91%

Overall score

Jump to conclusion

The Sony a7 V is an enthusiast-tier camera with a new, full frame, 33MP 'partially stacked' CMOS sensor, with a focus on high burst rates, capable autofocus and a complete suite of video features.

Key Specifications

• 33MP full frame 'partially stacked' sensor
• IBIS rated to 7.5EV in the center
• AI-derived recognition for six subject types
• "Blackout-free" continuous shooting at 30fps
• Configurable pre-burst capture up to 1 second
• 3.2" tilting/fully-articulating display
• Dual USB-C ports for power and data
• 4K up to 60p derived from 7K capture, 4K up to 120p with 1.5x crop
• AI-based auto-framing in video

Sony says the a7 V is available now with recommended retail price of $2899, body only, making it $400 more expensive than the Mark IV, back in 2021.

Index:

• What's new?
• In context
• Body and handling
• Image quality
• Autofocus
• Video
• In-use
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Press release
• Specifications

What's new?

New sensor

Like its predecessor, the a7 V features a 33MP sensor, but with extra readout circuitry to improve readout speeds (which were one of the a7 IV's weak points). We've seen this "partially stacked" technology in 24MP cameras like the Nikon Z6III and Panasonic S1II, but here it's being applied to a higher-resolution sensor.

Sony says this allows the a7 V to achieve much higher burst rates than its predecessor – 30 fps, up from 10 – and to do so with a full 14-bit readout, rather than requiring Sony's destructively lossy Raw compression. The maximum e-shutter speed has been increased to 1/16000 sec, too. The company also promises it won't have the same dynamic range reduction we saw with the Z6III, where increased read noise was evident if you pushed the shadows in post. Though we'll have to see if these claims are borne out in testing.

The IBIS system has also been upgraded, now stabilizing the sensor by 7.5EV, up from 5.5EV with the a7 IV.

New processor, new autofocus

The sensor is paired with a new "Bionz XR2" processor, bringing Sony's most up-to-date autofocus system to the a7 line. While the previous camera had human and animal recognition, the a7 V gets the autofocus system found on most of Sony's other modern cameras, with support for recognizing six subject types, as well as a configurable 'Auto' mode.

The Subject Recognition: Auto mode can be fine-tuned so that it only looks for the types of subject you expect to encounter. You can also select how specific the focus is (eg whether it looks for birds' eyes)

The Human / Face / Eye recognition is significantly upgraded from the previous camera, with the a7 V trained to recognize humans in all sorts of different positions, so that it continues to track the same person and re-finds their face faster, even if they are partially obscured.

The camera also gains a few new focus area settings, and Sony says it performs autofocus calculations 60 times per second. (It hasn't shared the a7 IV's rate, but says the a1 II does 120 calculations per second.)

The processor is an update to the one found in Sony's earlier cameras, such as the a1 II, a7R V and a6700, which paired their image processors with an "AI" coprocessor to handle autofocusing duties. Now, both functions are bundled onto one chip. Rather than providing for new features, this seems to be a play to make the system more efficient when doing the same tasks.

New Raw format

In among the new features, Sony says there's a new, 'lightweight' Raw system. We weren't given any more information than this, and there isn't any third-party support for the files, yet. The only thing we can say is that they end up being a similar size to Sony's old, damagingly lossy Raw format, but hopefully without the potential pitfalls.

AI-powered features

Apart from autofocus, the new processor allows for several other features that are based on complex algorithms created by machine learning. The first is Auto Framing: a video mode that crops in and then follows your subject around the frame. This lets you set up a wide-angle shot, then have the camera pan around the scene to make it look like you had a camera operator. The feature offers three levels of crop and includes options to show the wide shot first before punching in shortly after your subject enters the frame.

There's also a framing stabilizer option that uses the digital video stabilization to not only move a crop within the sensor to counteract shake, but also to maintain your subject's position in the frame (either centrally or in a position you've defined). In both cases, the video is then upscaled to your chosen resolution.

Pre-burst capture

The a7 V gains the pre-burst capture system that first appeared in the a9 III. This lets you capture images (in any format) for up to one second between the time you initiate AF and the time you fully press the shutter button. You get quite fine-grained control over the period of time before the full shutter press that gets retained. 1 second is the maximum, 0.03sec (i.e., 1 frame at the camera's maximum 30fps) is the minimum, so you can tune it to match your response time, rather than always capturing a full second's worth of images prior to full-press.

Despite the minimum duration being based on 30fps shooting, you can use pre-burst with any of the camera's shooting rates.

A video upgrade

The faster sensor lets the a7 V capture most of its video modes at up to twice the framerates its predecessor could deliver. It also gains the auto-framing and framing stabilizer modes discussed above.

There are a few other nice-to-haves, too, such as the option to upload your own LUTs to let you preview the scene with your intended grading. The camera can also embed the LUT alongside your footage, so that it's also available to whoever's editing the project. However, unlike the FX series cameras, there's no option to simply burn the LUT onto your video.

In context

The a7 V lands in the most competitive part of the market: between the out-and-out pro models and the somewhat pared-back entry-level models. This puts it up against some very good opposition: the recently-released Canon EOS R6 III, the recently firmware-boosted Panasonic S1II and Nikon's Z6III.

We don't have room to compare all four here, so we're going to include the more expensive Panasonic S1II, as it's built around a similar sensor to the Nikon Z6III but gets a bit more out of it, in terms of image quality, video and speed. We'll include more about the Nikon in a follow-up article, soon.

* When combined with a stabilized lens

The table works as a striking illustration of just how far behind the latest generation of cameras the a7 IV was, a situation the a7 V has mostly rectified. Sony's E-mount also remains a leader in terms of openness and the availability of a wide range of first and third-party lenses, though it's worth noting that several big players have recently promised to start producing options for L-mount. Sony also only allows third-party lenses to continuously autofocus at 15fps and below, a limitation that wasn't a factor on the a7 IV, but that a7 V users may bump up against.

Other companies are also offering more video options than Sony; both the Canon EOS R6 III and Panasonic S1II have modes for open-gate recording, DCI 4K and internal Raw video, all of which the a7 V lacks. Sony also hasn't implemented exposure assistance tools such as a waveform monitor or false color overlay, though it has AI tricks that Canon and Panasonic don't offer.

Body and handling

The a7 V uses an updated version of the body from the a7 IV. This means it has two main command dials, a toggle-lockable exposure comp dial on its shoulder and a third, fiddly command dial on its rear plate. However you wish to shoot, the a7 V can be set up to put the parameters you care about at your fingertips.

The front grip has been redesigned to make it feel more comfortable, though it doesn't gain the tilted-forward shutter button design that the company's pro-grade a9 III and a1 II benefit from.

We're still not great fans of the new grip: it's large enough, but the two of us shooting with the camera both found it dug into our fingers a little. This isn't helped by the unyielding grip texture on the camera that does nothing to cushion the hand.

Menus

The a7 V uses Sony's latest generation menus, which are certainly an improvement on the ones used in earlier models. They definitely have their foibles still, though.

The a7 V uses Sony's newer menu system, which represented a big step forward from the a7 III. It's been updated slightly from the previous model through the addition of a Home/Status Panel screen at the top of the menu. We're not fans, as it's easy to navigate away from by mistake (not ideal for quick settings changes), and it can get in the way of reaching the actual menus. The ability to minimize it as you navigate to the left-hand tabs serves no obvious purpose, beyond reinforcing the sense that it's a potentially good idea shoehorned into a context where it doesn't quite fit.

As with any menu system, you can learn it in time, or use the My Menu system and Fn menu to circumvent the need. But the a7 V's very high level of customization comes with the price of a long, complex menu frequently featuring an odly trunctd nmng systm.

EVF / rear screen

The a7 V uses the same 3.69M dot viewfinder as its predecessor, with the optics giving 0.78x magnification. By default the viewfinder doesn't use a feed that uses the full 1280 x 960px resolution of this panel. Depending on your requirements, you can either push the panel into a higher speed or a higher resolution mode (though not both). Either option will have an impact on the battery life.

It gains a tilting cradle on which its slightly larger, fully articulated rear screen is mounted. This means it can be tilted up or down, close to the back of the camera for waist-level or overhead stills shooting as well as flipping out to the side for videos or selfies. The added movement also lets you move the screen away from the camera, reducing the risk of the screen fouling your cables when you flip it out. The new panel has around 2.1M dots, giving around a 1024 x 682px resolution.

Flipping the screen out over-rides the viewfinder's eye sensor by default, so the rear screen won't black-out if you bring the camera too close to your body when working at waist level. We had occasional issues getting the finder to work when the screen was re-stowed, though (closing the screen seems to put the camera to sleep).

USB ports

The a7 V becomes the second camera we've encountered to have two USB-C ports: one for high-speed data transfer, one for charging, using the USB-PD standard. It's worth remembering which is which: the upper port can transfer files at up to 10Gbps, the lower one is around one twentieth of this speed.

It's perhaps noteworthy that many recent Sony cameras had retained a USB Micro B socket alongside their USB-C data port, to maintain compatibility with the company's "Multi Terminal" accessories. The second slot on the a7 V appears to essentially be a continuation of this USB 2.0 socket in a new shape.

Battery

The a7 V uses the same NP-FZ100 battery that the a7 series has used for several generations, now. It's a fairly substantial 16.4Wh unit that powers the camera to a rating of 750 shots per charge if you rely on the rear screen and 630 shots per charge if you use the viewfinder.

These are both impressive figures for a camera in this class, especially given that the CIPA-defined tests tend to significantly underestimate the number of shots most people find they actually get. Everyone's usage differs, of course, but so long as you don't spend lots of your time reviewing the images you just shot, it's not unusual to get double the rated number of shots.

Image quality

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

Comparing processed Raws at base ISO, the a7 V's 33MP sensor provides a similar level of detail to cameras with similar resolutions, such as its predecessor and Canon's EOS R6 III, while offering a bump up from its 24MP competitors. It appears Sony has slightly tweaked the formula for the camera's color response compared to the a7 IV, and we've liked the JPEG results we've got.

At high ISOs, the a7 V's Raws show a touch more noise than those of its competition, a trend that continues as you push your ISO higher, but its JPEG engine does a decent job of reducing noise while still retaining details. Its ISO range extends a stop higher than the Canon EOS R6 III's, but in most circumstances, this simply means you have a wider range of settings that provide an unusable image.

Overall, the a7 V's images are very similar to the a7 IV's, but its partially stacked sensor brings better low-ISO dynamic range and burst rates without any noticeable impact on image quality. Though these two benefits aren't delivered simultaneously: maximum DR can't be achieved in the camera's fastest modes, which use electronic shutter.

Dynamic range

The a7 V gets a significant boost in its dynamic range, compared with its predecessor, thanks to sensor that's able to combine the output of both its dual conversion gain readout modes, meaning you get the same highlight performance as before but with less noise in the shadows. Specifically, it gets a boost in its lower ISO settings, where dynamic range is highest and where you're most likely to want to use it.

ISO invariance | Exposure latitude

All the benefit appears in the deep shadows: the relationship between the sensor's clipping point and the camera's metering (and JPEG middle gray) is the same as on the a7 IV, so there's the same amount of highlight headroom as before. Increased DR means there are darker tones that remain usable in this camera's Raw files than the ones that have been overwhelmed on cameras with lower DR. So if you aren't pushing your Raws to exploit the information in the deep shadows, you won't encounter this benefit.

This combined dual gain mode is only active in modes where the mechanical shutter is closed at the end of the exposure (ie: mechanical and electronic first curtain modes) so that there's no impact from the slower read-out in these modes.

Video

The Sony a7 V records full-width UHD 4K footage at up to 60p, downsampled from 7K capture, and also offers 4K 120p recording from an APS-C-sized region of the sensor.

The camera can also use the sensor's extra resolution to power its AI Auto Framing mode, which will recognize a human in the scene and crop in on them, like a camera operator might if they were zooming in and panning around to keep a subject in frame. You can configure how tight you want the framing to be and how quickly you want the camera to move the frame to keep up with the subject. Similarly, the highest tier of digital stabilization also has a 'Framing Stabilizer' option, which aims to keep your chosen composition locked onto a selected subject, even while the camera is moving.

There's also a slight caveat to the full-width 4K/50 and 60 modes; to actually get full-width recording, you have to turn on a mode called "4K Angle of view Priority," which Sony says turns off in-camera noise reduction.

Sony includes its S-Log3 and S-Cinetone color modes in the a7 V. The former is designed to capture as much dynamic range as possible, but will require color grading before delivery, while the latter is designed to have a subtle, movie-like appearance that's flat enough to provide a little editing latitude. You can also shoot in Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) mode to deliver output-read HDR footage for playback on high dynanic range devices.

Recording Modes

Compared to its competitors, the a7 V actually has relatively few recording modes, since it only records compressed, 16:9 video. However, it offers a few choices of codecs and compression types, which you can choose between depending on what you're shooting and how capable your editing computer is.

Sony's menus for choosing your recording mode aren't the nicest to navigate, but they get the job done. You start by choosing your file format to determine your resolution and compression, and which are named using Sony's XAVC branding, decrypted as follows:

• XAVC HS = 4:2:0 10-bit, H.265 Long GOP
• XAVC S = 4:2:0 8-bit, H.264 Long GOP
• XAVC S-I = 4:2:2 10-bit, H.264 All-I

Then, you can go into a separate menu to choose your frame rate and bit rate/depth and chroma subsampling settings.

Temperature limits

While the a7 V doesn't have a fan, it has the graphite heatsink introduced with the a7S III built into the IBIS unit for better thermal performance in the camera's more demanding video modes. At roughly room temperature (20°C, 68°F), the company says you can expect to get around 90 minutes of recording time at 4K/60. At a torturous 41°C (105°F), the company claims it should still be able to manage up to 60 minutes of 4K/60. Though it doesn't specify, we assume these figures are for indirect heat and with the overheat warnings relaxed.

Video performance

The Sony a7 IV paid a price for its move to a higher-res sensor, when it came to video. Although its detail capture level was a touch higher, it took longer to read out, so exhibited more rolling shutter. That's not a problem for the Mark V: its partially-stacked sensor read out significantly faster, which both reduces rolling shutter and allows full-width 4K/60p capture.

However, it's working at its limit to do so, though, hence the need to reduce noise reduction if you want to shoot 4K/50 or 60 and continue to use the full width of the sensor, or to use the standard APS-C region for 4K/100 and 120.

The Sony's main 4K modes are derived from full-width, 7K output. This means they correspond to { ImageComparisonLink:6300, text="Canon's "HQ" modes" } on the EOS R6 III, rather than its standard, sub-sampled modes. Its higher res sensor makes it a little more detailed than Panasonic's S1 II.

The a7 V only captures footage in output-ready resolutions and aspect ratios (primarily UHD 4K), so you can't gain the ability to crop and reframe that other cameras offer, but most of its 4K output modes make makes use of the sensor's full resolution.

One exception is the 4K/60 mode with angle-of-view priority turned off. This uses a slightly cropped region of the sensor and captures a fraction less detail as a result (we absolutely would not expect such a minor difference to be visible when cutting to/from this footage). There's no sign of a difference in noise in this image, shot at low ISO but a single frame grab can't show differences in temporal noise reduction, applied to reduce noise difference frame-to-frame.

Another mode that doesn't use the full resolution is the 4K/120 mode. This is taken from an APS-C region of the sensor and still uses fractionally more capture pixels than the output resolution, so it remains detailed. However, the nature of using a smaller region of the sensor, plus the shorter exposures used for 120p capture means it'll be noisier. Again you'll need to use the angle of view priority option to avoid a slightly larger crop (1.79x vs 1.52).

Sony's in-body image stabilization is pretty good in video, but the better results tend to be achieved by applying at least some degree of digital correction, which comes with a crop. You have a series of choices: the basic level that tends to work pretty well if you're trying to keep the camera still and a more extreme mode, accompanied by an even great crop, if you're trying to smooth-out significant amounts of movement.

Dynamic range

Unlike the Panasonic S1II, the Sony doesn't have any DR Boost mode or equivalent that lets you trade off speed for greater dynamic range by combining the output of both its sensor's gain modes. Instead, you just get the fast mode, which is a distinct benefit over its comparatively tardy predecessor, but you don't get the DR benefits we saw in stills mode.

The Sony is missing a couple of features that rivals such as the Panasonic S1II and Canon EOS R6 III offer, most obviously the ability to capture native resolution video, Raw video and the option to output in taller aspect ratios to give you more cropping options during the edit.

These are both potentially useful features to some users but we wouldn't expect either to be essential for many people. If either is a feature you need, you should look elsewhere, but a lot of users won't need them at all, so it's worth being realistic with yourself about how you intend to use a camera.

Autofocus

The a7 V uses the latest iteration of Sony's AF system. It works very well, but having some familiarity with an existing version definitely helps.

You can narrow down the number of AF area modes available, if you find the choice of 24 at all overwhelming.

As with most cameras you get a choice of AF area modes, from a small square box up to "Wide" area, which covers the whole scene and lets the camera pick a subject. One of the first things we'd suggest doing is moving the camera from AF-A mode (where it tries to pick between single AF acquisition and continuous AF), into AF-C, because that gives you access to tracking versions of all the AF areas.

There's a menu option to limit which AF area modes are available, to bring things back to a quickly manageable selection, and we'd recommend doing this, once you have a sense for the modes you prefer to use.

The tracking tends to work very well and for a lot of photography we find we can leave the camera in AF-C with a small or medium-sized tracking box, and it'll focus on what we ask, whether the subject is static or moving and regardless of how we adjust the composition, after picking a subject.

Subject recognition

You can choose a specific target type to track or select the Auto mode that chooses between them. You can filter the list of subjects available in the menus and which subjects the Auto mode selects from.

The a7 V has a series of subject recognition modes derived from machine learning. It adds several additional subject types that the a7 IV hadn't been trained to recognize and also adds and 'Auto' subject mode that will try to hunt for multiple subject types. This Auto mode can be fine-tuned so that it only tries to look for the specific subject types you want to photograph, which should improve speed and help prevent the camera getting distracted.

Subject recognition modes will only focus onto subject under or near to your chosen AF point, so you can leave subject recognition on, without having to worry about the camera focusing off on a recognized subject, if you're trying to focus on somethign else in the scene.

You can fine-tune the behavior of each subject recognition mode to get it to precisely match your shooting style and the conditions in which you shoot. The defaults already work very well, we found.

You can fine-tune each subject type, to adjust how close to your AF area a subject has to be, before it locks onto it. So, for instance, you could limit human detection to having to be very close to your AF point, while casting a wider net in bird detection mode, to give you more leeway if you can't keep your AF point precisely over a flying bird. This setting is called "Tracking Shift Range." Several subject types can be fine-tuned to make sure the camera focuses exactly where you want it to.

The good news is that this level of per-subject fine-tuning is just that: the ability to further hone the behavior, if you have specific needs. The a7 V's default behavior is already very good.

Likewise, the camera lets you specify how it should respond if something crosses in front of the subject being focused on (which you may need to configure differently, if you're shooting certain sports), but for most shooting you can just leave it at its defaults.

Overall the autofocus works very well. Hidden behind some often rather opaque naming, there's the ability to customize it to a pretty fine degree. The good news is that for a lot of photography, it already works very well without you having to do this.

In use

By Richard Butler

The a7 V's buttons and dials are well positioned but something about the shape of the new grip really makes the camera's weight apparent when holding it for any length of time, despite it being no heavier than its peers.

We've always said the Sony user interface benefits most from a little customization: even with their improved (but already overstuffed) left-tabbed menus, you'll want to spend as little time in the main menus as possible. This process of working out which features you want to access quickly via buttons or semi-quickly via the quick menu is made all the more pressing by the a7 V's broad range of capabilities. It's very unlikely that any one photographer will use all of all the camera's features, so it makes sense to surface the features that make sense for your use.

The camera's Fn menu is completely customizable. But note that it includes the 'pre-burst' option that isn't even available by default. You'll need to change both the shutter type and drive mode before it becomes selectable.

By default, the quick menu has pre-burst shooting as one of its options. But to engage that you need to also be in e-shutter and burst shooting modes, so there's quite a lot of setting changes to access the camera's new feature. Likewise, if you encounter a scene you think would work well as a high DR image, you'll need to disengage Raw shooting, select HEIF as your output type and then select HLG photo mode, then reverse all those changes when you want to shoot Raws again.

None of this is insurmountable: you can configure the custom positions on the mode dial to engage these modes and make all the settings changes necessary, but it means more setup and configuration than we'd really like to see, or than we'd expect to have to do with its peers.

Personally, I find it rather unhelpful to have a settings panel within the main menu structure: it's too easy to navigate away from accidentally, to be useful as a settings panel so it's just clutter, the rest of the time. I find it even more unhelpful that one of the ways you can inadvertently navigate out of it is to this intermediate page. I have no idea why this step exists between the setting page and the tabs on the left.

The differences between the mid-range cameras from the major brands become narrower and narrower, all the time. Lens selection, in terms of the specific lenses you want, at a price/performance level you're happy with (not just number of lenses available) should probably be a bigger deciding factor between brands than most slight differences between specs or feature sets.

For me, the a7 V's grip would put me off it, as would the lack of ability to re-process the Raws, in-camera, while I'm traveling. But this is the level of specific personal preference that will dictate which camera you opt for.

There are few knockout punches being thrown, so it's all in the realm of the points totals of individual judges. Ignore anyone babbling on about the lack or presence of this feature or that unless you are absolutely certain that you will use one of those specific features, because all of these cameras have almost everything most people might need.

Conclusion

By Richard Butler

The a7 V is perhaps the best all-round camera Sony has yet made, outside its pro-grade (and priced) models, excelling at both stills and video capture. Like its immediate peers, it brings a level of performance that exceeds what professionals relied on, less than a decade ago, meaning you get a camera that will support you almost regardless of what you ask it to do.

The latest sensor has been cleverly used so that it brings a dynamic range benefit for photographers who need to really push their files, while also delivering a speed improvement over its predecessor, giving smoother, better quality footage and less rolling shutter distortion at its fastest burst rates.

The a7 V's autofocus is very good in a wide range of circumstances. You can fine-tune the behaviour and simplify things if you want. But for most people, simply engaging AF-C when they first get the camera will be the only essential setup step. Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II | F2.2 | 1/100 sec | ISO 640 Photo: Richard Butler

Autofocus strikes a good balance between capability and tunability: there are countless options to fine-tune it to get exactly the behavior you want, but its performance out-of-the-box is so good that this is a question of achieving a final, perfect polish, rather than being a necessary step you have to overcome.

Sony's interface still isn't our favorite, and can feel cluttered and unruly at times, especially as features and interdependencies continue to grow. But it can be learned and customized easily enough that this won't be a concern, once you've got yourself up to speed. Similarly, more than one of the team found the camera's grip shape and weight made it hard to hold for long periods. Overall, ergonomics and usability are, perhaps, the closest the a7 V has to a weak-point.

If you're an existing E-mount user, the a7 V is likely to represent an appreciable upgrade

If you're an existing a7 or a7C-series user, the a7 V is likely to represent an appreciable upgrade, with the benefits being more apparent the older the model you have (for a7IV users, the benefits would mostly be felt by keen video shooters). For new buyers without any commitment to a system, the E-mount's extensive choice of lenses is another factor in its favor.

The a7 V is more camera than most of us will ever need, and it'll support you almost regardless of what you ask it to do. It's hard to see any basis for awarding it less than our highest 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 Canon EOS R6 III is the greatest challenge to Sony. It has shorter battery life and a narrower selection of lenses, but it also has a more comfortable grip and an interface that seems to struggle less with the extent of its feature set. It's this enjoyability, rather than relatively niche video features, such as Raw capture and open-gate recording, that would make us lean towards the Canon. But it should present a challenging decision, if you're not yet committed to a system, and you're unlikely to feel you've made the wrong decision, whichever way you jump.

Like the Sony, the Panasonic S1II has a "partially stacked" sensor that can combine the output of its dual gain readout modes to give improved dynamic range. Unlike the Sony it also lets you do this in video mode, letting you choose between speed and DR. It also has a broader range of video output resolutions. Its autofocus isn't quite as foolproof as the Sony's, but the difference is much smaller, with the latest firmware, and the L-mount system has an increasingly interesting range of lenses, making the S1 II probably the stronger choice if you're interested in video.

Nikon's Z6III risks being somewhat overshadowed by its more recent peers, as it can't combine the output of its dual gain modes, despite using a similar sensor to the Panasonic. It lower dynamic range won't be apparent for most photographers but landscape shooters and anyone trying to push their Raw video may start to encounter some of the Nikon's limitations. For most use it's excellent, though, with nicer ergonomics and arguably a better interface than the Sony. Though, as with the Canon, your lens choice is quite tightly controlled.

Sony has a habit of keeping its existing bodies in the lineup for some time, so it's worth comparing the a7 IV to the newer model. We much prefer the newer camera: it can shoot faster, has much improved video and upgraded autofocus. It's better in almost every regard. If you have any E-mount lenses, we think it's worth saving for the V, almost regardless of what you plan to shoot.

Sample Galleries

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.

Pre-production sample gallery

Crop of an image not included in the sample gallery. Click through for full image. Sony a7 V w/ Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 @ 27mm | F8.0 | 1/320 | ISO 100 Photo: Richard Butler

A central part of our review process is to use the camera extensively in the real world. The sample galleries we put together let you assess the camera, and provide Raw images that you can put through your own workflow. But, just as importantly, they show that we aren't making all our assessments from our test chart.

We've been using the a7 V for a while and, ahead of our full review tomorrow, here are the images we shot with it. We tried to use it in a range of circumstances and with a number of different lenses, and we hope that some of the shots will, to at least some degree, be analogous to the shots you might want to take.

Read our full review of the Sony a7 V

The gallery includes two images processed in Adobe Camera Raw as HDR JPEGs, as this might be one of the ways users might choose to exploit the camera's impressive dynamic range. For the best results, please download these images and view them on an HDR-capable device.

Sony a7 V review 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.

Modern camera tech lets me, an occasionally decent photographer, get a photo like this (and 20 others before and after it that are just as in-focus). Canon EOS R1 | Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM Z | 200mm | F4| 1/1000 sec | ISO 3200

People much smarter than I have long noted that the creative ideas that make for great art often come from limitations, be they budgetary, technological, or otherwise. But as photography gear advances, some of the limitations we've previously had to work around have been lifted, raising the question: Is it time to start thinking about what limits we impose on our own photography?

It feels like it's an idea that's been swirling around me for a while, as I've covered new cameras that intentionally impose limited shooting styles onto you, either with software like the X half's Film Camera mode, or physically, like with the colorless sensors in the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome and Leica Q3 Monochrom. It's also shown up in the countless videos I've seen in my recommendations from people who have gone out shooting with older cameras.

"They know you can do anything. So the question is, what don't you do?"

What brought it to the front of my mind was a video discussing the dos and don'ts of videography, where the host talks about the trap of shooting everything on a gimbal at high framerates and sorting it all out in post. It reminded me of a quote from acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher that was included in one of Every Frame A Painting's videos: "They know you can do anything. So the question is, what don't you do?"

It's a sentiment that's understandable in filmmaking, where advancements in CGI mean you can put anything imaginable on screen (and where doing so has become so ubiquitous that some audiences are getting tired of it). But I'd argue that, to a certain extent, the same applies to cameras. With how capable modern mirrorless cameras are in terms of image quality, dynamic range, and autofocus, many casual and hobbyist photographers can now reliably capture images that would've previously required immense luck or years of practice.

Asking "what don't you do" is essentially coming at limitations from the other direction.

The result of this, combined with the interconnectedness that social media allows, is that we get to see more incredible images in a week than we'd once have seen in our entire lifetimes*. While that's undoubtedly useful for those of us seeking inspiration, it also makes it difficult to distinguish yourself. There's little more heartbreaking than thinking you've had an original idea and working hard to realize it, only to find out that someone else has already done it. (It's even worse if you discover they've done it better.)

That brings us back to the idea of self-imposed limitations. Now that almost everyone can take incredible photos of fast-moving athletes, birds in flight, or breathtaking landscapes, stripping things down to their essentials can help hone your skills and take photos that will stick with those who see them.

I often find myself exclusively taking photos of inanimate objects; buildings, landscapes, out of place items. What would I learn if I decided to not take a picture of something unless it had a pulse for a few weeks? Sony a7R V | Sigma 200mm F2 DG OS Sports | F2 | 1/400 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Mitchell Clark

There are so many ways to do this that, ironically, you're limited only by your imagination. It's essentially coming at limitations from the other direction. You could challenge yourself to only take pictures of things that other photographers would find boring, forcing yourself to find something interesting in the mundane or everyday. You could shoot with an antiquated camera and process, or maybe only a cell phone, refrain from using zoom lenses, let go of technical perfection, avoid using a flash (or just relying on available light), try to get everything perfect in-camera without any need for editing or, sure, choose to only shoot black and white. You can shoot anything, but what will you choose to shoot?

I don't want to imply that everyone should immediately get rid of their do-anything cameras, or that you always need to shoot in a totally minimalist mindset. But I do think it's worth occasionally exploring different restrictions, perhaps by taking on a photo project.

Doing so won't guarantee that you'll end up with breathtaking photos, but at the very least, it'll give you something new to think about and sharpen your basic skills, helping make your photography even better if you go back to the latest and greatest. Because while everyone may be able to access gear that lets them shoot anything, it still takes skill to capture memorable moments and to frame the scene in a way that tells the story you want to be told.

* Brought to you by the Department of Probable Made-Up Statistics

Few photographers are as synonymous with richly saturated color as William Eggleston, but the complexity behind making his prints is often underappreciated. In this behind-the-scenes look, longtime collaborators and master printers Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli walk through every stage of his dye-transfer process, revealing just how much work goes into each print.

Eggleston discovered the dye-transfer process in the 1970s, a crucial step that enabled him to move from black-and-white to color photography. Stricherz and Malli have been printing his photographs for the last 25 years, and the video reveals their meticulous workflow that turns a single transparency into three color-separation negatives and, ultimately, one luminous final print.

Over the course of the video, you see how laboratory immersion oil, spotless glass, and carefully controlled enlarger exposures give way to Kodak Matrix film, darkroom processing, and delicate gelatin reliefs that hold each dye. From there, Stricherz and Malli move into inking, rinsing, and rolling the magenta, cyan, and yellow layers in sequence, relying on timing and chemistry adjustments to fine-tune density, contrast, and color balance. The result is a fascinating view into the analog process that powered Eggleston’s shift into the deeply saturated color work that helped redefine art photography.

M16 – the so-called Eagle Nebula with the 3 Pillars of Creation in its center – is one of the most iconic images we know from the Hubble Space Telescope. Photo: Michael S.

From photographing high‑energy sports events to hours focused under the stars, DPReview community member Michael S. (Astro Tafelberg) has spent more than 30 years chasing moments that combine precision, light and timing. Based in Austria’s Burgenland region, he now devotes most of his nights to astrophotography, revealing distant worlds few ever see through their own eyes.

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Meet Michael S. (Astro Tafelberg)

Home base: Burgenland, Austria

Favorite camera and lens: Leica SL3 with Leica 90–280 mm F2.8–4 or Nikon D810a paired with a 14‑inch telescope for deep‑sky imaging.

Typical photo scenes: Wildlife walks in national parks by day, lunar and planetary sessions from his observatory by night.

What's in Michael's bag

• Primary camera: Leica SL3 full-frame mirrorless
• Lenses: Leica 24-90mm and a 90-280mm, 50mm F1.4 prime, 90mm F2.0 prime and the 150-600mm Sigma L mount
• Secondary cameras: Nikon Z8, Nikon D810a and a Leica Diglux 8
• Other lenses: Sony 14mm F1.8
• 1.4x teleconverter used with the Sigma 150-600mm
• Lowepro packs in two sizes – medium and large

Michael's camera bag with camera, lenses and other accessories. Photo: Michael S.

"For daytime nature work, I rely on my Leica SL3 and a mix of Leica glass 24–90 mm, 90–280 mm, 50 mm F1.4, and 90 mm F2, plus a Sigma 150–600 mm L‑mount with a 1.4× teleconverter. My trusty Leica Digilux 8 serves as a compact backup.
For astrophotography, I use the Nikon D810a and specialized cameras from ZWO and Player One Astronomy mounted on a 14‑inch telescope inside my backyard observatory."

Why is the Leica SL3 your preferred camera?

"For daylight photography, I prefer my Leica SL3 with a 24-90mm, 90-280mm, 50mm F1.4, 90mm F2.0 and the Sigma L mount 150-600mm lens. And if the weather allows it, I'm sitting for hours in my 2.7m diameter observatory and use lucky imaging for the Moon, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn."

"For daylight photography, I prefer my Leica SL3 with a 24-90mm, 90-280mm, 50mm F1.4, 90mm F2.0 and the Sigma L mount 150-600mm lens."

Why is the 14‑inch telescope and Nikon D810a your preferred pairing?

"Using 'lucky imaging,' I capture hundreds of frames of planets like Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn, then stack only the sharpest. On moonless nights, I switch to deep‑sky mode with a 0.7× reducer, bringing my setup to F7.7 for longer, more detailed exposures."

Jupiter – a detailed image of the gas giant with the famous Great Red Spot – again imaged with the planetary setup, high-speed camera with color sensor, and the best images, most stable ones out of a 2-minute video recorded and stacked. Photo: Michael S.

What other gear makes a difference for you?

A sturdy Manfrotto tripod is essential. I also use neutral‑density filters for smooth water shots on hikes, and always carry a bottle of still water because imaging sessions can run for hours.

How do you adapt your setup to different situations?

If the skies are clear, I spend the night at the observatory capturing the cosmos. When the weather turns cloudy, I hike in nearby parks to spot wildlife. My goal remains the same: to capture scenes as authentically as possible.

M33 – one of our neighbor galaxies, about 2.8 million light-years away. Imaged using my 14-inch telescope + Nikon D810a. Photo: Michael S.

Michael's advice for other photographers

Michael believes that mastering the fundamentals, such as equipment stability, precise focus and patience, is what separates a good shot from a great one, whether you’re freezing a fast‑moving athlete or stacking photons from a galaxy.

If you’d like to share your photography setup, tell us about your main camera, lens choices, key settings and photography strategies. You could be featured next!

Editor's note: This article continues a series, 'What's in your bag?', highlighting DPReview community members, their photography and the gear they depend on. Would you like to be featured in a future installment? Tell us a bit about yourself and your photography by filling out this form. If you're selected for a feature, we'll be in touch with next steps.

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Female in Focus x Nikon 2025

The winners of the Female in Focus 2025 competition have been announced, showcasing exceptional work on this year's theme, On the Cusp. The contest, which is hosted by the British Journal of Photography in partnership with Nikon, aims to amplify the voices of women and non-binary photographers worldwide.

This year's edition awarded two projects and 21 single images that explore concepts of transition, whether personal, cultural, environmental or technological. The winning images were selected from thousands of submissions. They will be exhibited at the 10 14 Gallery in London from April 24 to May 29, followed by the International Centre for the Image in Dublin from September 10 to October 25.

"We’re thrilled to celebrate this year’s Female in Focus winners, whose work brilliantly captures the spirit of being 'On the Cusp,'" said Ruby Nicholson, Senior Communications Manager, Nikon Northern Europe. "I’ve been particularly struck by the playful rebelliousness threaded through so many of the images, each one offering a bold and thoughtful perspective on liminality. It’s a privilege for Nikon to support an award that spotlights the extraordinary talent of female and non-binary photographers, and we’re incredibly proud to help amplify their voices on a global stage."

You can see the entirety of the winning series, along with all of the winning images at the contest website.

Winning series: New Scramble by Giya Makondo-Wills

Photographer: Giya Makondo-Wills

Series title: New Scramble

Project details: In 2017, data overtook oil as the world’s most valuable commodity. The work sits in the void between departure of information and arrival in a server. The space between night and dawn, the air that falls between the lips of the storyteller and ear of the receiver, the abyss that we must cross when the old world is dying and the new one is not yet born.

South Africa’s tech industry is booming. New Scramble documents the proliferation of data centres by global giants, including Microsoft and Google. Partly set in Gauteng, it documents how these centres, symbols of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, strain local infrastructure and natural resources, provoking ecological and ethical crises. Every day, 6-8 million people go without electricity, and 14 million have no safe drinking water. One data centre can consume as much daily water as 3,000-6,000 people and the equivalent energy of 400,000 people. Water to entire neighbourhoods stops at 7 pm, including those where my family lives. A data centre is cooled. Hundreds go without power. Centres keep running.

Extraction also grabs the intangible – thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes, habits – as we search, scroll. Once, stories helped us make sense of mystery and disaster. Today they're stored, commodified. In this work, I reference ancestral practices, folklore, and creation stories, consider how narratives transform in fibre optic sub-sea cables and over-heating servers - travelling from the intangible to the physical and back.

It spotlights data mining as fuel for modern capitalism, replicating historic colonial appropriation, extracting value, erasing origins. It shows that data sovereignty and ownership are critical. How we communicate is changing - if we don’t own the channels we use to communicate, we don’t own the stories, language, identity, culture. What are the implications of this in 100 or 200 years? Could it erase our history, culture? The work is narrated by a letter to my Gogo (grandmother) where I share these concerns.

Female in Focus 2026 © Giya Makondo-Wills

Winning series: The Other Battlefields by Laetitia Vançon

Photographer: Laetitia Vançon

Series title: The Other Battlefields

Project details: "The Other Battlefields" explores the profound imprint of war on Ukrainian youth, offering a glimpse into what it means to grow up and live in a country at war, more than three years after the Russian invasion.

The years of youth are normally synonymous with widening horizons, the weaving of friendships, and the promise of adventure. But for many young Ukrainians, those expectations have been shattered, replaced by fear, loss, depression, and exile.

This visual narrative unveils fractured lives and dimmed dreams, yet also a fierce resilience that pushes back against the surrounding darkness. Each image is a fragment, part of the many individual stories I have been following over the long term. These stories themselves are part of a broader mosaic, reflecting the hopes and realities of a wounded nation.

It was in June 2022, in Odesa, that I fully realized the importance of documenting this sacrificed generation. Young graduates, deprived of their commencement ceremony for obvious security reasons, transformed their frustration into a spontaneous art performance, later sharing it on social media to show the world what they had lost and what they were enduring. That poignant moment revealed the urgency of bearing witness and preserving their stories.

The visible scars are only part of the narrative. Beneath the surface lie other wounds, invisible yet profound, that testify to a war also fought within the soul. These battles, whether close to or far from the frontlines, are those of freedom, dignity, reconstruction, and hope. Together, they draw the many contours of a conflict that is irreversibly shaping Ukrainian youth and its future.

Female in Focus 2026 © Laetitia Vançon

Single image winner: Ana Flores

Photographer: Ada Marino

Image title: Paterfamilias

Caption: This image is part of Paterfamilias series. Paterfamilias is an autobiographical project, exploring the theme of oppression in the domestic sphere, bringing to light the consequences of deteriorated relationships in male-dominated families. The project narrative stirs memories by virtue of its rawness. Feelings and resentments, as the fruit of this experience, work to raise awareness of a deviant cultural aspect that continues to demean the dignity of women. The images are wrapped in a form of surrealism that elevates and makes tangible the sense of conflict, frustration and tension of an unsafe refuge. The project aims to capture manifestations of female sentiments such as resilience, awareness and the desire to emerge, commenting on silent social phenomenon yet one of destructive and disruptive forcefulness.

Female in Focus 2026 © Ada Marino

Single image winner: Ana Flores

Photographer: Ana Flores

Image title: Claudia, Darleine, Marthe, Victorie and Maryline

Caption: This image is from my series called "Je te connais de demain" (I know you from yesterday). I photographed Claudia, Darleine, Victoire, Marthe, and Maryline during my recent trip to Togo in May. It was a special moment; these women are part of the community that my dearest friend and photographer Delali Ayivi supports through her work, and being welcomed into her world, her homeland, was a rare and meaningful experience.

This series is an exploration of intimacy: of the profound love, care, and empowerment found within female relationships. It speaks to the spaces where vulnerability is shared freely, and where collective care becomes a force for survival and transformation. It is a tribute to those bonds, nurturing spaces we build for one another, and the quiet gestures and rituals that sustain us and lay the groundwork for growth. Love, in this context, is an act of deep presence and mutual recognition. It’s about holding space for one another’s full selves, for pain and healing, confusion and clarity alike. This series highlights the quiet strength of care, the depth of companionship, and the resilience that emerges in safe spaces. It sees love as something active and lived, not abstract or idealised, but present in the smallest details of our connections. The title evokes a sense of timeless, intuitive connection. It speaks to recognition beyond time, a connection so strong it feels predestined. In this context, it reflects how deep friendships or sisterhoods feel both familiar and forward-carrying, as if we’ve always known each other, and will continue to.

This image represents the care we offer one another, the small moments of love, support, and shared growth. We’re all in transition, moving from one version of ourselves to the next. As friends, as women, as chosen sisters, our evolution is shared. The space we hold for each other is a gift. It allows us to question, unlearn and heal.

Female in Focus 2026 © Ana Flores

Single image winner: Andrea Marti

Photographer: Andrea Marti

Image title: Crush

Caption: Crush is the second chapter in a larger body of work composed of staged images of couples kissing. The series adopts a pseudo-documentary approach, blurring the boundaries between reality and construction. Through stylized compositions and character-driven narratives, Crush explores the intersections of intimacy, identity, and performance, drawing inspiration from fantasy, fleeting encounters, and desire.

Female in Focus 2026 © Andrea Marti

Single image winner: Angela Cappetta

Photographer: Angela Cappetta

Image title: Unbraiding

Caption: Glendalis' sisters unbraid her hair as she does her homework.

Female in Focus 2026 © Angela Cappetta

Single image winner: Anna Zeigler

Photographer: Anna Zeigler

Image title: Mama´s rebirth

Caption: My mother, a couple of months after her stem cell transplantation procedure. She suffers from PPMS. After trying numerous other treatments, her last hope to hold off the deterioration of the nerve cells for as long as possible was to undergo an autologous stem cell transplantation. And as spring hit, I thought it was the perfect time to celebrate her new birth with a portrait shoot to celebrate her bravery, perseverance and will to fight.

Female in Focus 2026 © Anna Zeigler

Single image winner: Cybele Malinowski

Photographer: Cybele Malinowski

Image title: Deep Fake - Cher

Caption: Annika, a Swedish singer and dancer, has constructed an entire career around inhabiting Cher–transforming her voice, body, and identity into one of pop culture's most enduring icons. In this frame from DEEPFAKE, we encounter her on all fours outside a suburban Las Vegas house, a position of vulnerability that strips away the goddess-like power Cher embodies. The image confronts us with uncomfortable questions: Who is performing for whom? What psychological space does Annika occupy when she's neither fully herself nor fully Cher?

This moment captures the profound displacement at the heart of celebrity
impersonation. Annika has dedicated her life to perfecting another woman's voice,
mannerisms, and image–a cultural labor that simultaneously erases and elevates her own identity. The suburban setting amplifies this dissonance; Cher exists in our imagination as glamorous, untouchable, yet here she kneels on ordinary pavement in anonymous American sprawl.

DEEPFAKE interrogates how identity becomes transferable currency in late capitalism. Annika's body is both canvas and commodity–she has monetized her ability to disappear into someone else. The work asks: what remains of the self when your livelihood depends on its erasure? In documenting these performers, DEEPFAKE reveals the psychological cost of living as perpetual simulacrum, where authenticity becomes increasingly elusive.

Female in Focus 2026 © Cybele Malinowski

Single image winner: Esther Nsapu

Photographer: Esther Nsapu

Image title: The heirs of silence

Caption: In Burundi, many women keep their hair naturally curly, not because it is fashionable,but out of necessity, simplicity, and loyalty to who they are. They tell me that all they have to do is wake up, comb their hair, put on a little pomade, and the day can begin. Whether they go to the market, home, or the fields, their hair accompanies them like an extension of themselves, without artifice.

In a country where poverty affects the majority of the population, maintaining natural hair becomes a way of living within one's means. Hair relaxers, wigs, and salons are often too expensive or inaccessible. But it's not just a question of money: it's also a way of staying close to traditions, showing simplicity, and honoring beauty in its truest form.

Female in Focus 2026 © Esther Nsapu

Single image winner: Fran Rowse

Photographer: Fran Rowse

Image title: Rae - 'Cornish Maids'

Caption: The project Cornish Maids is an ongoing photographic series by photographer Fran Rowse. Offering a window into the lives and dreams of women and girls in the Southwest, her work confronts social constraints, feminism, and new contemporary ideas of Cornish culture. Rooted in both documentary and dress-up, she begins conversations about female ambition and empowerment in a county that quietly suffers from poverty, financial crisis, and marginalised rural communities.

"Cornish Maids" – a local phrase for women and girls – presents a series of intimate
portraits. Rowse explores her own sense of lost girlhood, growing up in a fishing and
farming family typical of Cornish communities. The ball gowns and tiaras create a
striking contrast against the stark Cornish backdrop, revealing the tension between
aspiration and reality for Cornish women.

By combining visual glamour with social realism, Cornish Maids reimagines
contemporary Cornish womanhood. It challenges stereotypes of rural life, offering a
powerful narrative of empowerment, pride, and belonging – deeply rooted in female experience and forging a sense of sisterhood in a historically male-dominated county.

Female in Focus 2026 © Fran Rowse

Single image winner: Jip Schalkx

Photographer: Jip Schalkx

Image title: 4ever &ver &ver

Caption: This work is part of my ongoing research into how young people navigate a world where the boundaries between online and offline are constantly blurring, and explores how young people navigate a new social reality shaped by visibility, performance, and platform logic. Communication today is no longer just about connection, it's deeply influenced by revenue-driven platforms and the commodification of self-expression.

A group of teenage girls lie side by side in a large bed, each wearing headphones.
While they share the same space, each seems absorbed in her own world – caught
between closeness and distance, self and others. The scene reflects the paradox of
our time: constant connection paired with quiet isolation.

Rather than critique, the work seeks to understand. It drifts through this emotional in-betweenness, observing how intimacy and solitude coexist in a generation that lives through images, sound and commerce. The soft gestures and muted tones create an atmosphere that feels familiar yet slightly detached – a reflection of how it feels to live in a world that is always visible, always performing, and still searching for
something real.

Female in Focus 2026 © Jip Schalkx

Single image winner: Karen Paz Gonzalez

Photographer: Karen Paz Gonzalez

Image title: Damián y el espejo del lago

Caption: In the Xochimilco wetlands, Damián floats on the water in a moment of calm. He lives among the chinampas, where daily life blends with the rhythm of the lake. As his reflection envelops him, his body seems to become part of the landscape. The image seeks to portray the connection between childhood and nature, and the stillness that exists in territories where water remains a symbol of memory.

Female in Focus 2026 © Karen Paz Gonzalez

Single image winner: Kinga Wrona

Photographer: Kinga Wrona

Image title: Mariscadoras - humans of the sea

Caption: Mariscadoras – mostly women over 40 who work as shellfish gatherers, carrying forward one of Spain’s oldest coastal traditions. For decades, they have harvested clams and cockles from the Galician estuaries (North of Spain), their rhythm bound to the sea’s ebb and flow. But the tides are shifting. Rising water temperatures, disrupted salinity, and invasive species brought by climate change are altering the balance of life in the estuaries. What once nourished their communities now demands painful adaptation and resilience.

The Mariscadoras find themselves on the cusp of transformation. Some stays and
keep working at the sea, some have left the profession, unable to sustain the growing hardships, another part of them created the collective Amar Carril and became "silent activists," turning their daily labor into acts of resistance and education. Through their work, they fight not only for survival but for recognition – of their craft, their knowledge, and the fragile ecosystems they protect.

Female in Focus 2026 © Kinga Wrona

Single image winner: Kseniya Halubovich

Photographer: Kseniya Halubovich

Image title: Reflection of the Past

Caption: Ukraine, Kharkiv, 20 km from the frontline. Alla lives in a hospice for displaced people from occupied or dangerous areas. She is already struggling to stay oriented in reality, but she loves to talk about her family.

Female in Focus 2026 © Kseniya Halubovich

Single image winner: Laila Seiber

Photographer: Laila Seiber

Image title: Gaza remains in our hearts

Caption: Ahmed, Aseel, Samar and Joudi, four siblings from Gaza City, have found refuge in Cairo. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, more than 100,000 Palestinians have fled to Egypt. However, without residency status, the siblings cannot attend school or work. As they try to cope with this new situation and learn online, their thoughts are often with those left behind in Gaza. They miss their home and have lost loved ones due to attacks from the Israeli military. More than 70.000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7th 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It is estimated that 80% of them are civilians.

Female in Focus 2026 © Laila Seiber

Single image winner: Laila Sieber

Photographer: Laila Sieber

Image title: Anna

Caption: Even though Anna can't speak, you can tell when she's relaxed. My niece Anna loves to be bathed. In this photo, she is four years old, but she will always need round-the-clock care, more than a baby would. Six weeks after her birth, an infection damaged large parts of her brain, meaning she will never be able to see, hear, eat, talk or walk like other children. My sister and her family integrate her into every part of their lives, which is often a difficult journey requiring all their dedication, and sometimes isolating them from society. Any illness can be life-threatening for Anna, so they try to protect her while also taking care of their other two children's needs. Anna's story reminds us daily of the fragility of life. Above all, however, it demonstrates the power of unconditional love and how it can make life worth living, even when it is very different from what we might expect.

Female in Focus 2026 © Laila Sieber

Single image winner: Lina Maria Sanchez

Photographer: Lina Maria Sanchez

Image title: Ilhan

Caption: This photo was taken from my project "Ilhan", in which I portray Ilhan, a non-binary Muslim person in Buenos Aires, who kindly and respectfully allowed me to photograph them wearing their mother’s wedding dress and their trans hijab on an autumn day. I feel a deep affection for this project because it allowed me to connect and see another way of looking at the world.

Female in Focus 2026 © Lina Maria Sanchez

Single image winner: Nayra Aly

Photographer: Nayra Aly

Image title: Baba - ﺑﺎﺑﺎ

Caption: This photograph is part of my hybrid memoir, "Longing for belonging," which reflects my evolving relationship with my father. His long absence during my childhood left me grieving a presence I feared losing altogether, shaping a distance between us. Today, we're learning to rebuild as two adults. His traditional Egyptian thawb contrasts with my jeans and white t-shirt, embodying generational divides: between tradition and modernity, presence and absence, and the complex ways love is understood

Female in Focus 2026 © Nayra Aly

Single image winner: Oda Fjellang

Photographer: Oda Fjellang

Image title: Whale belly in ice

Caption: This whale died in the fjord of Oslo and floated up to the surface just at the same time as the ice trapped it. It stayed in that position for months. In pre-industrial times, whales in the fjord were normal and a big source of food for humans, but these days it´s almost a death sentence when big animals enter the fjord because the fjord itself is slowly dying, so there is less and less food there for the animals to eat, and more and more pollution, noise and ships.

Female in Focus 2026 © Oda Fjellang

Single image winner: Olivia Morgan

Photographer: Olivia Morgan

Image title: When It's All Said N Done II

Caption: There is tension, there is ease, there
are these moments in between where
time is lost and the word masculinity
and femininity don’t easily exist,
there is only gentility and care
moments where we feel bare and full
all at the same time! When it’s all
said and done we just screaming and
reaching to be felt, reaching for
some sense of our unbiased selves,
pure and enthralled in love

Female in Focus 2026 © Olivia Morgan

Single image winner: Paloma Gonzalez

Photographer: Paloma Gonzalez

Image title: Kid's Birthday Party

Caption: The image is part of an ongoing series about memories, personal history and grief. My mom died a year ago and the series was born as a way to process the loss and grief, while celebrating our shared history by constructing characters using familiar objects.

Female in Focus 2026 © Paloma Gonzalez

Single image winner: Rayna Carruthers

Photographer: Rayna Carruthers

Image title: A Mother’s Care

Caption: In their tent in the informal settlement of Amsha camp, Bushra takes trash from her son, who helps her prepare lunch for the family. The shelter was built by Bushra and her husband, with help from other camp residents. Bushra had worked for the past 12 years at a local refugee educational centre, a job that allowed her to provide for her family. But as Syrians are now being encouraged to return and the centre has shut down, she has lost her income. With rising challenges to pay for food, rent, and other essentials, the family is preparing to return to Syria soon.

Female in Focus 2026 © Rayna Carruthers

Single image winner: Teva Cosic

Photographer: Teva Cosic

Image title: Untitled (tillsammans och isär/together and apart)

Caption: A portrait of my mother and me. Together and apart, obscured by the paper that we are also breaking through, a small gesture to the hidden and the visible.

From my ongoing body of work, Tillsammans och Isär (together and apart), which contemplates the nature of home and how our cultural inheritances shape the ways we navigate what it means to belong. Responding to my own mixed Swedish heritage, the work negotiates between memory and fabulation. It seeks to address the intimate strangeness of being both at home and removed from it.

Female in Focus 2026 © Teva Cosic

The Tamron Link is a tiny accessory that attaches to your lens and lets you connect to it wirelessly. It only adds 2g to your setup's weight. Image: Tamron

Tamron has announced an update to its Lens Utility app, along with a new accessory that will give users of its lenses more ways to customize their lenses with less hassle. The update adds new features and brings the app to iOS; previously, it was only available for desktop operating systems and Android.

The new accessory is called the Tamron Link, and it connects to the USB-C port on supported lenses to let you communicate with them wirelessly via Bluetooth, rather than having to use a cable. From there, you can customize the lens with the Tamron Lens Utility on your phone. The company says it can currently only be used in Japan, the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and China.

The Tamron Lens Utility app can give you advanced control over your lens' focus, as well as access to customization settings. Image: Tamron

As for what you can do when you're connected, the Tamron Lens Utility has previously allowed you to change settings like what the custom switch and focus set button do, and to fine-tune how the focus ring works, changing between linear and non-linear control in manual focus mode. You can also use it as a "Digital Follow Focus," telling the lens to focus to pre-set distances at customizable speeds.

With the 5.0 update, the utility gains several new features. The Digital Follow Focus feature also lets you control your aperture setting as well as your focus, and gains a virtual stopper so you can't over- or under-adjust from your selected focus point. You can also set the rotation angle for the focus and aperture rings, so you can customize how much you have to turn them, depending on whether you're prioritizing smooth transitions or fast, one-handed control. The app also supports a virtual astro-focus lock and lets you shift the lens's focus during interval shooting.

The new iOS version of the app only supports connecting to lenses wirelessly via the Tamron Link

The new iOS version of the app only supports connecting to lenses wirelessly via the Tamron Link, despite newer iOS devices having built-in USB-C ports. The Android version can connect either with Tamron Link or with a Tamron Connection Cable.

The new version of the Tamron Lens Utility is available to download for free on iOS and Android, starting February 19th. Tamron Link will launch the same day and will retail for $50. The company warns that it won't work with every Tamron Lens Utility-compatible lens at launch; the Z-mount 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2 and E-mount 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD will need firmware updates, coming this spring, before they can be used with the accessory. Since the Tamron Link only works with the mobile apps, which don't support firmware updates, those lenses will have to be updated with a desktop computer when the times comes.

Image: Tamron

Tamron has announced the 35-100mm F2.8 Di III VXD, a full-frame zoom lens for Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount cameras. As is tradition for the company, it's an unusual focal range – its run at a 35-105mm F2.8 in the 90s didn't spawn a wave of copycats – that's nonetheless intriguing.

The biggest selling point for the lens is its size and weight, with Tamron promising "the beauty of F2.8, in the palm of your hand." (Reference acknowledged, whether it was intentional or not.) The E-mount version of the lens is 565g (19.9oz), and 119mm (4.7") long, with the Z-mount version being a touch longer and heavier. As a reference, Sigma's 28-105mm F2.8 DG DN Art weighs 990g (34.9oz) and is 160mm (6.3") long. Obviously, that lens goes noticeably wider and a touch further, but if you don't find yourself wanting to go wider than 35mm that often, it may well be worth the weight savings.

Tamron also compares the lens to its 35-150mm F2-2.8 lens, which is both faster at the short end (though it drops to F2.8 quite quickly) and has more reach. However, that lens is a beefy 1165g (41.1oz), so you'll once again have to weigh what's more important to you.

Image: Tamron

The 35-100mm F2.8's optical formula includes 15 elements in 13 groups, with two aspheric elements, one low-dispersion aspheric element, one low-dispersion element and an extra low-dispersion element.

Autofocus is handled by Tamron's "VXD" voice coil motors, and the company says that at 35mm, it can focus as close as 0.22m (8.7"), and 0.65m (25.6") at the long end. The lens has a customizable button and can accept 67mm filters: the same size used by Tamron's "G2 trinity" zooms. It has a fluorine coating on the front element to protect from oils and water, and is moisture-resistant.

Tamron says the lens will be available on March 26th, and will retail for $899 for the E-mount version and $929 for the Z-mount version. It's a relatively aggressive price for this kind of lens, so we're looking forward to getting our hands on it to see what it can do.

Tamron 35-100mm F2.8 Di III VXD specifications:

Elsa's gear list for the Olympics includes four Canon R1 bodies with a wide selection of lenses and additional accessories. Image: Elsa Garrison

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games have been underway for over a week now, and Getty Images photographer Elsa Garrison has been logging long hours on the ice to capture the action. We previously spoke with Elsa about her experiences as a sports photographer and the first woman staff photographer at Getty Images. Now she's sharing some behind-the-scenes looks at the gear she has on hand and how she's approaching photographing these Winter Games.

Elsa is currently in Milan to capture the ice events such as women's and men's ice hockey, all of the various figure skating competitions, speed skating and short track speed skating. "As a Minnesotan, I am most familiar with covering ice hockey," Elsa revealed. "It was one of the first sports I learned to cover when I began my sport photographic journey at age 15, so this sport feels like home to me." She also loves short track speed skating because it is so fast and chaotic.

"For the Opening Ceremony, I [was] one of two Getty Images photographers on the field of play to capture event-level images"

Elsa also had the opportunity to be at the Opening Ceremony, a first for her. "For the Opening Ceremony, I [was] one of two Getty Images photographers on the field of play to capture event-level images of athletes and performances," she said. "I have never worked an opening from the field of play before, and I am very excited for this opportunity to capture this aspect of the games."

As you likely expect (and can see in the image at the top of the article), the gear needed for such an event is extensive. Elsa's kit includes four Canon R1s, one R3, and nine lenses, such as the Canon RF 10-20mm F4 L IS STM, RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM, RF 50mm F1.4 L VCM and RF 100-300mm F2.8 L IS USM. She also has a 1.4x teleconverter on hand for extra reach when needed, plus two battery chargers for the cameras (see a full list of her gear at the end of the article).

Elsa's setup also includes the ability to take images remotely. She uses a Magic Arm with a clamp and a mini tripod to hold the cameras, and two Pocket Wizard Remote Camera triggers with cables for triggering. She also needs to get images back to Getty Images quickly, so her kit also includes a larger router for the tech team.

Elsa made sure to pack clothes to keep her warm during the Winter Olympics. Image: Elsa Garrison

Beyond the camera gear, there are also considerations for the cold weather. However, that's not phasing Elsa. "I grew up in Northern Minnesota, and I am very familiar with cold weather," she explained. "The joke with Minnesotans and cold weather is that if we hear someone complain about the cold, we chime in with, 'Cold? This isn’t cold!' and then we bring up the blizzard of 1991 or some other arctic blast."

"The trick is to layer and also keep your spare camera batteries in a warm pocket"

While most of the events she has been covering are indoors, the Opening Ceremony was held outdoors, so she focused on appropriate winter gear for working outside for a long period. "The trick is to layer and also keep your spare camera batteries in a warm pocket," she said. "The cold drains the camera batteries quickly, so it takes a little bit of planning and extra equipment to get through a cold-weather assignment."

Although the 2026 Olympics are beginning to wind down, there's still plenty of excitement left. "There is so much to be excited about when covering an Olympic Games," she added. "Every day is a new adventure and I get to document these Olympians as they make sport history. Sure the days are long and grueling at times, but the competition and the performances are easy to get wrapped up in and you forget that you maybe haven’t slept much!"

Elsa's Milan Cortina 2026 gear list:

Cameras:

• 4 Canon EOS R1 camera bodies (two will be brought from the United States, and two will be borrowed from Canon in Milan)
• 1 Canon EOS R3 camera body

Lenses:

• RF 10-20mm F4 L IS STM
• RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM
• RF 28-70mm F2 L USM
• RF 50mm F1.4 L VCM
• RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM
• RF 85mm F1.2 L USM
• RF 135mm F1.8 L IS USM
• RF 100-300mm F2.8 L IS USM
• RF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM

Additional gear:

• 1.4x teleconverter
• 2 battery chargers for cameras
• 2 Pocket Wizard Remote Camera Triggers with cables
• 1 large router for our tech team
• 1 magic arm and super clamp for remote camera
• 1 mini tripod for a remote camera

Winter clothing:

• Getty Images team winter shell and lining jacket in black
• Black fleece base layer pant
• Black outer snow pants
• Black base layer shirt
• Black Sorel waterproof boots
• Over boot snow traction cleat/cramp on
• Wool socks of varying thicknesses
• Black Getty Images-branded hat, plain black hat, teal hat that I knitted for the occasion
• Various gloves and mittens (fingerless mitts, tight-fitting gloves and a pair of mitten/lone finger gloves that a friend of mine hand-knit for me – the left hand is a regular mitten, and the right hand has a one finger is for the shutter button on a camera, and the rest is a mitten shape. It is a design idea I am testing out. The hand holding the camera almost looks like a lobster claw!)

Kodak DCS army 1991-2001 Photo: Maoby

For last week's Question of the Week, the conversation shifted from camera disasters to something most are far more proud to display: the cameras you’ve chosen to keep. We noticed many of you stuck with the same brand or even era of camera, but many more had a surprisingly wide array of brands, lens types and some interesting nostalgic objects. Each collection felt less like a lineup of gear and more like a historic timeline of your unique photographic life.

Read on and view the wide array of cameras collected over the years by our readers.

Your impressive camera collections

Just one part of my collection. Photo: vigi

icexe: The Nikkormat FTn was my very first "real" camera, bought during my college days back in the late 80s-early 90s. This thing is bullet-proof, surviving being tossed around in my backpack on various road and camping trips, punk rock concerts in seedy little nightclubs, drinks being spilled on it, and mud being splattered all over it. One time, it was stolen from my apartment in a break-in, but I later found it on the ground behind the apartment; the thieves probably dropped it in their hurry to flee with my stereo and TV. I never once took it in for a CLA, yet as far as I can tell, it still works perfectly fine for a nearly 60-year-old camera.

xpatUSA2: For the pocket: Panasonic DMC-LX1. For Foveon shots: Sigma SD10 house-brick. For my shaky hands: Panasonic DC-G9 (IBS plus lens Power IS). For IR: Modified Panasonic DMC-G1. Apart from proprietary, a good few M42-mount lenses: Asahi Lens Co, Helios, Jena Zeiss.

Ken Sky: I've owned cameras since I was 8 and I'm 87. I'll only show the cameras in my office showcase. Right now, I alternate between a Sony A6000 and A7R4 with multiple lenses. Ironically, photos for this week's discussion were taken with my iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Not counting the broken ones… Photo: Krummj

ZorSy: My cameras are in full cases (even Ikonta has its leather holster with the strap). Everyone has a story behind them; they were not flea market finds and had been taking family photos for decades. Oh, and a drawer full of digital compacts, bridge cams like Fuji S602, S9500 and DSLRs, which are all counted as disposables.

Swerky: I finally decided to move entirely to APS-C when I acquired my trusty G1X Mark III and DXO with its great denoising engine. But I wasn’t able to sell those Voigtlander lenses, since a 20mm on a crop sensor wouldn’t be of much use as a 32mm. Since I was kinda reluctant to sell those because I liked their qualities, I bought and RP and adapted them to it. Then I finally added an R100 with which I used a very good EF-S 55-250 IS STM.

Michaelgc: I've had a lot of cameras over the years, but the only one I kept was this Nikon FTn. I was an Army combat photographer in Vietnam and took this one into Cambodia in the spring of 1970.

I was an Army combat photographer in Vietnam and took this one into Cambodia in 1970. Photo: Michaelgc

thielges: I have dozens of cameras, and the whole collection weighs over 50kg. I bought most of them at the San Jose and Capitol flea markets in California for rather low prices. The pre-WWII cameras are usually exquisite examples of mechanical design. Like Swiss clockwork. The post-WWII cameras gradually devolved into cheap plastic junk by the time they became obsolete at the dawn of the home video camera era.

sx-70: My GAS had originally started with my obsession for cheap film cameras I would see in opportunity shops (thrift shops), and then made its way into digital. By far my favourite of the film cameras I own is the Nikon S2. I have taken it out for some shooting recently, and if anything, it has pointed out many flaws in my photography, especially when it comes to how heavily reliant I can be on modern tech that makes life easy.

RaleighTiger99: I've acquired a few cameras. Some I once shot with, some were used to shoot photos/movies of me as a child, and some were given to me by friends. They all have a story, and most are in working order. They reside in different areas of my house, but the largest collection lives over the bar. I often ask folks if they can spot the only two digital cameras on display.

Can you find the only two digital cameras in this collection? Photo: RaleighTiger99

webcastedude: A Sony A7Cr and Fujifilm X-E5 comprise my camera collection – one full frame and one APS-C. Lenses, however, are my weakness. I have a collection of Helios (vintage Russian) lenses and others of similar age. Compared to new, modern lenses, vintage lenses are cheap, and they offer a wide variety of optical features. Go on, try one on eBay. They are like candy; you can't have just one.

RetCapt: In 1984, Nikon introduced their Nikonos 5. It seemed ideal for the often-hazardous environments in which I found myself. I am not a diver (that is where the great whites dwell, and I have seen what they can do to a human body). I bought the three above-water lenses, 28mm, 35mm and 80mm, and I was set. There are some eccentricities to using this camera, but nothing an experienced film photographer couldn't handle.

Alan Sh: My collection – all Fuji apart from a Canon 300 film camera. The photo collection in my forum post is 5 cameras, 21 lenses, 4 flashguns, plus a host of accessories and tripods. It doesn't include all my bags, most of which are up in the loft.

So many other stories we couldn't fit in this article are shared in the forums. Here is a photo gallery of most of the collections shared:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write up an account of your camera collections.

Keep watch for the next Question of the week every other Wednesday to participate in this series. New questions are posted here on the homepage and in the forums. We can't wait to read and share your stories!

Pit your camera collection against the many others in the community!

Image: Google

Google has announced the Pixel 10a, the latest entry in the tech giant's smartphone lineup. The last iteration of the entry-level phone marked a move away from the Pixel's iconic camera bar, and now Google is taking things a step further with a camera array that's completely flush with the rest of the phone's back. Aside from the redesign, the 10a will be very familiar, as it shares most specs and features with the previous generation.

The smoothed-out design will be a big benefit to those who don't like using a case. The phone will now sit flat on surfaces; gone are the days of rocking when you set it down. And it won't get caught when you take it in or out of your pockets.

Image: Google

While Google flattened the camera array, the phone's body didn't get any thicker than the 9a. There also hasn't been a camera downgrade. Like the previous model, the 10a features a 48MP main camera with a Type 1/2 (6.4 x 4.8 mm) sensor and a 13MP ultra wide camera with a Type 1/3.1 (5.0 x 3.7mm) sensor. When asked how they achieved this, Google simply said that the team has the best engineers and wouldn't provide any additional details.

The other changes in the latest budget offering are rather small. It gains some features found on the 10-series of phones, especially AI-related ones. That includes Auto Best Take, which uses Google AI to automatically merge group photos to get the best take for everyone, and Camera Coach, which uses Gemini models to help users with composition and framing. The 10a also now offers Satellite SOS, which aims to connect the phone to emergency services even if you're out of Wi-Fi or mobile network range.

The color options are similar to last year's 9a, though with slightly more vibrance in the blue (called Lavender) and red (Berry) models. Image: Google

The 10a promises a slight durability boost with a Corning Gorilla Glass 7i cover glass, and Google says the Actua display is 11% brighter than the 9a. Battery life in Extreme Battery Saver mode gets a bump from 100 to 120 hours, while normal mode remains at a promised 30 hours. Like the 9a, the Pixel 10a uses the Tensor G4 chipset, which Google says was kept to keep the phone's price down. It retains the IP68 rating as well.

The Pixel 10a is available starting March 5 for $500, the same price as the previous generation. It comes in Obsidian (black) and Fog (white), along with Lavender (blue) and Berry (red), which are slightly more vibrant variations of the 9a's colors.

Sony World Photography Awards category winners

The Sony World Photography Awards has announced the 10 category winners and 120 shortlisted photographers of its 2026 Open Competition. The contest, which is in its 19th year, aims to recognize the best single images taken in the past year. The 2026 edition received over 430,000 images from more than 200 countries and territories. The entries showcase a diverse range of imagery, including dramatic landscapes, humorous portraits and more.

The Open Photographer of the Year will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on April 16. The winner will receive a $5000 cash prize along with Sony imaging equipment. A selection of winning and shortlisted images will be on display as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House from April 17 to May 4, 2026.

You can see all of the shortlisted images at the World Photography Organization website.

Architecture

Photographer: Markus Naarttijärvi

Image name: Industrial Layers

Description: Taken on a dark night, this view of the paper mill in Obbola, Sweden, reveals layers of shadows, concrete, clouds and sky.

Technical details: Fujifilm GFX100s II | GF110mm F2 LM WR | F2.8 | 1/18 sec | ISO 3200

Copyright: Markus Naarttijärvi, Sweden, Winner, Open Competition, Architecture, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Creative

Photographer: Siavosh Ejlali

Image name: Lost Hope

Description: In this image the photographer describes how the black plastic covering most of the woman’s face is a sign of ‘dark thoughts and the imposition of beliefs’, while the red balloon falling to the ground could be ‘her lost hope’. The background evokes Iranian urban society, which has been the setting for the recent demonstrations involving Iranian women, noting that 'the red clothes and lips are the bloody price that women have paid.’

Copyright: Siavosh Ejlali, Iran, Islamic Republic Of, Winner, Open Competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Landscape

Photographer: J Fritz Rumpf

Image name: Shapes and Patterns of the Desert

Description: An early morning glow brings out the rich pastel colours of the Sossusvlei dunes in Namibia. The contrast of the green and delicate peach colours almost overwhelms the senses; the patterns and textures emerging from the shadows give the landscape a distinctive, painterly look.

Technical details: Nikon Z8 | Nikkor Z 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 VR | F13 | 1/400 sec | ISO 200

Copyright: J Fritz Rumpf, United States, Winner, Open Competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Lifestyle

Photographer: Vanta Coda III

Image name: Charlotte and Dolly

Description: Charlotte lies with her cow Dolly, keeping cool in the cow barn between events at the 100th State Fair of West Virginia in Lewisburg. Outside, the temperature is upwards of 32°C.

Technical details: Canon EOS R3 | RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM | F2.8 | 1/320 sec | ISO 500

Copyright: Vanta Coda III, United States, Winner, Open Competition, Lifestyle, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Motion

Photographer: Franklin Littlefield

Image name: Sailboat

Description: A punk show in Providence, Rhode Island, featuring the band Sailboat.

Technical details: Fujifilm X-S20 | XF 16mm F2.8 R WR | F2.8 | 1/2 sec | ISO 200

Copyright: Franklin Littlefield, United States, Winner, Open Competition, Motion, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Natural World & Wildlife

Photographer: Klaus Hellmich

Image name: Arctic Fox in Blizzard

Description: A blue arctic fox in a blizzard, photographed on the Varanger Peninsula, Norway.

Technical details: Nikon Z8 | Nikkor Z 400mm F2.8 TC VR S | F2.8 | 1/50 sec | ISO 1000

Copyright: Klaus Hellmich, Germany, Winner, Open Competition, Natural World & Wildlife, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Object

Photographer: Robby Ogilvie

Image name: Colour Divides

Description: Taken in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood of Cape Town, South Africa, this image centres on a parked car set against a sharply divided colourful facade. The composition balances geometry and saturation; everyday architecture becomes graphic and deliberate, reflecting how colour and place shape urban identity.

Copyright: Robby Ogilvie, United Kingdom, Winner, Open Competition, Object, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Portraiture

Photographer: Elle Leontiev

Image name: The Barefoot Volcanologist

Description: On the ash plains of Mount Yasur, on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, Phillip, an internationally recognised, self-taught volcanologist, stands barefoot atop a volcanic rock bomb. Wearing a lava-protection suit gifted to him by some visiting researchers, the volcano smoulders behind him, sending a plume of gas and sulphur into the sky. Phillip grew up beneath the active volcano, and this portrait captures him in his element.

Technical details: Sony a7 III | FE 24mm F1.4 GM | F16 | 1/250 sec | ISO 320

Copyright: Elle Leontiev, Australia, Winner, Open Competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Street Photography

Photographer: Giulia Pissagroia

Image name: Between the Lines

Description: A family marvels at the view from Ørnevegen (Eagle Road), Norway, in this candid shot.

Technical details: Sony a7 IV | FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS | F22 | 1/200 sec | ISO 1250

Copyright: Giulia Pissagroia, Italy, Winner, Open Competition, Street Photography, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Travel

Photographer: Megumi Murakami

Image name: Untitled

Description: The Abare Festival has been passed down for 350 years in Japan's Noto region. This image captures the festival’s finale, as men leap into the river amidst fiercely burning torches that send sparks flying everywhere. They rampage wildly, believing the more they rage, the more the deity rejoices.

Copyright: Megumi Murakami, Japan, Winner, Open Competition, Travel, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

DPReview has been selected as a Global Partner for CP+.

Each year in February, the camera industry gathers in Yokohama, Japan, for CP+ Expo, the industry's official trade show sponsored by the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA). What's more, DPReview has been selected as one of the founding Global Partners for CIPA's CP+ partnership program, bringing you exclusive news, insights, and hands-on access to the event.

CP+2026 runs from February 26th to March 1st. We've created a dedicated CP+ show page to help you track all the news from CP+ in one place. This is where you'll find our latest updates – including content that may not appear on our homepage – ranging from breaking news and hands-on impressions to behind-the-scenes looks at the event and more.

Let us know if there's anything specific you want us to watch for, and we'll keep our eye out!

Visit our CP+2026 show page

Photo: Mitchell Clark

Earlier this year, Nikon announced the Nikkor 24-105mm F4-7.1, a new, budget full-frame zoom lens designed to be kitted with its entry-level full-frame offering, the Z5II. We've put in some time with it to see how it performs.

As a note, while we've spent some time with the lens on a Z5II, our sample gallery was produced using the higher-resolution Z8; it's probably not a pairing you'll see often out in the wild, but we want to show the lens's image quality in as much detail as possible.

Jump to Sample Gallery

Speaking of, I'll admit that I had certain expectations coming into shooting with this lens. If you've ever used an inexpensive lens with a wide focal range and a relatively slow, variable aperture, you're probably aware that it's not a formula for great image quality. Despite that, I found the 24-105mm to be decently sharp for most of the frame, even wide open. Vignetting was also quite a bit better than I'd have guessed; it's there at F4, and doesn't fully go away until F8, but even wide open it's not too noticeable unless you're specifically taking comparison shots.

The shooting experience

In good light, the 24-105mm F4-7.1 produces impressive image quality for its price throughout its focal range. Nikon Z8 | Nikkor 24-105 F4-7.1 | 45mm | F5.6 | 1/50 sec | ISO 90

Nikon used a stepper motor to power this lens' autofocus, which is what we'd expect for this price range. It performs well; the lens is quick to focus, even when you're going from close up to near infinity. While it's not lightning fast, it'll get the job done for most types of shooting.

The 24-105mm extends quite a way out when you're zooming in, but despite this, its center of gravity doesn't change that much. It's a small thing, but it's nice not having to adjust your grip as you change focal lengths. I also didn't find that the lens forced me to hold it in a way that made me accidentally activate the customizable control ring.

It's not all sunshine, though. Even with modern cameras with stabilized sensors and decent high ISO performance, F7.1 is still quite slow. You don't get down to it until you're almost entirely zoomed in – even at 85mm, the lens can still maintain F6.3 – but it will limit what you can do with it. You won't want to shoot fast-moving subjects unless they're in bright sunlight, and while its longer focal lengths are theoretically decent for portraiture, you may not be able to get as much subject separation as you'd want.

Still, if you prefer the wide-end, it's worth noting that the maximum aperture stays relatively fast for a while. At 35mm it's F4.2, and it stays at or under F5.6 until around 62mm.

Summary

While these kinds of lenses are rarely the most exciting, Nikon has built a decent selection of kit zooms for its Z mount cameras. Retailing for $550 on its own and adding $350 to the retail price of the Z5II, this is the company's least expensive full-frame offering in that category by a fair margin. The 24-200mm F4-6.3 VR retails for $400 more, and adds an additional $450 onto the price of the Z5II. And while that lens is well-regarded, has stabilization and is faster at its long(er) end, it's also a fair bit heavier and a bit larger, though the size gap between them isn't as big as you might think given its extra reach.

While the 24-105mm isn't the kind of lens that most photographers will keep around forever, it seems like it offers a decent place to start for those who aren't sure yet where their photography journey will take them.

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.

Mastering your autofocus settings lets you capture almost anything. Nikkor Z 70-200mm F2.8 @ 77mm | F2.8 | 1/1250 | ISO 110 Photo: Richard Butler

If you've recently picked up your first camera and find yourself frequently getting out of focus images, it may be a sign that you need to tweak your focus settings. While autofocus seems like it should be simple and straightforward, camera manufacturers offer a long list of settings to adjust autofocus performance for different situations. All of those options can be incredibly confusing, especially if you’re new to photography. In this guide, we'll break down the most basic focus terms and settings to help you identify which are best for you and the subjects you photograph most often.

Focus modes

Some cameras have a physical control for autofocus mode, but most will handle it through their on-screen menus.

The first autofocus setting to consider is your camera's autofocus mode, which changes how the camera behaves once it starts focusing. Most cameras offer Continuous Autofocus (often referred to as AF-C or AI Servo on Canon) and Single Autofocus (AF-S on many brands, and One Shot on Canon). Many cameras also offer Automatic or Hybrid Autofocus (often called AF-A or AI Focus on Canon).

Single AF

AF-S focuses once, and then locks focus at that distance as long as you keep the button half-pressed. It's an ideal option when your subject is still, such as landscapes or product photography. This mode lets you focus and recompose if needed, knowing the focus won't change until you lift your finger.

Continuous AF

AF-C keeps updating focus as long as you hold the button, hence the continuous in the name. It adjusts in real time to moving subjects. As a result, you'll want to choose AF-C for any moving subjects, such as sports, wildlife, street photography, candid portraiture and more, as the camera will attempt to maintain sharp focus even as the subject changes position. Additionally, most modern cameras are very good at handling AF-C, so is the option we'd suggest most people stick to.

Auto AF

Lastly, Hybrid/auto AF lets the camera decide if AF-C or AF-S is best for a given situation. It's meant for times when you're not sure if things will stay stationary or start moving. It doesn't always do a great job of deciding when to switch, though, and leaving it set to this may limit other autofocus features you can use on certain cameras.

Focus area

Cameras give you multiple options regarding where in the frame it focuses.

The next consideration is the focus area setting. Focus areas indicate where the camera should focus within the frame. Each manufacturer provides slightly different options, but broadly speaking, these options vary from the camera detecting what it thinks should be in focus across the entire frame to ones that let you choose a precise spot.

Wide / Auto

The first option that many cameras offer is a Wide focus area. Many brands use some variation of Wide in the name, while others may call it something similar to Auto-area. This setting hands over control to the camera so it can select where to focus automatically across the frame. It's a convenient option for casual use, but it doesn't give you any input into what the camera will focus on. Because of this, you may end up disappointed by the results, especially if your subject isn't obvious or is partially blocked by something in the foreground.

Zone

Many cameras feature preset zone sizes, alongside customizable ones.

Zone, sometimes called Group area, gives you a step more control than wide/auto. It uses a group or block of AF points that you can move to different areas of the frame. The camera then decides where within that block it should prioritize focus. Like with wide/auto, it favors the closest subject or detected faces, making it good for group shots or sports where you know the player's general position.

Expanded point

The expanded point option starts from a chosen point, just like single-point AF, but adds a small cluster of surrounding points if the subject drifts off your main selection. It's an ideal everyday choice for moving subjects such as kids and pets, because it balances control with some camera assistance. It goes by many names depending on your brand, including Expand AF (Canon), Dynamic-area AF (Nikon), Expand Flexible Spot (Sony), Zone (Fujifilm), 1-Area+ (Panasonic) or Group Target (OM System).

Single-point

Canon calls its single-point focus area "1-point AF."

Single‑point is the most precise option and gives you the most control, but it’s best for still or slow-moving subjects. It lets you pick one focus point and place it exactly where you want sharpness, such as an eye in a portrait. Each brand has its own name for this, but most are something similar to Single-point AF or 1-point AF. Sony, however, calls it Flexible Spot. Some brands will also provide size options for that spot to give you more flexibility.

Tracking areas

Some cameras only give you one size of tracking box, while others let you choose from a few options.

Most modern cameras now offer some form of tracking AF. In this mode, you set your focus point on a subject, and the camera then moves the active point(s) around the frame to keep that subject in focus as you recompose or as the subject moves. It's an ideal option for erratic motion, such as sports, birds, pets or kids, especially when you combine it with continuous or auto AF and subject detection.

Each camera manufacturer handles tracking areas slightly differently, but there are generally three methods. Some brands allow you to choose any AF area mode and simply toggle tracking on or off. Others create tracking-specific duplicates of each area mode, though only when in AF-C. Lastly, some simply have one Tracking AF area mode (which Nikon calls 3D Tracking).

Subject detection and tracking

Canon's subject selection screen.

While tracking is a focus area setting, modern cameras also offer additional subject detection and tracking controls in separate menus. These settings are typically layered on top of whatever focus area you choose, meaning you can use your chosen method for selecting a subject while knowing the camera will better track a subject if it's one it recognizes.

Depending on your camera, you may have access to various subject types, including human, animal, birds and vehicles. With these modes, the camera will search for that specific subject and prioritize it if it's near your AF point. Additionally, most recent mirrorless cameras support some level of face/eye detection, which means the camera attempts to find faces or eyes within your chosen focus area and prioritizes them.

With each of these, your camera still primarily targets your AF point. That means that if something like a face shows up in the frame that isn't near your AF point, your camera won't suddenly ignore where you've specified it should focus. As a result, you can generally leave subject detection modes on without worrying that your camera will go rogue trying find faces or trains.

Each brand has its quirks

The above items are a general overview of basic autofocus terms. It's important to keep in mind, though, that each brand has its own naming conventions as well as quirks associated with all of the different features. In a later article, we'll provide a more in-depth look at brand-specific quirks so you can confidently set your autofocus for more consistently focused images.

I photographed this pup during an event called "Barktoberfest," where people dressed their pets for Halloween and brought them to work. He was fascinated by my camera, and followed me around peering into the lens, just begging me to take his photo. Some dogs just love being in front of the camera. Photo: Dale Baskin

Our February Editors' photo challenge theme is "Canine Capers."

Photos can be submitted between Sunday, February 15, and Saturday, February 21 (GMT). The challenge is open to photos captured at any time.

Important: Images MUST include a title and a caption of at least 25 words to be eligible. We need to be able to share the story behind your photo. We will consider both photos and captions when selecting our winners, so make sure to tell us that story!

Visit the challenge page to read the full rules and to submit your photos for consideration as soon as the challenge opens.

Visit the challenge page to submit your photo

A gigantic fin whale gently breaking the water's surface. What do you feel about the top-down shooting angle in this image? How does it compare to other top-down shots you've seen? (Disko Bay, Greenland) DJI Mavic 3 Classic | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F4

Aerial photography has always offered a unique perspective, and recent technological advances have made this genre of photography more accessible than ever. But what are the implications for the wildlife we're trying to capture?

In this article, I'd like to share my thoughts about wildlife photography from the air, namely, using a manned aircraft (helicopter or light plane) or a drone. Photographing animals from the air is a somewhat controversial subject, both in terms of how the images look and the moral implications.

"A photographer shouldn't shoot wildlife from the air if doing so causes any serious distress or harm to the animals."

Let's address the second controversy first, since people tend to have strong feelings about it.

A photographer shouldn't shoot wildlife from the air if doing so causes any serious distress or harm to the animals. This means, for example, that if a bear is hunting, disturbing it with a buzzing drone and ruining the chase – and potentially depriving it of its prey – is wrong and shouldn't be done.

However, this does not mean that all aerial wildlife photography is wrong. Some animals simply aren't bothered by aircraft at a distance, so if photography is done responsibly and the animal's well-being is taken into account, there's no problem with shooting it from the air.

A family of walruses having a sleepover on a flat iceberg in Svalbard. These lazy blobs couldn't care less about my drone hovering above them. To make sure of that, my guide was monitoring their responses at all times using binoculars. (Magdalenefjord, Svalbard) DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F6.3

Shooting from far away allowed me to show the shapes a flock of flamingos creates in flight. I was so far away that there's no way they would have been disturbed. (Sandwich Harbor, Namibia) Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | Canon EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS II USM | ISO 400 | 1/1000 sec | F8

Now that we have this out of the way, let's talk about the actual photography. Aerial wildlife photography is awesome. Aircraft can fly to places the photographer can't reach by other means. It can offer a different perspective, for better or worse, and generally opens up options, which is what we want, assuming we are interested in creating original, interesting art.

That's the good part, but there is a bad part. Using an aircraft means that we almost surely cannot shoot the animal at eye level. This is detrimental in the sense that the photographer is very limited in the kind of connection they can create between the viewer and the subject.

"Wildlife photography is all about bringing the beauty of animals to life and immersing viewers in their habitats."

Wildlife photography is all about bringing the beauty of animals to life and immersing viewers in their habitats. Shooting from the air limits how close you can get and the shooting angle, which is a very serious disadvantage.

The way to overcome this disadvantage is to create a connection to the wildlife by other means. Namely, use the aircraft to create an interesting composition that shows the animal in its natural habitat in a visually appealing way.

Take, for example, the image below. This is a good example of an animal-in-landscape type of shot, which means a landscape image with a wildlife element. Here, the compositional 'punch' comes from the shapes of the broken sea ice. The pair of walruses is just the cherry on top – the element that breaks the pattern and injects interest into the flat, somewhat repetitive landscape.

A pair of walruses chilling on sea ice. While the wildlife is the main subject, the broader context of the animals in their habitat and the way I composed the landscape are what make this image work. To achieve this composition, I had to use a drone. (Yoldiabukta, Svalbard) DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/240 sec | F6.3

I have a bit of a problem with top-down aerial photography, but there are instances where it just works.

Last summer, I shot lunge-feeding fin whales during my Greenland photo workshop, and the drone proved to be the perfect tool for this. Not only did it allow me to get a good view of the whale, free of reflections and close enough to show detail, but since the whales often swim turned to their sides, the drone allowed me to capture the full view of the animals' bodies and behaviors.

Fin whales lunge-feeding in Disko Bay, Greenland. The whales feed by driving krill to the surface, then taking huge gulps and filtering the tiny crustaceans with their baleen. (Disko Bay, Greenland) DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F3.2

Since the whale is on its side, this high angle was actually perfect to show all the desired detail. See the tiny krill? Am I the only one who thought of Shai Hulud (the sand worm from Dune)? (Disko Bay, Greenland DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F4

The fact that the whales feed turned to the side is exactly why I could shoot top-down (more or less) and still get the interesting parts of my subjects to show in the images.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, guide and traveller. You can follow Erez's work on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.

If you'd like to experience and shoot some of the world's most fascinating landscapes and wildlife with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in Zambia, China, Colombia, Vietnam, Madagascar and more.

Erez has recently published his first e-book, Solving the Puzzle, thoroughly explaining his views about composition in landscape photography and beyond.

Selected Articles by Erez Marom:

• Lava Frenzy: Shooting Fagradalsfjall Volcano
• Behind the Shot: Tambora Sandwich
• Parallelism in Landscape Photography
• Black Hole Sun: Shooting the Total Solar Eclipse in Argentina
• Winds of Change: Shooting Changing landscapes
• Demon of the Deep: Shooting Kawah Ijen Volcano
• Shooting Kīlauea Volcano, Part 1: How to Melt a Drone
• Whatever It Doesn't Take

This week, we published our review of the Fujifilm X-T30 III, the company's entry-level, SLR-shaped camera with a now venerable 26MP APS-C sensor. It's shown up in enough of the company's cameras that there are few surprises left when it comes to the image quality, but we still like to share some of the images we take with a camera during the review process.

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.

See the sample gallery

Image: VSCO

If you've long been a fan of the film look on your digital photos, there's a good chance you're familiar with the VSCO Film desktop presets. They were quite popular at one time, but VSCO discontinued them in early 2019, much to the frustration of many photographers. Now, the company is bringing one of its preset packs back, albeit with some caveats.

The VSCO Film 02 presets are available for Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw and feature looks inspired by real films from Kodak, Fuji and Ilford. They aim to translate each film's highlights, shadows, and grain into your digital files. The lineup includes Fujifilm Neopan 1600, Fujifilm Superia (100, 400, 800 and 1600), Ilford Delta 3200, Kodak Portra 160 (NC and VC) and Kodak Portra 400 (NC, VC and UC).

Film 02 includes multiple film looks. Image: VSCO

Each preset offers the standard look along with variations to further customize the end result. VSCO clarifies that these do more than just change the strength of the preset. They range from a cleaner, more subtle version to stronger looks with dramatic hue shifts that mimic vintage film processes.

The presets come in standard and camera-specific profiles. VSCO says the standard profiles are designed to adapt across a wide range of cameras, while camera-specific profiles are available for popular models from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Ricoh and Leica. They are designed to work with Raw files, so photographers can maintain full editing control, but the standard versions also work with JPEGs.

Each film preset offers additional variations for dialing in your preferred look. Image: VSCO

For many photographers, the return of VSCO Film 02 presets is a welcome sight. Unfortunately, they’re only available for a limited time, and VSCO hasn’t specified how long. Another critical detail: they are only available for VSCO Pro members. If you want them, you'll need a paid subscription, which costs $5 per month. Having a free trial of the Pro membership does not unlock the presets, though VSCO says you can reach out to the support team to get help expediting your upgrade if you would like access.

This release doesn't cover all the options VSCO previously offered, either. In the website's FAQ section, VSCO addresses whether more could be coming: "We know how much the original preset packs meant to photographers, and we’ve heard the requests. While we don’t have details to share yet, we’re actively exploring what comes next. If and when more preset packs return, VSCO Pro members will be the first to know."

You can find more details about the presets and how to install and use them on the VSCO website.

Image: VSCO

If you've long been a fan of the film look on your digital photos, there's a good chance you're familiar with the VSCO Film desktop presets. They were quite popular at one time, but VSCO discontinued them in early 2019, much to the frustration of many photographers. Now, the company is bringing one of its preset packs back, albeit with some caveats.

The VSCO Film 02 presets are available for Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw and feature looks inspired by real films from Kodak, Fuji and Ilford. They aim to translate each film's highlights, shadows, and grain into your digital files. The lineup includes Fujifilm Neopan 1600, Fujifilm Superia (100, 400, 800 and 1600), Ilford Delta 3200, Kodak Portra 160 (NC and VC) and Kodak Portra 400 (NC, VC and UC).

Film 02 includes multiple film looks. Image: VSCO

Each preset offers the standard look along with variations to further customize the end result. VSCO clarifies that these do more than just change the strength of the preset. They range from a cleaner, more subtle version to stronger looks with dramatic hue shifts that mimic vintage film processes.

The presets come in standard and camera-specific profiles. VSCO says the standard profiles are designed to adapt across a wide range of cameras, while camera-specific profiles are available for popular models from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Ricoh and Leica. They are designed to work with Raw files, so photographers can maintain full editing control, but the standard versions also work with JPEGs.

Each film preset offers additional variations for dialing in your preferred look. Image: VSCO

For many photographers, the return of VSCO Film 02 presets is a welcome sight. Unfortunately, they’re only available for a limited time, and VSCO hasn’t specified how long. Another critical detail: they are only available for VSCO Pro members. If you want them, you'll need a paid subscription, which costs $5 per month. Having a free trial of the Pro membership does not unlock the presets, though VSCO says you can reach out to the support team to get help expediting your upgrade if you would like access.

This release doesn't cover all the options VSCO previously offered, either. In the website's FAQ section, VSCO addresses whether more could be coming: "We know how much the original preset packs meant to photographers, and we’ve heard the requests. While we don’t have details to share yet, we’re actively exploring what comes next. If and when more preset packs return, VSCO Pro members will be the first to know."

You can find more details about the presets and how to install and use them on the VSCO website.