Samsung has announced three new folding phones, updating its existing models and adding a new one to its lineup, complete with a new form factor.

The flagship model is getting a rebrand. Formerly known as the Galaxy Z Fold series, this year’s entry is called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Like its predecessor, it has a 6.5″ display on the outside, and an 8″ one on the inside. As you’d expect from an “Ultra” phone, it has a triple-camera setup. The main “wide” and telephoto cameras are unchanged from the ones found on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but the ultrawide has been upgraded from a 12MP Type 1/2.5 (25mm²) sensor with an F2.2 lens, to a 50MP one with an F1.9 lens, which Samsung says will let in 33% more light.

Samsung

The company says it has enhanced its HDR mode for the main camera, as well as its low-light “Nightography” mode. The phone’s 8K video also now records in the APV codec, which Samsung says “gives users greater flexibility and quality for editing and production workflows.”

Aside from the upgraded ultrawide camera, Samsung has included the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor with 12 or 16GB of memory (dependent on what storage size you get), along with a higher-capacity 5000 mAh battery, up 600 mAh from the one in the Z Fold 7. The company has also re-engineered the phone’s internal screen to make the crease less visible, while making it brighter and nicer-feeling to open. And despite all this, it weighs the same 215g (7.6oz) as its predecessor, and each half is a hair thinner at 4.1mm.

None of these improvements come cheap, though. Last year’s Z Fold 7 was $100 more than its predecessor, and Samsung has bumped the price again, with the Z Fold 8 Ultra starting at $2100 for the 256GB model.

Samsung

There is, however, now a new option below it: the Z Fold 8, which takes on a slightly different form factor. While the Ultra has a relatively tall and narrow 3:7 outer screen and a nearly-square 1.11:1 inner screen, the new model’s cover is a wider, shorter 10:16, and the inner display is 4:3. The Z Fold 8’s outer display has a 5.5″ diagonal, while the inner one is 7.6″.

While the Z Fold 7 (which was, remember, moreso the predecessor to the phone now called “Ultra”) marked a turning point as a folding phone that didn’t come with big compromises to its camera system compared to its candybar counterpart, that trend hasn’t continued with the Z Fold 8. It drops the telephone camera entirely, and its main 23mm equiv. camera is smaller, slower and lower resolution than the one on the Ultra. The ultrawide, however, is the same 50MP model.

Not everything is a downgrade compared to the Ultra, though. The displays may be a different size, but are still just as bright, and the Z Fold 8 has the same processor and storage options. And while it’s thicker both folded and unfolded, it’s also a touch lighter. Even if you don’t prefer the more passport-style form factor, though, the price may be slightly more attractive than the Ultra’s, as the phone starts at “just” $1900.

Samsung

Finally, Samsung has also updated its Z Flip 8, the smaller model that unfolds to be a similar size to a more traditional smartphone. The company doesn’t seem to have made any changes to its cameras – it still has a wide 50MP Type 1/1.57 (50mm²) and ultra-wide 12MP Type 1/3.2 (15mm²) – but it’s lighter and thinner than its predecessor. The company has also updated the processor to that same Snapdragon model (though there’s no option for one with 16GB of RAM like with the larger models), and has made improvements to the front screen’s interface, making it easier to use if you want to avoid opening your phone and potentially getting sucked in by feeds and apps.

The Z Flip 8 retains its position as Samsung’s least expensive foldable, but its $1200 price tag represents a $100 increase over its predecessor’s.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra, Z Fold 8, and Z Flip 8 are all available to pre-order today, and are set to become available on August 7th.

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Viltrox seems poised to start selling lenses for Micro Four Thirds, according to a post on social media platform Xiaohongshu. It shows a puzzle piece about to be slotted into a hole labeled “M4/3,” and teases an announcement coming on July 23rd. While the company hasn’t posted about it on its Instagram pages, the Viltrox US account did comment on a Reddit post about the teaser, saying “Something new coming soon.”

The teaser doesn’t say what to expect, beyond having hashtags that translate to “lens.” But the idea of getting a Micro Four Thirds lens from Viltrox is exciting on its own; the company has become a major player in the world of third-party lenses, and it’s an interesting sign that it’s looking to throw at least some of its weight behind the mount, as we haven’t seen many others do so for a while.

Viltrox

There are a wide variety of companies, well known and not, making manual focus lenses for the system, and a few that continue to sell a handful of autofocus options, too. But beyond Panasonic and OM System, who also make cameras using the mount, there haven’t been any new Micro Four Thirds lenses from a major player in quite some time. Sigma used to have some options for the system, which you can still buy, but they haven’t been updated like we’ve seen with the company’s APS-C and full-frame offerings.

Of course, there are many ways to release a lens for a system. While Viltrox could come out with a lens custom-designed for Micro Four Thirds, with a sensible focal length and a small, compact size. It could also, however, just be swapping out the mount on one of its existing APS-C or, worse, full-frame designs (not that such a move would be unheard of). Even if it is a lens with a larger-than-neccesary image circle, though, it’s still a start. If whatever Viltrox releases ends up being successful, it could lead to the brand giving Micro Four Thirds more attention.

Or it could wind up being something completely unexpected, like a camera that uses the mount. It’s hard to put anything past companies at this point. Whatever it is, we won’t have to wait too long to find out.

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Sony has released a teaser for a new product announcement in its cinema line. As always, the video is very short on details, showing just the silhouette of a camera, tally lights blazing and a top handle attached, and the tagline “lighting the way forward.”

The company is no stranger to posting teaser videos, but, unlike with the one for what turned out to be the RX10 V, it isn’t giving a lot of time for hype to build. The video says the announcement is coming on July 22nd at 7 AM PT (15:00 BST), which is just around 24 hours after the video was published. Whatever the camera is, it seems we won’t have to wait long to get more details.

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The latest version of Adobe Camera Raw, 18.4.1, started rolling out a few weeks ago, but it quietly introduces a feature that I’ve personally wanted for years: the ability to see where your camera’s focus point was set to. This makes it much easier to tell whether it was your camera’s autofocus system that messed up, or if you simply put the focus point in the incorrect place (which is especially important when, say, you review cameras for a living).

The way it works is relatively simple (if a bit of a finger workout): you open up a Raw in ACR, and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + O on Windows, or Command + Option + Shift + O on Mac. You can also right click on the image and select the “Show Autofocus Points” option. After you do, ACR will draw a red box around the camera’s selected focus point or area.

Screenshot: Mitchell Clark

While the feature isn’t a fool-proof way of assigning blame for an out-of-focus image – if the box is in the wrong place, it could either mean that you put it there in error, or that your camera’s tracking failed – it’s still very nice to have access to this information without having to view it on your camera’s screen, or in camera makers’ own software. Sometimes it’s just nice to be able to check where you were trying to focus, or, to pick a random example, to see where the photographers from your favorite camera review site were focusing in the images they uploaded to their sample galleries.

Currently, the feature is available for Raw files from Canon, Sony and Nikon cameras. We confirmed that we weren’t able to see autofocus points from the most recent cameras from any other manufacturer, so hopefully Adobe will expand the models it’s available to in the future. We’d also hope that this feature, which is currently only available in Photoshop’s ACR module, makes its way to Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, too.

ACR 18.4.1 also adds a “presentation” mode that shows the photo you’re editing full-screen with a customizable matte around it, and which lets you use the arrow keys to move through the photos you currently have open within the tool. It also lets you use the company’s AI-powered “Generative Expand” feature to fill transparent edges, and improves bidirectional gradient masks, adding support for feathering and giving you more precise control over them. You can download the update through the Creative Cloud app, or via the standalone installer.

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Tamron is introducing a fast, ultra-wide zoom lens for full-frame cameras: the 12-20mm F2.8. It’s being released for Nikon Z-mount and Sony E-mount, and is also ushering in a new look for the company’s lenses.

The 12-20mm F2.8 uses an optical formula with 17 elements in 12 groups, with one expanded glass molded aspherical element, three glass molded aspherical lenses, one extra low dispersion element, and three low dispersion elements. The company says it’s designed to be sharp to the corners, and to minimize and correct for aberrations like color fringing and sagittal coma flare. The latter is especially important for astrophotographers, who may be interested in this lens thanks to its wide focal range.

At 12mm, it can focus on subjects as close as 0.18m (7″), and at 20mm, its minimum focusing distance is 0.28m (11″). It has a 12-blade aperture. Because of its bulbous front element, it can’t accept front filters, but it has a rear filter holder in addition to its integrated lens hood.

Focusing is handled by a linear motor and is internal. While zooming doesn’t make the lens any longer, the front element does physically move back into the body. The lens has both an MF/AF switch and a manual focus lock switch; the latter is again something that will be appreciated by astrophotographers.

Beyond those switches, the lens is covered in controls. There’s a customizable function button in both portrait and landscape orientations, a zoom lock switch that can be used to keep the lens at either 12mm or 20mm, a lock for the aperture ring (or control ring on Nikon), a switch to click or declick that ring and a custom setting switch, which you can use Tamron’s Link software to configure to switch between focus position, change your rings’ rotation direction, limit focus, etc. There’s also a USB-C port you can use to update the lens’s firmware, or to connect it to your phone via a cable or wireless adapter to use Tamron Link.

In its briefing, Tamron took a lot of pride in the lens’s size and weight, saying it was comparable to slower lenses, or ones with less range, and substantially lighter than other options. The E-mount version of the lens weighs 570g (20.1oz), with the one for Nikon weighing 15g more. The Sony version is 119mm (4.7″) long, with the Z-mount version adding 2mm.

This isn’t just a new lens for Tamron, though. The company is also introducing its new branding alongside it. Those familiar with the company’s naming conventions may have noticed what’s not there, first: there’s no “Di III” or “VXD” at the end of the name, denoting it as a mirrorless lens that uses a linear motor. Like Sigma , the company has decided that it doesn’t need to distinguish its DSLR lenses from its mirrorless ones directly in the name, and likewise, most of its lenses going forward are likely to use linear motors.

The updated industrial design language that Tamron is launching with the lens is called “Toned Profile Next,” which the company says is made to match how modern cameras are designed, while feeling better in the hand and more recognizably Tamron. Compared to its older lenses, the 12-20mm F2.8 has chunkier rings for zooming, aperture control and focusing, updated textures for its touchpoints, and new placement and print color for its branding. It also narrowed the champagne-colored “brand ring” that borders the lens mount.

I personally quite like the new look, especially since it comes with a clicking aperture ring on E-mount, something Tamron hasn’t been including on its recent lenses. I also appreciate that it’s now quite easy to grip the control rings and to distinguish which one your finger is on just by feel. The switches and buttons are all satisfying to use, and the lens feels solidly built, even if I don’t prefer the finish’s smooth texture.

The Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 will cost $1699 for the E-mount version and $1799 for the Z-mount version; the company says the difference comes down to volume, behind-the-scenes differences in manufacturing, and the competition on the different mounts. The Sony version will be available starting July 30th, while Nikon owners will have to wait until August 27.

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.

Thanks to Nikon for the loan of a Z8 to shoot this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer’s distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting. The profile corrects a minor amount of distortion – barrel at the wide end and pincushion at the long end – but we wouldn’t consider it an essential part of the lens design.

Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 specifications:

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Alongside the EOS R6 V, Canon introduced the 20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ. Like most power-zoom lenses, it’s clearly mainly focused at video users who have access to a zoom toggle at their fingertips. But Canon made the unusual decision to take a hybrid approach; with the flick of a switch, you can control the zoom in the traditional manner by rotating a ring on the lens barrel between two fixed points.

We’re in the process of testing the EOS R6 V, but thought it’d be worth taking the lens out to shoot a few photos, too, to see if it also makes a decent photo lens on a camera without that zoom lever.

To answer the most obvious question first: no, the manual zoom mode isn’t mechanical. The lens’s focal length is still controlled by the power zoom motors, and there is an ever-so-slight delay between you turning the ring and the lens arriving at its destination. The lens is pretty quick, so it’s not too noticeable if you’re just zooming in slightly, but you can definitely see (and maybe hear) it if you’re going from 20mm to 50mm.

This somewhat breaks the illusion of direct control that the manual zoom portion of the lens is designed to add. It also doesn’t help that the ring is just a bit too easy to turn. That both makes it easy to accidentally change your zoom level when you didn’t mean to, and acts as another signal to your brain that you’re actually remote-controlling something, rather than physically moving parts of the lens yourself.

The good news is that, unless you bump the zoom ring, the lens will retain its focal length setting when you turn the camera body off; unlike with a compact camera, you don’t have to wait for it to move back through its range to 50mm when you turn your camera back on. However, if you move the zoom ring while the camera’s off (accidentally or otherwise), you’ll have to wait an extra moment or two for the lens’s motors to change its focal length when you turn the camera back on, during which time you won’t have any live view preview.

While I imagine some photographers may be disappointed reading the above, I’ll also say this: after about an hour or two of shooting with the lens, I mostly stopped noticing the quirks. That’s not something I can say about any of the other power zooms I’ve shot photos with, which were always that bit more annoying to use. Sure, the experience of using the 20-50mm isn’t the same as using a mechanically zooming lens. But it’s also much nicer for photography than a traditional power zoom that can only be controlled with a rocker or finicky on-lens control.

For those who care about video, the story is more straightforward: this lens is really nice to use, especially if the camera it’s on has a zoom toggle. Even if it doesn’t, the power zoom control on the lens works well. With a bit of finesse, you can use it for slow, purposeful pushes or pulls, or for crash zooms, depending on how far you push it to the W or T side.

There are also times when it’s nice to use it in the manual zoom mode, where how easy the ring is to turn becomes a feature, rather than a bug. I’ve always found it quite difficult to get smooth zoom pushes or pulls using a lens’s traditional mechanical zoom ring, but with this lens, it’s a breeze, while still offering a bit finer-grained control than the traditional power zoom control.

Canon RF 20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ specifications:

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I have an admission: there’s just something I don’t love about shooting with the Nikon Z8. Pressing the shutter and hearing the speaker go “click” just isn’t the same experience as hearing and, more importantly, feeling, a mechanical shutter fly open and slam closed at 1/200th of a second.

There are absolutely benefits to this approach: the e-shutter won’t wear out, no matter how many times it’s used, you don’t have to worry about shutter shock* and the sensor never being blocked means the EVF has a constant feed of what’s happening in front of the lens. Were the Z8 the only camera I shot with, I’m certain I’d grow used to it and, in time, probably come to love the experience of an e-shutter-only life.

I think, though, that this mild dissatisfaction has less to do with the Z8 specifically, and a… let’s not call it an issue, but perhaps a quirk of mirrorless cameras in general and how they interact with my specific experience. They are, unquestionably, technological marvels, better in almost every way than what came before. But they aren’t mechanical wonders.

Richard Butler

I’m approaching 30 years old, which means my entire life has taken place after the digital revolution, both in cameras and the world at large. There is no Before Computers for me; some of my earliest memories are messing around with the settings of the family desktop when I was four.

As I grew older, I turned that interest into a job, building and fixing computers and, eventually, programming them and writing about technology. As a result, I understand how they work at a pretty fundamental level. While I might describe a mirrorless camera’s autofocusing and subject recognition capabilities as “magical,” I know they’re not. I’m familiar with how machine learning works, and could explain it in excruciating detail. I can recognize great software engineering, but I’m not astounded by it.

This isn’t the case for DSLRs. While I have a decent understanding of how they do what they do, I still find it incredible that it’s all possible at all. What do you mean you can use a system of mirrors, optical splitters and custom-made line sensors to let you look through the lens and autofocus at the same time? And the mirror and shutter coordinate to flip up and fire at precisely the right time to expose the sensor? 10 times a second? And they figured this out in the 90s?

Canon

It’s even truer for film, where you have a similar level of SLR complexity, but the computer part – the stuff I understand – is replaced by a strip of chemicals that physically change when exposed to light. Again, I have some knowledge of what’s actually going on. I’ve done the reading. But every time I pull developed film out of the tank and look at the negative, it just feels like witchcraft. How could pressing a button on a mirrorless camera and kicking off the take picture function in its computer ever compare?

Until you look at the pictures and realize that the Z8 can track a subject from the very edge of the frame, and have it in focus the entire time. And that it can capture it at 20fps, with no viewfinder blackout. And sync with flash at 1/250 of a second, without a mechanical shutter . It’s old news today, but versus any (D)SLR, it’s revolutionary.

Richard Butler

This effect extends beyond cameras, too, in our increasingly computerized world. I’ve pretty much exclusively worn digital watches of some form, but my coworker Richard says the obvious point of comparison is intricately made and fully mechanical watches versus computer-powered smartwatches. The silicon models are simpler, easier to understand, and more accurate than a mechanical model could ever be. But where’s the soul?

For me, the more obvious point of comparison is one more familiar to me (but no less clichéd): internal combustion engine vehicles versus electric ones.** Like with mirrorless systems, I understand at a fundamental level how EVs work. And no matter how many truly excellent explainers I watch, and even how often I work on my own cars, I still can’t really wrap my mind around how a combustion engine does what it does. (You expect me to believe all these precise operations can be synchronized by a belt or a chain?) But like with cameras, that complexity, beautiful as it is, comes with a cost: I know some prefer the traditional experience, but driving an EV, it’s hard not to see it as the future.

With all this said, there are still mechanical wonders around; both the kinds you’d expect, and ones that are a bit easier to overlook. As an example of the former, take Leica’s M-series cameras; the rangefinder mechanisms are intricate and precise, the kind of thing an unskilled technician could take apart, but not put back together. And while the company was, at one point, only producing a few hundred of its film rangefinders a year, they’ve seen a surge in popularity again, indicating a demand for that mechanical, analog experience.

There’s plenty of complex physical engineering to be found in the mirrorless world, too. Stabilization systems, both in-camera and in-lens, are an impressive dance between gyroscopic sensors, software and actuation mechanisms, and become even more so when coordinating together. And gimbals take this to an even higher level; seeing one in action can be so mesmerizing that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that the device that you’re watching corrects for the movement it’s detecting in real-time and moving a who-knows-how-heavy camera setup to match only costs $300.

I also fully realize that there will be those for whom the wonder is flipped; a mechanical engineer might be more awestruck by complex algorithms than mechanical linkages, no matter how delicate or ingenious. And some folks may be completely flummoxed by cameras new and old, alike. But whichever makes most sense with your brain, it’s worth stopping to remember that cameras aren’t just technology. They are, of course, impressive pieces of tech. But they’re also doing something special, whether we understand how it’s happening or not.

* – Which becomes an increasing concern as sensor resolution increases; there’s a reason the Sony a7R series use electronic front curtain, which avoids shutter shock, by default.

** – Apologies for choosing three particularly contentious examples.

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Sony is set to announce a new model of its RX10 enthusiast long zoom compact next week, according to a teaser video. Captioned “The wait is over. A new RX10 is coming 7/9/2026,” it shows off a silhouette of what appears to be the camera’s lens and body.

The reference to a wait is apt. The RX10 IV, which featured a 20MP Type 1 sensor (116mm²) and a 24–600mm equiv. lens, was released in late 2017, and hasn’t been available to buy new for a while now. That absence has been felt even stronger because of the lack of other cameras in this class. Panasonic’s FZ1000 II was one of its closest competitors, but is also now unavailable.

Other bridge cameras, like the Nikon P1100 or Panasonic ZS300, fill similar roles of offering a ton of zoom range, but with different sets of trade-offs. The P1100 offers a massive 24–3000 mm zoom range, but uses a Type 1/2.3 (28mm²) sensor that makes even the RX10 IV’s look massive by comparison. And while the ZS300 also uses a Type 1 sensor, its 24–360mm is decidedly less ambitious with an aperture range of F3.3–6.4, compared to the RX10 IV’s F2.4-4 (equivalent to F9-17.4 and F6.5-10.9, respectively).

Sony’s teaser has essentially no other information on what upgrades it has made to the RX10 IV’s formula in the near decade since it launched, but we don’t have long before we find out. According to the video, the announcement will be at 07:00 Pacific / 15:00 BST on July 9th.

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Rishi Sanyal

This weekend, people and cities across the US will be celebrating the Fourth of July with the traditional large firework displays. If you’re trying to capture those, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind if you want to get pictures that truly sparkle.

We’ve outlined the most important ones in a video, which you can watch below:

If you’re looking for a more in-depth look at how to shoot fireworks, including tips from someone who’s done it professionally, we have a few articles you can dive into, too. Stay safe, have fun, and get some great shots!

PS: not American? These tips will work just as well on November 5th, December 31st or any other day with big fireworks displays. It’s never too early to start planning!

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Panasonic

When I reviewed the Panasonic S1II, one of my biggest complaints about it was the price . It’s a very capable camera, but it was also competing against other very capable cameras that were several hundred dollars cheaper, and which didn’t ask you to give up much in return.

Now, though, things have changed a bit. Instead of selling for $3200 in the US, it’s currently listed as $2900, an approximately 9% reduction. That makes it the same price as the Sony a7 V, and only $100 more than the Canon EOS R6 III. While Panasonic’s website lists this as a sale, there’s no clear indication of an end date. B&H’s website , meanwhile, implies that this is just the new price, and, indeed, price tracking site CamelCamelCamel reports that it’s been selling at this price for about a month.

The same has happened to the S1II’s higher-resolution sibling, the S1RII. When that camera launched in February 2025, a few months before the S1II, it was listed at $3300. It’s now an even $3000, putting more distance between it and cameras like the Nikon Z8 and Canon EOS R5 II (though those cameras’ benefits over the S1RII are more obvious than with the S1II’s competitors).

In some ways, this isn’t unusual. The S1II and S1RII are over a year old now, and cameras frequently get cheaper as they age. The Nikon Z6 III is a perfect example; it launched at $2500, and is currently available for just under $2000 (which, despite its few minor flaws, is a screaming deal). This will happen to the EOS R6 III and a7 V, too, and at that time the S1II may go back to seeming like not as great a value, unless you specifically need the relatively niche features it offers that the others don’t.

This is why we typically base our pricing analysis around MSRPs; it’s not because the street price of the camera won’t change over its life, but that they typically tend to change by around the same amount, relative to the camera’s launch price and age. Still, it means that if you need to buy a camera right this moment and aren’t currently wedded to a system, the S1II makes a lot more sense than it did before. And if this truly is a change to its MSRP, and it’ll at some point go on sale even further, that could make it a very interesting option indeed.

Panasonic S1II

Panasonic S1RII

Since it was released two months ago, Olivia Rodrigo’s music video for the song “drop dead” has already garnered 42 million views. There are probably a lot of reasons it’s been so popular: it’s the lead single for a very popular artist’s new album, was shot on location in Versailles and clips from it have been popular on social media sites like Instagram. But the aesthetic of the video probably helps too; it has a dreamy, old-school look to it that taps directly into 90s VHS nostalgia.

While that’s well-trodden ground for modern music videos, the effect is very convincing… because it’s real. A recent video from the YouTube channel Frame Set goes deep on how the video, directed by Petra Collins, was shot, in a wide-ranging interview with its cinematographer, Todd Banhazl.

The video obviously covers the mix of cameras used, going into why the crew chose to use BetaCam, VHS and MiniDV, and the different situations where they needed to go with one over the other. There are plenty of interesting details in it for camera nerds, but it also doesn’t slack on discussing craft; a lot of the video is focused on the interesting lighting setups needed to film in a historic building with limited control while using cameras with very low sensitivity.

It also touches on other technical aspects, like the difficulties of editing interlaced footage that will eventually be shown using a platform designed for progressive video, and deeper topics like the rise of the lo-fi aesthetic in the age of AI-generated imagery. Even if you’re not into music videos or Olivia Rodrigo’s brand of pop-rock singer-songwriting, the interview is well worth a watch just to see a clearly talented creative talk about their process.

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Mitchell Clark

Earlier this year, Nikon introduced a new version of one of its professional full-frame workhorse lenses: the Nikkor Z 70-200 F2.8 VR S II. We’ve now had the chance to spend some time with it, shooting portraits, firefighting aircraft and more. You can jump straight to the gallery to see the results for yourself, or read on to see what we thought about how it feels to use and the images it produces.

In Use

its smallest and lightest configuration (998g / 35oz). Middle: the lens with the cosmetic bayonet cover (1028g / 36.3oz). Right: the lens with its foot and hood (1248g / 44oz).

The big (or rather, not so big) selling point of this lens is its size and weight. Without the tripod foot and cosmetic sleeve installed, it’s only 998g (35.2oz); the lightest full-frame 70-200mm F2.8 for a mirrorless system. With that said, I typically preferred to use it with the tripod foot; it’s Arca-Swiss compatible, making it very easy to mount to a tripod, and the lens isn’t quite light enough that I feel terribly comfortable toting it around without a solid handle to remind me that I’m carrying a camera attached to a lens, not the other way around.

Even with the foot, the lens’s weight is competitive with that of its lightest competitors, and is a substantial improvement over the original. The lens’s center of gravity is also remarkably consistent as you move through its zoom range, so you don’t have to shift your grip as you change focal lengths.

In terms of features and controls, this lens has most everything you could want, with the exception of the top-display from the previous generation that some – though not I – may miss. And as someone who has long disliked clickless control rings, it’s good to see Nikon providing the option to click or declick the one on this lens, even if I’d still personally prefer a dedicated aperture ring.

I also appreciate the ample number of function buttons, which are available no matter what orientation you’re holding the lens in. The manual focus and zoom rings are also satisfying to turn, and the latter is a relatively short throw, letting you move through the range quickly if need be. While the pattern on them provides plenty of grip, I do wish they were just a bit softer, but not enough that I’d be willing to accept any trade-off in durability.

Nikon says the lens has an upgraded autofocus system, and I found it always kept up with the camera, snapping into focus very quickly. It never felt like the lens’s autofocusing motors were bottlenecking the body, or like I would have gotten a shot if only it had moved a bit faster.

When working in concert with a stabilized sensor, this lens’s optical stabilization is among the most impressive that I’ve used in a full-frame zoom. It’s so effective, in fact, that it can occasionally be a bit difficult to precisely recompose your image with it on, though I only really noticed that in a few situations.

Optics

With the lens wide open at F2.8, there’s noticeable vignetting at the corners throughout its focal range (though it’s most noticeable at the long end ). It mostly clears up by F4, though you’ll see further improvements going to F5.6. While this can easily be corrected using the lens’s profile, this will come at the cost of having fractionally more noise visible in the corners of the image.

You can gain a small sharpness advantage in the corners by stopping down, too, but in our experience, this lens is very sharp corner-to-corner no matter what focal length or aperture you’re shooting at.

F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8.0 F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8.0

I find the lens’s bokeh to be very pleasing, rendering even busy backgrounds relatively smoothly. The specular highlights are also quite clean, without distracting aberrations, which is exactly what we’d want to see in a professional lens destined to shoot a lot of weddings with trendy lighting.

Nikon’s latest coatings are also quite impressive. There was one time when I was shooting pretty much directly into the afternoon sun, which produced a somewhat washed-out image, but things improved as soon as I was shooting even a little off-axis.

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The lens makes use of minor software corrections for geometric distortion – there’s a very mild amount of pincushion distortion at the long end and barrel distortion on the short end – but we wouldn’t consider using them mandatory. And, indeed, neither does Nikon; with the 70-200mm F2.8 VR S II attached, the camera allows you to turn off Auto Distortion Control, which isn’t the case with every Z mount lens, such as the Nikon 24-120 F4 S.

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.

Thank you to Nikon for the loan of a Nikon Z8 to capture this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer’s distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting.

Nikon Z 70-200mm F2.8 VR S II specifications:

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