouTube also announced that it is expanding its likeness detection tool, now in an open beta available to Partner Program creators. The tool helps creators detect videos that use their likeness without permission, including tools to request removal.

While AI was the buzzword across multiple new features YouTube announced today, machine learning isn’t the only trend that emerges from the list of new features. The balance between horizontal and vertical videos continues, with livestreams finally granted the ability to stream in both formats at the same time.

The increasingly popular reaction videos, where one creator reacts to content from another, also get live capabilities, where one creator can respond to another currently livestreaming creator with their own take.

The Made on YouTube updates also bring more tools to YouTube Music and new tools for collaborating with brands.

“As we look ahead to the future we are committed to empowering creators, fostering community, and continuing to redefine how the world watches, listens, and connects,” Voolich wrote. “We can't wait to see what we create together in the next 20 years.”

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A few weeks back, YouTubers started to notice something odd about their Shorts – they looked like AI fakes. Now, YouTube has spoken up about what’s going on: an experimental machine learning to improve clarity and unblur videos.

After creators started pointing out oddities in the quality of the short-form videos posted to YouTube Shorts compared to other platforms, a YouTube representative has finally clarified what was going on.

“No GenAI, no upscaling. We're running an experiment on select YouTube Shorts that uses traditional machine learning technology to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity in videos during processing (similar to what a modern smartphone does when you record a video),” Rene Ritchie, YouTube Creator Liason, wrote on X.

While YouTube’s statement indicates that the AI oddities that creators are noticing are so-called “traditional AI” and not generative AI, the conversation on X indicates many creators aren’t happy about the experiment.

Creators have responded by criticizing the video platform for imposing its definition of how a video should look when some creators may stylistically disagree.

Others have pointed out the reason why creators discovered the experimental feature in the first place – not everything looks better when sharpened and denoised.

Others asked for at least an opt-out, adding that, beyond being unwanted in some cases, the use of AI tends to also be power-hungry.

According to a report by the BBC, complaints on social media over the AI experiment date back to at least June.

YouTuber and musician Rhett Shull accused the platform of applying AI filters without telling creators. In the video originally shared on August 14, he pointed out differences between videos shared on Shorts and those posted to Instagram Reels, noting oddities in hair and wrinkles and even saying that some videos looked like an AI beauty filter had been used to smooth out skin.

Shull called the issue a “massive problem” in a video that has now amassed more than 690,000 views. He even recruited a photographer to comment, who said that the Shorts looked fake.

“Whether or not you like my content or agree with what I have to say, underneath all of that is this underlying foundation that you trust what I’m making and what I’m saying and what I’m doing is truly me,” he said in the video. “It is my real opinion. It is my real thought. It is my real work. Replacing or enhancing my work without consent or knowledge with some kind of AI upscaling system not only I think erodes that trust with the audience, but it also erodes my trust in the platform of YouTube.”

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Every now and then, a video lands in your YouTube feed at exactly the right time. This time it wasn't a gear review or a tutorial, but something a little deeper that speaks to the core of what it means to make photographs.

This week, that video came from Adrian Vila – better known as Aows on YouTube. If you’ve spent any time on his channel, you’ll know what I mean when I say it's a rare corner of the internet; slow, considered and beautifully made.

Aows has been a quiet yet constant source of inspiration for years, especially for those of us drawn to black and white photography, foggy forests, square frames and wandering without expectation. His field videos are often meditative, built on mood and intuition.

But now and then, he drops something more reflective; videos not just about photography, but about being a photographer.

ABOVE: Aows' YouTube video Don't Quit

His latest, titled Don’t Quit, is one of those. And if you only watch one YouTube video this week, I genuinely think it should be this one.

The video opens with a quiet truth that the great photographers, the ones we admire and study, didn’t just make great work. They made great work for a long time.

"What’s less appreciated by many," Vila says, "is that they did it for a very long time. Year after year. Decade after decade."

He cites Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis as a prime example; a project started in his sixties, which took eight years to complete. Even for a master, that’s no small feat. The physical and emotional toll, the years of travel, the grind behind the glamor. This is often overlooked in our highlight-reel culture.

But the deeper point is that over time, "talent becomes indistinguishable from perseverance". That’s the heart of Vila’s message. It isn’t a video about cameras or lenses, but rather a call to rethink our relationship with time.

We spend so much energy wishing we had better equipment or more exotic locations. But the truth, Vila says, is that what we need most is time. Not even huge blocks of it, just the commitment to keep showing up.

"There’s no shortcut here," he says. "No substitute for showing up over and over again. And doing it in a sustainable way."

Like many, I’ve felt the tension of trying to stay creatively alive while juggling work, life and bills. And in those moments, it’s easy to feel like the odds are against you. But Vila’s philosophy urges you to 'make photography inevitable'. Build habits and routines that support the work, even when the inspiration fades.

One of the most refreshing elements of the video is its honesty about failure. "For every image I’m proud of, there are hundreds that didn’t work."

Vila reminds us that the process is what matters, not the illusion of perfection. He even quotes from the excellent book Art & Fear:

"The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars."

We all know this deep down. But it’s easy to forget when you’re scrolling through someone else’s best nine on Instagram. This video is a balm for that, and a reminder that the junk photos, the bad edits, the frustrating shoots all count and are all necessary.

So yes, if there’s one YouTube video photographers should watch this week, it’s this one. Not because it’ll teach you a new technique, but because it might just keep you going.

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YouTube Shorts and Google Photos have a new ability: converting still images into video. This week, Google unveiled several key updates to YouTube Shorts and Photos that use generative AI. The update gives users on both platforms the ability to turn still photos into short video clips using generative AI, along with adding a handful of other AI-based tools.

Google Gemini already had the ability to create a video from a photo, a feature that has already rolled out earlier this month. But that AI capability is now coming to YouTube Shorts and Google Photos.

Photo to video capability inside Google Photos and YouTube Shorts

For both YouTube Shorts and Google Photos, the user selects a photograph, then chooses from one of the prompt options. Those AI prompts are pre-suggested rather than written out by the user.

In Google Photos, the feature launches with two options: “Sutble movements” or “I’m feeling lucky.” Google says that photos of people work best for the new tool.

For YouTube Shorts, the feature launches with the ability to add movement to landscape photos, animate “everyday photos,” or turn group photos into videos.

Looking at the example Google shared to announce the feature on YouTube Shorts, there are a few telltale AI signs. The text on a flyer from the still photo turns to gibberish in the video, and the photo on the same flyer flickers in the generation, while the pole the flyer is on isn’t perfectly straight.

The examples of the tool in action on Google Photos seem to animate people in a celebratory mood, in two examples having them throw confetti, and in another releasing balloons into the air.

On Google Photos, the screenshots show a subtle warning: Experimental GenAI: results may be unexpected.”

“These features are experimental,” Josh Sassoon, the Director of UX for Google Photos and Google One, wrote in a blog post, “and we know some outputs may not be exactly what you expect or may even be inaccurate. Use the thumbs up and down buttons on your generated images and videos to give us feedback, which we'll use to make ongoing improvements to our safety measures and overall experience.”

While Gemini uses Veo 3 to power the still-to-video tools, both Photos and YouTube Shorts use the older Veo 2. Google says that Veo 3 capabilities will be coming to YouTube Shorts later this summer.

On Google Photos, the photo-to-video tool has already started rolling out in the US on Android and iOS devices. For YouTube Shorts, the feature is rolling out over the next week in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; Google says additional regions will come later this year.

YouTube Shorts is also getting an AI Playground, new generative effects

Along with the photo-to-video capabilities, YouTube Shorts will also gain new generative effects and a dedicated space to play with generative AI called AI playground.

Generative effects allow users to play with preset AI effects, which include anything from turning a selfie video of a walk down the street into a dive into the pool to turning drawings into images. Google says these effects will be “constantly refreshing,” so the different options will update regularly. The feature is expected to roll out in the coming weeks.

Shorts’ new AI playground will house the AI creation tools in one spot. The AI playground is accessed by navigating to Create, and then tapping on the sparkle icon. This new section of YouTube Shorts will house the AI creation tools as well as inspiration and pre-written prompts and can be used to generate videos, images, and music.

Google Photos gains a new AI Remix and Create tab

Inside Google Photos, the app will soon gain an AI Remix tool. Remix, which Google says is rolling out in the coming weeks for US users, takes a photo and generates a version from a pre-selected style, like comics and sketches.

Beginning in August, Google Photos will also get a dedicated tab called Create. This tab will house the new generative AI tools as well as the options to create collages and highlight videos.

Google says that, for both Photos and YouTube Shorts, generative AI will include a SynthID watermark that flags the work as an AI creation.

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Browse the best photo organization software. Or, brush up on how to spot an AI-generated image.

Photography is an expensive hobby, so why not put your gear to work and make some cash on the side? Berlin-based photographer and YouTuber, Katja Feldmeier, has put together nine ideas for doing just that.

All you need is a decent camera and lens, and the ability to take a good photo with your kit. Remember, the only camera that many people have access to these days is the one on their phone. So even if you only have a beginner camera, but you've put in the time to learn about exposure, composition, and lighting, you'll have the gear and skills to provide people with decent pictures.

Katja's ideas are as diverse as shooting portraits for LinkedIn profiles and dating apps, product photography for those selling their wares on sites like Etsy, and content creation for local cafes and restaurants. Check out her video for the full skinny…

The video highlights nine ways to make money from the photo kit and skills you already have. "We live in a day and age where there's absolutely massive demand for photos, videos and any sort of visual content," says Katja, "so in this video I want to show you nine great side hustles that you can start today if you own a camera."

None of it is likely to make you a millionaire overnight, but there are some great ideas to supplement your income, which you can always spend on even more camera kit.

"Be bold, pitch yourself, but don't ask too high a price when you're just starting out, and I'm sure you can make this work into a side hustle over time, support your local community, and have a little fun!" advises Katja.

You might also like...

See our guides on how to make money with your camera, along with 12 things you need to make money from a drone and how to make money from photography in an eco-friendly way.

Wondering what cameras YouTubers use? Some of the answers from some of the biggest names might surprise you!

You can embark on a very successful YouTube career with nothing but the best camera phone and some half-decent lighting. Heck, if you want to be TikTok famous, you don’t even need that. But if you’re an established content creator, you’re probably going to be shooting on something tasty.

And that’s exactly what a recent episode of the WVFRM Podcast, titled 'Your Favorite Creators' Favorite Cameras!' uncovers: what cameras do YouTubers use.

What cameras do YouTubers use?

It begins with everyone’s fav tech content creator and host, Marques 'MKBHD' Brownlee, talking about his preference for Red cameras, prompting a chuckle or two from within the studio.

After all, notoriously expensive Red cinema cameras are designed for big-budget productions, not bedrooms. But Marques, seeing the funny side, explains that he adopted Red for two reasons: “One, resolution. Two, color science.” The latter of which will become a bit of a recurring theme.

And hey, if I were one of YouTube’s most successful tech content creators, you can bet your bottom dollar I’d be using the best camera for video I could get my hands on, too. But what about other YouTubers within the tech industry?

Well, the WVFRM Podcast asks a variety of creators and gets a variety of answers. I’m not going to list everyone here, because I’d implore you to watch the full episode. But here are a few of my favorites…

Perhaps the most surprising revelation was Becca Farsace’s preference for Nikon cameras. I wrote an op-ed, a while ago, proclaiming that Nikon was cool again.

And while the Big N has infused its latest cameras, like the Nikon Z5 II, Z6 III and Z8, with strong video credentials, it’s still one of the systems you see YouTubers using the least. But Becca praises Nikon for the quality of its footage:

“There’s something about it [Nikon color science] that feels, like, homier and cosier… Nikon just naturally right out of camera, I can have something that I’m really pleased with.”

On the other hand, YouTube legend Casey Neistat is a proponent of Canon and Sony – which won’t be a surprise to anyone who’s followed him for a while, but one of the cameras he mentions might do: namely, the Canon PowerShot TX1, released in 2007, of which he says he still has a couple in his office.

The Sony camera he talks about is the Sony A7S III. And while listing its many important features, he highlights the touchscreen, calling it “a gigantic leap for me. There’s a lot of shots where I’m talking to camera and without my arm entering the frame, I tap behind me and it rack focuses to whatever I’m talking about.”

Of course, Fujifilm cameras have exploded on social media in the past few years. The podcast lists cinematographer and YouTuber, Brandon Y Lee, and YouTube guitarist, Joshua De La Victoria, as Fujifilm users. But it’s co-host David Imel’s explanation of why Fujifilm is so hot among content creators that really speaks to me.

He essentially says that Fujifilm’s popularity is due to its Film Simulations making great-looking footage achievable for anyone, regardless of their editing and color-grading expertise. And I couldn't agree more.

When it comes to Panasonic, photo and video YouTuber, Tyler Stalman, mentions how a Micro Four Thirds sensor is “as close to square as you get. So if you need to shoot for both formats [horizontal and vertical] at the same time, there’s really no better sensor.”

This is something I've never considered, and it's genius!

So, what can be learned from some of the biggest content creators in the biz and their camera choices? Well, I couldn’t help but notice that in a world where we very often wax lyrical about framerates, codecs and bitrates, much of what was being mentioned wasn't ground-breaking tech.

Color was a recurring theme, Casey Neistat highlighted his Sony A7S III’s touchscreen, and Tyler Stalman mentioned the versatility of a 4:3 sensor.

In a world with ever-advancing tech, it’s easy to get bogged down in technical details that – let's be real here – many of us might not even use. So this was a refreshing, practical look into the features that matter by people who aren't all necessarily videography pros, but do shoot video, day in, day out.

There's a great bit at the end of the video, too, where Rich asks Casey if "gear still matters" and his answer is so good, I might just write a separate article on it. Hint, it's this bit during the video.

You might also like...

Interested in video? Here are the best video lights for vlogging and filmmaking. And if you're into short-form video content, here are the best cameras for vlogging. Finally, take a look at video jargon explained.

BBC Earth just dropped something seriously exciting for wildlife photography lovers; two brand-new YouTube series, In Search of Nature and Framed in Nature.

These aren’t just your typical nature documentaries, they take us deep behind the scenes with some of the world’s best wildlife photographers, revealing their process, gear, and exact camera settings. It’s essentially a mentorship through the screen; and the best part? It’s completely free!

In Search of Nature is all about storytelling. Every episode follows a photographer as they capture the beauty of their local landscape, from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest to the icy tundras of Yellowstone. We see the world through their eyes, and it’s a stunning reminder of just how diverse and fragile our planet is.

Meanwhile, Framed in Nature is where things get technical. It’s the ultimate wildlife photography masterclass, breaking down camera settings, equipment choices, and even post-processing techniques. If you’ve ever wanted to step up your wildlife photography game, this is the series to watch.

Above: Episode 1: Photographing Rare and Elusive Birds in Brazil

The first episode, Photographing Rare and Elusive Birds in Brazil, is already out, and it’s a must-see! It follows Nicole Dornelles Carneiro, a Brazilian wildlife photographer and guide, as she searches for rare birds in the Pantanal.

What’s amazing is that she doesn’t just show the final images, she walks us through the entire process. We get to see how she tracks wildlife, composes her shots, and adjusts her camera settings in real time. Wildlife photography is often a game of patience, and Nicole’s approach is proof that understanding an animal’s behavior is just as important as having the right gear.

It’s rare to get such valuable insights directly from the pros. Wildlife photographers don’t often reveal the nitty-gritty details – exact shutter speeds, apertures, ISO settings - but this series does exactly that. It’s an open book to learning, whether you’re shooting with the best camera for wildlife or just starting with a smartphone. This is also just the beginning!

A new episode will drop every week on the BBC Earth YouTube channel, each one featuring a different photographer in a different region, capturing everything from coastal ecosystems to elusive predators.

If you’re passionate about wildlife photography, this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. BBC Earth has created something truly special, offering a front-row seat to the craft of wildlife photography, and maybe even inspiring your next great adventure.

You might also like

Check out our guides to the best cameras for wildlife photography and the best lenses for safari. Also check out the upcoming Science in Storytelling event by Wildscreen for more on conservation and visual storytelling.

With the proliferation of AI-generated imagery and rise of deepfake video, it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell whether footage you're viewing is genuine or not. To combat this, everybody's favorite video-streaming service YouTube is rolling out a new 'Captured with a camera' label that verifies whether an uploaded video was shot on a real camera and contains unaltered footage and sound.

To qualify as 'Captured with a camera' footage, the video must be shot on a device that uses the CP2A authentication standard, which embeds authentication information into the metadata, so what content was shot when and where can be traced.

Digital content authentication service Trupic has produced what it says is the “first authentic video with C2PA Content Credentials on YouTube.” Fittingly, it was recorded at San Diego Zoo, the location of the very first video ever uploaded to the platform by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim back on April 23, 2005.

YouTube is using this data to authenticate that videos were recorded with genuine cameras. They don't need to be unedited to get the badge, but according to Youtube's support page, it won't allow any edits that break the chain of provenance or make it impossible to trace the video back to its original source, any significant alterations to the video’s core nature or content including sounds or visuals, or any edits that make the video incompatible with C2PA standards 2.1 and above.

YouTube users can already voluntarily flag videos as being their own AI creations, but this works in the opposite way, not only allowing them to label their video as real, but being being verifiable using technical standards.

However, as the C2PA standard is relatively new and only appears in select camera models, such as the Sony A1, A9 III and A7S III with a recent firmware update, it cannot verify footage from the past – meaning the 1969 moon landings would not qualify for a YouTube 'Captured with a camera' status. So it's unlikely to quieten any 'fake or not' conspiracy theorists any time soon…

• This is the world's first industry standard to assure a photo's authenticity
• What are Content Credentials and can they save photography
• Canon, Nikon and Sony are banding together in the fight against fake images

The best affordable mirrorless cameras offer an excellent entry point into an exciting camera system without breaking the bank. We've selected these models because they offer true value for money, providing years of use and satisfaction. With well-sized sensors and impressive megapixel counts, these aren’t just good budget cameras—they're great cameras overall.

Many of them are also fantastic options for vlogging. As video content creation becomes increasingly accessible, all of these cameras are capable of shooting video, with many offering 4K resolution. If you're looking to dive into YouTube, filmmaking, or content creation on a budget, cheap mirrorless cameras are the perfect starting point.

Prices can fluctuate, especially for older models, but all the cameras on this list are consistently available at prices much lower than the average for mirrorless cameras.

One last tip: when shopping for affordable mirrorless cameras, be sure to check if the camera is "body only" or comes bundled with a lens. We’ll share our recommendations for the best lenses below.

The Quick List

The best cheap mirrorless cameras 

Best for vloggers

The Panasonic Lumix G100D is a fantastic starter camera for vloggers and has clearly been designed with that exact audience in mind. Unlike most consumer mirrorless cameras, it's got a fairly sophisticated built-in mic setup, meaning that while you can plug in an external mic with the 3.5mm jack, you don't have to, and that's hugely handy for casual vlogging.

Its approachable button layout makes it easy for pretty much anyone to pick up the Lumix G100D and start shooting high-quality 4K video. The tactile ergonomics make it a pleasure to use, and even though it's a relatively new model, the price has already come down a little.

We appreciated a lot of features of the Lumix G100D when it came into our hands for a full review – with a bright electronic viewfinder and high-quality LCD screen, it's just an all-around pleasant shooting experience for stills and video.

Read our full Panasonic Lumix G100D review

Best budget

The Lumix G7 was launched back in 2015, so it’s a few years old now, and that shows in its styling and specs. It’s the ideal choice for mirrorless camera buyers who prefer the heft and gripability of a DSLR-style body, and it comes with a viewfinder, which is terrific in a mirrorless camera at this price. Bad points?

The G7 was launched before Panasonic started including in-body stabilization in its cameras, so you’re reliant on any optical stabilization in the lenses themselves. It also has a relatively old 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, which knocks back the image quality ever so slightly compared to current APS-C sensor offerings. Prices vary a lot, so keep your eyes peeled, we have seen some crazy twin-lens deals on this camera.

Read our full Panasonic G7 review

Best for travel

The A6100 is the budget option in Sony's best-selling A6000-series of cameras - and although it was launched back in 2019 is still a great camera for those wanting a small system camera with a great selection of lenses.

The fundamentals on the A6100 are incredibly solid, for photographers at least. With 11fps burst shooting, 24MP of resolution, and a highly capable autofocus system, it's got pretty much everything most photographers are going to need. It's far more powerful than many similarly priced beginner camera, and its slimline body makes it perfect for travel.

This camera replaced the legendary A6000 - and one of the biggest improvements was to its video shooting capabilities. The A6100 can shoot in 4K - and has a microphone socket – making it a decent choice for vlogging, which is made easy thanks to its flip-up rotating LCD screen.

Read our full Sony A6100 review

best retro styling

We love the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV. Its predecessor, the Mark III, was (and is) a perennial favorite around the DCW office, and we're full of admiration for how sensibly Olympus went about updating this beloved camera.

The addition of the 20.3MP sensor from the PEN-F was a great shout, and we were immensely glad to see improved Continuous Autofocus further expanding Mark IV's burst shooting capabilities. After all, it's not much good being able to shoot at 15fps if you can't focus worth a damn!

The extra-tiltable screen impresses too, and the fact that it flips down 180° makes the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV a tempting proposition for YouTubers and vloggers. For the money, the Mark IV is absolutely stuffed with features, and the fact that it's so portable makes it a great choice for travel.

Read our full Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV review

Best for content creators

The EOS RP was Canon's second full-frame mirrorless camera, and it's smaller, lighter, and a lot cheaper than all of the others. It's designed to be a compact, affordable and easy-to-use entry point into Canon's full-frame mirrorless system, and it succeeds brilliantly.

Its small dimensions mean it can sometimes feel overbalanced by larger lenses, though, and the 4K video mode comes with some caveats – the image frame is cropped by a factor of 1.6 and you can't use Canon's speedy Dual Pixel CMOS AF system unless you drop the resolution to full HD.

On the upside, the pictures are clear and sharp, the vari-angle touchscreen display is a real advantage for both stills and video, and the inclusion of an EF lens adaptor means you can use existing Canon DSLR lenses alongside the new but growing RF lens system.

At under $1,000/£1,000 you wouldn't say it was 'cheap' in the general run of things, but for a full-frame camera, its price is practically miraculous.

Read our full Canon EOS RP review

Best for sports

This is one of the best-selling full-frame cameras of recent years - and particularly popular with enthusiast photographers. It packs a lot of tech into a small body - offering 696-point AF system, eye autofocus, and 5-axis image stabilization. A 10fps motordrive combined with a detailed 2.5 million eyelevel viewfinder make it a great choice for those who want to shoot sports. With the launch of the newer A7 IV model, this version has started to become a bit of a bargain - so now qualifies as one of our cheap mirrorless picks.

The resolution is a modest, yet mangeable, 24 megapixels - which is fine for most types of photography. And thanks to there being a wide range of lenses from Sony and third-party manufacturers, you can get a kit to shoot almost any subject without needing to spend a fortune.

Read our full Sony A7 III review

How we test

We test cameras both in real-world shooting scenarios and in carefully controlled lab conditions. Our lab tests measure resolution, dynamic range, and signal-to-noise ratio. Resolution is measured using ISO resolution charts, dynamic range is measured using DxO Analyzer test equipment and DxO Analyzer is also used for noise analysis across the camera's ISO range. We use both real-world testing and lab results to inform our comments in buying guides.

Canadian singer and songwriter The Weeknd's newest music video was shot entirely on the Apple iPhone 16 Pro and with 4K slow motion, elevated image quality, and exceptional color, it is proof that the new iPhone is a powerful and professional creative tool.

Camera phones have been encroaching on the compact camera space for some time, causing a dip in worldwide sales. The new iPhone doesn't seem to be slowing down in the stills or video department and is now considered a top hybrid camera for both content creators and professional filmmakers.

The iPhone 16 Pro launched last month and one of its major new features is the camera control button, enabling fine-tuned adjustments when shooting stills and video. Apple has shown off just how effective this can be, by producing a behind-the-scenes video of how the Weeknd's new music video Dancing in the Flames was made.

Cinematographer Erik Henriksson captured the music video in a studio with an iPhone 16 Pro attached to a cage, and despite the use of lighting and high-end set design, no further attachments were used.

The majority of the video is filmed in slow motion, highlighting the iPhone's 16 Pro's 4K capture at 120fps which enables Henriksson to slow down the rain and wind elements, in addition to the Weeknd's movements. The results are extremely cinematic and push the boundaries of what can be captured on a phone.

Henriksson also praised the performance and versatility of recording in Apple ProRes Log, facilitating the exploration of color in a deeper way during post-processing.

Also included in the behind-the-scenes video is a truly impressive showcase of the stills capabilities, with photographer Eddy Chen. While the subject, set, and lighting do a lot of the heavy lifting, the images that were captured were exceptional, and on par with a dedicated compact camera. It even surprised the Weeknd himself with him saying, "Wow! I didn't expect it to look like that!".

Chen praised the new 48mp ultra wide-angle lens, saying, "I really think the ultra-wide captures such a cool and unique perspective. I definitely get sharper detail with the lens because of the new 48mp and with camera controls it allows you to access so many of the features, the exposure, focal lengths, and photo styles".

The results speak for themselves and the behind-the-scenes video (above) offers a great insight into what may be the future of content creation, and for most of us, it's right there in our pockets.

The iPhone was always considered a good camera as it was more often than not the one you always carry with you, now however, it can be considered a good camera for its incredible performance and versatility.

Check out our guides to the best camera phone, the best cameras for music videos, and the best camera for filmmaking.

What happens if you attach tiny action cameras to a pair of adventurous cats? YouTuber Half Asleep Chris was prepared to find out – and to set them a tunnel-based challenge to explore.

Half Aleep Chris is a cat-loving Lego fan who produces some of the best YouTube content there is (assuming, that is, you love cats or Lego), and that hasn't gone unnoticed by the Insta360 team who have provided him with the cameras to record this video of his cats Ralph and Bella.

The camera is called the "World's smallest 4K vlogging camera" by Chris in the video, and it's hard to argue with that. There was a minor controversy about Insta360 encouraging reviewers to create videos without mentioning the downsides or sponsorship, but this is clearly declared and not a review, so there isn't an issue here. If you want an unsponsored assessment, you can check my Insta360 Go 3S review, not to mention our guide to the best body cameras and best action cameras.

Chris took the opportunity provided by his sponsor to extend his 'catio' (cat patio) and record the cats' adventures using one of the Insta360 Go 3S action cameras in "Interval Video" mode. This is a feature which deliberately captures short clips a few minutes apart, providing a lot of moments from a longer day than you'd get if you just recorded until the battery died.

That makes a lot of sense, as the battery life is effectively extended without needing to pop the cam into the Action Pod to charge it, and Insta360's software allows to auto-edit clips (as is becoming quite a social trend).

I've got to admit that when I reviewed the Insta360 Go 3S I didn't think to attach it to a cat but – in my defence – we don't have one of our own and I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to send a camera into a neighbouring house, even to assess the quality of the 4K video!

If you're interested in cameras like this, and where it fits into the action camera universe, check our guide to the best GoPro alternatives. If you've got pets, you might also be interested in discounted cameras like the best Ring cameras.

The Nebula Cosmos 4K SE is a surprisingly cheap native 4K projector which can put an image on a screen or, realistically, probably a white wall far larger than the kind of TV you'd get for the same money and it backs it up with decent built-in speakers.

Essentially we're looking at a device which brings back some of the joys of portable projectors from the days of viewing slides and home movies, but does so with the fidelity to watch 4K movies at a quality which is genuinely striking, perhaps even enough to make you think "Why bother going to the cinema?"

For content creators who want to see their own creations on a Dolby Vision grade screen before they actually get cinematic distribution, this is also the answer. As well as having a Google TV (so all the streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV, Prime and the like), it can also, of course, just introduce itself to your laptop over HDMI as another monitor!

The projection tech is called 'Hybrid Beam' which Anker/Nebula say combines DLP and laser. That's interesting, as laser projectors can be very, very pricey but tend to be brighter and more contrasty. Can this really be good enough?

Specs

Pricing

The Nebula Cosmos 4K SE – which projects at 1,800 ANSI lumens, is priced at $1,299 or £1,299 (compared to $1,999 for the 2,200 lumen version seen a few months prior).  

Build and handling

The device's build screams quality, especially compared to the generation of plasticky white boxes that have served up PowerPoint presentations. It's not small and light though, not like some Nebulas designed for camping.

That comes across in the remote, too, which is (mostly) backlit so the buttons are easy to see in a darkened room. That's a nice touch. It is, of course, Bluetooth – fairly common on projectors, but still appreciated – so you don't need to point it at the device either. There is also an app for Android and iOS.

Setup is straightforward thanks to the built-in sensors. These include a motion sensor so if (to use an example I managed once or twice myself) if you nudge the table or tripod you're using, the system just sorts itself out focus-wise and (compared to others) it's very good at this. That's good, too, as finding the manual options is a little further into the menus than you might have expected a few years ago.

Performance

I was honestly a little surprised how much better the picture was on this than other lower-cost projectors I've used, then again it's not that low-cost It's just cheaper than a lot of 4K ones, and because I've tested a lot of portable projectors, I don't always get to enjoy 4K.

I'm not sure of the exact mechanics of the "NebulaMaster" engine, but it seems to do a good job of creating rich color and contrast, at least in low-light environments – more so than you might imagine from the 400:1 contrast ratio stated.

I tested the projector by enjoying some photos, then watching a few movies I've found tend to cause projectors trouble, including the Hunger Games (hunting with moving cameras and the whole Sing 2 finale which is just super-busy. I did catch a few glimpses of the classic stroboscopic effect that is the tell-tale sign of DLP tech as my eyes started darting around to follow the action, but I've seen much worse examples. We (my family) also tried some major streaming shows like Rings of Power, which looked spectacular. After a while, I opted to choose the 'Movie mode'.

The projector puts out surprisingly few decibels of noise, too, which impressed all of us. Others I've tried have been distractingly noisy where as in this case I only really noticed the quality of the sound from the speakers, which are at least as good as a decent TV.

Overall Verdict

If I had unlimited wealth and enough space for a home cinema then I would look elsewhere, but, personally, the image quality here is enough for me to feel like I'm really engaged and the device isn't as distracting or difficult to use as other projectors. Nebula seemed to have learned a lot from their numerous portable – some which include batteries like the excellent Mars Air 3 – and crammed that into the physically larger device which is needed for an optical 4K imaging system.

I also wanted to say that the snappiness of the Google TV menus is up there with a good modern TV (and comfortably more modern-feeling than my admittedly 8-year old Sony Bravia TV), so the Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A55 is to be appreciated.

The result makes sense to me because I like 4K image quality and if I'm going to move a projector around I want it to be simple. There are brighter devices around, but none quite so convenient that I've tried when it comes to balancing portability with this level of quality, and certainly not so reasonably priced, so if you don't mind plugging in, this is a very impressive piece of tech that might not quite have the best contrast ratios in the business, but comes surprisingly close, especially given the price, in the circumstances where a projector is most enjoyable.

How I test projectors

When testing projectors, I always try the device on a dedicated projection screen, a painted white wall and a the same light grey painted wall to see how well it copes with imperfect conditions.

I always do the 'coffee table test', to see how good a picture I can easily get by placing the device at a coffee table in my living room – this tests the off-angle keystone correction and the device's ability to assist in aiming.

I choose to connect to a MacBook to display work and check the appearance of type (black on white, white on black etc.) and typical samples photos as well as standard tests like the color bars, as well as a selection of video clips with dark backgrounds, fast motion, and other key criteria.

Finally I also like to declare it "movie night" and see whether the device works in a family movie-watching setting; my family's input is always interesting – this time we were most impressed with Rings of Power.

From almost nowhere, YouTube is filling with trailers for famous movies in '1950s Super Panavision 70' style. Whether the creators of these trailers have ever seen a Panavision lens is, however, open to doubt – as is their understanding of the 1950s – because every one of the trailers they're creating is made with AI.

Panavision partnered with MGM to develop immersive widescreen cinema images to compete with CinemaScope in the 1950s, culminating in Super Panavision 70. The first film shot on 70mm film using this system was 1959's The Big Fisherman, in 2.20:1 aspect ratio. Team members left, the company changed, the format fought on through the 1960s, but it wasn't really popular again until Quentin Tarantino revived it for The Hateful Eight in 2015.

How can a bit of retro nostalgia for something that barely shot a movie in the 1950s suddenly have got so big, though? Taking a look, I'm not sure the AI look is the same as the 1950s movie!

This is the first example of the trend that YouTube served me. But following the search term revealed more in the same vein; movies definitely more modern than the 1950s re-imagined, in trailer form at least, in what was called '1950s Super Panavision 70' style, with voiceover that definitely doesn't sound too modern.

ABOVE: Watch one of these Panavision vids and see for yourself

I reached out and asked the creator – who wanted to remain anonymous – how they had achieved it.

"I use a combination of AI tools to bring these videos to life," they explained.

"For scriptwriting, I rely on ChatGPT, while I use ElevenLabs for voice generation. For visual creation, I turn to MidJourney to generate the images for each scene. It's a process that involves a lot of trial and error – only about 5-10% of the images I create make it into the final piece."

The process then involves taking the selected AI-generated stills and getting AI to animate it.

"Since these are still images, I use AI tools like Runway and Luma to convert them into motion. Each tool has its strengths depending on the scene. Out of every twenty image-to-video conversions, I’m lucky if I get one or two that are usable. Finally, I assemble all the clips and refine them in video editing software to produce the finished video.

"It’s a lot of work, but I love the creative challenge of blending these tools together!"

It turns out this method, more or less, is actually being suggested by another YouTuber – Warden Cinematics.

Warden Cinematics does manage something that was bugging me about the first videos I saw. The tutorial specifically mentions the black matte bars for 2.20:1 video that, for purists, is a feature of the format. Other creators seem happy with YouTube's default 16:9.

What is more interesting, though, is the insights that he (or at least, the male voiceover) offers into the million views reached in just three months with these AI-generated trailers.

In a frank video, which also points out that the earnings amount to less per hour than one would make working in McDonalds for the same time, there are some fascinating insights.

An eyebrow-raiser for me was the choice of cover images (thumbnails), which have a huge impact on the number of views in YouTube, and this was addressed in the piece.

He notes that the viewership is 99.4% male for some examples – and that's the point at which it does make me a bit queasy. I suspected that this would be the case, though interestingly he goes on to suggest that this isn't the way to get the best revenue.

ABOVE: You'd make more money at McDonald's in the same time

Despite that, in the 70 videos uploaded by "AI FlickNips", nearly all of the most recent feature an attractive woman prominently (and we know a bit about what AI finds attractive).

It doesn't take much research to see that exposed cleavages you could ski down are not part of the fashion of the 1950s, which brings me to a concern we've seen before about AI – highlighted in the piece about AI's obsession with boobs.

I asked my anonymous contact about this, too. "The way AI represents men and women is definitely something to be mindful of. AI can sometimes reflect biases present in the data it's trained on, including stereotypes from older films or cultural norms that have evolved.

"If AI is highlighting outdated portrayals, it's important to recognize it and ensure we're consciously creating more diverse and nuanced representations. In terms of referencing how movies [were] made in the '50s, it might be a deliberate stylistic choice, but ideally, AI should adapt to reflect modern values and diversity while respecting artistic intent."

I don't know about you, but that answer doesn't sound entirely human-generated to me! A quick skim through the comments section of YouTube confirms my worries.

Now I find that the fun of an AI-generated 1950s voiceover and some many-fingered simulated movie stars seems somewhat tainted. There is, however, a lot to be learned about how quickly and cynically a trend is commercialized!

You might want to try out the best AI image generators for yourself. And you'll probably want to make sure you have one of the best laptops for video editing to work with.

It was Kodak's failure to adapt to the onset of digital camera technology that was largely responsible for killing the company, so the common misconception goes. But as this fascinating video from Youtube channel History in the Dark explains, in reality the Eastman Kodak Company, to give it its full title, was something of a pioneer of digital tech, and by 2005 the company had become the number one seller of digital cameras in the USA. 

However, by concentrating on the consumer end of the market with point-and-shoot models like the Kodak Easy Share range, it was the arrival of smartphones, in particular the Apple iPhone, that had such a dramatic and detrimental effect on the company's fortunes. 

"The fact was that selling digital cameras was a lot different than selling film cameras because they no longer had the film market to fall back on once people bought a digital camera," the video expands. "They really didn't need to buy anything else from the company – at least not nearly as often."

You can watch History in the Dark's video above, which gives an insightful yet concise potted history of the rise and fall of the company that popularized photography to the masses. 

And as you'll learn, while the company is a shadow of its former self, it's still a major player in the motion picture industry, and thanks to the resurgence of people film cameras, largely popularised by hipsters and fans of all things retro, Kodak has recently actually increased production of rolls of film, including the popular Tri-X 400 black & white stock. 

Read more: The best Kodak cameras & George Eastman: the man who made Kodak

Insta360 has just released two new webcams – both with AI subject tracking as their central feature. 

The Link 2 is an updated version of the 4K AI camera which can literally follow you around the room using its tracking tech and gimbal, while the Link 2C does more or less the same thing without moving parts to make it even more portable.

The AI also powers noise cancelling features and a 'Smart Whiteboard Mode' which auto-detects a real whiteboard and makes adjustments to square it off and keep it in focus. 

Both devices sport a 1/2-inch image sensor capable of delivering 4K at up to 30fps (and 1080P at 60fps) and an HDR pipeline. To cater to the ongoing needs of the social media market, they also offer landscape and portrait modes – meaning live-streaming and social content generation for phone consumption should be smoother.

The larger image sensor than that in most laptops and phones should offer a potential boon to people working in lower light, though I'll confirm that when I've finished my reviews (we have the devices in hand at DCW). Other key features are Smartphone remote control, background replacement (though, to be fair, a lot of apps have this covered for you already), DeskView mode for overhead presentations, "One Click Makeup" and Privacy Mode.

“Link 2 and Link 2C represent our ongoing commitment to making virtual connections more engaging and seamless. We've listened to user feedback and pushed the boundaries of what's possible in a webcam, combining premium 4K imaging, crystal-clear audio, and intuitive AI-powered features. Link 2 and Link 2C empower you to present your best self online, no matter where you are,” shared JK Liu, Founder of Insta360.

Specs list ±3 EV exposure compensation, ISO 100-3200, a shutter speed of up to 1/8000 and an aperture of f/1.8. The EFL is 26mm and digital zoom up to 4x.

Only the Link 2 – not the 2C – bosts a 2-axis gimbal, but both work entirely from power drawn from their USB-C connection. They can be mounted on a monitor (with a stand included) or a tripod.

The Link 2 is priced at $199 and the Link 2C $149 and both are available from today from Amazon:

🇺🇸 Link 2 - Amazon.com
🇺🇸 Link 2C - Amazon.com 

While you're waiting for reviews of these to come live, you can read about some of the other best 4K webcams we've seen.

Thanks to our ever-present smartphone we’re likely to be capturing many hours of high-quality video footage. You can trim and share short clips straight from your smartphone’s Photos app to social media sites such as Facebook or to friends and family via Whats App, but the majority of your valuable video assets may never get watched, which is a huge waste!

By using a dedicated non-linear editing (NLE) app such as Adobe Premiere Elements 2024 you can produce longer and more professional-looking video programs that you can ‘broadcast’ to the world on your YouTube channel, or share via a Reel on Instagram. The term ‘non-linear’ simply refers to the option to swap the running order of video clips in an app’s timeline.

In the ‘olden days’ video editors had to copy clips from a videotape player to a video recorder. If you needed to change the order of the linear clips you had to start editing from scratch! Non-linear computer-based video editing was as revolutionary for tape-to-tape video editors as the word processor was for type-writer users (and I’m old enough to have used a typewriter and endured the slow process of tape-to-tape video editing back in the 1980s!)

As its name suggests, Premiere Elements 2024 is a simplified version of Adobe Premiere, a high-end NLE app used by many professional video editors. The full version of Premiere will be very daunting to approach if you’re new to non-linear video editing.

Fortunately, Premiere Elements 2024 is an entry-level NLE and it’s well worth considering as your first NLE as this review will demonstrate. There are free video editing apps out there such as Apple’s iMovie, so why should you pay for Adobe Premiere Elements 2024? One answer lies in the Premiere Element’s Guided Edit mode - which takes you step-by-step through the whole video editing process. More on that later.

If you want to explore more non-linear options check out our guide to the best free video editing software. Or if you need information on a wide range of paid-for NLEs, look here – check out of top picks for the best video editing software.

Premiere Elements 2024: Specifications

Premiere Elements 2024: Interface and Usability

Adobe Premiere Elements looks very similar to most contemporary NLEs (such as iMovie), with a clip bin on the top left to store unedited video assets for your project. Along the bottom of the workspace runs a timeline. It's here that you place your clips to tell a story and trim them to create a tight, smooth-flowing narrative sequence. There’s also a toolbar to summon special effects or color-correcting tools.

Adobe Premiere Elements has looked the same for many years, so its neutral light grey workspace was beginning to look very dated. Fortunately, in its 2024 incarnation you can now access a Dark mode in the Settings > General UI Mode menu. This creates a darker black and grey interface that echoes the look of other contemporary nonlinear editing (NLE) apps such as Movavi Video Editor and helps give Premiere Elements 2024 a fresher, more modern look.

Premiere Elements 2024 does have some interesting new features to offer as we’ll explore, but are they useful enough to motivate owners of older versions of Premiere Elements to pay for an upgrade? We’ll answer that key question in due course.

Premiere Elements 2024: Quality of Results

Premiere Elements 2024 offers more ways to help novice video editors turn raw footage into shareable sequences using the power of Adobe Sensei AI. The Create drop down menu features a new Highlight Reel tool that uses AI to analyse clips for key features such as faces, groups of people, interesting lights and activity for example. It then creates an edited sequence that you can share via social media.

In theory using AI to cut the best bits of your clips together is a great idea but in practice we found the results were a bit hit and miss, though you can manually fine-tune the AI-selected results by clicking on the ‘Edit in Timeline’ button. Premiere Elements 2024 enables you to use AI as a springboard to creativity but it’s certainly not a replacement for human editorial decisions.

The new Highlight Reel tool also enables you to create a reel that matches the requirements of specific social media sites. For instance, an Instagram Story or Reel has a vertical shape that measures 1080 x 1920. If you share a horizontal series of clips to a vertical layout then the Highlight Reel tool helpfully adds a blurred and enlarged version of your clip to the reel’s background to avoid featuring large and boring black letterbox borders appearing in your reel.

This social media focus gives Adobe Premiere Elements the edge over Apple’s free iMovie which has little to offer for editors who want to produce social-media compatible content - iMovie can’t export a vertical portrait-oriented video clip for an Instagram Reel for example. Premiere Elements 2024 also features a comprehensive collection of new graphics that you can use to soup up your social media stories. Graphics are organized into categories such as Christmas, Social, or Neon Stickers for example.

One fun feature is the ability to make a graphic follow the movement of your subject using motion tracking. Simply summon the Motion Tracking tool from the Tools palette, draw a box around a moving subject such as a person, and then click Track. You can then assign a graphical element such as a speech bubble to the motion-tracking rectangle and it will follow your subject’s every move. Check out this review’s supporting video to see motion tracking in action.

We did encounter a couple of crashes when applying motion tracking, but the Premiere Elements settled down. The app does auto-save in intervals so if you have a crash you shouldn’t lose too much work. I felt obliged to manually save my work before attempting a motion-tracking operation.

Traditionally you would have to extend a music track to fit the footage on your timeline by copying a section and then cutting it in on a beat. This was quite a tricky edit to pull off to get the music to loop. Now you can simply tick the 'Fit Entire Video’ box in the Score Property panel and the music will loop to fit the duration of your footage and it will add the end of the music track to the end of your footage. You can also use a slider to adjust the music from Mellow to Intense. Mellow dials down the volume of some percussion instruments. These music Property panel features will save you a lot of time tinkering to get music tracks to suit your edited footage.

Another useful new tool in Premiere 2024 is Color Match. This enables you to click on template images to transfer their colors to a clip. You can use this to produce creative results, such as dramatically warming up a scene. Or you can sample the healthy colors from one clip in the timeline to correct problems with color in another clip (such as warming up a cold color temperature for example). Color Match should save you a lot of time playing with presets in the Fix menu. Premiere Elements 2024 also sees easier ways to modify your project’s sound with a new collection of audio effects such as Reverb, which flatters a singer's voice. There’s also as a handy DeHummer which reduces mains-induced hum. Finally, if you’re already using Photoshop Elements 2024 then Premiere Elements will slot smoothly into your organizing, editing, and sharing workflow as both the photo and video editing apps share the same Elements Organizer.

Premiere Elements 2024: Verdict

A handful of new tools, a more contemporary look, and an expansion of its AI-assisted tools may not be enough to compel existing Adobe Premiere Elements owners to upgrade to 2024, but if you’re a novice editor (or want to do more than free desktop apps such as iMovie will allow) then Premiere Elements 2024 is well worth considering thanks to its step-by-step easy to follow Guided Edit workspace. You can then take the skills that you learn into the Advanced workspace when you’re ready. Premiere Elements 2024 is also packed full of customizable graphical elements that will make your social media clips more engaging and these can be downloaded for free from within the app.

Alternatives

UPDATE: Sony has now resumed downloads for the latest Sony A7R V firmware, after suspending it over fears that it could brick cameras.

Along with pulling the A7R V firmware, Sony also suspended the day-and-date update for the Sony FX30 fearing that the same issue might affect both cameras. However, the FX30 firmware is now available again alongside this one.

"We suspended the Ver. 3.00 software release on 09-13-2024 due to some products failing to update," notes Sony.

"However, after taking the necessary measures, we resumed the release on 10-09-2024. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If your camera successfully updated to Ver. 3.00, you may continue using it without issue."

Personally I would advise waiting a week or two before updating your camera, just in case there are still issues that need ironing out. However, the full release notes are below and you can download the new firmware here.

…

UPDATE (Sep 16 2024) Sony has suspended firmware Ver 3.00 for the Sony A7R V, which was released last week. If you have downloaded the firmware do not install it, as the manufacturer warns that your camera might become inoperable.

"We confirmed that some ILCE-7RM5 cameras may not start up after installing the version 3.00 update," wrote Sony in an update on its A7R V support page, titled Important Notice. "We have suspended the update while we investigate the cause."

Sony has also suspended its recent Sony FX30 firmware (which launched day and date with the A7R V update) that added much-requested shutter angle control to both cameras.

This is another black eye for the company when it comes to firmware, after similarly suspending a new update for the Sony A1 in March. The issue of firmware bricking an FX30 also made the rounds last month, when a YouTuber was told he would need to pay $700 to fix his camera after a firmware update apparently rendered it useless.

ORIGINAL STORY (Sep 13 2024): A chunky new firmware update has been released for the Sony A7R V that unlocks a slew of new features for the camera – including some supremely helpful connectivity and cloud functions.

Crucially, the latest firmware (Ver 3.00) means that you will no longer be able to connect to the Imaging Edge Mobile app and will have to migrate to the Creators' App (for which you'll need Ver 2.5.0 in order to avail the new firmware features).

Here's the full list of benefits and improvements you can expect.

Firmware update Ver. 3.00

• You can now continue shooting while transferring captured photos and videos to a smartphone or tablet

• Transfer to smartphones and tablets can now be resumed even if interrupted in the middle of a transfer

• You can now transfer only the differences that have not yet been transferred to your smartphone or tablet, or add videos to be transferred during the transfer process

• Allows you to upload camera images directly to the Creators' Cloud app
Notes: Settings must be adjusted in the Creators' App in advance

• Adds support for the Network Streaming function
Notes: Settings must be adjusted in the Creators' App in advance

• Adds support for the Monitor & Control app [Ver 2.1.0 or later]

• Adds a function that automatically creates still images with Shot Marks from movie frames after recordings
Note: You can add a Shot Mark while shooting or playing a movie and use it as a mark for selecting, transferring, or editing the movie

• Increases the maximum number of images that can be recorded in one folder to 9,999

• Displays the Wi-Fi signal strength when the Wi-Fi function is On

• Allows the use of Focus Magnifier and Auto Magnifier in MF while using the Bright Monitoring feature

• Allows notifications to be displayed when the latest software is available for your camera

• Adds support for the Custom Grid Line feature
Note: The Custom Grid Line feature is available as a paid license. Availability depends on country and region.

• Fixes an issue where Auto Review is not displayed on the camera during HDMI output

• Improves the functionality and operational stability of the camera

To download the latest firmware for the A7R V, along with instructions on how to install it (as well as important information to be aware of before you do), visit the Sony support page.

You might be interested in the best Sony cameras, along with the highest resolution cameras on the market.

Straight off the back of Apple’s September 09 event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, launching the iPhone 16 amid other announcements, everyone is talking about the Camera Control button. 

Everyone else, however, is talking about the man who revealed it. 

Piyush Pratik, a graduate from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), is the current product manager for iPhone at Apple, overseeing the global product management and marketing for Apple’s flagship product. 

His impressive career has sparked interest across social media, with many not knowing his name before yesterday. 

So often at these events or launches, we see the famous money taking credit for all the hard work; CEOs like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates staying center stage. Giving Pratik the platform has proven popular with the internet.  

He completed a dual degree in biochemical engineering and biotechnology from IIT Delhi in 2011. After graduating, he began his career as an associate consultant at Bain and Company, which provides management and consulting services to Fortune 500 CEOs. From there he moved to InMobi in 2013, an AI and consumer first technology company based in Bangalore, India, where he was later promoted to director. 

Going back to school in 2017 Pratik pursued an MBA from Stanford Business School, and received a full Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai scholarship. The Dhirubhai Fellowship program, is for Indian citizens only, and is designed to aid exceptional students in realizing their academic and professional aspirations at Stanford, and create change on a global scale. 

Joining Apple as a product manager in 2019, Pratik has been instrumental in the development of earlier iPhone models including the iPhone 13 series, and the second generation iPhone SE. 

Pratik works with various Apple departments to oversee the entire production development of the iPhone models, from product positioning to customer visits and global trade show appearances. 

The new hardware feature: a dedicated ‘camera control button’, is the standout innovation of the new range. Pressing its capacitive, pressure-sensitive surface, brings up a customizable menu screen, allowing users to quickly adjust the camera settings including zoom, exposure, and stylistic features. 

Pratik’s most recent contributions towards the hotly anticipated iPhone 16 range, available to pre-order on September 13 to ship September 20, and speech at the recent launch have been seen by many as a testament to his hard work and dedication, and solidified him as one to watch in the developing tech world.

Is he on a path to being a face we'll expect at all Apple events – perhaps the new Jony Ive?

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

Last year SmallRig teamed up with filmmaker Brandon Li to create the SmallRig x Brandon Li Mobile Video Kit for iPhone 15 Pro Max. It's one of the best iPhone camera grips on the market enabling users to turn their iPhones into a serious filmmaking option. Now an upgraded version is scheduled for release with updated features and universality across Apple and Android devices.

The SmallRig x Brandon Li All-in-one Mobile Video Kit will offer "the ultimate solution for professional smartphone videography" – looking at the specs it's hard to disagree!

The kit includes a universal phone cage, adjustable to fit most phones on the market. The inclusion of a magnetic attachment and a clamp fixation means that the phone is safe and secure when in use, and adjustable to various sizes.

From the cage, the design enables attachments of rotatable side handles complete with M.2 SSD enclosure and wireless remote. The handles also feature SmallRig's Hawk Lock system, enabling quick and efficient adjustments and removal.

The cage also provides users with a 67mm filter adapter. Unlike phone-specific filters, this enables a standard filter size to be placed on the rig, meaning that you can utilize the best ND filters and polarizers, and the kit also comes with a magnetic VND filter of its own.

A 4-in-1 USB docking station enables further rig expansion. SSDs, power banks, and microphone receivers can all be operated via the docking station, meaning a clean setup with fewer hanging wires.

As with all SmallRig cages expansion is the name of the game and this phone rig is no different. Included on the cage interface are sixteen 1/4" -20 threaded holes, 5 cold shoe mounts, 6 QR mounts, and 2 strap slots.

This kit offers a lot for phone videographers, which is vital now that content creation and phone videography are more in demand. The advancement of phone video capture has also improved dramatically, to the point that they can be considered viable filmmaking options, take the short film ¡Suerte! as a prime example!

The SmallRig x Brandon Li All-in-one Mobile Video Kit is available for preorder now for release on September 21, 2024. The kit will cost $239.99 / £243.90 / AU $397.90.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best cameraphone for photography, the best iPhone camera grips, and the best cameraphone for video.

Lexar recently launched a Kickstarter for a brand-new portable SSD system targeted toward smartphone content creators, and within a couple of hours it had surpassed its $10,000 target goal (approximately £7,600 / AU$15,000) and hit $700,000 (£532,000 / AU$1.03 million).

While Lexar is probably best known for making some of the best memory cards for cameras, the new launch focuses on the new wave of content creation – and offers a memory solution for those shooting on camera phones.

Photography and particularly filmmaking on phones has become increasingly popular, and a fantastic option given the continued advancement of mobile technology. But content creation on a phone faces hurdles – perhaps the main one being a shortage of internal storage.

Creators using phones will be all too familiar with the lack of memory on mobile device, particularly as things like ProRes become more widely adopted, but the Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD provides up to a whopping 2TB of extra storage.

"We've had a great response from our backers already," says Lexar's director of marketing, Joey Lopez.

"We're gaining valuable insights on the demand of mobile filmmaking storage, and we love the opportunity to engage with our customers as we strive to deliver more cutting-edge products that enable them to create more freely."

Using SSDs with your phone is not a new idea, but there are many features of the new Lexar device that make it more phone-friendly than your standard SSD.

Although compatible with Android, the Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD is targeted towards iPhone users – in particular those using the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max. It is designed for recording 4K 60fps videos in Apple ProRes, and via its USB-C interface provides "lightning fast" read (1,050 mb/s) and write (1,000 mb/s) speeds.

It is super compact and can attach directly via USB-C or can be clipped to the back of the phone or iPhone rig with little footprint, offering versatility and convenience.

For its size the SSD is also surprisingly durable and robust, and is ready to tackle most shooting scenarios that can be thrown at it. It features an IP65 rating for dust- and water resistance, and can withstand drops from up to 3.28ft / 1m. It also has a silicone case to further enhance this protection.

For those who want a more advanced setup (or, as Lexar states, to go from "amateur to pro") the SSD comes with a Hub system, complete with additional USB-C interfaces and improved power.

This creates a central hub for your iPhone rig and enables further expansion, with options for adding microphone receivers and lights without trailing wires and cables feeding to the same hub.

At the time of writing the Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD Kickstarter campaign has a two days left, and although it has soared past its target it is still offering exclusive discounts for backers.

Editor's note: As with all crowdfunding projects, there is no guarantee that the final product will match the early depictions in the campaign – or that the final product will be completed or delivered at all. DCW does not endorse this or any other crowdfunding campaign. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best memory cards, the best portable SSD, and the best phones for video.

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.

The Ninja Phone might just revolutionize on-camera monitors. While we are still waiting to get our hands on one at DCW for testing, we are one step closer, as the Ninja Phone has officially started shipping ahead of IBC2024 in Amsterdam.

Early signs point to this being an incredibly exciting device for filmmakers – announced back in April of this year, the Ninja Phone allows iPhone users to use the latest iPhones (iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max) as on-camera monitor-recorders, although Atomos is promising more smartphones will be compatible soon. Personally, I would love to see the Ninja Phone paired with the larger unfolded screen of a Pixel 9 Pro Fold or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

The Ninja phone utilizes Apple's latest Bionic chipset in the iPhone 15 Pros, plus a video co-processor built into the Ninja Phone itself to record in up to 10-bit Apple ProRes and 10-bit H.265 from professional cameras with an HDMI output. The Ninja Phone can then use the iPhone's 5G and WiFi 6E connections to beam footage straight to the cloud or FTP servers including Atomos' own Cloud Studio (ACS).

Recording is accomplished via the iPhone's USB-C connection and the Ninja Phone app (available in the app store), which can coordinate syncing recording with external devices like wireless microphones.

“We are excited to deliver Ninja Phone to market in advance of IBC 2024,” says Atomos CEO and Co-Founder Jeromy Young. “Ninja Phone is the perfect tool for video professionals who want to adopt a cloud workflow without a complex and expensive technology footprint. And it’s great for the thousands of content creators who capture, store, and share video from their iPhone 15 Pro but aspire to work with professional cameras, lenses, and microphones. This is a real TikTok, Instagram and YouTube enhancement tool for creators!”

Costing $399/£409/AU$699, the Ninja Phone looks set to pit your iPhone against established monitor-recorders like the Atomos Ninja and Blackmagic Video Assist 7 as one of the world’s portable and connected professional HDR monitor-recorders.

Are you tired of running out of space while filming on your phone? SmallRig has you covered with the new SmallRig Universal 2-in-1 SSD Clamp.

SmallRig is a leading manufacturer of everything you could need for your camera rig, and it seems like every week it releases a new product to make our lives as filmmakers that much easier. This release is focused on the growing trend of content creation, especially those who use their phones for video.

The SmallRig Universal 2-in-1 SSD Clamp does exactly what it says on the cover, enabling the user to clamp an external SSD to your camera/phone rig or directly to your phone.

Cameraphone video technology has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years and it has become the go-to for social media content creators, but it also has the power to create high-end movies. I recently wrote about ¡Suerte!, a short film shot entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and it looked exceptional.

One of the downsides to using a phone, however, is the lack of storage space it offers, which is why this new SSD clamp delivers more than at first glance.

The product itself, much like all SmallRig products is expertly designed and considered making it easy to use and connects external SSD drives to the phone via USB-C, enabling more storage and the security that what you capture will be saved.

The 2-in-1 element of the clamp refers to the dual way in which it can be mounted, either via a cold shoe to a cage or via MagSafe technology which mounts it directly to the phone (phones compatible with MagSafe). This provides the user with versatility and quick mounting options while on the move, which is usually the case when shooting on your phone!

It also comes with a magnetic sticker which enables you to mount the clamp on other surfaces such as a laptop. This makes it extremely convenient when swapping the SSD from the shooting rig to the editing station.

The clamp is compatible with most SSDs on the market, including the popular Samsung T7 and T9, and other hard drives with a thickness of 8.0 - 16.0mm. The SSD is protected when in the clamp, as silicone padding on the inner edge provides security against scratches.

The SmallRig Universal 2-in-1 SSD Clamp is available now for $29.99 / £30.90 / AU $49.90, either directly from SmallRig or SmallRig stockists such as Amazon and B&H.

Although targeted primarily toward smartphones, the clamp can of course be used for cameras also by use of the coldshoe mount. The versatility and simple design nature of the clamp means it is also possible to swap out the SSD for a small or phone power bank, providing it fits the dimensions.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best phones for video, the best camera rigs, and the best gimbals for phones.

A photographer and YouTuber recently went viral for sharing his experience of a firmware update on his Sony FX3, which resulted in more bugs than bug fixes, then being told to pay US$700 – around $1,050 Australian – to fix the problem. 

"This is definitely not the video that I had on my bingo card for 2024," said Cory Mayo of YouTube channel Camera Nerds Media, "but it is a video nevertheless that I do need to make because I need to talk about my recent experience with trying to deal with customer service and getting this weird update on the Sony FX3."

Mayo explains that he picked up the used and repaired camera a month ago from his local camera store, and it had been working fine, until he upgraded the firmware from version 2.0 to version 5.0. 

"That's when I noticed some interesting problems happening," he said. 

He explains that after the firmware update his FX3 won’t stop rebooting, particularly in Bluetooth mode, showing the irritating glitch in the video.

Mayo tried various tactics to get it working again, including switching out the battery and SD cards, using native mounts, and finally following it up with a Sony rep going through troubleshooting options, but nothing worked.

Calling it a "red flag", Mayo said that the rep he spoke to online suggested that they could not confirm or deny that it was a firmware or software issue.

After doing some research and finding that many FX3 users had experienced similar issues, Mayo followed up with a phone call to Sony. Mayo recorded the phone call in the video, where the rep dropped the bombshell that it would be a minimum charge of US$667 (about $1,004 Australian) to fix anything on the Sony FX3.

Admitting that they had heard of issues with the functionality of the model after firmware updates, she said, "I have seen a few of those lately – not a lot to raise a flag, but we have seen that, and we are able to address that for you."

Despite this admission, it would still cost a minimum of US$667 to get it looked at.

Calling it "disheartening," Mayo said he would continue to use the camera with the Bluetooth function turned off.

"If it's a hardware issue or a software issue I don't think the user should be responsible for faulty firmware updates, I'm just going to say that like that is crazy," he concluded.

"Sony, I hope that you guys can address this issue with a patch in the future, maybe a firmware version 5.1. I would love to be in communications with you if you guys need my input on this camera, or I would love to help out in any way to hopefully make this right not only for my camera, but for other Sony users out there that are experiencing these problems with version 5."

Sony has been contacted for comment.

Why not take a look at our guides to the alternative best Sony cameras, the best cinema cameras, and the best cameras for vlogging. 

Whether you make short content for TikTok or Instagram, longer video for YouTube or you stream on Twitch, once thing is certain: a good wireless microphone can revolutionise how you work, giving you the freedom to record quality audio the way you want to.

Even today, in-built microphones on phones and cameras just don’t cut it. And while there are wired microphones a plenty, wires are limiting, tying us to working with a subject at a given distance. RØDE’s pocket-sized compact wireless microphones are the ideal solution, fitting into the palm of your hand and easily attaching to clothes or recording gear while recording broadcast-quality audio. The only challenge is choosing the right one for you, and that’s where this article will help.

Why choose RØDE?

The great thing about RØDE is that you know you’re getting quality whichever microphone you go for. It’s the leading name in the wireless mic category, which is hardly surprising since it was the first to make an ultra compact wireless mic system with the Wireless GO in 2019 – a total game changer in audio for content creators. All RØDE microphones are manufactured in Australia to the highest standard, and all of its wireless mics feature state-of-the-art 2.4GHz digital transmission and unique proprietary near-zero latency codec with 128-bit encryption, meaning you get an incredibly stable wireless connection.

The mics are ultra compact but produce broadcast-quality audio. And they’re broadly compatible with iOS, Android, DSLRs and modern mirrorless cameras via a 3.3mm connector, so you can rest assured that they will fit into your setup.

How to choose the right RØDE microphone for you

RØDE has three core wireless microphones for different needs. First up is Wireless ME. This easy-to-use plug-and-play microphone has a single transmitter with a range of over 100m. GainAssist technology automatically controls audio levels for perfectly clear sound in any application, and dual mics on the receiver mean you can record from in front of and behind the camera. It’s the simplest solution for those who want minimal fuss.

For content creators who work out and about on location, Wireless  GO II is a dual transmitter wireless microphone system with a longer range of up to 200m. It allows on-board recording with over 40 hours of internal memory on each transmitter, ensuring that you have backup even if you go out of range. The Flexible gain control and safety channel allow you to get perfect levels even if your subject suddenly gets louder, and the Intuitive display and control interface allows for changing settings on the go.

Finally, at the top of the range, Wireless PRO is another dual transmitter wireless microphone system, this time with a range of up to 260m and an array of sophisticated features to ensure professional results and efficient workflows in all kinds of situations. The 32-bit float on-board recording allows clipped or quiet audio files to be recovered, while Timecode sync allows for quick-and-easy audio synchronisation in post-production.

Again, there’s GainAssist technology, flexible output gain controls and a safety channel, plus headphone monitoring. You also get an accessory kit, including a charging case and MagClip GO magnetic mounting clips for a complete professional setup. Plus, it comes with two professional-grade lavalier mics, offering incredible value.

Completing your setup for creative content on the go

On top of the mic systems, RØDE offers a range of accessories that can enhance your setup and ensure you’re ready to produce content in any situation. Interview GO is a handy mount compatible with RØDE’s entire wireless range that essentially turns them into compact handheld microphones for reporting to-camera or interviewing in the field. There’s also the dedicated broadcast-quality handheld wireless microphone Interview PRO, which is also compatible with all RØDE wireless mics.

If you make content with an iPhone, the Phone Cage Mag safe mount will be your favourite companion, both for your microphone and for any lighting too. RØDE even has your production needs covered with the RØDECaster Pro II and the compact RØDECaster Duo. These production studios boast ultra-low-noise, high-gain Revolution Preamps, high-quality Neutrik combo inputs, individually assignable channels with physical and virtual faders and a built-in wireless receiver allowing you to connect RØDE wireless mics without needing a separate receiver.

Creators might initially fret over which camera to use, but those with experience know that audio quality is just as important, and often the most challenging aspect. RØDE’s compact wireless mics are the perfect companion for ensuring excellent audio quality while providing the freedom to record anywhere you like.

To find out more, check out the Wireless Range page on the RØDE website HERE

Almost three years on, the Sony A7 IV is still one of the most popular mirrorless cameras around. And while many users are awaiting news of an A7 V, Sony continues to update the existing model via firmware.

Sony has been instrumental in the development of mirrorless cameras and the mass migration from DSLR. It has also played a huge part in the improved video performance now available on consumer bodies, with Sony's offerings among the best video cameras on the market.

And video performance is where the new firmware fix for the Sony A7 IV lies, addressing what can only be described as a major issue for users.

The new firmware release (Ver.3.02) offers only one improvement, but it's a crucial one that "fixes an issue where the recording for a movie shooting session may be interrupted".

Above: How to update your Sony firmware using a memory card

Sometimes firmware updates add new features, such as subject recognition and improved AF performance, and sometimes they fix issues, often issues that arise from prior firmware updates. This one certainly falls under the latter, yet is just as important.

It is not clear how common an occurrence this was, but it is always concerning when your camera randomly stops working – especially mid-recording. Users will be relieved to know that this issue has been addressed.

Before updating to the new firmware, Sony does issue a warning that your camera should already be updated to Ver.1.05 – and failing to do this will cause problems, so it's best to double-check your current version before upgrading.

"You must first update to Ver. 1.05 before proceeding to the latest version (Ver. 3.02)," says Sony. "Attempting to update directly to Ver. 3.02 will cause an error."

The update procedure for Sony cameras is a simple one, and to help further, Sony has issued a step-by-step guide on its download page in addition to a helpful video tutorial (see above).

You may also be interested in our guides to the best Sony cameras and the best Sony lenses.

I was taken aback at the way YouTuber Geoff Marshall brilliantly summarised some of the concerns so many are feeling about the platform in his dramatically titled video Let's Quit YouTube... (But also let's not).

Like many YouTubers, he has a niche – in his case London Transport – which he has explored to the point that both my dad and at least one of my son’s school friends are enthusiastic followers.

Like many things online, YouTube has thrived on enthusiasm; people made and make videos about the subjects that mattered to them and their audience forgave them the lack of equipment – and experience – that a professional team would bring. In Geoff's words "Wonky vlogs is what I used to do" and he notes his "style and technique has definitely picked up over the years."

Indeed, as he notes, many YouTubers have successfully upped their game. Better gear has come along, of course – the best vlogging cameras and vlogging tripods all play their part – but what I found wonderful about this particular video by Marshall is that he also shares the details of the artistic improvements he has made.

Now, though, mixed with a ton of tips for video makers, he describes an "existential crisis" brought on by two factors: short vertical video formats from one end – like TikTok and YouTube Shorts – and the tendency for people to view YouTube through TV apps just like Netflix.

I must admit that when I saw the video, already hanging on to every word of his considered analysis of the situation, I didn’t quite know how to feel about the fact that I was watching on my TV, using the YouTube app on my AppleTV.

Marshall "is not a fan of" vertical format video (though he doesn't say it makes his blood boil like George Cairns). Born in 1972, perhaps it is not surprising that this is his preferred format, but his discussion of the difference between vertical and horizontal formats is cleverly interwoven with its meaning for creators.

Rather than discuss the cinematic concerns as many concentrate on, he looks at it from the platform perspective, which is ultimately something we all need to consider (if we're on the hunt for eyeballs).

He says "a lot of people came back and said no to shorts" and the comments to this video would seem to back that up (though, ironically, the most succinct remarks seem to get the most likes).

The crisis, though, comes from the fact that the opposite of shorts is catering more to the long-form documentary which can work on the TV apps (you'll probably need the best YouTube cameras) but that brings with it higher production costs, at the very least in time.

Is there still a place for the original 5-10 minute YouTube video? I'd be sad if there wasn't since that's the only format I've ever really tried to make and it was liberating, but I feel he has a point, and many folk might need to up their game to at least cater to 4K TVs!

As part of the launch of the EOS R5 Mark II, Canon Europe has teamed up with social media agency Formidable, and come up with a novel and entertaining idea to show off the new camera’s skills. 

For the multi-platform social campaign across Canon’s YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and web, the brand came up with a challenge: to see if director and hybrid creator Anthony Rubinstein to shoot and edit a full-length music video, and stills, in less than 48 hours, only using the EOS R5 Mark II. 

With the clock ticking, Rubinstein and the Formidable team enlisted the help of Hana Lili, a 24 year old Welsh singer-songwriter who supported Coldplay on the Cardiff leg of their world tour, and whose music has been used on the soundtrack for TV show Love Island.

The Mark II is proving incredibly popular with anyone who’s tried it.

Our editor James Artaius recently reviewed the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, calling it "Once again, the company’s most important, and most powerful camera…simply the best camera I’ve ever used."

It combines in-camera 180MP upscaling and 2-stop denoising, faster 30fps burst speed, 8K 60p RAW, C-Log2, killer AI-powered predictive autofocus, reduced rolling shutter, Eye Control AF, 8.5 stops of image stabilization, pre-capture for stills and video, Smart Controller, Multi-Function Shoe, full-size HDMI port.

The end result of the ambitious project?

A two minute and 26 second music video with accompanying stills for Lili’s new track Iconic.

Among the hero content pieces of the campaign is an eight-minute behind-the-scenes video that explains the creative process in full, and Rubinstein’s experience with the camera.

Calling the camera "A real pleasure to shoot with," Rubinstein also experienced the Mark II on a gimbal, "the idea is I’m going to be able to get some really lovely sweeping, orbiting shots, and the autofocus in the camera is going to do the job of making everything super sharp the whole way through."

He also praised the C-Log 2, which "Captures so much picture information, and it’s going to mean that we’ve got so much flexibility in the edit, and in the grade."

Another feature, which utilizes artificial intelligence, is the eye controlled autofocus.

"I just trained it on my eye," explains Rubinstein, "and basically what happens now when I look through the EVF is when I look at a different area of the scene, it automatically focuses in on where I’m looking.

"Really cool feature, really, really kind of spooky, but very fun."

Check out our guides to the best Canon cameras, and the best Canon RF lenses. 

I have always believed that the best way to market a product is by showing potential users examples of what it's capable of creating. Apple has always been great at this, and although the 'Shot on iPhone' campaign has been referenced in countless memes, its most recent example is nothing short of impressive.

¡Suerte! is a short film developed for Apple TV that follows a young musician's journey through Mexico in search of inspiration. The 13-minute Mexican film includes intimate moments, dynamic action sequences, and close-up portrait shots, all filmed in various environments using an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Above: The making-of video for ¡Suerte!

This is not the first film to be shot on an iPhone, with renowned movie director Steve Soderbergh shooting High Flying Bird on an iPhone 8, however, the iPhone has gone through many evolutions in this time and the technology has improved dramatically.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is considered, at present, to be one of the best camera phones for photography and video. It's hard to disagree with this claim, especially after watching the impressive visuals ¡Suerte! has to offer, and better yet for us crazy about the process, there is a making-of video explaining how the iPhone's features were utilized.

Cinematic mode was used to quickly rack focus between the foreground and the background with just the touch of the screen. Extremely talented directing duo Cliqua explains, "This was something that would have only been available to do on a cinema camera in the past, but now you can do it in the palm of your hand."

The new optical 5x zoom feature of the recent iPhone also played a part in creating dynamic camera movements and transitions. Director of Photography, (known as) Mr. Liu, states that the 5x zoom offers flexibility throughout production, he adds, "It gives you the opportunity to swap lenses really fast".

Mr. Liu also praises the ability to shoot in log color encoding (Apple ProRes) as it gives more flexibility in controlling the color, highlights, and contrast, all of which play a pivotal role in creating the film's aesthetics and setting the mood.

The making-of video goes on to showcase the iPhone's ability to capture impressive low light captures and action with Action Mode.

It must of course be highlighted that on top of using the iPhone, many professional sets, lighting, and gimbals were used to capture a clean cinematic video, however, there were also many examples of them making the film where the director or DOP was just shooting with nothing but the subject and the iPhone.

I highly recommend checking out both the behind-the-scenes video (above) and the short film itself on Apple's YouTube channel, as it really does showcase the power of the iPhone, a truly impressive video camera option that many of us carry with us in our pockets every day.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best iPhones, the best camera phones, and the best phone gimbals.

Earlier this year – at The Photography & Video Show – Mac Group, a leading distributor of equipment and accessories, introduced the Jupio Tri-Charge, which is now compatible with Fujifilm and Panasonic. 

The Jupio Tri-Charge is a nifty camera accessory that offers enhanced versatility from your typical camera battery charger. Not only can it charge three batteries simultaneously, but it can also be used to store and carry your spare batteries and memory cards.

Upon release, the charger was only compatible with charging Canon LPE6, Sony FZ100, and Nikon ENEL15 batteries. However, from July 24, you can also charge the best Fujifilm cameras and Panasonic cameras, as charger options for both Fuji NP-W235 and Panasonic BLK22 batteries are now available.

The Jupio Tri-Charge was developed from the ground up by YouTuber and content creator Peter Lindgren, and together with Jupio they designed a charger that also offers protection and storage for both batteries and memory.

As a charger, it utilizes smart charger capabilities to charge all three batteries simultaneously via the included USB-C charger. Jupio states that when used this way, charging is lightning-fast and keeps the user ready for action at all times.

Each battery bay has a bright 4 LED light panel which indicates the level of charge for each battery, an extremely helpful indicator when out in the field.

The charger doubles up as a storage device for all the best memory cards on the market, including storage slots for SDHC, micro SDHC, and CF express cards, meaning added protection and storage when traveling.

As if charging, protection, and storage weren't enough, the Jupio Tri-Charge also transforms into a portable power bank! The charger utilizes the camera batteries, once charged, as power for the power bank. An ingenious and versatile design that enables you to charge other equipment when in the field. 

The Jupio Tri-Charge is available now for $130 / £130 / AU$169.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best chargers, the best camera batteries, and the best memory cards.

The iPhone 16 is set to be released in September, and the rumors about its appearance and features have been swirling around for months. 

Now, YouTuber and technology news enthusiast MattTalksTech has got his hands on some dummy models of the new iPhone 16 range, which seem to confirm some of these rumors. 

Describing it as a "Real hands-on review of what the new iPhone 16 to the iPhone 16 Pro Max models are actually going to give us this year," the video adds, "and I want to confirm with you the leaks and rumors around the design today."

A new leak video from Box Therapy has allegedly revealed what the dummy models look like, and MattTalksTech says they are a “big big important factor because at around this time of year, a lot of companies out there who make cases and accessories for the next generation of iPhones start to get their factories working, and they need to work on dummy iPhones to know exactly how they’re going to position their buttons, and actually put their molds around the actual size of the iPhones that are coming out.”

The video begins by saying that in comparison to the design of the iPhone 15 range, there are very few differences, however, there is a new button. 

“You can see and this is the new spatial vision button or spatial video button,” says MattTalksTech, “Whatever you want to call it.”

This feature became available on the iPhone 15 range, however, not with its own dedicated button. The addition of new features to the external design of new Apple phones is unusual, because they seem to like removing buttons, and just have everything centrally located on the screen.

“So this must mean something to them,” adds MattTalksTech, “A lot of us speculate that this is going to be for the Spatial recording, but personally I hope that this button can be customized a little bit more, that we might be able to change it to normal video recording.”

Based on the dummy designs it would appear that the width will stay the same as the 15 range, but they also seem to confirm that “We are actually going to be getting a 6.3 and a 6.9 in display,” says the video, “the bezels are going to be even thinner on this iPhone.”

Nothing is mentioned about the rumor from Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this month about that the new 16 range will have the same tetera-prism cameras as the 15 range, however, the dummy phones seem to suggest that the back of the phone might be losing its square camera formation.

“This time, with just the two lenses we’re not going to have the sort of square on the back anymore,” says MattTalksTech, referencing the iPhone S11.

The formation appears to now be “a kind of pill, very similar to the iPhone 10 and the iPhone XS…but obviously far bigger lenses this time.”

The video doesn't mention anything about potential colors, however they do show images of a range of pastel-colored models.

TechRadar has reported their prediction that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus might come in a range of seven overall colors, with the black, pink, blue, yellow, and green being the same as the iPhone 15.

They also suggest that there may be two new colors – white and purple – with the purple model following the previous use of the color and staying quite bright.

Check out the best iPhones for photography, as well as the best camera phones, and the best lenses for iPhone and Android camera phones.

There's yet another new phone brand on the scene, and it's called CMF, or to be precise, 'CMF by Nothing'. Yes, the former upstart phone company with its distinctive brand name and phone styling has now come of age and spawned its own sub-brand. CMF, named after the design philosophy of Color, Material, and Finish, is focussed on making stylish, good quality camera phones accessible to all. Consequently, its first phone, the CMF Phone 1, is priced at just $199 / £209 / AU$399, yet its modular design looks like nothing else, especially at this price point.

But it's not just the funky styling that's set the CMF Phone 1 apart from the competition. With the aid of a custom app, YouTuber @purely_maxwell managed to unlock the otherwise off-limits depth-sensing module so it could be directly accessed and used as a standalone 2MP monochrome camera. At least, that's how it looks when composing most shots. But point the phone at certain objects (in this case, a TV remote control) and the depth camera is actually able to see inside them, much like an X-ray would. It's a trick that really needs to be seen to be believed, so do check out the video showing the effect in action:

For reference, a depth-sensing camera is intended to be used primarily for subject detection and isolation, in order to separate subject from background to effectively apply shallow depth of field effects in portrait mode. As for how a regular depth camera can actually see through seemingly solid objects? Well, Nothing's co-founder Akis Evangelidis explains:

"Unlike typical cameras, our depth sensor doesn't have an infrared light filter, enhancing its light-capturing ability. By definition, this includes infrared light, which can sometimes reveal the internal structure of thin or semi-transparent objects, especially when it's black acrylic material."

This explains why the effect is so pronounced when the camera is pointed at the black acrylic casing of a TV remote. Although @purely_maxwell does show the camera 'seeing through' other objects like a bag and t-shirt, the actual 'X-ray' potential of the phone's depth camera is likely quite limited. Thin synthetic materials would be the most susceptible substances to being penetrated by an infrared depth camera, though this does raise concerns about whether such a camera hack could be used for nefarious ends, so it's no surprise that CMF/Nothing has been quick to block third-party app access to the CMF Phone 1's depth camera.

Unless this restriction can be circumvented, it's doubtful other CMF Phone 1 owners will be able to replicate the phone's secret X-ray capabilities. It also means certain unscrupulous individuals with a dirty mind will have to go back to using good old imagination (or maybe a smooth chat-up line) to see under someone's clothing.

The iOS 18 Public Beta reveals a feature which gives control over the focus, as well as the brightness, of the flash in existing iPhone models.

Previous versions of iOS have allowed a few different brightness settings, but now the full feature set of the Adaptive True Town Flash is placed under the control of a new interface, which effectively means you can control the width of the beam.

You, too, can be a brave early adopter of the new iOS by downloading the public beta (yes, it's no longer just a developer beta since July 14), but YouTuber TechDroider has posted a video (above) which clarifies the operation of the torch and the animations in the latest beta.

The animation stems from the dynamic island, so we can assume that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro, which both boast the Adaptive Truetone Flash and Dynamic Island, at least, will definitely support this feature.

Dragging your finger Left and right adjusts focus/angle, while up and down is brightness. A long-press brings up a full control.

The truetone flash is made up of 9 LEDs and multiple lenses, hence its ability to direct light as well as tweak the tone. Previously these abilities have been available only to developers and the Camera app.

The uses for people lighting subjects with their phone should be obvious, and if nothing else it is fun to play with.

The feature has been tweaked a little over the developer versions, and is now larger than the original.

Even if you don't download iOS18 now, it'll be a cool feature to have in the post for your new iPhone 15 Pro.

Check our guide to the best iPhone for photography.

Sony ushered in something new with its ZV series of cameras, call them what you will  – vlogging cameras, travel cameras, YouTube cameras, but there is certainly a demand for smaller cameras with bigger capabilities, so much so that they apparently made up almost half of Sony’s camera sales last year. 

The first generation of ZV cameras offered a lot of potential but managed to trip over a few hurdles on their way to greatness. The ZV-E10 especially uses a sensor that probably should have been marked for retirement, but instead left the camera struggling with hefty crop factors on 4K footage and poor streaming performance. However, if Sony had learned anything was a little unclear after the first ZV camera to get a follow-up, the ZV-1 II did little to move the needle, and in fact, I prefer the original. 

Thankfully Sony has pushed a bit harder with the ZV-E10 II, with much more substantial and noticeable improvements, with a new 26MP sensor (well not new new, it's the same as in the Sony FX30 and Sony a6700), a much larger battery, and Sony’s modern and infinitely better menu system. 

Sony ZV-E10 II: Specifications

Sony ZV-E10 II: Price

The ZV-E10 II costs $999 / £925 / AU$1,699 for the body only or $1,099 / £999 / AU$1,899 with the kit lens. I usually don’t get to say this, but despite a whopping price increase of $200 over the previous model, the ZV-E10 II actually represents good value. 

Where the first model was compromised, the sequel manages to correct those mistakes with a new sensor and new battery which I think entirely justifies the price increase. The ZV-E10 II also managed to shave a healthy $400 off the price of the Sony a6700, and $800 off the price of a Sony FX30 which shares the same sensor, processor, and battery.

It is hard to find direct comparisons for the ZV range, as they are still fairly unique, but if 4K footage is the main priority, there are cheaper cameras such as the Nikon Z30 and Canon EOS R50, but these lack the same features and audio capabilities. I still think the Fujifilm X-S20 is the hybrid vlogging camera to beat, but that will set you back an additional $300 (without a lens).

Sony ZV-E10 II: Design & Handling

There isn’t much of a noticeable change in design from the first ZV-E10, but then I really didn’t have any complaints about that original model. The camera is still wonderfully compact and small weighing just 10.3oz/292g, with a squared-off shape that is minimalist and inoffensive in design. On the rear, there is still a 3-in 1.04m-dot screen that is articulating for movie-making but as this is a ZV camera there is no EVF. 

If you look very closely you might be able to tell the grip has gotten ever so slightly larger to accommodate the new Z battery, it's impressive that Sony has managed to squeeze this 50% larger capacity battery in the camera without having to compromise on the camera's compact size. The SD card reader is on the opposite side of the camera, and not in the battery compartment, which is how it should be done.

The grip is very comfortable to hold, although very large hands might struggle slightly. I have mostly been using the camera with the new kit lens, which is the perfect size for this camera, and the two together feel like this is a compact camera. However, despite this decent grip, there is an issue trying to use the ZV-E10 II with large lenses. In fact the camera is so compact that your lenses don’t even have to be that “large” before they start causing a problem handheld, with lenses quickly becoming front-heavy and requiring a two-handed shooting style.

But this camera is clearly not designed with big glass in mind, and the camera should pair well with entry-level Sony lenses, or Sigma’s Contemporary range – although Sony will deny you focus breathing compensation on third-party lenses.

The only other changes to the ZV-E10 II’s layout are the swap to a three-way switch for the photo/video/S&Q modes rather than a button, which makes it so much easier to know which mode you are in with a glance, and the on/off button has also moved to a switch under the shutter button, which is fairly standard, so no notes.

The camera is very light on buttons and dials compared to Sony’s more advanced cameras, but it still manages to hold onto the essentials, with common settings including ISO, exposure, and timer positioned around the scroll wheel. There are also buttons dedicated to some of Sony’s ZV tricks including background defocus and product showcase which put them front and center, and also helped me remember they were there rather than being lost in a menu and rarely used.

Talking of menus though, the ZV-E10 II has Sony’s latest revamped menu system, which will be a revelation for anyone coming from Sony’s older and positively dreadful menu system on prior cameras. Not only are the settings menus easier to navigate, but there are also now easy options on the main screen for quickly changing common settings, which is a much more smartphone-like experience for anyone who may be less familiar with digital cameras. The menus are also fully customizable and flip automatically into a vertical orientation. This is clearly an area where Sony heard user frustrations and has come though with solid fixes.

Sony ZV-E10 II: Performance

Sure the ZV-E10 II can take pictures, it can even take really good pictures, but it really isn’t a photographer’s camera. The body has minimal control over settings for images, the lack of an EVF means you only have the screen to compose on, and the camera has no mechanical shutter so fast-moving subjects can turn into a house of mirrors. 

Lens choice can also make all the difference in how useful this is as a photography camera. The included kit lens is a video-oriented lens, as while it has no issue with 4K60p video, it is not the sharpest photography lens out there. Of course, this being a Sony E-mount camera there is no shortage of lenses to pair with this camera, although as discussed earlier, the compact size of the camera is a very limiting factor in lens choice. 

However, all that said, the camera does share the same sensor and processor as the photography-oriented Sony a6700, so with the right lens and the right conditions, images themselves have the potential to be every bit as good as that camera. There are some 'Looks' on the camera for tweaking the style of your images, although Sony's are a little like an Instagram filter and are not nearly as advanced and useful as Fujifilm's film simulations or Panasonic's photo LUTs. You can see a couple below to get an idea.

How much benefit you will get from the ZV-E10 II’s photography mode really depends on how you intend to use the camera. If you are primarily a videographer who might want to snap some pictures on occasion, then the ZV-E10 II is perfect. However, if you are a hybrid shooter and pictures matter more to you than that, I would recommend looking harder at the Sony a6700 (or even Sony’s Alpha series) instead.

When it comes to video, the ZV-E10 II is essentially a Sony FX30. Okay, there are a few more differences, but the sensor and processor are the same between the models, so we know how good the ZV-E10 II footage should be, and the ZV-E10 II does not disappoint. 

After the missteps with 4K on the previous model, there is very little to complain about, with 4K30p here with no crop, and 4K60p with a negligible 1.1x crop, the only omission is 4K120p which is possible on other cameras sharing this sensor but isn’t really make or break for this price. 

With regular 4K, the ZV-E10 II does get hot, although it didn’t cut out for me with my short bursts of filming, longer periods of filming, or long streaming sessions might cause a few more issues. I left the camera filming in 4K60p, where it managed around 45 minutes before needing a cooldown. I suspect that it might not have been able to cope with 120p footage which is why it was left out.

The regular 4K footage directly out of the camera is great, with a good amount of detail and the dynamic range producing a good balance between the highs and lows. However this is the tip of the iceberg, and the ZV-E10 II is capable of so much more. Cinematic vlog mode can automatically use Sony’s S-Cinetone grading makes for great-looking footage with minimal effort, you can also import your own LUTs directly into the camera, or if you want to edit after the fact, then the ZV-E10 II can record in S-Log with 10-bit color. For a camera of this size and price, it is great to have this much flexibility when it comes to recording.

Above: footage shot in Sony's 'Cinematic Vlog' mode using S-Cinetone makes for some great-looking footage straight out of the camera.

Sony’s product showcase focus trick is also fantastic for product or beauty vloggers who might want to hold products up to the camera. The ZV-E10 II will automatically focus on whatever the nearest object to the camera is, and snap back to a face when the product is lowered. It works really well and the autofocus is seamless. The other gimmick for more ‘cinematic’ footage is to use the background defocus mode which uses the widest aperture possible to achieve the most blur, but it really will depend on your lens for how beneficial this is, with the standard kit lens, I didn’t notice a massive difference with its mediocre maximum aperture.

There is the now ZV-signature three-capsule stereo microphone built into the top of the ZV-E10 II. This microphone offers three-way directional audio (front, back, and surround), which can be manually selected or you can leave the camera to pick the best direction to record audio from. There is also a dead-cat-style microphone cover in the box, which did a good job of keeping the wind noise at bay. 

The directional pickup works well, I found when setting the audio to the rear and walking around outdoors filming and chattering away behind the camera, it picked up my voice out of the surrounding din. However, I did find this led to an overall more compressed sound, and lost the richness of the environment, and if I was filming in a more serious capacity then I would have recorded dual audio channels and mixed them in post. 

Overall the inbuilt mics in the ZV-E10 II are excellent, and leagues ahead of almost any other built-in microphone on any other camera, and in a bind, the built-in directions definitely can save the day without an external mic. However, they are not going to be a replacement for a good external microphone used correctly. When recording a quick piece to camera for the review, I much preferred the sound captured from my RØDE shotgun mic for its richness and depth. 

Above: footage captured using the ZV-E10 II's automatic settings is nicely sharp and colorful and a huge step above video from a smartphone.

The ZV-E10 II features improved autofocus from the previous model, which is definitely faster and more accurate with far more focus points, and some of the best you can get at this price point. However, I did notice a few times that the autofocus would be slow to adjust itself in more complicated scenes. One example was when filming a flower bed, the camera had trouble determining the most prominent flower in the scene where it should have been quite obvious due to the scale and framing.

The ZV-E10 II also falls behind other Sony cameras in subject recognition and tracking due to the lack of AI chip. But first, the good news is I had no issue getting the camera to recognize my face and eyes, so for vlogging. However, the animal recognition was a step back from what I am used to from other cameras, with the ZV-E0 II having a lower-than-ideal hit rate on domestic animals, but failing miserably on more exotic animals at the zoo.

As mentioned a few times already, battery life has been significantly improved in the ZV-E10 II as it now uses the NP-FZ100 battery. Sony thinks you should be able to get a total of 195 minutes of continuous recording on one charge which seems reasonable based on my tests. Battery life will depend quite dramatically on how you use the camera. Still, in my experience, each day I mostly was filming short video clips totaling around one to two hours when combined and came back home with around 20-30% battery. 

Sony ZV-E10 II: Lab Results

We are awaiting the release of an update to our testing software to recognize the RAW files from the ZV-E10 II. We will update this section in the coming weeks when the camera and update become publicly available.

Sony ZV-E10 II: Verdict

I was quite impressed with Sony’s first ZV-E10 camera, although it did fall short in a few areas, such as its limited battery life and restrictive crop factors. Fortunately, Sony has addressed nearly all of these issues in the ZV-E10 II.

This time around, the ZV-E10 II offers great quality 4K video with (mostly) no crop, which is a significant improvement. Handling is a dream with small lenses and the generous grip is a welcome feature for such a small camera. The hugely improved battery life also ensures you can shoot for longer without interruptions. Finally for streamers, the camera offers better resolution streaming options with more ways to connect.

However, there are still some limitations. The absence of an AI processor means subject recognition is limited, and it misses out on cool auto-framing tricks. The tiny body doesn’t pair well with bigger lenses, which can be a drawback for those with bigger optics. Additionally, the camera lacks in-body image stabilization (IBIS), which would have been a valuable feature for smooth shooting without relying on active stabilization and more crops. 

While it isn't the perfect all-rounder, it comes remarkably close to achieving vlogging camera perfection. It is priced higher compared to the original, however, remaining under $1000, it still provides good value for the features, and there is nothing else quite like it on the market. Despite any drawbacks, the ZV-E10 II comes as one highly compelling option for vloggers and content creators. 

Alternatives

First teased during the Nikon Z6 III announcment, Nikon Imaging Cloud excited viewers, offering a brand new and entirely free cloud service for Nikon creatives. Now officially unveiled by Nikon, we have more details about the service and it's certainly doing its best to make Nikon cool again! 

Nikon states that Nikon Imaging Cloud is 'your new creative partner', creating a connection between the cloud app and the best Nikon cameras. At present, this entails three main functions - cloud storage, firmware updates, and most anticipated, exclusive image recipes. 

Above: The Nikon Imaging Cloud announcement video

Nikon has been winning back fans of late with some fantastic award-winning releases, and appealing to the younger generation with its retro-inspired Zf line. This looks likely to continue with the inclusion of what Nikon calls 'exclusive image recipes', which are essentially custom LUTs or film recipes. 

Nikon Imaging Cloud enables users to recreate their favorite film stock, preset, or experiment with a library of existing recipes from Nikon Creators, and upload it to their camera as a color profile. Up to 9 recipes can be uploaded directly from the cloud to a Nikon camera, providing endless creative freedom and experimentation. 

This will be music to retro camera fans' ears, as similar film simulation features like those on Fujifilm cameras, emulate shooting analog without the expense and hassle of using film. With Nikon's great dynamic range performance, I can't wait to see a Kodak Tri-x-inspired recipe!

In addition to being used as film simulations, the image recipes can also be used as LUTs for previewing color-grading on video-dedicated cameras. We have seen a successful example of this in Panasonic's Lumix Lab app. After Nikon acquired RED, we may start to see improved video features in future camera releases, and the option for LUTs via Nikon Imaging Cloud would be a very welcome one.

The second feature of the Nikon Imaging Cloud service will enable the user to automatically upload images from the camera to the cloud over a Wi-Fi connection. This works in three ways. It can auto-upload to the cloud enabling safe storage of your images even if your equipment gets damaged or lost, secondly, it can act as a vault for storing images for up to 30 days in the cloud, and lastly, it enables direct upload to third-party platforms such as Lightroom and Dropbox via Wi-Fi. 

The third major feature of the cloud service is firmware updates. Users are given an option for automatic or manual firmware updates, but gone are the days of downloading to a storage device, as it can now all be updated directly to your camera via a Wi-Fi connection. If you do opt to manually update the firmware, you will be notified of an update with a small yellow dot next to the tool icon in the camera menu. 

The Nikon Imaging Cloud sounds like a fantastic addition for Nikon creatives, particularly the introduction of image recipes which will be a huge hit with the younger generation looking to emulate film. 

Nikon Imaging Cloud is available now for free, however, it is currently only available for the Nikon Z6 III. It is scheduled to be rolled out to other Nikon mirrorless cameras in due course, but no specific release date has been announced. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best Nikon camera, the best Nikon lenses, and the best retro cameras.

In a move that has reverberated throughout all digitally-based creative industries, Adobe has updated its terms of use, adding some questionable points of interest, and causing a call for user revolt. 

Over the weekend social media lit up with photographers, videographers, and content creators calling for a boycott of Adobe and its products after its updated terms of use give the media software company access to any form of media uploaded to its many programs. This called into question privacy and security issues and broke the trust of the many creative professionals who use Adobe for their daily workflow. 

Since the initial update, Adobe has been inundated with questions and comments. In a bid to answer them, it has released a statement clarifying what the updates mean, and how it will be used moving forward. 

The new terms of use attempt to make clear that Adobe will only gain access to user content for manual and automated review methods, as 'permitted by law' with Adobe stating, "To be clear, Adobe requires a limited license to access content solely for the purpose of operating or improving the services and software and to enforce our terms and comply with law, such as to protect against abusive content".

Adobe uses 'child sexual abuse material or other abusive content or behavior' as an example of the type of illegal content that will be screened for, this is obviously something that needs to happen and the safeguarding of children is vital, but this has led many to question Adobe's authority in the decision-making and issues with privacy. 

In a recent video on this subject, YouTuber Tony Northrup questions both Adobe's authority and the privacy issues of scrutinizing boudoir photography or even snapshots of the family at home, with kids in the bath or paddling pool. He likens this terms of use change to Makita looking through the windows of our houses to make sure that we are using a hammer correctly and describes it as "wildly unacceptable" and adding, "I need privacy when I use my Adobe products!". 

In the statement, Adobe has also provided a list of when Adobe applications and services may access content, to settle unease among its users. They are as follows:

" • Access is needed for Adobe applications and services to perform the functions they are designed and used for (such as opening and editing files for the user or creating thumbnails or a preview for sharing).

• Access is needed to deliver some of our most innovative cloud-based features such as Photoshop Neural Filters, Liquid Mode or Remove Background. You can read more information, including how users can control how their content may be used: https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/machine-learning-faq.html

• For content processed or stored on Adobe servers, Adobe may use technologies and other processes, including escalation for manual (human) review, to screen for certain types of illegal content (such as child sexual abuse material), or other abusive content or behavior (for example, patterns of activity that indicate spam or phishing)."

When read as 'Adobe will gain access to all of your content', it sounds a bit shady, but, from what I can gather, it is more in the same vein as Meta requiring access to your photo library when uploading images to Instagram, rather than Adobe will steal and use your content. 

Adobe continues to promise that users' content will remain safe from being used to train Adobe AI, stating outright "Adobe does not train Firefly Gen AI models on customer content". Adobe also thought it necessary to state "Adobe will never assume ownership of a customer's work". Ensuring that users' work remains entirely their own, and Adobe has no ownership and, therefore right to use it. 

The clarification statement did help to answer some of the questions surrounding the terms of use update, however, more remain, especially regarding the methods in which Adobe chose to review content, and whether this would break any NDA agreements for professionals. 

Adobe almost has a monopoly on editing applications and programs, and it is highly unlikely that users will stick to any boycotting actions. There are many RAW image editors out there that rival Adobe's, Capture One being a main competitor among professionals, and there are certainly many other video editing software that rival or perhaps even trump Premiere Pro. But where Adobe takes the cake is with InDesign and the communication between its suite of applications and programs. 

It will be interesting to follow this story further and see if the updated terms will have any effect on the professional industry, and if those who have called for a boycott follow through. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best software for image editing and the best software for video editing.

For Nick Hanson, the greatest sense of purpose comes when carrying his camera on a shoot in the wilderness. Based in the UK he’s a regular visitor to Wales, the Peak District and the Isle of Skye, where he runs workshops alongside a team of other professional photographers.

Nick wasn’t always a full-time pro, but a lucky workshop encounter on Skye enabled him to join the fold and become a teacher of sublime and scenic photography. He’s driven by a desire to exceed his expectations, rather than anyone else’s, believing that you can always find your own take on a landscape – even when it’s appeared on social media hundreds of times before.

Nick’s images are characterized by moody elements, strong contrasts between light and shade, and an eagerness to show the landscape in all its drama. We learn about his Canon kit, camera settings, and creative outlook…

A longer version of this interview originally appeared in Issue 213 of Photo Plus magazine. Click the link below to see our latest special subscription deal!

A Youtuber calling himself Philly Drone Life – but actually called Michael DiCiurcio – posted numerous videos and live streams which seem to show him breaking FAA rules, and after continuing to break rules the court has finally issued not only an enforcement injunction but a ban on his flying of any and all drones.

UPDATE: This is a one-off and not related to the proposed DJI ban in Congress now; for more on that read my exclusive interview with DJI which covers how the ban might affect existing drones.

The fine is so high because he has committed (and documented) so many separate violations, each incurring a fine, yet only a few weeks ago it seemed he was planning to cooperate with the FAA and court, planning even to get a Part 107 license (which is required in the US for commercial drone operation), and having taken meetings with the FAA – according to his YouTube channel, at least.

That, however, is not how things played out when the civil case (United States of America v. Michael DiCiurcio, Case No. 24-cv-00612) went before a judge on April 24, and the drone community has been taking a few days to digest the meaning of the ruling against Mr DiCiurcio which orders the seizure of drones but states that he, the defendant, is "PROHIBITED from operation of any and all drones".

This, however, is after a lot of legal steps at which DiCiurcio had the opportunity to act differently. Regular drone buyers need not worry about this kind of enforcement action hitting them – if you choose the best beginner drone or something like it and fly, even if something goes a bit wrong and you encounter enforcement, you'll likely be able to cooperate.

That was not how "Mikey" approached the situation – indeed the same video he posted also revealed that he had at some point felt he was part of a kind of rebellion against the rules: "Not to mention what I thought was a big rebel, we were going to change the rules, was like 5 people, you know, it's just not going to work out."

This is the video – recorded before the 'final' court date, which gives some insights into his thinking (and lack of respect to safety worries – he seems to think that because he didn't have an accident causing an injury none was likely).

There are some legal lessons that Michael DiCiurcio's case should teach too – one is to get representation, which it appears he hasn't (or he would not have posted the video!). It is also fair to say that he clearly has a sense of grievance against the structure of the US rules about earning money on YouTube making you commercial (and thus needing a Part 107) which isn't really the same as the safety regulations about not flying beyond visual line of sight and in urban areas.

Given how many times DiCiurcio seems not to have been stopped by the legal action, the question is now – with this very clear wording from the judge – will he risk contempt of the civil court, and, ultimately jail, by flying again?

The best thing that you can do to improve the production values of your YouTube content is to buy a wireless mic kit. Your DSLR or smartphone will capture good-quality audio from a foot or two away from your mouth, but that quality drops rapidly with each extra foot you step away from your camera. Built-in mics are also very prone to wind noise at any distance. By clipping one of the best lavalier mics to your lapel (and plugging a receiver into your recording device)  you can keep your mouth close to the mic at all times and capture clean clear sound from a distance from your camera  - up to 200 meters in the case of the Godox WES Kit.

Godox produces a wide range of quality mics -  from the double-barrelled shoe-mounted IVM-S3 to the wireless Virso M2 kit. The Godox WES is primarily targeted at YouTube bloggers and social media content creators who prefer to use their smartphones to record footage. Indeed the Godox WES comes in two different incarnations - a Lighting version for iPhones older than the iPhone 15 range (WES1) and a USB-C version for Android users and iPhone 15 owners (WES2). Make sure that you buy the version that you need or you won’t be able to plug the receiver into your smartphone. To clarify - Godox WES1 has a lighting connector for attaching its transmitter to an iPhone and the Godox WES2 has a USB-C adaptor for Android phones (and iPhone 15).  Sorry to repeat ourselves but it will be an easy mistake to order the wrong version.

I tested the Godox WES1 Kit 2, which has two transmitters. If you don’t need to interview people then you can save cash by buying the Godox WES1 Kit 1, which only has one transmitter mic.

Godox WES2: Specifications

Godox WES2: Price

You can pick up the WES2 in the US for $99, or for £99 in the UK. At the time of writing the WES2 is showing as available on Amazon, with other stores having it for preorder, so check back again for your favorite retailer.

Godox WES2: Design & Handling

As with most of the wireless mic kits on the market, the Godox WES kit consists of a plastic carry case that contains two transmitter mics and a receiver. You can charge the two mics and the receiver inside the case simultaneously via the case’s USB-C socket. The carry case also doubles up as a charger on location thanks to its built-in battery, so you can extend the working life of the mics during a shoot by popping them back inside the case. A little digital display on the case indicates the amount of charging power that remains.

Talking of charging via the case, I made the mistake of not peeling off the tiny plastic stickers that protect the two transmitters when I first used the kit. This meant that when I shot my review of the kit I presumed that the carry case was charging the transmitters when it wasn’t! As a result, I ran out of power towards the end of my test (and the mics began flashing a ‘low battery’ red!) Now that the stickers have been removed the case charges the mics just fine. I’ve fallen foul of this sticker problem before - I really should know by now to check! When the transmitter mics are operating as normal a green light appears on them. This light changes to orange when you tap the orange button to activate the software noise reduction feature built into a transmitter. 

The plastic charging case fits into a zipped padded bag which offers more protection for the WES. The bag also has a compartment that stores two ‘dead cat’ windshields that are essential in reducing take-ruining wind rumble.  The bag and its contents fit nicely in my hand and the kit takes up very little space in my camera backpack.

Because I was using an iPhone 14 Pro Max for my test I brought the Lighting version of the Godox WES - the WES1. This meant I could plug the small receiver straight into my iPhone, fire up the Camera app, and start recording great-quality sound from the kit’s wireless transmitter mic. 

In the past, my iPhone has mistaken a plugged-in wireless receiver for headphones and as a result, I couldn’t record audio from the wireless mic! There’s no danger of that with the Godox WES because the kit conforms to Apple’s MFi (Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod) manufacturer certification - so it’s just ‘plug and play’ to use it. This is a big plus point for me as an iPhone user.

Godox WES2: Performance

To test the Godox WES I took it and my iPhone 14 Pro Max down to the local park. As usual, the wind was very blustery in the park’s wide open location so I popped the supplied windshield over the transmitter. Some wireless mics (such as the Saramoninc BlinkMe have fiddly windshields that you need to push and twist to attach to the transmitter.  

The Godox WES transmitter mic’s windshield just slides straight on. As you’ll see (and hear) from our supporting video the wind noise was kept down to negligible levels (though you can hear a hint of bass rumble if you listen to it while wearing headphones). If I’d recorded my sound with the iPhone’s built-in mic the sound would have been unusable due to wind noise, so the Godox WES is an essential accessory for my video work. While testing the WES in the park I also used it to record audio for my on-location test reviews of the JOBY SeaPal and the Shimoda Urban Explore backpack.

The biggest danger when using wireless mics is signal drop out, especially when the mic loses line of sight with the receiver thanks to your body blocking the signal when you turn your back on the camera. Thanks to signal hopping technology dropout is kept to a minimum, which is just as well as there’s no onboard recording feature. Onboard recording enables you to replace any drop-out in your subject’s voice with a clean recording captured on the transmitter. If you need the additional security of onboard recording you’ll need to pay more for a mic such as the DJI Mic - though this costs more than three times the price of the Godox WES.

I was impressed with the quality of the audio transmitted by the WES and would be hard-pressed to differentiate it from audio captured from a more expensive kit. However, as with some other kits, the built-in noise reduction feature does reduce background traffic noises but at the cost of making your voice sound flat and ‘tinny’ (though you can use the Godox Mic app to make a transmitter change Strong noise reduction to Weak to make the voice sound less ‘thin’.

Godox WES2: Verdict

The Godox WES is a ‘must have’ mic kit if you don’t already own a wireless mic set. It will certainly improve the sound of your smartphone’s video footage and at under $100/£100 it won't blow your budget. Thanks to a 48kHz/16-bit sampling rate the audio quality is as good as mics that cost twice the price. It’s pretty effective at transmitting your voice over a distance and dropout is kept to a minimum thanks to the kit’s 2.4GHz Frequency Hopping System. All in all the Godox WES kit is great value for money - just make sure that you order one that’s compatible with your smartphone.

Alternatives

Blackmagic Design is announcing its new line-up of products for ahead of the NAB trade show - and we are here to report on what the Australian professional video gear specialists have in store. You can watch the whole presentation, which lasted over two hours, on the YouTube link below.

Key announcements were:

• A new flagship cinema camera - the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K. This has been built from the ground up with a new full-frame sensor offering 16-stops of dynamic range, and offers much more adaptability than has been possible with previous Ursa model. It uses an Arri PL mount - but ships with a Canon EF mount if that's what you prefer. It has 8 terabytes built-in as standards. It will cost $14,995.

• A new box camera - the Blackmagic PYXIS 6K. An interesting thing about this full-frame cine camera is that it is available with three different lens mounts - L-mount, Canon EF mount, or the industry-standard PL mount. It has dual CFexpress Type B card slots, and can record in Blackmagic RAW. It will cost $2,995, including DaVinci Resolve 19.

• Major updates to the DaVinci Resolve 19 video-editing software. A summary of the main ones is:

• Ability to edit timeline content based on source clip transcription.
• AI-powered UltraNR noise reduction for spatial denoising
• Film Look Creator 
• AI Defocus Background isolates foreground with blur
  

Also , dropped in almost as an aside in the 20 new hardware products announcements, Grant Petty told us that they are working on the Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K - which will have a massive 65mm sensor with 17,520x8,040 pixels designed for shooting IMAX. The camera would use the larger LPL and Hasselblad lens mounts.

The live stream of the press conference started for those in Los Angeles at 9 AM PDT, in New York at 12 PM EDT, in London at 5 PM BST on April 12 – and in Sydney at 2 AM AEST on April 13.

The NAB 2024 exhibition kicks off in Las Vegas this weekend - running from April 13-17 -  and as usual we expect Blackmagic Design to bring us a range of product announcements. In its teaser, it says, "Join us to learn what's new in broadcast, post-production, and cameras!". 

Blackmagic is highly secretive, and unlike most other camera manufacturers, new products rarely leak ahead of its online press conferences—and as such, we don't really know what we have in store. But let's hope for new additions to its Ursa and Pocket Cinema Camera ranges and to its highly regarded video editing software, DaVinci Resolve.

Last year, the company announced its first full-frame L-mount camera the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K - and as a member of the L-mount Alliance, it will be interesting if it launches more camera using this lens mount that it also used by Panasonic, Leica and Sigma for some of its cameras.

Are you all set for the Blackmagic announcements - the music is playing, and the YouTube link (above) is now live…

Sadly, Blackmagic has disable comments on the YouTube page - so we can't report on what everyone is wanting to see. However, over 2,500 viewers are currently online, and that is going up as we type...

And we are off… with a rundown of some of the movies Blackmagic gear has been involved with. So great films there…

Some big camera news! So that will be the highlight - as we had hoped... But that will doubtlessly come at the end of the video, so stay patient

First up a new VideoHub router using 12G SDI
$12,995
Shipping in about five weeks

Next up...
ATEM 2 M/E Constellation 4K - adds an Ultra HD model to Blackmagic's range of video production switchers.
$3,795

Next…
ATEM 1 M/E Constellation 4K
Another switcher - for HD and Ultra HD
$1,795 and available now

New low-cost studio switcher is up next for desktop use with software control…
ATEM Micro Panel
$675
Available in July

Blackmagic says it want SMPE 2110 to be available to more people...
so has come up with a new codec Blackmagic IP10 Codec to make it easier for use

But also has a family of converters so that you can bring 2110 into your workflow

Now a studio monitor with 2110 compatibility, for use in rack systems.
$1265 - same price as previous model, coming in next few weeks

Next some news on DaVinci Resolve 19

AI tools
There's a really neat audio editing feature where the speech is captured as text, and then you can edit the video by simply removing that section of dialogue

7 channel color mixing
Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Skintone - each color can be adjusted individually

New film look creator panel

A defocus background feature uses AI to throw things in the distance out of focus

AI Music Remixer allows you to change music to mke it fit your video better - turning a song into an instrumental 

Another neat effect is being demonstrated that makes it easier to pan the audio across the sound field to match the action.

New features in the Cut page - allowing it to catch up with advances Blackmagic has made to live video capture that are made possible with Blackmagic Cloud. This work was apparently slowed down by having to rewrite DaVinci to allow for Apple's M1, M2, and M3 chips.

DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor
costs $495
New live video editing console for DaVinci, offering improvements over the existing Speed Editor

Allows you to synchronize two videos you are using using the timecode, putting them in the right relative position on the editing timeline

We are an hour into the presentation now - and we are still expecting a big camera announcement (in fact, that's what we have been promised). 

Lots of new DaVinci Resolve 19 updates - all available for free, which is pretty good news

At last the cameras…

First, we get the Ursa Cine 12.
This is an money-no-object version of the existing Ursa Mini Pro 12K - but with a totally redesigned body to make it more suitable to high-end movie makers, who need a fully-modifiable set-up.

Most importantly, it has a newly designed - and bigger - 12K full-frame sensor.

It has a PL-mount as standard, but comes supplied with a Canon EF-mount plate.

This is a serious beast - and apologetically they say that its price is to match. But for what we can see, we think the $14,995 asking price is pretty reasonable - and comes supplied in a Peli case. It will be available from April - but only to selected partners, so not expect to see it available online for a while. 

A kit with the new electronic viewfinder (one of a number of accessories that are being made for this camera) will cost $16,500.

Next it is more portable models, and it is a box camera

The PYXIS 6k camera has a full-frame open-gate. sensor, with a 13-stop dynamic range. Made from aircraft-grade aluminum. Records to two hot-swappable CFexpress Type B memory cards. 

The asking price starts at $2,995. There are three different models - L-mount, EF-mount or (the more expensive) PL-mount. It will go on sale from June.

Next, we get the DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel with three trackballs that can connect to your computer via Bluetooth, and has a slot to hold an iPad, if you are editing on a tablet. It costs $495 and is available now.

And now we get the news that Blackmagic gets an immediate $200 dollar price reduction on both the 3G and 12G Blackmagic Video Assist lineup. So that makes the 5inch 3G model just $325 - which is pretty impressive for a on-camera monitor.

So if you have been following the Pentax Film Project – the brand's eagerly anticipated revival of film cameras – you would have noticed that it now has a dedicated Instagram channel. It shared a significant update on what this new film camera might look like and how it will function, and it has left this dedicated film shooter devastated – and I will guess I won't be alone, either!

In the latest YouTube update (see video below) Takeo Suzuki, project designer and planner, explains that the new Pentax camera will be optimized for vertical shooting. This is apparently because the target audience of young photographers is always looking at their phones, taking images vertically, so this camera will be able to fit into their workflow and become a cohesive part of their social media uploads. 

But there is another reason why Pentax has chosen a vertical operation over a traditional horizontal one, and this one feature has changed my mind about the whole project. 

Suzuki explains that the high cost involved with film – first the purchase of it, being more expensive than it ever was, then the development – the new Pentax film camera will adopt a half-frame format. This means that you will get two images on one frame of 35mm – and that's where I personally lose interest.

Why build a new camera, which could cost a fair bit of money due to its "start-from-scratch" development with a film advance lever and mechanical engineering, for it to be a worse experience than a cheap full-frame SLR from eBay for $25?

The logic doesn't make sense to me at all! I understand, for example, that shooting color is a lot more expensive than shooting black-and-white, and the user will get 72 images from a traditional 36-exposure roll (or 48 images on a 24-exposure roll). But if you don't develop at home, you're still going to have to pay for developing the film, and shipping, then digitizing it – all for a worse and "lower-res" experience.

Also, might I point out that this will be the very first time Pentax has launched a half-frame camera – all those decades of producing some of the best film cameras wasted on half-frame… Wow, I just don't get it.

Something of note in Suzuki's presentation was that Pentax is going to incorporate its electronic shutter into this new film camera, along with electronic "fail-safes" to help new photographers capture better exposures and to try to stop totally black or pure white negatives due to over and underexposure. Which I will say is a nice touch, but I still question how much this new camera will be with this tech inside.

While it will have the option to manually control the shutter and aperture, one control that won't be fully manual is focusing, as Pentax will use a pre-select zone focus system – much like we saw on point-and-shoot cameras from the Eighties and Nineties. But fear not, it will have a manual film advance lever and will also feature a manual film rewind crank.

While I disagree with this format choice, I do like to hear that film is here to stay and that there are other brands taking film photography seriously again other than Leica or Lomography. So, what do you think about this format choice – am I right, or am I wrong?

Whether you're a fan of half-frame or not, make sure you use the best 35mm film to get the best results.

Alright, I'll be honest – if I'd have given it some thought, I would have realized that was what was happening in the single-use flash, or those quirky cubes that my nanna had with her Kodak camera. But I didn't, because when you're young and the victim of the family photo you just want it to have happened as soon as possible.

On reflection, though, the economics of the family photograph back in the days of film are a real eye-opener, and not just because of the film itself – retro chic has already made this burden more than clear for the adventurous young and nostalgic alike. No, there was also a time when firing the camera flash was also disposable. First there were single-use zirconium bulbs, and then there were cubes – essentially four of the same.

YouTuber Alec Watson on his channel Technology Connections has done a brilliant job of placing the different single-use flash technologies in context – historically and economically – showing how they work and then going above and beyond in explaining exactly how they work. Honestly, I had no idea my nanna's Kodak had so much in common with a weapon.

What really makes this video stand out is the work of Gavin from The Slow Mo Guys. He uses clever gear (which will make a lot of Digital Camera World readers very jealous) to capture the bulbs exploding at such high frame rates that the triggering explosions can be discerned from the chemical reaction providing the flashlight.

As Watson explains how adding a cube with four flash bulbs effectively made a $1.50 photo (in today's money) cost another $1.50 for consumers, we also get to see in incredible detail how the mechanical shutter flicks a spring coil to trigger an explosive that, in turn, triggers the zirconium burning inside the blue-coated bulb (the white balance benefits were understood).

Of course, even further back photographers used to use an even more improvised approach – magnesium ignited on a stick held above the camera while the shutter was open, which (almost) never caused a fire… except in comedy black-and-white movies and cartoons!

The best ring lights seem very modern now, huh? Oh, and to be clear, we have in the past reviewed Lume Cubes, but they use a rather different technology!

These days you can augment your camera with a powerful flash which wich – get this – will work more than once! Check our guide best camera flash guide.

Creator Benjamin Gugick shares video-making skills – as well as his own creations – on his YouTube channel and Instagram reels, and (somewhat incredibly to me) has smashed 8 million views with a video titled 'How to create Fake Drone Shots with Google Earth Studios'.

To be fair, that's quite a useful title – it's the line "Believe it or not this wasn't made with a drone" that wound me up; I'd have thought it was obvious to nearly anyone – and certainly a capable creative who understands the tech and the regulations – that no one would be flying a drone several miles through Manhattan and somehow maintain control of it through the invisible fog of radio interference.

Gugick does manage to offset this a little using plugins for camera skahe, motion blur, and color grading – you can judge the effect yourself (he's close to half a million likes!)

Still, it does look pretty good – if not 100% real – and the technology in use, Google Earth Studio looks to have a lot of possible uses (and, to be fair, preventing clearly illegal drone flights is one of them). 

Google's own sample video is – to be honest – a lot more natural-looking than Gugick's reel, as you can see below, though it hasn't picked up as many views in all the time it has been up on the comparatively little-know Google Earth Studio (GES) site.

Google don't allow just anyone to use their Studio, however – you need to wait for permission. It works on the Google Earth platform, allowing you to add keyframes and 'fly' through the environments (as you can with some drone apps). I'm sure that's fairly processor-intensive, with Google paying for that CPU time, for now anyway.

If you are somewhere a bit safer than central New York City, do consider one of the best drones for beginners!