90%

Overall score

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Nikon's Zf is a full-frame mirrorless camera with classic styling, built around a 24MP BSI CMOS sensor. It's designed to mimic the look of the company's FM2 SLR from the early 1980s, meaning it effectively becomes a full-frame counterpart to the company's Z fc APS-C camera.

Key specifications

• 24MP full-frame BSI CMOS sensor
• In-body image stabilization rated up to 8EV
• Dedicated Monochrome mode
• Up to 14fps continuous shooting (JPEG), 11 fps Raw
• 'C30' JPEG-only 30fps mode with pre-burst function
• AF system with tracking and recognition of 9 subject types
• 4K/30 video from 6K capture, 4K/60 with crop, 10-bit N-Log recording
• 32-shot high-res mode to give 96MP images
• SD and MicroSD card slots

The Zf sells at a recommended price of $2000, the same as the launch price of the Nikon Z6 II, which gives a reasonable idea of the camera's ambitions.

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Index:

• What's new?
• How it compares
• Body and controls
• Initial impressions
• Operation and handling
• Image quality
• Autofocus
• Video
• Sample video
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What's new?

Sensor/Processor

Nikon isn't making any claims about the Zf's 24MP BSI CMOS sensor being new and, other than wider AF coverage, most of its performance appears to be consistent with the elderly but well-respected sensor in the Z6 II.

The adoption of the latest 'Expeed 7' processor brings significant changes, though. For a start, it brings subject recognition to the camera's AF system as well as a Z9-like implementation of the company's '3D Tracking' along with the 9-type subject recognition system. In addition, there's context-sensitive noise reduction that more aggressively smooths areas that appear not to have detail. It's this noise reduction in the JPEGs and HEIF files that convinced Nikon to let the camera's ISO range expand up to 204,800 (the unexpanded limit also rises to 64,000).

The move to the latest processor also allows the Zf to capture Raw files compressed with the more efficient High Efficiency compression system we first saw on the Z9.

The Zf can shoot at up to 11fps in Raw (in Continuous High Extended mode, that we suspect won't include live view refreshes between shots), and up to 15 or 14fps depending on the use of electronic or mechanical shutter for JPEG mode. There's also a JPEG-only 'C30' mode that uses a video stream to shoot 30fps images, with a pre-burst option like that on the Z8 and Z9.

B&W mode

Commanding its own position on the control that selects between stills and video shooting, the camera's black and white mode gives a choice of mono profiles, including a low-contrast 'Flat mono' and 'Deep tone mono' that accentuates red details in the scene. These profiles can be applied to both still images and video footage, and emphasize Nikon's focus on the creative process.

Video capabilities

Unlike the Df, which promised photographic purity by omitting any video features, the Zf is a pretty capable video machine. It can shoot up to 4K/60 from an APS-C (DX in Nikon speak) crop of the sensor or can capture 4K up to 30p from the full 6K pixel width of its sensor.

The camera we used was pre-production but the 22ms rolling shutter we measured for 30p capture is consistent with the existing sensor in the Z6 models. We doubt it's a coincidence that Panasonic's S5 II models also have to crop into an APS-C region to deliver 60p capture while showing similar readout speeds.

It also adds waveforms, which helps, when trying to assess exposure for video, especially now that we have 10-bit internal capture, allowing Log recording.

Multi-shot pixel shift

Nikon joins the ranks of camera makers using its image stabilization system to offer a multi-shot pixel shift mode, moving the sensor by precise degrees to ensure the capture of each color at every pixel location or in fractions of a pixel to boost the resolution of the output image. Nikon's system offers four modes, all of which require that Raw files be combined in desktop software: a four-shot mode that captures full color at each pixel, an 8-shot mode that does this twice, to further improve tonal quality and noise, a 16-shot mode that also boosts image resolution 96MP, and then a 32-image version that repeats the process, again boosting noise/tonal performance.

Image Stabilization linked to AF point

As companies try to maximize the performance of their IS systems, it's becoming more and more difficult to offer further improvements. Nikon says the Zf's performance has been improved by linking the IS system to the chosen autofocus point.

The logic is that pitch and yaw movements (tilting up/down and rotation to the left and right) cause greater shifts in the image away from the center, particularly when using wide-angle lenses. The Zf's IBIS system can use the chosen AF point as the central point of its corrections, rather than the center of the image, helping to provide more effective stabilization when using off-center AF points with wide lenses. This approach should help maintain sharpness at the point you're focused on, helping the camera to its 8EV stabilization rating, when tested to the CIPA standard.

How it compares

The Zf arrives in the hotly contested ∼$2000 corner of the market, where there are plenty of very capable full-frame options available. What's interesting to note is that, while its styling brings something you won't get from its immediate rivals, Nikon hasn't used this as an excuse to offer a lesser specification.

Other than the space-saving decisions around card type and their location in the camera, the Zf appears perfectly competitive.

Body and controls

The most obvious thing to say about the Zf's body is that it very closely resembles the Nikon FM2 film camera from the 1980s. Placed side-by-side it's apparent the new camera is larger but the proportions have been kept, so it still looks the part.

The Zf has primarily magnesium alloy construction (with some plastic panels to act as a radio window to let the Wi-Fi work), which Nikon says is 'dust and drip resistant.' Its adherence to the traditional look means that there's no protruding hand grip yet, like the FM2 and cameras of its vintage, it can be used quite comfortably. The few millimeters of added depth don't make it hard to grasp and the dials feel well-positioned such that they can be operated without feeling like you're going to drop the camera.

There was some criticism of the smaller Z fc, that its light weight made it feel flimsy, an impression compounded by rather plasticky dials. The added heft of the Zf avoids this problem: it feels more substantial and the feel of the controls is consistent with that.

Card slots

Perhaps the most baffling decision on the Zf: two card slots hidden in the battery compartment, one of which is a UHS-I Micro SD slot.

Nikon has given the Zf two card slots, but to keep its size under control, has opted to make the second card slot a MicroSD type. These are pretty small and can be fiddly to insert and remove from the camera, so it might make sense to leave a fast microSD card in the camera at all times as overflow, rather than planning on removing it too often. That said, while the SD slot is UHS II compatible, the Micro SD is only UHS I.

The slots are positioned next to one another in the battery compartment, adding an extra layer of inconvenience, especially for tripod users, though the speed of the USB-C port means it's easy enough to get data off the camera or power into it, without accessing the underside door at all.

Viewfinder

The Zf has a 3.68M dot EVF, which is not especially high by today's standards. Without the super-fast dedicated readout path that the Z8's sensor offers, it can't match the near-zero-lag experience that that camera does. Overall, it's a pretty middling viewfinder experience, but one definitely improved by the pretty good 0.8x magnification.

Screen

The Zf's rear touchscreen is fully articulated: a choice that made more sense on the more video and social media-focused Z fc. It's a 2.1M dot LCD that we found to work well even in bright light, but I suspect we won't be alone in having preferred the two-way tilt arrangement of the Z8's screen, which could potentially have made the camera a fraction slimmer.

Battery

The Zf uses the same EN-EL15c battery as the majority of Nikon's mid-range cameras, which powers it to a respectable rating of 380 shots per charge (LCD) and 360 shots per charge (EVF). These numbers rise to 430 and 410 shots per charge if you turn energy saving mode on. It's rechargeable over the camera's USB C port, of which, unlike the Z8, there's just one.

Unlike the Z6 II, there's no option to mount a battery grip to the Zf.

Initial impressions

By Richard Butler
Published Sept 20 2023

When Nikon introduced the smaller-sensor Z fc model, it made very clear that it was a camera designed for social media content creators, hoping to attract some of the younger photographers who've perhaps learned the craft on second-hand 70s and 80s film SLRs. But Nikon can't have missed the number of established photo enthusiasts who said they wanted a full-frame version.

That said, Nikon is also likely to remember that the initial buzz generated by the teaser videos for its last retro full-framer (the rather half-baked Df) didn't turn into the sales success it was hoping for.

However, where the Df was a rather misproportioned lump that commanded a significant premium over the D610 on which it was heavily based, the Zf is an altogether more handsome affair (and if you're aiming to attract a style-conscious audience, that matters), and one that out-specs the Z6 II while selling for the same price.

In fact, in the absence of a Z6 III, the Zf becomes the company's best-specced camera around the high-contested $2K price point. It still seems to use the same image sensor as the previous Z6s but features the newer Expeed 7 processor from the Z9 and Z8, which brings updates such as the mirrorless camera implementation of the company's '3D Tracking' system.

"In the absence of a Z6 III, the Zf becomes the company's best-specced camera around the high-contested $2K price point"

These days we can simply call it 'tracking,' as the majority of brands have now adopted a comparable approach of simply following whatever is under your chosen AF point (or near to it, in the case of most subject recognition systems). It's such an obvious approach that, for once, the term 'intuitive' might almost be appropriate, but the idea of integrating tracking into the main AF interface really started with Nikon, so it's great to see the Zf catch up to the 'best practice' approach that Nikon itself pioneered.

Multiple multi-shot modes

In a more reactive manner, Nikon has also become one of the last brands to add a multi-shot high-res mode to its camera. Multi-shot modes that try to cancel out the effect of the Bayer filter or oversample the scene to produce more detailed images have become increasingly common as engineers look for ways to exploit the presence of in-body stabilization mechanisms.

In many instances, they're not terribly useful: often requiring tripods and near-static subjects, with a combination of images often requiring proprietary desktop software. There are clearly lots of patents protecting different implementations, as almost every brand appears to take its own approach (in terms of the number of shots and degree of in-camera processing).

The Zf offers a range of modes, including one that takes a staggering 32 images, collected in around four seconds, to deliver a 96MP final image. That's a long time during which your subject might move, which undermines its usefulness, but there are at least other options if your subject doesn't include much motion. So, perhaps primarily in the interest of people who like to wage brand wars over the obscure ends of the spec sheets, Nikon now offers the feature.

In use the Zf was enjoyable during the period I got to use it. The distinctive styling was something of a curse, given Nikon's concerns about it being seen out in the wild, but from today onwards, it's more likely to be an asset. The camera I used was the all-black version, but six other leatherette color schemes will also be available. There's no news of a silver/black version. It's not clear whether this is because of the challenge of delivering matched silvers across different materials to maintain the camera's premium character or because Nikon plans a special edition at some point in the future.

The pre-production camera I was using started to show temperature warnings after around two hours of stills shooting, but it should be noted that I was shooting in 32°C (90°F) conditions, often in direct sunshine. It didn't get warm enough to start a countdown to auto shutoff, though.

AF tracking isn't as sticky as with the Z8 and Z9. This isn't a huge surprise but, for instance, when I tried to pick out a particular part of a flower, the Zf's tracking target would sometimes wander off the specific detail I'd been wanting it to track. Performance with a recognized subject appeared excellent, though, with seemingly unerring tracking of eyes, for instance.

Ultimately, though, the Zf moves things forward from the Z6 II and finally seems to deliver the camera that so many people hoped the Df would be. Now if only the barriers to Sigma introducing its compact, aperture ring-sporting i-series primes for Z-mount could be overcome, then things would get very interesting indeed.

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Operation and handling

It's been interesting to encounter such a squared off camera after decades of increasingly large stick-out grips. The Zf's weight and squareness meant I found it would cut into my little finger if I didn't make a conscious effort to maintain most of the weight using my left hand, supporting the lens. This was particularly acute when the Zf was combined with a heavier lens, such as the 24-70mm F2.8.

We also found the Zf offers a little less customization than we'd expect of a camera at this level. The Zf appears to have five customizable buttons, as the Z6 II does, but one of these is the Playback button, effectively leaving you with four if you actually want to be able to review your images. Similarly, the Zf includes the usual options to change exposure comp without pressing a button, and letting you choose whether the front or rear command dial changes the setting, but these only have any function if the dedicated exposure comp dial is deactivated by turning it to its 'C' position, so for much of the time one of the camera's command dials has no function. No one has considered letting you assign ISO to a command dial, for instance, so quick access to ISO requires a button press and takes up one of your precious custom buttons, and again this button stops working if you select a specific ISO value from the dial. Oddly, this means you also lose the ability to disengage or engage Auto ISO, if you turn the ISO dial. The overall effect is quirky, to say the least.

The dials play a central part in the camera's retro appeal but the way they interact with some button and dial functions takes some getting used to.

Unlike previous Nikons, there's no way to quickly access the 'minimum shutter speed' value if you use Auto ISO. Some previous models let you assign this option to the camera's My Menu list, meaning you could gain quick access by setting a custom button to 'Access top item in My Menu,' but the Zf doesn't allow this. Overall it feels like no one has really thought through the full impact or opportunity of adding the dedicated shutter speed and exposure comp dials to the camera.

Combine all this with the lack of AF joystick – the four-way controller defaults to AF point positioning but isn't as quick or as well-positioned – and the Zf is not as fast or fluid a camera to use as the Z6s were, nor the likes of Panasonic's S5 II, its most closely-priced competitor.

It gets a lot right, though: its on-screen interface is relatively clean, in an era succumbing to increased clutter, and the menus are pretty well laid out, albeit very, very long. It's hard to escape the suspicion that the same components in the form of a Z6 III would be a much more effective photographic tool. Albeit one that's nothing like as pretty.

Image quality

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

The Nikon Zf is based on the widely-used 24MP BSI CMOS sensor, so there are no great surprises to its image quality. In terms of detail capture, it does exactly as you'd expect a 24MP sensor to. And the performance both at moderately high and very high ISO is very good, as you'd expect.

Nikon's default JPEG sharpening is very large radius, so it appears to be capturing much less detail than its peers (even though we know from the Raws that this isn't the case). Color exhibits standard Nikon response with lots of punch and saturation. Yellows are vibrant with no green or orange tint but the pink closest to a generic caucasian skintone is notably brighter and more pink than either the Sony or Canon renderings. We tried to include plenty of portraits in the gallery so you can decide what you think of this.

The Zf's noise reduction at high ISO smooths away noise pretty well but takes a lot of the fine detail with it. Overall it's a very similar performance to the Z6 II, which we really liked.

Dynamic range

Again there are no surprises from the Zf's sensor. It's been around for a few years, but we've not encountered any chips that are significantly better in a mid-priced camera. At base ISO the camera adds very little noise, so there's scope to reduce exposure to protect highlights, with the reduction in exposure being the main source of noise and the limit on how far you can push things. Its dual gain design means there's even less shadow noise from ISO 800 upwards, and minimal benefit to increasing the ISO above that point. In low light scenes with bright highlights, underexposing ISO 800 by three stops and then brightening should give similar noise to ISO 6400 but with three additional stops of highlights preserved in the Raw.

Exposure latitude | ISO Invariance

White balance in the real world

Auto WB (Keep overall atmosphere)	Reprocessed in-camera: Natural light Auto WB

The camera’s auto white balance lets you decide how completely the camera tries to cancel-out the effect of the color of the light you’re shooting under. It defaults to ‘Keep overall atmosphere,’ with a more extreme ‘Keep white (reduce warm colors)’ option or a less severe ‘Keep warm lighting colors’ setting. We found the last of these to give the nicest results: even the default middle-ground setting can tend to render subjects a little cold/blue. There’s also a ‘Natural light Auto’ mode that works better for outdoor shooting. It’s definitely worth switching to this mode when you know you’ll be shooting outdoors, but it’s bit of a disappointment that the standard auto mode isn’t as set-and-forget as you might hope.

Autofocus

The Nikon Zf is the first mirrorless model to include 3D Tracking autofocus but not have a super-fast readout Stacked CMOS sensor to drive it. The distinction between this and the tracking on previous models is twofold: firstly it's an AF area mode, just like any other, rather an optional feature engaged separately from area modes and, secondly, it doesn't need to be disengaged once initiated: release the AF-On or shutter button and the AF point reverts to wherever it was originally placed: no 'cancel' required and no resetting to the center of the scene.

The Nikon Zf’s AF tracking is generally very good and noticeably improved, compared with the previous generation models, such as the Z6 II and Z5. The 3D tracking mode does a good job of staying on the target you’d pointed it at. The performance improves still further if you select one of the camera’s subject recognition modes to run alongside it.

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In our basic AF tracking test the basic 3D tracking mode would tend to lose track of the subject as it passed through one of the corners (where the subject’s approach rate changes, as well as its direction). It would typically find the subject again when it returned near to the center of the frame, where the AF was initially placed. This was a somewhat surprising result, as we didn't encounter this often in our more general shooting. The camera gave the same result repeatedly, though, which suggests performance can vary with subject.

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However, engaging human/face detection ensured the camera didn’t ever lose the subject. It continued to work, regardless of whether the subject was wearing dark glasses, obscuring part of the face.

However, it’s also noticeable that portraits taken with face detection aren’t always perfectly focused on the eye itself. The camera’s detection and the persistence of its tracking is very good but the precision isn’t always as high as some of its immediate peers, with a tendency to focus just in front of the eye itself. That said, eye detection and the way it respects the selected AF point make it a really valuable feature on the camera, meaning you can focus on the camera’s other settings and on interacting with your subject, rather than having to think about focus.

The improved AF tracking extends to video mode, where it was recognizably weaker on previous models. Overall we got the sense that the Zf’s autofocus doesn’t quite match the pro-level performance of the Z8 and Z9 but brings Nikon’s AF behavior and handling to the point it’s very competitive with its rivals.

Video

Despite the 80's styling, the Zf has mic and headphone sockets to support its pretty capable video feature set. The HDMI socket is of the rather sensitive 'micro' variety, so we wouldn't plan on making it the center of our workflow.

The Zf's 24MP sensor was one of the first full-frame sensors from which manufacturers squeezed 4K footage. It reads out quickly enough that the Zf can deliver 4K video derived from 6K capture at up to 30p or it can shoot 60p if you crop into an APS-C region of the sensor ('DX' in Nikon's terminology).

But the Zf does more with the sensor than the Z6 or Z6 II did, gaining internal 10-bit capture with Log and HLG recording, giving more flexibility to the editing and output options. It also gains waveform displays for helping you expose your Log footage, making it a much more usable video camera.

The Zf's 24p footage is more detailed than it was from the Nikon Z6 II, but it becomes noticeably less sharp in its 60p mode. You probably wouldn't notice this difference, intercutting between footage from the two, but the smaller capture region used for 60p will mean it gets noisier, faster, as will the need to use shorter exposures, so for indoor shooting, expect cuts to slowed-down 60p to have a little extra graininess to them.

Rolling shutter for the full-width footage measures around 22ms. This is reasonable (Panasonic's high-end, video-centric S1H from a few years ago gives a very similar performance), but it's not great. 22ms is slow enough that attempts to pan the camera or capture fast movement across the frame will see vertical lines become horizontally skewed, and this distortion can interact badly with the camera's attempt to shift the sensor to stabilize its footage, causing slight jitter in the footage.

The use of a relatively slow UHS-I Micro SD card as the camera's second memory card slot means it's not really practical to leave a card in the smaller slot and use it as internal memory for shooting video to. You can shoot video to the SD slot and stills to Micro SD but you risk blunting the camera's performance that way.

Image stabilization

The camera's image stabilization is pretty good, with digital stabilization applying a 1.25x crop that gives the camera room to move that crop around within the video capture region in order to cancel out unintended motion. The stabilization is quite smooth, gently drifting around rather than trying to maintain a tripod-like lock on proceedings. But, as mentioned, there is some vertical jitter introduced when stabilization is active, presumably as the camera moves the region its capturing while the existing area was still being read-out.

Sample video

We shot this video entirely handheld and you can see the camera does a good job of stabilizing the image. However, you can definitely notice the jitter that gets introduced by eVR in the clips where we're moving the camera to keep pace with our subject.

All shots in the video were also taken using autofocus, using custom-shaped AF areas and, where appropriate, human detection. We reduced the AF speed and nudged the AF target box to conduct the far-to-near focus pull in the middle of the video, but most other shots were left at the default focus speed, and the camera did a good job of maintaining focus without drawing attention to any changes in focusing distance.

The camera's waveform monitor was particularly useful for exposing the N-Log footage used on the ferry, where there's a vast difference in brightness between the overcast grey outside and the low-lit interior. Nikon hasn't yet published a LUT for the Zf's implementation of N-Log, so we had to use the one for the Z6 II, which pushes the highlights very bright and the shadows quite dark, so it's hard to assess how well exposed these clips are, but the waveform display meant we were able to protect the highlights from clipping.

Overall the Zf was a more capable video camera to shoot with than its retro styling might suggest.

Conclusion

The Nikon Zf looks a lot like the camera everyone was hoping the Df would be: a cutting-edge camera styled to look like one of Nikon's classic models from the early 80s, without too much additional size or weight. And I think most people would agree it succeeds spectacularly from an aesthetic perspective.

We're a little less convinced when it comes to the camera's handling. Even compared with the cameras it's modeled on, the Zf can become uncomfortable to hold after a while, and we found it hard to shake the perception that Nikon's engineers hadn't really thought-through the full implications of having dedicated dials when they copied over most behaviors from their other cameras.

The Zf is a lovely camera to sling over your shoulder when you're out for the day. Until you mount a heavy lens on the front. Nikkor Z 24-70mm F2.8 S @ 40mm | F5.6 | 1/100 sec | ISO 100 Processed in Adobe Camera Raw: straightened, highlights reduced, white balance adjusted Photo: Richard Butler

The Zf works less and less well, the larger the lens you mount on it, and Nikon's range of lenses doesn't have many small, light options. Worse still, there's plenty to suggest that it's blocking third-party makers from filling that gap. Relatedly, Nikon's Z lenses tend not to have aperture rings, but the Zf mimics the control layout of cameras from a system in which they did, which isn't ideal.

So, while the Nikon offers a distinct image quality benefit over the likes of Fujifilm's X-T series, the Fujifilm cameras have size, weight and a wide choice of small lenses with aperture rings on their side. This and a higher level of operational consistency has the unfortunate effect of showing how this concept can be delivered more successfully.

Improved autofocus tracking and subject recognition give the Zf a distinct edge over previous mid-range Z series cameras. Nikkor Z 85mm F1.8 S | F8.0 | 1/160 sec | ISO 720 Photo: Richard Butler

The Zf's performance is very good, though. It's built around a excellent, well-proven sensor and delivers very good autofocus performance, particularly with subject recognition engaged. It's also a remarkably capable video camera, providing a level of flexibility and capability that its classic styling might otherwise disguise. Again this was supported by its much-improved autofocus.

We're sure a lot of enthusiast photographers will happily work around the Zf's quirks and oddities, in return for getting to own and use a camera that has so much character to it, and they won't be let down by the photos it produces. But having used Fujifilm X-T cameras so much, and knowing what the likes of Sigma's i-series lenses would add, it's hard not to contemplate what might have been.

Speaking as someone for whom the Zf's styling has a powerful resonance, I thought I was going to love this camera. But having used it for several months, my head says Silver, even though my heart says Gold.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

Compared to its peers

The Canon EOS R6 II is still the camera to beat in this class. It's more expensive than the Nikon and no longer offers such an advantage in terms of autofocus, but it can shoot full-width 4K/60p, can capture faster bursts and is simply nicer from a handling and operation perspective. Both cameras are restricted to relatively limited lens ranges, with Nikon at least allowing some third-party options in, but it's worth checking that the lenses you want are available at reasonable prices before opting for either camera.

The Sony a7 IV is another strong contender at this price. It offers slightly higher resolution (and more sophisticated JPEG processes emphasize the difference) and slightly more dependable autofocus than the Nikon. It's not especially strong as a video camera, though, and costs more than the Zf, making it a slightly less capable all-rounder. The wider choice of lenses comes out clearly in favor of the Sony, with the likes of Sigma's affordable i Series optics making a great match.

The i Series lenses are also available for the L-mount used by Panasonic's S5 II and S5 II X. The operation and handling of the Panasonic pair are also significantly nicer than those of the Nikon. However, even with phase detect AF having been added to the S5 II, the Zf has a simpler and more dependable AF system than the Panasonics. And, perhaps unexpectedly, the Nikon's video capabilities are a good match for those of the S5 II, so overall we found the Nikon to be that bit more usable.

Finally, it's worth considering the comparison with Fujifilm's similarly-styled X-T5. The Fujifilm is based around a smaller sensor, giving the Nikon an immediate image quality advantage and greater flexibility in terms of depth-of-field. The X-T5 is also arguably less good at video: it seems to offer better specs on paper but varying crops and rolling shutter means that advantage disappears when the bits hit the memory card. But the Fujifilm is nicer to use, despite its ostensibly similar control ethos, and the smaller size, lighter weight and slight front bulge make it more comfortable to use. And, of course, the X-mount offers many, many more lenses, including a vast range of primes, that work well on the X-T5. On balance it's a more difficult choice than it might initially seem.

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Sample gallery

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Review sample gallery

Preview sample gallery

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When we published our iPhone 15 Pro Sample Gallery, we didn’t yet have an iPhone 15 Pro Max model in hand. In addition to boasting a larger 6.7-inch screen, the Max differentiates itself by having a 5x (120mm equivalent) telephoto camera with a clever tetraprism design. The iPhone 15 Pro’s telephoto camera, meanwhile, shares the same 3x (77mm equivalent) field of view as the iPhone 14 Pro. Is the extra reach worth the bigger physical size and higher cost?

The main and ultra-wide cameras on both iPhone 15 Pro models share the same specs, so this gallery is heavy on photos shot with the telephoto camera. Each of the three lenses on an iPhone 15 Pro is a separate camera sensor, so the image resolutions fluctuate. The main camera can capture up to 48MP, but the telephoto will only output 12MP images.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max's 120mm equivalent field of view is handy when capturing distant details, but it’s also within a favorite range for portrait photographers. The iPhone’s fixed-aperture lenses won’t deliver the same beautiful bokeh as a good 120mm lens, but we found that it does optically soften the background a little — not in an especially eye-catching way, but enough to give a bit more separation from a subject. You can additionally apply Portrait mode, of course, which is automatically enabled if the iPhone detects a person or pet, and you can choose whether the simulated bokeh effect is applied by default or just made available when you edit the image. We include a sample of each.

All of the photos in this gallery were captured by an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and they’re straight out of camera except in a few instances where we’ve noted minor edits using Apple Photos.

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The Canon EOS R100 is an ultra-compact 24 Megapixel APS-C mirrorless camera with an RF mount. It is the cheapest way to enter Canon's mirrorless ecosystem, offering more flexibility than a smartphone.

Key features:

• 24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor with Dual Pixel AF
• 3.5 fps burst shooting with autofocus (6.5 fps without)
• 4K/24p video capture from a cropped region of the sensor
• High-speed 120 fps shooting at 1280 x 720
• 2.36M dot OLED viewfinder
• 3", 1.04M dot fixed display (non-touchscreen)
• External mic input

The R100 sits at the bottom of Canon's mirrorless lineup, below the EOS R50. It has recommended prices of $479 body-only, $599 with the RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM lens, and $829 with the 18-45mm and an RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM telephoto lens.

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Index:

• What is it?
• How it compares
• Body & handling
• Autofocus
• Image quality
• Video
• Conclusion
• Scoring
• Sample Gallery
• Specifications

What is it?

The EOS R100 is more-or-less the equivalent of the EOS Rebel T7 (EOS 2000D) digital SLR in that it uses a lot of components from cameras of years past. That means a dated sensor, processor and autofocus system. The R100 also has a fixed display that is not touch-enabled, which is jarring in the smartphone era.

Sensor and processor

The R100's 24 Megapixel APS-C sensor dates back several years and is likely similar to the one used on the EF-M mount EOS M200, M50 and M50 II. Just because it's on the older side doesn't mean that it's not competitive; quite the contrary, as you'll see below.

The Digic 8 processor is also a generation behind the Digic X chip used in the newest Canon models, having first appeared in 2018. In addition to faster overall performance and higher frame rate 4K video, the main thing Digic 8 users miss out on is advanced subject recognition autofocus.

Autofocus

The R100 uses Canon's Dual Pixel autofocus system, using every pixel as a depth-aware autofocus point, albeit the previous version. It can recognize faces and eyes, but for animal and car detection, you'll need to step up to the more expensive EOS R50. It offers a dedicated face detection + tracking mode, along with spot, 1-point, and zone focus areas. Since the R100 lacks a touchscreen or AF joystick, you'll move the focus point around using its four-way controller.

Creative Assist mode

The R100 has many, but not all, of Canon's features to make adjusting camera settings accessible to beginners. Modes that use multiple exposures cannot be found on the R100. Again, you'll need to step up to use those.

The background blur option lets the user adjust the aperture using a simple slider interface.

The main feature here is Creative Assist, which is available in Intelligent Auto mode. This mode has a simple interface using terminology that first-time photographers will understand. For example, the term 'Brightness' is used instead of 'exposure compensation,' while 'Background Blur' is actually controlling the aperture. Color presets such as Vivid, Soft, and Black & White are also available.

In Food mode, one of several scene modes, users can adjust the color tone to get accurate white balance in artificial lighting.

Several of the scene modes allow you to adjust settings easily. For instance, you can adjust the color tone (a/k/a white balance) in food mode, or how blurry the background is when you pan the camera in panning mode. Since the R100's burst rate is quite low (3.5 fps with AF) and the buffer fills very quickly, so don't expect miracles in sport or panning modes.

Video

It's nice to see an input for an external mic on a camera in this price range. The R100 also supports Canon's RS-60E3 remote shutter release.

The EOS R100 captures 4K/24p video using a 1.5x crop from the center of the sensor. This has a number of downsides: it makes it very difficult to maintain a wide-angle view of the world (the wide end of the 18-45mm kit lens ends up being equivalent to a not-wide-at-all 43mm). It also means you get the additional noise of effectively using a smaller sensor. And, if you turn on Digital IS for shake reduction, an additional 1.1x crop is added.

If you're shooting wide-angle footage, then the best inexpensive lens for the job is the RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM, which is 24mm equiv. at its wide end with Digital IS turned off.

There are several other issues related to 4K capture that we'll mention further down in this review.

Lens selection

The RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens in its collapsed position.

If you're looking for a large selection of RF-mount lenses designed for APS-C cameras (known as RF-S), we have bad news: there are only four at the time of publication. They include the collapsable 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM, 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM ($349), the versatile 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM ($499), and ultra-wide 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM ($329).

You can also buy Canon's regular RF-mount lenses, designed for its full-frame bodies, but they aren't cheap. Since Canon keeps its lens mount design private, third-party lenses aren't likely to come anytime soon (though Sigma will reportedly release full-frame lenses this year). You can also add an adapter to mount older EF and EF-S lenses for DSLRs, but both these options can get unwieldy quickly, undermining the point of buying such a small body.

Wireless connectivity

While lacking many other features, the R100 includes full wireless connectivity, Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only), and Bluetooth 4.2.

The Canon Camera Connect app (iOS, Android) can be used for camera control (with or without live view), image transfer, geolocation, and firmware updates. It can also upload images to Canon's 'image.canon' cloud service. The Android app we tested with the camera was responsive and bug-free.

How it compares

We've already described the main differences between the EOS R100 and its more expensive peer, the R50. Here's how the R100 sizes up against two of its closest competitors.

The table above illustrates what you're giving up to save about $200: speed, user experience (via the LCD), and the hefty 4K crop mentioned earlier. That said, if you're interested in shooting 4K, you probably won't buy a camera with a fixed non-touch display (enter the EOS R50).

Body and handling

The EOS R100 is one of Canon's smallest SLR-style bodies. Yes, even smaller than the Rebel SL3 (EOS 250D) from way back in 2019. While the R100 is the same size as the R50, it's about 20 grams (0.7 ounces) lighter, probably due to the difference in LCD design. The R100's body is largely composite and is very light in the hand. The available RF-S lenses make for a nice balance, though that will change if you attach heavier RF glass.

Small cameras come with small grips, but Canon has done an excellent job of making the R100 easy to grasp. While there is a decent-sized thumb rest, it's pretty easy to press a button accidentally. The R100 has a single control dial and no joystick, requiring the use of the four-way controller in certain situations, such as shooting in 'M' mode or moving the focus point around. The majority of the buttons are customizable to some extent.

The camera's LCD and EVF are average at best, though this is a cheap camera. The real disappointment is the lack of a touchscreen. We are more than fifteen years into the smartphone era, after all. The EVF is also a bit small compared to many of its peers, though there's little room for a larger one.

The R100 has a USB-C socket, but transfer speeds are slow, and it cannot be used for charging. A micro-HDMI port is also seen here.

In terms of input/output sockets, Canon includes those for micro-HDMI, USB-C, wired remote, and mic input. The latter is a surprise, given that the R100 isn't a vlogging camera, but we'll take it. The R100 can't capture true HDR stills or video but can display HDR interpretations of its Raw files over HDMI, if you have a modern high dynamic range TV.

There are some critical things to know about the USB-C socket. First, it runs at USB 2.0 speeds up to 480Mbps. Second, and more importantly, the USB socket does not support charging or powering the camera. It's for file transfer only, which is disappointing.

The R100 uses Canon's venerable LP-E17 battery, which stores 7.5 Wh of energy. From this the R100 can eke out some of the best battery life in its class. Officially, the camera can take 430 shots using the LCD and 340 using the viewfinder in 'power saving' mode, which sees the screens darken and the camera go to sleep if you've not pressed a button recently. The industry-standard rating system tends to significantly under-represent the number of shots you're likely to get, though. It's not unusual to get double the rated number of shots from a camera.

Switching to 'smooth' mode, which increases the frame rate of the display, will reduce battery life, as will frequent use of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

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Autofocus

While its feature set isn't as robust as on higher-end Canon models, the R100 still performs well when shooting stills. It doesn't have animal detection or anything like that but recognizes human faces and eyes without issue. Setting the AF point is a bit of a pain since there's no joystick or touchscreen; you must use the four-way controller to tap-tap-tap from point to point. To switch between faces, you press the AF select button and then use the left/right directions on the controller.

Converted from Raw using ACR 16.2. White balance adjusted. RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 @ 50mm equiv. | ISO 1000 | 1/100 sec | F5.6 Photo: Jeff Keller

Despite not having Canon's latest autofocus system, the R100 was still quite capable in our tests. It acquired subjects quickly, and it could keep subjects in focus as they approached the camera. The tracking feature worked very well when tested with a child running erratically, remaining locked into their face (or eye) most of the time.

Image quality

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors, and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes, full even light and low directional light, to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

The EOS R100's sensor captures a lot of detail, holding its own against the Sony a6100 and Nikon Z50. Our scene shows some false color in areas of high-contrast detail, but this is mainly down to us using an insanely sharp (and expensive) lens. Even this is (mostly) eliminated by the camera's JPEG engine. The Canon generally controls moiré artifacts quite well: compare the Jack's hair with the Nikon to see the slight difference.

At middle ISOs the R100's older sensor is slightly noisier than its peers. The same is true at even higher sensitivities: ISO 6400 in this example.

The R100's JPEGs have vibrant, saturated color that can be seen in our studio scene and the real world. Images have a good amount of sharpening (in our opinion), and Canon goes easy on the noise reduction, allowing fine detail to remain intact. Noise levels are competive at ISO 1600 but are a bit behind its peers at ISO 6400.

Out-of-camera JPEG	Raw conversion +100 shadows

We were pleased to see that the R100's sensor lets you brighten shadows with only a slight increase in noise. In low light, noise will be slightly more pronounced when you pull up the shadows, but it's still competitive. (Note: Adobe Camera Raw applied lens distortion correction in the converted photo.)

Video

As mentioned earlier, the EOS R100 captures heavily cropped 4K/24p video and uncropped 1080/60p footage. Turning on digital image stabilization, which is quite effective, adds an additional (but small) crop. The R100 can also capture 120p footage, albeit at 1280 x 720 resolution and with manual focus. The camera doesn't have the bells and whistles of the EOS R50, like vertical video shooting or HDR. You can at least adjust the exposure manually.

In 1080 mode the video quality looks good. That said, several issues make the R100 a subpar choice for 4K video capture. Not only is the footage cropped, but it also suffers from significant rolling shutter, which creates distortion that makes straight lines appear curved. You'll see this when panning the camera or if a past subject passes by. Thankfully, this unflattering effect is mild in 1080p mode.

We measured the rolling shutter rate in 4K mode at 35ms and usually consider anything over 25ms to be bad. It won't take much camera movement for the effect to become noticeable.

Unsurprisingly, the R100 has a dedicated video recording button. To capture 4K footage, you must put the mode dial into the video position.

The other issue is autofocus. When shooting 1080p footage, everything is lovely; the camera uses its Dual Pixel AF system, which is responsive when subjects are initially acquired and if they move. 4K capture is a different story because the R100 uses contrast detection, which involves a lot of back-and-forth hunting as the camera struggles to lock focus. It's not good.

Combining all that with the lack of an articulating touchscreen, the R100 is not a great choice for those looking for an inexpensive camera with video capabilities.

Conclusion

RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 @ 35mm equiv. | ISO 100 | 1/200 sec | F9 Photo: Jeff Keller

There are two ways in which you can evaluate the Canon EOS R100. For a camera that sells for under $500 with a kit lens, it does what it needs to do. That said, the R100's technology is dated, so it lacks Canon's bells and whistles and has several compromises. The lack of a touchscreen is a massive disappointment in 2024. But, if you want to spend as little as possible, the R100 does take very nice photos and is easy to carry around.

RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 @ 18mm equiv. | ISO 100 | 1/160 sec | F7.1 Photo: Jeff Keller

That said, if you can dig $250 out of your sofa cushions, you can get a much, much nicer camera, the EOS R50, if you want to stay in Canon's ecosystem. (Hint: The R50 kit can sometimes be found factory refurbished for around $600.)

Even if you buy a higher-end model, you'll hit the same limitation: there just aren't many RF-S lenses. And, if you're spending under $500 on a camera kit, a $1000+ lens is probably out of reach.

RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 @ 35mm equiv. | ISO 100 | 1/200 sec | F10 Photo: Jeff Keller

If you want to join the mirrorless world, the Canon EOS R100 is one of the least expensive ways to get there. It's not a camera we're jumping up and down about, but it does what it's supposed to: take pretty photos. Overall, though, there are too many compromises negatively affecting the shooting experience for us to be able to recommend it.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

Compared to its peers

In this review, we've already compared the R100 to Canon's step-up model, the EOS R50. In short, if you want into the modern Canon mirrorless system, it's worth the extra money to get the R50. The autofocus is more sophisticated, as are its video capabilities, but it's the added usability that comes from the articulated touchscreen that makes the difference between wanting to use the camera and not.

Another camera that's worth a look is the Sony a6100. It's more expensive than even the R50 and is five years old but still quite competitive. Its 24MP sensor is reliable, the autofocus is excellent, and the 4K video is much more detailed. Its electronic viewfinder and battery life are bigger and better than those of its peers. The a6100 also suffers from significant rolling shutter when capturing 4K, and its interface isn't very refined. Unlike Canon's APS-C mirrorless cameras, plenty of lenses are available for this E-mount camera.

The OM System (formerly Olympus) E-M10 Mark IV is an attractive Micro Four Thirds camera with many physical controls. Its image quality might be a bit behind the other cameras mentioned due to its smaller sensor, and its autofocus system is less robust. Still, it makes up for that by offering in-body image stabilization, uncropped 4K video, and fast burst shooting. The Micro Four Thirds lens system is expansive, as well.

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85%

Overall score

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The Fujifilm XF 23mm F2 R WR is a very compact, portable, wide-angle prime lens for Fujifilm X-mount cameras.

It makes a great walkaround lens and is well-suited for uses like travel and street photography, as well as things such as moderately wide landscapes and environmental portraiture.

The XF 23mm F2 R WR carries a list price of $450.

Index:

• How it compares
• Handling
• Autofocus and focus breathing
• For videographers
• Image quality
• Conclusion
• Samples

Key specifications:

• Focal length: 23mm (35mm-equivalent)
• Aperture range: F2 - F16
• In-lens stabilization: No
• Filter thread: 43mm
• Close focus: 0.22m (8.7")
• Maximum magnification: 0.13x
• Diaphragm blades: 9
• Hood: Included, plastic
• Weight: 180g (6.4oz)
• Optical construction: 10 elements in 6 groups, two aspherical

Fujifilm X-H2 | ISO 125 | 1/220 sec | F 4 Photo: Mike Tomkins

All images edited in Capture One with manufacturer's corrections applied. Adjustments limited to white balance, exposure, highlights, shadows, white and black levels.

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How it compares

Although it has quite a few rivals that are at least in its ballpark, the XF 23mm F2 is a lens with no direct competition, either from Fujifilm or third parties. Unlike every other X-mount option at this focal length, it opts for a slightly less bright F2.0 maximum aperture instead of the more typical F1.4.

That means you'll need to use up to a one-stop longer shutter speed to maintain a similar exposure level, or you'll need to accept a lower exposure and increase the ISO. It also won't give you quite the same potential for bokeh-licious backgrounds when shooting up close. However, the narrower aperture is the special sauce, making this lens much more travel-friendly than the F1.4 alternatives.

Below, we compare the XF 23mm F2 against its AF-equipped F1.4 rivals:

The eagle-eyed will note one intentional omission, as Fujifilm itself has offered two different 23mm F1.4 lenses for X-mount. Considering their identical pricing and the lack of stock for Fujifilm's earlier XF 23mm F1.4 R, it has largely been replaced by the newer 23mm F1.4 R LM WR model, even if it's not officially discontinued.

Had we included the original Fujifilm 23mm F1.4 R on the list, though, it would be the nearest OEM option in terms of size and weight, even if still larger and heavier by two-thirds. It would also prove somewhat hobbled by stepping motor-driven autofocus and a seven-bladed aperture.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/240 sec | F2 Photo: Rishi Sanyal

Like all other rivals, the newer XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR opts for a nine-bladed aperture instead. Its linear autofocus motor should give it an edge in AF performance, and a more complex optical formula portends better image quality, too. In turn, it'll also focus closer than every rival for a higher maximum magnification and the potential for creamier bokeh.

Both OEM alternatives are double the price of the XF 23mm F2, though, which is pretty standard pricing for lenses that can let in twice as much light. If you want a closer value proposition, you'll need to consider third-party glass. Sigma is the most expensive third-party option, costing 22% more, while the Viltrox is 27% cheaper than the Fujifilm F2.

But there are some tradeoffs to going with one of the faster third-party optics: they're heavier and largely skip on weather sealing, so it depends on what your priorities are.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/180 sec | F2.8 Photo: Samuel Spencer

Sigma does include a seal, but only at the lens mount. Its 23mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary lens is the largest, heaviest and priciest third-party option, but also the most optically sophisticated and closest-focusing, roughly matching the Fuji 23mm F2. It also lacks a physical aperture control on the lens barrel, something provided by every other lens in this comparison.

The Viltrox AF23mm F1.4 XF is the most affordable option by some $120. It's also the lightest alternative to the 23mm F2, although it's still some 44% heavier. Tokina sits somewhere between the Sigma and Viltrox in price, although closer to the latter as it appears to share the same optical design (though possibly with different coatings, firmware etc.)

Speaking of Tokina, note that there's also a renamed PLUS version of its lens. This is identical to the standard variant except for a higher price tag and a bundled lens cloth.

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Handling

Fujifilm's XF 23mm F2 R WR lens isn't just smaller than its F1.4 rivals; it's also an extremely compact lens in its own right. By itself, it measures just 52mm (2.0") long with a 60mm (2.4") diameter, and the included lens hood only adds another 8mm (0.3") to the length.

Despite its solid, all-metal construction, the XF 23mm F2 tips the scales at a svelte 180g (6.4 oz), making for a great walkaround lens. The plastic hood adds just another 8g (0.3 oz), which isn't enough to notice in hand.

The all-metal exterior and nicely damped lens rings help to lend a premium, quality feel.

Thanks to the compact size and minimal weight, balance will not be an issue even on the smallest X-mount camera bodies. And with just two control rings and no buttons, switches or other protrusions, it's about as clean and simple a design as you could hope for.

The frontmost control ring is for manual focus adjustment and, thanks to Fujifilm's by-wire focusing, spins smoothly and without limit in either direction. Nearer to the body mount, the aperture ring has clear markings for full-stop adjustments and a gentle click detent at every 1/3-stop position.

Attaching the plastic lens hood only adds fractionally to the lens' size and weight.

This detent is soft enough that I found myself occasionally skipping slightly past my intended aperture or stopping between detents, but a firmer click stop would be noisier and slower to adjust, so I didn't find this overly concerning.

Nor should you be too troubled by the elements while shooting with the 23mm F2. Comprehensive weather-sealing, not just at the lens mount but also as needed to seal control rings on the barrel.

The weather stayed dry throughout my own shooting, but Fujifilm says that this lens is designed to handle both light rain and dusty environments, so long as it's mounted on a similarly-sealed camera body.

Autofocus and focus breathing

Typically, autofocus performance tends to be less of an issue for wide-angle lenses, and that's certainly true of the XF 23mm F2. Its DC coreless AF motor delivers very swift, consistent, and confident focusing, and I had no issues even in relatively low light levels.

In my testing, autofocus was nearly always very quick, even with extreme changes in focus distance. Focusing is also pretty much silent, so if you disable any camera beeps, it won't distract your subjects in the least.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/125 sec | F 2 Photo: Rishi Sanyal

This lens is also free from focus breathing, so it won't distract your viewers with shifts in focal length as you tweak focus or use it to shoot video.

For videographers

Fujifilm isn't aiming its 23mm F2 lens at videographers, but it could prove useful for video capture. As I mentioned earlier, the focus drive mechanism is quick, confident and essentially silent. Even when controlled manually, the focusing step size is small enough not to be bothersome.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/180 sec | F2 Photo: Rishi Sanyal

The only major downside from a videography perspective is that aperture adjustment isn't stepless or silent, meaning changes will be visible (and possibly audible) if made while recording.

Image quality

Its portability is the real attention-grabber, but this lens also delivers a solid performance on the image quality front, especially in terms of its crispness and lack of distortion.

Sharpness

Stopped down a bit, this shot is pretty crisp all the way out to the corners. Fujifilm X-H2 | ISO 125 | 1/8 sec (tripod-mounted) | F 5.6 Photo: Mike Tomkins

Detail-gathering is a key strength for the Fujifilm XF 23mm F2 R WR, which is excellent news. Even when shooting wide-open, images are crisp in the centers, improving only slightly when stopped down to F2.8.

Corner detail is also pretty good, even when shooting wide-open, although it's noticeably less crisp here than in the centers. You'll want to stop down a little more for the crispest results, achieved around F4.

That said, we're looking here at more typical shooting distances. Although probably not the most frequent use-case for the lens, if your subject is near its minimum focusing distance and you're shooting wide open at the same time, things can get rather soft across the frame. You're best off stopping down a little or shooting further from your subject.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 400 | 1/25 sec | F2 Photo: Samuel Spencer

I didn't notice any significant issues with field curvature, either. The plane of focus is relatively flat, so I didn't see a significant improvement in corner detail if I placed the autofocus point there instead.

Distortion and vignetting

Another strength of the Fujifilm 23mm F2 is its relative lack of distortion. Only very slight barrel distortion is present, which isn't just being corrected in software. The same is true of Raw images processed without any manufacturer corrections, so this is down to the optical characteristics of the lens instead.

Sadly, the same isn't true of vignetting. Relatively strong vignetting is present in Raws shot with the 23mm F2 R WR, and even with Fujifilm's corrections applied in processing, vignetting remains quite noticeable when shooting wide-open.

Fuji's 23mm F2 exhibits only the slightest amount of barrel distortion. Fujifilm X-H2 | ISO 125 | 1/160 sec | F2 Photo: Mike Tomkins

That said, just stopping down from F2 to F2.8 helps significantly and the issue is entirely resolved by F5.6. The vignetting that remains after Fujifilm's Raw processing also has a relatively gentle falloff, which isn't unattractive and could be a positive for some subjects.

And, of course, should it bother you, the remaining vignetting is also pretty easy to correct in post-processing.

F2	F2.8	F4	F5.6	F8
Here, we see a comparison of vignetting levels at five different apertures. Note that these comparisons are being made after Fujifilm's default vignetting correction has been applied. The real vignetting levels before processing are even higher! Photos: Mike Tomkins

Bokeh

Although it won't offer quite the same possibilities as its F1.4 rivals when it comes to bokeh, the Fujifilm 23mm F2 can nevertheless deliver some deliciously blurred-out backgrounds.

Given the tendency for wide-angle lenses towards greater depth of field, you'll need to get quite close to the lens' minimum focusing distance of just over 20cm (∼9"), should you want the best background separation. But since this is a wide-angle optic, it's probably best used for wider portraits rather than closely-shot and tightly-cropped ones, putting you in a bit of an either/or situation. Also, as mentioned above, shooting close-up and wide-open isn't this lens's strong point.

Although it could be tricky to get a lot of background separation other than for nearer subjects, the good news is that backgrounds never feel busy when sufficiently blurred. The transition from in-focus to out-of-focus areas with this lens is quite pleasing, too.

Specular highlights also deliver very nice, rounded bokeh balls when shooting wide-open. Stopping down just a little, though – even just as far as F2.8 – you quickly notice flat spots forming on the bokeh balls and starbursts starting to form on the brightest highlights.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 250 | 1/60 sec | F2 Photo: Rishi Sanyal

While I sometimes noticed a little fine onion ring patterning on specular highlights, this was never strong enough to be objectionable. I did notice a tendency towards a brighter 'soap bubble' ring around bokeh balls.

The lens does create some cat's eye bokeh, which is caused by the obstruction of incoming light by the lens barrel itself and leads the bokeh balls to become squashed on one side, leading them towards more of a cat's eye shape.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 1600 | 1/60 sec | F2 Photo: Rishi Sanyal

Lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration (fringing)

Although lateral chromatic aberration – often called LaCA – isn't an issue for the Fujifilm 23mm F2 R WR, I found it prone to its similarly abbreviated counterpart, LoCA, or longitudinal chromatic aberration. That's a pity, as LoCA is by far the more bothersome of the duo to tame in post-processing.

The good news, though, is that it's pretty easy to solve before you ever get to the processing step in the first place. Stopping down to F2.8 improves the aberration significantly, and it's largely gone by the time you reach F4.

F2	F2.8	F4
Here, we're looking at 100% crops with three different apertures. Notice the blue and red halos on either side of the focal plane and how they have all but disappeared by F4. Photos: Mike Tomkins

Flare, ghosting and sunstars

As I noted in the handling section, Fujifilm includes a very compact and lightweight plastic lens hood in the product bundle for the 23mm F2. This feels less high-end than the rest of the lens, but it definitely helps when you need to shoot at an angle where the sun might be starting to impinge on the front lens element.

Not surprisingly, given its shallow depth, it only moderately extends the range of angles you can shoot while keeping the lens shielded. Fujifilm would have had to make the hood much bulkier were it to have been any more effective, though, so that's certainly understandable.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/90 sec | F11 Photo: Samuel Spencer

So what happens when you have to shoot nearer to the sun? Well, it turns out that the lens is pretty resistant to flare even when shooting very close to (or directly into) the sun. Catch it at the right angle, though, and it will accompany its relatively minor glare with some quite bright and colorful ghosts.

The good news is that you can get quite nice sunstars if you stop down. The aperture's nine blades give 18-pointed sunstars that can have fairly long and crisp rays. The ghosting, if present, sometimes muddies these a bit with colorful streaks in between the main sunrays.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 800 | 1/200 sec | F11 Photo: Rishi Sanyal

Conclusion

The Fujifilm XF 23mm F2 R WR is a lens with quite a bit going for it, but perhaps one of the key factors is the lack of a direct F2 rival. If you want to shoot with a prime lens on a Fujifilm camera at this focal length, your other options are much bulkier, heavier lenses. (And most have less capable autofocus and weather-sealing, too.)

Sure, you trade away a stop-worth of maximum aperture, but in exchange, you get a trimmer and lighter lens, not to mention one that's more affordably priced than all but one of its F1.4 rivals.

However, what if having a faster aperture is a priority? In that case, the Viltrox lens can get you there for more than $100 less, albeit with some of the above-mentioned caveats, and it's about 30% lighter than Fujifilm's own 23mm F1.4 lens. It's still more than 40% heavier than the XF 23mm F2, however, but it could be a good Goldilocks option if you don't need the weather sealing.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/210 sec | F2.5 Photo: Samuel Spencer

Yet despite its portability, the Fujifilm 23mm F2 still feels reassuringly solid in hand, and other than its plastic lens hood, it exudes a feeling of quality.

And it manages all this while delivering pretty solid image quality, with a few caveats. Distortion is nearly nonexistent, and bokeh is generally rather attractive, though you'll get some cat's eyes and mild soap bubble rings wide open, as well as some LoCA. These are tamed by stopping down the lens a little, where the excellent image quality seen at the center of the frame wide open is extended to bring the corners up to scratch as well.

There are still some downsides, like vignetting, a propensity towards LoCA and cat's eye bokeh. There's also the need to get very close to your subjects to maximize background blurring, but, as noted above, sharpness drops off when shooting close and wide open. At this price, and for the level of image quality it offers, not to mention its unique portability, the Fujifilm XF 23mm F2 R WR is a decent option for X-mount shooters unless up-close, wide-open sharpness is a major concern.

Fujifilm X-T2 | ISO 200 | 1/210 sec | F2.8 Photo: Samuel Spencer

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Scoring

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"Habibi" – 2021 World Press Photo Story of the Year Photo: Antonio Faccilongo/World Press Photo

Fujifilm has signed on to sponsor the World Press Photo (WPP) annual awards. The company says it will support workshops, printing services, and provide Fujifilm GFX100 II mirrorless medium format camera kits as prizes. Recipients of World Press Photo of the Year, World Press Photo Story of the Year, World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award, and World Press Photo Open Format Award will each take home a prize package.

The WPP awards rank among the most prestigious accolades in photojournalism and documentary circles. Winning a top prize earns a spot in a traveling exhibition, inclusion in an annual book and a nice resume line that can help open doors to informal portfolio reviews with top editors. This year, winners of four global categories will also take home gear from Fujifilm.

WPP received over 60,000 entries; regional winners will be announced on April 3, 2024, with the global winners announcement on April 18, 2024.

"We are very pleased to announce this strategic partnership with Fujifilm," said Joumana El Zein Khoury, Executive Director of World Press Photo Foundation, in a written statement. "This strategic partnership will help us reach more people, improve our exhibitions, and directly support the news and documentary photography community."

"Straight Voice" – 2020 World Press Photo of the Year Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/World Press Photo

Beyond the GFX100 II camera prize packages (consisting of two lenses and the body), Fujifilm will also sponsor ten workshops in cities worldwide in 2024, with more in the following years. As of press time, scant details on the scope of these workshops or who is eligible to attend have been shared, and only four countries have been listed for where workshops will take place: Australia, Netherlands (WPP's home base), Germany and Mexico. A traveling WPP exhibition is planned in more than 80 cities worldwide, starting in Amsterdam on April 19, 2024.

"We are excited to establish this strategic partnership, enabling us to contribute to the growth of trustworthy storytelling and global communication through the power of photography," said Masato Yamamoto, Fujifim's Director, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Imaging Solutions Division in a press release. "Through this partnership with the World Press Photo Foundation, we support the creative individuals involved in the dynamic field of photography."

A traveling exhibition of winning images will begin in Amsterdam on April 19, 2024. Photo: Frank van Beek/ANP/World Press Photo

The two organizations have gone out of their way to avoid calling this a sponsorship and have leaned into calling it a 'strategic partnership.' The awards have a long pedigree as a platform for journalistic work, not without their fair share of controversy over the years, which is likely the reason for the careful choice of language used.

The 100MP CFV 100C back can be used with existing Hasselblad V-series bodies or with the 907X camera and XCD lenses. Image: Hasselblad

Hasselblad has announced a 100MP version of its CFV digital camera back, which combines with the 907x camera to create the smallest medium format camera on the market.

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The CFV 100C back contains most of the camera functions, meaning the 907x is almost an adaptor plate with a shutter release button. It natively accepts Hasselblad's XCD lenses, designed to match the CFV's 44 x 33mm sensor, but can also accept adaptors to mount HC/HCD lenses, V-series lenses or XPan lenses.

The CFV 100C is built around the same BSI CMOS sensor as the X2D 100C, which Hasselblad claims delivers 15 stops of dynamic range. The chip features on-sensor phase detection and offers face detection autofocus. The back has 1TB of built-in storage and accepts CFexpress Type B memory cards. It has a tilting 3.2", 2.36M dot touchscreen and can be used with a new hotshoe adapter that allows TTL flash metering when used with Nikon-compatible flashes.

Like the closely related X2D 100C, the CFV 100C has an ISO range of 64 up to 25,600 and captures 16-bit Raw files (which Hasselblad wants to market as capturing trillions of colors). It can also shoot 10-bit HEIF files.

The tiny 907X 'camera', seen here between the CFX 100C back and the XCD /38 lens, allows the creation of a small medium format combination that echoes the style of the cameras on which Hasselblad's reputation was founded. Image: Hasselblad

When combined with the 907x camera and XCD lenses, the CFV 100C delivers a compact, autofocus medium format camera styled after Hasselblad's classic 6x6 film cameras (now know as the V Series). This gives access to a 14-strong lens lineup that extends from the 16mm equiv XCD 4/21 up to the 105mm equiv XCD 2.8/135, all of which use in-lens leaf shutters capable of speeds up to 1/4000 sec with flash sync at any shutter speed. The CFV 100C with 907X camera weighs just 620g (21.9oz) without a battery or memory card (roughly 780g / 27.5oz with a battery).

The CFV back uses the standard Hasselblad magazine mount, so can also be used with the majority of other Hasselblad bodies, including 500 and 200-series manual focus cameras (though not the original SWC fixed-lens wideangle cameras). Its use of the 44 x 33mm medium format standard means there'll be a 1.27x crop relative to 645 film, or a 1.21x crop relative to the larger 53.5 x 40mm digital medium format sensors Hasselblad previously used in its H6D-100c camera.

Photo: Hasselblad

The Hasselblad CFV 100C will be available with the 907x for a recommended price of $8199 or €7799 in Europe.

Nikon's Zf is a full-frame camera designed to be a head turner; built around a 24MP BSI CMOS sensor, it combines excellent image quality, very good autofocus and classic styling that borrows from the manufacturer's film bodies of yesteryear. As part of our review we took it out on the streets of London and Seattle, and were pleased to find it didn't attract too much attention to itself.

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In our final review, we found the Zf's image quality to be very similar to the Z6 II, which we also liked and awarded Silver in 2020. Detail capture performance on the Zf was very good across all ISO ranges, even at very high ISO settings. Noise reduction helps smooth out high ISO captures. However, there is a trade-off in that it takes a lot of the fine detail with it.

Color is vibrant and saturated, which aligns with what to expect from Nikon. We've included a wide range of portraits and natural images so you can judge skin tone capture and color for yourself.

View our Nikon Zf sample gallery

We also have our preview sample gallery if you haven't gotten your fill with the sample gallery above. The images in this set were made with a pre-production Nikon Zf and were limited to out-of-camera JPEG samples.

View our Nikon Zf preview sample gallery

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Sony World Photography Awards Student and Youth shortlists announced

Photo: Chengchen Wang, China Mainland, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

This week, the World Photography Organization announced the shortlist for Student and Youth Photographer of the Year, a subset of the broader Sony World Photography Awards of 2024.

The students, all attendees of institutes of higher learning, each put together bodies of work based on the prompt "Home." The photos run the gamut, depicting the inside of some of the photographers' actual homes, while others speak more broadly to the cultures of the various countries they hail from.

The youth photographers, all 19 or under, shot for the prompt "Through Your Eyes," with results covering landscape, portraits, astrophotography and more.

The winners will be announced on April 18th 2024, but you can feast your eyes on all the contenders right here, right now.

Lonely Surfer

Photographer Name: Daniel Murray

Image Name: Lonely Surfer

Year: 2024

Image Description: I took this picture in Newquay, Cornwall, at the start of summer to capture the figure on the beach. I felt that this moment summed up Cornwall quite nicely in one picture.

Copyright: © Daniel Murray, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Flock of Magic

Photographer Name: Zy Grei Zander Esperanza

Image Name: Flock of Magic

Year: 2024

Image Description: This is an image inspired by the photographer Trent Parke. My image consists of two ICM shots of a flying flock of doves I photographed on 19 May in my backyard, then blended together in an editing software. Though not taken with the same process as Parke’s, it still has the same goal that he is known for, to ‘turn the ordinary into the magical using light.’

Copyright: © Zy Grei Zander Esperanza, Philippines, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Self-portrait

Photographer Name: Joyce Xu

Image Name: Self-portrait

Year: 2024

Image Description: In June 2023, I took this self-portrait in a photo studio. I was in an introspective mood, grappling with an inner turmoil, torn between my connection to Chinese culture and tradition, and my hope to liberate myself from self-imposed constraints linked to my heritage. This image represents a quest for belonging, adaptation, and identity in unfamiliar lands.

Copyright: © Joyce Xu, Australia, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Snow Mountain at Sunset

Photographer Name: Chengchen Wang

Image Name: Snow Mountain at Sunset

Year: 2024

Image Description: This photo was taken at the beginning of the year, when the sun slowly set and the sunset hit the snow mountain of Yala. It looked so holy, so I took this photo.

Copyright: © Chengchen Wang, China Mainland, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Tea-Portrait

Photographer Name: Shayna Cuenca

Image Name: Tea-Portrait

Year: 2024

Image Description: For my image titled ‘Tea-Portrait,’ I took a self-portrait, printed the image, and cut it into tea bag-sized pieces. I then transferred the cut pieces onto tea bags using Modge Podge, and reattached the tea bag strings. Finally, I laid out the bags and pieced them together to create my image.

Copyright: © Shayna Cuenca, United States, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

63.4057° N, 19.0716° W

Photographer Name: Isaac Friend

Image Name: 63.4057° N, 19.0716° W

Year: 2024

Image Description: Basalt columns on a black beach in low visibility.

Copyright: © Isaac Friend, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

The Beginning Hours of the Sourdough Fire

Photographer Name: River Lewis-Gosch

Image Name: The Beginning Hours of the Sourdough Fire

Year: 2024

Image Description: This was taken during the first hours of the Sourdough Fire, a fierce wildfire in the North Cascades National Park, which was started by a lightning strike. While returning from a nearby backpacking trip in the woods we came upon this fire. Completely surprised, I took out my camera and took this shot. A firefighting helicopter carrying water can be seen in the top right.

Copyright: © River Lewis-Gosch, United States, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Comet Falls to Earth

Photographer Name: Sebastián Fernández Lora

Image Name: Comet Falls to Earth

Year: 2024

Image Description: This image is of comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura), which, close to the horizon like the Sun at dawn, appears to be falling onto Earth. This photo was taken on the morning of 8 September, shortly before sunrise, from a rooftop.

Copyright: © Sebastián Fernández Lora, Spain, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Keep Me Awake

Photographer Name: Kas Christiaens

Image Name: Keep Me Awake

Year: 2024

Image Description: This image is about light pollution. As a young artist interested in nature and stars, I became aware that light pollution is a major factor affecting the sky’s clarity. I live in Belgium, a small country with a large population living in the countryside, so there is light pollution everywhere you go. The red light in this image is coming from a street lantern, the blue light from a nearby city.

Copyright: © Kas Christiaens, Belgium, Shortlist, Youth Competiton, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Untitled

Photographer Name: Afiq Sharkawi

Image Name: Untitled

Year: 2024

Image Description: The traditional weapon known as a ‘keris’ is expertly made by the master craftsman.

Copyright: © Afiq Sharkawi, Malaysia, Shortlist, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Appleby

Photographer Name: Frederik Rüegger

Image Name: Appleby

Year: 2024

Image Description: Taken at Appleby horse fair, June 2023.

Series Description: The English and Irish traveller communities face discrimination from many angles and are compelled to settle by the government. As a result, the nomadic lifestyle that has been a centuries-old part of their way of life is becoming more endangered than ever. There are, however, several events where the travellers can freely live out their traditions, including the horse fairs that are held each year at Ballinasloe, in County Galway, Ireland, and Appleby, England. In 2023 I photographed at both of these fairs, aiming to capture an intimate and authentic portrayal of the lives of the traveller communities. This project is set to continue for 18 months, and my goal is to highlight their rich cultural heritage, unique lifestyle and the challenges they face. Through my photographs I hope to shed light on the social importance of these communities and help foster an understanding and empathy among my audience.

Copyright: © Frederik Rüegger, Germany, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Appleby (2)

Photographer Name: Frederik Rüegger

Image Name: Appleby

Year: 2024

Image Description: Taken at Appleby horse fair, June 2023.

Series Description: The English and Irish traveller communities face discrimination from many angles and are compelled to settle by the government. As a result, the nomadic lifestyle that has been a centuries-old part of their way of life is becoming more endangered than ever. There are, however, several events where the travellers can freely live out their traditions, including the horse fairs that are held each year at Ballinasloe, in County Galway, Ireland, and Appleby, England. In 2023 I photographed at both of these fairs, aiming to capture an intimate and authentic portrayal of the lives of the traveller communities. This project is set to continue for 18 months, and my goal is to highlight their rich cultural heritage, unique lifestyle and the challenges they face. Through my photographs I hope to shed light on the social importance of these communities and help foster an understanding and empathy among my audience.

Copyright: © Frederik Rüegger, Germany, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Peers

Photographer Name: Gaoge Ouchen

Image Name: Peers

Year: 2024

Image Description: My cousin, who returned with me, is about the same age and we share the same employment concerns.

Series Description: During the pandemic, time seemed to stand still. When I returned to my hometown, I shared the same worries with my peers who had likewise returned. The streets were filled with elderly people and children. In the backyard of my hometown, the orange trees my father planted had dropped their oranges to the ground.

Copyright: © Gaoge Ouchen, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

The Orange Tree

Photographer Name: Gaoge Ouchen

Image Name: The Orange Tree

Year: 2024

Image Description: The orange trees in my grandmother’s home, which my father and mother diligently planted, dropped oranges all over the ground.

Series Description: During the pandemic, time seemed to stand still. When I returned to my hometown, I shared the same worries with my peers who had likewise returned. The streets were filled with elderly people and children. In the backyard of my hometown, the orange trees my father planted had dropped their oranges to the ground.

Copyright: © Gaoge Ouchen, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

The Urus stand, honoring the legacy of their ancestral way of life

Photographer Name: Gaston Zilberman

Image Name: The Urus stand, honoring the legacy of their ancestral way of life

Year: 2024

Image Description: The disappearance of the lake put an end to the possibility of hunting and fishing for the indigenous Uru community. Now, only memories of their ancestral life remain, but they strive to keep alive the memory and essence of being Qotzuñi – ‘people of the lake’.

Series Description: ‘The lake was our mother and father, our home. Now, we are orphans,’ said Rufino Choque, whose words echo through the desolate, windswept salt flat that had once been the thriving shore of Lake Poopó, Bolivia. Rufino’s indigenous Uru community had lived in harmony with the waters of this ancient lake for generations, nurturing a profound bond that sustained their lives and preserved their unique cultural identity. Today, however, their way of life is marked by profound transformation, as climate change-induced droughts and industrial contamination caused Lake Poopó to disappear entirely by 2016. Prior to this, the Urus lived in floating houses and spent weeks on their boats in the lake; hunting and fishing was their main source of subsistence. By narrating the Uru community’s loss of their cherished home, my goal is to provoke reflection and raise awareness about the urgent need to address the consequences of climate change and contamination.

Copyright: © Gaston Zilberman, Argentina, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Home traditions

Photographer Name: Gaston Zilberman

Image Name: Home traditions

Year: 2024

Image Description: Cipriana stands in front of her adobe home. The Uru community maintains a traditional way of life, although it has been heavily transformed by the loss of their source of livelihood.

Series Description: ‘The lake was our mother and father, our home. Now, we are orphans,’ said Rufino Choque, whose words echo through the desolate, windswept salt flat that had once been the thriving shore of Lake Poopó, Bolivia. Rufino’s indigenous Uru community had lived in harmony with the waters of this ancient lake for generations, nurturing a profound bond that sustained their lives and preserved their unique cultural identity. Today, however, their way of life is marked by profound transformation, as climate change-induced droughts and industrial contamination caused Lake Poopó to disappear entirely by 2016. Prior to this, the Urus lived in floating houses and spent weeks on their boats in the lake; hunting and fishing was their main source of subsistence. By narrating the Uru community’s loss of their cherished home, my goal is to provoke reflection and raise awareness about the urgent need to address the consequences of climate change and contamination.

Copyright: © Gaston Zilberman, Argentina, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Untitled

Photographer Name: Kazi Arifujjaman

Image Name: Untitled

Year: 2024

Image Description: In this picture, the chatal workers are working and their sons and daughters are playing in the same place.

Series Description: A chatal is a place where paddy (raw rice) is boiled, dried in the sun and threshed to be made into prepared rice – the staple food of Bangladesh. Families from different parts of the country work together in a chatal, which is also their place of residence. As many families from different cultures come together, the chatal becomes like a large house.

Copyright: © Kazi Arifujjaman, Bangladesh, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Untitled

Photographer Name: Kazi Arifujjaman

Image Name: Untitled

Year: 2024

Image Description: After letting the paddy dry on the floor, the women do their housework.

Series Description: A chatal is a place where paddy (raw rice) is boiled, dried in the sun and threshed to be made into prepared rice – the staple food of Bangladesh. Families from different parts of the country work together in a chatal, which is also their place of residence. As many families from different cultures come together, the chatal becomes like a large house.

Copyright: © Kazi Arifujjaman, Bangladesh, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Resting in unfamiliar places (I)

Photographer Name: Siphosethu Sanelisiwe Sikhosana

Image Name: Resting in unfamiliar places (I)

Year: 2024

Image Description: This single pinhole photograph is composed of five negatives that together reflect both the confusion and acceptance of my identity.

Series Description: This series of pinhole photographs was taken for my Fine Arts degree in 2023. It speaks of the struggles and changes I faced in terms of my identity when leaving childhood and becoming a young adult. The series reflects my confusion with various aspects of myself, such as my faith, sexuality and place in the world, and my later acceptance of who I am.

Copyright: © Siphosethu Sanelisiwe Sikhosana, South Africa, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Resting in unfamiliar places (IV)

Photographer Name: Siphosethu Sanelisiwe Sikhosana

Image Name: Resting in unfamiliar places (IV)

Year: 2024

Image Description: A side-by-side view of a negative and positive image of the same photograph, representing a new sense of clarity.

Series Description: This series of pinhole photographs was taken for my Fine Arts degree in 2023. It speaks of the struggles and changes I faced in terms of my identity when leaving childhood and becoming a young adult. The series reflects my confusion with various aspects of myself, such as my faith, sexuality and place in the world, and my later acceptance of who I am.

Copyright: © Siphosethu Sanelisiwe Sikhosana, South Africa, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Don't Trust Pretty Girls

Photographer Name: Kayin Luys

Image Name: Don't Trust Pretty Girls

Year: 2024

Image Description: I had a fascination with my partner’s grandfather’s tattoo, which reads ‘don't trust pretty girls’.

Series Description: This series explores my relationship with my in-laws, with the title referring to the tattoo on my partner’s grandfather’s left arm. I wanted to explore the tension between fiction and reality, guided by stories I was told, memories and my interpretations of both. The result is a play of possibilities that reflect and/or transcend reality. Thanks to the increasingly strong bond formed, I found a second home with my new family.

Copyright: © Kayin Luys, Belgium, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Don't Trust Pretty Girls (2)

Photographer Name: Kayin Luys

Image Name: Don't Trust Pretty Girls

Year: 2024

Image Description: This aunt loves to sing karaoke, and often does during family gatherings.

Series Description: This series explores my relationship with my in-laws, with the title referring to the tattoo on my partner’s grandfather’s left arm. I wanted to explore the tension between fiction and reality, guided by stories I was told, memories and my interpretations of both. The result is a play of possibilities that reflect and/or transcend reality. Thanks to the increasingly strong bond formed, I found a second home with my new family.

Copyright: © Kayin Luys, Belgium, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Ta ii

Photographer Name: Makaziwe Radebe

Image Name: Ta ii

Year: 2024

Image Description: Whom was a boxer when he was younger, and his living room is filled with many of his trophies. I took pictures of his family with their chosen outfits and treasured objects while my mother and brother helped hold the white background.
Emdeni, Jun 2023

Series Description: Soweto raised me. This series is in honour of my childhood home – the familiar faces and the streets that continue to shape how I move in the world. My childhood was immersed in the embrace of a tight-knit community where love and ambitious dreams thrived. Like the day I defied going home, facing my mother’s wrath and her looming belt. A neighbour intervened, guiding me back and turning my tumultuous action into a serene evening. Fezile, a steadfast friend, was always at the corner, and our quiet journey to school was a cherished routine; soggy bacon and eggs, bathed in tomato sauce and well-worn grease, awaited our return.

Copyright: © Makaziwe Radebe, South Africa, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Ubumbano

Photographer Name: Makaziwe Radebe

Image Name: Ubumbano

Year: 2024

Image Description: A collective embrace through the silent language of prayer. Thinking about these moments of quiet I realise that how I move in the world is intimately connected with the ease I feel at home.

Series Description: Soweto raised me. This series is in honour of my childhood home – the familiar faces and the streets that continue to shape how I move in the world. My childhood was immersed in the embrace of a tight-knit community where love and ambitious dreams thrived. Like the day I defied going home, facing my mother’s wrath and her looming belt. A neighbour intervened, guiding me back and turning my tumultuous action into a serene evening. Fezile, a steadfast friend, was always at the corner, and our quiet journey to school was a cherished routine; soggy bacon and eggs, bathed in tomato sauce and well-worn grease, awaited our return.

Copyright: © Makaziwe Radebe, South Africa, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

High Noon

Photographer Name: Yufei Ma

Image Name: High Noon

Year: 2024

Image Description: This photo was taken in a neighbourhood built on a deck next to my house. On their side near the road, they also have a platform for drying sheets. The contrast between the tall buildings and this neighbourhood reminded me of the ways that city life differs from traditional living habits.

Series Description: The Intermission project began with a spring sunset casting a soft glow on the clothes drying on my family's rooftop, transporting me back to childhood evenings at my grandmother's home. This nostalgia inspired me to capture the essence of everyday traditions in our fast-paced world. My work focuses on these commonplace scenes in my hometown, particularly the airing of linens and garments at noon, symbolising a pause in our daily hustle. Through my lens, I explore how these moments become tranquil intermissions in urban life, offering glimpses of simplicity and continuity. This project represents a reflection on time, a respect for the past, and a hope for the future. Each photo weaves a story of deep familial connections and traditions, aiming to resonate with shared emotions and memories about home.

Copyright: © Yufei Ma, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Middle Break

Photographer Name: Yufei Ma

Image Name: Middle Break

Year: 2024

Image Description: This photo was taken at midday one day. The sun was shining on these children's clothes hanging on the clothesline. In that moment I felt a sense of calm, neutrality and peace.

Series Description: The Intermission project began with a spring sunset casting a soft glow on the clothes drying on my family's rooftop, transporting me back to childhood evenings at my grandmother's home. This nostalgia inspired me to capture the essence of everyday traditions in our fast-paced world. My work focuses on these commonplace scenes in my hometown, particularly the airing of linens and garments at noon, symbolising a pause in our daily hustle. Through my lens, I explore how these moments become tranquil intermissions in urban life, offering glimpses of simplicity and continuity. This project represents a reflection on time, a respect for the past, and a hope for the future. Each photo weaves a story of deep familial connections and traditions, aiming to resonate with shared emotions and memories about home.

Copyright: © Yufei Ma, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

20 Years of service

Photographer Name: Brayan Enriquez

Image Name: 20 Years of service

Year: 2024

Image Description: They sit in the uniforms of the only job they could get: Steak ‘n Shake. Her name tag reads ‘Gloria Salinas, 20 years of service’.

Series Description: Twenty-six years ago my parents immigrated to the United States. As a child, I would imagine my parents’ odyssey in rudimentary terms: walking, loving and being bold. Through the years, however, I’ve managed to contextualise the reality of our situation and now use words such as treacherous, lonely and fearful. When asked, my father replays the moment his group lay flat on their stomachs, hiding from an oblivious ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officer who sat nearby. My mother recalls trekking through knee-high mud in an Arizona desert, thousands of miles away from her home in Acapulco, Mexico. My sister, on the other hand, can’t remember much – she was only five years old at the time. This project navigates this complicated history, highlighting how this experience isn’t wholly unique to my family. The photographs were all taken within our home, because of its function as a place of refuge for undocumented immigrants across the nation.

Copyright: © Brayan Enriquez, United States, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

My mother

Photographer Name: Brayan Enriquez

Image Name: My mother

Year: 2024

Image Description: My mother sits alone. Just before I pressed the shutter button I asked: ‘What are you thinking about?’ Her response was simply ‘home’.

Series Description: Twenty-six years ago my parents immigrated to the United States. As a child, I would imagine my parents’ odyssey in rudimentary terms: walking, loving and being bold. Through the years, however, I’ve managed to contextualise the reality of our situation and now use words such as treacherous, lonely and fearful. When asked, my father replays the moment his group lay flat on their stomachs, hiding from an oblivious ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officer who sat nearby. My mother recalls trekking through knee-high mud in an Arizona desert, thousands of miles away from her home in Acapulco, Mexico. My sister, on the other hand, can’t remember much – she was only five years old at the time. This project navigates this complicated history, highlighting how this experience isn’t wholly unique to my family. The photographs were all taken within our home, because of its function as a place of refuge for undocumented immigrants across the nation.

Copyright: © Brayan Enriquez, United States, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Childhood is rough

Photographer Name: Juan David Aguirre

Image Name: Childhood is rough

Year: 2024

Image Description: Children living in the tenement tend to grow up faster than others, as they experience harsh conditions from a young age.

Series Description: The photographs in this series were all taken on August 10, 2023, in the Andes tenement in the city of Medellín, Colombia, a space inhabited by homeless people. The tenement is likened to a prison because in its rooms you can feel a sense of confinement: the people who live there look for bread each day, living with deep uncertainties about the future as even their dreams have been taken away.

Copyright: © Juan David Aguirre, Colombia, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

This is not the freedom they promised us

Photographer Name: Juan David Aguirre

Image Name: This is not the freedom they promised us

Year: 2024

Image Description: Supposedly, our entire system is meant to defend freedom, but only for those who can pay for it.

Series Description: The photographs in this series were all taken on August 10, 2023, in the Andes tenement in the city of Medellín, Colombia, a space inhabited by homeless people. The tenement is likened to a prison because in its rooms you can feel a sense of confinement: the people who live there look for bread each day, living with deep uncertainties about the future as even their dreams have been taken away.

Copyright: © Juan David Aguirre, Colombia, Shortlist, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Photo: Jeff L Carlson

Much of the appeal of using your smartphone as a camera is that it's simple – and for most people, it is. But things can rapidly get complex for photographers who want the best quality and full control when shooting with their phones. That's the case with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro.

Which of the phone's various cameras gives you the best resolution? Which modes override that resolution? When are you capturing an optical image versus digital upsampling, which can switch without your knowledge? To help you get the best quality from the camera that’s always with you, let’s look at these and other situations.

For this article, we’re talking about capturing photos using the built-in Camera app. You can find even more specific features, such as shooting in unaltered Raw format or using manual modes, using third-party apps such as Halide, Lightroom for mobile or Obscura.

Also, even though we're focusing on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, much of the information here applies to the iPhone 14 Pro (which can capture 48MP in Raw mode) and other models capable of running iOS 17.

How to get 48MP resolution on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro

One of the most appealing features of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro cameras is the ability to capture images at 48MP resolution, but you won’t get it every time without deliberate preparation.

Each lens on the iPhone 15 is backed by its own sensor, so an iPhone 15 Pro includes four separate cameras, including the front-facing one. Only the main camera includes a 48MP sensor, so for 48MP images, you need to be shooting at 1x zoom. The 0.5x ultrawide and 3x or 5x telephoto (on the Pro and Pro Max models) cameras use 12MP sensors.

Despite that 48MP main sensor, the default resolution is set to 24MP, presumably to rein in large file sizes. To kick that up to 48MP, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and turn on Resolution Control (on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus) or ProRAW & Resolution Control (on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max).

On the Pro models, set the Pro Default option to HEIF Max or ProRAW Max. That enables a control at the top of the Camera app that enables the Max (48MP) resolution.

Make sure the Resolution Control setting is turned on.	Look to the Resolution control to make sure you're capturing 48MP.

When you want to capture in 48MP, tap the control (labeled HEIF Max or RAW Max), removing the diagonal line through the text to enable it. To switch back to the 24MP default, tap it again.

Viewing the information about the photo reveals the resolution.	24MP HEIF capture (exported as JPEG from Apple Photos)
48MP HEIF capture (exported as JPEG from Apple Photos)

That toggle seems straightforward, but sometimes you won’t get the maximum resolution even when enabled. Resolution gets knocked down to 12MP whenever Night mode, Macro mode, or the built-in flash is enabled. Similarly, the resolution is reduced in Portrait mode when a lighting style (such as Contour Light) is selected.

On the Pro models, touch and hold the control to choose a format without navigating back to the Settings app.

Touch and hold the Resolution control at the top of the Camera app on iPhone 15 Pro models to quickly switch options.

How to choose the right format: Raw, HEIF, or JPEG

The default image format for all recent iPhones is HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format), which saves files with the extension .HEIC (High Efficiency Image Coding). It’s a format that compresses better than the near-universal standard JPEG and acts as a container that includes other data, such as depth map information.

If you’d rather store images in JPEG format to make sharing or publishing images easier without converting them later, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible under Camera Capture.

To capture in JPEG format, choose Most Compatible in the Camera settings.

On the iPhone 15 Pro models, you can also capture Raw images saved in Apple ProRAW format. Raw photos include more dynamic range information and give you more editing flexibility. However, ProRAW differs from most Raw formats in that Apple demosaics the raw data to create a hybrid image incorporating the iPhone’s computational processing.

If you want to edit the unaltered data from the camera’s sensor, you’ll need to turn to third-party apps that can shoot Raw. If you’re using the non-Pro iPhone 15 models, those other apps are the only way to shoot Raw photos since Apple reserves ProRAW as a feature for its Pro models.

You can capture either 48MP in the ProRAW Max mode or 12MP using the ProRAW 12 setting. When shooting Raw, 24MP is not an option. That resolution is possible only when shooting HEIF or JPEG because the camera captures multiple 12MP exposures and computationally combines them with a 48MP image.

Choose the resolution and format that is active when you launch the Camera app.

How to minimize digital zoom

The ultrawide (0.5x) or telephoto (3x/5x) cameras each capture images optically, where each pixel corresponds to the area perceived in the field of view – if you don't tweak the zoom. If you choose an arbitrary zoom level between those ranges, such as by pinching two fingers on the screen, the camera zooms digitally and interpolates how the pixels appear based on that field of view, which can introduce softness or artifacts.

The main camera is a special case. At 1x and with HEIF Max or RAW Max enabled it records 48MP of optical information. The 2x level remains at 12MP because it's a crop of the main camera sensor. But for the other zoom levels, including 1x with HEIF Max turned off, the iPhone uses computational photography to create a final 24MP photo. It pixel-bins the sensor (grouping sets of nearby pixels to act like a single, larger pixel) to create a 12MP image and then combines that with a 48MP reference image.

With the Pro models' 1.2x and 1.5x zoom levels, the camera is cropping the 1x frame and then upsampling to make the 24MP photo. The results are usually quite good, which is no doubt why Apple makes 24MP the default resolution.

At the 1.5x zoom (35mm equivalent), the image is captured at 24MP. (Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max.)	At the 2x zoom (48mm equivalent), the image is 12MP. (Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max.)

If you want to minimize that upsampling, you can go to Settings > Camera > Formats and change Photo Mode to 12MP, which gives you the pixel-binned version without the scaling, at the expense of overall resolution.

Sometimes, though, the camera system attempts to be clever. For instance, if you’re using the telephoto camera (with an aperture of f/2.8) on the iPhone 15 Pro and the system calculates that there isn’t enough light to get a good exposure, it automatically – and silently – switches to the main camera with its wider aperture (f/1.78) and digitally crops to capture the same field of view.

You can confirm this in the Photos app by tapping the (i) button and seeing which camera was used. The result may be acceptable because the better-quality main camera uses a crop of its high-resolution sensor to mimic the zoomed-in field of view. However, it may not be what you wanted.

In this case, the room was darkened and the 5x telephoto was used.	The Camera app decided that the 5x telephoto camera wouldn't capture enough light, so the photo was actually made using the main camera simulating the 120mm field of view.

Ideally, the solution here is to add light to the scene somehow, move to a position that lets you get a similar composition using the main camera or capture a 48MP photo and crop it later during editing.

An even more drastic version of this auto-switching can happen on the iPhone 15 Pro models using Macro mode. The mode uses the ultrawide camera with its 2cm (0.78 inch) focal distance to capture subjects close up. (Even though the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus include an ultrawide camera, the Macro feature is reserved for the Pro models.)

When the camera senses objects very close to the lens, it automatically switches to the ultrawide camera (without changing the zoom indicator). You can display a button that appears when this happens by going to Settings > Camera and turning on Macro Control.

Macro mode uses a cropped portion of the ultrawide camera’s sensor, no matter which camera you've selected. This can become a blurry problem if you start with one of the telephoto cameras. To replicate the same field of view, the iPhone blows up a severe crop of the ultrawide camera's sensor, and you wind up with a blurry mess.

The 1x view is active, but the camera detected close-up items and activated Macro mode (the yellow button at top).	When you start with the telephoto camera (3x on the iPhone 15 Pro) and use Macro mode, you end up with a mess.

How to capture low-light photos

Computational photography has greatly improved shooting low-light photos with smaller sensors. The iPhone’s Night mode can do a great job of illuminating dark situations, even if you're shooting handheld. If the lighting is dim enough, the Night mode icon at the top of the screen turns yellow and displays the number of seconds needed to capture a good exposure.

Normally, that countdown is dictated automatically, but you can specify a different duration. Tap the carat (^) button at the top of the screen to reveal additional controls (which appear below the image preview), then tap the Night mode icon above the shutter button. This gives you a slider to set the exposure duration. When you tap the shutter button, you’re asked to “Hold still”: try to keep the crosshairs aligned to improve the sharpness of the image.

Night mode determines the exposure time for a dark scene (top), which can be adjusted using its control (below the preview).	When hand-holding in Night mode, try to keep the + icons aligned during the exposure.

However, even with this manual control, the Camera app still limits the exposure time based on its reading of the available light and whether the internal gyroscopes detect that you’re shooting handheld, such as setting the Max value to 5s or 10s. To extend that time to 30 seconds in especially dark situations, put the iPhone on a tripod or stabilize it so it’s not moving.

Photo: Jeff L Carlson This photo of the sky was captured using a tripod and a 10-second exposure. (iPhone 15 Pro capture, white balance adjusted in Lightroom.)

Another way to get decent photos in the dark, without Night mode active, is to make sure you’re using the main camera, which has much better light-gathering ability than the ultrawide or telephoto cameras.

Photo: Jeff L Carlson iPhone 15 Pro Max main camera without Night mode.	Photo: Jeff L Carlson iPhone 15 Pro Max main camera with Night mode active.

How to lock focus and exposure

This feature has existed since the first iPhone camera, but many people don't know about it. You probably know that you can tap an area of the screen to set focus, which also adjusts the exposure value. But if you tap elsewhere or reframe the scene, the focus and exposure shift based on that new area. If you move the camera, it attempts to reset the focus and exposure based on the scene.

To lock focus and exposure, touch and hold the area you want to focus and meter until an AE/AF LOCK badge appears at the top of the screen. To turn off the lock, tap anywhere in the scene.

Touch and hold an area (indicated by the box on the image) to lock exposure and focus.

How to apply exposure compensation

The iPhone's exposure metering is usually pretty good, but you may want to adjust the exposure manually. But because the Camera app lacks a manual shutter speed control, you need to change the exposure value (EV).

To do that, tap the carat (^) button at the top of the screen to reveal the additional controls, then tap the (+/–) button to display the Exposure slider. Drag to the left or right to decrease or increase the value. A new badge at the top of the screen indicates the EV amount. That compensation stays fixed while you’re shooting until you reset it (tap the badge to display the slider again).

Adjust the Exposure Compensation control to set a fixed EV between shots.

A quicker approach (that isn’t sticky) is to tap the screen to set focus and exposure, lift your finger, and then drag the sun-shaped exposure icon up or down.

Drag the exposure icon down reduce the exposure.	Drag the icon up to increase the exposure.

How to capture in Burst mode

For years, the way to shoot bursts of photos on the iPhone was to touch and hold the shutter button. Now, though, that’s a shortcut for recording video. Instead, drag the shutter button to the left to capture a burst.

Another option is to enable the Volume Up button to be used as the burst trigger. Go to Settings > Camera and turn on Use Volume Up for Burst feature.

Drag the shutter button to the left to capture multiple shots in burst mode.	Burst mode photos appear in a group in the Photos app. Tap Select to choose which ones to keep.

A burst is saved in the Photos library as a single group of shots, regardless of how many frames you shot. Tap Select to view them all. Tap to select your favorite images from the bunch, then tap Done, at which point you’re asked if you want to keep the entire set or only the ones you selected.

How to record video to external storage

Now that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models use USB-C for wired connections, the Pro models can finally record video to external storage such as an SSD or a memory card reader. That’s great news when you’re working with Apple ProRes 4K/30 files that occupy as much as 6 GB for every minute of video (or higher for some formats and resolutions). Naturally, there are caveats to making it work.

Only video saved in ProRes format can be recorded externally. First, go to Settings > Camera > Formats, enable the Apple ProRes option and choose HDR, SDR or Log encoding. Next, when you’re ready to record, tap the ProRes button at the top of the screen to enable ProRes, and also specify the resolution (HD or 4K) and frame rate (24, 30 or 60). ProRes 4K/60 is available only when recording externally.

Hardware-wise, you need a USB-C cable that supports USB 3 speeds of at least 10Gbit/s; the cable that comes with the phone supports only slower USB 2 data speeds as it is mainly intended for charging. The storage device must write at speeds of 220MB or faster and be formatted as APFS or ExFAT.

Lastly, make sure the external device is plugged in and the Camera app is reading it. You should see “USB-C” near the port.

Look for the "USB-C" badge to indicate that video will be recorded on a connected external device.

Note that it’s possible to shoot still photos and save them directly to external storage, although the Camera app does not currently do this. The app Photon has this feature. We expect other developers to follow suit.

How to record spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro

The iPhone 15 Pro models running iOS 17.2 and later have another video trick. It can record spatial videos for the Apple Vision Pro. When viewed on the iPhone or any other device, the video looks the same as you shot it, but on the Vision Pro, the depth information generated during recording adds a 3D element to the footage.

To enable this option, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and turn on Spatial Video for Apple Vision Pro.

In the Camera app, switch to Video mode and hold the iPhone in its landscape orientation. Provided there’s sufficient light (the mode won’t activate in dim environments), tap the Spatial Video button that appears. If the app can’t easily discern subjects in front of the camera, it may direct you to move farther away.

With the Spatial Video for Apple Vision Pro option enabled, tap the Spatial Video icon to record footage with embedded depth information.

Now that you know about how the iPhone 15's camera works under the hood, it should be a little easier to bully it into giving you the results you want instead of just the results that it thinks you want.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve run into unexpected complexity or if there are other features our readers (or their friends and family members who they might forward this to) should know about.

Image: OM System

OM System just announced its new OM-1 II, but that's not all the news it has today. Also breaking cover is a 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 super telephoto zoom (equivalent focal length range of 300-1200mm) as well as a new version of the Olympus 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 (18-36mm equivalent) with an updated body and OM System branding.

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The 150-600mm shares the bulk of its specs with Sigma's 150-600mm F5-6.3, suggesting it's a version of the same, modified with a Micro Four Thirds mount to fit OM System cameras. OM System's 150-600mm has an optical construction of 25 elements in 15 groups, weighs in at 2,065g (4.6 lbs), and provides up to 7 stops of stabilization paired with the OM-1 II, with 6 stops of stabilization on the lens itself.

Image: OM System

The new 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 sports an all black casing and OM System branding, but is otherwise functionally equivalent to the lens Olympus released in 2010, its third for the Micro Four Thirds system.

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Both lenses will be available in late February, the 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 for $2,700 and the 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 for $700.

The OM System OM-1 Mark II is a high-speed Micro Four Thirds camera based around a 20MP Stacked CMOS sensor. As the name implies, it's an updated version of the flagship OM-1, with a series of hardware and firmware improvements.

Key Specifications:

• 20MP Four Thirds Stacked CMOS sensor
• Continuous shooting at up to 50fps with full autofocus, 120fps with AF/AE locked
• In-body stabilization rated to 8.5EV
• 4K (UHD or DCI) at up to 60p with 10-bit and Log capture options
• Extended subject recognition AF modes
• 5.76m dot OLED viewfinder with 0.83x magnification
• 80MP multi-shot high res mode with 50MP hand-held option
• Live composite, Live ND and Graduated ND mutli-shot modes
• Environmentally sealed to IP53 standard
• Twin UHS-II cards

The OM-1 Mark II will be available from February 26th at a recommended price of $2399, a $200 increase compared with the original model from February 2022. US customers ordering before Feb 25th will receive a second BLX-1 battery and $300 off select lenses, we'd expect other regions to be offering similar incentives to pre-order.

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Index:

• What's new?
• Body and controls
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What's new?

The OM-1 Mark II arrives two years on from the original model and offers a series of improvements, rather than a radical change of specs, compared with the existing model.

The OM-1 II uses the same TruePic X processor as the original model did and its headline capabilities are essentially the same, but the new version has more RAM onboard, which the company says underpins many of the changes that have been made possible.

So, while the max burst rate and video specs remain unchanged, the way features are implemented and the performance of the camera within the bounds of those headline figures have changed.

Improved AF

A 'Human detection' option in the camera's subject detection system replaces Face/Eye detection. It should be better at recognizing smaller subjects as well as helping simplify the user interface.

The headline change is the improvement of the camera's autofocus. The OM-1 II builds on what was one of the earliest implementations of machine-learning-trained subject recognition. The Olympus E-M1 X was the first camera to use algorithms developed by machine learning to offer an AF system that had been trained to recognize a broad range of subjects (previous rivals could only recognize people and domestic animals, typically).

The biggest outward change is that OM-1 II gains a Human detection mode, which extends subject recognition beyond just face detection but also means that all the camera's recognition modes are now integrated within the same section of the interface (Face Detection was a separate mode on the OM-1).

The company also says the refresh rate of the AF system has been improved, boosting the performance of the (non-recognition-based) C-AF + Tracking mode as well as the effectiveness of the AI-trained subject recognition modes.

As before, you can specify what the camera does if the recognized subject ventures beyond your chosen AF area: stick with the subject or revert to focusing within your chosen area. This can be set separately for stills and video.

We're also told the base C-AF tracking (without subject recognition) has been improved, which we're looking forward to testing.

Improved IS

Another major step forward in the OM-1 II is its improved in-body image stabilization. The revamped system, which uses updated algorithms, is now rated to deliver an impressive 8.5EV of correction when subjected to industry-standard testing.

This is unlikely to mean that you can actually reliably shoot at 8.5 stops below the traditional 1/focal length shutter speed (with a 50mm equiv lens, that would be an exposure of around seven seconds), but it does leave the OM-1 II as the highest-rated camera on the market.

More blackout-free modes

The existing OM-1 offered true blackout-free shooting at its fastest shooting settings. The Mark II extends this to some of its slower burst rates, meaning that photographers who don't always need to use the camera's fastest rates still experience the benefit of the sensor's rapid readout.

Bigger buffer

The most obvious sign of a hardware change in the Mark II is its deeper buffer. The Mark II can shoot 256 Raw frames at 50fps or 213 in its single (initial) AF 120fps mode. These numbers are around double the figures that the original model could achieve, and help boost the value of its high-speed capabilities.

In many circumstances, the benefit won't so much be the ability to stay on the shutter for five seconds, but instead that it decreases the likelihood of the buffer being full at the moment you need to capture another quick 50fps burst.

Graduated Neutral Density filter

The OM-1 II's GND feature lets you adjust the severity of the gradient and adjust its position and angle.

Building on the Live ND option, which blends lots of short exposures to give the effect of a neutral density filter, the OM1 II gains the ability to simulate a graduated neutral density filter.

It gives the choice of whether you want the gradient to have a hard, medium or soft edge, and whether you want it to have a 1, 2, or 3-stop impact (ND 2, 4 or 8). You can then use the four-way controller or the touchscreen to move the mid-point of the gradient, and the dials to rotate its angle. The front dial rotates the gradient effect by 15 degrees, while the rear dial makes single degree adjustments.

The camera's Live ND feature has also been extended and can now simulate a 7-stop ND128 filter: a stop darker than the original model.

14-bit multi-shot Raw

The OM-1 II has the option to capture its multi-shot high-res images in 14-bit Raw. In both the 80MP mode that requires the use of a tripod and the 50MP mode designed for hand-held shooting, the camera can now store Raw files with the capacity for wider dynamic range that multi-shot shooting generates. It doesn't appear that this additional Raw depth is used to store the image data any more efficiently, though: the multi-shot Raws are between 2.4 and 4 times the size of a single-image file. We look forward to discovering whether there's an appreciable difference one we get independent Raw support for the camera.

Body and handling

The OM-1 II shares a body with its predecessor: a compact, dense body with a well-designed layout that offers extensive direct control, despite the camera's small size.

The most obvious change between the OM-1 and the Mark II is that the camera now wears OM System branding across its viewfinder hump. The original OM-1 was at quite an advanced stage of development when Olympus divested its camera business, so it still had the previous company's branding emblazoned on it, which the Mark II sets straight.

Beyond this, the handling of the camera is almost identical to that of the original camera. We say 'almost' because OMDS has changed the camera's command dials to ones with a rubbery coating. These offer an improved tactile feel and also make the camera a little easier to operate when using gloves.

The OM-1 II's dials have a rubberized finish to them, improving the feel and making them easier to use when wearing gloves.

The result is a small camera with a huge degree of direct control but with a layout that means these two factors are rarely in conflict (unless you have very large hands). We remain impressed with how much direct access is available and how comfortable the camera is to hold and shoot.

The elimination of the separate face detection option means that subject recognition options can now take its place on the Super Control Panel, just below the White Balance setting.

Beyond this, the camera's handling and operation remain unchanged. It continues to use the updated version of the Super Control Panel quick menu, making it easy to see and adjust the camera's key settings.

The dizzying degree of customization of the camera is still present. For instance, you can set the two-position lever around the AEL button to switch between focus settings, at which point you can decide whether this affects the AF mode, AF area mode and chosen AF area, so that it does exactly what you want. However, newer features such as focus limiter and subject recognition mode aren't options for what the switch changes, so you can't use this feature to engage and disengage subject detection mode or switch between subject types.

Viewfinder and screen

The 5.76M dot electronic viewfinder offers blackout-free burst shooting at slower speeds than its predecessor.

The OM-1 II uses the same 5.76M dot (1600 x 1200 px) OLED viewfinder as the previous model. The viewfinder optics give a finder with 0.83x magnification. As before, this can be run at up to 120Hz, with OMDS claiming a refresh lag of 5ms. It's a large and responsive viewfinder.

As you might hope, the OM-1 II also comes with the little FL LM3 flash. This mounts in the camera's hotshoe and can be rotated sideways and upwards, allowing you to bounce it. It's not very powerful in itself, but as well as being a lot more flexible than a typical built-in flash, it can also be used to communicate flash information to external flash units using the 'RC' infrared system.

Battery

The OM-1 II uses the same BLX-1 battery as the previous model. This is a 16.4Wh unit that powers the camera to a CIPA rating of 500 shots per charge: a very slight drop compared with the existing camera. In the more efficient Quick Sleep mode, the rating jumps to 1010 shots per charge, but with the screens slowing and then going dark much, much more quickly after each interaction with the camera.

As always, CIPA numbers tend to significantly underestimate the number of shots you're likely to get from a camera. Double the rated value isn't unusual, and this number significantly increases if you're shooting shots in bursts, where you're unlikely to view each image individually for long periods on the rear screen.

The OM-1 Mark II is compatible with the existing HLD-10 battery grip, which adds a second battery to the camera.

Initial impressions

By Richard Butler

The first thing that's likely to strike many OM System and Olympus users about the OM-1 II is that OMDS has chosen to update one of its most recent models rather than expanding or refreshing the rest of its lineup.

The company's presentation about the camera talked in terms of "perfecting" the already impressive capabilities of the original OM-1, rather than significantly expanding them. A deeper buffer, improved AF performance and uprated image stabilization suggest the company's engineers have been busy, though.

The new camera has more onboard memory, which we're told enables some of the new features. The deeper buffer during burst shooting is the most obvious outcome, but it could plausibly also be underpinning features such as the virtual Graduated ND feature that requires lots of frames to be held while the processor blends them together. But it's clear why the company has called this a Mark 2, rather than branding it as an entirely new model.

The move to a human detection mode within the camera's subject recognition options, rather than face/eye detection that lives separately, helps improve the coherence of the camera's operation. But there are still clear signs (such as the limited functions that can be controlled by the two-way switch) that this is a camera that's been added to, year by year, rather than developed from a blank sheet of paper.

What it continues to offer is pro-level speed with camera/lens combinations that are appreciably smaller and lighter than larger formats. There's a trade-off to be made for this, but features such as hand-held high resolution mode can help to overcome the differences.

The OM-1 II's video specs are unchanged, compared with the existing camera.

OMDS has clearly recognized this, and if the improved AF performance makes the camera more effective for wildlife photography, then it could help strengthen the brand's handhold in that niche. We're still in the early days of testing the OM-1 II, but more effective autofocus, combined with the OM-1's speed, its weather sealing and the availability of light long lenses, would help justify the company's focus on its high-end models.

We'd love to see a continuation of the PEN line of small, classic-looking cameras, as they were some of the models that helped define the early promises of the move to mirrorless. But the speed and multi-shot capabilities Olympus and OMDS have developed make more sense in a rugged camera to be taken into the wilderness with a long lens for landscape and wildlife shooting. Arguably, some of these capabilities could also translate into a go everywhere/do everything travel camera, too, but for now the efforts have been concentrated on the OM-1 and OM-5 lines.

As with the move from the E-M1 II to the III, there'll be people who wonder whether the changes could have been made as a firmware update, and it'll be interesting to see whether some of the behavioral refinements of the Mark II are made available to owners of the original camera. But our first impressions are that the OM-1 II represents a meaningful advance in the areas that matter for its intended uses. Whether they're meaningful enough to prompt OM-1 users to upgrade is something we'll discover in the coming weeks.

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Sample gallery

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Image: Richard Butler

As we bid March adieu, it's a good time to take stock of the wealth of new cameras and lenses announced so far this year. Here's a list of everything we've seen, updated for April 2024!

March 2024

Leica SL3

Image: Richard Butler

Leica released the SL3 in March, making it the highest-resolution SL camera in its line. The 60MP DSLR-shaped mirrorless camera is built around Leica's L-mount and brings a lot of technology from the Leica M11 models into its radically redesigned interface. Shutterbugs didn't have to wait long for it to arrive. It was available the same day it was announced.

Read our SL3 initial review

Logitech Mevo Core

Image: Logitech

Logitech revisited the Mevo line of streaming cameras to give them a larger Micro Four Thirds sensor and its corresponding lens mount (the previous version was fixed lens). Geared toward users in need of live-feed video, it sports a 6-hour battery rating and supports Wi-Fi 6E up to 4K/30p streaming.

Read our Mevo Core story

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Leica limited edition black Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4

Image: Leica

Leica, whose commitment to the rangefinder style is so strong that it makes actual rangefinder cameras, announced it was producing 200 copies of the M-Summilux 35mm F1.4 with an anodized black coating on its aluminum shell. The design has many elements inspired directly by a lens Leica produced in the 60s and reintroduced in 2022 as part of the Leica Classic line.

Read our Summilux-M 35mm F1.4 story

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Ricoh creates GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF

Image: Ricoh

The Ricoh GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF are variants of the company's existing fixed-lens APS-C premium compacts. They feature a unique "highlight diffusion filter" instead of the ND filter fitted in the standard versions of both cameras. When turned on, the HDF creates a diffusion effect, particularly visible in highlight areas. Both cameras will arrive in April, with preorders starting April 2.

Read our GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF story

Buy GR III HDF now:

Buy GR IIIx HDF now:

Nikkor Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR

Image: Nikon

A superzoom Z-mount lens with a 14.2x zoom range, Nikon tells us the lens is designed to meet the needs of both photo and video users. Autofocus comes in the form of a stepping motor to deliver fast and quiet autofocus, and manual focus includes support for a linear focus response, which should appeal to video shooters. It is set for release in mid-April.

Read our 28-400mm F4-8 VR story

Meike 55mm F1.4 APS-C

Image: Meike

Meike Global's first autofocus APS-C lens arrived for Fujifilm, Sony and Nikon cameras in March. The new 55mm F1.4's $200 MSRP is targeted at photographers looking for a fast and light prime lens who don't want to shell out for more expensive options.

Read our Meike 55mm F1.4 APS-C story

7Artisans 50mm F1.8 AF

Image: 7Artisans

7Artisans also introduced its first autofocus lens in March and it too runs about $200: a 50mm F1.8 for full-frame Sony E-mount bodies. The company has built up an extensive collection of manual focus lenses (for numerous mounts), and we imagine that this "nifty fifty" is the first of many AF lenses to come.

Read our 7Artisans 50mm F1.8 story

Sigma 50mm F1.2 DG DN Art

Image: Sigma

The 50mm lenses just kept on coming in March (calling it now, it's going to be a hot nifty-fifty summer if this keeps up). Sigma's second F1.2 lens for the E and L full-frame mirrorless camera mounts is one of the lightest lenses of its type. Sigma also says it's designed to give full detail levels even at maximum aperture. It hits stores on April 18.

Read our Sigma 50mm F1.2 DG DN Art story

Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2

Image: Tamron

Tamron's popular 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2 fast standard zoom is coming to Nikon's Z-mount. Built with a newer, linear motor drive, it also features improved optical performance when compared to the G1 version of the lens. The announcement adds a more affordable option for Nikon's Z-mount users, and some hope that Nikon may relax restrictions around the mount.

Read our Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2 story

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February 2024

An extra long February brought us a wealth of new cameras and lenses during CP+ 2024.

Fujifilm X100VI

Image: Richard Butler

Arguably one of the most hyped-up cameras of the year, the Fujifilm X100VI was announced and made available for preorder this February. It is shipping now, but already backordered at some retailers.

Read our X100VI initial review

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Sony a9 III

Photo: Richard Butler

Sony's latest high-speed pro sports camera and herald of the 'global' shutter, the a9 III, was announced in 2023 but began shipping on February 8th.

Read our Sony a9 III initial review

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OM System OM-1 Mark II

Photo: Shaminder Dulai

The OM System OM-1 Mark II is a high-speed Micro Four Thirds camera based around a 20MP Stacked CMOS sensor. As the name implies, it's an updated version of the flagship OM-1, with hardware and firmware improvements. Announced and available for preorder in January 2024, it started shipping in February.

Read our OM System OM-1 Mark II initial review

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OM System 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 IS

Image: OM System

Alongside its new flagship, OM System announced a 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 super telephoto zoom (equivalent focal length range of 300-1200mm) as well as a new version of the Olympus 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 (18-36mm equivalent) with an updated body and OM System branding in January. Both are now shipping as of February 2024.

Learn more

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Sony 24-50mm F2.8 G

Image: Sony

Sony's 24-50mm F2.8 G fast, compact walk-around lens was announced this February during CP+ but is not slated to ship until May of this year.

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Fujifilm X100VI: Limited Edition

Photo: Richard Butler

While the Fujifilm X100VI itself is easy to pre-order, there is also a limited edition with Fujifilm's founding logo from 1934 that will be a bit harder to find and a bit more expensive. Ask at your local dealer for the chance to pay a $400 premium for this limited run.

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Sigma 15mm F1.4 DG DN "Art" diagonal fisheye

Image: Sigma

Sigma's 15mm F1.4 DG DN "Art" diagonal fisheye is shooting to be an astrophotography workhorse with a 180-degree field-of-view, manual focus lock button, lens heater support and a weather-sealed body. It's available for preorder today, with an estimated ship date of mid-March.

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Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports

Image: Sigma

Sigma's 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS "Sports" lens is lighter and a fraction shorter than the similar Nikkor lens for DSLR, despite not using the same phase-fresnel technology Nikon does. It's available for preorder now in E-mount and L-mount favors, with a ship date in mid-March 2024.

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Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm F4-7.1 macro travel zoom

Image: Panasonic

Launched during CP+, Panasonic's Lumix S 28-200mm F4-7.1 Macro OIS for L-mount is, according to the company, is the smallest and lightest long zoom lens for mirrorless systems (where 'long zoom' is defined as 7x or greater zoom range). It's available for preorder now, and set to ship at the end of April.

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Venus Optics Laowa 10mm F2.8 Zero-D FF

Image: Venus Optics

The Venus Optics' Laowa Zero-D FF is, according to its makers, the world's widest F2.8 full-frame rectilinear lens. It's also the first lens with autofocus in the company's Laowa line. Available for preorder now, it will ship next month for $799.

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Sony PDT-FP1 5G transmitter

Image: Sony

Sony's PDT-FP1 5G transmitter accessory, which was already announced in Japan, is now coming to the United States and other markets. It can be preordered now and has a shipping window of "early summer" 2024.

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Apple Vision Pro

Image: Apple

Announced in 2023, Apple Vision Pro got a February 2nd shipping date during CES 2024. It's now available to order on Apple's website for $3,499. Apple Vision Pro is not primarily a camera, of course, but it is, in part, a device for capturing photos and videos. The Vision Pro will be able to capture spatial photos and video using a button along the top edge of the goggle part of the device.

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January 2024

The start of the year was no time for rest, we hit the ground running with several product announcements.

Hasselblad CFV 100C

Image: Hasselblad

Hasselblad has announced a 100MP version of its CFV digital camera back, which combines with the 907x camera to create the smallest medium format camera on the market. It's available for pre-order now and expected to ship in late March to early April.

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Panasonic Lumix S 100mm F2.8 macro

Image: Panasonic

In conjunction with CES 2024, Panasonic has announced the Lumix S 100mm F2.8 Macro lens for full-frame L-mount cameras. Panasonic calls it "the world’s smallest and lightest medium-telephoto fixed focal length macro lens." However, as important as its size and weight is versatility: Panasonic tells us its goal was to produce a macro that can also handle portraiture and medium telephoto shooting with vanishingly few drawbacks. It was announced and shipped in January 2024.

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DJI Mic 2

Image: DJI

This January, DJI announced the Mic 2, the sequel to its first wireless microphone system released back in 2022. We were fans of the original, especially the details of its interface and user experience, and the Mic 2 expands on that with some additional creature comforts, 32-bit float backup recordings and a new transparent design. It was available for purchase at its announcement in January.

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83%

Overall score

Jump to conclusion

The Sony ZV-1 Mark II is a vlogging-focused compact camera built around a 20MP Type 1 (13.2 x 8.8mm) Stacked CMOS sensor and an 18-50mm equivalent F1.8-4.0 lens. Besides the new focal length range, much of this camera remains the same as its predecessor, which was itself a competent pocket-sized video camera.

Key specifications:

• 20 megapixel Type 1 (13.2 x 8.8mm) Stacked CMOS sensor
• 18-50mm equivalent F1.8-4.0 lens with built-in ND filter
• 4K/30p, 1080/120p video
• 24fps stills in both JPEG and Raw, for up to 800 JPEGs
• Fully articulating, 921K dot, 3" touchscreen display
• 8-bit Log and 'HLG' video shooting modes
• Directional 3-capsule microphone with wind screen
• UHS-I SD card support
• USB-C charging port, which can also be used while the camera is on and for streaming
• 3.5mm stereo microphone socket
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for image and video transfer

The ZV-1 Mark II runs $899.99 (MSRP) and comes in two color options: black or white. The camera can be paired with a black or white Sony GP-VPT2BT Bluetooth shooting grip, which doubles as a compact tripod, for an additional $139.99.

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Index:

• What is it
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Video
• Audio
• Autofocus
• Image quality
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery

What is it?

The ZV-1 Mark II is an entry-to-intermediate level vlogging camera designed first and foremost for users to film themselves speaking to camera from arm's length, at a tabletop or from a tripod. It has a three-mic array designed to isolate voices speaking to the camera, a selfie-friendly zoom range and touch controls to operate the camera with the rear screen flipped out for selfie video shooting.

While the camera can shoot stills in Raw and JPEG (the cheaper ZV-1F couldn't shoot Raw), it's very evident that Sony sees this as mainly a walk-and-talk video camera for YouTubers and social media creators; for confirmation, we only need to look at Sony's logo on the touchscreen, which only appears right side up when it's flipped out for a selfie.

Compared to its predecessor, the ZV-1 Mark II is an update with very few changes save for one very notable switch (arguably correction) to a wider 18-50mm equivalent F1.8-4.0 lens. The original ZV-1 had a 24-70mm equivalent lens that made it challenging to frame wide-angle selfies, especially if you cropped in by engaging digital stabilization. With the updates to the lens, we can start at 18mm equiv. or employ digital image stabilization (IS), which imposes a 1.33x crop to give approximately 24mm equiv. field of view. The change means the Mark II gives a 24-67mm equiv range when stabilized, making it more usable for on-the-go selfie vlogging.

Other than the wider lens, the rest will be very familiar for ZV-1 users. The same Type 1 (13.2x8.8mm) Stacked CMOS 20MP sensor returns, which helps it achieve fast autofocus, quick and accurate people and animal tracking with low rolling shutter. It also has the same form factor as its predecessor, with the same buttons in the same configuration, the same rocker switch for the zoom, and the same distinctive fuzzy rat over the mic array, which slightly obscures the on/off button in the same way. Also carried over are the fully articulating 3" touchscreen, battery and ports for a 3.5mm stereo mic socket and Micro HDMI output. The multi-port has been swapped for a USB-C port. Absent once again is a headphone socket for audio monitoring.

How it compares

We've seen a slew of vlogging or creator cameras in recent years from Sony, Canon, Panasonic and even Nikon; there's no shortage of options. Sony alone has produced five models in its vlogging-focused 'ZV' range, stretching from the $500 ZV-1F to the $2200 full-frame interchangeable lens ZV-E1.

Considering the vlogging camera space and which cameras to compare, we thought it apt to include Sony's ZV-1F and ZV-E10. These cameras are aimed at a similar user need as the ZV-1 Mark II, yet they're spread across lower price points, making a features comparison useful. Among competitors, we also looked at the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III and Nikon Z30, as they fit the bill for size, weight and features aimed at vloggers, making a comparison meaningful.

If vlogging and auto mode simplicity are the chief concerns, then the Sony ZV-1 Mark II is a suitable option. It benefits from a Stacked sensor, allowing for faster readout for minimal rolling shutter, and has very responsive phase-detect autofocus to help it avoid focus hunting during videos.

However, if you're seeking more control and want the versatility of exchangeable lenses – and don't mind losing the outstanding autofocus, rolling shutter performance and pocketability of the ZV-1 Mark II – we recommend the Nikon Z30. It's a trade-off that gains a larger sensor and better ergonomics, and while you may miss focus more often for selfie videos, we think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Body and handling

The ZV-1 Mark II is small, compact, lightweight and relatively pocketable at 292g (10.3oz) and 106mm (4.2") on its longest side. The body is very boxy, with a slight bump along the front for a hand grip and a thumb rest along the back. For its size and stature, the bump and thumb rest in tandem are surprisingly efficient and comfortable in securing the camera when not shooting selfies. A wrist strap loop adds peace of mind that the camera won't get jostled loose while in use.

When held in selfie mode, the camera can become difficult to hold steady or maintain a nice grip. We found having an external handle to screw into the tripod mount was essential for steady operation. Sony has an optional Bluetooth shooting grip (Sony GP-VPT2BT) with REC and zoom controls, which can also double as a compact tripod, for an additional $139.99, but any grip will do if you're looking to save some money.

The camera is sparse on buttons. Along the top plate and rear are a limited set of buttons, a rocker switch for the zoom and one rear dial. There is no viewfinder on the ZV-1 Mark II, which may present a challenge when used in bright sunlight if you're not shooting video in selfie mode.

On the back, there's a button for the Fn menus and 4-way dial to make quick adjustments to camera settings, but aside from the prerequisite shutter button, menu button and some additional customizable function buttons, the ZV-1 Mark II delegates most operations to the touchscreen.

We found the touchscreen to register inputs quickly. With the screen flipped out for selfie video, the touchscreen allows quick adjustments to shutter, aperture, ISO and white balance settings, but anything more requires swiping the panel to bring up additional quick menus. For instance, if you want to activate the ND filter or switch from touch focus to touch tracking, you'll need to swipe up on the touchscreen to bring up the Fn menu. Starting and stopping recordings can also be done through a touchscreen button, but we found it far easier to use the physical record button on the top plate. Having a tactile confirmation you are recording is nice, but we also appreciate the inclusion of a tally light and a red border that appears around the screen when recording. However, adjusting beyond basic settings requires accessing the main menus, which became an issue when shooting in selfie mode.

With the screen-flipped out or selfies, the touchscreen becomes your main way to control the camera, with all basic settings a tap away, including focus and the record button.

While on the go, thankfully the ZV-1 Mark II is quick to boot up and be ready to shoot. Users can turn the camera on/off via a power button along the top plate. However, this button ends up obscured and buried under the fuzzy rat accessory which sits over the three-capsule microphone, but there is an alternative. The camera can be set to turn on and off by flipping open or closing the rear touchscreen, and this quickly became our preferred way of activating the camera.

Battery

The ZV-1 Mark II retains the same 4.5Wh NP-BX1 battery from the original ZV-1, which is CIPA-rated for 290 still frames per charge (it's pretty normal to achieve at least twice the rated value). This is a reasonable level of endurance to squeeze out of a small battery. The CIPA rating for "Actual" video recording is 45 minutes. In practice, we landed closer to 30-35 minutes for video, which became a pain point.

New to this version is a USB-C port, which can be used to recharge the battery. Using this method, we could recharge the battery from nearly empty to full in about 35 minutes. You can also power the camera while in use over USB. Hence, an external power bank becomes an option for longer shoots than a single battery will allow, but this also defeats the purpose of a small form factor and highly portable design.

Video

The ZV-1 Mark II can capture up to 4K/30p, but that drops to 1080 if you want to use slow-motion frame rates. Unlike its predecessor, this version does not have lens or in-body stabilization. Stabilization is only available in video as a digital process, which crops the frame and takes its video from a moving frame within the cropped region to correct for motion. It works fairly well when capturing 4K video, and the crop turns the 18mm equiv. into about a 24mm equiv. This crop feels intentional; to deliver a camera designed to be a stable 24mm equiv., an unstabilized 18mm equiv. lens was required. (If you're curious, the original ZV-1's digital IS had a crop that turned the 24mm equiv into about a 30mm equiv.)

1080 video crops	4K video crops

Sony has included HLG modes, which are designed for viewing on HDR displays, and S-Log2 and S-Log3, which are aimed at retaining additional tonal information about the scene to give users more control over how they color grade their footage during editing. But there's just one problem. The camera only has 8-bit color depth. This is unusual for HLG and has a major drawback for Log footage.

Capturing in 8-bit risks the footage falling apart if you try to adjust color too far; this is because a wide dynamic range is stored with too few data points, and the result is images can start to degrade, band and posterize as you try to make large adjustments. S-Log3, which tries to maintain a very wide dynamic range, is particularly susceptible to this. We'd tend to stick with S-Log2 on this camera.

A few creative modes and dedicated buttons also return from the ZV-1 for vlogging ease. A defocus button tells the camera to prioritize a shallow depth of field and a 'Product Showcase' mode uses face detection but tells the camera to automatically rack focus to any objects you hold up close to the camera, which should help for anyone doing make-up tutorials, cooking demos, unboxing videos or anything where you need to demonstrate something and shift focus from your face to the object. A 3-capsule mic array also automatically adjusts to isolate the speaker's voice, whether behind, in front or around the camera.

CineVlog mode

New to this version is CineVlog mode, which automatically sets the camera to a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio with the 24p frame rate used in cinema and a gentler 'film-like' color profile. It also lets you apply color filters and adjust focus speed to mimic the big screen presentation.

Within CineVlog mode, a unique subset of color filters are broken down into "Moods" and "Looks." Broadly speaking, Moods adjust color response and Looks adjust tonal response and contrast. Both can be used in combination with each other to dial in a preferred presentation.

Looks:	Chic	Clean	Mono
Moods:	Forest	Gold	Ocean

Four Mood options (Auto, Gold, Ocean and Forest) and five Look options (Classic, Clean, Chic, Fresh and Mono) exist. Autofocus transition speed may also be set between Hi, Mid and Lo.

The idea behind CineVlog is to produce ready-to-share videos directly from the camera. However, it should be noted this mode has baked-in black borders and the 2.35:1 isn't the native format YouTube and other social media platforms use.

File management and Sony's Creator App

One appeal of dedicated vlogging cameras is improved file management. Whereas a smartphone requires freeing up internal memory to continue shooting or a possibly slow and tedious download process that halts work, a camera with an SD memory card allows for quick swapping and downloading of files independently of a camera being used for filming.

In addition to memory cards and USB-C tethering, the ZV-1 Mark II can transfer files to mobile devices using Sony's Creator App (Android or iOS). With the app, files are meant to be moved directly from camera to phone and appear in the phone's photo/video library. In practice, we found the iOS version of the app was finicky with failed connections and frequent signal drops mid-transfer. We did not test the Android version.

Image stabilization performance

The quality of the stabilization will vary, depending on how much movement the camera is experiencing and in which direction. As you may expect, the slower and more steady the movement, the better the result in digital stabilization.

Walking at a normal pace – not briskly or intentionally slow to steady the camera – we found the stabilization to be better when moving forward and backward in the same direction as the walker talking to the camera. Vlogging to the camera was smooth, and pointing the camera out as we walked forward also yielded decent results.

Once we introduced walking turns around street corners and panning there was a noticeable drop in quality, with the the stabilization trying to grab onto the framing and then releasing as it reached the limit of what it could correct, giving a jerky experience. It's a very noticeable pain point that doesn't come up often, but it can make your work look amateur when it does.

Another option is bypassing the in-camera stabilization to use Sony's "Catalyst Browse" software. The camera records movement metadata from its IS sensors, making it possible to take unstabilized footage into the software and utilize the greater processing power of a computer, rather than expecting the camera to deliver results in real time. With this software, our stabilization results ranged from decent to marginally better. The extra steps to take this route are cumbersome and bring to question the camera's design ethos of steering users toward auto settings to make things quick and easy.

Audio performance

The ZV-1 Mark II has a directional 3-capsule microphone that can be set to auto or manually to capture directional sound from the front, back or all around. It is the same system used in the original ZV-1.

We tried a few simple tests to evaluate how much separation the microphones produce between the audio we want (a person talking to the camera) and the ambient noise in the environment. The results were mixed.

In Auto, the camera does its best in quiet and outdoor spaces but struggles indoors and in noisy environments, such as windy beaches or heavily trafficked city streets. Reverb is an issue with all audio capture, but on the ZV-1 mark II it is particularly bad indoors and gets worse as the distance between the speaker and camera increases. Auto audio mode struggles to discern where sound is coming from in these environments, and it's a guessing game if it will decide to use omnidirectional pick-up, recognize where the speaker's voice is coming from, or get fixated on the reverb source in the room.

We also noticed when rotating the camera 180 degrees, from having a person speaking behind it to in front of it in one continuous take, the auto mic array isn't consistently reliable in switching mic priority from rear to front. Another issue for continuous takes is that the camera also picks up the sound of the lens zoom motor.

When the system works as intended to identify a main speaker and prioritize them over ambient noise well, the results still leave something to be desired. Out-of-camera voice tracks are flat and tinny, and pale in comparison to external audio we captured simultaneously.

If possible, external audio is recommended, however, the Mark II does not have a headphone socket to monitor sound. There are visual levels, but there is no way to know exactly what those levels are measuring without listening.

Autofocus performance

One area this camera shines is the autofocus; it is very zippy, recognizing faces and eyes on people quickly. And once a face is locked in, the camera does a great job of staying on that person, even if other people enter the frame later.

Thanks to the Stacked CMOS sensor, readout is fast and aids AF tracking to stay sticky on people and animals. We only noticed the camera losing focus in situations where we were briefly backlit and the focus jumped to the background, such as walking into a dark alley and the camera shifting focus to the trees behind us. In these situations, users can tap to focus on their face again or wait for the camera to recognize there is a face in the frame and start tracking it again.

Image quality

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

The ZV-1 Mark II uses the the same Type 1 (13.2 x 8.8mm) sensor we've seen in RX100 models and image performance is similar as expected. The new lens is sharpest at the center with some falloff as you approach the corners. Colors and skin tone capture are fairly accurate, and we didn't notice skin tones going too pink for typically lighter skin or too red for darker skin. Greens and yellow are pleasing but not partially punchy using the standard profile. There is an issue with daylight white-balanced images going very blue, an unfortunate stumble in an otherwise capable system.

Conclusion

The ZV-1 Mark II has many nice video features; it's fast to boot up, auto modes get you shooting quickly, autofocus and rolling shutter performance is very good and there's digital image stabilization for video (no IS for stills however). Users considering a compact vlogging camera or an upgrade to the original ZV-1 would find much to love in this camera, but there are stumbling points and limits that smartphone users and more advanced users may find frustrating. And, unsurprisingly, if you're primarily interested in stills and want manual control, this isn't the camera for you.

"Video needs to be your primary need... making things using mostly auto modes and features."

The design philosophy of the ZV-1 Mark II is one built on automatic settings, aimed squarely at solo video creators. There's no need to know what an aperture is, what the lens is doing, the difference between cardioid and omnidirectional mics, or why Hollywood uses 24fps; the resulting look is the key here and Sony has tried to make it simple.

For all these promises, the ZV-1 Mark II is held back by a few glaring issues that prevent it from meeting the needs of its target users. Out-of-camera audio is better than most other cameras but isn't good enough to fully rely on: we don't recommend using it if you have other options. Then there is the issue with the jerky IS, which struggled to travel around corners, grabbing and releasing the frame. Coupled with color going too blue in some outdoor daylight scenes and an anemic battery run time for video, and it becomes hard to recommend the camera for users seeking a pocketable video-centric camera.

The biggest question to ask with any vlogging camera is whether the dedicated device is better than the smartphone we already carry daily. In this regard, we don't think the ZV-1 Mark II is up to the task.

The camera's excellent autofocus, subject tracking and rolling shutter performance are all leagues ahead of most smartphones. The addition of aperture control and memory cards that make it easier to transfer files is also appealing, but its over-reliance on auto modes, audio issues, terrible battery (I can't overstate this enough) and price point make it a product we would not recommend for users already meeting their needs with a good smartphone.

For smartphone users hoping to find manual controls a smartphone can't provide, I'm afraid here too, the ZV-1 Mark II does not fit the bill. It does have manual controls, but using them is punishing as you have to navigate menus and virtual buttons on the touch screen, and it's very easy to errantly adjust a setting with a misplaced finger. Manual focus is a non-starter here, as in: it's available, but we don't advise ever trying to use it.

Scoring

Compared to its peers

Amongst Sony's ZV line of vlogging-centric cameras, the closest competitors to the ZV-1 Mark II are the Sony ZV-1F and Sony ZV-E10.

The ZV-1F is the lowest-priced alternative to the ZV-1 Mark II, something it accomplishes by cutting features. The most notable 'cut' is that the camera only has contrast-detect autofocus. This isn't an issue for stills but will make videos, particularly selfie videos, an exercise in regularly having footage with missed focus and focus hunting. The camera also suffers significant rolling shutter, making it further unsuitable for video. We don't recommend it over the ZV-1 Mark II. Saving $400 (MSRP) may seem appealing, but don't do it.

On paper, Sony's ZV-E10 looks like a better buy, but it also pales next to the ZV-1 Mark II. Although the ZV-E10 has a larger APS-C sensor, dual dials and the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, the ZV-1 Mark II's faster readout gives smoother video from a more compact package. If your main use case will be selfie videos on the go, we prefer the ZV-1 Mark II.

Canon's closest competitor is the PowerShot G7 X Mark III, but it is the worst vlogging option among the cameras highlighted here. Video quality is significantly lacking compared to the ZV-1 Mark II, and contrast-detect autofocus introduces notable bouts of focus hunting. If you don't see yourself ever capturing video, then the Canon's ease of manual operation makes it an appealing option for stills.

Nikon's Z30 captures lovely video and has a low-light advantage over the ZV-1 Mark II thanks to its larger sensor. Rolling shutter performance isn't as good as the ZV-1 Mark II and its stacked sensor, but it's not terrible either. The autofocus is also less dependable.

We recommend Nikon's Z30 over the ZV-1 Mark II for vloggers who can accept a less pocketable option. A kit with a 12-28mm F3.5 can be had for cheaper than the ZV-1 Mark II. The only thing really holding this camera back is a limited selection of lenses (there are 5 own-brand and a few third-party lenses at present).

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Sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.

Photo: Richard Butler

We're almost a quarter of the way through the year already! Here's a recap of the reviews and testing we've done this year so far, with more (and more and more) to come as the year goes on!

March

Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 G: Sample gallery

Photo: Eric Limer

Sony's FE 24-50mm F2.8 G is a fast, compact walk-around lens for its full-frame E-mount cameras. We took it out in snow and sun in New Jersey to put it through its paces.

In practice, we found that it makes for a light and portable package with convenient and satisfying hands-on controls and quick and quiet focus.

See the sample gallery

Buy now:

Leica SL3: Initial review

Photo: Richard Butler

The Leica SL3 is a 60MP DSLR-shaped mirrorless camera built around Leica's L-mount. It brings a lot of technology from the Leica M11 models but also features a radically redesigned interface. In March we published our initial review.

Read the review

Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 II: Studio scene

Photo: Brendan Nystedt

As we enter the final phase of our Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 II review, we've added the test scene images to our image comparison tool.

See the results

February

Hasselblad 907X / CFV 100C: Sample gallery

Hasselblad's CFV 100C medium format digital back brings most of the features of the X2D 100C to smaller form factor that's compatible with a wide range of cameras from the company's history. We paired it with a 907X camera / lens adaptor and XCD 28mm F4.0 and XCD 90mm F2.5 lenses to shoot a sample gallery.

See the sample gallery

Buy now:

Megadap ETZ21 Pro Sony-to-Nikon mirrorless lens adapter: Review

Photo: Dan Bracaglia

After getting our hands on it, we can say that, as far as what’s currently available for Sony shooters wishing to dabble in the Nikon realm, there is no better option on the market than the Megadap ETZ21 Sony E-mount to Nikon Z-mount lens adapter.

Read the review

Buy now:

Nikon Zf: Video reel update

Photo: Richard Butler

Nikon's Zf is a full-frame mirrorless camera with classic styling, built around a 24MP BSI CMOS sensor. It's designed to mimic the look of the company's FM2 SLR from the early 1980s, meaning it effectively becomes a full-frame counterpart to the company's Z fc APS-C camera. In February, we updated our review with a video reel and impressions.

Read the review

Buy now:

Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Studio scene

Photo: Richard Butler

As we complete our Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II review, we've run the camera through our recently revitalized studio test scene to see how it performs against the competition.

See the results

Buy now:

Fujifilm X100VI: Initial review

Photo: Richard Butler

February finally brought us the X100VI, a photographers' fixed-lens camera that combines a stabilized 40MP APS-C sensor with a 35mm equivalent F2 lens. We had it day one, and have published our initial review along with a sample gallery. Unfortunately, those won't help you actually find one to buy.

Read the review

See the sample gallery

Buy now:

OM System OM-1 II: Sample gallery

Photo: Shaminder Dulai

The OM System OM-1 Mark II is a high-speed Micro Four Thirds camera based around a 20MP Stacked CMOS sensor. As the name implies, it's an updated version of the flagship OM-1, with a series of hardware and firmware improvements. In February we published a sample gallery to update our initial review.

See the sample gallery

Read the initial review

Buy now:

January

Sony a9 III: Initial review

Photo: Richard Butler

The Sony a9 III is the company's latest high-speed pro sports camera. It features a Stacked CMOS sensor capable of shooting at 120 fps and able to read all its pixels out simultaneously: the long hoped-for 'global' shutter. Our studio scene analysis shows that it comes at a cost.

Read the review

Buy Now:

Lumix S 100mm F2.8 Macro: Sample gallery

Photo: Shaminder Dulai

Panasonic's Lumix S 100mm F2.8 Macro is a full-frame L-mount lens that's designed to be compact and lightweight, coming in at 82mm (3.2") long and 74mm (2.9") in diameter and tipping the scales at 298g (10.5 oz). Hands-on, we can confirm it is very tidy and light.

See the sample gallery

Buy now:

Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II: Sample gallery

Photo: Dan Bracaglia

Sony's 16-35mm F2.8 GM II lens is smaller, lighter and more capable than its predecessor. Optical improvements come in the form of better corner-to-corner sharpness and a new close-focus distance of just 22 cm.

See the sample gallery

Buy now:

iPhone 15 Pro Max: Sample gallery

Photo: Jeff L Carlson

When we published our iPhone 15 Pro Sample Gallery, we didn’t yet have an iPhone 15 Pro Max model in hand. In addition to boasting a larger 6.7-inch screen, the Max differentiates itself by having a 5x (120mm equivalent) telephoto camera with a clever tetraprism design. The iPhone 15 Pro’s telephoto camera, meanwhile, shares the same 3x (77mm equivalent) field of view as the iPhone 14 Pro. Is the extra reach worth the bigger physical size and higher cost?

See the sample gallery

Buy now:

Canon EOS R100: Review

Photo: Shaminder Dulai

The Canon EOS R100 is an ultra-compact 24 Megapixel APS-C mirrorless camera with an RF mount. It is the cheapest way to enter Canon's mirrorless ecosystem, offering more flexibility than a smartphone.

Read the review

Buy now:

Fujifilm XF23mm F2 R WR: Review

Photo: Mike Tomkins

The Fujifilm XF 23mm F2 R WR is a very compact, portable, wide-angle prime lens for Fujifilm X-mount cameras. It makes a great walkaround lens and is well-suited for uses like travel and street photography, as well as things such as moderately wide landscapes and environmental portraiture.

Read the review

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Buy now:

$449 at Amazon

$449 at B&H

$449 at Adorama

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Sony ZV-1 Mark II: Review

Photo: Shaminder Dulai

The Sony ZV-1 Mark II is a vlogging-focused compact camera built around a 20MP Type 1 (13.2 x 8.8mm) Stacked CMOS sensor and an 18-50mm equivalent F1.8-4.0 lens. Besides the new focal length range, much of this camera remains the same as its predecessor, which was itself a competent pocket-sized video camera.

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$898 at Amazon

$898 at B&H

$898 at Adorama

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Tenba Axis V2 18L backpack: Review

Photo: Tim Barribeau

The Tenba Axis V2 18L ($200) is a well-made, quietly competent but otherwise uninteresting backpack. Tenba has been in this industry long enough to know the basics of building a functional bag, but this simple black rectangle struggles to stand out against a field packed with more interesting, stylish, or specialized options like Peak Design's exceedingly versatile Everyday Bag or LowePro's hiking bag that happens to hold cameras well too.

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Photos Dan Bracaglia

This story was originally published on Jan 8, 2021 and has been updated for 2024.

Film photography is alive and well. Though digital photography is by far the dominant medium, film is still around, and has been growing in popularity over the last decade as photographers discover (or re-discover) the joys of chemical, analog photography. There's also a healthy supply of good used film cameras and many of varieties of film still on the market.

So how does one take the plunge into analog photography? Here are the bare necessities – what you need to get started.

Film cameras

No surprise there! But what kind of a film camera should you get? We recommend starting with a camera that uses 35mm film, as it's the most common format and offers the broadest variety of equipment.

If you're eager to get that 'film look' with the least amount of fuss, we recommend a compact point-and-shoot camera, which is easy to load and makes most of the exposure decisions for you (and usually makes them correctly).

We recommend starting with a camera that uses 35mm film, as it's the most common format and offers the broadest variety of equipment

If you're a more experienced photographer, you'll perhaps want an SLR or rangefinder that allows you to take more creative control. Auto-focus SLRs offer an experience similar to DSLRs, while manual-focus, manual-wind cameras require more involvement and present an enjoyable challenge. We'll talk more about types of cameras in future articles.

What about lenses? For cameras made after 1990, a couple of general-purpose zooms in the range of 28-85mm and 70-200mm should get you started. For older cameras, prime (fixed focal length) lenses offer better optical quality. Most SLR cameras came with a 50mm lens in the F1.7 - F2 range, which is a good place to start, and a 28mm wide-angle is a common second purchase.

Where to find film cameras

There's plenty of film camera options out there, from very affordable to very pricey.

First, ask around! Chances are you have relatives or friends who have old film cameras sitting in a closet that they are happy to give away or sell cheap. You can also check local thrift stores or estates sales to see if you can find anything that looks promising.

If you're more determined, there's no substitute for finding and buying a specific camera online. If you're going to buy gear (in the US), a dealer like KEH or MPB is the safest way to go. They grade their gear so you'll know what kind of condition it's in, and they usually offer a guarantee and carry a healthy inventory of compatible lenses. Prices will be a little higher than buying from an individual seller; you're paying for peace-of-mind. Your local camera store may have used gear as well.

Auction sites like eBay are another beast. It can be a little bit of a gamble, but you can minimize your risk if you play your cards right. Popular point-and-shoots like the Olympus XA2 are available in spades, though price and condition obviously vary.

For the safest options, look for listings that explicitly say the camera is "tested" or in working condition and which have a return policy. "Untested" cameras are riskier, but not necessarily paperweights. Because testing film cameras is fairly arduous for non-enthusiast sellers, fully functional cameras do get listed this way. But if it's listed as "for parts" or "not working," you can safely assume it's busted.

Chances are you have relatives or friends who have old film cameras sitting in a closet that they are happy to give away or sell cheap

Remember, you don't need to spend a lot on a camera to get great pictures. You should be able to get a perfectly good camera for less than $100 (and sometimes less than $20). Lastly, if you're really just in it for the novelty or looking for a gift, you still purchase single-use cameras for about the cost of a movie ticket, or a refillable plastic camera for a few bucks more. Just don't expect much more out of the results than retro vibes.

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Film

It's best to start out shooting with affordable films like Kodak Ultramax (bottom) and Ilford HP5 Plus (top), rather than pricer stocks like Kodak Portra or Fujifilm Natura.

Film is the medium on which analog cameras record their images. Basic film types include print and slide film, both of which come in color and black-white varieties. We'll be adding a guide in the future, diving into their differences.

For most folks, we recommend starting with color print (a.k.a. color negative) film, as it's the least expensive and easiest to get processed. Kodak ColorPlus 200 is cheap and has a nice vintage look. And while shooting film isn't much more difficult than shooting digital, beginner mistakes are always a possibility, so it's best to start with something low-cost.

For most folks, we recommend starting with color print (a.k.a. color negative) film, as it's the least expensive and easiest to get processed

A lot of film photography classes use B&W film, primarily because it's much easier to process by hand than color film. (Also, it looks really cool.) B&W film is often a bit cheaper than color print film, but processing may be more expensive. We don't recommend starting with color slide film as it requires perfect exposure to get good results.

The 2024 film market is surprisingly vibrant, thanks to the growing resurgence of analog photography. Companies like Cinestill and Harman have actually launched new filmstocks in recent years, Cinestill 400d and Phoenix 200, respectively. Are they cheap? Not exactly. But Kodak has recently reduced the price of its Tri-X stock.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some cameras set film speed automatically, but others require you to set it manually. Be sure to set the ISO/ASA dial/switch to match the film speed, and don't change it mid-roll!

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Where to find film

Most local camera stores still stock film, and you can mail-order it from online retailers like Freestyle and B&H. Film does have an expiration date, and we advise beginners to avoid expired film as it produces unpredictable results.

Batteries

Chances are your analog camera will need some type of battery. (Mechanical cameras can usually operate without batteries, but their built-in light meters can't – and you’ll want a working meter). Later model film cameras will likely take AAs or lithium batteries that are easy to find.

Older manual cameras often take button batteries (S76 or LR44) that will last years, if not decades. Very old cameras may take 1.35V mercury cells which are no longer available, but there are workarounds. WeinCell offers mercury-free batteries that put out the proper voltage, and voltage converters for modern 1.5V batteries are also available. In general, we'd advise first-timers to avoid older mercury cell cameras.

A place to get your film developed

Film has to be developed, so you'll need a lab to process it for you. If you live near a moderately-sized city, you should have no problem finding a place to process your film, and there are also several mail-order labs. Search in Google and be sure to check prices. Expect to pay $10-$20 to develop a roll (more if you want scans and prints).

Expect to pay $10-$20 to develop a roll (more if you want scans and prints)

Most labs will scan your film, make paper prints, or do both. Some labs offer cut-rate processing by tossing the negatives and having you download scans. Don't do it! Get those negatives back – you'll want them in case you want to get better scans or have the photos reprinted at a later date.

What about developing your own film? B&W is a pretty easy and affordable to process, and while we wouldn't recommend it for absolute beginners, it's an easy skill to learn. If you are curious, we recommend reading our guide: Developing at home: everything you need to know.

Color processing requires more precision and higher temperatures, and is best suited to those who already have experience with B&W processing.

Other accessories you might want to consider:

Having a second body (preferably in the same mount) is a handy way to shoot two different film stocks at the same time.

You don't need a lot of gear to get started in film, but there are a few accessories that can enhance the experience.

The owner’s manual

Film cameras are generally less complex than digitals, but the controls differ greatly. Paul Butkus' Orphan Camera site has manuals for over 5,000 different cameras, and we highly recommend getting yours. Paul doesn't charge anything, but please consider supporting him with a donation.

Tripod or monopod

Film cameras have no image stabilization and most films are in the ISO 100-400 range, with ultra-high ISO films (1600-3200) producing a grainier image. That means you'll need to stabilize your camera sooner than you might in digital. If you're shooting in conditions darker than an overcast day, a tripod will help.

One body with 100-speed film and another with 400 protects you if the clouds roll in, and running color film in one camera and B&W in another gives you more creative possibilities

Filters

Film can benefit from a simple UV filter, which cuts down on haze and also protects one's lens. If shooting B&W, a yellow or red filter can give you better sky tones.

A light meter app

You can rely on the Sunny 16 rule if you don't have a light meter on your camera or don't trust the one that's there. You can also convert your phone into an excellent light meter with an app. Lightme is a terrific option for iOS users, but options abound on Google's Play Store as well.

Extra film

If you fill up your memory card, you can always delete a few photos – but you obviously can't do that with film, and it's inevitable you'll get to the end of a roll when there are still plenty of good photos to be taken. Always pack an extra roll of film or two. When you get back home, store unused rolls in the refrigerator or freezer.

A second camera body

This isn't a recommendation for absolute beginners, but at some point you may want to consider a second photo body (compatible with your first if you use an SLR). Why? With film, you can't change ISO on the fly, nor can you change from color to black-and-white – but you can have a second body loaded with a second type of film. One body with 100-speed film and another with 400 protects you if the clouds roll in, and running color film in one camera and B&W in another gives you more creative possibilities.

If the cameras use the same lens mount, you only need carry one set of lenses. And your second camera doesn't have to be the same model – a $50 Canon Rebel 2000 makes a great back-up body for your $200 Canon EOS 1N.

A sense of adventure

If you want to capture a perfectly sharp image that's exactly what you expect, odds are you have the tools you need to do it. Grab your film camera when you want to be surprised. There's no substitute for taking as many perfectly-focused pictures as your SD card can hold. There's also no substitute for opening up an envelope of prints, not knowing what is inside.

OM System's OM-1 Mark II updates its flagship high-speed Micro Four Thirds camera with incremental improvements to hardware and some performance and handling tweaks. Micro Four Thirds is marketed as a lightweight system ideal for travel and wildlife where reduced size and weight can make or break plans for what gear to take on a trip. So we hit Seattle in search of nature and sightseeing.

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Winters in the Pacific Northwest mean rain and gray skies, with a rare day of sunshine every so often to remind us that color and contrast still exist. We encountered some eagles and hungry ducks in a downpour and caught up with some people and zoo animals on a dry day.

View our OM-1 Mark II sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.

Update Feb 6th: 16-bit Raw files are now available for download.

Hasselblad's CFV 100C medium format digital back brings most of the features of the X2D 100C to smaller form factor that's compatible with a wide range of cameras from the company's history.

In addition, the CFV can be combined with the diminutive 907X camera / lens adaptor to allow its use with XCD lenses. We used this pairing, the XCD 28mm F4.0 and XCD 90mm F2.5 lenses to get some experience with the system.

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We also borrowed the optional 907X control grip, which gives you twin dials for controlling exposure, a joystick for positioning the AF point and a top-mounted shutter button (rather than the front-mounted one on the 907X camera itself). We found ourselves really enjoying this combination, even if the focus was perhaps a little slower and less dependable than, say, the Fujifilm GFX cameras.

We've hoping to get the camera back to conduct a full review in the coming months, but for now, explore the images we've got so far with the camera.

Click here to see our Hasselblad CFV100C / 907X sample gallery

One of the nifty benefits of technology is that we live in a world where products can be updated or upgraded after buying them. This includes obvious things, like computers, phones and tablets, and less obvious ones, like TVs, cars, or remote pet feeders. To my surprise, I recently discovered a firmware update for my oven, but since the release notes don't say, "This update fixes a bug that will burn down your house," I haven't bothered to install it.

This also extends to cameras, and it benefits photographers because new firmware can enhance a camera's performance and extend its lifecycle beyond original expectations.

In the early days of digital photography, receiving firmware updates for cameras was rare; they existed, but almost solely to fix bugs. More recently, manufacturers began rolling out firmware upgrades, which go a step further to add new features or improve the performance of existing ones. Today, it's not an uncommon expectation that many products will receive one or more substantial upgrades over their lifetime.

Promises vs. expectations

The operative word in that last sentence is expectation. An expectation isn’t a promise. It’s rare for camera manufacturers to promise future firmware upgrades in advance, though it happens. Case in point: when Panasonic announced the GH5 II and GH6, it explicitly stated that it would release firmware upgrades after launch to add features to those models.

But expectations and promises are two entirely different things, and we frequently encounter camera owners who criticize companies for not releasing more significant firmware upgrades for their favorite product.

The Panasonic GH6 is one of the few camera models that promised a future firmware upgrade when announced.

Further, when a new model comes out, we sometimes hear from owners who contend that a manufacturer could have (or should have) added its new features to existing products via firmware. This often occurs when a newer or higher-end product is based on hardware similar to existing models. Most recently, we saw examples of this following the OM-1 Mark II release, though it's by no means unique.

This raises the question: Are manufacturers obligated to provide you with firmware upgrades when you buy a new camera?

A manufacturer's obligation to you

We all want the products we’ve already purchased to be improved. It’s a benefit of technology that didn’t exist until recently, and it's a meaningful one. But don’t mistake the benefits of getting a nice firmware upgrade with a manufacturer’s obligation to give you one.

"Don’t mistake the benefits of getting a nice firmware upgrade with a manufacturer’s obligation to give you one."

When you buy a camera with a specific set of features, the manufacturer's obligation is to deliver those features to you. Assuming it does, you received what you paid for, even if the hardware is capable of doing more. Increasingly, cameras are built on platforms that use similar parts, and manufacturers may segment products based on features enabled in firmware. Those willing to spend more will get more sophisticated features or higher performance.

The Nikon Z9 has received multiple firmware upgrades since its release, adding features as varied as 8K/60p internal Raw video capture and bird subject recognition.

Similarly, when your favorite manufacturer comes out with a shiny new model, know that it will likely do things your current model won’t, even if the hardware could support it.

I'm not suggesting that camera manufacturers shouldn't provide upgrades to existing products. Quite the opposite. It's good business, shows goodwill toward customers, and instills a sense of loyalty to a brand. I'm saying there's no guarantee you'll get one for any particular product, however, so you should plan accordingly.

Upgrade considerations when buying a camera

First, unless it was promised, don't assume that your camera will ever do more than it did on the day you bought it. You can only plan your purchase based on what a product is now, not what it might be or what you hope it will become. If an upgrade is released at some future date, that’s a bonus.

Second, accept that you decided the camera was worth what you paid for it when you made the purchase. If a new or more expensive model comes out, you're not entitled to any additions it brings, even if you believe your camera could offer them.

The OM-1 is the OM System's flagship camera, but some users have expressed frustration that it hasn't received more substantial firmware upgrades.

I’m not an absolutist. Are there times when a camera manufacturer has an obligation to provide updates? Sure. If something doesn’t work or there’s a legitimate bug in a camera's operation, companies should fix that and make it right. But that’s very different than owing you future features or performance enhancements just because you hope or assume you’ll get them.

If getting firmware upgrades is essential to you, buy a camera from a company that promises one before you buy it, but even then, understand there's a chance it won't materialize if the company changes business priorities down the road.

The good news is that even if your camera never gets an upgrade, that won’t prevent it from doing everything it did when you took it out of the box. And when your favorite manufacturer comes out with a new model to replace the old one, don't dwell on the fact that your camera doesn't get the latest features. Instead, celebrate the many photos your existing camera has allowed you to capture since you acquired it, and know that you didn't miss opportunities while waiting for a new model to arrive.

Nikon has released firmware version 2.0 for its Z8 high-end mirrorless camera, adding features for still and video shooters.

Fans of avian photography will be pleased to see the addition of a dedicated bird detection mode. As with the Z9, Nikon claims improvements in recognition, tracking, and AF performance in various circumstances. The mode (distinct from that included as part of animal detection mode) should be able to recognize a wider range of birds in a wider array of poses, even against complex backdrops.

A new Auto Capture feature will take a photo or video when one or more specified criteria are met. Those criteria are distance, motion, and subject detection so, for instance, as soon as that deer enters the frame headling right to left, the Z8 can go to work.

The Pixel Shift feature first seen on the Zf has also arrived. The camera can take 4, 8, 16, or 32 photos by shifting the sensor by 1/2 or 1 pixel and then saving them as individual NEF files. The 4 and 8-shot modes provide improved color resolution and less noise at the sensor's native 46MP resolution, while the 16 and 32-shot modes produce whopping 180 Megapixel files with even more detail. The files must be merged in NX Studio before they can be shared or edited.

A new Picture Control mode has been added for portrait photographers. The "Rich Tone Portrait" mode retains skin details while preventing highlights from clipping, making it ideal for wedding and portrait photography.

The camera also gains a wider choice of shutter sound effects to indicate the firing of the camera's silent electronic shutter. Options include sounds that mimic the shutter of the Nikon F5 or S-series rangefinder, rather than the default DSLR-style sound effect.

Other improvements include:

• The number of functions and operations that can be assigned to custom control has increased.
• A function has been added that enables users to exit zoom with a half-press of the shutter-release button when focus mode is set to manual focus.
• An option that allows users to choose the width of focus-point borders has been added.
• An option that allows users to choose not to record shooting orientation information in image EXIF data has been added.
• A new [Prefer focus point (face priority)] option has been added that centers the display on a face when one is detected while scrolling through photos during playback zoom.

Version 2.0 of the Z8 firmware can be found on Nikon's website.