Photo: Dale Baskin

With summer approaching, many kids will soon head off to summer camp, toting duffel bags filled with sunscreen, bug spray, and, often, a camera to capture their memories. The Camp Snap ($70) is a point-and-shoot camera designed specifically for this purpose. It’s super simple – no LCD screen, no complex settings – and its price means it won’t be a disaster if it ends up at the bottom of a lake or covered in s'mores.

Crucially, its screen-free design helps address a common challenge: many camps restrict or ban smartphones and regular digital cameras, aiming for an immersive, screen-free experience for campers.

Key features

• 8 Megapixel resolution (4.6 x 3.2mm sensor)
• 35mm (equivalent) F1.8 lens
• LED flash
• 4 GB microSD card included
• USB-C port
• Internal battery

The case for a dedicated summer camp camera

Summer camp can be one of the most magical experiences kids can have. I admit I might be biased; not only did I attend camp in my youth, but I also ran a summer camp for several years when I was a bit older. I won’t lie – it was probably the best job I ever had.

"Its screen-free design helps address a common challenge: many camps restrict or ban smartphones and regular digital cameras."

One of the best things about camp is it provides an opportunity to immerse kids in an experience different from their normal lives, focusing on new activities and the environment. Fortunately for me, I ran a camp before smartphones were everywhere. If kids brought cameras, they were film cameras, and they had to wait until they got home to see the photos.

Camp Snap camera | F2.8 | 1/750 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Dale Baskin

Today’s camp directors face a very different challenge. To ensure kids get that immersive experience, many camps restrict or prohibit smartphones or regular digital cameras. Constant digital interaction is a distraction, and many camps insist on a screen-free experience. That’s where the Camp Snap comes in. It lets kids capture memories without a screen, complying with camp rules.

In use

The Camp Snap camera is super easy to use because there’s very little to control – perfect for most kids. In fact, it's a lot like using a disposable film camera. There's only one button, the shutter button, and there’s an optical tunnel-type viewfinder. A tiny LCD on the back displays the shot count.

The Camp Snap camera has only two physical controls: the shutter button on top (which doubles as an on/off switch) and a switch for the flash setting (on, off or auto). Photo: Dale Baskin

The only other physical control is for the LED flash, which can be switched to on, off, or auto. This simplicity ensures kids won’t come home with unviewable photos because a setting was accidentally changed.

It ships with a 4GB microSD card, which Camp Snap says should hold about 2,000 photos. Based on my usage, it's probably closer to 1,500, but that's probably ample for a week at camp, and you have the option to put in a larger card if needed.

"The Camp Snap camera is super easy to use because there’s very little to control – perfect for most kids."

Notably, the microSD card slot is hidden behind a panel that requires a small Phillips screwdriver to remove. This prevents kids from casually removing the card and, more importantly, losing it. Trust me, kids are really good at losing things at summer camp.

The manual flash control is a pleasant surprise, though I suspect most kids will either leave it off or set it to auto. The flash is an LED type, similar to a smartphone, which can result in that same washed-out look.

The microSD card is located on the bottom of the camera behind a screw-in panel that discourages kids from trying to remove the card. The USB-C port can be used for charging or to plug the camera into a computer for direct file transfer. Photo: Dale Baskin

There's a slight delay between clicking the shutter and taking a photo. It's not as fast as a DSLR, but it's more responsive than many compact cameras I've used. The shutter button also doubles as an on/off switch. You press and hold it for about three seconds to turn the camera on, at which point the shutter button glows green. A flashing red light indicates a low battery. (I only ran into this once during testing.) Holding the shutter button down for another three seconds turns the camera off.

There's one small quirk to the on/off process. When pressing the shutter button to turn off the camera, the camera emits the shutter click sound, followed by another sound about three seconds later when it powers down. Initially, I thought I was taking an extra photo every time I turned off the camera. That turned out not to be the case, but it was confusing.

Camp Snap camera | F2.8 | 1/160 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Dale Baskin

In my opinion, the 35mm equivalent lens is a good choice. It’s wide enough for activities like boating or building a monkey bridge, but not so wide that friends look distorted in group shots. The optical viewfinder doesn’t provide 100% coverage, meaning photos should have a bit of extra room around the edges, which can be helpful for cropping. Unfortunately, the viewfinder itself is tiny and exhibits distortion. It's functional, but not great.

The camera can capture photos using several preset filters, including Standard, B&W, Vintage, KodaClone and 101Clone. Only one filter can be loaded into the camera at a time. Interestingly, it ships with the 'Vintage' filter installed by default, something I didn’t realize until I was well into testing. Camp Snap claims the battery should last for about 500 photos, and it recharges via the USB-C port; I never ran out of power when testing it.

Image quality

Let’s set appropriate expectations: the Camp Snap aims to survive summer camp and provide a screen-free experience, not win image quality awards. Photos are OK, but the camera's sensor is smaller than the ones found on the main cameras of most smartphones and half the size of those in most older compact models, and it will perform accordingly.

Camp Snap camera | F2.8 | 1/100 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Dale Baskin

In short, if you have a modern Android phone or iPhone, don't expect the same level of image quality, particularly since the Camp Snap doesn't benefit from the sort of computational wizardry those devices employ. However, the photos should be good enough to capture those core camp memories.

The camera uses a fixed-focus lens design, so there's no autofocus system to worry about. In even light, the metering does a pretty good job, but it struggles with strongly back-lit scenes. White balance is generally on target, though some of my photos exhibited a slightly green color cast.

The most visible artifacts you're likely to observe are clipped highlights on bright objects or skies, and if you zoom in, you’ll probably see compression artifacts.

This photo illustrates the types of artifacts you're likely to see in some photos from the Camp Snap camera. Look closely at the sky: you'll see banding in the blue areas and places where the color is clipped, making the sky appear cyan and white. Camp Snap camera | F2.8 | 1/640 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Dale Baskin

As mentioned, this camera isn't going to win awards for image quality. Does it matter? When I look back at the grainy, often over- or under-exposed photos 12-year-old me took at summer camp with a film camera, I don’t worry much about the quality because those photos captured important memories. I think the same applies here, particularly if the alternative is having no camera at all due to technology restrictions.

"This camera isn't going to win awards for image quality. Does it matter?"

One minor annoyance: most of the photos I shot are tilted slightly to the right, suggesting the sensor may not be perfectly aligned with the camera. However, considering how many of the photos I shot as a 12-year-old were off-kilter anyway, I'm not sure this is a showstopper.

Should you buy it?

If your child is headed to summer camp and you need to navigate a screen ban – whether it’s a camp policy or your own rule – the Camp Snap is worth considering. In my opinion, it's best suited to younger kids. Older kids (13 and up) might find it a bit simplistic. Just set your expectations appropriately; a modern smartphone will take better photos, but those may not be allowed at many camps.

It’s worth considering other screen-free options, too. A disposable film camera won’t violate screen bans, and if your child can change film rolls, a used point-and-shoot film camera could work. Instax or other instant cameras offer instant fun, though film costs can rise quickly. That’s one area where a digital camera like the Camp Snap, with its large capacity and one-off price, has an advantage.

Summer camp is special, creating memories that last a lifetime, and If your kid has an interest in photography, I encourage you to support that enthusiasm. Whether it’s with the Camp Snap camera or something else, camp is a great place to begin, or feed, one’s photography journey.

Image: Sony

Sony has announced the FX2, a cinema camera built around a full-frame 33MP BSI sensor. Despite its presence in Sony's Cinema line, it's also surprisingly capable as a stills camera – the company says its goal was to have the same photo features as the a7 IV – which could be a sign of even more interesting things to come in Sony's video-focused lineup.

Key Specifications:

• 33MP BSI CMOS sensor
• 4K <30p derived from full-width 7K capture
• 4K <60p with APS-C crop
• AI-based autofocus tracking and video cropping modes
• Mechanical shutter and stills mode switch
• 3.68M dot tilting EVF
• 1x CFexpress Type A/SD slot, 1x SD slot

The camera's design borrows a lot from previous cinema cameras; it has several standard 1/4 20" mounting points and lacks a viewfinder hump, which is nice when attaching it to a gimbal.

The variable-angle EVF can be flipped up depending on your shooting angle. Image: Sony

It does, however, add a variable angle EVF with 0.70x magnification and a 33mm eyepoint, which Sony says will let you monitor your video without having to put your eye completely up to it. A loupe-style eyecup, which can be swapped for use with your right or left eye, enhances that experience. It also has a much deeper grip than the FX3 and FX30, and even more custom function buttons, with a new one on the EVF.

Sony has greatly expanded the camera's stills capabilities

Sony has also greatly expanded the camera's stills capabilities. On the FX3, getting into photo mode required pressing four buttons. Now, there's a switch right on the camera to go between stills and video, and each mode has its own menus suited to the task at hand. It also features a mechanical shutter, 10fps burst, and a flash sync speed of 1/160. Sony has also added the ability to shoot full-resolution stills with a Log response curve, saved as either 8-bit JPEGs or 10-bit HEIFs. You can use the View Assist feature to preview the effect of a LUT on these files but will need to use external s/w to apply one.

Despite the expanded stills mode, it's still very much a cinema camera, with a lot of DNA from models like the FX3 and FX30. It has All-I and HEVC codecs, the ability to adjust gain in terms of exposure index rather than ISO and professional workflow features such as timecode sync, support for Sony's Catalyst software, and more.

The use of a 33MP sensor, with Sony hinting that rolling shutter numbers could be similar, suggest the use of a very similar sensor to the a7IV. Like that camera, the new one has to crop to an APS-C region to deliver 4K/60. Sony's post processing Catalyst software can attempt to correct some rolling shutter distortion from full-frame mode.

The color modes, especially, speak to its cinema-first design; it comes with the S-Cinetone mode, an expanded suite of "Creative Look" presets, and the ability to load user-created Luts to the camera, which can previewed, applied to your footage, or linked to standard S-Log footage with a metadata tag.

Beyond the Movie / Still switch, the FX2's control layout is still very clearly designed for video. Image: Sony

The FX2 also introduces Sony's AI co-processor to the company's cinema line, which brings with it an improved AI autofocus system. It can track insects, animals, birds and vehicles while recording video, and should be better at tracking humans than the previous-generation system.

Some more updates this camera has over the FX3:

• Slow and quick mode is replaced with a variable FPS mode
• Has two tripod mounting points on the bottom
• "Big6" menu option, inspired by the Sony Venice cinema camera
• Dynamic active stabilization mode for improved smoothness when shooting handheld
• UVC/UAC support for driver-free streaming to a computer over USB
• Updated fan and heatsink for up to 13-hour record times in 4K60p

It'll be interesting to see where Sony goes from here. It's hard to imagine it did all this design work for one camera that's on the low end of the FX line. But if the rumored second-generation FX3 has the same body and stills features, it's hard to imagine there being any reason for the company to continue making the a7S cameras that are so popular with video shooters.

The FX2 will cost $2699 body-only and $3099 for a bundle with the company's XLR-H1 audio adapter/handle. It's available for pre-order starting today, and the company says it expects to start shipping it in August.

Image: 7artisans

7artisans has officially released its full-frame AF 24mm F1.8 lens for Sony E-mount. The company is pitching it as a do-everything option for landscape, astro and environmental portraiture shooting.

The lens is made up of 14 elements in 11 groups, with two aspherical lenses, two high refractive elements and three ED elements. It has a minimum focusing distance of 0.32m (12"), and its aperture has 11 blades. Its autofocus abilities are provided by a stepper motor.

The AF 24mm F1.8's body is made of metal and weighs in at 424g (~15oz). It can accept 62mm filters and has a clickless aperture ring. It also includes a customizable function button and a USB-C port on the mount for software updates.

The lens costs $329 and is available now.

7artisans AF 24mm F1.8 Specs:

The Canon EOS R50 V is a small mirrorless camera designed for vloggers and consumers looking to take video. It's built around the same 24MP APS-C sensor found in the more stills-oriented EOS R50.

Key Features

• 24MP Dual Pixel AF CMOS sensor
• Full-width 4K up to 30p, derived from 6K
• 4K 60P w/ 1.56x crop
• Front-facing tally lamp
• Dual record buttons and zoom toggle
• Canon Log-3 profile, HDR PQ and HLG options
• Extra 1/4-20" tripod thread for vertical shooting

The EOS R50 V is available for $649 body-only, and in a kit with the RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ power zoom lens for $849.

Index:

• What's new
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Video
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications

What's New

Video-first design

Despite the camera's name associating it with the EOS R50, the two cameras actually have very different designs. The EOS R50 V lacks a viewfinder and built-in flash, has an almost entirely redesigned control scheme and features a headphone port, which its sibling lacked. It also adds a tally light on the front to make it obvious when you're recording, a front-facing record button, a zoom toggle switch and an additional tripod thread on the right side of the camera, which lets you easily mount it for vertical shooting.

The front grip is also substantially less pronounced than that of the standard EOS R50. While this makes it less comfortable to hold in the traditional way, depending on your hand size it may be quite a bit more comfortable to hold the camera facing yourself for when you're vlogging or taking selfies.

The mode dial also gets a redesign, with stills shooting relegated to a single space. The rest is taken up by video modes.

Somewhat oddly, the close-up demo mode, which over-rides the camera's face detection autofocus when you hold an object up close to the camera, can't be accessed in the rest of the video modes. That also means you can't use it with your chosen exposure mode; you're stuck with letting the camera automatically pick the settings, which you can only influence by using exposure compensation.

More video capabilities

Unlike the regular EOS R50, the V can shoot 4K video at 60p, though doing so incurs a 1.56x crop. It also features Canon's C-Log 3 color profile, which lets you capture low-contrast footage designed to be color-graded later. It also includes a 'false color' exposure assistance mode and a Log / HDR view assist mode that shows you what your footage will look like after grading, though you can't use both assist modes at the same time.

The EOS R50 V has an upgraded menu system that lets you choose your codec and bitrate independently.

Canon has also upgraded the video menu system to the one found on its higher-end cameras like the EOS R5 II, allowing more granular control over codecs and bitrates than the EOS R50 provides. One annoyance is that it doesn't automatically match your frame rate to your chosen mode; if you switch to the 4K Crop resolution, it won't automatically select the 60p framerate. Instead, you get a message saying, "These items cannot be combined," which you have to push past to choose the correct framerate or resolution. This also happens when you're switching back to the non-crop mode; the camera makes you select both the frame rate and crop mode, even though one of the crop modes only has a single frame rate option.

Like most cameras, the EOS R50 V risks overheating if you record for extended periods. You can raise the temperature threshold at which it cuts out, if you're not planning on holding it. Canon says it'll cut out after around 55min of 4K capture at room temperature, with no limit if you set the threshold to 'high.'

The slow and fast mode, which lets you record higher framerates that are saved as slow-motion videos at lower framerates, is also new for the EOS R50 V. There's also a new "Cinema View" mode that bakes black bars onto your footage for a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and a product demo mode that tunes the autofocus system to focus on objects being held up to show the camera, rather than on the person holding the product.

Vlogging UI

The on-screen user interface has been redesigned to give you access to all your vital video settings without having to go into the menu, which is useful when you have the camera mounted to a tripod facing you. Tapping the "Q" button on the screen or using the hardware Q button brings up a scrolling menu that lets you change things like your shooting mode, autofocus area, autofocus subject detection, resolution and framerate, digital stabilization settings, color mode and more.

For some operations, the camera will bring you into its more traditional menu system, though the relevant sections have clearly been optimized for touchscreen operation. However, unlike the Q menu and live view info display, they don't rotate when you're using the camera in portrait orientation, which can make them a bit awkward to use depending on how you have the camera mounted.

A video-focused kit lens

Alongside the EOS R50 V, Canon introduced the RF-S 14-30mm (22-48mm equiv.) F4-6.3 IS STM PZ powerzoom lens. Its zoom range is well-suited for vlogging, letting you get wide enough that it's easy to film yourself even if you're using a mode with digital crop – though things will start to get tight if you combine the 60p mode with the most aggressive digital image stabilization. However, the lens's optical stabilization means you're less likely to have to do that, and its power zoom lets you get smooth pushes in or pulls out.

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How it compares

The market for entry-level cameras with no viewfinder, a boxy design, and vlogging-focused features is relatively robust; most brands have a camera they market toward creators, though some have a much more extensive list of video features than others.

Aside from its rolling shutter rates, the EOS R50 V compares relatively well to the competition when it comes to shooting video. It also has many of the vlogging-specific features that are also available on the Sony and Fujifilm, though it doesn't have an easy background defocus setting to tell the camera whether to prioritize a wide open or stopped-down aperture.

For shooting stills with flash it benefits compared to the Sony by having a partially mechanical shutter, but suffers compared to the Fujifilm by having a Canon multi-function shoe, rather than a standard hotshoe (though you can buy an adapter).

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Body and handling

The EOS R50 V doesn't feel appreciably smaller than the regular EOS R50, though the lack of a viewfinder hump and minimal grip give it a boxier design that should play well with handheld gimbals.

The top plate shutter button is styled as a record button and has a toggle switch to control focal length for power zoom lenses or the digital zoom function available when recording in FHD. You can also use it to change which top-level section you're in when navigating the camera's menu.

The default button assignments make a lot of sense for run-and-gun videos.

Behind that is the camera's only top-plate control dial. If you want to control a second parameter, you'll have to use the small, rear plate dial which can be a bit fiddly given how sensitive it is, and the fact that it also acts as a multi-directional controller, so you can accidentally activate another function if you press down too hard in one area.

The camera has two other programmable buttons on the back, alongside a menu, playback, and info button, and a programmable button on the top plate, as well as a "Lock" button that deactivates the camera's control dials. That's especially handy, since it's really easy to bump them while you're vlogging, potentially ruining a shot. By default, the "Color" button lets you access the menu to control the standard color mode, as well as the 14 color filters Canon includes to let you add various looks to your footage and the more advanced response modes such as C-Log or HLG.

Screen

The camera is mainly made to be controlled using the 3" articulating touchscreen, which lets you adjust your settings and shooting parameters and navigate through the menus. Like most cameras' displays, it can be challenging to see in direct sunlight, especially if you're trying to judge exposure.

Ports and slots

The EOS R50 V has a particularly quick 10Gbps USB-C port, which should be handy if you want to offload footage without taking off your tripod plate to get at the SD card. It also supports UVC/UAC streaming to a computer, letting you use it as a 4K webcam*.

It also has a headphone jack so you can monitor audio and a mic port so you can attach an external microphone. Also included is an ever-fragile micro HDMI port, which you can use to output video to a monitor or to a streaming box if your setup doesn't support USB.

* You'll be limited to 1080p if you want your camera to also draw power over USB instead of relying on its battery.

Battery

The battery and card slot are both under a door on the bottom of the camera.

The EOS R50 V uses the same 7.5 Wh LP-E17 battery that can be found in many of the company's other small ILCs, such as the original EOS R50. The company says it's good for 390 shots based on the CIPA rating. As always, the main use of the rating is as a common reference point among cameras, as the literal number of shots you get will depend on many factors.

Canon hasn't publically published CIPA video test results for the EOS R50 V. However, the camera's manual says you can expect around 70 minutes of 4K 30p recording on a charge, and about double that if you're shooting in 1080p. Those numbers are for single autofocus.

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Video

Video Quality

The EOS R50 V's standard 4K footage is derrived from 6K capture and provides a good level of detail for most vlogging uses. The 4K 60p setting uses a smaller region of the sensor and has less detail than the >30p modes, but still provides a very usable image if your audience is mainly people watching videos on the web.

Recording Options

The EOS R50 V has four different recording formats, which can be used with any framerate and resolution.

While the camera has a screen for selecting your compression type, the only option is Long GOP.

Autofocus

The EOS R50 V offers several autofocus area options, ranging from spot to whole area autofocus. You move the point using the touchscreen, and in whole area autofocus you can use tap-to-focus to track a specific area. You can also use the four-way controller to select your focus point, provided you configure a button to engage AF point selection mode.

It can recognize three types of subjects: people, animals (including birds) and vehicles. There's also an "auto" mode that will track any recognized subjects in those categories. The subject recognition can be used with any of the autofocus area options, and the camera does a good job of honoring your selected area, rather than trying to jump to a subject not under your focus point the moment it recognizes one.

Autofocus settings, like most of the rest of the camera's settings, are separate between video and stills modes.

We found that the autofocus tracking was reliable at keeping whatever we were shooting in focus, especially when using subject recognition mode. There are also several options to tune it if the initial settings don't work for your needs: you can make the focus speed faster if you want it to quickly jump between points or slower if you want longer focus pulls, and you can also adjust how willing the camera is to refocus to a different distance or subject.

We also found that it was relatively tenacious, even when tracking a non-recognized subject. We could tap an object on the screen and be relatively sure it would keep it in focus as we moved the camera around, provided the movements weren't too extreme and that the subject mostly stayed in the frame. It also didn't tend to lose subjects after zooming in or out and was quick to refocus after zooming.

Rolling Shutter

There's no way to sugar-coat it: the EOS R50 V's rolling shutter performance is quite poor. If you pan the camera even at a moderate speed or point it at something moving relatively quickly, you'll get jello-like skewing, which can be quite distracting depending on what you're shooting.

The problem is far less pronounced in the 60p 4K crop mode due to the fact that it's sampling a smaller portion of the sensor, which takes less time. This leads to good rolling shutter performance, which is also the case in the 1080p modes.

Electronic image stabilization

Unsurprisingly, given its price, the EOS R50 V doesn't have a stabilized sensor, which means you'll have to rely on optical stabilization, a gimbal and/or electronic image stabilization to reduce shake when shooting handheld. The EOS R50 V has two electronic stabilization modes: normal and "Enhanced." Both crop in on the image, with the latter adding more crop than the standard mode. Both also work in the 4K Crop mode required for shooting in 60p, but you will end up with a substantially tighter image.

We found the electronic stabilization can work well for static shots or shots with slow movements, but isn't a great fit for walking and talking shots, especially if you pan the camera. It has a noticeable grab-and-release effect that can make your footage look stuttery, and while it does take out the most intense shakes, you can wind up with video that looks a little wobbly instead of steady.

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Conclusion

Given the EOS R50 V's heavy focus on vlogging, we've filmed the bulk of our conclusions as a vlog, which should help provide an idea of what kind of results the camera can produce.

Outside of vlogging, it's worth touching on the photo-taking experience with this camera. Put simply, stills aren't what this camera is designed for. From a technical perspective, it's quite capable; it has pretty much every photo feature the EOS R50 does (including a mechanical second curtain shutter), and its image quality is solid. You can check out the studio scene here.

The experience of taking photos with it, however, just isn't all that fun. It could've actually been an improvement on the EOS R50 by having two control dials instead of one – we're no fans of rear control dials, but they're better than nothing – but the top plate dial being at the back of the camera instead of the front means that you'll have to manage both dials with your thumb. That minimizes the speed benefits that you typically get from having a second command dial.

That, along with the missing EVF, means that the EOS R50 V is best suited to taking occasional photos rather than being a really good stills camera that also excels at video. While you can absolutely use it to capture some great photos, people who split their time more evenly between stills and video will want to consider a less vlogging-focused model.

While the rolling shutter performance, crop in 4K60p and few UI quirks make it hard to recommend this camera to absolutely anyone interested in video, it's undoubtedly still worth considering if you're looking to get into vlogging or videography, especially if budget is a concern. The value the EOS R50 V provides with its image quality, autofocus system and feature set is what earns it a silver award.

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 Fujifilm X-M5 offers a complete experience for both stills and video shooters than the EOS R50 V thanks to its two top-plate control dials and especially robust lens ecosystem. Its open-gate recording mode can also provide a bit more flexibility over framing in post and still has better rolling performance than the EOS R50 V despite its taller aspect ratio. However, Fujifilm's autofocus tracking performance won't be as good for unrecognized subjects.

Compared to the EOS R50 V, the Sony ZV-E10 II's much faster sensor means it'll have far less rolling shutter, and will be able to shoot in 4K60p with far less crop, making it better for fast moving subjects or shooting styles. Ergonomically, the side-mounted SD card slot means you'll never have to take off your tripod plate to get at your footage, though, like the rest of the competition, it lacks the Canon's vertical tripod mounting thread. But while the EOS R50 V's battery life is sufficient, the ZV-E10 II's massive battery will let you record for substantially longer.

The Nikon Z30 struggles to keep up with the newer cameras on this list. It can't shoot 4K60p at all, which means you'll have to drop down to 1080p if you want to shoot in slow motion, and it also doesn't support 10-bit color or Log, meaning you'll be more limited in post when it comes to color grading. The lack of a headphone jack will also make it harder to tell if your audio is turning out correctly.

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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.

OOC diptych: Classic Neg (L), Provia (R) Photo: Richard Butler

Last week, Fujifilm announced the X half, a compact camera with a vertical 3:4 Type-1 sensor and a 32mm equiv F2.8 lens. We were able to spend some time shooting with it to see how it performs and what kinds of images it produces.

The sample includes several of the in-camera diptychs the camera makes if you pull the film advance lever while using it in its standard photo mode. You can also see a few examples of the new filters, such as light-leak and expired film.

See the 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; we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.

Photo: JulyProkopiv / iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Travel season is here for many. Whether you're looking to start a travel blog or simply want to document your trips, you may be trying to figure out what gear you'll need. While dedicated cameras have advantages for vlogging and video creation, smartphones are much more convenient. After all, you'll likely have it on you at all times anyway, and it takes up much less room in a bag.

While phones are highly capable these days, picking up some accessories can help you get the most out of your device when recording video. There is also plenty of overlap with what smartphone accessories are best for travel photography, such as lenses, power banks and lens cloths, so be sure to give that a look, too.

Bluetooth mic

Photo: DJI

Bluetooth microphones are an excellent accessory for anyone shooting video. They are often more critical than fancy cameras, since viewers will forgive bad image quality but not bad sound. There are now many options for compact Bluetooth mics that play well with phones, including from DJI, Rode, Sennheiser and Hollyland. These come in the form of shotgun mics, lavalier mics and more. Be sure to check compatibility with your device before purchasing, though, as not all will work across iPhone or Android systems.

Gimbal

Image: Insta360

Shaky video is also a big turnoff for many viewers. While your phone has some level of stabilization to smooth out video while you're moving, it's generally somewhat limited, especially if you want to use higher recording quality options. Gimbals will give you much better stabilization while also making it easier to hold your camera. Plus, many gimbals double as a tripod or stand, making them even more worthwhile, especially if you want to record hands-free at times. DJI, Insta360 and Hohem are brands worth considering.

SSD

Photo: Samsung

Videos consume a lot of storage space on your phone very quickly, especially if you use the highest quality settings. You'll want to invest in an SSD to keep your phone from filling up. Some phones and apps will even allow you to record directly to an SSD, so you don't need to remember to transfer files. Brands like Samsung, PNY, Lexar, Seagate and Planck all offer reliable yet tiny SSDs that work well with phones.

Add-on filters

Photo: Moment

Whether using your phone's built-in lenses or detachable smartphone lenses, having the option to use filters will open more filming opportunities and give you more creative control. Two popular choices are neutral density (ND) filters and polarizers. ND filters reduce the amount of light entering your camera, allowing you to blur movement or backgrounds even in bright conditions. Polarizers help cut down on glare on shiny or reflective surfaces. Sandmarc, Moment, Beastgrip, PolarPro and SmallRig all make quality filters and filter mounts.

Cage

Photo: Beastgrip

Phone filmmaking cages offer multiple benefits. First, they typically provide grips off to the side of your phone, making it easier to hold while filming while ensuring no fingers get in front of the camera. Second, larger ones often provide attachment points for accessories such as filters, mics, SSDs, lights and more. That way, you don't have to fumble with holding all your accessories together. As you might expect by now, Moment, Beastgrip, PolarPro and SmallRig are brands worth looking at for cages and grips.

LED light

Photo: Lume Cube

Finally, a compact light may be useful to keep on hand, especially if you plan on filming in conditions other than bright ones. Some function as ring lights that clip directly onto your phone, like Westcott's offering. Others, from brands like Lume Cube, Joby and Sandmarc, will require a cage or mount. All options are easy to use with a phone and are tiny, so they won't take up much room in your bag.

Acessories for smartphone photography

Human-Powered Travel: May Editor's Challenge Winners

In this month's Editor's photo challenge, we asked you to share your photos fearing human-powered travel. Our community biked, skated, trekked and kayaked to submit some amazing photos of people moving under their own power.

Our top picks on the following pages are presented in random order. You can see all the photos submitted here.

Carrying Water

Overlooking the Laramie Plains

Cooling Off

SloMoe- Life in the Slow Lane

San Francisco Grand Prix

Kyoto Rickshaw

Sunrise at the 2023 Backyard Ultra World Championship

Pretty Big Jump

Evening Commute

Photographer: Raptor142

Photographer's description: After an afternoon of hard surfing in the chilly waters on Cape Town's West Coast, you could take a bus home .... but what fun would that be?

Equipment: Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm F3.5-5.6G ED VR

Persistence pays off

Cambie Bridge Rush Hour

Parra City Roller

The Great Wave off Mallorca

Ski Touring Moroccan High Atlas

Mom-Powered Travel

Fighting The Flow

Riding on UFOs

One of these must be mine

Looking for more?

We're hard at work on our next Editor's challenge, but until then, consider checking out some of the other community challenges on the site. REHS is hosting a "Texture" challenge that starts taking submissions today, and you can submit photos to DRLex's "Fortnight 52: My Best Non-bird Photo Shot after 2025-05-12" challenge starting Monday.

Photos: Polaroid, OWC, Godox and Laowa

It's the weekend, so we're checking in to share some accessories announced this past week. It was a surprisingly busy week for accessories and camera equipment, with a long list of releases from brands like Polaroid, OWC, Laowa and more. First, though, the deals.

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Deals of the week

Photo: Nikon

Nikon's Z6III is an extremely well-rounded camera, ideal for a wide range of photographic genres, including sports, studio, wildlife and everything in between. It's also got solid video chops. Right now, you can grab the Z6III for $400 off the regular price.

Image: Nikon

If the Z6III isn't quite in your budget, the Nikon Z7II is a slightly more affordable option. Despite that, it is still plenty versatile and offers excellent image quality. It's less expensive than its peers when full-priced, but right now it is $500 off.

Get a grip

Photo: Sony

Sony announced the Wireless Shooting Grip/Tripod (GP-VPT3) and the Wireless Remote Commander (RMT-VP2). Both devices work with Sony’s Alpha and vlog camera systems via Bluetooth connectivity. The grip is designed to make it easier to hold your camera, and can support cameras up to 1.5kg (3.3lbs). It can be used handheld or as a small tripod, and offers control over key camera operations like zoom and focus.

The detachable remote commander features a Movie button, Zoom/Focus button, and C1 (Custom) button, making it easier to control your camera with one hand from a distance. It offers a range of up to 10m (32.8').

Both will be available for purchase in June but are up for pre-order now. The grip, which comes with the remote, will cost $160. You will also be able to purchase the remote separately for $90.

Grip pre-order at B&H

Remote pre-order at B&H

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A MoMA collaboration

Photo: Polaroid

Polaroid and MoMA teamed up again to release a MoMA-themed Polaroid Now Generation 3 instant film camera along with limited edition film. The camera is the same as existing Now Gen 3 models, though with a bright blue body featuring a bold MoMA typeface on the front. It comes with three vibrantly colored wrist straps as well. You can purchase the collab version from the Polaroid or MoMA websites for $130.

Buy at Polaroid

The limited-edition color film includes four frames with the MoMA logo and four frames with quotes from artists in MoMA’s collection. It works with Polaroid I-2, Polaroid Flip, Polaroid Now, Polaroid Now+, Polaroid Lab, OneStep 2 and OneStep+ cameras. The film can be bought separately for $22.

Buy at Polaroid

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Epic close-ups

Image: Laowa

Laowa announced a new offering for dramatic macro shots. The Laowa 15mm F4.5 Wide Angle Macro lens offers 0.5x magnification, with the ability to focus as close as 12.9cm (5"). It features 16 elements in 11 groups, which includes 2 aspherical elements, 3 HR elements and 3 ED elements. It's a manual focus lens, but allows for auto aperture and Exif data on Sony E, Nikon Z and Canon EF mount cameras. The lens is also compatible on Nikon F, Canon RF and L mount cameras, though without auto aperture capabilities. It's available to purchase through Laowa's website or for pre-order through B&H for $400.

Buy at Laowa

Pre-order at B&H

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A tiny flash

Photo: Godox

Godox announced the iT30 Pro, its tiniest TTL flash yet. The pocket-sized device, which weighs just 120g (4.2oz), can work as a flash sender, receiver or trigger thanks to Godox’s 2.4GHz X system. Despite its diminutive size, the flash packs a punch. It offers a guide number of 49.2 feet at ISO 100. Its power is adjustable from 1/1 to 1/128 and has flash compensation from -3 to +3 EV. It features a full-color 2.8-inch touchscreen, rotary dial and built-in diffuser. The flash is available in versions compatible with Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus and Panasonic cameras. It's available for pre-order for $75.

Pre-order at B&H

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Simplify your workstation

Image: OWC

If you're tired of dealing with a slew of dongles and docks, this offering from OWC may be just what you need. The new Thunderbolt 5 Dock provides 11 ports through a single cable input, which OWC says is the highest bandwidth available. The front of the dock offers a Thunderbolt 5 port, a USB 3.2 port, a headphone jack, an SD card slot and a microSD card slot. On the back is the power input, a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, two USB 3.2 ports (one 10Gb/s and one 5Gb/s), and three Thunderbolt 5 ports. One of those rear Thunderbolt 5 ports can deliver 140W of power to keep your laptop charged. You can pre-order now for $330.

Pre-order at OWC

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Mobile creativity

Image: Sandmark

Smartphone creatives have a new tool available courtesy of Sandmarc. Its Star Filter creates multi-point flares from direct light sources. The filter is adjustable, giving users more control over the final look. It can be attached to iPhones using Sandmarc's attachment system, or used as a clip-on attachment. You can pre-order the filter now for $80; shipping will begin mid-June.

Pre-order at Sandmarc

Nikon has revealed that it will increase its prices in the US due to the recent tariffs. The company has thus far been silent on the matter but released a brief statement on its site announcing the change.

Nikon didn't provide specifics on what the price increase would look like, simply stating that "Due to the recent tariffs, a necessary price adjustment for products will take effect on June 23, 2025." Nikon's statement went on to say that it will be monitoring tariff developments and may further change pricing "as necessary to reflect the evolving market conditions." While the United States and China agreed to a 90-day suspension of most tariffs on May 12, the situation is still uncertain. It isn't surprising that Nikon is leaving room for more changes.

Nikon is just the latest in a long list of brands announcing similar increases due to the US tariffs. Earlier this month, Sigma said its prices would increase by an unspecified amount on June 2 for US orders. Leica also announced substantial price increases in the US earlier this month. Those prices, which include a 20% increase on the Leica D-Lux 8 and Leica Lux Grip, are already in place. Sony hasn't made any official announcements, but some of the prices of its cameras and lenses have gone up on sites like B&H, as PetaPixel reported.

On April 28, Canon released its Q1 financial results, which included a statement that it will be increasing prices on June 1. Canon assumed those pricing increases would be local to the US, but added, "if the tariff issue were to trigger a global recession, our assumptions will change." Blackmagic was one of the first to increase prices in the US because of the tariffs. Like Nikon and Sigma, it didn't specify the amount of the increase.

Some brands have announced changes in production plans or availability instead of pricing increases. Tamron said it's shifting where its lenses are made because of the tariff situation. Fujifilm announced last month that it is pausing pre-orders of its X100VI, GFX100RF and X-M5 (Black) models.

Of course, all things tariff-related are in flux. What happens after the 90-day "pause" is unclear, making it hard for companies to plan appropriately. The pricing increases from these brands could change substantially depending on what happens in the coming days and months.

Comparing the S1II lineup

Panasonic is now selling three hybrid cameras housed in the exact same body with similar features: the S1II, S1RII, and S1IIE. However, they all have different sensors, making them better suited to a particular type of shooting.

We'll go over those differences and, in the process, discuss who each model is best for.

Overview

All the cameras in the S1II series are generally aimed at hybrid shooters who take both stills and video. What sets them apart are their sensors. The S1IIE has the most familiar option of the bunch, with a standard 24MP BSI CMOS sensor that's also shown up in cameras like the Lumix S9 and S5II.

The S1II is still 24MP but steps up to a 'partially stacked' sensor with faster readout circuitry. It's aimed at people who need higher burst rates or higher framerates in video with less rolling shutter. The S1RII focuses on resolution versus speed and comes equipped with a 44MP BSI CMOS sensor, which will capture more detail in stills and allows for 8K video recording, while the other models top out around 6K.

Photo Burst Rates

All the cameras in the S1II series can shoot at up to 10fps with their mechanical shutters, which are rated for 400,000 actuations and can be configured to close when you shut down the camera to protect the sensor from dust. The differentiation happens when you start using the electronic shutter.

None of the cameras are billed as action cameras, but it's worth noting that their different burst rates and resolutions also affect how many photos you can take before their buffers fill up. The S1II can shoot Raws at its max speed for around three seconds, taking around 200 images, while the S1IIE can go for around six, capturing around 180 images. The S1RII can shoot for around a second and a half at its max burst rate, taking around 70 frames.

Base ISO

The second-gen S1 cameras all have dual conversion gain sensors, which will produce cleaner images at high ISOs. However, each camera has different low and high settings in their standard photo style response mode.

The low and high ISOs will change depending on what response mode you're shooting in and, for the S1II and S1RII, whether you're using their respective Dynamic Range Boost and Expansion modes. It is worth noting that these two modes work quite differently – with the S1II, there isn't even a second gain mode in DR Boost – but we'll cover that in more depth later.

Video Resolution

The S1RII is the only camera in the S1II line that can shoot at 8K UHD, though it can't quite handle DCI 8K; instead it has an 8128 x 4288 '8.1K' mode with the same 1.89:1 aspect ratio. Those could theoretically be delivery resolutions, as there are 8K displays on the market, whereas the >4K options for the S1II and S1IIE are more likely to be used because they offer a bit of extra wiggle-room or detail in post rather than because someone's looking to deliver to a 6K display.

However, those looking for flexibility may also want to use a 3:2 open-gate resolution. Both the S1II and the S1IIE can also shoot 6K open-gate, using the full sensor to produce a 5952 x 3968 3:2 image at up to 30fps. The S1RII can currently shoot in 6.4K open-gate at up to 30p, but Panasonic has promised to add an 8.1K open-gate mode to the S1RII via a firmware update, though the company hasn't given a date for when that will be available.

Video framerates

While the S1II and S1IIE have the same maximum resolution and framerate, the differences become stark the moment you move away from 6K open-gate.

Despite its length, this table only shows a selection of each camera's video modes. However, it is broadly illustrative of their high-level capabilities. The S1IIE can only manage full-with 60p in 4K when using the quite short 'Cinescope' aspect ratio, which still only captures a roughly APS-C-sized portion of the sensor. The S1II, meanwhile, can capture full-width 4K and 5.9K up to 60p without a crop. The S1RII will need to apply a small crop to achieve 60p at those resolutions but actually manages to have a slightly smaller crop than the S1II at 4K120p.

Rolling Shutter

The faster the rolling shutter rate, the less risk there is of getting the jello-effect when panning in video or shooting fast-moving subjects when using the electronic shutter.

When it comes to readout speed, the S1II is the fastest of the bunch; it can read the data it needs for its standard UHD 4K mode in 12.5 ms, something the S5IIE takes 21.6ms to do. The S1RII, meanwhile, takes 23.9ms. While those numbers are generally indicitive of how the cameras compared to each other in rolling shutter performance, the S1II and S1RII both have modes that can drastically reduce their performance. But to talk about those, we need to talk about...

Dynamic Range

Panasonic says the S5II, S1II can capture "14+ stops+ of dynamic range when shooting in V-Log, while the S1RII is claimed to be capable of 13 stops. However, both the S1II and S1RII have modes that, when activated, will capture an extra stop of dynamic range.

However, they work in very different ways and have different limitations. Both end up raising the base ISO (in order to expose to capture the additional DR). They also both have an impact on rolling shutter rates, but to very different degrees.

The S1RII's mode achieves this by simply reading out at a higher bit-depth, slowing the readout by around 30%. And whereas the standard mode's rolling shutter is comparable to that of cameras like the S1H, the DR Expansion mode means you'll probably want to reserve its use for scenes with little movement.

Panasonic says the S1II's DR Boost mode uses some combination of its readout modes with different gain levels. It doesn't have the parallel readout system of the GH6 and GH7, and results in a more than doubling of the rolling shutter rate. It also means there's no second gain step to move up to for low-light work.

Conclusion

There's a lot going on in Panasonic's second-generation S1 line, but by and large, the cameras occupy their own space. The S1IIE is a hybrid camera with solid workflow features and ergonomics but an otherwise relatively basic spec sheet, while the S1II is made for speed, and the S1RII is made for high-resolution shooting. All three are extremely capable when it comes to shooting video, though the aforementioned benefits of the non-E models still apply.

Where things are a bit more complicated is price. The S1IIE retails for $2500, which is substantially cheaper than the S1II's MSRP of $3200 and the S1RII's $3300 price tag. The relatively small price difference between the latter two cameras means that your use, not your budget, should be the deciding factor between the two.

Photo: Charles Brooks

The photo above may look like a city or some sort of industrial plant, but it's not: it's actually the inside of a pipe organ, photographed by Charles Brooks. It's one of the many pictures he's taken from the inside of musical instruments, a process that's substantially more complicated than it may seem, especially since he's often working with rare, historically significant objects.

Charles Brooks spent much of his career as a principal cellist, traveling to perform with renowned orchestras from China to Chile and Brazil. But beyond his music, he also has experience with photography, going back to when he was young. It was a natural combination, then, when he stepped back from playing and picked up his camera. The project that kicked things off for him was when he started capturing the inside of instruments. Brooks was kind enough to talk with me over video chat, sharing his background, what drives him, and unique insight into his Architecture of Music series.

"The inside of a heavily restored Double Bass by Charles Theress, circa 1860, one of the finest bass makers in the history of the instrument. Photographed in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aid of it's present owner Matthew Cave." Photo: Charles Brooks

Brooks had been living in New Zealand and photographing musicians when COVID-19 happened, which quickly brought things to a halt. During that time, though, he noticed that since musicians couldn't play, they were sending off their instruments for repair. As a result, workshops were filled with fantastic instruments, sparking an idea. Brooks said he had seen a few photographs of the inside of instruments before, including some taken for the Berlin Philharmonic, but those always looked like parts had been removed to create the images. He wanted to find a way to photograph the inside of instruments with everything intact.

Inside a 2021 Selmer Paris Saxophone. Photo: Charles Brooks

Luckily for Brooks, Laowa had released its first probe lens not too long before. His first attempt was on a cello, an instrument he is very familiar with. "That wasn't too hard, since you can take the spike at the bottom off and getting the probe lens in is easy," he explained. He said he thought it was a nice shot, so he decided to see if he could sell a few and posted it on Reddit. It blew up there, so Brooks started scheming how to continue with other instruments, including smaller ones.

He quickly realized the Laowa probe lens was too big for most instruments. To fix this, the first thing he did was use a heat gun to melt off the waterproof casing to make it a bit smaller (though he doesn't recommend others do this). That allowed him to photograph pianos, but what he really wanted was to capture the inside of a Stradivarius violin. Violins only have a 5mm hole at the bottom, which is much too small for anything except medical cameras (called scopes), which are not made for high-resolution photography. And so began the rabbit hole that Brooks has found himself going down.

"Inside a French violin crafted by Nicolas Augustin Chappuy in 1770. This violin was brought to New Zealand by Le Violin Rouge luthiers (Auckland). They will spend the next year or two restoring it. It's a stunning old instrument that has been unplayed for quite a while and needs careful care and attention to bring it back to a playable state." Photo: Charles Brooks

Brooks says he started by buying 20 to 30 adapters that allow you to attach medical scopes like endoscopes or arthroscopes to cameras. These introduced many problems, though. First, they are made to cover tiny sensors. You could adapt it to a full-frame camera, but most of the resulting image would be black. So he had to find a combination of adapters and magnifiers. "I sort of stacked them on top of each other to get that image circle as large as I could," he said.

"This remarkable photo captures the interior of the first violin I successfully photographed. Initially, it was presented to me as a Hopf, but I believe it is actually a 19th-century replica. This particular violin has been played but never repaired or opened since its creation, a rarity for an instrument of this age. This photograph marks the first time anyone has seen the inside of this violin." Photo: Charles Brooks

Unfortunately, every time you add more glass, it degrades image quality. Making things more complicated, "these scopes are so small, they're right at the limits of diffraction," Brooks explained. "So even if you do blow it up, you're going to get a larger image, but it's not necessarily going to give you any more data. It's just a bigger blurry image." He spent a lot of time playing around with adapters and magnifiers and talking to the manufacturers to see what he could do.

In the end, Brooks decided to use the Micro Four Thirds Panasonic Lumix G9 II with his scope setup. "That's as large as I could get it magnified without it sort of falling to pieces," he explained. Then, he uses the high-res mode to get larger images, which especially helps because there's still some vignetting he needs to crop out.

Unfortunately, figuring out the camera and adapter combination didn't solve everything. He explained that with all the magnification, he was shooting at roughly the equivalent of F250, meaning there was essentially no light. His solution was to use a bunch of flashes at the highest power possible, but that adds a lot of heat, and old instruments don't tolerate heat well. To keep these expensive instruments safe, he has to ensure that the varnish doesn't get over 28°C. So, he constantly measures the temperature and pauses between each shot to keep everything cool.

A photograph of the inside of a Geminhardt Elkhardt Alto Flute, which is the result of combining 960 individual images. Photo: Charles Brooks

After lots of trial and error, Brooks landed on a process involving a combination of focus stacking and panoramic stitching. He uses the probe to rotate around the inside of the instrument, almost like a clock. However, the probe only focuses on roughly 2mm at a time. He wants it all in focus so that it doesn't look like a classic macro shot, so he's taking 20 to 30 images to get it all in focus. He also takes dark frames, like astrophotographers, to prevent hot pixels. Plus, given that the probe lens isn't made for photography, the light transmission isn't even across the frame. So, he photographs a piece of paper to identify where the vignetting starts, determining where he needs to take additional photos to compensate.

"Deep inside the action (the moving parts) of one of the world's finest grand pianos. Fazioli make around 100 of these instruments a year, each handcrafted with over 8000 individual parts. Shot with a Lumix S1R and a Laowa Probe lens, 100 images at various focal distances have been stacked together for sharpness from front to back, giving a distinct architectural appearance reminiscent of a concert hall or film set." Photo: Charles Brooks

If you're thinking that sounds like a lot of images, you're right. Brooks says that there isn't a single final image with fewer than 100 shots stacked together, and some have more than 1,000 individual frames stacked. It's an incredibly time-consuming and technical process, both while shooting and in post-production.

Every part of his process is intentional because he doesn't want the images to look like miniatures. The focus stacking helps him avoid the typical aesthetic of macro photography by reducing the amount of background blur and focal compression. Creating an image that looks like it was taken with an ultra-wide-angle lens also results in leading lines we associate with normal-sized things, like streets and buildings, which tricks your brain into thinking the subject is not small. He also uses lighting to make it look like the sun is shining down, emphasizing the feeling that you are standing inside something. Finally, when Brooks displays prints, they are massive, adding to the feeling that you are inside a grand structure. For example, one upcoming show will have prints that are five by seven meters (16 x 23').

"This is a photograph showcasing the interior of one of the world's most exceptional violas, a magnificent 1619 creation by Nicolò Amati. The instrument is on a long-term loan from The Adam Foundation to the New Zealand String Quartet. It is presently being played by Gillian Ansell, a founding member of the quartet, and one of the greatest viola players to emerge from New Zealand." Photo: Charles Brooks

His unique way of photographing the instruments is part artistic and part documentary. He's photographing some of the finest instruments in the world. While they may look the same on the outside, with finely polished finishes and pristine surfaces, inside is a historical record. His photographs reveal the maker's marks, repairs, signatures and imperfections from use or cleaning the instruments. Because of this, he has no plans to slow down and has a list of famous instruments he'd like to photograph someday. You can see more of Brooks' photographs and read stories behind some of the instruments on his website.

The Fujifilm X half is a JPEG-only compact camera with a fixed focal length and a vertically orientated sensor, designed to mimic the experience of shooting with a half-frame film camera. It prioritises fun over technical excellence.

Key features

• Vertical 18MP, 8.8 x 11.7mm CMOS sensor
• 32mm equiv F2.8 lens
• JPEG-only output
• 2-in-1 mode combining sequential shots into a 3:2 image
• Tunnel-style optical viewfinder
• Film Camera mode simulates the film camera experience
• 10 Film Simulations
• 18 Filters
• Twin touchscreen interface
• Date stamp option
• 880 shot per charge rating when using OVF
• 'Film advance' lever
• Direct printing to Instax printers

The obvious reference point will, no doubt, be Fujifilm's own X100 series cameras, and we doubt Fujifilm will dislike the comparison, given their popularity. But, whereas the X100 cameras look a lot like miniature Leicas, the cute, boxy X half looks more like a Rollei 35.

The X half will have a recommended price of $849 and will be available in black, charcoal or silver. There's no obvious precedent for a camera like this and the uncertainty around the cost of importing items from China into the US makes it a little hard to make sense of, but it seems like a lot for a camera that's putting more effort into being fun than functional.

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Index:

• What is it?
• Body and handling
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What is it?

The Fujifilm X half is a fixed-lens camera built around an 8.8 x 11.3mm sensor. Those dimensions may not sound familiar but it's essentially a 4:3 crop from a 20MP 3:2 Type 1 sensor, turned on its side.

So, when Fujifilm talks in terms of half frame, it's talking about the 3:4 shooting experience you get from shooting half a frame of 135 film, not about mimicking the same capture area that would give.

It has a 10.8mm F2.8 prime lens, and that sensor's 2.94x crop factor means this gives a 32mm equivalent field of view and an F8.2-equiv maximum aperture.

Flicking the film advance lever just after you've taken a shot (or when you're reviewing an image in playback mode) lets you combine that shot with the next one you take. Left image: Provia film sim | F2.8 | 1/800 sec | ISO 200 Right image: Provia film sim | F2.8 | 1/1600 sec | ISO 200 Photos: Richard Butler

You can shoot individual 3:4 vertical images, swiping on the Film Simulation window on the back of the camera to change your virtual film stock. Alternatively, if you flick the film advance lever after taking a shot, you can combine your previous and next images to create a side-by-side diptych. Both individual images are saved to the memory card, in addition to the combined version.

Film Camera mode

The X half is best understood through its Film Camera mode. Engage the mode and you'll be asked how many exposures you want on your virtual film: 36, 54 or 72. If those second two numbers look unfamiliar, remember that this is styling itself as a half-frame camera, so you can fit 72 shots on a '36 exposure' film.

"Once you start shooting, you'll have to use the film advance lever after each shot: the camera won't take another photo until you do"

When in film camera mode, you lose the live view on the back of the camera and have to compose via the optical viewfinder. You also lose the ability to swipe to change Film Simulation or filter: you're using a single roll of 'film,' after all.

And, once you start shooting, you'll have to remember to use the film advance lever after each shot: the camera won't take another photo until you do.

Once you've taken all your photos, you can connect your camera to the app and transfer the photos, at which point you get to see a contact sheet and watch the images 'develop.' That contact sheet image, complete with sprocket holes, frame numbering (with the images numbered as 01, 01A, 02, 02A and so forth), can also be downloaded.

If you lose interest in a project before the end of the roll, you can double-tap the film window screen and the camera will 'rewind' the roll, leaving you with a partially-complete film strip. Fujifilm also warns that removing the memory card or the battery can result in film camera mode being abandoned.

Filters and Film Simulations

One of the X half's main selling points is likely to be Fujifilm's film simulation modes, and the camera includes ten of the most popular ones.

The X half also has a range of Filter modes, including Toy Camera, Vignetting, Light Leak, Halation and Expired Film. These give more extreme looks than the film simulations, but include some fun options such as giving the expired film mode a green or red tint, or the light leak mode that applies a one of a selection red/yellow bursts across each image at random, which are only visible in the final image. Filters can't be combined with Film Simulation modes.

ISO and Autofocus

The camera's base ISO is 200 and there are three pre-defined Auto ISO settings, you choice is essentially whether the camera stops at ISO 800, 3200 or 12,800.

In terms of autofocus, you have a choice of two AF area modes: a large central point or an AF area that can be moved to one of nine positions. There are eye and face detection options on top of this, and the camera will prioritize faces in your scene, regardless of the AF position.

Autofocus is somewhat laggy and distinctly slow, though, so we found the camera to be much more dependable in AF-S mode. This is not a camera for action or moving subjects, really.

Video

The X half can shoot up to 1080/24 footage at up to 50Mbps, captured in a 3:2, 1080 x 1440 format. It can also shoot 2x slowmo footage. These video clips can be combined with still images in 2-in-1 diptychs, output as 2160 x 1440px MOV files. There's a 3.5mm-to-USB-C lead in the box, but this is for attaching headphones (?!?) rather than an external mic, as is the case on other Fujifilm models.

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Body and handling

The X half is small, boxy and really rather cute: both its size and looks attract attention. It's also pretty well built. It feels like a lot of it is plastic but it's thick enough that the camera doesn't feel flimsy. It's small enough to fit in a coat pocket, despite the protruding lens.

The lens has an aperture ring around it, controllable in whole stops and with an 'A' position at one end, passing control back to the camera body. There is no other control dial on the camera, so there's no way to gain 1/3EV control of the aperture.

The camera's shutter tops out at 1/2000 sec, so in bright light you'll need to remember to stop down; especially if you're using the viewfinder, where there's nothing to indicate that your shots will be overexposed.

The lens is covered with a soft plastic lens cap. It's not the prettiest or most convenient feature, but ends up highlighting a benefit to the lens design: it doesn't change length. As such you never have to worry about stripping the gears or damaging a motor if you turn the camera on in your pocket or with the cap still attached.

The top of the camera is decidedly simple: a large exposure comp dial, that photo advance lever and an power switch, which releases the level from its stowed position. There's also a cold shoe slot in the middle of the camera. We're not really sure why.

The whimsy continues on the back, with a film-window-style rounded LCD panel that displays the currently active Film Simulation mode or Filter effect. It's a touchscreen, so you can swipe up or down to change mode (unless you're in Film Camera mode).

Next to this is the main display, a small, portrait-orientation 2.4" 640 x 480px touchscreen. In regular shooting mode this shows a live view display, just as you'd expect. Swiping your finger across the screen brings up one of four menus.

Swipe right

Swipe down	Swipe right	Swipe up	Swipe left

Swiping down gives you the choice between connecting to a smartphone and entering Film Camera mode.

Swiping right lets you select whether you're in Film Simulation or Filter mode. There are icons at the bottom of the screen to let you determine which of these modes applies to stills or video shooting. You don't select which of the simulations of filters you're using, just which mode the camera is in.

Swiping up brings up a quick menu, detailing eight of the camera's core settings:

Finally, swiping left brings up the camera's main menu. It's a much-simplified variant of the one from other Fujifilm cameras, divided up into seven catagories: Shooting settings, Movie settings, IQ settings, AF/MF settings, Audio settings, Set up and Networking/USB settings. These catagories are navigated by swiping up and down on the film window, next to the main LCD.

The film advance lever

One of the only physical controls on the whole camera is the film advance lever. In normal camera mode its job is to engage 2-in-1 diptych mode, in Film Camera mode it acts as the film advance lever it mimics. Push the lever in towards the body in normal shooting mode and the camera will show you the last image you took, while the lever is held in. Again, we're not entirely sure why.

Battery

The X half takes the same NP-W126S battery as Fujifilm's other small cameras. It's a relatively large battery for such a small camera, making up something like 1/7th of the camera's volume. This helps power the camera to a rating of 880 shots per charge, if you use the OVF. We've not seen a figure for shooting with live view.

This is enough that you'll essentially never have to worry about charging the battery. The camera can charge over its USB-C socket, so all you need to do is remember to plug it in from time-to-time.

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Initial impressions

The Fujifilm X half is, objectively, a profoundly silly camera. It is, after all, a digital camera with a film advance lever. But that's not to say it's a joke, necessarily.

Whether you think the X half is cute and fun or utterly ridiculous is likely to come down to what you think of its Film Camera mode. If you like the creative challenge and playfulness of a mode where you have to shoot a whole virtual roll's worth of images before 'developing' them on your phone, then you might well really enjoy the X half.

If you find the idea preposterous, worry about it only being able to produce JPEGs, or find yourself thinking 'it's basically half of Four Thirds, doesn't that make it 1/8th frame?' then it's fair to say this isn't the camera for you.

Even without using Film Camera mode, the ability to combine images (with a choice of dividers and widths) prompts you to think about pairs of images that will go well together. Left image: Provia film sim | F2.8 | 1/125 sec | ISO 640 Right image: Provia film sim | F2.8 | 1/125 sec | ISO 640 Photos: Richard Butler

The X half will inevitably ride on the coat-tails of the hugely successful X100 series, but whereas that camera was beloved both by established photographers and newcomers enraptured by its stylish aesthetic and attractive color response; the X half's pull is likely to be much stronger for the latter group.

"Expecting you to crank the non-existent film forward is inherently ridiculous, but entertainingly so"

The pictures aren't great and the camera is distinctly laggy in most of the things it does. If you're coming from a modern mirrorless camera, it might be a bit of a shock. If you've been buying old compacts on eBay, you'll probably feel right at home. And it seems likely that this is the intended audience for this camera: someone who appreciates a small camera with a sense of fun.

Because yes, the Film Camera mode is fun. Expecting you to crank the non-existent film forward is inherently ridiculous, but entertainingly so. Likewise the idea of a retro-feeling compact camera that can deliver Fujifilm's Film Simulation colors is a delightful prospect, even with the X half's drawbacks.

It's hard to get a sense, from pictures, of just how small the X half is. It's not much bigger than the palm of my hand.

Our main concern is the price, though. Even after a surge of inflation that's left us all a little unsure how much our money is now worth, $849 feels like a lot for something so playfully flirting with frivolity. And, on our production camera, albeit with non-final firmware, the lagginess and autofocus speed risks taking some of that joy out of the experience.

The X half doesn't take itself too seriously, and that doesn't in itself make it a joke, but we worry its price tag risks being a punch-line that falls rather flat.

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.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for such a well-established line of cameras, the design study for the new camera looks an awful lot like its predecessor. Image: Ricoh

Ricoh has announced the development of the GR IV, the latest in its long-running and much-loved series of fixed lens compact cameras. An HDF version with built-in highlight diffusion filter will also be offered.

Both cameras will feature a new lens as well as a new sensor and processor, the company says. Ricoh says the GR IV will have a sensor with 25.74 million effective pixels, which is likely to mean the same 26MP BSI chip used in Sony's a6700.

It highlights the core values of the GR series as being "high image quality, quick response and portability," but also says it also includes "the changes and refinements demanded to meet emerging user needs."

Key features:

• 25.74MP APS-C sensor
• 18.3mm F2.8 lens (28mm equiv) with 2EV ND
• New lens with seven elements in five groups (3 asph)
• 5-axis image stabilization
• 1/4000 sec - 30 sec shutter*
• 53GB internal storage and UHS-I Micro SD card slot
• 3.0" 1.037M dot LCD
• FullHD video at up to 60p
• 109.4 x 61.1 x 32.7mm
• 262g with memory card and battery

*as in the GR III, the shutter will top-out at 1/2500 sec at F2.8, offering 1/4000 at F5.6 and beyond

The specs released don't include any mention of a flash: a detail the company said it was wrestling over, when we spoke to them in February.

Ricoh says production of the GR III will end in July 2025, with the successor model due in "autumn 2025." Production and marketing of the GR IIIx will continue for now.

Image: Ricoh

Ricoh GR IV specifications compared with GR III

Photo: Ippei Naoi / Moment via Getty Images

There's no denying the convenience of using a smartphone camera for travel photography. While dedicated cameras offer advantages regarding quality and flexibility, lugging around an often clunky extra device isn't always ideal. You'll likely have your phone with you anyway, so you might as well pack a few accessories to help you get the most out of it for documenting your travels.

Grip

Photo: ShiftCam

Smartphone grips provide a more camera-like experience for holding your phone, making them more comfortable while putting your hand in a more natural position for taking photos. Made by brands like ShiftCam, Ulanzi and even Leica, some rely on magnets to connect to your phone, while others are more complete cases.

Beyond making your phone easier to hold, most smartphone grips also solve additional problems you may come across when using your phone for travel photography. They typically provide a dedicated shutter button, making it faster and easier to take photos. Many offer a built-in battery, giving your phone more power for your adventures. The full case designs also give your phone a bit more protection.

Power bank

Image: Anker

If you aren't using a grip with a built-in battery, you'll want to make sure you have a portable power bank. After all, using your camera frequently can burn through the battery fast. There are endless options available, with many that are compatible with wireless charging. However, that method won't charge your phone as fast or as efficiently. Instead, you may want to keep a cord on you (or, even better, choose a power bank with one built-in) for those times you need power fast.

Lenses

Anamorphic lenses can be a fun way to create a new perspective. Photo: Dale Baskin

Most phones offer two or three different cameras with unique fields of view (what you'll see of the scene). Those don't always do what you need or want, though. Adding a lens to your smartphone can unlock new possibilities. Smartphone lenses come in many styles, including macro, telephoto, ultra-wide-angle and anamorphic. They can be useful for getting a fresh perspective or giving you more creative control.

Be aware that if you opt for cheap smartphone lenses, you'll be throttling your phone's quality quite a bit. Sandmarc, Moment, Beastgrip, PolarPro and SmallRig are some brands that make quality options worth investing in.

Microfiber cloth

Image: Spudz

Your phone goes through a lot throughout the day. Smartphone cameras seem to attract smudges, which will impact your photo quality. While you could use your shirt to wipe off the camera, that's not always effective and can risk scratching the lens. Instead, keep a microfiber cloth handy to keep your phone's cameras sparkly clean when it's time to take photos.

Tripod or mount

Photo: Peak Design

A tripod or some sort of mount will be a handy addition if you like to be in your photos or take photos in dark conditions. You could opt for a full-size tripod for maximum height, or a tabletop one if you don't want to deal with something so large. Peak Design even makes one that essentially sits flat against the back of your phone, so you can leave it attached without thinking much about it. There are also suction cup mounts or other accessories that allow you to put your phone in places that a tripod may not work, but still let you go hands-free.

Bluetooth remote

Photo: Moment

On top of a tripod or mount, a Bluetooth remote will make your life easier for group photos or selfies. That way, you won't need to rush in front of the phone after setting the timer, or keep going back and forth to take more images. Some watches can function as remotes as well, so you may not need to buy a dedicated device, either.

Final thoughts on smartphone travel accessories

If you're sticking with your smartphone for travel photography, you likely don't want to bring a bunch of extra stuff along. However, a few key accessories can help you get more out of your phone, while still saving you space and weight compared to a dedicated camera and the accessories that you'd need for that.

World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

The winners of the World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi have been announced, highlighting food photography across the globe. Yotam Ottolenghi, a renowned chef, restaurateur and food writer, revealed the winners at an event at the Mall Galleries, London. The awards showcase a diverse range of images across more than 25 categories, including ones dedicated to street food, cakes, innovation, drinks, food prep, photojournalism, harvest and much more.

This year's contest saw more than 10,000 entries from 70 countries. The submissions were judged by an extensive panel that included photographers, magazine editors, creative directors, film directors, food retailers and chefs. The best overall winner earned a £5000 prize, along with an exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London. Category winners also have the opportunity to have their work displayed in the exhibition and each receives a trophy. There are individual prizes for each of the different categories as well.

To see more of the winning images and learn more about the contest, head to the World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi website.

Overall winner

Category: Overall winner and Food for the Family supported by the Felix Project

Photographer: Xiaoling Li/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: The Elderly Having Delicious Food

Photographer's description: In an early spring afternoon in Shuangliu Ancient Town, Sichuan Province, China, five elderly ladies in their eighties sit together. Wearing colourful jackets and wool hats, they happily eat the famous Sichuan snack 'Spring rolls’. A wrap of thin homemade dough, filled with cucumber, carrot and shredded scallions, drizzled with green mustard, Sichuan pepper, red oil, sweet sauce, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. They are “setting up a Dragon Gate formation” - an expression used in China to refer to neighbourhood friends coming together to chat, gossip and share stories. Food makes these people happy; they enjoy a beautiful and joyful life.

Bring Home the Harvest

Category: Bring Home the Harvest

Photographer: Chang Jiangbin/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Net Fish in Water Fields

Photographer's description: After the rice harvest, the river water filled the paddy fields, and at some point, some fish from the river ended up here too. After school, the two children went to the field together to catch fish with their covers. Approaching quietly, leaping vigorously, and pouncing towards the target.

Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration

Category: Đặng Hoài Anh

Photographer: Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration

Title: Banh Hoi Cake

Photographer's description: Banh hoi is a specialty dish in Vietnam found in many places such as Binh Thuan, Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Phu Yen, Nha Trang and Binh Dinh. The cake is made from rice flour and has an elaborate and meticulous preparation process. Banh hoi is often eaten with scallion oil, roasted meat, grilled meat and pork offal. This is an indispensable dish in holidays, death anniversaries, weddings, and ceremonies at communal houses and pagodas of the people. It is a culinary culture of the locality.

Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers

Category: Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers

Photographer: Lizzie Mayson/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Delfina, A Pasta Granny

Photographer's description: This is Delfina, I took her portrait as part of a bigger project documenting pasta grannies in Italy. Here, we are in the region of Lazio. On the bed is an angel hair type of pasta called Fieno di Canepina. It is technically very hard to make: Delfina rolls the pasta out, flicks a huge piece the size of the table out like a bed sheet, folds it concertina style, then slices it up finely. The best part is that she makes this huge amount then delivers it to the local church where they cook it up and feed homeless people.

Cream of the Crop

Category: Cream of the Crop

Photographer: Dorien Paymans/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Flour Swirl

Photographer's description: Part of the series ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ where I captured the process of baking sourdough bread while incorporating the symbolism of the Japanese Ensō sign (imperfect circle). Preparing food and photography are both mindful activities where calmness and creativity exist in the moment of creation. This makes the combination of both so magical.

Overall Winner of Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year

Category: Overall Winner of Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year (and People sub-category)

Photographer: Heather Daenitz/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Pinot Noir at Midnight

Photographer's description: Under the glow of a tractor’s lights, vineyard workers handpick Pinot Noir in the cool, misty midnight air at Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills, an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located at the western end of the Santa Ynez Valley in California's Central Coast wine region. One worker adds his contribution to the back of the tractor, a cascade of Pinot Noir falling from his picking bin.

Hotel Art Group Food Stylist Award

Category: Hotel Art Group Food Stylist Award

Photographer: Costas Millas/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Put All Your Pasta In One Basket

Photographer's description: Part of a wider food story concept titled Spaghetti. Traditionally styled in strands and swirls, the concept of pushing how we could capture spaghetti was the focus here. The aim was to painstakingly weave groups of spaghetti strands into this striking graphic pattern.

Jamie Oliver Youth Prize 13 -17

Category: Jamie Oliver Youth Prize 13 -17

Photographer: Indigo Larmour/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Early Morning Puris, Delhi, India

Photographer's description: Pooris are a staple breakfast dish in the winding alleyways of Old Delhi. Frequently cooked in huge vats of boiling oil on street corners and served with chole, a chickpea dish.

Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture

Category: Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture

Photographer: Simon Détraz/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Crispy Kale

Photographer's description: A drizzle of olive oil, oven at 180°C, salt and pepper, 10 minutes... delicious and so crispy!

MPB Award for Innovation

Category: MPB Award for Innovation

Photographer: Pieter D'Hoop/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Laundry Day

Photographer's description: Sometimes I have some weird ideas that randomly come to my mind. I had an idea of putting an octopus inside a washing machine or tumble dryer. This is one of the results.

Politics of Food

Category: Politics of Food

Photographer: Jo Kearney/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Afghan Refugee Women Wait for Free Bread

Photographer's description: Afghan women sit and wait for free bread handouts at the market as it's difficult for them to earn money.

Production Paradise Previously Published

Category: Production Paradise Previously Published

Photographer: Diego Papagna/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Sky Mushrooms

Photographer's description: Mushrooms enveloped in steam, immersed in a play of light and transparency, evoking the warmth of the kitchen like a sun in the sky.

Street Food

Category: Street Food

Photographer: Debdatta Chakraborty/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Ramadan Special Parantha Halwa

Photographer's description: During the Ramadan months, Kolkata turns into a foodie's paradise. Just after noon, huge ovens are lit and giant paranthas are prepared for the iftar. Not only Muslims, but people from all communities, throng around the food stalls, making it a culinary haven.

The James Beard Foundation Photography Award

Category: The James Beard Foundation Photography Award

Photographer: Luke Copping/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Tom Moriarty - Moriarty Meats and Cafe Bar Moriarty, Buffalo NY

Photographer's description: Tom Moriarty and his wife, Caitlin, own Moriarty Meats and its adjacent restaurant, Cafe Bar Moriarty. Moriarty Meats is a whole-animal butcher shop in Buffalo, NY, sourcing local meats and inspired by traditional European butcheries. Tom and his team work exclusively by hand.

Tiptree Cake Award

Category: Tiptree Cake Award

Photographer: Audrey Laferrière/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Pavlova’s Arabesque

Photographer's description: None

The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action supported by International Salon Culinaire

Category: The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action supported by International Salon Culinaire

Photographer: Diego Marinelli/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: La Matassa. A Real Work of Craftsmanship

Photographer's description: Fresh pasta is a symbol that represents the cultural richness of the Italian territory. An image of its processing becomes a means to telling history, traditions and centuries-old passions. Matassa pasta is made in Irpinia in southern Italy with a truly exceptional technique.

World of Drinks

Category: World of Drinks

Photographer: Alessandra Bartoloni/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Sunshine Gin

Photographer's description: Sun, ice and a gin tonic. Condensation drips, the table’s a mess, and the afternoon heat is winning the battle. But who cares? It’s cold, it’s strong and it’s exactly what this day needed. Cheers to the simple pleasures!

The Bimi® Prize

Category: The Bimi® Prize

Photographer: Ryan Kost/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®

Title: Buddhist Offerings

Photographer's description: Monks at a temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia prepare traditional Buddhist offerings. This practice is deeply symbolic in Buddhism, often representing celebration, gratitude, respect and devotion to the Buddha, and the teaching and monastic community. The intricate arrangement of fruits and flowers emphasises mindfulness and respect.

Logo: Adobe

Adobe is shaking up its Creative Cloud subscription tiers in North America, doing away with the current All Apps plan and introducing two tiers in its place: a 'Standard' plan, which will cost less, and a 'Pro' plan, which will cost more.

To set the stage, the current All Apps plan, which will be available until June 17th, costs $59.99 a month if you have an annual plan. As the name implies, it includes access to pretty much every Creative Cloud app, as well as 100GB of cloud storage and 1000 generative AI credits per month.

The main differentiation between the new plans is – what else – AI. Until now, Adobe's been playing things a little loose with features like Generative Fill in Photoshop and the ability to extend videos and audio in Premiere; you could use them without thinking too much about it. Now, they're getting segmented. There are "Standard" features like Generative Fill and text to vector, and "Premium" ones like generating video or audio with Adobe Firefly, using third-party models, or extending video in Premiere.

The new Creative Cloud Standard plan will give you 25 Standard credits a month; each use of a Standard feature costs one credit. With Creative Cloud Pro, you get unlimited use of standard AI features plus 4000 Premium credits. That may seem like a lot, but it's not one-credit-per-use like Standard features; for example, it costs 100 credits to generate a second of 1080p, 24fps video, 20 credits to generate an image using the company's Image Model 4 Ultra and five credits per second of audio translation.

Beyond AI, the major difference between the plans is access to the web and mobile versions of the apps. Both plans include full access to desktop apps and Acrobat on mobile and web, but with Standard you're limited to the free features for the mobile and web versions of Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, Express and Fresco.

If you're currently using the All Apps plan and have an annual subscription to it, you'll automatically have the benefits of the Pro plan without the subsequent price increase until your next monthly or annual renewal date. So, for example, if you renew your annual plan on June 1st, 2025, you'll essentially have the Pro plan at the old price until June 1st, 2026. If you sign up on June 18th, 2025, however, you'll have to pick from the Standard and Pro plans.

Currently, you can only choose to renew with the Standard plan by contacting Adobe support, but the company says a self-service option is coming within the next few days.

For those on the Photography plans, there won't be any changes

For those on the Photography plans, there won't be any changes, though after June, 17th, new subscribers will get fewer monthly generative AI credits. Adobe updated the pricing for those plans in December, so it would've been surprising to see another change so soon after.

If you're outside North America, there will be a few changes to Creative Cloud plans. The company says that new subscribers to its Photography plans, single app plans, and Lightroom Mobile Premium, Photoshop Express and Illustrator on iPad subscriptions, will receive fewer monthly generative AI credits. Creative Cloud for teams Pro edition is also being rebranded as Creative Cloud Pro Plus for teams.

Apart from that, "there will be no plan, naming, or pricing changes for all other existing subscribers outside of North America at this time," according to an Adobe support document.

Photo: William Brawley

Finding the perfect camera for travel is often a Goldilocks scenario. You generally want something relatively small and lightweight so that it's easier to carry around. However, you still want flexibility and good image quality to capture your travels successfully. Some people bill GoPros and other action cameras as ideal options, but you may wonder if they are actually worth buying for travel.

Benefits of GoPro cameras for travel

GoPros are very compact and easy to use. Photo: William Brawley

There are certainly qualities that make GoPros ideal for travel. First and foremost, they're tiny; it's easy to throw your GoPro in a small bag or even your pocket without having to worry about its size and weight. No matter how light you're traveling, you probably have room to bring a GoPro along.

Action cameras are designed for adventures, so they're built to be extremely durable. They can handle lots of falls, drops and bumps and are generally waterproof to depths of several meters without any extra protection, so you won't run into issues whether you accidentally drop it in a stream or purposefully take it snorkeling.

GoPros are also easy to use with minimal options in the settings menu. You can start taking photos or videos without thinking much about settings. They are relatively easy to use, even if you don't know anything about cameras. If you want something to simply point and shoot on your adventures, GoPros are a good option.

Downsides to using a GoPro as a travel camera

GoPros are good at capturing sweeping views, but not at highlighting specific subjects. Photo: William Brawley

Unfortunately, there are also plenty of GoPro qualities that make them less than ideal for travel. First, action cameras use ultra-wide-angle lenses that capture broad, sweeping views. While they often offer multiple fields of view settings (how much of the scene is captured), even the narrowest options are still quite wide.

While that broad view is ideal for some situations, it isn't good for many others. It will make everything look further away from you, which isn't what you likely want for many travel photos or videos. Unless you can get close to your subject, or are simply trying to capture an entire scene, GoPros won't give you the images you're after. Plus, it's not the best choice if you want to take flattering portraits or selfies.

Partly because of the wide-angle lens, GoPros aren't good at capturing detail by default. They can only focus as close as 30cm (12"), have a fixed aperture and don't allow you to choose where the camera is focusing. They will essentially capture everything in the scene in focus, so you won't be able to highlight smaller details or clearly isolate your subject from the background. The latest models are compatible with a macro lens accessory that allows you to focus as close as 11cm (4.33"), but that involves an extra piece of equipment you need to buy and keep with you.

GoPros aren't going to give you very flattering selfies, but are useful for quick snaps. Photo: Mitchell Clark

GoPros aren't good in low-light situations, partly because of their small sensors. Shooting in dim conditions will introduce a lot of noise, taking away from image quality. It will also limit when and where you can take photos or videos, which can be frustrating.

Despite their video focus, GoPros can take photographs, though they won't provide the greatest experience or image quality. Your phone will give you better results with more flexible options in terms of the look of the images as well as a more familiar field of view. After all, most phones offer multiple cameras with different focal lengths and specific modes for portraits, macro and more.

Finally, while the lack of settings makes them easier to use, it limits your control over the visual style of your images and videos. If you want to manage things like exposure and focus points to dictate the style of the image, a GoPro isn't for you.

Is a GoPro good for travel?

Photo: William Brawley

The short answer to whether GoPros (and other action cameras) are good for travel is: It depends. If your type of travel is highly adventurous and requires a durable, compact device, then a GoPro will be a good choice. Likewise, if you are mostly concerned with documenting your trips and don't want to think about settings or having control over the style of your images and videos, then bringing a GoPro on your trips would be smart.

However, if you want more control over your photographs and videos, want to capture more than broad views, need the flexibility of shooting in a variety of lighting conditions, or mostly take still photos, you're better off with a different travel camera.

2025 Milky Way Photographer of the Year

The winners of the 2025 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest have been announced, highlighting epic imagery of the Milky Way from around the world, and even from above it. The contest, hosted by travel photography blog Capture the Atlas, is in its eighth year.

This year, the contest received 6,000 entries from photographers of 16 different nationalities. Images spanned 25 locations around the globe, including Chile, the United States, Greece, Switzerland, Guatemala, New Zealand, Taiwan, Yemen, Chad, India, Namibia, Spain and more. Plus, an image taken from space was included in the collection for the first time. Some photos captured celestial events like a comet, a meteor shower and a lunar eclipse.

Dan Zafra, the editor of Capture the Atlas, curates the annual list based on image quality, the story behind the shot and the overall inspiration it provides. Zafra says the project's goal is to inspire people to connect with the night sky and "to encourage photographers to explore and photograph the Milky Way from new angles."

You can see all of the winning images at Capture the Atlas, along with tips on how and where to photograph the Milky Way.

One in a Billion by Don Pettit

Photographer: Don Pettit

Image title: One in a Billion

Image location: ISS (International Space Station)

Camera settings: 8 sec, F1.4, ISO 6400

Gear: Nikon Z9, Sigma 14mm F1.4. Sky Watcher modified tracker

Caption: I float in the Cupola, looking out the seven windows composing this faceted transparent jewel. While my mind is submerged in contemplation, my eyes gorge on the dim reflections from a nighttime Earth. There are over eight billion people that call this planet home. There are seven of us that can say the same for Space Station. What a privilege it is to be here. I used an orbital star tracker to take out the star streak motion from orbit.

Tololo Lunar Eclipse Sky by Petr Horálek

Photographer: Petr Horálek

Image title: Tololo Lunar Eclipse

Image location: Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile

Camera settings: ISO 8000, 81 x 10 sec (single exposures stitched to panorama). Moon is result of HDR work.

Gear: Canon Ra, Sigma Art 35mm F1.8

Caption: On March 14, 2025, a total lunar eclipse occurred, especially visible over the Americas and the Pacific Ocean. I was fortunate to observe this particular eclipse from the NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. You can see how epic the sky was during totality, as the Moon darkened enough for the majestic Milky Way, the faint belt of Zodiacal Light, and prominent airglow to stand out.

Boot Arch Perseids by Mike Abramyan

Photographer: Mike Abramyan

Image title: Boot Arch Perseids

Image location: Alabama Hills, CA, USA

Camera settings: Sky: Mosaic of 9 images at 50mm, 92 sec, F2, ISO 400; Foreground: Mosaic of 4 images at 50mm, 92 sec, F2.8, ISO 400; Meteors: 14mm, 15 sec, F1.8, ISO 400

Gear: Sony A7IV Astromodified, Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM, Benro Polaris, Leofoto LS-324C, Sony A7IV, Sony 14mm 1.8 GM

Caption: The Perseid Meteor Shower occurs every August, raining down hundreds of meteors over a few nights. In 2024, I had planned to photograph it from the Canadian Rockies, but wildfires forced me to change my plans at the last minute. After checking wildfire maps, I found a safe haven in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

After three full nights of capturing meteors, I created this image. Sitting on the rock is my friend Arne, who often joins me on these adventures, gazing up at the magnificent core of our galaxy. Each meteor is painstakingly aligned to its true location in the night sky. The final depiction shows all the meteors I captured, combined into one frame—as if the Earth hadn’t been rotating and all the meteors had fallen at once.

Bottle Tree Paradise by Benjamin Barakat

Photographer: Benjamin Barakat

Image title: Bottle Tree Paradise

Image location: Socotra, Yemen

Camera settings: Foreground (blue hour): 10 sec, F8, ISO 400; Sky: 5x 120 sec, F2.0, ISO 400

Gear: Sony A7IV, Sony 14mm F1.8, Sunwayfoto T2840CK, MSM Nomad

Caption: Socotra is one of my favorite places on Earth, but when it comes to a specific location, this one stands out. It doesn’t have an official name, as it’s not a destination for the few fortunate tourists who visit Socotra. After shooting there for the past four years and scouting the island, I’ve discovered hidden gems like this one, which I call Bottle Tree Paradise.

Bottle trees are unique to Socotra, a result of the island’s long isolation from the mainland. This separation allowed them to evolve distinctive features, such as their water-storing, bottle-shaped trunks, which help them survive Socotra’s harsh, dry climate. They are believed to have originated from ancient plant species that adapted to the island’s unique environment over millions of years.

Double Milky Way Arch Over Matterhorn by Angel Fux

Photographer: Angel Fux

Image title: Double Milky Way Arch Over Matterhorn

Image location: Zermatt, Switzerland

Camera settings: Both arches share the same Exif: 20mm, F5.6, 127 sec, ISO 2500; Foreground / Landscape: 15.5mm, F5, 1/5 sec, ISO 800

Gear: Nikon Z6 Astromodified (for the sky part), NIKKOR Z 20mm F1.8, Nikon Z8 (for the landscape part), NIKKOR Z 14-24mm F2.8, Benro Polaris Astro Kit, Peak Design travel tripod

Caption: This image captures the rare Double Arch Milky Way, where both the Winter Milky Way (with Orion rising) and the Summer Milky Way (with the Galactic Center) appear in the same night—a seamless transition between seasons.

Taken at 3,200 meters in the heart of winter, the night was brutally cold, testing both my endurance and equipment. This is a time blend, preserving the real positions of both arches by combining frames taken hours apart, with the foreground captured at dawn for the best detail.

Zermatt and the Matterhorn have been photographed countless times, but I aimed to create something truly unique—an image captured under conditions few would attempt. I’m incredibly proud of the effort and patience it took to bring this vision to life.

Valle de los Cactus by Pablo Ruiz

Photographer: Pablo Ruiz

Image title: Valle de los Cactus

Image location: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Camera settings: Sky: 9 x 240 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, 14mm; Foreground: 9 x 120 sec, F2.8, ISO 2500, 14mm

Gear: Nikon D810, Nikon Z6 A, Nikkor 14-24 F2.8 ,Rollei Gamma, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer

Caption: A panoramic shot of the Milky Way in a remote area of the Atacama Cactus Valley, known for its large concentration of cactus plants. I love this place with its countless possibilities. The panorama was taken just as the galactic center began to rise, with the spectacular Gum Nebula visible on the right.

It was an especially bright night with a breathtaking sky. The valley isn’t easy to navigate, but it’s always worth trying to find new compositions in such stunning locations beneath the night sky.

Cosmic Fire by Sergio Montúfar

Photographer: Sergio Montúfar

Image title: Cosmic Fire

Image location: Volcán Acatenango, Guatemala

Camera settings: 10 sec, F2.8, ISO 3200

Gear: Canon 6d Astromodified, Samyang 24mm F1.4, Sirui tripod

Caption: On the early morning of June 2, 2024, I summited Acatenango Volcano for the first time, hoping to witness the fiery beauty of the neighboring Volcan de Fuego against the Milky Way’s backdrop. That night, the volcano was incredibly active—each thunderous explosion reverberated in my chest, while glowing lava illuminated the dark slopes. Above, the Milky Way stretched diagonally across the sky, a mesmerizing band of stars contrasting with the chaos below. As the volcano erupted, the ash plume rose vertically, forming an acute angle of about 45 degrees with the galaxy’s diagonal path, creating a stunning visual contrast between Earth’s fury and the cosmos’ serenity.

Capturing this required a fast, wide-angle lens (f/2.8), an ISO of 3200, and a 10-second exposure to balance the volcanic glow with the starlight. The challenge was timing the shot during a new moon and aligning the right moment for the Milky Way to cross the frame next to the volcano. I used Lightroom as the editor. This image is special for its storytelling—the raw power of Volcan de Fuego meeting the tranquil expanse of the galaxy.

A Sea of Lupines by Max Inwood

Photographer: Max Inwood

Image title: A Sea of Lupines

Image location: Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Camera settings: Sky: 30 sec, F2.0, ISO 3200; Foreground: 30 sec, F2.4, ISO 6400

Gear: Canon 6D Astromodified, Sigma 28mm F1.4 Art, Samyang 14mm F1.4 XP, iOption SkyGuider Pro

Caption: The annual lupine bloom in New Zealand is spectacular, with fields of colorful flowers stretching across the Mackenzie Basin. This region, located in the heart of the South Island, is renowned for its dark skies, making the scene even more surreal at night.

I had to wait until the early hours of the morning for the wind to calm down, but eventually everything became still, and I was able to capture this image. Above the flowers, you can see the band of the outer Milky Way, alongside the constellations Orion, Gemini, and the Pleiades. Joining them are the bright planets Jupiter and Mars, with a strong display of green airglow visible along the horizon.

Diamond Beach Emerald Sky by Brent Martin

Photographer: Brent Martin

Image title: Diamond Beach Emerald Sky

Image location: Great Ocean Road, Australia

Camera settings: Sky: 13 frames x 3 rows, @ 20mm, F3.5, ISO 1600, 60 sec tracked exposures; Foreground: 13 frames x 2 rows, @ 20mm, F2.5, ISO 1600, 60 sec exposures.

Gear: Sony A7III Astromodified, Sony 20mm F1.8 G, Sky-watcher Star Adventurer 2i

Caption: With a clear night forecast and the Milky Way core returning for 2025, I set out to explore the Great Ocean Road. After a few setbacks—such as a failed composition and getting the car stuck on a sandy track—I almost gave up. However, I pushed on and found a great spot above the beach to capture the scene.

The night was full of color, with Comet C/2024 G3 Atlas and a pink aurora in the early hours, followed by the Milky Way rising amid intense green airglow near dawn. Despite the challenges, the reward of this stunning image and the memory of the view made it all worthwhile.

Blossom by Ethan Su

Photographer: Ethan Su

Image title: Blossom

Image location: Hehuan Mountain Dark Sky Park, Taiwan

Camera settings: Sky: 1 row tracked panorama at F2, 90sec, ISO 800; Foreground: 2 row panorama and focus stack, F2.8, 60 sec, ISO 6400; 65 images in total.

Gear:

Caption: After three years of waiting, the Yushan alpine rhododendrons are finally in bloom once again on Taiwan’s 3,000-meter-high Hehuan Mountain. On this special night, distant clouds helped block city light pollution, revealing an exceptionally clear view of the Milky Way. A solar flare from active region AR3664 reached Earth that evening, intensifying the airglow and adding an otherworldly touch to the sky.

Together, these rare natural events created a breathtaking scene—vivid blooms glowing softly beneath a star-filled sky.

The Night Guardians by Rositsa Dimitrova

Photographer: Rositsa Dimitrova

Image title: The Night Guardians

Image location: Easter Island, Chile

Camera settings: Blend of 2 shots: foreground: 88 sec, F3.5, ISO 3200; sky: 20 sec, F2.0, ISO 2000

Gear: Sony A7iii Astromodified, Sony GM 14mm F1.8

Caption: Easter Island had been on my bucket list for a long time, and it once seemed almost impossible to reach. On our first night there, the weather forecast looked promising, so we decided to go ahead with the tour our group had booked 4–5 months earlier. However, Rapa Nui sits in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where the weather is notoriously unpredictable. When we woke up at 3 a.m. in our hotel, the sky was completely covered in clouds. Still, we decided to take the risk, knowing the forecast for the next few nights was even worse.

An hour later, we were frantically photographing the statues at Rano Raraku—the quarry where nearly all of the island’s 900 statues were carved—when the sky suddenly began to clear. By 5 a.m., it was completely clear, and we had less than two hours to capture all the shots we wanted. We felt incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Evolution of Stars by Kavan Chay

Photographer: Kavan Chay

Image title: Evolution of Stars

Image location: Otago, New Zealand

Camera settings: Sky RGB: 4 frames x 3 rows, each shot at 40mm, F1.8, ISO 1250, 50 second exposures; Sky (Rho region): Stack of 10 frames, each shot at 40mm, F1.8, ISO 1250, 60 second exposures; Foreground: 4 frames x 3 rows, each shot at 40mm, F4, ISO 2000, 60 second exposures.

Gear: Nikon Z7 (astromodified), Sigma Art 40mm F1.4, Benro GX-35 ballhead, Sirui AM-254 tripod legs, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro 2i

Caption: The first image I captured from this spot is the one I feel truly kickstarted my astrophotography journey years ago. It was the first time I shot a tracked panorama using a “longer” focal length lens (50mm). The set of sea stacks provided a prominent foreground subject facing the right direction, and being a local spot relatively free of light pollution, it was the perfect location to capture the Milky Way core.

It felt fitting to try again with a few extra years of experience and an astro-modified camera, which allows for easier capture of hydrogen-alpha-rich regions of the sky (like the reddish nebulae around Zeta Ophiuchi, as seen in the image). The years of experience certainly made panoramic shooting and editing easier, though the shoot wasn’t without its challenges.

I managed to drop a tiny screw adapter in the dark, so I had to improvise a quick solution to make use of the star tracker. With a dying headlamp and the mysteries of wildlife lurking in the dark, all while the tide rapidly rose, it felt like enough adventure for a weekday night.

Winter Fairy Tale by Uroš Fink

Photographer: Uroš Fink

Image title: Winter Fairy Tale

Image location: Dobratsch Nature Park, Austria

Camera settings: Sky: ISO 800, F1.8, 90 sec, 8 panels, low exposure frames for brighter sky parts (30 sec) + lee soft 5 for stars (ISO 3200, F1.8, 20 sec); Foreground: ISO 1250, F2.2, 80s, 8 panels + multi exposure frames for lightning the hut (80 sec, 20 sec,10 sec,5 sec,2 sec,1 sec)

Gear: Nikon Z, Sigma 20mm 1.4 Dg Dn, Megadap tze21, Fornax Lightrack 2i, Sunwayfoto t3240ck, Lee soft 5 filter for stars, Focus on star mask

Caption: Undoubtedly my wildest location this winter: Austria’s Dobratsch mountain! If I had to describe it in two words, it would be a “Winter Fairytale”!

Despite a 5 a.m. work shift, I drove to Austria by 1 p.m., worried about my fitness and lack of sleep. After a 2-hour hike through the snow with a 22kg backpack and sled, the stunning views kept me energized.

Arriving at the cabin (where I had planned my winter panorama two years ago), I was greeted by untouched snow, completely free of footprints. I spent the evening exploring compositions, and this is my favorite: a panorama of the winter Milky Way with reddish nebulae, stretching above Dobratsch Mountain.

I captured the Zodiacal light and even the Gegenschein glow! The sky was magnificent, with Jupiter and Mars shining brightly. In the foreground is the cabin, where I spent 3 freezing hours (-12°C), waiting for the perfect shot of the Milky Way’s core. It turned out exactly as I envisioned—a true winter fairytale.

Echiwile Arch by Vikas Chander

Photographer: Vikas Chander

Image title: Echiwile Arch

Image location: Ennedi, Chad

Camera settings: Sky Exposure: 300 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, stack of 6; Foreground exposure: 480 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, LENR, LLL; Software: Pixinsight and Photoshop

Gear: Sony A7rV Ha modded, Sony 12-24 F2.8 GM, Rainbow Astro RST 135e

Caption: When one first Googles information about visiting Chad, the results aren’t very encouraging from a safety perspective. Nevertheless, the intrepid astrophotographer in me decided to take the chance and visit this landlocked country, specifically the Ennedi Massif in the north.

Sparsely populated and completely devoid of light pollution, the three-day drive from the capital, N’Djamena, was well worth the troubles and risks involved. The region is filled with numerous rock formations, shapes, and arches, offering an abundance of options for foreground elements to frame the dramatic night skies. Seen here is a small arch in the shape of a hoof in the Ennedi region.

Starlit Ocean: A Comet, the setting Venus, the Milky Way, and McWay Falls by Xingyang Cai

Photographer: Xingyang Cai

Image title: Starlit Ocean: A Comet, the setting Venus, the Milky Way, and McWay Falls

Image location: California, USA

Camera settings: Sky: Stack of 20 images, each at ISO 1600, F1.4, 4 sec; Foreground: Stack of 10 images, each at ISO 3200, F1.4, 20 sec

Gear: Sony A7 III (astro-modified), Sony 14mm F1.4

Caption: Capturing this image was a race against time, light, and distance. With Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS (C/2023 A3) making its approach, I knew I had a rare opportunity to see it with the naked eye before it faded into the cosmos. I embarked on a five-hour round trip to McWay Falls in Big Sur, one of the few Bortle 2 locations accessible along California’s coast. My window was narrow—just six precious minutes of true darkness before the Moon rose and washed out the night sky. But those six minutes were unforgettable.

In that brief span, the Milky Way arched high above the Pacific, Venus shimmered as it set over the ocean, and the comet streaked quietly across the sky—a celestial visitor gracing this iconic coastal cove. The soft cascade of McWay Falls and the stillness of the starlit ocean created a surreal harmony between Earth and sky. It was one of the most vivid and humbling naked-eye comet sightings I’ve ever experienced—an alignment of cosmic elements that felt both fleeting and eternal.

Image: Cosina Voigtländer

Cosina Voigtländer announced a new offering that gives users more control over their images. The Portrait Heliar 75mm F1.8 is the company's first lens with controllable spherical aberration, allowing photographers to adjust the look of the bokeh.

Image: Cosina Voigtländer

Cosina designed its Portrait Heliar 75mm F1.8 lens for full-frame Sony E-mount cameras. As expected of a Voigtländer lens, it relies on manual focus and features an aperture control ring. Additionally, the front of the lens features a spherical aberration control ring marked 'over' and 'under.' Turning that ring allows photographers to under- or overcorrect spherical aberration, changing the look of out-of-focus areas. Rotating to ‘under’ produces soft, rounded out-of-focus areas, while shifting it to ‘over’ creates a sharper, less rounded bokeh.

Changing from "under" to "over" adjusts the look of the out-of-focus areas along with contrast, overall sharpness and vignetting. Image: Cosina Voigtländer

Adjusting the spherical aberration does more than just change the bokeh. Setting the ring to 'under' produces images with less sharpness and contrast across the entire image. The 'normal' position results in the greatest sharpness and contrast. Turning the ring also shifts the focus position and reduces the peripheral light intensity, resulting in vignetting. Cosina also says the spherical aberration ring changes the f-stop by 1/3 EV, so photographers will need to adjust exposure after rotating that ring.

A sample image from the Portrait Heliar 75mm F1.8. Image: Cosina Voigtländer

At the 'normal' setting, the Portrait Heliar 75mm F1.8 functions like any other lens. It features six elements in three groups, and Cosina promises high resolution and well-controlled color shifts. It features a nine-blade aperture. While it is manual focus, the lens has electronic contacts to pass along Exif data. A built-in distance encoder supports the camera's five-axis image stabilization and allows users to see a magnified image when adjusting focus.

Cosina says the lens will be available in June of this year. The company has not provided US pricing information, though PetaPixel reports it will cost £750 in the United Kingdom before VAT.

Panasonic Lumix S1RII | Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8 @ 60mm | F2.8 | 1/80sec | ISO 80 Photo: Richard Butler

Last week, Panasonic announced its S 24-60mm F2.8 lens, which is meant to provide an option between the variable aperture Panasonic 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 and the higher-end S Pro 24-70mm F2.8.

We were able to take a few sample pictures with it, and run them through our standard Capture One processing flow. You can check them out below to get a feel for how it performs, especially when it comes to rendering bokeh.

See the sample gallery

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