7artisans has been teasing the launch of a new lens – and I have been trying to work out what it is from the limited information provided by the silhouetted image and the Chinese writing.

The first thing that's clear is that this will be second lens in 7artisan's MAX range. The first was the AF 135mm f/1.8 Max – a fast, metal-bodied autofocus prime for Sony, Nikon, and L-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras. It is safe to assume that the newest addition will also be a fast prime and available in these three mounts.

If you use Google to decipher the characters, you then get this rough translation "Automatic ultra wide-angle. A new starting point." The petal-shaped lens hood in the image also reaffirms this is a super-side lens – as is the suggestion that it would be a good lens for astrophotography.

Reading on, the teaser says "The secret will be revealed soon", and then adds the enigmatic last line, "In its eyes, there are no right angles."

I might be reading too much into this, but to me this strongly suggests this is a fisheye lens - ie non-rectilinear prime that purposely doesn't correct for distorted lines in order to fit more into the frame.

Rumor site Asobinet.com additionally tells us that the model number for this new lens 012456 - and that these six digits will contain both the focal length of the lens, and its maximum aperture. It offers 10mm f/4, 12mm f/4 or 14mm f/2 as possibilities – all of which could easily be diagonal (non-circular) fisheye lenses of the type I am imagining.

What we also know is that the first Max lens was competitively priced… The 7artisans AF 135mm f/1.8 Max is now on sale for $689/£615 in Sony FE, Nikon Z, or L-mount fittings.

Hopefully we really will get full details soon…

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

New episodes of Bokeh Face are released bi-weekly, every other Friday, so our next episode will be released on August 07.

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

You can watch the episode in full below:

In our In Focus section we discuss the Panasonic Lumix L10 alongside a plethora of other compact cameras to debate the subject: Are modern compact cameras simply too big?

Then we Gear Up with the premium GoPro Mission 1 series, a bold move from the action-camera giant that’s been struggling financially, and hopefully a step in the right direction.

In Trouble Shooting we discuss the complicated world of lens resolution. How it can throttle your camera’s resolution and why it probably isn’t something you need to worry about too much.

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

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

You might also like…

Check out all our previous episodes of Bokeh Face, take a look at the best action cameras, and see if any of the best high resolution cameras take your fancy.

With camera manufacturers now focused on mirrorless systems, it would be easy to assume DSLR lenses have faded into history. Japan's latest sales figures suggest otherwise. According to Japanese retailer Kitamura, a 11-year-old Canon DSLR lens climbed to No.2 in its best-selling lens chart for June 2026 – outperforming almost every modern mirrorless lens on the list.

The lens in question is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM. The only optic ahead of it is the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary for Canon RF mount – the company's first RF lens. The zoom is also available for Sony E, L-mount and Fujifilm X-mount.

Kitamura's June Top 10 reflects today's mixed lens market, with two lenses each from Sigma, Canon, Sony and Nikon, while Tamron and Fujifilm each claim one spot. Yet among all those zooms, there's just a single prime lens in the ranking – and it's the budget-friendly DSLR fifty first released more than a decade ago.

Kitamura's 10 best-selling lenses, June 2026

1. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (RF-mount)
2. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
3. Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN | C ( E-mount)
4. Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM
5. Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S
6. Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS
7. Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR II
8. Tamron 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 (E-mount)
9. Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR
10. Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II

Why the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is so popular

Launched in 2015, Canon's EF f/1.8 STM is still available for $169 / £129, making it one of the most affordable first-party prime lenses on the market.

In our review, we described the classic nifty fifty as an "affordable marvel that any Canon photographer should own."

Our reviewer, Matthew Richards, praised its combination of sharp optics, smooth bokeh, fast and reliable AF (autofocus) and exceptional value for many, arguing that it outperforms Canon's EF 50mm f/1.4 USM in almost every meaningful area apart from its wider maximum aperture.

Its lightweight 160g (5.6 oz) design only adds to its appeal, making it an easy everyday lens for DSLR photographers.

Perhaps most impressively, our testing found that the budget-friendly prime delivered more accurate AF than the pricier EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, and produced sharper images across much of the f/1.8-2.8 aperture range.

It also offered better edge sharpness on APS-C cameras, along with lower levels of color fringing and distortion.

Taken together, those qualities help explain why a decade-old DSLR lens continues to attract buyers, even as the camera industry shifted almost entirely to mirrorless systems.

You might like...

Browse the best standard zoom lenses, the best telephoto lenses, and the best Canon lenses for DSLRs.

Viltrox has officially announced that two of its popular line of "Air" prime lenses are coming to Micro Four Thirds cameras (MFT), giving the format a much-needed shot in the arm of third-party support.

While MFT is the longest-running and most prolific mirrorless format, having launched back in 2008, third-party manufacturers have gradually stopped releasing new lenses over the years.

Perhaps most significantly, Sigma stopped developing Micro Four Thirds lenses back in 2023 (though it has produced OEM lenses for OM System, such as the M.Zuiko 150-600mm).

However, this announcement could signify that Viltrox is about to fill the void left by Japanese third-party lens makers.

The Viltrox 25mm f/1.7 Air along with the Viltrox 35mm f/1.7 Air have both been confirmed for MFT cameras, offering respective 50mm and 70mm equivalent prime focal lengths.

The former is a slightly crowded space, including first-party "nifty fifty" options in the form of the weather-sealed OM System 25mm f/1.8 II and the affordable "plastic fantastic" Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 Asph.

(The Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 II has reportedly been discontinued.)

The latter is a different story, though, with the closest autofocus options being the Olympus M.Zuiko 30mm f/3.5 Macro and the Panasonic Lumix G Macro 30mm f/2.8 Asph Mega OIS, both of which offer a shorter 60mm equivalent experience.

While it hasn't been confirmed by Viltrox, my assumption is that these lenses are simple mount swaps with the same general size and optical formula for larger APS-C image circles (since they are already available for Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Sony E).

In other words, don't expect the lenses to possess new slimmed-down designs that better befit the more compact MFT bodies.

Still, if these first two primes prove popular, it seems likely that we can expect more Viltrox optics to make their way to Micro Four Thirds. In addition to the brilliant Evo and Lab lenses, I'd personally love to see the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 – an ultra-thin autofocus pancake lens.

Pre-orders and international pricing have yet to be confirmed, but both the Viltrox 25mm f/1.7 Air and Viltrox 35mm f/1.7 Air carry a price tag of ¥899 in China – which is around $130 / £99 / AU$189.

You might also like…

Check out the best Micro Four Thirds lenses currently available, which includes some of the best Olympus / OM System lenses.

Fujifilm's X-M5 is a great alternative to buying a premium compact camera with a fixed lens. Unlike the super-popular X100V with which it shares the same 26MP sensor, the X-M5 allows you to swap lenses. In the deal we have just spotted, you also get a zoom lens thrown in for £849 – and Wex is sweetening the deal by also giving you a 64GB memory card and a Joby mini tripod (extra gifts worth £88).

The Fujifilm X-M5’s imaging capabilities are impressive, featuring the same 26.1 MP X-Trans 4 CMOS sensor used in Fujiiflm X100V and powered by the advanced X-Processor 5. With a sensor over 16 times larger than that found in an average smartphone, the X-M5 offers an expanded dynamic range, resulting in richer colors, deeper subject separation, and beautifully blurred backgrounds.

On the video and audio front, the X-M5 goes beyond the basics with 6K video capabilities and enhanced sound capture. Equipped with three microphones and four specialized sound modes, including Surround, Front Priority, Back Priority, and Front & Back Priority, the X-M5 allows creators to adjust the audio to suit specific filming environments. Fujifilm’s has added voice enhancement and noise reduction algorithms, along with a 3.5mm microphone socket, which gives creators greater control over audio quality. This focus on sound, combined with the cinematic 6K video resolution, positions the X-M5 as a robust tool for versatile content creation

Crafted to be the lightest and smallest body in the X-series lineup, the X-M5 weighs in at just 12.5 ounces and measures 4.4 inches wide. Fujifilm’s classic rangefinder-inspired design, complete with top dials for adjusting mode and film simulation settings, gives the X-M5 both functionality and timeless appeal. The camera is equipped with a 3-inch articulating LCD touchscreen and right-side connector ports, preventing any interference from cables while shooting.

With support for the full range of Fujifilm’s X-mount lenses, the X-M5 gives creators an array of lens choices, allowing for a highly adaptable shooting experience. The addition of 20 classic film simulation recipes and AI-powered autofocus technology makes this model a compelling choice for those ready to elevate their content.

Check out the best lenses for the Fujifilm X-M5

Meike has launched a new fast portrait prime lens: the 85mm f/1.4 Mix II. If that sounds familiar, it's been only a matter of months since the company gave us another 85mm lens, the 85mm f/1.8 SE II.

But where that was a budget lens, this new version costs over twice the price. The extra cash buys you that extra 1/3-stop aperture speed, along with a much more substantial build - the f/1.4 Mix II is both bigger and nearly twice as heavy as the f/1.8 lens. Meike has managed to lighten it compared to the original f/1.4 Mix though, and it's equipped with a smoother and quieter ‘Hyper STM’ autofocus motor. The Mix II can also focus closer than its f/1.4 predecessor - 0.81m vs. 0.98m - and it's claimed to have better sharpness and resistance to flare.

The image quality advantages come courtesy of a 15-element optical stack arranged in 11 groups. The glass includes three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, three HR (High Refractive index) elements and one aspherical element, along with multi-layer coatings. On the outside you'll find a physical aperture ring that moves in 1/3-stop steps, plus a click/de-click switch that enables smooth and silent aperture transitions when shooting video.

The 85mm f/1.4 Mix II is available for Nikon Z (FX), Sony E (FE), and L-mount cameras and costs $569 / £429 / AU$826. As mentioned, that's a serious price increase compared to the existing 85mm f/1.8 SE II, but the f/1.4 is built to be a professional-grade tool, and judged by that standard, it's very well priced compared to equivalent Nikon, Sigma and Sony lenses.

We've already got our hands on a Meike 85mm f/1.4 Mix II to see how it performs compared to its rivals - check out our full review here.

The retro tech craze has brought back cheap digicams – and some of the most iconic names in photography. A key example? Nearly half of the top ten best-selling cameras on Amazon Japan and Amazon US are Kodak-branded cameras right now.

While Eastman Kodak is alive and well and still producing film, digital cameras that carry the Kodak name come from a variety of manufacturers that license the Kodak name and not the New York-based brand that first created the point-and-shoot with the phrase “You push the button, we do the rest.”

The nostalgic tech and compact camera craze has proven to work particularly well for cameras carrying the Kodak name. The 1.6 MP Kodak Charmera went so viral at launch that stock was severely limited, while cameras like the Kodak PixPro FZ55 have continued to hit best-seller lists for mixing an affordable price point with a compact design and 5x optical zoom.

While Kodak is arguably one of the most well-known camera brands originating from the US, Kodak digicams have also done particularly well in Japan. The region housing key brands like Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, and Ricoh is particularly fond of Kodak compact cameras based on Amazon’s best-seller lists.

According to Amazon Japan, the top ten best-selling cameras right now include the Kodak Pixpro FZ55 – which is on the list twice, once alone and once in a kit with a case and memory card – the Kodak PixPro C1 and the Kodak Charmera.

Other brands don’t come in until after the top four, but compact cameras like the OM System Tough TG-7, Canon IXY 650 (which is the PowerShot ELPh 360 HS and IXUS 285 in other regions), Canon PowerShot SX740, and Ricoh WG-80 also make the top ten.

The Kodak FZ55, Kodak Charmera, and Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 HS A also make the top ten on Amazon’s US best-seller list, but the Kodak FZ45 sits in the number one spot, and the retro PixPro C1 doesn’t come in until number 15.

Amazon’s best-seller lists tend to lean more towards affordable consumer cameras, where photography speciality stores tend to have more pro-level gear and mirrorless cameras on their best-seller charts. But the data from the world’s largest online retailer makes it clear – Kodak digicams are in high demand.

You may also like

We've tested the best point-and-shoot cameras to find out which one is worth the cash. Or, read what Kodak has coming next – a retro camera with a film simulation dial!

If you need an absolutely gargantuan amount of storage space for saving huge uncompressed 8K video files or similar, TerraMaster has the solution for you. The new D8 Hybrid 2 can combine up to 4 SATA HDDs/SSDs and 4 M.2 NVMe SSDs in a single enclosure. This design claims to provide a flexible, high-performance platform for video editing and media libraries, with support for up to 152 terabytes of total capacity, depending on drive configuration. Just remember that the D8 Hybrid 2 is a drive enclosure - you need to choose and purchase the HDDs and/or SSDs to fit inside it separately.

To ensure your data can be accessed quickly, the D8 Hybrid 2 uses a USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, enabling read speeds of up to 1020MB/s with a single NVMe SSD. Equip the enclosure with four HDDs and read speeds could top out at 980MB/s, depending on RAID configuration. This performance translates to a 5GB HD movie transferring in around five seconds.

The D8 Hybrid 2 features TerraMaster Power Management technology to improve energy efficiency, enhance reliability, and deliver faster drive wake-up times. The enclosure also benefits from improved internal airflow, with active cooling coming from an intelligent temperature-controlled fluid dynamic bearing fan rated for over 50,000 hours operation. Tool-free drive trays permit simple and secure installation of HDDs and SSDs: M.2 NVMe SSDs can be installed using a side sliding cover and hand-tightened screws.

Designed for modern hybrid workflows, the D8 Hybrid 2 supports hot and cold data separation. This allows users to store frequently accessed 'hot' data on NVMe SSDs for high-speed access, while archival data can be stored on high-capacity hard disk drives for cost-effective backup. This two-tier arrangement makes the enclosure ideal for studios, photographers and videographers that manage large volumes of mixed-use data.

The D8 Hybrid 2 is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, NAS systems, and a wide range of file systems. It can connect directly to computers, servers, TVs, set-top boxes, as well as Thunderbolt devices. TerraMaster also includes its complimentary TPC Backupper software for Windows backups, and it works with Apple Time Machine.

The TerraMaster D8 Hybrid 2 is available now at Amazon US for $299.99 (currently $239.99 with 20% coupon) and at Amazon UK for £299.99.

I used to chase megapixels. Now I would rather chase photographs that mean something.

Megapixels once had an extraordinary hold over me. Every time a new high-resolution camera appeared, I convinced myself that its larger files would somehow make me a better photographer. More resolution meant greater detail, greater flexibility and, I assumed, greater opportunities.

It is an easy trap to fall into, particularly when camera manufacturers have spent years presenting megapixel counts as one of the clearest measurements of progress.

A larger number always looks impressive on a specification sheet, especially when modern cameras now comfortably push beyond 50, 60 or even 100 megapixels. Yet somewhere along the way, many of us began paying more attention to our cameras' resolution than to the quality of the photographs we were producing.

My own journey began with film, using simple Kodak point-and-shoot cameras before eventually working with SLRs such as the Nikon F5. When I moved into digital photography, I used everything from the 4MP Nikon D2H to the 36MP Nikon D800.

The D2H might sound almost laughably modest by modern standards, but it was an exceptional professional camera: fast, responsive and perfectly capable of producing photographs that were published internationally.

Nobody looking at those images cared that they had been captured with four megapixels. The photograph either worked or it did not. By the time I owned the Nikon D800, however, I had started wondering what even more resolution might offer.

I looked towards digital medium format cameras such as the Hasselblad H6D-100c and Phase One XF 100MP, believing their enormous files might improve my work or make it more attractive to clients.

Both systems were magnificent, and I particularly enjoyed using the Phase One. I even photographed an entire event across Ireland and the UK with it, to understand how the system performed outside the controlled environment of a studio.

The files were extraordinary, but the photographs were not automatically extraordinary because of them – and that distinction took me longer to understand than it probably should have.

A camera can record more detail, but it cannot decide where you should stand. It cannot recognize a fleeting expression, anticipate a moment or tell you when the light is about to change. It cannot develop your sense of composition or give an image emotional weight.

Those decisions still belong entirely to the photographer, regardless of how advanced the camera might be.

For a while, I waited for Nikon to produce the high-resolution answer I thought I needed. Canon had released the 50MP EOS 5DS and I expected Nikon to respond with something similar. Instead, I gradually realized that the 36MP D800 I already owned was more than capable of producing everything I needed.

The problem was not the camera; it was that I had allowed technical specifications to distract me from photography.

Once I stopped worrying about what other photographers were using, my work began to change. I started looking for different positions rather than standing shoulder to shoulder with ten other photographers producing almost identical frames.

I thought more carefully about timing, perspective and what was happening beyond the obvious subject. I stopped chasing megapixels and started chasing memories, and that change in mindset eventually led me towards older Leica cameras.

I have used the Leica M-E, with its 18MP full-frame CCD sensor, with great success. On paper, 18 megapixels might appear limited in 2026, but the camera has produced images with wonderful character, depth and color.

More importantly, it has produced photographs I care about, which is ultimately worth far more to me than an impressive number on a specification sheet.

I now regularly use a Leica M240, another camera that can hardly be described as new. Its 24MP CMOS sensor looks positively restrained next to today’s high-resolution mirrorless cameras, but its files continue to hold up remarkably well.

For social media, 24 megapixels is more than enough, especially when platforms such as Instagram and Facebook reduce and compress images so heavily that much of the original resolution is discarded before anybody sees it.

Even fairly significant crops from the M240 can comfortably provide enough detail for online use, while the same files can also produce impressive physical prints.

A successful large print is not simply a matter of sending the original file to a printer and hoping for the best. It requires careful preparation, including appropriate resizing, output sharpening, soft proofing, and the correct ICC profile for the chosen printer and paper.

When that process is handled properly, a well-exposed and carefully focused 18 or 24-megapixel image can print beautifully. Viewing distance also matters, because a large print is intended to be appreciated as a complete image rather than examined from a few centimetres away with a magnifying glass.

File preparation, printing technique and the quality of the original photograph often matter far more than the headline resolution.

Of course, high-resolution cameras have genuine advantages. Commercial, architectural, landscape and studio photographers may require enormous files, particularly when clients need extensive cropping or very large reproductions.

There are situations where every additional megapixel is useful, but most photographers are not regularly producing billboard-sized prints or advertising campaigns that demand huge amounts of resolution.

Many of us are sharing our images online, creating books, making moderately sized prints, or simply documenting the people and places around us. For those purposes, an older camera can still be more than capable.

I would rather use a camera that encourages me to go out and photograph than own the latest high-resolution model simply because its specification sheet is more impressive.

The Leica M240 does that for me. It feels direct, uncomplicated and involving, and its 24-megapixel files give me all the resolution I realistically need. A photograph does not become more meaningful because it contains more pixels; it becomes meaningful because of the moment it preserves, the story it tells or the memory it brings back.

That is why I no longer judge a camera primarily by the number printed beside its sensor resolution. I judge it by whether I want to carry it, whether it encourages me to look more carefully and whether it helps me capture the world as I see it.

Megapixels matter, but they are not the photograph. And I would take a memorable image from an old 18-megapixel Leica over a forgettable 100-megapixel file every single time.

You might also like…

If megapixels matter to you, take a look at the best medium format cameras. But if you'd rather have a take-everywhere tool that encourages you to shoot, check out the best compact cameras.

The Nikon D500 may have launched a decade ago, but it remains one of the most sought-after cameras in Japan's second-hand market. New data from Japanese marketplace Minna Camera shows the DSLR was the most-traded camera between January 1 and June 30, 2026, beating newer mirrorless bodies.

Announced in January 2016, the Nikon D500 has now passed its 10th anniversary. Its combination of fast autofocus, pro handling, rugged construction, and high-speed shooting continues to make it attractive to photographers looking for serious performance at a lower used price.

The Nikon D500 isn't the only DSLR to outperform newer technology. The Nikon D750, released in 2014, ranked second, while the Canon IXY 650 (also known as the PowerShot Elph 360 HS A and Ixus 285 HS A in different regions) took third place as the highest-ranked compact camera.

DSLRs dominated the rankings, accounting for six of the Top 10 most-traded cameras. The only mirrorless bodies to make the Top 10 are the Sony A6000 in sixth place and the Sony A7 II in seventh, while compact cameras claim the remaining two spots.

Top 10 most-traded cameras at Minna Cameras (H1 2026)*

*Discontinued status and approx. used prices in USD and GBP added by Digital Camera World.

Discover the full Top 20 most-traded cameras on Minna Camera here.

You might like...

Browse the best DSLR cameras, the best mirrorless cameras, and the best compact cameras.

The Megadap M2RF makes a tantalizing promise: to enable manual focus Leica M lenses, designed for rangefinders with their magical rendering, to be used on Canon RF cameras with full support for Dual Pixel Autofocus – including eye tracking and subject detection.

Well, it's tantalizing and it's also true: the Megadap M2RF transforms Leica's gorgeous rangefinder glass into autofocus EOS R optics. Something for which, as a Canon shooter, I'm doubly grateful, given how closed the RF mount is to full-frame AF lenses from other manufacturers.

I had a blast using ultra-refined M-mount lenses to capture images with their unique character on my Canon EOS R5, though there are definitely a few asterisks that potential buyers should be aware of.

Megadap M2RF: Price & availability

The Megadap M2RF adapter is available for pre-order now, priced $399 / £429 (Australian pricing to follow).

For comparison, Megadap currently produces two other cross-mount autofocus adapters: the Megadap ETZ21 Pro+ (Sony E to Nikon Z) for $249 / £259 and Megadap EFTZ21 (Canon EF to Nikon Z) for $299 / 299.

Megadap M2RF: Build & handling

The build quality on the Megadap M2RF is first class. This isn't one of those flimsy adapters you get on eBay; it's a reassuringly heavy, substantially constructed device, beautifully machined and with thick, solid gold-plated contacts.

It has a custom coreless motor, with dual-hall (using two magnetic sensors) and optical sensing, using an electronic helicoid driver system for steady and precise control of the attached lens.

All the controls are likewise exquisitely made, from the aperture switch to the AF / MF selection button to the lens release. This feels every inch a premium product, befitting the luxury Leica glass that will be mounted to it.

As I'll explain in the Performance section below, the aperture switch is used to select the aperture from the preset positions that sync with your camera's aperture setting.

The AF / MF button gives you a one-touch toggle between auto and manual focus (whereupon M2RF retracts back to infinity). You can also double-tap the button in manual mode to engage manual macro mode, which fully extends the lens to its maximum focus position.

As a bonus, because the adapter extends the lens by up to 4.5mm beyond its original position, this reduces the 0.7m standard minimum focus distance of M lenses – enabling you to get close-up shots without accessories like extension tubes, unlocking new creative opportunities.

I also want to shout out the front and back caps, which are so often an afterthought from third-party manufacturers. These are handsome-looking transparent caps, bearing the Megadap logo, and like the rest of the unit feel very premium.

Even so, while it's an impressively robust product, there is one key limitation to the lenses you can mount to the Megadap: how much they weigh.

While every make of M-mount glass is supported, whether it's made by Leica, Voigtländer, Zeiss or anyone else, it only plays nicely with lenses that are 500g or less – which means that bigger, heavier M glass won't be well suited, as they put too much strain on the mount and motor.

And of course, if you're feeling brave, you can double-stack almost any other vintage lens (such as M42 glass) via an M-mount adapter and then attach that to the M2RF for even more creative possibilities.

Megadap M2RF: Performance

I primarily tested the Megadap M2RF with the Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 Classic and Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 Asph. Overall, it delivers pretty astonishing performance for specific genres of photography – or, perhaps more accurately, for a specific pace of photography.

For portraiture, still life, landscape, travel, street and everyday shooting – in other words, shooting at a fairly soft pace or with a gently moving subject – it's absolutely brilliant.

For example, the autofocus keeps up with people absolutely wonderfully during a portrait session. The eye tracking is particularly impressive, and it's also steady and reliable for head and full-body tracking when your subject moves around. Using the Megadap for the first time is really quite a magical experience.

However, other genres and paces of photography are definitely not well suited to what the Megadap does. If you're hoping to shoot fast action like sports or wildlife, that's not what this adapter is for. Nor are most forms of video, where multi-axis movement overwhelms the device.

More than just the capabilities of the device itself, though, it's important to understand that there is a lot expected of the user that may surprise someone expecting a plug-and-play, fully automatic experience.

The Megadap M2RF is a "push-pull" adapter that uses a helical drive to move the lens forward and backward in order to shift the plane of focus. As such, you must remember to turn the focus ring of your adapted lens to infinity or performance will be substantially impeded.

It's definitely something that takes some getting used to – and especially if you're somebody who whips your camera in and out of a bag, you need to be mindful of knocking the focus ring too far.

In addition, when mounting the lens, you need to synchronize its aperture value to your camera's by setting it to a specific aperture value – f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8 or f/4 – corresponding to the values on the aperture switch on the side of the adapter.

Again, if you don't do this then the performance will be significantly degraded. Getting your muscle memory used to these steps each time you use the adapter or switch lenses is crucial, otherwise you'll likely experience hunting or complete focus failure.

Obviously different lenses are going to have different focal length and aperture combinations, which is a further point to factor in.

The adapter comes with four factory presets (Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 Asph, Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2 Asph, Zeiss Biogon T* 25mm f/2.8 ZM and Voigtländer 50mm f/1.2 Nokton Aspherical II), but it can be customized for any four lenses via the Megadap M2RF Custom Tool.

While it's brilliant to be able to add your own lens data (which is then helpfully written to your EXIF), it's fair to say that Megadap's expertise is in optics and not software. The Custom Tool is certainly usable, but it's a bit clunky and doesn't have the same premium feel as the M2RF itself.

Megadap M2RF: Samples

Megadap M2RF: Verdict

I've always been skeptical about cross-system adapters, but I was pretty blown away by the Megadap M2RF… once I'd mastered its setup intricacies! Setting infinity focus and syncing the aperture before shooting is an extra step when mounting a lens, but once it becomes part of your muscle memory you can enjoy seamless shooting.

I love the magical rendering of Leica's M lenses, but rangefinder focus gets harder as my eyes get worse with age. So it's nothing short of liberating to be able to use them on an RF-mount camera – and the ability to make use of Canon's Dual Pixel AF and algorithmic subject detection is a truly transformative experience.

It's obviously important to be aware of the Megadap's limitations. While it offers fairly fast focus that can keep up with gently moving genres, it's not designed for fast action – which limits its usefulness for wildlife, sports and video. But then, I don't believe anyone is really interested in adapting M lenses for any of those.

The Megadap M2RF is ideally suited for the intended purposes of M glass, like portraiture or street photography. It replicates rangefinder results on your RF camera but supercharges them with the power of Canon's autofocus. If you've ever wanted to add a touch of class to your EOS R camera, this might be the best way to do it!

You might also like…

Take a look at the best Leica M lenses to adapt and, if you get a taste for the finer things, check out the best Leica cameras.

While a few high-end Nikon Z lenses are still made in Japan, the ‘Big N’ famously shifted Nikon camera production to Thailand back in 2020, with lens production now split between Japan, China, and more recently, Vietnam. As far as I was aware, only the Nikon Z DX MC 35mm f/1.7 is produced in Vietnam, but according to Nikon Rumors, it appears to have been joined by the Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8.

The rumor website was tipped off by the proprietor of another website called Photosynthesis, which is dedicated to cataloguing Nikon lenses. Although not confirmed by Nikon, an image of the Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8 clearly showing ‘Made in Vietnam’ on the underside of the barrel adds credence to the claim and you have to wonder if other optics could follow.

Nikon Rumors points towards new US tariffs as being the likely catalyst for the decision, surmising “moving manufacturing from China to Vietnam incurred additional expenses (...) which will be reflected in pricing.” As a Nikon photographer myself, it’s certainly nice to know where the company’s products are produced, but as far as I’m concerned it’s business as usual.

Sure, potential price rises are always going to be a concern, but that’s not a Nikon-specific problem. We know that both component scarcity and costs, along with a challenging economic climate and higher cost of living, are affecting consumer electronic prices across the board. Nikon also has an established presence in Vietnam, so it's not like it's starting from scratch.

Plenty of imaging goods are produced in Vietnam. Canon, Tamron, and Ricoh all have Vietnamese factories, and I can’t see there being any noticeable differences in quality from Nikon lenses produced in China, after all, the Nikon Z DX MC 35mm f/1.7 was awarded 4.5 stars on test. I’ll be interested to see if more ‘Made in Vietnam’ Z lenses appear and will, of course, update you if Nikon makes an official announcement.

You might also like...

Nikon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera makes an ideal upgrade for the budget-conscious photographer. Here’s why I still recommend the Nikon Z6 in 2026. It’s like When Harry Met Sally: Suddenly, I’m looking at the Nikon ZR like it’s a viable stills camera. My screen time is already atrocious – in a world where retro compact cameras are king, I’d like to see more hybrid viewfinders.

The DSLR market has lost another of its remaining beginner-friendly options. The Pentax KF is now listed as "Discontinued" by major US camera retailer B&H, following earlier reports that Japanese retailers had also marked the camera as discontinued.

The latest development does not come with an official announcement from Ricoh Imaging, but the retailer listing states that the Pentax KF reached the end of its availability.

Launched in November 2022, the Pentax KF was one of the few modern entry-level DSLRs still available to buy new. While most camera manufacturers have moved almost entirely to mirrorless systems, Ricoh remains the last major company continuing to support the DSLR format, making the KF one of the most accessible ways for beginners and enthusiasts to enter the Pentax system.

Pentax availability continues to decline

The latest B&H listing follows earlier warning signs from Japan, where retailers including Map Camera classified the Pentax KF as a discontinued product.

At the time, availability across other markets had already become inconsistent, with some stores showing limited stock, backorders or removed listings.

Retailer changes often provide early clues about a camera's lifecycle before a manufacturer makes an official announcement. That follows several other signs for Pentax users in recent months.

In January 2026, production of the Pentax K-3 Mark III ended, while retailers also listed the Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome as discontinued in February. More recently, signs emerged that the Pentax K-1 Mark II could be nearing the end of its lifecycle after one of its kit bundles disappeared from retailers.

Why photographers like the Pentax KF

For beginners and enthusiasts, the Pentax KF offered something increasingly rare in the modern camera market: a rugged, affordable DSLR designed for real-world photography.

The camera features a 24.2MP APS-C sensor, 4.5-stop in-body stabilization, a vari-angle LCD screen, built-in flash, and weather sealing.

It is also designed to operate in cold conditions down to 14°F (-10°C), making it particularly appealing for outdoor photographers.

In DCW's guide to the best Pentax cameras, we ranked the KF as the best Pentax DSLR for beginners thanks to its balance of price, durability and enthusiast-friendly features.

Although it does not compete directly with the latest mirrorless cameras for autofocus speed or video technology, the KF offers a shooting experience many photographers still value: an optical viewfinder, excellent handling, dependable construction and the tactile controls that DSLRs are known for.

Pentax KF availability

You might like...

Browse the best DSLRs and the best beginner DSLRs.

Canon's mirrorless line offers two of the best beginner options around. Right now, you can save on both the Canon R100 and Canon R50 lens kits – and which one is best depends on what kind of creator you are.

The Canon EOS R100 + 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 lens bundle is now available for £489 at London Camera Exchange – with this deal, you save £180 off its original price of £669.

The Canon EOS R50 + 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 +75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens bundle is now available for £819 at London Camera Exchange – with this deal, you save £180 off its original price of £999.

Better still, the Canon EOS R50 bundle that includes only the 18-45mm lens currently costs £839 at London Camera Exchange– making this bundle exceptional value. For £20 less, you get the 750300mm telephoto lens included at no extra cost.

Which camera is the best to start your journey?

Both cameras are beginner-friendly, use the same Canon RF-S lens mount, and have a 24MP sensor. And both kits come with the 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM lens, a versatile zoom optic that will get you started and beyond. But which camera is the best to start your journey?

Canon EOS R100

Best for beginners who want to learn photography step-by-step

The Canon R100 is focused on photography, and we rated it as the best beginner-friendly camera.

It's straightforward, lightweight, and has guided menus that help explain each mode.

It doesn't have a touchscreen or a flip-out screen, and 4K video is cropped with slower AF (autofocus). But for stills, it performs beautifully and keeps things simple.

Canon EOS R50

Best for beginners who want to shoot hybrid (photo+video)

The Canon R50 is better if you want to shoot video or vlog. It has a flip screen, touchscreen controls, and records sharp, full-width 4K video.

It also shoots faster and feels more like a hybrid content creation tool. It's still easy to use, but it gives you more room to grow.

Verdict: R100 vs. R50

So if you want to learn photography without extra complexity, the Canon EOS R100 bundle is a fantastic choice at just £489.

But if you want to do more video, social content, vlogging, or want a true workhorse lens that covers multiple photo genres, the Canon R50 bundle is absolutely worth the upgrade at £819.

Both cameras give you a strong start with Canon's mirrorless system, and with these London Camera Exchange deals, it's a great time to begin your creative journey.

Photography is a wonderful hobby and profession. It should come as no surprise, but I love it! It’s also an absolute privilege to write about cameras for a living. But the part of my job that I hate most is how sedentary it is and that’s largely due to the high levels of screen time. I reckon I spend a minimum of six hours every single working day, looking at my computer screen. That’s not even counting time spent on my phone, watching TV, playing video games, and capturing photographs with my mirrorless camera.

A recent IPA survey put the average British adult’s daily screen time at nearly 7.5 hours. I nearly hit that at work! Let alone all the other screens that are vying for my attention. Now, in the grand scheme of things, my mirrorless camera’s EVF is a drop in the ocean. But my unhealthy obsession with screens might go some way to explaining why I lament the death of the optical viewfinder.

It’s not the EVF’s fault, but I find myself, especially later in the day, feeling screen fatigue. And honestly, when I’m taking a few fun snaps on a dog walk or during a day out, sticking my retina millimetres away from yet another screen can feel like a headache-inducing drag. I’ve said it before, but I miss optical viewfinders. And it’s not like the industry hasn’t come up with a solution, and by industry, I mean Fujifilm…

What’s a hybrid viewfinder?

A hybrid viewfinder is both an optical and electronic viewfinder, allowing the user to switch between the two. Fujifilm debuted the technology in 2010 with the Fujifilm FinePix X100 and thus kickstarted the legendary X100 series of fixed-lens compact cameras that has, thus far, culminated with the ever popular Fujifilm X100VI.

Fujifilm’s X-Pro series of cameras also features hybrid viewfinders. Both the X-Pro and X100 series are rangefinder-style cameras, but the X-Pro range features interchangeable-lens cameras. Fujifilm’s solution to a fixed rangefinder style optical viewfinder when changing lenses was to introduce digital rectangular indicators as a visual aid to illustrate the new focal length’s parameters.

Fujifilm managed to advance its hybrid viewfinder tech even further with the Fujifilm X100T by introducing a third option, Electronic Rangefinder Mode. This merges both technologies by providing an optical view with a small, picture-in-picture EVF, so you get the best of both worlds.

This is exactly the kind of innovation I like to see from an industry where technical specs are beginning to feel oversaturated and therefore underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that a workhorse mirrorless camera like the Canon EOS R6 Mark III, Sony A7 V or Nikon Z8 should have a hybrid viewfinder.

The EVF has transformed the pro-grade sphere for the better, but for enthusiast-level cameras, especially retro cameras, where nostalgia is king, I’d love to see more manufacturers experimenting with hybrid viewfinder tech. And if it gets my screen time down just a little bit, well, that’s just a healthy byproduct.

You might also like...

The Fujifilm X-M5 finally delivers on the compact promise of the mirrorless camera. I’ll die on this hill: The Nikon F5 is the best 35mm SLR camera you can buy – and it's a secondhand bargain! “AI dilutes what is impressive” – Robert Irwin hits the nail on the head when it comes to artificial intelligence in wildlife photography.

Photographers are getting tired of carrying around heavy full-frame cameras, if the latest numbers from Japan are any indication. The latest data from retail tracker BCN+R for trending mirrorless cameras in June 2026 is almost entirely made up of cameras known for smaller designs – and more affordable prices.

The monthly data also featured a camera that made the top ten for the first time, despite launching a year ago: The OM System OM-5 Mark II. The Micro Four Thirds mirrorless slid into 8th place in the monthly rankings.

The OM System OM-5 Mark II is a compact mirrorless body built for the outdoors with IP53 weather-sealing. Part of the lure of the camera is also the stabilization system, which means fewer shots that need a tripod.

The OM-5 Mark II, however, is far from the only smaller-bodied mirrorless on the list. In fact, nine out of the top ten cameras have cropped sensors (APS-C or Micro Four Thirds) and only one is a full-frame model.

According to BCN+R, these were the top mirrorless cameras in Japan in June 2026:

1. Canon EOS R50
2. Sony ZV-E10 II
3. Canon EOS R10
4. Sony ZV-E10
5. Sony A6400
6. Sony A7 V
7. Fujifilm X-T30 III
8. OM System OM-5 Mark II
9. Fujifilm X-M5
10. Nikon Z50 II

That’s a list packed almost entirely with APS-C bodies – though it’s worth noting that the data from BCN+R often doesn’t match up directly with major Japanese camera stores like Map Camera. BCN+R only tracks around 40 percent of electronics sales in Japan, and much of the data comes from general tech stores rather than retailers geared specifically for serious photographers, which tend to lead more towards advanced models than BCN+R’s lists.

Regardless, the list is an interesting look at the latest mirrorless trends in Japan. Of course, crop sensor cameras also tend to be more affordable than their full frame counterparts, so beyond the smaller size, the format also tends to fit into more beginner budgets.

The Sony A7 V is the lone full-frame model on the list, a mirrorless camera that has topped charts across several sources and multiple regions since its launch. The A7 V mixes a full-frame sensor with blackout-free 30 fps shooting and smarter autofocus.

But, the Sony name dominates the list. Both of Sony’s APS-C video mirrorless models, the ZV-E10 and ZV-E10 II made the list, along with the more stills-focused crop sensor, the Sony A6400.

The Canon EOS R50 tops the list; however, a crop-sensor beginner camera with a low price point that has proved exceptionally popular, driving the R50 to numerous bestseller lists since launching in early 2023.

The Canon EOS R10 is still a crop-sensor camera, but is more advanced than the R50 with an autofocus system and burst speeds geared towards fast action.

Fujifilm similarly had two models make the top ten – and both fall on the more affordable end of the brand’s X-series. The X-T30 III is a budget model that still has Fujifilm’s retro looks and a viewfinder, where the X-M5 is Fujifilm’s cheapest, smallest current mirrorless body, but it lacks a viewfinder and is more geared towards vlogging.

Sliding into the tenth-place spot is the Nikon Z50 II, a popular ASP-C model that brings some of Nikon’s high-end speed and autofocus into a more affordable crop-sensor body.

The sales data from general retailers tends to lean more towards affordable beginner models than photo specialty stores. From Yodobashi in Japan, for example, the latest trends list is led by pricey models like the Hasselblad X2D II 100C; but cameras like the A7 V, X-M5, X-T30 II, Z50 II, R50, and ZV-E10 II make both lists.

You may also like

Dive into the best mirrorless cameras or the best cameras for beginners.

The compact camera trendsetters have been particularly fond of affordable Kodak PixPro cameras, but new photos suggest that a new retro Kodak with zoom and even a film simulation dial is launching this fall, alongside a new waterproof compact.

The news comes from GT Company, a France-based distributor that sells cameras like the Kodak PixPro FZ55, the Kodak PixPro C1, as well as AgaFoto products. The brand is set to display the newest releases at the IFA show September 4-8 in Berlin – and tucked among the new launches are two new compact cameras, the Kodak PixPro P1, a waterproof compact camera, and the Kodak PixPro C10, a camera with a 10x zoom lens.

GT Company hasn’t yet shared full details about the cameras (which are made by Kodak licensee JK Imaging), but there are a few hints that can be gleaned from the photos of the upcoming cameras – including what appears to be a film simulation dial at the top of the PixPro C10.

Kodak PixPro C10

Zoom is often a headlining feature on many compact cameras – and photos suggest the Kodak PixPro will have a 10x zoom lens with an f/3.6-6/7 aperture, equivalent to a 25-250mm reach on a full-frame camera.

But one of the reasons that Kodak has surged among trends is for the nostalgia – and what’s pictured on top of the camera could be even more enticing than the zoom. Images of the top of the Pixpro C10 show what looks like a film simulation dial.

The dial has a spot for S, N, and B&W – likely for standard, neutral, and black-and-white profiles. But there are also icons that look like a roll of film with the abbreviations “Ech,” “Kch,” and “Kco” – I suspect these could be digital filters that are designed to mimic some popular Kodak film types.

Film simulations are digital color profiles that are applied in-camera – sort of like applying an Instagram filter before taking the shot.

Mimicking Kodak film types would be a smart move. Analog and simpler tech is resurging in trends, and if the new Kodak comes with retro filters built in as well as an iconic black-and-silver look on the outside, I’m predicting such a camera could be a major hit. A recent list of best-sellers in Japan is made up of 40 percent cheap Kodak-branded cameras, so there’s definitely a high demand for these compact cameras.

Without full details ahead of the September show, it’s unclear just what tech the Kodak PixPro C10 is packing inside. The company’s Kodak-branded compact cameras tend to fall under the “cheap compact camera” umbrella, so I would expect the PixPro C10 to follow suit with a more basic sensor and set of specs.

Kodak PixPro P1

A waterproof compact camera will also be unveiled at the IFA show this fall. There are a number of Kodak PixPros that already have waterproofing, but the PixPro P1 is unusual in that it looks like it has a retro design and a tilting screen similar to the Kodak PixPro C1, a popular retro compact camera.

Making a tilting screen durable and waterproof is far more challenging than working with a fixed screen, so a tilt screen on a waterproof compact camera isn’t common (though the 2014 Olympus Tough TG-860 had one, for example).

The images of the upcoming PixPro P1 offer a few more hints that can be gleaned without a spec sheet. The camera appears to be waterproof to 5m or 16 feet. The lens doesn’t list a zoom range, though there is a zoom toggle on the back (which could be for digital zoom if the P1 doesn’t have optical zoom).

Photos hint that the Kodak PixPro P1 will come in at least two color options – a black with a more retro feel and a blue and white option.

As September launches, details like the price and spec sheets are missing for both cameras. But, based on the popularity of current PixPro cameras and the teaser images, the upcoming Kodaks could have some hit features.

You may also like

Don't want to wait until September? These are the best retro cameras right now, or browse the best point-and-shoot cameras.

The Canon PowerShot name has gone so viral that sales have increased nearly seven times in half as many years. Yet, despite the success, Canon hasn’t released any PowerShots outside of the video-focused V-series since 2019. But the latest rumors are calling for that to change before the end of 2026.

Newly circulating rumors hint that a new Canon PowerShot could be coming in September. The speculation further hints that the upcoming model isn’t a V-series video-focused model like the 2023 PowerShot V10 and the 2025 PowerShot V1.

Canon hasn’t verified these rumors – but with the growth of compact cameras, it would be strange for the PowerShot brand that so regularly dominates best-seller lists to ignore the trend. According to NPR, sales for Canon’s PowerShot series have grown nearly seven times amid the resurgence of the compact camera between 2022 and 2025.

The last time that Canon launched stills-focused PowerShots was in 2019 with the G7 X Mark III and the G5 X Mark II. The PowerShot G7 X Mark III in particular has seen newfound viral fame, making the compact camera difficult to find in stock and driving the camera manufacturer to increase production on multiple occasions.

Earlier this year, Canon did launch a new look for the G7 X Mark III as part of the 30th anniversary of PowerShot, but the camera retains the same tech on the inside.

Of course, I could play devil’s advocate here and point out that retro compact cameras are also part of the trend, with older lo-fi models seeing new growth amid the modern sharpness (and AI infiltration) of the typical smartphone camera. And if retro cameras are trending, then there’s not much reason to upgrade the tech inside a camera that’s already selling so well I can’t find it in stock anywhere.

The PowerShot G7 X Mark III isn’t one of those lo-fi cameras, however. The reason that the camera has surged in trends is likely more due to the fact that the camera mixes a one-inch sensor with a zoom lens. Zoom tends to be more flattering for portraits, as well as the real camera flash that had influencers recommending the G7 X Mark II in droves.

So far, the rumors around a new PowerShot coming in the fall are short on details, if not believability. But looking at the latest trends and sales numbers, launching a new stills PowerShot in 2026 would be a smart move for Canon.

You may also like

Browse the best compact cameras or the best Canon cameras.

Sony has officially unveiled the FX5, the latest in its line of compact full-frame Cinema Line cameras. And while it may look a lot like an FX3, Sony is very keen that you do not call it an FX3 II, with the FX5 designed to sit between the FX3 (which is staying in the lineup) and the FX6.

The Sony FX5 is being aimed at a more professional crowd than the more creator-friendly FX3, with the company suggesting that it will suit anyone looking for a compact B or C camera that can run more comfortably alongside models such as the Burano or Venice 2.

At the center of the FX5 is a newly developed 16.6MP full-frame Exmor RS back-illuminated fully stacked CMOS sensor, paired with Sony’s latest Bionz XR2 processor with its integrated AI unit (which we’ve seen in recent Alpha cameras including the Sony A7 V and A7R VI).

With this sensor-processor combo, Sony claims up to 15 stops of latitude, faster sensor readout, improved low-light autofocus and more advanced subject recognition, with the FX5 supporting all subjects including humans, animals, birds and vehicles.

However, the big headline feature is 5K 60p open gate video using the full 3:2 sensor area, and up to 120p via a future firmware update. 120p frame rate is monstrous and eclipses what has been seen before on cameras in its class. The Canon EOS C50 maxes out at 30p in open gate (although it is 7.1K), while the more consumer-focused Lumix S1II manages 60p in 5.1K open gate.

Open gate is a feature that not everyone needs, but for those who do it is invaluable – particularly useful for anamorphic shooting, vertical crops and reframing footage while maintaining more of the image area. Sony’s 5K resolution should offer a good balance between cropping flexibility and file sizes – although maybe not at 120p!

For super slow-motion. It can also record 16:9 4K with no crop up to 120p, or FHD 16:9 with no crop up to 240p. And with a future update, the FX5 will be able to shoot cropped (76.9%) 16:9 4K up to a whopping 240p.

The FX5 can also record 16-bit X-OCN RAW internally, something previously only possible with larger and more expensive Sony cinema cameras.

Alongside X-OCN LT, Sony has created more compressed C1 and C2 options intended to make RAW recording less punishing on storage (much appreciated, amid the current memory crisis), claiming that this doesn’t compromise footage and enables full grading flexibility.

However, there is a very important asterisk attached to some of these most exciting specifications: at launch, the FX5 will only record 5K open gate in X-OCN (RAW) at up to 60p. The promised headline features of 5K 120p open gate and cropped 4K 240p modes are due to arrive later, through a version 2 firmware update scheduled for August 2027.

This will also unlock open gate recording in XAVC up to 60p, although from what I have seen, there appears to be no open gate XAVC 120p in Sony’s plans.

Sony is hardly alone in selling cameras partly on future firmware, but it is still worth knowing which features will actually be inside the box on day one – and what the future holds. As well as whether it is worth waiting up to a year for promised functions. We will see a lot of rivals release new models between now and then.

In other specs, the FX5 offers three-base ISO (which, it is keen to clarify, is distinct from triple-base ISO) settings of 800, 4000 and 12800, as well as a dual-gain mode designed to reduce noise in darker areas. That dual-gain mode comes with several restrictions, though, including limits on resolution and frame rate.

Physically, the camera remains close to the FX3, weighing around 750g and measuring approximately 132.3 x 79 x 86.95mm. However, existing FX3 cages will not fit because the mounting points have moved, which accessory makers will no doubt consider excellent news.

There is also a larger 3.5-inch, 16:9, 4-axis display, Sony’s CineAlta-style interface with its renowned "Big 6" menu, and built-in monitoring tools including false color, waveform, vectorscope, focus map, histogram, zebras and peaking.

Dual CFexpress Type A slots also support SD cards, while the new NP-SA100 battery is rated for around 170 minutes of continuous 5K recording.

Sony is also launching a trio of new accessories, although completing the FX5 setup will not be cheap. The new XLR handle adds 96kHz, 32-bit float audio recording and costs £780 / €900 / AU$1,099 (international pricing to follow), while a removable, 90° tilting, 7.07-million-dot OLED viewfinder costs another £650 / €750 / AU$999.

Crucially, you will not be able to mount the XLR handle and viewfinder at the same time, due to their positioning on the top plate, although Sony suggests that a third-party solution might be coming at IBC.

There is also a £90 / €100 / AU$129 timecode cable for synchronizing the FX5 with other cameras on multicamera productions. Together they make the camera considerably more flexible, but anyone planning to buy the body, handle and EVF should prepare for the starting price to skyrocket remarkably quickly.

The Sony FX5 alone will cost £4,700 / €5,600 / AU$7,849 body-only, or £5,200 / €6,000 / AU$8,849 if bought with the new XLR handle. Preorders are open now, with in-store availability scheduled for August 2026.

You might also like…

Take a look at the best open gate cameras, along with the best cinema cameras and the best cine lenses.

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is now in its third generation, and this latest version brings one of the M system’s most versatile focal lengths firmly into the modern era.

Combining a fast f/2 aperture, a compact aspherical design, an integrated hood, and a new 0.4m close-focusing distance, it promises classic Leica handling with greater flexibility than ever before. I tested it on the new Leica M EV1 to see whether this £4,700 / $6,000 lens can justify its considerable price.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Specifications

Mount: Leica M-mount
Lens design: 9 Elements in 6 Groups
Maximum aperture: f/2
Minimum aperture: f/16
Angle of view: 74°
Minimum focusing distance: 1.3' / 40 cm
Filter size: 46 mm
Dimensions: 2.3 x L: 2.2" / ø: 58 x L: 55 mm
Weight: 9.7 oz / 275 g

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. key features

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH., model 11618, represents the third generation of Leica’s fast 28mm lens for the M system. It takes the traditional qualities associated with an M lens – compact dimensions, mechanical controls, premium construction and a clear focus on photographic simplicity – and updates them for the latest generation of digital Leica cameras.

Its 28mm focal length makes it an extremely versatile option for documentary, travel, street, and environmental portrait photography. It is wide enough to include plenty of context within the frame, but it does not immediately introduce the more extreme perspective effects associated with wider focal lengths. For photographers who like to work with a single lens, 28mm can cover a surprisingly broad range of subjects.

The fast f/2 maximum aperture adds another layer of versatility. It allows the lens to be used comfortably in lower light while also providing some control over depth of field, particularly when working near the new 0.4m minimum focusing distance. A 28mm lens will never produce the same dramatic subject separation as a fast 50mm or 75mm optic, but the combination of f/2 and close focusing makes it possible to isolate details while still retaining a sense of the surrounding environment.

Aspherical elements are used to help maintain strong image quality while keeping the lens compact. This is one of the core appeals of Leica’s modern M lenses: they deliver impressive optical performance without turning the camera into a large or cumbersome system.

The biggest practical development is the extension of the focusing range from the traditional 0.7m limit down to 0.4m. The lens remains mechanically coupled to the rangefinder between infinity and 0.7m, while focusing between 0.7m and 0.4m requires Live View or an electronic viewfinder.

This model also features the built-in retractable hood that is becoming increasingly common across Leica’s newer close-focus lenses. I particularly like its implementation on the 28mm Summicron-M. It keeps the overall package neat, removes the need to carry a separate hood, and feels entirely in keeping with the compact philosophy of the M system.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Build and handling

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is built to an outstanding standard, exactly as you would expect from Leica. Its metal construction feels substantial without making the lens unnecessarily heavy, and every control has the precision required from a fully manual lens at this level.

Mounted on a Leica M camera, it creates a wonderfully compact and well-balanced package. The 28mm Summicron-M feels reassuringly solid in the hand, yet it is small enough to carry for an entire day without becoming a burden. That compactness is an important part of the lens’s appeal, especially when compared with fast 28mm lenses designed for larger autofocus mirrorless systems.

The built-in hood is one of my favourite aspects of the design. It slides smoothly into position when required and retracts neatly when it is not needed. There are no separate accessories to attach, remove, or potentially lose, and the hood does not disrupt the clean silhouette of the lens.

The manual focusing action is beautifully smooth and offers enough resistance to make precise adjustments without feeling slow. Leica has also incorporated a noticeable stopping point when the lens reaches 0.7m. From there, you deliberately push the focusing mechanism further to enter the extended close-focus range between 0.7m and 0.4m.

I found this particularly encouraging in use. You can clearly feel the transition when the camera is held to your eye, so there is never any confusion about whether you have moved beyond the range that can be focused through a traditional optical rangefinder. It is a small mechanical detail, but one that makes the expanded focusing range feel intuitive rather than awkward.

The aperture ring is equally impressive. It is incredibly responsive, with positive clicks that are easy to feel when the camera is held to your eye. This makes it straightforward to make quick exposure adjustments without lowering the camera or checking the position of the aperture markings.

I tested the lens on the new Leica M EV1, and I have to say that the combination works incredibly well. The compact dimensions of the lens suit the body perfectly, while the electronic viewfinder lets you make full use of the close-focus range without changing how you operate the camera.

On a Leica M11-P or another optical rangefinder-equipped M camera, reaching the close-focus range means switching to Live View and relying on the rear LCD screen. That can interrupt the otherwise fluid experience of shooting through the optical finder. The M EV1 eliminates this slightly strange operational change.

With the EVF held to your eye, you can continue focusing smoothly from infinity all the way down to 0.4m. Focus magnification and electronic focusing aids also make it much easier to confirm critical focus, particularly when working at f/2 or f/2.8.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Performance

The images produced by the Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. are fantastic. At its maximum aperture, the lens delivers a lovely combination of detail and character. Images remain sharp, but they do not feel overly harsh or sterile, and there is a pleasing transition between areas that are in and out of focus.

Shooting at f/2 also gives the lens a distinct visual quality. There is enough separation to draw attention to a subject when working at shorter distances, but the 28mm field of view continues to provide context around it. This makes the lens particularly effective for environmental portraits, close documentary details and low-light street photography.

As the aperture is stopped down, the rendering becomes progressively more controlled and clinical. Between f/4 and f/8, the lens produces the kind of crisp, detailed and highly consistent results that make it suitable for landscapes, architecture, travel and general documentary work.

I normally tend to photograph between f/4 and f/8, particularly when using wide-angle lenses. However, while testing the 28mm Summicron-M on the Leica M EV1, I found myself shooting much more frequently at f/2 and f/2.8.

That was largely because the EVF made it easier to hit critical focus. Rather than relying entirely on rangefinder alignment or moving to the rear screen when entering the close-focus range, I could keep the camera to my eye and confirm exactly where focus was falling. This made me far more confident about using the lens wide open.

The ability to focus down to 0.4m also changes the way the lens can be used. Previous versions of the 28mm Summicron-M were already excellent documentary lenses, but the shorter minimum focusing distance opens up opportunities for photographing smaller details, food, objects and more intimate moments.

It does not transform the lens into a macro optic, but it brings a useful new dimension to a focal length that is often associated primarily with wider scenes. You can move closer, fill more of the frame and take greater advantage of the f/2 aperture without needing to change lenses.

The 28mm Summicron-M also feels extremely consistent throughout its aperture range. At wider settings, it offers a little more atmosphere and character, while smaller apertures produce cleaner, more technically precise results. This gives photographers a meaningful creative choice rather than simply encouraging them to stop down for better quality.

As expected from a modern Leica aspherical lens, the overall rendering is refined and controlled. Detail is excellent, contrast is strong without feeling excessive, and images have the clarity required to make the most of high-resolution M cameras.

Sample images: Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. 

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. lab results

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

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

Sharpness:

Sharpness is excellent in the center of frame, even wide open at f/2. Move out towards the corners and sharpness quickly drops off, however, though at least there's no further reduction in sharpness when you reach the extreme corners of frame.

Fringing:

There's a little fringing visible in the corners of frame at mid-to-narrow apertures, and wide open you might spot some aberrations in the mid-frame, but it's nothing distracting.

Distortion: -0.33

The lens produces just a hint of barrel distortion, but it's impressively minimal for a wide lens.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Verdict

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is an extremely versatile lens and one that is capable of producing outstanding images. Its compact construction, fast maximum aperture, and expanded focusing range combine to make this third-generation model the most practically capable version Leica has produced.

The built-in hood is a welcome improvement, the aperture and focusing controls feel exceptional, and the noticeable transition at 0.7m makes the close-focus mechanism easy to understand through touch alone. These details show how Leica has modernised the lens without losing the mechanical simplicity that defines the M system.

Its partnership with the Leica M EV1 is particularly convincing. The electronic viewfinder allows the lens’s extended focusing range to feel like a natural part of the shooting experience rather than an additional feature that requires a change in technique.

On an optical rangefinder body, the need to move to the rear LCD once you pass 0.7m can still feel a little awkward. On the M EV1, however, you simply continue focusing with the camera held to your eye. That makes the 28mm Summicron-M feel more complete and encourages greater use of both its close-focus capabilities and wider apertures.

There is, of course, no escaping the price. At $6,000 / £4,700, the Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. represents a considerable investment. That is a lot of money, no matter how you look at it, and there are significantly more affordable 28mm alternatives available for the M system.

However, as I often say with Leica lenses, this is not necessarily something you buy with the intention of replacing it in a few years. It is a lens that could remain in your camera bag for the rest of your photographic career. Viewed across decades of use, that initial cost may become easier to justify.

The 28mm Summicron-M produces the kind of outstanding images that it should at this price, while its build quality and mechanical operation feel designed to last. The cost must still be seriously considered, particularly when comparing it with other options on the market, but there is no questioning the quality or capability on offer.

For photographers who want one of the finest compact 28mm lenses available, particularly those using the Leica M EV1 or another EVF-equipped M camera, the third-generation Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is an exceptional choice.

If you enjoyed this, you might also like our best Leica M lenses guide, Leica Q3 review, Leica M EV1 reivew, and see the best Leica cameras.

I’ll die on this hill: the Nikon F5 is the best 35mm SLR camera you can buy.

Camera opinions are rarely worth dying over, but I have one that I will defend for as long as there is breath in my body and film in my refrigerator: the Nikon F5 is the best 35mm film camera out there. It is not the prettiest, the lightest, or the most discreet film camera ever made, but I firmly believe it is the best.

Furthermore, it can be bought surprisingly cheaply secondhand – I have seen bodies on sale recently for around £300 / $400 (although obviously actual prices will vary hugely depending on condition).

I know that statement will immediately upset the Leica faithful, Nikon F3 owners, Canon EOS-1V devotees, and anyone who believes a “proper” film camera should be fully mechanical, covered in brass, and operated entirely through dials. That is fine. You are welcome to meet me on this hill, but I am not moving.

The Nikon F5 represents the moment when 35mm photography reached its professional peak. It arrived in 1996 as Nikon’s flagship autofocus SLR, built primarily for photographers who had to return with the picture rather than those who simply enjoyed the process of trying to take it. Nikon designed the camera around speed, reliability, and professional use, giving it five-area autofocus, Dynamic AF, 3D Color Matrix Metering, and a 1,005-pixel RGB metering sensor.

With the dedicated MN-30 battery, the F5 could advance film at up to eight frames per second. That might sound financially irresponsible now that every press of the shutter carries a noticeable cost, but you do not have to burn through an entire roll in a matter of seconds to appreciate what that specification represents. It tells you that the F5 was engineered without compromise.

This was not a camera designed to look attractive on a shelf or appear tastefully beside a flat white on Instagram. It was built for sidelines, press pens, racetracks, war zones, fashion studios, and any other environment where missing the photograph was not an acceptable outcome. That is why I believe it remains the best 35mm camera to buy today: the F5 does not ask you to romanticize inconvenience. It simply gets out of the way and lets you take photographs.

Film photography has become strangely obsessed with limitations. We praise cameras for slowing us down, forcing us to concentrate, and making every frame more deliberate. There is truth in that, of course, but sometimes I think we confuse inconvenience with creativity.

A camera does not make you more artistic simply because it lacks autofocus. A light meter that requires a separate handheld device does not automatically produce better photographs, and manually winding the film does not make the final image more meaningful. Those things can make the experience enjoyable, but they do not necessarily make the camera better.

Sample images

The Nikon F5 gives you the character, latitude, grain, color, and unpredictability of film without requiring you to abandon the practical advantages of a modern professional camera. Its controls feel familiar, its autofocus works, its metering is remarkably dependable, and the body is shaped like something designed to be held for hours rather than admired through a glass cabinet. It is, in many ways, the perfect bridge between analog and digital photography.

That matters because the F5 allows someone accustomed to a DSLR to begin shooting film without first having to relearn the entire process of operating a camera. Load a roll, set your exposure mode, select your focus point, and start shooting. The image is still being recorded onto 35mm film, but getting it there does not have to be unnecessarily difficult.

Some film photographers will consider that a weakness, but I consider it one of the F5’s greatest strengths. I have owned and used mine for more than 15 years, and during that time I have never felt creatively restricted by it.

I have used the F5 with relatively modest lenses, fast primes, professional zooms, a Nikon 200mm f/2, and even a huge 600mm f/4. The fact that a camera released in the mid-Nineties can still communicate with such a wide selection of Nikon F-mount lenses remains one of its greatest practical advantages.

That enormous lens selection means the F5 can become almost anything you need it to be. Fit a 50mm prime and shoot everyday documentary work, add an 85mm lens and use it for portraits, attach a 70-200mm and photograph sports, or put a 600mm lens on the front and turn it into an analog wildlife machine. There are more romantic cameras, but few are more versatile.

Naturally, the F5 has its critics. It is big, it is heavy, and it requires eight AA batteries in its standard configuration. Nobody is going to mistake it for a pocket camera, and carrying one around your neck all day will certainly make its presence known. However, I would argue that its size is part of the appeal.

The grip is substantial, the controls fall naturally under your fingers, and the integrated vertical shutter release makes portrait-orientation shooting feel just as natural as holding the camera horizontally. With a larger professional lens attached, the body provides the balance needed to make the entire setup feel manageable. It feels purposeful because it is purposeful.

The use of AA batteries is often presented as another sign of the camera’s age, yet it may be one of the most practical power solutions ever fitted to a professional camera. You can find AA batteries almost anywhere, with no discontinued proprietary battery to hunt down, no specialist charger that becomes useless when it fails, and no need to worry about whether a decades-old rechargeable pack can still hold a meaningful charge.

Put eight batteries into the F5 and get on with taking photographs. It really can be as simple as that, and there is something reassuring about using a camera that does not depend on an increasingly rare power source to remain functional.

Yes, the F5 relies heavily on electronics, and eventually every electronic camera carries the possibility that something will fail. However, mine has endured years of use and abuse, while other cameras I have owned have long since given up. The F5 was never intended to be disposable technology; it was a professional investment designed to survive the demands of photographers who worked every day.

There is also the question of the Nikon F6. On paper, Nikon’s final professional film SLR is arguably the more technically advanced camera. It is newer, more refined, and equipped with a more sophisticated autofocus system, but I would still choose the F5.

The F6 feels like an exceptional film camera created at the beginning of the digital age. The F5 feels like the camera that conquered the film age, and there is something gloriously uncompromising about it.

Nikon did not build the F5 as a nostalgic tribute or a luxury object. It built the camera to become the new professional standard, and almost three decades later, that intent remains obvious every time you pick one up.

Other cameras may offer a purer analog experience. A Nikon F3 provides beautiful simplicity, a Leica M offers discretion, precision, and one of the greatest viewfinder experiences in photography, while a compact camera can fit into a coat pocket and accompany you everywhere. However, if you asked me to choose one 35mm camera to photograph everything for the rest of my life, I would take the Nikon F5.

I could use it for portraits in the morning, street photography in the afternoon, and professional sports in the evening. I could attach decades of Nikon glass, rely on its autofocus when the subject started moving, trust its metering when the light became difficult, and know that the body was built to handle more punishment than I would ever reasonably give it.

That, to me, is what makes a camera the best. The best camera is not always the one that creates the most romantic shooting experience; it is the one that gives you the greatest chance of making the photograph you saw in your head.

The Nikon F5 might not make you look like a fashionable film photographer. It might not match your vintage camera strap, and nobody will describe it as small or elegant, but it will take the photograph. I will die on the hill that, when it comes to 35mm film cameras, nothing does that job better.

Shop the Nikon F5

If you've been thinking about upgrading to a full-frame mirrorless camera or switching systems, now's a great time to make the leap. Featuring one of the highest-resolution sensors, the Sony A7R IVA is now available for just £1,999 at Wex.

With this offer, you save £250 on the 61-megapixel Alpha's regular price tag of £2,249.

If you're after a true powerhouse, the A7R IVA delivers incredible resolution for both stunning photos and cinematic video – without the bulk or high price of a medium format system, making this deal even more tempting.

At the heart of the A7R IVA is a 61MP back-illuminated full-frame sensor that captures razor-sharp detail and performs beautifully even in low-light conditions. This next-gen sensor technology will make your images stand out with clarity and richness.

Want to push the detail even further? With Pixel Shift Multi Shooting, you can create jaw-dropping 240.8MP composite images – this means you get imagery with 19,008 x 12,672 pixels (!)

If you shoot fast genres like action or wildlife, the real-time Eye AF with 567 phase-detection points has your back. It tracks humans and animals across 74% of the frame, so you never miss a moment – whether you're creating photographic or videographic work.

So, if you've ever had your eye on this camera and want to create visuals that rival medium format quality, now's the time to grab the Sony A7R IVA.

Check out our rundown of the highest-resolution cameras available today.

Telephoto lenses make you a lazy photographer. There, I said it. That might sound like a strange admission from someone who spent years working as a professional sports photographer, particularly when I was fortunate enough to use some of the finest long lenses ever made. At different points in my career, I had access to a 600mm f/4 lens and a 200mm f/2, and both were absolutely fantastic lenses in their own right.

They were fast, sharp, beautifully made, and capable of producing images with a level of clarity and subject separation that cheaper lenses could only dream of matching. When you are standing beside a sports field and need to deliver a certain photograph, there are few better tools for the job.

However, what those lenses offered in optical quality, I sometimes felt they took away from my imagination.

A 600mm lens could bring almost any part of the action straight to me. During a show jumping competition, I could stand in one position and photograph as many as six different fences around the course. That sounds fantastic, and in many ways it was. If I needed a strong image of a particular rider, having six opportunities to capture the perfect moment dramatically increased my chances of delivering the shot.

For a working sports photographer, that reliability matters. Clients are not always interested in how hard you worked to get an image. They simply want the photograph. A long telephoto lens gives you reach, consistency, and the ability to cover more of the action without constantly changing position. The problem is that it can become too easy.

Once I knew I could photograph most of the course from one place, there was less incentive to move. I did not need to walk to the far side of the arena, crouch beside a fence, search for a cleaner background, or think about how the light might change from another angle. The lens solved the problem of distance, but in doing so, it sometimes removed the challenge that forced me to be creative.

Earlier in my career, when I was working with a 70-200mm f/2.8 or even a simple 50mm f/1.8, I had no choice but to move. I had to anticipate where the action would happen, decide which fence might produce the most dramatic image, and physically put myself in the best possible position. Those limitations made me work harder, but they also made me see more.

With a shorter lens, I would look for ways to include the atmosphere around the action. I might photograph a rider approaching through the crowd, frame a horse against the architecture of the venue, or use foreground elements to give the photograph greater depth. I was not simply trying to fill the frame with the subject. I was thinking about the entire scene.

That is where telephoto lenses can make us lazy. They encourage us to believe that getting closer is the same as making a better photograph. It is not. A tightly framed image of a rider clearing a fence can be technically perfect, but technical perfection does not automatically make it interesting. If every photographer is standing in the same position with a similar long lens, everyone is likely to come away with a variation of the same photograph.

The images that stand out are often the ones created by photographers who were willing to move, experiment, and occasionally risk missing the safe shot in pursuit of something better.

This is not an argument against telephoto lenses. I loved using the 600mm f/4, and the 200mm f/2 remains one of the most extraordinary lenses I have ever worked with. Both were professional tools that helped me deliver photographs under pressure, and there were plenty of situations where nothing else would have done the job as effectively. However, I also think photographers need to recognize when a tool begins to dictate the way they work.

A long lens can quickly become a comfort zone. You find a suitable position, attach the biggest lens in your bag, and wait for the action to arrive. The photographs might be sharp, correctly exposed, and commercially usable, but the process can become repetitive. You stop exploring because the lens allows you to remain exactly where you are.

Photography should involve more than pointing expensive glass at a distant subject.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is leave the telephoto lens behind. Take a 50mm lens, move closer, and accept that you might miss a few photographs. Force yourself to think about backgrounds, light, composition, and timing rather than relying on reach to solve every problem.

You may not come away with six safe opportunities at the same image, but you might come away with one photograph that nobody else saw. Telephoto lenses are incredible tools, but they should not become substitutes for movement, curiosity, or imagination. The moment a lens makes photography feel too comfortable is probably the moment you need to take it off the camera.

As the headquarters for several of the biggest camera brands, Japan is often the first region photographers look to for key trends – but the latest list of best-selling compact cameras doesn’t include any of the usual viral suspects like the Fujifilm X100VI or Ricoh GR IV. Instead, the list starts with the retro Kodak PixPro C1 and reads like a who's-who list of cheap compact cameras.

The data comes from BCN+R, a market research company that compiles data from about 40 percent of retail sales from major electronic store chains across Japan. The company recently shared a list of the top-selling compact cameras for the first half of 2026.

Kodak dominates the list with four models – more than any other manufacturer – building on another BCN+R trend where Kodak was the leading brand in sales for compact cameras in 2025. The four Kodaks on the list come from JK Imaging, a company that licenses the Kodak name.

According to BCN+R, these are the most popular compact cameras in Japan for January through June 2026:

1. Kodak PixPro C1
2. Kodak PixPro FZ55
3. Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo
4. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS
5. Canon IXY 650m / PowerShot ELPH 360 HS / IXSUS 285 HS
6. OM System TOUGH TG-7
7. Panasonic Lumix TZ99
8. Kenko Tokina KC-AF11
9. Kodak PixPro FZ45
10. Kodak PixPro WPZ2

As a photography industry expert, the first thing that struck me about the list is that it lacks some of the most viral advanced compact cameras with larger sensors, like the Fujifilm X100VI and Ricoh GR IV. But, both of these options are so popular that they are difficult to find in stock, which could be playing a key role in those cameras’ absence.

But there could be another factor at play: Price. The list is heavily dominated by budget cameras. Only three of the options on the top ten list retail for more than US$500: The Canon PowerShot SX740 HS, the waterproof OM System Tough TG-7, and the zoomy Panasonic Lumix TZ99.

The push for less time spent on smartphones and more classic retro images has sparked a resurgence among cheap compact cameras. The cheap compact category had been all but decimated by the smartphone, but as compact cameras make a return in trends, so too do the most affordable models.

The cheap point-and-shoot isn’t making a comeback for image quality. In tests, for example, we found most smartphones will outperform the Kodak PixPro C1. But, part of the comeback is the nostalgia for less perfect images – lo-fi resolution, softer lenses, and even those orange time/date stamps in the corner can all be found without spending a lot of money.

Perhaps because the cheap point-and-shoot trend isn’t about modern image technology, several of the models on the list are a few years old, like the Instax Mini Evo, a digital-instant film hybrid packed with retro special effects launched in 2021, and the 2017 Kodak PixPro FZ55.

Importantly, the BCN+R list only includes around 40 percent of electronics sales in Japan and includes major electronics retailers that may cater more towards general consumers than serious photographers. While some models like the Canon PowerShot SX740, Kodak PixPro C1 and OM System Tough TG-7 are also popular at some photo specialty stores, looking at large photo stores like Map Camera tends to create a list that leans more towards pricier, larger sensor compact cameras.

Regardless, the BCN+R rankings indicate that even the cheap compact camera has returned from the dead – it’s not just the large sensor compacts and models with more zoom than the typical smartphone that have made a comeback.

You may also like

I think some of the best cheap compact cameras with the retro vibe are actually screen-free cameras.

The Sony camera lineup will have a new member in just a matter of hours. Sony is launching its newest camera today, July 22, according to a teaser direct from the imaging giant.

Sony is preparing to announce a new camera at 7 AM PDT / 10 AM EST / 3 PM BST on July 22, according to a teaser shared via the brand’s email and social channels.

The teaser is fairly typical as teasers go, showing only the silhouette of the upcoming camera with few actual details. But there are a few key revelations in the teaser that reveal who the camera is for.

The teaser is clearly marked with “Cinema Line.” If that’s not enough of an indication, the vertical social teaser looks like a close-up of a camera, not a lens – though the horizontal YouTube teaser shows a view of that camera with a lens.

The silhouette clearly shows a top handle, a feature that also heavily hints towards the camera being built for video. That, with the hashtag #SonyCine, makes the teaser quite clear that what’s coming is part of Sony’s cinema series rather than the brand’s line of still cameras.

The teaser comes with the line “Lighting the way forward,” a line that could have many potential implications.

The silhouetted camera leaves much to the imagination. Along with the handle, the teaser does show red and green lights at the top of the camera. The back profile of the camera also appears to jut out a bit where the LCD screen would typically sit.

The comments on the newly posted teaser are already filling up with speculation over what’s next for the Sony Cinema series. Sony’s FX cinema series spans the more affordable Sony FX30 to the FX6, while the camera giant also has high-end options like the Sony Burano and Sony Venice 2 among its current cinema lineup.

A dedicated spot on YouTube invites camera fans to watch the announcement on July 22 at 7 AM PT / 10 AM EST / 15:00 BST.

You may also like

Refresh your camera gear knowledge ahead of the launch with the best cinema cameras or the best Sony cameras.

One of the best manufacturers of camera bags and accessories, along with the likes of Manfrotto and Tenba, Peak Design started life in a similar way, with a man on a mission. In this case, it was Peter Dering, who toured the world back in 2010 with a large camera kit and a disappointing way of carting it around. He promptly quit his job, designed his own way of carrying a camera, launched it on Kickstarter and hasn’t looked back. Peak Design has gone from strength to strength in the following years, following the same crowdfunding principles, so they can create products on their own terms with no interference from investors.

With a diverse product range, Peak Design makes and sells camera bags and straps, general travel luggage, outdoor gear, phone cases, wallets and even mounting systems for attaching gadgets to cars and motorcycles. Then there are tripods, including the groundbreaking Peak Design Travel Tripod (Aluminum) and Peak Design Travel Tripod (Carbon Fiber). I’ve recently been particularly impressed with the new and improved Peak Design Pro Tripod range.

Getting back to camera straps, one of the best on the market is the Peak Design Slide Lite, to which my colleague awarded a perfect 5/5 rating in his review. I personally wasn’t so completely won over, as I found the large overlapping loops of wide strap and chunky buckles a bit of a hindrance. There’s no such problem with the more minimalist Peak Design Form Rope, which is available as a basic ‘Neck’ version and three alternative lengths of Crossbody options, all of them aiming to be among the best camera straps on the market.

Peak Design Form Rope: Specifications

Peak Design Form Rope: Price

The Peak Design Form Rope comes in three alternative Crossbody – Short, Standard and Long Crossbody editions, all of them listing at $50 / £45 / AU$100. That might sound a bit on the pricey side for a camera strap, but each edition is actually a comprehensive kit of parts. The more basic Form Rope Neck edition costs a little less at £45 / £40 / AU$90. For further price comparison, the popular Peak Design Slide Lite is more costly at around $70 / £60 / AU$135.

Peak Design Form Rope: Design & Handling

How do you like to wear your camera? Going back to basics, the whole concept of ‘wearing’ a camera might seem strange to the uninitiated, but most photographers that I know wear their cameras around their necks. Indeed, a neck strap is generally included in the box of bits when you buy a camera, although just like with ‘kit lenses’, they’re not always of the best quality and generally lack any innovative extras or clever design flourishes.

I’m also not a fan of own-brand camera straps that have the make and model emblazoned in large print along them, which I often think loosely translates as ‘mug me right now’. The Peak Design Form Rope is very much the opposite, which it kind of needs to be if it’s going to tempt you to upgrade from your basic ‘free’ camera strap.

The picture on the front of the retail box shown above tells it like it is – it’s a crossbody camera strap. But there’s more. Flip the box around and you get visual pointers to alternative ways that you can wear your camera using the Form Rope and its accessories. The most basic ‘Neck’ edition comes in one length of strap (78.5cm / 30.9in) with two anchors, a microfiber pouch and two oval split rings. The Crossbody editions come in short (103.5cm / 40.75in), standard (118.5cm / 46.65in) and long (134cm / 52.75in) editions. In each case, the ‘rope’ itself is 10mm / 0.39in in diameter.

Each of the three editions of the Crossbody Form Rope doubles up on anchors, so you get four rather than the two that are supplied with the Neck edition. The extras enable you to make the most of how you attach the rope to your camera and other accessories, and how you wear them. One thing that’s held in common is the rope itself, and it’s not just any old rope. Instead of rough and ready rope that can feel quite abrasive, the specialist basket-woven, nylon/poly rope was specifically designed to combine the strength, padding and stretch needed for a comfortable camera-carrying experience.

Color options include black, ocean, and kelp. I went for the last of these, and I like the way that the colorway extends to the anchors as well as the rope. The anchors themselves are made from glass-reinforced nylon and are the latest V5 edition of Peak Design’s low-profile design of quick-release connectors. Not only quick and easy to connect to the rope, the anchors each have a mighty individual payload rating of 90+kg / 200+lb. The attachment cord might look like a weak link, but it’s really not, and I like the three-layer design so that in the unlikely event of the cord getting damaged or worn, there are clearly visible yellow and red warning signs.

I had no problem threading the anchor cords through the attachment rings on my cameras, but some camera bodies and other accessories might have eyelets that are simply too small to accommodate the cord. That potential problem is neatly solved by each of the kits including a pair of split rings with specially shaped covers and a little tool for making it easy to attach the split rings to your camera’s eyelets.

Most cameras have ‘proper’ strap attachment rings, so it’s simply a case of threading the cord through, looping it over the anchor, and you’re ready to roll. I really like the quick-release system. The circular anchors are very secure but quick and easy to remove from the rope, with a press-and-slide mechanism. The system has been widely adopted by many manufacturers, because it simply works and works simply.

The only occasional criticism that I’ve heard is that if you’re using them with the strap removed, for example on a tripod in a stiff breeze, the anchors can knock against the side of the camera and the noise can be recorded by the camera’s microphone when you’re shooting video. I’ve not encountered that particular problem myself.

Again, I like that the color scheme is maintained between the rope and the anchors, so the whole kit looks entirely consistent. The image below shows how the connection looks when the rope is attached to an anchor. As I’ve mentioned, the quick-release action is simply a case of pressing the circular anchor downwards and sliding it towards the center of the receptacle.

Whether with or without split rings, you don’t actually have to attach anchors to your camera’s strap rings or eyelets at all. Another option is to attach an anchor to the tripod socket on the base of the camera. A screw-in plate and additional anchor are supplied for just this purpose, as shown below. It also gives a useful extra option if you want to use one rope with two different cameras.

The screw-in plate can also be used on other accessories that have a standard 1/4in threaded socket, as well as lenses that have the same kind of mounting thread on a tripod mounting collar. For a secure connection, the screw has a hex head, and there’s a companion hex key that’s also provided as part of the kit.

Peak Design Form Rope: Performance

One of my concerns about the Peak Design Form Rope was that it would be uncomfortable to wear with heavier camera and lens combinations, at least compared with relatively wide flat straps. I needn’t have worried, however, as I found the specially woven rope wonderfully comfy, even with heavy loads. Speaking of which, the rope is very lightweight, ranging from 42.5g / 1.5oz to 68g / 2.4oz depending on length, yet has a huge payload rating of 82kg / 180lb (90+kg / 200+lb for the anchors).

You’re somewhat spoilt for choice when it comes to how to wear your camera, but I started with my Crossbody – Standard kit by wearing it as a basic neck strap. I found that the length of the rope was ideal for this, and that the camera rested at the same height that I normally set when using an adjustable strap.

Taking my cue from the product name, I next tried the Crossbody – Standard edition by wearing it messenger-style, across my body. Again, the length was spot on for my preferences. If you’re not of the same opinion, short and long versions are also available.

Another option is to secure the rope to a single anchor on one side of your camera, and use another of the four supplied anchors in the accessory loop that’s fixed around the rope. I say ‘fixed', but it’s perfectly sized so that you can easily move it along the rope to adjust the overall length, without it sliding up and down of its own accord. You could also use the loop separately, for attaching other accessories via one of the additional supplied anchors.

A twist on the attachment method shown above is to leave the camera’s strap rings out of the equation altogether and to use the tripod mounting socket as the sole attachment point, as shown below. This can also work well with telephoto lenses that have a 1/4in threaded socket on a tripod mounting collar, and a variety of other accessories.

Peak Design Form Rope: Verdict

I’m a fussy customer when it comes to camera straps, and the ones that are supplied with cameras rarely satisfy my cravings. I usually go for fairly wide, flat straps with a bit of padding, so that they’re comfortable for long periods of time, for example when I’m shooting weddings, sporting events, wildlife, or just pounding city streets. My initial concern was that the Peak Design Form Rope would be relatively uncomfortable and tend to cut into my neck or shoulder, but I actually found it to be as comfortable and practical as it is stylish, and I do think it’s very stylish.

Plus points are that the Crossbody editions can be worn in a whole variety of ways, around the neck, over the shoulder, or crossbody, complete with an equally generous range of attachment options for your camera and/or other accessories. The quick-release anchors work blissfully well, and all the components of the kit are robust and durable yet beautifully finished, in an attractive range of color options. Sure, it’s relatively expensive for a camera strap, but your camera is worth it, and so are you.

Alternatives

I’ve been using tripods for about 50 years but just when I thought I knew them inside out, something new has taken me by surprise. Based in Shenzhen, China, Heipi isn’t a company that’s really been on my radar but they’re now celebrating their 7^th anniversary. The brand is the brainchild of an engineer who’s also a passionate wildlife photographer. Combining these two facets of his skills set, he launched his first tripod launch in 2019, and the company made a big splash three years later with a 3-in-1 travel tripod, based on a Kickstarter campaign that raised a million dollars in a mere 30 days, from 3,000 backers.

The new Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S that I’m reviewing here is the company’s new, updated and upgraded flagship tripod kit, joining the other tripods, tripod heads, clamps, mounts, magic arms and accessories already in the Heipi catalog. Innovative, cleverly designed and nicely built with impressive attention to detail, the W28S aims to be one of the best travel tripods on the market, or perhaps I should say that it aims to be two of the best travel tripods plus a selfie stick, all rolled into one travel-friendly package.

Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S: Specifications

Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S: Price

What price a pair of travel tripods plus a selfie stick and a low-profile ball head, all bundled into a single product and wrapped up in a stylish travel bag? The Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S lists at $399 / £349 / AU$649, which is very reasonable for just one carbon fiber tripod (the smaller one in the dual-tripod design is actually aluminum), especially considering that it’s such a comprehensive kit with such a rich feature set.

A comparably compact carbon tripod is available in the space-saving shape of the Peak Design Travel Tripod carbon fiber, which costs $599 / £599 / AU$1,169, and the newer Peak Design Pro Tripod which is even pricier at $900 / £800 / AU$1,500. On the face of it, the Heipi looks a proper bargain.

Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S: Design & Handling

The 2-in-1 or even 3-in-1 design, depending on which way you look at it, isn’t the only crafty concept behind the Heipi’s build. When I said I thought it was reminiscent of the Peak Design Travel Tripod carbon fiber, it’s not just because both are made from carbon fiber, but because they both have a similar space-saving design element.

For a while now, the travel tripod trend has been to have swing-up legs, which save space if you fully extend the center column and then invert the legs so that the feet encompass the head. It takes a bit off the stowage height but makes setup and takedown more of a time-consuming chore. Like the Peak Design, the Heipi doesn’t have swing-up legs but does have center column that uses the space between the legs, but in a different way. The Peak Design has a triangular section center column and specially shaped legs that wrap around it, thus filling the gaps.

The Heipi doesn’t really have a center column as such. Instead of a central column that sits between the tripod legs, it has three triangular profile blades (for want of a better term), that take up the spaces between the legs, but on the outside. The net results is pretty much the same, in that all of the available space is used and nothing goes to waste in the pursuit of compactness.

From an operational perspective, the 3-pillar column works like any other center column, in that you can loosen a locking mechanism (this time a rotary dial at the top) and extend the column upwards. Just pay attention to the warning line at the bottom of each mini tripod leg, indicating the maximum safe extension height. Go beyond this and you can pull the center column out altogether and transform it into a mini tripod, complete with adjustable leg angle locks and a 1/4-inch threaded socket on each leg for attaching a accessories or a magic arm (Heipi can sell you one of those as well).

Not just for doubling up on tripods, removing the 3-pillar column has the advantage that you can invert it and slide it back in to the main tripod again, from underneath. This enables shooting right down to ground level, with the usual caveat that the camera is inverted. More on low-level shooting later but for now, I’ll reiterate that while the main tripod has carbon fiber legs, those of the 3-pillar column / mini tripod are made from aluminum.

Some like to twist, others prefer to flip. Again like the Peak Design travel tripod, the Heipi has slim profile flip locks which take up very little space and only stick out from the legs by a tiny amount, thanks to the way they’re shaped. A key difference is that they’re quite stiff to operate and it’s a real struggle to grasp them all in one hand and open them with a single gesture. You’re more likely to settle on working them one by one, which can take a while as there are no less than 12 of them altogether.

An upgrade to Heipi’s original flip lock design is that the new and improved version gives a stronger locking force with uniform pressure applied around the entire circumference of the leg sections. The new locks are also easier to detach for cleaning and maintenance. The leg sections themselves start with a reasonably sizeable 26mm diameter at the top, working downwards in 3mm increments to a relatively spindly 14mm at the bottom. The bottom sections do look and feel a little flimsy but that’s the price you usually pay for space-saving 5-section legs, compared with 3-section or 4-section legs. To be fair, I’ve seen thinner bottom leg sections on some up-market travel tripods.

Most tripods have three separate locking angles for each leg, which can help if you’re working around obstacles or setting up on tricky terrain. Many of them use spring-loaded locking mechanisms that you either pull out or press in. The Heipi adopts a mix and match approach, with locks that pull out for the main tripod and push in for the mini tripod. It makes sense as you can’t have anything that sticks out in the mini tripod legs, or they wouldn’t be able to slide all the way into the platform on the main tripod.

Many tripods feature a weight hook, which is useful for hanging ballast and reducing the risk of them swaying in a breeze. The Heipi has a variation on the theme in that it has a loop of weight rope instead. That’s all well and good if you’ve got a carabiner or some other method of attaching a weight but is arguably less convenient than just having a simple hook to hang something on. Naturally, the normal practice of fixing a weight hook on the bottom of a tripod’s center column wouldn’t work with the Heipi’s 3-pillar design.

Switching from top to bottom, the feet are formed from removable rubber pads. Unscrewing the feet reveals 30mm metal spikes which you can again unscrew and invert, so that they stick out from the bottom of the foot instead of from the top. This effectively transforms the feet from pads to spikes, the latter giving a firmer footing on loose ground.

The metal hooks have eyelets in them for inserting a tool and twisting them around to unscrew them from the top or bottom of the feet and reinsert them in the other.

Enough talk of legs, let’s move onto the head. It’s a rather clever one, after all. It can attach directly to either the main legs or small legs but in the normal configuration of the tripod, it’ll fit to the small legs which are then inserted into the main legs to form the 3-pillar column. Naturally, the only thing you can’t do is to attach the head to both sets of legs at the same time, as you only get one head in the kit and not two, unless you buy a second one separately. That said, pretty much any tripod head should be compatible with the kit, so long as it has a standard 3/8in threaded socket and its mounting disk fits within the 60mm diameter of the center column locking ring.

The low-profile ball head looks right at home when fitted to either tripod, as well as to the smaller when used in center column mode. In case you’re wondering, the platform of the main tripod has a spring-loaded, retractable mounting screw that neatly moves out of the way when the 3-pillar column is inserted.

The lock/release mechanism for the Arca type quick-release plate relies on twisting the upper section of the head. A protrusion on either side helps to enable a firm grip but there’s no additional security lock to avoid accidental release. The camera platform of the head also features a bubble level, to aid accurate leveling.

The underside of the QR plate reveals the attachment screw for the camera. It can be tightened or released with a hex key (supplied) or a coin, but there’s no D-ring for fastening it or undoing it with just a finger and thumb.

Another hidden gem of the design is that the ball head features a pull-out smartphone mount. Like other elements of the tripod, it’s spring-loaded for convenience. One thing that’s less convenient about it is that if you have even a thin cover on the back of your phone, you might need to remove it as there’s only a narrow gap to push it through. Even so, it adds credibility to the Heipi’s claim of working as a selfie stick.

The main ball action of the head relies on a single twist-clamp lever for loosening and locking it. The usual cutout in the ball socket enables 90-degree rotation of the camera for portrait orientation shooting, in the absence of an L-bracket. Slight negative points are that there’s no independent friction adjuster to tailor the action to alternative lightweight and heavy camera combos, and the locking lever needs to be fairly precisely positioned. You might well find that you need to pull it out, slip it over its splines and re-engage it again to avoid it fouling on other parts of the head.

One thing that I always like to see, and that’s present and correct in the Heipi ball head, is a separate pan-only lock. Not only does it have one, but it comes complete with a 360-degree scale marked in 5-degree increments. What’s more, a secondary screw with a hex head enables you to swap between smooth panning and high-precision 10-degree click steps. It’s a bit like using the aperture control ring on a lens that has a click/de-click switch.

One of my pet hates is instruction leaflets for all manner of gadgets, that have such tiny print that you can’t actually read them. I’m happy that the guide supplied with the Heipi is not only entirely legible, but includes color photos of various parts, functions and facilities, enabling a better understanding of the various features and facilities on offer.

The tools supplied with the tripod comprise hex keys in three different sizes, as shown below. That’s really all you need for any operational or maintenance task.

Everything wraps up safe and sound in a weather-proofed bag that’s supplied with the tripod. It’s a snug fit, so there’s no wasted space and the carrying size is as small as possible. It also has an adjustable, detachable shoulder strap that fastens to loops at either end of the bag with Velco strips.

Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S: Performance

I like my tripods to be big and small in equal measure. I want them to be tall enough at their maximum height for comfortable shooting (and I’m 6ft 5in), but nice and small when folded down so that they’re compact travelling companions. The Heipi serves mostly well on both counts. The maximum operating height with the 3-pillar center column fully extended is a fairly modest 152cm / 59.8in, but that’s still taller than a number of travel tripods that I can think of. Meanwhile, the folded height of just 45cm / 17.7in enables it to stow away in tight spaces, as does the 7.5cm / 3.0in diameter, courtesy of the space-saving leg/3-pillar column design.

A key performance benefit is the whole ‘dual tripods’ thing. The main tripod works well as a regular, go-to tripod for all sorts of shooting scenarios, while the mini tripod is great for tabletop use, ultra-low-level shooting (without inverting the center column) and for selfie stick action. In its regular configuration as one complete tripod with a 3-pillar center column, the Heipi has a hefty payload rating of 20kg / 44lb. That seems a bit ‘optimistic’ to my mind, given the relatively thin bottom leg sections, but I’m never likely to put that much load on it anyway.

The maximum height of a tripod is one consideration, but the minimum shooting height can be equally important from a creative perspective. Both of the main and mini tripods that make up the kit can shoot very close to the ground, with a minimum operating height of just 6cm / 2.4in. That’s thanks to the adjustable locking leg angles and the removable nature of the center column / mini tripod. However, I found that the mini tripod was quite prone to unwanted flexing and sagging when the legs were splayed to wider operating angles.

The head (or heads if you buy and use an extra one) can attach to both the main and mini tripods. The platform in the main tripod features a large bubble level to aid with leveling, and it’s a lot more useful than the miniscule bubble levels featured in some tripods. Correctly leveling the legs ensures that panning will also be on the level, rather than the camera going on the slant during the panning process. That’s an important consideration when shooting video, or a sequence of stills to stitch into a panorama.

The only slight issue with the large bubble level is that you have to raise the 3-pillar column a little to get a really clear view of it. Back on the plus side, both platforms in the main and mini tripods feature a grub screw for firmly locking the head in place. This can be very useful as it effectively guards against the head coming unscrewed on its main mounting screw if and when you’re panning in an anti-clockwise direction.

I’ve saved arguably the most crucial performance factor until last, and that’s the rigidity of the tripod and its resistance to unwanted flexing and vibrations. I’ve touched on this for the small mini tripod, which is made from aluminum, but the main carbon fiber legs have their own story to tell. And that story is that they’re made from a mix of T700 high-tensile fibers and T400 impact-resistant fibers, designed to enhance stability and weight loss. However, there’s no getting away from the fact that 5-section legs result in spindly bottom sections and I found that at or near its maximum operating height, the tripod was a little prone to flexing and vibration. However, it’s still more sturdy and rigid than many travel tripods on the market.

Heipi 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S: Verdict

There’s a lot to love about the Heipe 3-in-1 Travel Tripod W28S, and top of the list is that there’s not a lot of it. I like that it folds down nice and small, making it an ideal travel companion for the journey, which is mainly what travel tripods are all about. Thanks to the 5-section legs, it reaches a decent if modest maximum operating height, in conjunction with the 3-pillar extending center column, which itself is what sets the Heipe apart from the crowd of its 3-legged cronies. I’m so impressed that you can remove the center column and use it as a whole other mini tripod or selfie stick, that I’m frankly amazed the design isn’t featured far and wide in other tripods.

I’m not going to give the Heipe a completely glowing report, however. Little niggles include spindly bottom leg sections that impair rigidity at or near maximum operating height. Those 5-section legs also equate to a lot of flip locks to contend with, each of which is surprisingly stiff and unyielding. The Heipe also doesn’t conveniently convert into a monopod, although that’s certainly not unusual amongst travel tripods rather than full-sized sticks. All in all, this tripod, or perhaps collection of tripods, is a crafty design that’s very well implemented, and very good value at the price.

Alternatives

As a regular reviewer for Digital Camera World, I tend to test gadgets such as smartphone and mirrorless camera gimbals, wireless microphones, webcams, and continuous LED light sources like the Neewer FS60B. LEDs are among my favorite products to review, as they give me an excuse to leave the office, hire a model, and demonstrate the different looks that a portable continuous light can add to both stills and video. After all, a well-lit model portrait makes for a far more appealing review image than a shot of me staring into a webcam!

The FS60B is a 60W LED light from Chinese manufacturer Neewer. As well as manufacturing continuous LEDs, Neewer produces a wide range of kit including on-camera flashes, teleprompters, and V-mount batteries.

LED stands for light-emitting diode, so the light is produced by an array of small beads rather than a traditional bulb. Having grown up using old-school bulb lights during my career, I much prefer LEDs. There are no bulbs to keep replacing, and as they tend to run cooler than traditional lamps, you don’t have to wait around for the light to cool down before you can pack it away (though I did feel the heat on one occasion with this particular LED, as I’ll explain in the performance section).

The Neewer FS60B is a bi-color light, which means it contains a mix of 'warm' and 'cool LEDs that can be blended to produce color temperatures ranging from a warm 2700K to a cooler 6500K. This gives you the flexibility to mimic the glow of a sunset or add fill light that matches a cooler midday key light.

In addition to bi-color lights, Neewer also makes RGB lights, such as the flat-panel PL60C. These use a broader mix of colored LEDs to produce thousands of creative hues. Bi-color lights such as the FS60B are less versatile when it comes to producing color effects, but they tend to emit a brighter output because more of their similarly colored diodes can be illuminated at the same time.

Both the Neewer PL60C and the Neewer FS60B are 60W lights that are among the best LED lights for filmmaking and vlogging, but the latter is much lighter and smaller, so it will suit 'run and gun' photographers/videographers who need to fit a powerful yet portable light source in their kit bag.

Neewer FS60B: Specifications

Neewer FS60B: Price

The Neewer FS60B 60W Compact Pocket Bi-Color LED Light officially retails at $119.99 (around £100). Given the portability offered by its pocket-sized build and its astonishingly powerful 34,300 lux output (with supplied reflector attached), this is a small price to pay for such a portable and powerful LED.

The FS60B ships with a 20V DC power supply that you can plug into the mains. However, if, like me, you want to shoot in a location without access to a mains socket (such as a city street), then you’ll need to provide a portable power source such as the Neewer PS099E V-mount battery, which will add $179.99 to the price. You can link the battery to the FS60B via a USB-C cable, which is what I did when testing the light on location. The FS60B is also compatible with the Neewer PH99E Battery Grip, which attaches to the FS60B’s 1/4-inch threads – though that costs as much as the FS60B itself!

If you need a bi-color LED that ships with a supplied chargeable battery, then check out the Godox ML80Bi (see Alternatives section below). However, at $299, the Godox LED does cost a lot more than the Neewer FS60B, though you don’t have the inconvenience of having a separate battery attached to the LED via a USB-C cable.

Neewer FS60B: Design & Handling

My first impression on opening the Neewer FS60B’s box was, "where’s the light!?" For a second or two, I thought that someone must have pinched it while the package was in transit. Then I realized that a thin, silver-colored rectangular plastic unit inside the packaging was actually the LED itself. It was much slimmer than the usual box-shaped LEDs that I test (such as the Godox ML80Bi). The FS60B was also very light – weighing in at just under 0.66lb (300g).

Neewer describes the FS60B as a "pocket" light, and at 5.9x3.5x1.3in (15x8.9x3.3cm), it did indeed fit into the pocket of my shorts – I’m writing this during a heatwave! However, it isn’t the most comfortable pocket-dwelling gadget, as two chunky plastic control knobs protrude from the rear.

These two knobs let you adjust lighting properties such as brightness and color temperature, as we’ll explore in the Performance section. They also double as buttons. Press the brightness control on the left, for example, and you can jump through the intensity range in 20% increments from 0 to 100, rather than turning the dial manually. The right-hand knob can be pressed to cycle through settings when using the light’s animated effects, such as the frequency of a simulated lightning flash, for example.

On the opposite side of the unit is a slightly raised circular metal housing containing the LEDs. This section needs to be made from metal because the LEDs can generate a considerable amount of heat (see Performance section). Surrounding the LEDs is a circular plastic grille through which you can see the unit’s essential cooling fan.

Set into the metal housing around the LEDs are three Neewer Mini Mount slots, enabling you to attach compatible accessories, including the reflector supplied with the light. Standard Bowens-mount modifiers can also be fitted, although this requires Neewer’s optional CHB1 Mini-to-Bowens adapter.

Neewer FS60B: Performance

Because the Neewer FS60B provides a continuous light source, I decided to hire a model and film some footage of her using my iPhone 17 Pro in the atmospheric (but gloomy) corridors of London’s Barbican Centre. The LED’s powerful 34,300 lux output was more than bright enough to capture footage free from high-ISO artifacts, and it also added drama to the clips by casting a strong shadow of the model on the location’s textured concrete walls.

As I also planned to shoot portraits with my iPhone, I used the FS60B as a key light (and sometimes a fill light, depending on available light sources). By positioning the LED to one side of my model, I was able to create a more sculpted, three-dimensional illumination in much the same way as I would with a DSLR’s external flash – but with the advantage of seeing the lighting effect on the model before pressing the shutter. I found it easy to use the FS60B’s two knobs/buttons to adjust brightness and choose a color temperature that complemented the warm interior available light in the location.

Before meeting Maddy, my model, I sat down on the location’s carpeted floor to check my kit. The FS60B was resting face down on my leg while I used the Neewer Studio app on my iPhone 17 Pro to switch on the LEDs. I soon felt their heat against my bare skin, as I was wearing shorts for this heatwave test shoot! I was surprised by just how hot the LEDs felt, as I hadn’t noticed much heat from other continuous lights that I’ve tested. Then again, I’d never placed one directly against my skin before. Lesson learned.

As the shoot was taking place on location, I didn’t want to rely on the kit’s supplied mains adapter to power the light, as this would limit me to staying close to wall-mounted power sockets. Instead, I carried a Neewer PS099E V-mount battery in my backpack, along with the longest USB-C cable I could find. The cable connecting the battery to the LED was only a couple of feet long, so I decided against bringing a standard (and tall) lighting stand along for the ride. I didn’t want the chunky PS099E battery dangling by its cable from a light mounted on a tall stand.

Instead, I packed a small Joby GorillaPod, whose flexible legs can be used as a miniature tripod or wrapped around a railing. The Barbican has plenty of raised surfaces where I could position the light securely and rest the battery nearby, without putting pressure on the power cable.

The Neewer FS60B has 1/4-inch threads on both its base and side, so I was able to mount it on the GorillaPod with ease. As the LED weighs less than 0.66lb (300g), it remained stable despite the GorillaPod’s relatively short legs. Check out the supporting video to see the FS60B in action.

The FS60B ships with a small reflector that attaches to its Neewer Mini Mount slots with a push and a twist, boosting the light’s output to an impressive 34,300 lux. As this more-focused beam could cast harsh shadows on my model, I attached the supplied rubber diffuser to the front of the reflector to soften the light.

The LED’s Neewer Mini Mount slots also enabled me to attach a larger Neewer lantern softbox. This created a broad yet powerful studio-style light source that worked particularly well for some of my model portraits, as you’ll see from the portraits accompanying this review.

As well as providing continuous illumination, the Neewer FS60B can produce intermittent lighting patterns at color temperatures ranging from 2700K to 6500K. Its 12 lighting presets include effects such as flashes of lightning and a flickering broken bulb.

As I had both a model and a long, dark, suitably spooky corridor at my disposal, I used the control knobs and Mode button to select the Broken Bulb effect. The FS60B was powerful enough to illuminate my model from a distance (see video), while also revealing plenty of detail in the surrounding architecture. Each time the simulated bulb flickered out, the corridor was momentarily plunged into gloomy shadow, making this preset particularly effective for adding drama and atmosphere to my mini-thriller sequence.

On a previous test shoot with the Neewer PS099E V-mount battery as a power source, I ran out of power in one hour. This was because I was testing the much more power-hungry Godox ML150Bi, which is a 150W light compared to the FS60B's 60W. As a result, I had plenty of juice left in the battery after filming and shooting portraits for the first hour of the shoot.

I used this extra power to set up a shoot in a nearby alley adjacent to the Barbican Centre. Despite strong sun overhead, the alley was in shadow, so the FS60B became a key light. Given the GorillaPod’s short legs, I illuminated Maddy from a low angle. This added a mix of dramatic highlights and shadows to her face that suited the grungy urban alley. The low-angle light from the floor-mounted FS60B created a mean and moody look that suited my model’s dramatic location and streetwise look.

I did take the light along to a more conventional model shoot, and it was very useful when I could shoot the model with the light at head height. However, due to the short cable between the light and the battery, I often had to shoot from a low angle, and the resulting shadows didn’t flatter my other model’s face, emphasizing features such as eye bags.

Neewer FS60B: Verdict

I thoroughly enjoyed using the Neewer FS60B on my urban model test shoot. Its compact size meant that I could travel light, while its 60W output and supplied reflector provided enough power to capture clean video footage in relatively gloomy interiors without excessive high-ISO noise. The animated effects, such as Broken Bulb, also helped me capture an atmospheric mini-thriller sequence, which made the test shoot even more enjoyable. The FS60B also worked well as a powerful, dramatic key light in shady outdoor alleys, enabling me to capture some suitably edgy street portraits.

Its main drawback is the lack of a built-in rechargeable battery. An internal battery would have made it easier to mount the light on a tall stand and position it at a more flattering side angle. Because the FS60B was connected to a V-mount battery by a relatively short USB-C cable, I often had to find a raised surface that could support both the light and its power source (or pop the light and its mini tripod on the floor).

I enjoyed shooting from lower angles, as this added drama to my portraits, but for illuminating more conventional lifestyle images, I would have preferred the flexibility to position the light higher, without being constrained by a battery attached via a cable. I appreciate that you could power the FS60B from the mains using its supplied power unit, which has a cable long enough for you to mount the light at head height on a stand. However, I like to shoot on location, so I had to use a battery-powered solution.

Alternatives

The camera L-bracket is a longstanding accessory that allows photographers to quickly swap from horizontal to vertical shots on a tripod – but photo accessory brand favorite Peak Design is bringing the standard accessory into 2026 – and making it a bit less boring. The Peak Design Field Bracket is a modular L-mount bracket that goes beyond fast tripod orientation swaps by allowing creators to customize their rig with anything from lights to a camera tracker.

The Field Bracket starts with a camera-specific baseplate that needs to be matched to the right camera body in order to hug the camera body. While the base plate is specific to each camera model, it has a latch that allows it to connect to the more universal Field Latch, creating the traditional L-shape. The upright portion of the L can also be adjusted to allow access to the camera’s ports at the side.

But perhaps what’s more unusual about the Field Bracket is that the design is modular, allowing creators to customize their camera setup. The upright bracket can be swapped with a Cheese Plate instead, which has multiple mounting points and a cold shoe to attach lights, mics, and other accessories.

Another option is the new Beacon Finder Tag, which puts a Bluetooth tracker inside an Acra-compatible camera plate that fits most tripods. Peak Design says this is a discrete way to attach a tracker to a camera itself, rather than leaving a tracker in a camera bag.

The modular system also supports a hand strap. Peak Design says the design is meant to allow photographers to continue to use a variety of accessories, including access to side ports.

“The best camera accessories disappear into your workflow until you need them. That idea shaped every decision we made with Field Bracket,” said Peter Dering, Peak Design’s Founder and CEO. “Instead of asking photographers to permanently attach functionality they only use some of the time, we built a system that can transform in seconds while remaining just as rigid and dependable as a traditional L-bracket.”

The Peak Design Field Bracket is the brand’s 17th Kickstarter campaign, which opened on July 21. The crowdfunding comes with an early pre-order discount before the system launches in retail stores. The Field Bracket is expected to list for $149.95 (about £112 / AU$214 / CA$211), with the modular pieces beginning at $39.95 (about £30 / AU$57 / CA$56).

The system launches with plates designed to custom fit with several cameras, including several full-frame Sony models and most Canon EOS R5 and R6 series bodies (excluding the R6 V). For Nikon, the bracket fits with the Nikon Z5 II, Z6 II and III and Z7 II cameras as well as the Z8. The system will also support the Fujifilm X100VI and X-T5 as well as the Leica Q3.

You may also like

Take a look at the best L-mount brackets or the best tripods.

Nikon is doubling down on its commitment to video, according to Nikon President Yasuhiro Omura. The interview, published by Japanese news outlet Jiji Press and sourced via Digital Camera Info, sheds light on the camera giant’s proposed strategies for the near future.

Nikon’s imaging business is said to account for roughly 40% of consolidated sales. It’s not surprising, then, following the company’s high-profile RED acquisition in 2024, RED technology is seen as a way to boost Nikon’s video credentials and therefore camera division, given the increasing importance of video tech. Mr Omura was quoted as saying “Robustness is also important for video cameras. We want to cultivate a brand known as ‘Nikon for video’.”

The ‘Big N’ could also meet the predicted rising demand for semiconductor lithography equipment by investing heavily in its semiconductor business. According to Mr Omura, an investment of around 360 billion yen (approx $2.2 billion / £1.65 billion) could be allocated, largely to the business, through to the fiscal year 2030.

It’s not been a particularly positive year for Nikon, thus far, with the company publishing huge losses at the end of the fiscal year and no new camera releases to speak of (yet...). However, it’s far from doom and gloom for Nikon’s imaging business, because it wasn’t the main culprit. Most of its ‘losses’ can be attributed to an acquisition within its Digital Manufacturing Business.

In short, a metal additive manufacturing company that Nikon bought in 2023 hasn’t been as profitable as it predicted, causing the company to readjust its books. This highlights big losses, but in relation to projected targets, so money hasn’t actually changed hands. Nikon’s plan to boost profits in this part of its business, according to Mr Omura, is to focus it on “aerospace and defense sectors”.

If Nikon is able to follow through with its strategy and become a key player in the video sphere, all while making its 3D printing business profitable, it’ll certainly be in a good place. Here’s hoping the camera giant's rocky start to 2026 spawns a fruitful 2027 and beyond.

You might also like...

If you're a Nikon fan, check out the best Nikon cameras and the best Nikon Z lenses. Nikon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera makes an ideal upgrade for the budget-conscious photographer. Here’s why I still recommend the Nikon Z6 in 2026.

While shipments across all camera categories reveal a slight dip in the latest May figures from Japan-based industry watcher CIPA, until now fixed lens compacts have been growing 30% year on year, outperforming all other camera formats.

However, for a long while now – at least two or three years – the popularity of said snapshots (a figure that doesn’t even include Kodak, Yashica or other licensed brand models that aren't made in Japan) has been dismissed as a short-lived trend by major manufacturers, including notably Canon.

But is it now time to declare that a steady, ever-growing rise in sales over that sort of extended period is no longer an anomaly? I think so.

So why haven’t the likes of Canon, Nikon, Sony, OM Digital Solutions and Panasonic responded with more affordable, pocket-sized compact offerings of their own? Especially when it increasingly does feel like they’re missing a trick?

I believe there’s a number of reasons for their continued abstinence.

For one, larger, more corporate organisations take much longer to pivot their operations to take advantage of whatever is hot property right now. Look how long Canon and Nikon stubbornly resisted switching production from DSLR to full-frame mirrorless, letting Sony steal their thunder and market share. Or how the once mighty Kodak failed to respond decisively to the digital camera boom and instead faced insolvency.

On the rare occasion that a major manufacturer has responded to the current fixed lens compact camera resurgence, it has felt a little half-hearted and ‘will this do?’. For example, re-issuing a special edition of the existing Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III, to take one example.

All the while cheap and cheerful Kodak PixPro Travel Zoom, Astro Zooms and Friendly Zoom series point-and-shoots are shipping by the bucketload and showing up higher in sales charts than the bigger boys.

Yes, Canon, Nikon, Sony et al originally abandoned production of basic point-and-shoot cameras because they felt competition from smartphones rendered such standalone snappers redundant. But additionally, in recent years their focus has almost exclusively been on ‘video first’ content-creator targeted cameras, AI-enhanced autofocus and tweaks to specification and performance, via which they can justify ever-increasing price tags.

In other words, the focus has distinctly not been on low-end, basic snapshots; the type that are currently appealing to Gen Z.

This resurgence has happened while the traditional, well-established camera manufacturers were looking elsewhere. And, having already missed the boat, the impression I get is they feel there is little point chasing after it now.

Especially if, as they originally suspected it might, the current fixed lens compact trend wanes… just as they are belatedly joining the party.

The Nikon Z6 is trending on Google and I think I know why... There’s a point in many a photographer’s journey where they decide: I want to go full-frame. Now, going full-frame isn’t a fast-track to becoming a better photographer and it certainly isn’t a necessity, especially in 2026 when APS-C cameras, MFT cameras and even compact cameras are boasting some very serious specs indeed. But in the same way that many people gush over medium format, the full-frame ‘look’ is something that a lot of photographers aspire to capture, and as a full-frame photographer myself, I only have good things to say about full-frame cameras.

However, the system’s biggest shortcoming is price. Not only are larger camera sensors more expensive to make, but full-frame cameras tend to be stuffed with the latest mod cons and specs, not to mention full-frame glass tends to be more expensive than comparable crop-sensor lenses. This can sometimes make full-frame photography feel out of reach for photographers on a budget. That’s why I always suggest looking at the used market and buying from a reputable seller such as MPB or KEH Cameras.

Nikon Z6: Specs

• Sensor: 24.5MP full-frame BSI CMOS sensor
• Image processor: EXPEED 6
• AF points: 273-point phase detection AF, 90% coverage (horizontal and vertical)
• ISO range: 100 to 51,200 (exp. 50 to 204,800)
• Max image size: 6,048 x 4,024px
• Video: 3,840 x 2,160 at 30p, 25p, 24p
• Viewfinder: EVF, 3,690k-dot OLED, 100% coverage, 0.8x magnification
• Memory card: XQD/CFExpress Type B
• LCD: 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen (2,100k dots)
• Max burst: 12fps (focus locked on first frame)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
• Size: 134 x 100.5 x 67.5mm (body only)
• Weight: 675g (body only, with battery and memory card)

Usually, I recommend an older DSLR camera as a great full-frame starting point, but when I noticed that the Nikon Z6 was trending on Google, I was shocked to see some very affordable used prices. The Nikon Z6 tends to fly under the radar a bit nowadays. It was released alongside the Nikon Z7 as a part of the ‘Big N’s’ first full-frame foray into mirrorless camera tech when it launched the Z mount back in 2018.

The biggest difference between the Nikon Z6 and Z7 was that the former was built around a 24.5-MP sensor and the latter a 45.7-MP sensor. Both cameras were relatively well received, but drew criticism from professional photographers because they only had a single card slot and did not launch alongside a battery grip.

They didn’t boast the greatest AF, either, although this was eventually patched by a firmware update that improved it significantly. Ultimately, the Nikon Z6 and Z7 would be succeeded by the Nikon Z6 II and Nikon Z7 II, which essentially fixed the aforementioned shortcomings. And thus, the Z6 and Z7 were consigned to the annals of camera history.

But if you’re looking for a budget leap into the world of full-frame mirrorless cameras, or are looking for a second backup body, I think the Nikon Z6 is still a great buy. Prices start at just $609 / £434 over at MPB, which is the price of an entry-level camera.

The beauty of Nikon’s mirrorless Z mount is that you don’t have to ditch your DSLR glass, either. You can pick up the Nikon FTZ II adapter, allowing you to mount hundreds of compatible DSLR lenses on a mirrorless Z-mount body. Obviously, APS-C lenses are going to initiate crop mode, but full-frame F-mount lenses should work seamlessly.

If your budget is very tight, it’s worth noting that the Nikon Z6’s single card slot is an XQD/CFExpress slot, so if you don’t have one of these cards already, expect to pay in and around $100 / £100 for a suitable memory card. Ultimately, the Nikon Z6 isn’t going to compete with current-gen full-frame cameras when it comes to specs, but for those looking to simply get their foot in the full-frame door, you simply cannot argue at this price point. The ability to continue using existing Nikon DSLR glass is the icing on the cake.

You might also like...

Another Nikon DSLR lens bites the dust… last stocks ever of Nikkor AF‑P DX 10‑20mm f/4.5‑5.6G VR are almost sold out. Retro Nikon Zf mirrorless camera tops used sales charts for the first time in over a year, beating out trendy Fujifilm. I’m a landscape photographer and the last-gen, full-frame Nikon Z7 II is still a tour de force camera. Why pay more?

If the traditional trail camera market is about reliability and value, then the best cellular trail cameras are a race of remote tech and convenience. Over the past couple of seasons, wireless scouting seems to have become more commonplace and less of a luxury novelty. And I’ll admit, while I love the dopamine hit of a new animal sighting coming through my phone, I’m not a fan of paying for the subscription costs that come with most cellular options.

The Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar is a flagship product in Browning’s 2026 cellular lineup, replacing the Pro Scout Max series and including a plug-in solar-charging option. With 46MP images, full HD 1080p videos with sound, and a 100-foot image detection range, the camera most closely rivals premium cell-cams like the Spypoint Flex-M Solar and Tactacam Reveal series.

To me, it exists to solve the two common trail cam headaches: burning through lots of AA batteries and wasting hours making field trips to check the camera and its storage (something I’ve done a lot of while testing the best trail cameras without cellular capabilities).

Unlike units with a solar panel fixed rigidly to the top of the camera housing (which is streamlined but forces you to choose between hiding your camera in thick shade or placing it in direct, obvious sunlight), the Defender’s plug-in solar panel can be mounted separately. The Pro Scout Solar also has an auto-detecting dual-carrier network that flips between AT&T and Verizon towers natively, depending on your location. I’m in the UK and can confirm the cellular option works internationally, outside of the US.

With this trail cam, Browning is pitching a true set-and-forget tool. I’m taking this into the woods to see if its design, performance and wireless on-demand video streaming deliver, or if I get fed up with the ongoing monthly app subscription tax and app faffing.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Specifications

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Price

The Browning Defender Pro Scout Max sits in the mid-priced area of the cellular trail camera market, and I’d say it has a few advanced features traditionally reserved for the most expensive models. At around $150/£170, it comes with a solar panel battery pack, fully invisible infrared LEDs, and 46-megapixel still images.

The downside for me is the ongoing subscription prices you need to pay to transmit your media – really, this is the whole point of getting a cellular camera in the first place. Browning’s data plans range from basic tracking packages that start at roughly $5/£4 a month, which allow basic thumbnail downloads.

If you want to access and download video clips, you’ll need The International Unlimited Plan at €14.99 (approx. $16.50) monthly, but it only allows 12 video downloads per month. The name unlimited suggests otherwise to me. On the plus side, you can start and stop subscriptions when you want if your usage changes.

Compared to entry-level cell cams like the Spypoint Link-Micro – which is cheaper upfront but only transmits low-resolution photos – the Defender can deliver on-demand HD photo and video uploads straight to your smartphone. However, I’m still not sure that the service feels streamlined enough to justify its monthly network fees.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Design & Handling

The Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar is noticeably bigger than non-cellular options like the Strike Force Pro X 1080. It might feel more chunky and substantial in your hand, but given that you don’t often carry a trail camera around, bar mounting or maintenance, it isn’t an issue. Browning calls the camera weatherproof, though there’s no specific waterproof rating. All of the important buttons and storage are hidden behind a very secure flap, and the only real point of moisture entry is the solar panel cable.

Screwing onto the very top of the unit is the high-gain 4G cellular antenna. Unlike some antennas that pivot or swing on an adjustable knuckle, this plastic one is fixed straight up. It screws in tightly and feels secure, so I wasn’t worried about passing wildlife or falling branches knocking it loose.

As its name suggests, the Pro Scout Solar comes with a micro-solar panel battery pack, and getting the full system rigged up in the woods requires a tiny bit more coordination than a standard trail cam. Both parts of the unit have their own dedicated, strong nylon straps that tie around the back of the hardware.

Although I first thought this setup was going to be more fiddly than having a fully integrated panel, the advantage here over fixed, all-in-one solar cameras is placement versatility. The solar panel plugs directly into the bottom of the main camera via a flexible power cable, meaning you could potentially position the camo camera lower down in the brush and run the lead higher up a trunk to strap the solar array in sunlight.

The woodland spot I chose had regular spells of dappled sunlight through the day, so I chose to mount it underneath the main camera. What’s especially helpful is a button on the solar panel that allows you to test whether the panel is working. Once I’d picked my tree and wound the tough straps around both parts, I found that they would easily hold the weight against the bark without sagging or drooping.

The camera sadly doesn’t have a built-in plate to angle the camera down, which means you have to get your angle just right by other means. I wedged a small twig between the camera and the tree trunk at the back so it was pointing down more effectively toward the woodland path.

Speaking of getting the composition right, this is harder to do on the Pro Scout Solar because it doesn’t have a color LCD screen – or indeed, a screen that will show you the scene at all. Because this is a cellular unit meant to be managed remotely, Browning gives you a small, text-based LCD configuration screen paired with a set of responsive buttons that light up when touched – a massive help if you’re trying to check settings in the dark or low light.

The on-board menu layout is very simple to navigate, but you can go without touching it at all if you’d rather use Browning’s phone app. You can download the Strike Force Wireless app on an iPhone or Android, scan the QR code inside the camera door, and it will automatically connect to the strongest available network. I had the cellular link active and syncing to my phone in about five minutes, once I’d figured out what I needed to do. If you’re less averse to reading the included paper manual than I am, you might set up even faster.

Being a cellular-solar hybrid does bring a couple of handling quirks you'll need to watch out for. The bottom-plugging power cable requires careful routing; it’s a good idea to make sure the cord hangs with a neat drip-loop so rainwater runs away from the connection point rather than pooling around the seal.

Generally speaking, though, I found the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar solidly made, easy to use (partly because there are few settings to choose from), and easy to handle. Some may prefer an in-built solar panel to avoid having to trail a cable, but I prefer the versatility of being able to position the panel where it’s likely to get the strongest light.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Performance

Above: Sample clips from the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar

I had the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar deployed in the woods for a few weeks before writing this review, which gave me enough time to test its cellular connectivity and solar battery. And to capture a whole array of classic British woodland creatures. For me, a trail camera's worth is entirely won or lost on its field reliability, and testing this hybrid system has highlighted exactly where its high-tech scouting excels and where it hits a few classic trade-offs.

The specs sheet for the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar lists a 0.25-second photo-trigger speed and a 0.35-second recovery time. In the past, I’ve found that by the time a camera wakes up and triggers, fast-moving animals have already cleared the frame, leaving you either with a collection of blank field shots or tails.

The Pro Scout Solar mostly delivers on its speed promises. In image mode, I’d set the camera to take three shots once motion had been detected. The detection circuit was fast enough to capture hares moving across the scene, usually caught halfway across rather than at the start of their motion, with the last shots sometimes empty.

It seems that when a target breaches the detection zone, the camera can trigger fast enough to capture moving wildlife dead-center. The rapid recovery time then allowed the camera to reset and snap a follow-up image in a fraction of a second. I enjoyed getting a frame-by-frame of how a deer or badger was moving through the woodland, rather than a single, isolated image.

During the day, the camera captures images using a quoted 46MP resolution setting, though there’s definitely some digital interpolation to reach this number. When you look closely at the fine details of a frame – like the background foliage or the forest floor – individual leaf edges and fine textures are blended into a slightly soft, painterly texture rather than showing true, tack-sharp, high-megapixel resolution. That said, the camera does a practical job on the wildlife. In one shot of a roe deer wandering past, you can see the texture of its coat and the shape of its small antlers clearly.

The shutter speed is mostly fast enough to freeze movement in adequate light, but some motion blur occurred on overcast spells or very early mornings. I’m not sold on the white balance, however, which leans into a noticeably yellowish-green cast. In bright light, the woodland foliage looked a bit cooked compared to what you’d see with the naked eye under a natural canopy. I also noticed some sharpening halos and compression noise in the deep, dark background shadows. But I’m being a picky reviewer here, and I don’t think the average user would notice or mind. After all, you’re not likely to be printing these images.

When darkness falls, both image and video modes switch over to the camera’s 6 no-glow LED lights. Here, the background branches and forest floor dissolved heavily into a uniform, speckled gray texture. But the camera does better with exposure control and handling overexposure. With my captures of a roaming badger, the bright white facial stripes of the badger were distinct and not blown out at all. The badger's stocky body was also frozen fairly well by the night shutter, with only a tiny hint of softness on its moving legs.

The LED light (nearly invisible to humans and animals) is concentrated heavily across the center of the frame, meaning the illumination falls off sharply at the corners. This means anything skirting the perimeter of the frame will likely be lost to the shadows. There is also a subtle layer of digital noise across the mid-tone grays, which I think is, again, quite par for the course when a sensor boosts its gain to see in the dark.

Because this is a cellular unit, it’s also important to review the Strike Force Wireless app. I went to check the camera much more than a standard user would because I was testing it, and the time from my walking past the camera to getting a notification about a sighting or video motion capture on my phone was just three to four minutes every time. That’s some speedy syncing between the cellular connection and the app.

The app layout is user-friendly, grouping your media neatly by day so you can scroll through and download or delete files at will. You can also control the camera, tweak the main settings, clear the SD card, or set it to overwrite older files when storage runs out. The only minor sting for me is that, with the subscription tier I chose, I was only able to download low-resolution images remotely. Upgrading to full-res or HD video downloads costs several times more, but the low-res previews were at least quick and easy to fetch.

And how about the solar power element? The real peace of mind with a solar-cellular unit is knowing you can leave the area undisturbed without a battery dying mid-season. The external plug-in solar panel kept the internal reservoir topped up throughout my testing, dropping to 95% power in two weeks with about 5 sightings a day and full-resolution captures (that’s around 40 weeks of power in total).

Because it relies on the sun, you do have to manage your settings sensibly if you want to leave the unit unmanned for longer. The camera records and transmits 1080p HD video with (surprisingly clear) audio on demand, but if you set the Strike Force Wireless app to constantly fetch heavy video clips during a stretch of overcast weather, the battery drainage could outpace the solar panel's ability to recover. If you take the time to position the solar panel cleanly and set your transmission intervals sensibly, though, there’s so much convenience and simplicity in getting wireless updates without setting foot near your location for months.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Verdict

I’ve spent two weeks using the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar in my local woodland, and I was amazed at what I found there. It’s a top-marks hardware package, but it has a service plan that’s hard to score. The design of the trail cam means I wouldn’t worry about battery drain if I left it in the wild for several seasons, even with the camera firing off multiple daily captures. The rugged camouflage casing feels pretty indestructible, and I’m sure that the heavy-duty latch clips would keep out even heavy rain.

Performance-wise, my experience is that the camera delivers on its trigger speeds but stumbles on resolution. It’s incredibly useful to see wildlife caught centrally in the frame rather than as a collection of empty background shots, and the night exposure control on high-contrast subjects like badgers is great. It’s still frustrating to have a quoted 46MP sensor that clearly relies on heavy digital interpolation. Without a color LCD screen, it’s hard to check your framing in the field, but I guess that’s where the Browning app comes in.

I’d recommend the Defender Pro Scout Solar if you’re managing a remote property, want the instant gratification of getting near-instant notification alerts on your phone, and don’t mind paying a premium to download footage from the SD card. In the Browning Wireless app, the media gallery is clean, the remote settings changes work quickly, and the cabled solar panel is basic but effective.

If you want a tool that doesn’t lock its best features behind a paywall, the ongoing subscription is a bit much. Calling a plan unlimited when it restricts you to just 12 video downloads a month, for example, feels mean for a mid-priced camera.

If you’re on a budget or plan on checking your camera frequently anyway, you might be better served by saving your cash and opting for a traditional local-storage unit like the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080, or looking at a Spypoint Flex-M Solar, which offers a free basic photo transmission tier. Overall, I think the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar is a fast, rugged, and reliable cellular hybrid that’s mainly held back by the price of its data plans.

Alternatives

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

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed the wildlife surveillance market splitting – between more expensive app-driven cellular models and cheaper, unbranded basic ones. As some trail camera users push back against monthly data plans or just don’t need them, there’s still room for the best trail cameras without cellular coverage and ongoing fees.

The Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 lands here: an unplugged, reliable option for users who either want to position close to home or don’t mind hiking out to pull their SD card and review footage. Of course, the on-board storage approach works best if you’ve got smaller patches of land to survey, more time to fetch the camera, or a smaller budget.

Browning is a brand with a long reputation for making rugged and reliable trail cameras – in fact, it was one of the first brands I used a decade ago. The Strike Force HD Pro X1080 isn't a completely new design, but an evolutionary replacement for the older Strike Force HD Pro X. This line bridges the gap between their entry-level text-only cameras and bigger, higher-resolution units. It has 1080P Full HD video with sound, a 24MP sensor, low-glow night illumination, a built-in color screen for reviewing footage, and one of the fastest trigger speeds on the market.

I was eager to take this game and motion-activated camera out into the woods to see if its blazing 0.18-second trigger speed lives up to the hype for capturing wildlife, or if you're better off saving your money and sticking with an older, simpler model.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Specifications

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Price

With an RRP of $149/£159, the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 is at the higher end of traditional, non-cellular trail cameras. The market is flooded with far more entry-level Amazon game cameras under $50/£45 now, but this is a model that I feel confidently offers a better design and build quality to justify the extra investment.

The rugged construction has some tropical-grade weatherproof seals designed to lock out moisture from rain and deep-wood exposure, and the internal hardware is meant to be very efficient on batteries, quoted at squeezing up to a year of field life from a single set of six AA batteries (I haven’t tested it that long to say for sure). Being a trail camera that relies on SD card storage, there are zero subscription costs here.

If I compare the price with mid-to-high-tier rivals like the Bushnell Core series or Spypoint's non-cellular range, the Browning has a good price-to-performance advantage thanks to its industry-leading 0.18-second photo trigger speed. If you’re a land manager or wildlife photographer, I’d say the Strike Force HD Pro X1080 is a cost-effective and reliable tool for tracking.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Design & Handling

The Browning Strike Force Pro X 1080 comes packaged in a pretty compact, neatly organised box. In fact, the first thing I noticed was just how small but sturdy it felt in my hand. One of the most important things in a trail cam is to blend in – a hard task given the varied landscapes you could deploy one in – and this product is especially well suited to woodland. The chassis is covered in a busy, textured camouflage pattern that does a brilliant job of vanishing against tree bark.

Given that you’ll be leaving a trail camera outside for weeks or months, hardiness against the weather is also vital. Browning doesn’t publish an official IP waterproofing rating for the Strike Force Pro X 1080, suggesting that maybe it just hasn’t been officially tested. But the exterior has reassuring rubber seals, with a primary side clip that snaps shut with a deeply satisfying mechanical click. For some reason, I had total confidence that it could survive a torrential downpour and a misty morning without fogging up the lens internals or damaging the SD card.

With the front unclipped, the camera has a few simple features and buttons. The forward-facing 1.5-inch color LCD screen – while not large or detailed enough to view your footage closely – is just about passable for setting up a composition or reviewing clips without removing the SD card.

As far as controls go, you’ll find an on-off toggle, an M button to bring up the menu, a 4-way navigation keypad and a button to eject the battery cassette, which pops out at the bottom of the unit. I found these buttons responsive, and I like that they light up when touched, making it easy to navigate if you set up or review the unit after dark. The menu itself is simple to toggle through on-screen, too. I was able to set up the camera to my liking in just a few minutes without needing to look at the paper manual in the box.

I’d decided to trudge to my local woodland to mount the camera, hoping to review it regularly for wildlife sightings while walking my dog. The camera and strap were easy to carry in a small shoulder bag, and I found mounting the camera very straightforward. The included nylon tree strap is incredibly long – so long that I found myself wrapping it around a narrower trunk multiple times – but the webbing is so strong that it kept the camera locked rigidly in position. After a few nights of unseasonably strong winds overnight, when I returned to the camera a few days later, it was still solidly in place.

The Browning Strike Force Pro X 1080 comes packaged in a pretty compact, neatly organised box. In fact, the first thing I noticed was just how small but sturdy it felt in my hand. One of the most important things in a trail cam is to blend in – a hard task given the varied landscapes you could deploy one in – and this product is especially well suited to woodland. The chassis is covered in a busy, textured camouflage pattern that does a brilliant job of vanishing against tree bark.

Given that you’ll be leaving a trail camera outside for weeks or months, hardiness against the weather is also vital. Browning doesn’t publish an official IP waterproofing rating for the Strike Force Pro X 1080, suggesting that maybe it just hasn’t been officially tested.

But the exterior has reassuring rubber seals, with a primary side clip that snaps shut with a deeply satisfying mechanical click. For some reason, I had total confidence that it could survive a torrential downpour and a misty morning without fogging up the lens internals or damaging the SD card.

With the front unclipped, the camera has a few simple features and buttons. The forward-facing 1.5-inch color LCD screen – while not large or detailed enough to view your footage closely – is just about passable for setting up a composition or reviewing clips without removing the SD card. As far as controls go, you’ll find an on-off toggle, an M button to bring up the menu, a 4-way navigation keypad and a button to eject the battery cassette, which pops out at the bottom of the unit.

I found these buttons responsive, and I like that they light up when touched, making it easy to navigate if you set up or review the unit after dark. The menu itself is simple to toggle through on-screen, too. I was able to set up the camera to my liking in just a few minutes without needing to look at the paper manual in the box.

I’d decided to trudge to my local woodland to mount the camera, hoping to review it regularly for wildlife sightings while walking my dog. The camera and strap were easy to carry in a small shoulder bag, and I found mounting the camera very straightforward.

The included nylon tree strap is incredibly long – so long that I found myself wrapping it around a narrower trunk multiple times – but the webbing is so strong that it kept the camera locked rigidly in position. After a few nights of unseasonably strong overnight winds, when I returned to the camera a few days later, it was still solidly in place.

What’s thoughtful in the design is that Browning has incorporated an adjustable steel tree bracket into the back of the case. With traditional trail cameras, I’ve been used to playing a frustrating game of balance, sometimes forcing bits of twig and stick behind the housing to angle the lens in just the right way down towards a footpath or trail.

This solid steel pivot gives you about 30 degrees of leeway, so you can adjust the downward tilt to frame the exact area of ground you want before walking away and leaving the camera to do its monitoring.

One design element does let down the seamless experience, and that’s the battery compartment. Browning claims this to be an exceptionally efficient camera (I say claims because I haven’t got to the performance section yet!), running on six AA batteries rather than the eight standard cells demanded by its competitors. But I found popping them in and swapping them out to be very fiddly.

Pressing the recessed eject button releases the internal drawer, but it doesn't bring the batteries out enough to change them, so you really have to yank them. I used this unit in the height of a hot British summer, but I think if you were trying to service the camera on a cold winter’s day with numb fingers, you’d have to apply some effort to pry the batteries loose. It's a minor complaint in an otherwise highly rugged tracking tool that seems to favor quick, hassle-free field deployment over unnecessary buttons.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Performance

Above: Sample clips from the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080

I strapped the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 to a tree in my local English woodland for two weeks. Being a non-cellular option, I reviewed the captured media every few days, as the location was near home, and I swapped between stills and video clips regularly. I set both media types to their highest quality setting, so I could fully assess where this traditional model wins and whether any areas are affected by its reasonable price.

At a quoted 0.18-second photo trigger speed, the Strike Force HD Pro X1080 sits among the fastest trigger speeds available on the current trail camera market. Looking closely at the captured images, these specs do seem to translate to real-world performance. In one of my favourite daylight frames, a hare was captured mid-bound, frozen in the air quite neatly. But that was in bright sunlight, and on darker days or at dawn, you get more ghostly motion blur when a fast animal speeds across the lens. The rapid response of the camera is critical for tracking fast-moving wildlife; I’ve tested older, slower cameras that often capture an empty frame or the trailing edge of a tail.

The camera captures 24MP stills, though this resolution is achieved via digital software interpolation rather than a native high-megapixel sensor. It’s worth noting, though, that I couldn’t see half the detail or quality compared to test images from one of Browning’s 48MP models.

In most of my test shots, the subject was easily identifiable, even though the background of a busy woodland meant sometimes having to look more closely. In one clip of an owl landing, for example, I had to watch the clip on a laptop screen to be able to make out the species from the leaves behind. The camera also struggles significantly with harsh, high-contrast lighting.

On sunny afternoons, any spots where direct sunlight pierced through were almost blown out. The overall white balance was okay, as far as trail cams go, with a noticeably warm, yellow-green cast that might be signature to Browning cams. The summer woods did look more artificially vibrant than they appeared to me when walking through.

When the Strike Force Pro X 1080 transitions to night mode, it delivers pretty good videos and has a longer flash and detection range compared to its predecessor. My after-dark captures of a bumbling badger – a subject easy to overexpose because of its white-black markings – had a balanced look. The camera's auto-exposure prevented the badger's lighter fur from blowing out and kept its stocky shape recognisable with some softness around the shuffling legs. In another night capture where a badger was foraging along the far edge of the frame, the animal was almost lost to the deep shadows due to the sharp light fall-off at the perimeter.

You have the option to print image info onto your images and clips. While helpful for monitoring the time and temperature of sightings, my experience is that the temperature gauge was often a few degrees out. In other words, don’t rely on the bottom data strip if you're trying to track highly precise patterns, but for pure wildlife identification, the hardware remains effective.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Verdict

After a month overall in the field, the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 proves that you don't need a cellular subscription or a solar setup to get serious wildlife tracking done. It is a straightforward, exceptionally quick camera that prioritises catching fast-moving targets over expensive tech. Its six-battery efficiency means you can still leave it out for months without worrying about a dead unit, but of course, you won’t be able to review footage until you go and manually pick up your SD card.

Performance-wise, the Strike won't win awards for its image quality. The tendency to blow out highlights in direct sunlight and the soft background interpolation mean it has some clear technical limitations. But this isn’t unique to the Strike Force HD Pro X1080, and if anything, it works exceptionally well as a general record of sightings. As a pure scouting tool, its ability to capture animals of varying speeds, shapes, and colors is still impressive.

If you want a rugged, reliable trail cam that works instantly out of the box and you don’t need the convenience of a remote cellular connection, the Strike Force HD Pro X1080 offers a good balance of value and performance for both beginner and advanced users.

Alternatives

Check out our full guides to the best bird feeder cameras and the bird box cameras.

I have a confession to make: I was wrong about the Leica M EV1.

Before I had the opportunity to use one, I made no secret of my concerns about Leica replacing the traditional optical rangefinder with a built-in electronic viewfinder. I worried that an M-System camera without a rangefinder might no longer feel like a proper M.

Worse still, I thought removing that beautifully-engineered mechanical system could leave the camera feeling strangely hollow, as though Leica had retained the familiar shell while removing part of its soul.

Well, after finally getting my hands on the Leica M EV1, I think it is time to serve myself a generous slice of humble pie. I was wrong. The Leica M EV1 absolutely is an M camera – and it might be precisely the kind of M camera that many photographers have been waiting for.

I have used every digital M camera the company has produced since the Leica M9, so I have watched Leica’s full-frame digital journey develop almost from the beginning.

I know where the modern M-System started, how it has evolved and, to some extent, where it might be going next. I have seen resolutions increase, batteries improve, screens become more useful and sensors become far more capable, but the basic M experience has always remained remarkably consistent.

That is why the M EV1 seemed like such a risk. The rangefinder is not merely another component inside an M camera. For many photographers, it is the defining component. Remove it and, on paper at least, you appear to remove the very thing that makes an M an M.

Except that is not what has happened.

The first surprise is how familiar the Leica M EV1 feels in the hands. It does not feel like an imitation of an M camera, nor does it feel like a Leica Q3 that has somehow been modified to accept interchangeable lenses. It feels like an M because, in almost every physical sense, that is exactly what it is.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the M EV1 feels better balanced than the Leica M11-P. It sits beautifully in the hand and retains that reassuring sense of solidity that Leica does so well. Leica currently lists the M EV1 at approximately 495g with its battery, compared with 530g for the black M11-P.

That difference is noticeable, but it does not make the EV1 feel cheap or insubstantial. Attach a lens, and the camera's entire character changes. It becomes balanced, purposeful, and every bit as satisfying to hold as an M should be.

Whether I mounted a compact Summicron, a faster Summilux or something considerably larger, the camera maintained that sense of balance. I had worried that the reduced weight might make it feel like a paperweight with a heavy lens hanging from the front, but that simply was not the case. Once a lens is attached, the M EV1 feels complete.

Then we come to the most controversial part of the camera: the electronic viewfinder.

I have plenty of history of criticizing EVFs. I have argued that they cannot reproduce the clarity, depth and almost three-dimensional “pop” of an optical finder. I have found some electronic viewfinders slow, unresponsive and uncomfortable, and prolonged use has occasionally left me with eye strain or a headache.

The EVF inside the Leica M EV1 gave me none of those problems.

It activates incredibly quickly when I raise the camera to my eye, even when I have previously been composing via the rear screen. Movement looks natural, too. I did not experience that unpleasant, Jell-O-like effect where the image appears to smear or distort until the camera stops moving.

The 5.76-million-dot OLED finder refreshes at 60fps, offers 100% frame coverage and includes a sensor that automatically switches to and from the rear display. More importantly, it feels responsive in actual use rather than merely impressive on a specification sheet.

The ability to magnify the live image is also genuinely useful, particularly when working with some of my more unusual lenses.

Something like the Leitz 135mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 can be challenging to focus critically through a traditional rangefinder, but the M EV1 enables me to punch directly into the sensor image and confirm focus with far greater confidence.

That does not necessarily make the experience better than using an optical rangefinder, but it does make it different – and in certain situations, it is unquestionably easier. Long lenses, ultra-wides, close-focus designs and extremely fast glass all become more practical because you are seeing the image through the lens itself.

Quite frankly, after using the M EV1 properly, I struggled to find the major problem with its viewfinder that I had expected to encounter.

Even battery life has been excellent during my time with it, enabling me to concentrate on taking photographs rather than watching the remaining percentage disappear.

I particularly like what Leica has done with the traditional frameline selector. On a rangefinder-equipped M, that lever previews the different frameline pairs. On the M EV1, it can be configured to control focusing assistance and digital zoom.

With the camera I used, pushing the lever one way allowed me to toggle focus peaking, while moving it in the opposite direction activated the 1.3x or 1.8x digital crop. Those produce approximately 39MP and 18MP images, respectively, giving the old mechanical control a genuinely useful new purpose.

One complaint among some members of the Leica community is that this camera should not carry the M name at all. Without the rangefinder, the argument goes, Leica should have created an entirely separate product category.

From a marketing perspective, I understand that position. The M name has always been closely associated with rangefinder photography – and Leica buyers tend to care deeply about tradition.

But make no mistake: the M EV1 is an M-System camera through and through. It has the body, controls, sensor philosophy, manual focusing experience and direct connection to the catalog of M lenses. It simply places an EVF in front of your eye instead of a mechanical rangefinder.

That does not mean I have no complaints, though.

My first is the internal storage. The M EV1 provides 64GB, matching the original Leica M11, while the Leica M11-P offers a much more generous 256GB. In practice, 64GB is plenty for the way I shoot – and an SD card can always be inserted when more space is required.

Even so, considering where the M EV1 sits within Leica’s current lineup, I would have preferred to see the 256GB capacity carried across.

My second complaint could potentially be addressed through firmware. I frequently shoot DNG+JPEG, with the JPEG set to black-and-white. When that configuration is selected on the M EV1, both the LCD and EVF display the monochrome preview.

I would love the option to show the black-and-white preview on the rear screen while retaining a color image in the EVF. That would enable me to assess the monochrome interpretation when reviewing on the LCD, while the finder could provide a more natural, optical-style color view when the camera is raised to my eye.

It would be a small change, but one that could make the EV1 feel even closer to the traditional rangefinder experience.

Those are relatively minor complaints, however. The bigger question is whether replacing the optical rangefinder has taken away the spirit of the M-System.

No, it has not.

In some respects, I think the M EV1 strengthens the system. It creates a more accessible route into M photography for people who may be intimidated by rangefinder focusing. It also offers a natural next step for existing Q-series users who love the compact body, manual controls and EVF experience but want access to a wider range of lenses.

Would I buy one instead of my optical rangefinder-equipped Leica? Put it this way: if Leica releases the M EV1 in silver, the answer could very easily be yes.

I adore my Leica M Typ 240, and I am not ready to abandon the optical rangefinder. But when that camera eventually becomes too long in the tooth, the M EV1 may well be in my sights.

I have been genuinely blown away by how well its EVF performs and by how little the camera compromises the feeling of shooting with an M.

I thought removing the rangefinder would leave the Leica M EV1 feeling hollow. Instead, it has shown me that the soul of the M-System may not be contained in one mechanical component after all.

Perhaps it was hiding in the lenses, the proportions, the simplicity and the act of slowing down to focus for yourself.

Whatever it is, the M EV1 still has it.

Shop the Leica M EV1

The release of a covetable new Leica camera is always of interest. Yes, these are luxury products. But even so, I drew an intake of breath on learning of the Leica SL3-P’s $6,690 / £5,150 AU$10,500 body-only price.

Ah, here’s another exciting development in Sony’s first new bridge camera for almost a decade. But if wanting the Sony RX10 V, that’ll be a princely £ 2,300 / $2,200 / AU$3,499 for its 1-inch sensor and monster zoom, please.

At one time, bridges were affordable alternatives to a DSLR or mirrorless camera – a one-lens-covers-everything solution if photography enthusiasts didn’t want to have to swap the optic in use. But Sony clearly didn’t get that memo.

It would be different if such prices were isolated occurrences, but I’ve watched in increasing horror in recent years as they’ve become the norm. Our major camera manufacturers have stealthily stopped offering a breadth of product for a range of budgets and skillsets, as they once did.

That’s because fewer people are buying cameras, for sure. But if there are less affordable cameras to buy, then that has its own impact on sales.

That same lack of affordability is driving more people to seek out secondhand options, with the result that the global value of used cameras across all categories is surging.

And if even the ‘cheapest’ current compact cameras from the major manufacturers are the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III or Panasonic TZ300 / SZ300, both retailing at around $899 / £869 / AU$1,599 new, there are clearly bargains to be had when hunting ‘pre-loved’ alternatives.

Obvious online destinations include eBay, KEH and MPB. But there are a host of bricks-and-mortar photo specialists selling secondhand, too. That makes sense, as they can make a bigger profit margin when selling used, as opposed to brand new.

And that secondhand strategy is even more sensible for retailers and consumers alike when the latest must-have camera is regularly out of stock, because its manufacturer has underestimated demand.

If I don’t want to chance used options, then alternatively I can find affordable entry-level cameras via the current licensees of Yashica and Kodak cameras. Additionally, there are growing number of ‘toy’ camera options at near pocket money prices from the likes of Camp Snap, or Chuzhao, if wanting a distinctly retro camera fix.

Even so, for me the more sensible option remains exploring the used market before buying new. A much more fully featured camera with a bigger sensor can be found for a similar price to the latest tiny chip-incorporating snapper.

Sometimes by simply spending less, believe me, you really can buy better.

You might also like…

Take a look at the best cheap cameras. Want something even cheaper and more radical? Check out the best screen-free digital cameras and the best keychain cameras.

Say ‘Manfrotto’ and the word ‘tripod’ almost inevitably follows. The company has made some of my all-time favorite tripods and tripod heads, and goes all the way back to the 1960s when the Italian photojournalist Lino Manfrotto started selling light stands. In more recent times, the company has gone large on camera backpacks, bags, and roller cases, with several product lines becoming available. The latest of these is the ‘Uncover’ collection, which so far features a pair of backpacks and a pair of messenger / sling bags.

The idea behind all four Uncover bags and backpacks is that they can adapt to your needs on a day-to-day or even minute-by-minute basis. That’s thanks to two crucial design elements. Firstly, they all have a removable camera insert, which you can fill with a camera, lenses, and other photo accessories, or ditch altogether so that you can use the outers as general-purpose backpacks and bags. Secondly, they all have a roll-top facility, so they can expand to carry more stuff, or shrink to smaller sizes to suit the journey and the load.

Focusing on the messenger bags, there’s the smaller Uncover Messenger / Sling 7L and the larger Uncover Messenger 12L. The 7L has a capacity range of 7.5L to 9.5L, and includes a small camera insert that can accommodate a camera body and one or two lenses. The 12L has a larger 10.5L to 14.5L capacity and a bigger camera insert that can hold a camera body with up to three lenses or a mini drone. Both aim to be among the best messenger bags for photographers on the market.

Manfrotto Uncover Messenger / Sling: Specifications

Manfrotto Uncover Messenger / Sling: Price

There’s no shortage of manufacturers making photo-friendly messenger bags these days. Big names that spring to mind include Billingham, Lowepro, Vanguard, Tenba, and Peak Design, to name but a few, and of course Manfrotto. The price range kicks off from bargain-basement buys to luxury bags at premium prices.

The new Manfrotto bags occupy the middle ground, with the smaller Uncover Messenger / Sling 7L costing $139 / £99 / AU$199 and the larger Uncover Messenger 12L priced at $179 / £129 / AU$269. But more than just camera bags, these are bags for life, adapting to varying needs with or without carrying a camera, potentially making them good value for money, as you’ll get maximum use out of them.

Manfrotto Uncover Messenger / Sling: Design & Handling

There are some clever design touches sprinkled throughout these messenger bags, more so with the larger 12L one than the smaller 7L version, but I’ll start at the top with something they both have in common. That’s the expandable roll-top section, which enables the bags to grow to meet your needs when you have more stuff to carry.

The roll-top concept is a neat idea but one thing I’ve found less ‘neat’ about them in the past is that they can tend to look a bit messy when rolled up for compactness. There’s no hint of that here. Instead of rolling up, the expanding section simply folds over and is held in place by hidden magnets. It’s an elegant solution that gives a more elegant look to the bags.

Another potential problem area is the placement of the shoulder strap. If it’s ideally positioned for when the bag is compacted, it’s often less than ideal when it’s expanded. Again, Manfrotto has come up with a clever solution in that the bags feature two pairs of strap attachment loops, while the strap itself has spring-loaded metal catches at each end. The upshot is that you can quickly and easily snap the strap onto whichever pair of loops fit the bill.

The modern, stylish look of the bags extend to the straps, which I’d describe as being made from seatbelt-like material, wrapped in a padded outer. They’re as good as they look, with a generous range of adjustability and being very comfortable to wear. They’re also quite resistant to unwantedly slipping off your shoulder, so you can safely wear the bags as shoulder bags as well as in cross-body messenger style.

One thing I always like to see is a grab handle, so I can conveniently pick up the bag with one hand as an alternative to hanging it off a shoulder. The larger version comes complete with a long rope-style grab handle on the back (in addition to the front grab handle) which is comfortable and dependable, and there’s also a small loop just above it. There’s also a flat pass-through strap just below, for securely attaching the bag to the handle of a luggage trolley. The scaled-down 7L bag has neither the rear grab handle nor the trolley pass-through – just the small upper loop.

Getting back to things featured in both bags, the ‘FlexGrid’ front panel is made from tough, dual-laminated Cordura with laser-cut holes. Another neat idea, this enables you to hang all sorts of bits, bobs and accessories off the front of the bag, simply by attaching them or tying them to the FlexGrid.

There’s an additional slim pocket on side of the 12L bag, and a larger expandable pocket on the other side. The latter is big enough to take a drinks bottle or other similarly sized extra, putting it within easy reach and without taking up precious room inside the main compartment of the bag. However, both of these are omitted in the 7L bag, which has no side pockets at all.

I personally find a slim rear pocket very useful in any shoulder/messenger bag and this is very much present and correct in both of the 7L and 12L Uncover bags. It’s great for keeping paperwork, travel documents and other thin stuff in a self-contained area, out of harm’s way.

A quick look underneath the 12L bag reveals a pair of adjustable straps with fasteners. You could use these for attaching a wide variety of things, like a short umbrella, but in a photographic context, I’d use them for attaching a travel tripod. Again, you don’t get this facility with the 7L bag, which is strapless underneath.

It’s not really a problem but you can’t actually get into the main zippered compartment of the bags without first lifting up the expanding section to its full height. The quick-action folding design with magnetic attraction again comes to the fore. Once opened, the camera insert can seem a little buried away, far down inside the compartment.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the things I like most about the Uncover design is that you can remove the camera insert altogether when you’re not carrying your camera, and use the entire main compartment for daily or travel essentials. The removable camera insert itself has a fully zippered top flap and a carrying handle, enabling it to work as a camera bag of sorts in its own right.

The camera insert comes complete with adjustable dividers that you can fold and bend into the ideal configuration for your kit, as well as placing them in the best locations thanks to Velcro strip fasteners. Folding one or two of the dividers can work well if you have thin lenses or other accessories and don’t mind double-stacking them.

The 12L bag comes with three dividers in total, that have differing designs. The two darker grey dividers are just crying out to be folded into specialist shapes, and even the light grey ‘flat’ one can be folded over to make an elongated cube, as shown above.

Carrying a bag around with an expensive camera kit inside it can be a nerve-wracking experience. To give a little peace of mind, both bags feature a small hidden pocket, designed to hold an AirTag or similar tracking device.

The main compartment of both bags also features a tablet sleeve with its own secure closure. Only the size differs, the 12L bag accommodating an 11-inch tablet and the 7L bag being able to hold an 8.5-inch tablet, like an iPad mini. However, a major drawback for some prospective buyers is that neither of the bags features a laptop sleeve.

Last but not least, there’s a mesh pocket that runs full width along the inside front of the main compartment. It’s zippered and offers a dedicated area for keeping small but sensitive or precious items.

Manfrotto Uncover Messenger / Sling: Performance

There’s always a feel-good factor in having a bag that you like the look of, and I think the Manfrotto Uncover bags do look attractive. However, they’re only available in a single black/grey colorway option, which might not be to everyone’s taste. From a performance perspective, a more vital aspect is that the bags are robust, resilient, and give good protection to whatever you're carrying inside them. That’s especially true for carrying camera kit.

Toughness is ensured by Manfrotto’s custom ‘TriTex’ three-layer fabric, from which the bags are constructed. The material is designed to be highly durable and water-resistant, and the bags also feature weather-sealed YKK zippers. The net result is that you don’t need an additional slip-over weather-proof cover, as supplied with many bags, which can take up space and be a chore to use.

An upside of the ‘bag within a bag’ design is that camera kit gets double the protective padding in its dedicated insert. However it also means that kit isn’t quite as immediately accessible and that precious room is used up by basically stowing one bag inside another one.

I was a little disappointed that even with the larger 12L bag, I packed my Nikon Z6III camera with mounted Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens in its retracted state, along with a second similarly sized lens, and pretty much all of the space in the camera insert was used up, as shown in the image above. Sure, you could squeeze in a few more items if you had a more compact camera and smaller lenses but let’s face it, the Z6III and its retractable kit lens isn’t exactly a big camera.

I don’t have one of those super-small ‘travel tripods’ with swing-up legs, which would be an ideal fit for attaching to the 12L bag, courtesy of the adjustable bottom straps. Even so, my not overly large Manfrotto 190go! Tripod doesn’t look entirely out of place. Either way, the 7L omits the tripod straps.

Manfrotto Uncover Messenger / Sling: Verdict

I’m all for versatility and adaptability. I like that the roll-top design of the Manfrotto Uncover Messenger / Sling bags enables them to grow and shrink on demand, accommodating different amounts of daily paraphernalia. I also like that the camera inserts, which are a bit like camera bags in their own right, are easily removable in just a few seconds. The bags, therefore, convert from photo bags to regular, general-use bags on the fly. Further plus points are that the bags are very durable, attractively styled, and comfortable to carry.

It’s not all great news. The ‘bag within a bag’ design eats into the available space, and even the larger 12L version has relatively little room for photo gear in its camera insert. Naturally, the 7L bag has even less. The 7L bag also lacks side pockets, a rear grab handle, a baggage trolley pass-through, and tripod tethers. Unless you’re desperate for the smallest bag you can get away with, the 12L has a lot more to offer. Even so, I feel that the fairly small amount of camera kit that it can carry is a limiting factor.

Alternatives

In 1994, Carl Zeiss unleashed their Contax G1 on the world. While it pioneered the concept of an autofocus rangefinder, its passive-only focusing system struggled in low light.

The solution was the Contax G2, which followed a couple of years later. The G2 resolved the problem by implementing a hybrid autofocus system combining active infrared triangulation with passive contrast detection, making it significantly faster and more reliable.

Both cameras were beautiful and beautifully made. The titanium bodies were entirely designed and built by Kyocera, in Japan, while the body was styled by Germany’s Porsche Design Group.

Each model was offered in black and silver, though the silver (often described as a “champagne color”) with its dark grey accents was by far the more popular of the two. An array of seven lenses was offered, and all were designed and made by Carl Zeiss in Germany.

The G1 came equipped with a Planar 45mm f/2 lens, while the G2 came with a wider 35mm Planar f/2. Also on offer were a 16mm f/8 Hologon, a 21mm f/2.8 Biogon, a 28mm f/2.8 Biogon and a Sonar 90mm f/2.8.

These were followed, in 2000, by the Vario-Sonar 35-70mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom – the first zoom for a rangefinder camera. All were autofocus except the Hologon, which was manual focus with a fixed aperture.

Optically, the Zeiss G-mount (unique to the Contax G1 and G2) lenses were widely considered equal to their Leica counterparts. No third-party lenses were ever made for the G-mount.

Now, I’ve said that the 35-70mm Vario-Sonar was the first zoom lens for a rangefinder camera – but some will point to Leica’s 28-35-50mm Tri-Elmar that came out in 1998, a full 24 months earlier.

While it’s true that the Tri-Elmar is essentially a zoom design under the hood, it has click-stops and is only really usable at the three preset focal lengths – as opposed to the Zeiss Vario-Sonar, which was a true zoom lens and able to be used at any focal length in its range.

The Contax G1 and G2 had unique, highly electronic viewfinder displays that were radically different from traditional rangefinders. Unlike all earlier rangefinder cameras, they had no “focusing patch” as focus was done by an AF system that used rangefinder-esque triangulation, rather than mechanical rangefinding.

Both models featured a sophisticated electronic viewfinder, which automatically adjusted magnification and frame lines based on the attached lens, offering 90% coverage with full parallax correction.

When the Vario-Sonar was mounted, the optics in the viewfinder zoomed to match – showing you the exact framing at every focal length.

The G2’s viewfinder was considered a significant upgrade over the G1, featuring a green readout below the main viewfinder display (which showed the focused distance and AF confirmation) and a manual focus aid (showing small dots on a line scale, to indicate the direction to turn the lens for correct focus when it was in manual mode).

The G2 has often been compared to the Leica M6. In build and optical quality, that’s likely a fair comparison – but they offer fundamentally different experiences.

The G2 had an "electronic rangefinder", featured auto-loading, auto-rewind, aperture priority autoexposure and a motor drive capable of 4fps. So, while the Leica offered a brighter viewfinder and a much wider selection of lenses (including faster apertures like f/1.4 and even f/1), the G2 provided superior convenience.

Unfortunately, all the electronics and motor drive capabilities have become, over time, their Achilles heel. Sadly, in the near 30 years since they came out, the G series has proved a wee bit failure-prone.

Despite its high-quality titanium build, the G2 in particular has been vulnerable due to its complex electronics and a scarcity of replacement parts.

Common failure points include an autofocus mechanism that can fail due to dried lubricants or stripped plastic gears, while the vertical metal focal plane shutter is known to develop issues. And the viewfinder’s electronic overlay can become faint or flicker over time.

Because few technicians are equipped to repair these electronic rangefinders, repairs are expensive and difficult (though not impossible) to find. Thus, examples in good working order now often sell for more than their original new price!

If you’re looking to purchase a used G2, buy only in person or with full return / refund privileges. Check the autofocus at multiple distances (namely infinity and 5m), verify that the frame counter LCD stays lit with the power off, and confirm that the film advances properly through a full roll and rewinds properly.

The number made is not known, but production continued until 2005 when Kyocera abruptly discontinued the entire Yashica / Contax camera division. This left both Zeiss and Leica (for whom Kyocera also made the superb Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4) in the lurch, while Kyocera concentrated on camera modules for smartphones.

This instantly transformed the G2 from a modern tool into a collector's item. If you have one, you have my envy!

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

You might also like…

Take a look at the best point-and-shoot cameras you can buy today.

It's become an all-too familiar story: the global memory chip shortage causing the price of memory cards and SSDs to skyrocket. This situation has been ongoing for almost a year now, and the latest news suggests prices might not fall for some time.

According to Kwak Noh-jung, CEO of Korean chip giant SK Hynix, the global memory chip market "will face unprecedented supply shortages in 2027". Furthermore, Kwak predicts that the chip shortage is likely to continue past 2030. Other analysts agree that the chip shortage won't be over soon: UBS predicts the global DRAM market will remain undersupplied until at least Q2 2028, while Bank of America estimates that datacenter capital expenditure will hit $851 billion this year and rise to around $1.15 trillion next year – in other words, the demand for memory will rise over the next 12 months.

The chip shortage is due to the unprecedented demand for HBM (high bandwidth memory) chips, which are being voraciously consumed by AI datacenters. SK Hynix produces around 58% of the global HBM chip supply and is investing heavily in in new semiconductor production facilities, with $4 billion allocated to build an advanced chip packaging plant in Indiana.

It should be noted that high bandwidth memory isn't actually used in products like consumer memory cards and SSDs, yet these products have still seen huge price rises as a direct result of the HBM chip shortage. The reason for this is likely due to chip manufacturers diverting manufacturing capacity to the more lucrative HBM sector, and away from the NAND flash used in memory cards. And it's this reduced supply of NAND chips that has caused the price of SD and CFexpress cards to increase so dramatically.

So if you’re in need of a new memory card, check out what we rate as the best memory cards for your camera, with the best prices available right now.

Story credit: NewsBytes

Photographing the partial phases of a solar eclipse with a smartphone is traditionally rather basic – you clumsily hold the lens of a pair of solar eclipse glasses over the smartphone’s lens, then snap away. However, with modern multi-camera phones sometimes switching lenses at exactly the wrong moment, everything can get a bit too DIY. The K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter is designed to solve all of that by delivering a clip-on solar filter that covers all smartphone lenses without any fuss.

It’s important to note that the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter is not a certified safe solar filter, but merely an ND1,000,000 filter. However, while it should not be used to visually look at the sun, it reduces the sun’s brightness enough for photography and is perfectly safe for a smartphone.

Rather than using a fragile piece of solar film taped over the camera, this kit combines a 58mm or 67mm ND1,000,000 filter screwed onto a plastic smartphone mount. It’s basically a clip-on solar photography filter for phones, aimed at eclipse chasers who want a straightforward way to record the partial phases – the changing crescent sun – of any solar eclipse.

A much more limiting imaging platform than K&F’s standalone ND1,000,000 filter – which uses the same optical idea and performed well on a manual camera – I am reviewing the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter as a practical phone accessory rather than a specialist astronomical filter, but it's nevertheless one of the best solar filters if you're a dedicated smartphone shooter.

K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter: Specifications

K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter: Price

The K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter comes in two sizes – 58mm ($35 / £27) and 67mm ($40 / £30). The 58mm version works fine for an iPhone, which bunches lenses in one corner, while the 67mm is aimed at Android (including Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel) phones, which can have a strip of lenses less suited to a circular filter. Given the tiny savings, the 67mm version is the one to choose if you plan to share the filter while observing a solar eclipse with a group.

At this price, the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter sits in a useful space. It’s more polished and durable than taping eclipse glasses or loose solar film (such as Baader AstroSolar Safety Film) over a phone camera, but much cheaper and more portable than building a dedicated eclipse-photography kit around a mirrorless camera, a telephoto lens, and a solar filter.

However, value depends on expectations. If all you want is a simple souvenir image of the crescent sun during a partial eclipse, the asking price is reasonable. If you are expecting crisp sunspots, a large solar disc, and publication-quality results, the money is better spent on a standalone filter for a proper camera setup.

K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter: Design & Handling

The design is straightforward. The filter, packed separately, screws into a plastic press-on clip mount, which clamps onto the phone and positions the glass over the camera lens. That simplicity is the product’s biggest strength, but there are a few caveats. A smartphone may have wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto sensors, and the camera app may switch between them automatically as you zoom.

Before eclipse day, it’s best to know which lens your phone uses and to make sure the filter fully covers that lens. However, if you buy the 67mm version of the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter, it’s likely going to be able to cover all of the lenses on your phone.

I was able to leave a phone case on both iPhone and Android smartphones when I tested the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter, though thick, rugged cases may need to come off. That is worth knowing in advance, because removing a case while an eclipse is underway is exactly the kind of avoidable faff that leads to missed shots.

Safety when imaging the sun is essential. The K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter is for filtered smartphone photography through the phone screen, not for direct visual observation. It is not a substitute for certified solar eclipse glasses, and it should not be used for looking directly at the sun.

K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter: Performance

Optically, this filter is closely related to K&F’s standalone ND1,000,000 filter, which performs well on a manual camera. In that form, mounted on a telephoto lens, the filter produced pleasing solar images with visible sunspots, solid contrast, and a neutral-to-slightly-warm yellowish-white sun that was easy to adjust in post-processing.

On a smartphone, the experience is more limited. I tried using the K&F Phone Solar Lens Filter handheld, and it worked in the most basic sense: the sun was filtered, visible, and I was able to take an image. However, the resulting images were very simple. The solar disc was small, framing was fiddly, and the overall image quality was governed far more by the phone’s camera system than by the filter. In short, it was blurry and not worth having.

The K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter can reduce light and allow a phone to capture the sun, but it cannot give a smartphone the reach of a 400mm lens or the manual control of a mirrorless camera. Handheld shots are fine for proving you were there, or for sharing a quick image of a partial eclipse, but they should not be judged against dedicated eclipse photography.

Cue a tripod. Once the phone was stable in a clamp on a tripod, it was much easier to zoom in on the sun, refine framing, and avoid accidental movement. It still took practice, and it was hot work. The sun drifts through the frame, the clip can be nudged during handling, and some phones become awkward when digital zoom and automatic lens switching get involved.

The only sensible approach is to test the entire setup days before the eclipse, and absolutely not during first contact, but it’s not complicated. After 10 minutes of experimenting, I had images that were as good as I was going to get.

Shooting in Raw is technically worthwhile if your phone supports it – just for added flexibility in adjusting exposure, contrast, color temperature, and sharpening later on in post-processing – but that kind of user is not the market for the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter. My shots featured a reasonably sharp solar limb, but no sunspots or any surface detail.

It would definitely work for the partial phases of a solar eclipse, and with your phone already on a tripod, you’ll be ready for totality if you’re in the path (which is in Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain on August 12, 2026) – just remember to remove the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter when it gets dark. And turn off your flash…

K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter: Verdict

The K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter with Press-on Mount Kit is best understood as a souvenir-shot accessory. It’s ideal for people who do not own, and do not want to buy, a manual camera, but want souvenir shots of a solar eclipse, which almost everyone does once it’s underway. It’s compact, affordable, and much more elegant than improvising with tape and eclipse glasses, though the biggest difference you can make is a tripod, which will vastly improve images.

Learn how your phone handles zoom and lens switching before the eclipse begins, don’t expect a perfect shot, and the K&F Concept ND1,000,000 Phone Solar Lens Filter is a practical and well-priced eclipse accessory for casual smartphone users.

Alternatives

An awful lot of photographers have never used lens filters and, thanks to the ever-increasing dynamic range of modern mirrorless cameras, the frankly mind-boggling capabilities of the latest photo editing software and even a few clever in-camera effects (I’m looking at you, OM System), there have never been fewer reasons to ignore lens filters altogether.

But if any of that sounds at all familiar to you, and especially if you’ve never used a lens filter before, then I’m here to tell you: that is a great shame. Using lens filters isn’t just fun; I think it’s an important step in almost every photographer’s journey.

Don’t get me wrong, how often you use lens filters will depend on the genre(s) that you shoot. But if you’re a prolific photographer, you’ll almost certainly encounter a situation where a physical lens filter would fit the bill at some point.

For example, I capture a lot of motorsport photography and a neutral density filter is a useful asset when capturing pans with extremely slow shutter speeds. Because many races take place during the brighter months and in the middle of the day, it can often prove impossible to reach shutter speeds such as 1/20 sec without using an ND.

But I digress; the whole point of this article is to explain how using a lens filter changed my whole relationship with photography.

How a simple lens filter changed my relationship with photography forever

Perhaps the most cliched piece of photography advice is "get it right in-camera".

I generally agree with the sentiment, but there are times when I oppose it. For example, if your image is sharp, you’ve got enough resolution to play with and you didn’t have time to refine your framing, I see nothing wrong with heavy cropping at all.

However, you should absolutely aim to get it right in-camera where possible. That’s where lens filters come in.

Filters enable you to produce all manner of effects in-camera. And I believe that to be extremely important for several reasons, but by far the most important is that it enables you to realize the image you have in your mind’s eye as you take it.

I remember the first time I used a filter; unsurprisingly, I was using an ND filter to restrict the amount of light entering my camera, so I could use a very slow shutter speed to blur a body of water. It was like watching a magic trick happen right before my eyes.

I couldn’t believe that I’d managed to create what I was seeing on my camera’s playback screen without the use of digital editing software. It was all me and my camera!

That was a huge confidence booster – and boy did it ramp up my love for photography. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that using a filter for the first time can transport you right back to when somebody first handed you a camera as a child.

I love photo editing more than most. But at its core, photography is about using a device that exposes a light-sensitive material to light, enabling you to capture a moment in time.

A lens filter doesn’t take away from that process; it adds to it. It interacts with the light as it enters your camera – shapes the light, if you will – and leaves you to marvel at the results.

If you’ve never thought about using a filter before, get yourself a cheap one I don’t care whether it’s an ND, ND grad, polarizer, diffusion filter or anything else; every photographer should try a physical lens filter at least once.

You might also like...

Filters require a good understanding of the exposure triangle and if there’s one genre of photography where filters are essential, it's landscape photography. Plus, here are the best cameras for landscape photography.

Think Manfrotto and you’re probably thinking tripods, ranging from budget-friendly sticks right up to top-flight professional options. However, the Italian outfit has been operating since the 1960s, so it’s no surprise that it’s diversified along the way. There are light stands and accessories, which is also no surprise as the photojournalist Lino Manfrotto originally started the business by selling light stands. More recently, Manfrotto has designed and manufactured a wide range of camera bags, backpacks, and roller cases. The latest and arguably greatest of these are from the new ‘Uncover’ collection.

Typical of Manfrotto, there’s some snazzy Italian design flair and quality construction behind the Uncover range of backpacks and messenger / sling bags. The backpack that I’m majoring on here is the Manfrotto Uncover Backpack 30L, while also checking out the smaller 24L version. Both are very similar in terms of design, features, and construction; it’s just that one’s bigger than the other. That filters down to the camera inserts themselves.

The camera compartment of the 30L is designed to accommodate a mirrorless camera body or compact DSLR, along with three to five lenses, or a small drone kit. The 24L can take a compact camera body and up to three lenses, or a small drone. Both also serve as a daypack for your daily essentials, with an expanding roll-top design, and you can convert them to full-sized, general-purpose backpacks by quickly and easily removing the camera inserts. All in all, they aim to be among the best backpacks for photographers.

Manfrotto Uncover Backpack: Specifications

Manfrotto Uncover Backpack: Price

The Uncover Backpack 24L launched with a price of $300 / £229 / AU$429, while its bigger sibling, the Uncover Backpack 30L, came in at $330 / £239 / AU$439, so there’s not much difference between the two in terms of cost.

For the sake of comparison, one of the biggest names in the camera backpack market is Lowepro, and the Lowepro ProTactic BP 350 AW III (one of my favorite camera backpacks) costs around $300 / £211 / AU$530, which is pretty similar in most world regions but rather pricier in Australia.

Manfrotto Uncover Backpack: Design & Handling

When you want to pack a camera kit and all the stuff you need for a day out into one backpack, you can soon find yourself running out of space. On the other hand, you don’t want to be lugging around a backpack that’s bigger than you need it to be. The Manfrotto Uncover grows or shrinks to order, accommodating larger or smaller collections of kit and caboodle for any particular journey. That’s thanks to a roll-top design, enabling you to unclasp the top section and roll it out to a greater height.

The height range on offer equates to 40.5-62cm / 15.9-24.4in for the 24L, and 44-64.5cm / 17.3-25.4in for the 30L. In terms of capacity, the range is 20.5L to 28.5L for the smaller backpack and 25L to 33L for the larger one. In practice, the amount of extension feels considerable, allowing you to pack quite a bit of extra stuff when you need to, and to save space with a smaller backpack when you don’t.

It’s only natural to think of any backpack as something you wear on your back, but I do like a grab handle to be featured in the design. This makes it easy to pick up the bag with one hand and move it around when the need arises. Sure enough, the Manfrotto features a rope-style strap at the top of its back, underneath which there’s also a handy small loop.

For longer journeys that involve airports and other travel terminals, a luggage trolley can help take the strain. The backpack can conveniently attach to the handles of these trolleys, thanks to a trolley pass-through which doubles as a padded back panel for when you’re actually wearing the backpack.

Like the back panel, the shoulder straps are generously padded to enhance comfort. They’re also durable, the backpack in general being based on Manfrotto’s custom ‘TriTex’ three-layer fabric, which is designed to be highly durable and water-resistant, along with weather-sealed YKK zippers and a PU-coated base, thus avoiding the need for an additional slip-over weatherproof cover. Getting back to the shoulder straps, I like that they have a big range of adjustment and that both feature a handy attachment loop.

When the going gets tough, and you’re trekking across rough terrain or generally making life difficult for yourself, you can find that backpacks tend to slide around, and the straps can slip off your shoulders. To help avoid this particular problem, the Manfrotto has a chest strap, which makes the backpack feel more secure, as well as keeping the shoulder straps in place. Like the shoulder straps, it has a wide range of adjustment and this time features an elasticated section to enhance comfort. However, unlike many camera backpacks, there’s no waist strap for keeping it in place, for example, when you’re climbing over obstacles. Ideally, I’d have liked a removable waist strap to be included, giving the option of using it or not, as needs dictate.

I’ve often seen webbing and attachment loops featured extensively on backpacks and think they’re a great idea. It’s really useful to be able to add extra pouches and various paraphernalia, fastening them securely to the outside of the bag. Manfrotto’s take on it for the Uncover range is to construct the front panel from ‘FlexGrid’, made from dual-laminated Cordura with laser-cut holes. This gives the option of attaching carabiners, tools, accessories, and pretty much anything else you can tie on or attach to it.

There’s a slim pocket featured on one side of the bag. The reason that it’s so slim is that it’s actually integrated into a larger zippered flap that enables access through the side of the backpack, right through to the camera compartment. As has become popular in many camera backpacks of late, the side flap gives the advantage that you can grab your camera with attached lens in double-quick time, without having to open the whole backpack and dig it out.

The side pocket on the other side of the backpack has relatively generous dimensions, expanding to accommodate the likes of a drinks bottle or tripod. Again, it’s opened and closed with a weather-sealed YKK zipper, just like all the other zippers featured around the bag.

The main compartment of the backpack that holds the camera insert opens from the rear. I like this arrangement, as it means that I don’t need to lay the rear of the backpack (that I’m subsequently going to wear against my back) on mucky ground to get at my camera kit. What I’m less keen on is that this sort of design often demands that you rotate the shoulder straps around to the front of the backpack before you can open the zipper. There’s no need for that here, as the shoulder straps don’t interfere with the path of the zipper track.

Opening the rear zipper also reveals the upper compartment with its mesh lid, as shown in the image above. Undoing an additional zipper gives access to this compartment, typically used for daily essentials. As I’d expect, you can also get into the upper compartment through a zipper on the top of the outer shell. Manfrotto’s ‘SmartLift’ system enables you to adjust the placement of the floor of the upper compartment, in conjunction with altering the roll-top height, as well as converting it into a full-height backpack with the camera insert removed.

The camera insert is quickly and easily removed, its lid slotting in and out of a receptacle built into the backpack. I’ve removed the insert for the image shown below, and you’ll notice that the lid folds over and has a zipper to close it, coming complete with a carrying handle. As such, it serves as a camera bag of sorts in its own right.

Whether fitted in the backpack or in standalone mode, the camera insert is supplied with a number of adjustable dividers, using the time-honored method of Velcro strip fasteners to keep them in place. They’re smartly designed and well-made.

The organizer section is built into the inside of the main flap of the backpack, utilizing its full height. As such, it offers a fairly generous amount of space but only has three sub-sections. These comprise a full-width pocket at the bottom, and a pocket that’s divided into two halves up top, opened with a single zipper. It works okay, but I think it could have been better with dedicated pockets for the likes of a wallet, smartphone, key fob, pen, and so on.

Manfrotto Uncover Backpack: Performance

As I said at the outset, I’m majoring on the larger 30L edition of the Manfrotto Uncover Backpack, and that’s the one that’s featured in all of my individual product images. Performance is very good in terms of robustness, durability, and weather-resistance. The backpack is also comfortable to wear, with nicely padded contact areas for the back and shoulders. However, a waist strap would have given extra stability, but is omitted in the design. On the upside, another performance plus point is that it’s quick and easy to get to your camera kit when you need it in a hurry.

My only real disappointment, considering that I was using the larger version of the backpack, is that I filled pretty much the whole camera insert with relatively little kit. As you’ll see above, I’ve managed to pack my Nikon Z6 III camera with a mounted Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens in its retracted state, along with three other similarly sized lenses. There’s a bit of space left over for spare batteries and another small accessory, but that’s pretty much it. If I needed to carry bigger lenses or more of them, I’d have to use lens wraps or pop them into pouches, and eat into the general daypack compartment.

There are times when I definitely want to just grab my camera with its mounted lens in a hurry, before a photo opportunity passes me by. I like that the Manfrotto has a zippered side access flap, which enables me to get hold of my camera with minimum fuss and bother, and maximum speed.

Increasingly, photographers and people in general need to carry laptops and tablets with them, whether they’re at work, rest, or play. The smaller 24L version of the backpack has an integral sleeve that can hold a laptop of up to 14-inch size, whereas the 30L can accommodate up to a 16-inch laptop. Both versions also have an additional tablet sleeve.

Unlike laptops and tablets, a tripod is a more camera-specific accessory. Again, the backpack accommodates, this time with the larger of the two side pockets. You can simply pop the tripod in feet-first, and there’s a hidden strap that you can pull out of a receptacle near the top of the backpack to secure the tripod in place.

Manfrotto Uncover Backpack: Verdict

I don’t think there’s any such thing as the perfect camera backpack. There’s always room for improvement, but more importantly, a lot of how ‘good’ a bag is comes down to personal requirements and taste. I like the expandable roll-top design of the Manfrotto, and that it can so easily convert between a split camera backpack / daypack and a full general-purpose backpack. However, I feel the versatility comes at the expense of the camera insert being relatively small, even in the larger 30L version of the backpack.

In other areas, I like the speedy side-access flap for grabbing my camera in a hurry, and the full-height rear zipper that gives easy access to everything else. The quality of the bag is also excellent, both in terms of its construction materials and how they’re put together. All in all, it’s an excellent backpack that serves its purpose very well, but I’d like a few extra dedicated accessory pockets, a better organizer section, and a waist strap, the last of these preferably being removable.

Alternatives

Since the point at which most manufacturers conspired to get us to re-buy all our interchangeable lens camera equipment in more compact mirrorless form, DSLRs have been portrayed as bulky, lumpen and very much yesterday’s news.

That perception persists, underscored by the fact that former DSLR stalwarts Canon and Nikon have stopped releasing anything new with a mirror box. Along with everyone else, except possibly Pentax.

While I’ve shared prior opinions on why I feel that’s short-sighted and a shame, any connection of mine to DSLRs isn’t nostalgic, emotion-based or a kneejerk reaction to manufactured hype.

There are tangible, practical reasons for choosing a DSLR in 2026. Yes, still. And, if choosing a DSLR, for choosing a Canon DSLR above all others.

Why? Well, for starters, the golden rule of buying an interchangeable lens camera still holds – namely, I shouldn’t just consider the specific body I have my eye on, but the whole system that surrounds it, including all lenses and accessories.

Even before DSLRs were no longer cool, Canon still enjoyed the most far-reaching and comprehensive support out of any camera brand.

And still, if buying a Canon DSLR today, users not only have access to lenses produced since the first digital EOS, but also film-era lenses stretching back decades (if, in some cases requiring an adaptor).

Buying a Canon DSLR therefore becomes the most cost-effective, value-added solution, as I explore the wealth of compatible Canon EF and EF-S lenses for DSLRs – numbering over 200 since 1987 – available on both the new and second-hand market.

Last year Canon claimed it had manufactured 170 million EF and EF-S lenses in total. So, tracking down a perfect match for both intended subject and DSLR in use won’t be an issue.

Couple this with over 110 million Canon EOS cameras produced – with the caveat that this figure does include some mirrorless – and it shouldn’t be a stretch to find either a mint unboxed DSLR or a good quality used option.

At the time of writing, I can still buy a flagship EOS-1D X Mark III or EOS 5D Mark IV camera body direct from Canon’s online store. Or, at the other end of the price scale, snap up an EOS 2000D DSLR plus standard zoom for less than is currently being asked for most compact travel zooms.

So yes, as well as a DSLR’s imaging performance, functionality, battery life, optical viewfinder and durable build, sheer stock numbers work in Canon’s favor. As they do for anyone considering one of its DSLRs in 2026.

DSLRs might not be the cool kids anymore, but sometimes sensible is the smarter option.

Check out our full guide to the best DSLRs you can still buy today. If you want to follow in Gav's footsteps with one of the best Canon cameras, check out the best Canon lenses for DSLRs to go with them.

The Nikon ZR is trending on Google today, and just yesterday I was thinking about buying one and doing the unthinkable… using it exclusively as a stills camera! I know, I know: “What heresy doth the man speak?” But hear me out on this one.

I was answering a comment on the latest episode of the Digital Camera World Podcast, where James and I were talking about the Panasonic Lumix L10 compact camera, and in that video we compared it with the Panasonic Lumix S9.

The S9 is a full-frame interchangeable-lens camera with no viewfinder and you can find it for some exceptionally good prices.

ABOVE: Watch the discussion that prompted by Nikon ZR temptation

I was busy browsing various camera retailers, daydreaming about what color I’d have, and then I noticed something that’s always been a big turnoff for me: no rear dial where your thumb naturally rests.

I’m used to operating cameras with front and rear dials, exactly where your index finger and thumb naturally sit. It is without doubt the most comfortable control layout, for me at least. And if a camera doesn’t have this, I find it very hard to get on board with it. But then I saw something I couldn’t unsee – a Nikon ZR.

The ZR has a Red-infused, video-first design, but also shares quite a few similarities to the Lumix S9 in that it has no viewfinder and is essentially a rectangular box with a shallow grip.

The Nikon ZR is bigger, but accommodates two memory cards (CFexpress B and microSD) and also has a rather unusual ace up its sleeve in that it has a giant four-inch rear LCD screen. For a camera without a viewfinder, that’s definitely a boon.

Still, buying one of the best cinema cameras on the market for photography seemed like a bit of a stretch, so I turned to Reddit to find out if other users had thought the unthinkable – and I was surprised to find they had.

A post by amcreativca shared a photograph they took with their Nikon ZR and it turns out they’re certainly not the only one. To my surprise, somebody even said: “I'm also thinking about switching to the ZR, I currently have an S9.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’d still recommend the Nikon Z6 III as the ultimate stills option out of the two, given that it’s essentially the blueprint for the Nikon ZR and features a nice deep grip and a viewfinder.

But as somebody who already owns a stills-focused Nikon and is on the hunt for something a bit more portable, why not take photos on a Nikon ZR?

So long as you’re not a flash photographer, of course; the ZR has a flash sync speed of just 1/60 sec due to its electronic-only shutter. It’s a very capable device for everyday photography, though. You get the same excellent AF system as the Z6 III, burst speeds of 20fps (RAW) and 120fps (JPEG), as well as a full-frame partially-stacked 24.5MP sensor.

I guess the lesson to take away from this is that both marketers and, indeed, ourselves impose limitations on cameras – but in reality, any camera you’re comfortable with is fit for purpose.

Sure, the Nikon ZR is a video monster. But with its large rear LCD and relatively portable form factor, I see no reason not to use it as a stills camera. I’d be interested to know what you think. Absolutely crazy idea? Or do you think the people of Reddit and I are onto something?

You might also like...

Still not convinced? Take a look at the best lenses for the Nikon ZR and the best Nikon cameras across the range.

These three mirrorless models deliver excellent price-to-performance value – and right now, you can save up to £552.

The Canon EOS R8 is now available for just £1,229 at London Camera Exchange – a £400 discount from its original £1,629 price tag.

The Nikon Z6 II is now available for just £1,249 at London Camera Exchange – a £550 discount from the original £1,799 price tag.

The Sony A7 III is now available for just £947 at Amazon – a £552 discount from the RRP of £1,499.

Canon EOS R8

Budget-friendly option for Canon DSLR users and vloggers

The Canon EOS R8 offers an affordable entry into full-frame territory. It keeps the familiar Canon interface, supports your DSLR lenses via an adapter, and packs modern features into a lightweight, compact body.

The only notable limitation is the lack of IBIS, which might be a deal-breaker if you do a lot of handheld shooting with long lenses or video. In that case, the EOS R6 II is worth considering, though it comes with a much higher price tag.

Nikon Z6 II

Best for Nikon DSLR switchers and hybrid shooters

If you're moving from a Nikon DSLR like the D750 or D780, the Nikon Z6 II is hands-down a smooth upgrade. It features a similar body design, intuitive Nikon menus, and excellent ergonomics.

While Nikon's Z-mount lens selection isn't as extensive as Sony's or Canon's, you can make use of your existing DSLR lenses via an adapter.

Sony A7 III

Ideal for system switchers and DSLR upgraders

The Sony A7 III remains one of the most versatile full-frame cameras in its price range and packs pro-level features.

It gives you maximum mirrorless flexibility as the Sony E-mount ecosystem is the most mature on the market, boasting a huge range of native lenses and third-party support from brands like Tamron and Sigma.

Comparison

If I were to pick a mirrorless full-frame camera today, I'd lean toward the Sony A7 III.

Its unmatched lens options and flexibility make it a standout choice, especially if you're open to switching systems entirely.

That said, if you want to stick with your current brand and already own a lot of DSLR lenses, staying within the same ecosystem is a smart and budget-friendly way to jump into mirrorless photography.

Want to browse more mirrorless options? Here are the best mirrorless cameras, along with the best cameras for beginners.

Japan has long been one of the world's biggest camera markets, making it a closely watched indicator of wider photography trends. Now data from Minna Camera Marketplace in Japan reveals that 70% of the 10 most-traded mirrorless cameras in the country during the first half of 2026 were APS-C models.

However, the overall winner is anything but typical. Canon's EOS R6 Mark II claimed the No.1 position despite being a full-frame camera in a market largely dominated by smaller, more affordable APS-C bodies. With its deeper grip and DSLR-style ergonomics, it also offers handling that's more familiar to photographers upgrading from DSLRs than many compact mirrorless rivals.

Minna Camera analyzed all mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras traded between January 1 and June 30, 2026. While APS-C cameras accounted for seven places in the Top 10, the first and second positions were both secured by full-frame cameras: the Canon EOS R6 Mark II in first place, followed by the Sony A7 IV.

Top 10 most-traded mirrorless cameras at Minna Cameras (H1 2026)

Why APS-C cameras dominate the rankings

The three full-frame cameras in the ranking averaged around ¥190,000 (approx. $1,170 / £871), compared with roughly ¥90,000 (approx. $544 / £413) for the seven APS-C bodies – a price gab of around two times.

Half of the cameras in the Top 10 also averaged less than ¥100,000 approx. $616 / £458).

"Affordable APS-C bodies broadened the base of the ranking," states Minna Camera, highlighting how lower prices continue to drive demand in the used mirrorless camera market.

You might like...

Browse the best mirrorless cameras, the best full-frame cameras, and the best Canon APS-C cameras.

Kodak’s viral Chamera is a throwback to early digital cameras, but the latest camera bearing the Kodak name is a full-frame 35mm film option with a similar price point. The Kodak EC35mm is a compact film frame that, unlike the Kodak Ektar H35, uses the full frame instead of a half-frame.

The Kodak EC35 comes in at a list price similar to the viral Kodak Charmera at about $35 / £35 (which is about A$55 / CA$49).

The new film camera uses a slide-out cover to protect the lens, much like some popular retro cameras like the Olympus Stylus Epic (Mju II), the Contax T3, and Fujifilm Cardia Mini Tiara.

The EC35 is a point-and-shoot style without any complex manual controls. The front cover slides open to prep the camera. Auto exposure, auto flash, and fixed focus handle the settings.

The camera uses a built-in 25mm f/10 lens for wide shots with much of the frame in focus. That lens is made with acrylic, not glass. That hints towards the image quality of a retro disposable film camera, despite the EC35 being reusable, as disposables also use plastic lenses.

The Kodak EC35 comes from Reto, the same Kodak licensee behind the viral Kodak Charmera. The EC35 isn’t Reto’s first film camera, but joins the likes of the Kodak Ektar H35 half-frame camera and the Kodak Snapic A1 35mm film camera.

While the camera is built for beginners, the film winds manually, unlike the autowind on the pricier Kodak Snapic A1. The A1, while it doesn’t have manual exposure, has two different focus zones and a double exposure option, but sits at a higher price point.

The Kodak EC35 falls under the compact camera category with a lightweight 102g / 3.6oz design and a depth of under 42mm / 1.65 inches.

The Kodak EC35 is available to order now, listing for $35 / £35 (which is about AU$55 / CA$49) for the camera only or $45 / £45 when bundled with film and a camera strap. Orders have already opened on Amazon in the US and the UK.

You may also like

For more analog inspiration, read about the best film cameras or the best 35mm film.

Tom Cruise is so dedicated to his craft that he rarely surprises me anymore, and I mean that entirely as a compliment. Heck, he learned to pilot a helicopter in his mid-50s for a single stunt in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. He famously broke his ankle in another stunt for the same film and still managed to limp off-screen and nail the take. And the less said about that knife stunt in Mission: Impossible 2, the better.

Cruise has long built a reputation for being one of the most meticulous and dedicated actors and producers in Hollywood, but I had no idea that dedication extended to the gear that’s used on set. While promoting his upcoming film DIGGER, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, film journalist Kevin McCarthy (above) got to chat with the Top Gun actor about the film’s use of the Beaumont VistaVision, a classic film camera that uses Paramount Pictures’ VistaVision format that was developed in the 1950s as an alternative to 20th Century Fox’s widescreen CinemaScope format.

VistaVision’s genius was to load film horizontally, instead of vertically. This allowed for a larger surface area covering eight film perforations instead of the previous method’s four, resulting in better quality footage. VistaVision has been used in some huge classics, such as Vertigo and North by Northwest, but has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years via films such as The Brutalist and One Battle After Another.

But what really got me during Tom Cruise’s interview, was why he is so passionate about the format’s use in DIGGER: “We want flaws. You want things that have an emotion. It just has a different kind of feeling to it,” he says. In another short from the same interview, posted by Kevin McCarthy (above), Tom talks about lens characteristics. “Everything used to be hand-cut glass, so we would do a lot of testing on lenses (...) you have to know the character of the lens”.

It’s especially refreshing to hear Tom’s dedication to the craft, following an interview with filmmaking legend, George Lucas, whose passive stance on AI I completely disagreed with. I really think that as AI worms its way further and further into filmmaking, a core contingent of creatives will push back by prioritising character and imperfection over clinical slop. It certainly sounds like Tom Cruise is on board.

Above: the official tailer for DIGGER

You might also like...

Filmmaker finds lost CinemaScope lens that could have sunk Walt Disney, brings it back from the deep. Tom Cruise backflips out of helicopter while wearing Snorricam rig to film death-defying Mission Impossible POV. Panavision turns 70, reveals 16 innovations it brought to legendary movies.

These days we see some absolute behemoth full-frame camera sensors packing 50, 60 and now close to 70MP (megapixels). While these specs are certainly attractive, and do contribute towards the overall quality of your images, they’re only as good as the lens you pair them with.

Megapixel counts can create a false perception, with many photographers – especially newcomers – falling into the trap of thinking the higher the number, the better quality their images will be.

To an extent, this is correct. After all, a top-tier full-frame model – such as the Sony A7R VI with its 67MP sensor – will enable you to crop in closely in post-production without losing definition or degrading image colors. Given you use the same high-quality lens, you'll get much more leeway than if pairing it with an older DSLR with, say, a 24MP sensor.

However, if you stick a poorly made lens onto that same Sony full-frame beast then it’s a different story – and you won’t even need to crop the image tightly to see the difference.

What you need to keep in mind is that lenses are what determine the sharpness, clarity and even the color rendering, as well as suppressing aberrations and distortion.

So if your lens doesn’t handle these tasks well, then a high-resolution sensor will only highlight the flaws of your poor-quality lens. On the other hand, a great lens can make even a modest sensor perform better.

Then there's the physical size of the camera sensor to consider, which, arguably, is more important than pixel count too. Cramming too many megapixels onto a physically small sensor can result in smaller individual pixels, which may yield noisier, less detailed photos in low-light conditions.

While this issue is best exemplified by smartphones, some APS-C cameras, like the Canon EOS R7 and Fujifilm X-T5, have been criticized for it.

All this isn’t to say that you should completely ignore MP counts and only buy the most expensive lenses. Not at all. In fact, cheaper third-party manufacturers like Tamron, Sigma and now Viltrox produce lenses that give premium native glass like Sony G Master and Nikkor S lenses a close run for their money.

But the point I am making is that you shouldn’t splurge on a camera body because of its attractive sensor, only to then cheap out on the lens you’re going to pair it with.

You might also like…

Here’s our expert pick of the best cheap lenses for your camera. And if you're all about the pixels, these are the highest resolution cameras you can buy right now.

Japanese online outlet Asobinet has reported that the Nikon AF‑P DX 10‑20mm f/4.5‑5.6G VR has been discontinued in Japan. This may surprise US and UK readers given that the lens has already been discontinued. But Nikon tends to axe aging products quietly and even once the decision has been made, it can take a while for stocks to diminish noticeably.

I’ve checked B&H Photo and Adorama in the US, as well as Wex Photo Video, London Camera exchange, and Jessops in the UK, and cannot find any new stock. The lens can be found at Amazon.com, but prospective buyers must do their due diligence, looking out for possible grey imports on Amazon Marketplace.

However, the Nikon AF‑P DX 10‑20mm f/4.5‑5.6G VR has been easier to find in Japan, but it would appear that supplies are running low. According to Asobinet, the lens can be found at Camera Kitamura, Map Camera, Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera, and Nikon Direct, but in some of these outlets, stock is limited.

You could of course go the used route, via retailers such as MPB or KEH Cameras. At MPB right now, prices start at $164 / £142. If you’re an APS-C (DX) Nikon user and budget isn’t an issue, you could also opt for the Nikon AF‑S DX 10‑24mm f/3.5‑4.5G ED. It’s currently available to buy via Nikon USA and while it’s not in stock on the Nikon UK website, it does appear to be available at some UK retailers.

Why would you want an old DSLR lens?

There is a strong contingent of Digital Camera World readers who still actively use DSLR cameras. I recently claimed that “DSLR cameras are picture-making machines; mirrorless cameras are picture-making computers.” Not only did I receive lots of responses, but an embedded poll revealed that lots of readers are still regularly using DSLR kit.

It’s likely that the number one reason why people are still using DSLR cameras is that they simply don’t feel the need to justify the expenditure of moving to mirrorless. If that’s the case for you, I would personally recommend buying DSLR lenses from a reputable used reseller as opposed to brand new, simply because of the price disparity. A lot of new Nikon lenses hold their price, but the used DSLR market has fallen dramatically in the past few years. It’s also quite easy to find modern DSLR lenses that haven’t been discontinued for long, like the Nikon AF‑P DX 10‑20mm f/4.5‑5.6G VR, in extremely good condition.

The Nikon AF‑P DX 10‑20mm f/4.5‑5.6G VR got four stars in the Digital Camera World review, where it was praised for its compact design, light weight and affordability, as well as its optical image stabilization and generous maximum viewing angle. That last point is an important one. Due to the 1.5x crop factor of an APS-C Nikon sensor, it’s a lot harder to achieve ultra-wide fields of view than on a full-frame camera. But this 10mm lens produces an equivalent focal length of 15mm, which is still very wide.

You might also like...

Tamron has axed a long-standing tradition with a new lightweight 12-20mm f/2.8 for E-Mount and Z-Mount – and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Retro Nikon Zf mirrorless camera tops used sales charts for the first time in over a year, beating out trendy Fujifilm. I’m a landscape photographer and the last-gen, full-frame Nikon Z7 II is still a tour de force camera. Why pay more?