The Panasonic Lumix S 40mm F2, pictured on an S1II body Photo: Richard Butler

Panasonic has announced the Lumix S 40mm F2, a small, fast lens for L-mount that recalls its much-loved 20mm F1.7 prime for Micro Four Thirds.

The lens gives a fractionally-wider-than-normal field of view on full frame sensors and has been designed to match the dimensions of the 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 kit zoom for the S9, in its retracted, carry-around state.

Panasonic described it to us as "more of a muffin lens than a pancake."

The $400 lens features seven elements in six groups, with three of those elements being aspherics. Its relatively modest price results in a 7-blade aperture design, but despite this, sees seals deployed at all the key points around the lens to provide dust, splash and freeze resistance down to -10°C (14°F).

Likewise, while Panasonic has avoided the cost of including a lens hood (and the costs of designing one to match it), it's made sure to include a lens function button on the side of the barrel. The focus ring has the usual options to control focus throw and focus direction, or act as a control ring.

The S 40mm F2.0 weighs just 144g (5.1oz). It accepts the same 62mm filters as the 18-40mm and its front element has a fluorine coating.

The 40mm F2 will be available from Early June at a recommended price of $399, exc sales tax.

Panasonic Lumix S 40mm F2.0 sample gallery

We've been shooting with the 40mm for a while and, even paired with an S1RII, found it plays a big part in making the camera/lens combination more carryable.

While a distortion correction profile is embedded in the lens, and we've applied it to the images in the gallery, its effects are extremely subtle. The lens is not utilizing high levels of correction.

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.

Panasonic Lumix S 40mm F2 specifications

Image: DxO

Software company DxO has announced the ninth iteration of Nik Collection, its suite of seven creative editing plugins. Nik Collection 9 introduces updated masking tools and new filters for photographers looking to add creative finishing touches to their images.

The most notable update is the addition of more advanced masking tools via the Local Adjustments toolbar. In Nik Collection 8, DxO added the ability to import Photoshop's AI-powered selections (such as Select Subject), but otherwise, selection tools remained rather simple and required direct user input. Now, the company has added AI-powered masking to Nik Collection apps, no Photoshop or manual selections required.

One of the newly added masking tools promises to select parts of a scene based on how far they were from the camera. Image: DxO

The updated AI masks come in two different forms. First, users can select subjects and objects, just like they can in Photoshop. There's also the new Depth Mask option, which uses AI to create a depth map, allowing users to make adjustments to specific areas based on the distance from the camera. Because it's AI-powered, it works without embedded distance data from the camera.

Both types of masking rely on local processing, so images stay on the user's computer. They can be fully adjusted and fine-tuned as needed. To aid with that, DxO added new Mask Overlays that make it easier to see where a mask is. Masks can also be copied and pasted from one filter to another, saving time from having to reselect that same area for a different adjustment.

Halation filter	Blending Modes
Glass Effect	Chromatic Shift

Nik Collection 9 also features three new filters. The Chromatic Shift option recreates the look of ink misalignment from magazine days, with full control over the direction and level of shift and the colors shifted. The Glass Effect filter makes it look like your subject is behind a sheet of textured glass, and the Halation filter aims to replicate the look of the glowing highlights characteristic of certain film stocks.

DxO is also giving users more control over how those filters interact with the image. It has added 18 different blending modes to Color Efex and Analog Efex, which will be a familiar option to Photoshop users. There's also a new Preset Hover Preview option, providing instant, real-time previews of presets without clicking back and forth between the options.

A new Color Grading menu aims to make it easier to adjust the colors in a photo. Image DxO

Lastly, there is now a color grading menu, which keeps all color controls in a single color wheel. Users can select three points for highlights, shadows and midtones, adjusting the color of each area. Additionally, a slider below the color wheel shows the color grade from shadows to highlights and allows users to shift all tones at once.

DxO's Nik Collection 9 is available for download now. It costs $180 for a new perpetual license, or $100 for those upgrading from Nik Collection 7 or 8.

Image: Apple

After months of swirling rumors, Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced that he'll be stepping down from the position later this year. He's been in the role since 2011, after being named as successor to co-founder Steve Jobs.

Replacing him will be John Ternus, who is currently senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, responsible for leading the teams that make the hardware for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and more. In his letter, Cook describes Ternus as "a brilliant engineer and thinker who has spent the past 25 years building the Apple products our users love so much, obsessed with every detail, focused on every possible way we can make something better, bolder, more beautiful, and more meaningful."

Of course, a transition this big isn't happening in a day; Cook will remain as head of the company until September 1st, 2026, and will continue on as executive chairman. (That does mean there's a chance Ternus is the one to announce the next iPhone, as those typically debut in September; a monumental task in your first few weeks as CEO.)

Apple is a massive player in the camera industry

While Apple is, at its core, a computer and phone company, it's also a massive player in the camera industry thanks to the iPhone. When Tim Cook became CEO, the company's flagship product was the iPhone 4, a phone with a single camera taking single-shot exposures that was nevertheless just beginning to have an impact on the sales of compact cameras. Since then, smartphones have largely taken over that market, now sporting much larger sensors, advanced multi-shot stacking and several camera modules to provide a selection of focal lengths.

We'll have to wait and see if Ternus' background in hardware leads him to make different decisions than Cook, who came from the operations and logistics side of the company. And any high-level changes in the iPhone as a camera, or the Mac as an editing platform, won't be immediately obvious starting with their next versions. But over a few years, we'll start to see the impact of having a new person in charge of what is one of the world's largest camera companies.

Image: Viltrox

Viltrox has announced two new full-frame lenses, a 35mm F1.8 and a 55mm F1.8. The lenses are part of its Evo lineup, which it pitches as providing essential focal lengths that are sharp edge-to-edge.

The company says the lenses have apochromatic optical designs to control the color fringing that comes from chromatic aberration. The 35mm has 13 elements in 10 groups with 2 ED elements, 3 HR lenses and 1 UA element and can focus as close as 0.34m (13.4"). The 55mm, meanwhile, is made up of 13 elements in 9 groups with a similar mix of special glass as the 35mm, minus one HR lens. It can focus as close as 0.43m (16.9"). The company says the UA element used in the lenses is the same one that's found in its flagship Lab series of lenses. Both lenses have 9-bladed apertures.

The lenses have all the controls we expect from mid-range primes. We plan to produce a sample gallery with the 55mm F1.8 soon. Photo: Mitchell Clark

Both lenses use an STM motor for autofocus. They also share a similar list of physical features: a customizable FN button, a switch to change the aperture ring from clicked to declicked, and an AF/MF switch. They also have a rubber seal on the lens mount for weather resistance, and a coating on the front lens to repel water and smudges.

The 35mm lens weighs 355g (12.5oz) for E-mount – around 20g more for Z mount – and the Sony version of the 55mm lens weighs 370g (13oz), with the same delta for Nikon. Both are relatively compact at around 76mm long and have 58mm filters.

While Viltrox has long offered both F1.8 35mm and 50mm options that were similarly lightweight and compact, it's nice to see the company build out its Evo line, especially given that it's aiming to offer quite impressive optical designs. The one somewhat disappointing aspect of the launch is mount availability: both modes will be available for Sony E and, somewhat surprisingly, given recent patent litigation, Nikon Z. It would've been nice to see it also launch for L-mount, or to at least get some hint on whether it'll be available on it in the future.

The AF 35mm F1.8 Evo (also known as the AF 35mm F1.8 II) retails for $395, and the AF 55m F1.8 Evo costs $370. They're available now.

Viltrox AF 35mm F1.8 II Evo

Viltrox AF 55mm F1.8 Evo

Viltrox 35mm F1.8 Evo specifications:

Viltrox 55mm F1.8 Evo specifications:

Image: GoPro

Last week, GoPro announced the Mission 1 series, a lineup of what the company says are "compact cinema cameras" with Type 1 sensors, the ability to shoot 4K/120 open gate and, on one of them, a Micro Four Thirds mount. But a key part of the story was missing: the price.

Thankfully, GoPro has just announced it, earlier than expected. The standard Mission 1 will retail for $599, while the Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 Pro ILS will both sell for $699 (though, of course, it's bring your own lens with the latter). If you pay for the company's subscription service, which includes the ability to automatically upload footage from your camera to the cloud, you can get $100 off the MSRP of one of the cameras, or up to $150 off one of the accessory bundles.

If you want to get the full story on the cameras, you can read our coverage here. The prices, added to the fact that the cameras were announced at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, and that the camera's maximum bitrate was designed to meet Netflix's requirements, suggest that the Mission 1 series is less consumer-oriented than the Hero series; the Hero 13 Black retails for around $430. They also put the Mission 1 Pro ILS in competition with some other video-focused, APS-C interchangeable lens cameras, such as the Canon EOS R50V and Nikon Z30.

The company has started accepting preorders on its site for the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro, which will be available starting May 28th. The version with the lens mount is still set to arrive in "Q3 2026."

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show is in full swing, and Nikon has joined in, releasing a YouTube video teasing new Z Cinema glass. The video, which is also co-branded with Red, also heralds "a new Nikkor chapter."

The lens(es?) is only shown in shadow, but behind it, videos of older Nikon lenses are projected. Notably, it seems like the footage largely depicts wide-angle lenses, including a fisheye model and a 12-24mm; whether that's a hint or a coincidence, we'll have to wait and see. The video also shows cinema-styled controls, an autofocus/manual focus switch, and a line of lenses, which could hint that what's being announced is a series, rather than a single option.

Whatever Nikon ends up announcing – currently, the video and its description contain no mention of a date – it's interesting to see that the company is working on expanding its options for pro video. It already teased late last year that it was working on cinema-focused lenses, and has released a very video-focused lens in the Z 28-135mm F4 PZ power zoom.

Photos: Mitchell Clark

Thypoch is showing off a groundbreaking lens at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show this weekend: the Voyager 24-50mm F2.8, a full-frame autofocus zoom. It's not just a first for the brand; it's the first full-frame autofocus zoom lens we've seen from a Chinese manufacturer.

While this kind of lens has seemed like an inevitability for a while, as we've seen increasingly ambitious primes from the likes of Viltrox, Laowa and Sirui, it's a bit surprising that it's come from Thypoch. The company is mainly known for manual focus primes, though its sister brand, DZOFilm, does make a range of manual focus zooms focused on cinema users.

The company isn't releasing full details for the lens yet – though stay tuned – but you can tell just by looking at it that the goal was to make it relatively compact. It's around the same size as Sony's 24-50mm F2.8 G lens, though Thypoch's lens features an internally-zooming design: this is no clone. It also has a clicking aperture ring, a customizable function button and an AF/MF switch.

The Voyager 24-50mm F2.8 is relatively compact for a fast, full-frame zoom.

The brand teased this lens on Instagram a few weeks ago, but its public unveiling is exciting, as it means it's one step closer to launching. We've seen Chinese manufacturers offer very decent budget prime lenses, and even come into their own with more advanced optics, becoming a competitive force driving the traditional players to come up with interesting offerings. If the same happens for zoom lenses, 2025 may not hold the title of the most interesting year for lenses for that much longer.

We've been able to spend some time with the lens and get some sample images with it, which you can check out below. We'll go more in-depth into image quality in a future article. For now, the high-level overview is that we found it to be relatively impressive, though we noticed some softness at the edges (especially when shooting wide open) and a propensity to flare under bright lighting.

We were impressed by its build quality; the aperture ring is satisfying to turn, and the rubber coating on the zoom and focus rings makes it very easy to handle.

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.

Thank you to Sony for the loan of a Sony a7R V to capture this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with no vignetting correction applied.

While video is becoming increasingly popular, and cameras' video features continue to become more sophisticated, there are still plenty of photographers who simply aren't interested in it.

And, in a time where cameras are already so good that the improvements on the photo side tend to be incremental, rather than groundbreaking, it can look like manufacturers are only interested in expanding their video capabilities.

This has, perhaps understandably, led to frustration among sections of the photography community. But it can also lead to the belief that a photo-only camera would be cheaper, which is not generally the case.

Generally, manufacturers only develop separate models if they believe there is a distinct audience to target, which is why, for instance, Nikon's ZR cinema/vlogging crossover camera is intentionally missing some features that would make it more appealing to someone that might otherwise buy a Z6III. Wheras, conversely, a stills-only version of the Z6III would compete for the same audience, leaving people to choose between a full-featured hybrid and a camera with the same components but artificially restricted.

Click here to read a fuller explanation of why taking video out of your camera wouldn't make it less expensive.

This weekend, the National Association of Broadcasters show (NAB) is in full swing. While announcements stemming from it typically focus on professional video, there were a surprising number of announcements this year that may appeal to photographers and camera enthusiasts, including Canon's use of an emerging sensor technology, GoPro releasing a camera with a Micro Four Thirds mount and BlackMagic adding photo editing to Davinci Resolve.

Richard, Dale and Mitchell sat down to discuss these announcements and what impact they may have on the future of photography.

Photo: Getty Images

AI has been a hot topic on the forums for a while now. Recently, members have asked us to develop clear guidelines for the fair, well-defined use of AI tools in the forums, especially when they involve the community's photography.

We're at the early draft stage of this process. Our goal is to craft a simple policy that defines best practices and clear boundaries. As with many major community policy updates around new technologies and tools, rather than just announcing a set of guidelines out of the blue, we want to create them with our community's input and ensure your voices are heard.

If you are part of our forum community or would like an excuse to join one of the many discussions there, please visit our AI thread and tell us what you think.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Share your opinion on AI use in our forums

Photo: Mitchell Clark

A camera companion app can unlock convenience and useful creative controls, provided it actually works well. Every major brand now offers at least one such app, promising remote camera control, wireless image transfer, GPS sharing and more, but the reality is often a mix of useful features and flaky connections.

In this piece, we're taking a closer look at Sony's latest effort – the Creators' App – to see how far things have come from the early, frustrating days of camera apps. The Creators' App supports models going back to the a7S III and is the default for newer bodies. The previous‑generation Imaging Edge Mobile app also works with many of the same cameras, but its newest supported body is the a1 II, so we will be focusing on the Creators' App here.

Index:

• Connectivity and reliability
• Transfer, editing and sharing tools
• Remote control and live view
• GPS sharing
• Firmware and maintenance features

I used the Google Pixel 10a for all of my testing, but my colleague reports a similar experience on an iPhone 15 Pro, except where otherwise noted. Your experience and options may differ depending on your device.

Connectivity and reliability

To do most things in the app, you'll need to use a Wi-Fi connection.

Connecting a camera to the Creators' App for the first time is straightforward and very quick, so it's feasible to do even if you're in a rush. The process uses a Bluetooth connection for initial pairing, along with basic functions like camera status and firmware updates when you open the app each subsequent time.

Most features, though, require either a Wi-Fi connection or a physical USB-C tether between your phone and camera. Using a USB-C cable provides a faster, more stable connection for file importing or camera control than a wireless one, but it also defeats the app's purpose in some use cases, so I've focused on Wi-Fi for my testing. Tapping the "Remote Shooting" or "Import" options will trigger a pop-up that asks which connection type you want to use. This will pop up each time unless you tap the box to "Use Wi-Fi connection from next time."

Left: The pop-up on the left will show up every time you connect to your camera via Wi-Fi unless you disable it. Right: The connection process isn't very speedy.

When you connect via Wi-Fi for the first time on Android phones, you'll see a message from your phone's system informing you that the Creators' App wants to use a temporary Wi-Fi network. Selecting "Connect" will disconnect your phone from any other Wi-Fi networks and pair it with the camera's network.

Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi connection process takes much longer than Bluetooth pairing. Over the course of my testing, it took roughly 16 seconds to connect each time (occasionally faster or slower), which is just long enough to be annoying. The Wi-Fi connection will remain active as long as you remain in the app, or you can end the connection by tapping "Connected via Wi-Fi" just below the camera name.

You can opt to keep the camera connected to your phone even if you leave the app, saving you connection time if you are going back and forth.

If you are going to be in and out of the app during a session and don't want to wait for it to reconnect each time, you can choose to stay connected even when you close the app via the gear icon in the top right corner. Staying connected lets you access the remote control or image transfer options nearly instantly, but it also means that, as long as your camera is on, your phone won't be connected to any other Wi-Fi networks.

The connection was mostly reliable, though there were a few occasions when it dropped unexpectedly, or the camera failed to connect to my Android phone. There was one instance that happened multiple times in a row. These were rare, though, so it didn't drastically impede my use of the app.

Transfer, editing and sharing tools

If you want to transfer Raw files, you'll need to change the "Image Size for Importing" option to "Original," even if you turned Raw on for the import target option.

Many look to companion apps to make sharing photos and videos faster and easier. The Creators' App supports those tools, with options for image and video transfer, cloud syncing and sharing.

On the image transfer side of things, you can choose whether to import 'JPEG and HEIF,' Raw or Raw + JPEG / Raw + HEIF. There are a few important things to note here. First, the camera can't output HEIF and JPEG at the same time, so despite the "and," you'll only be importing one of those.

It's also important to be aware that the app has a setting called 'Image Size for Importing,' which defaults to resizing synced files to less than 2MP. At that setting, the app converts the Raw file to a resized JPEG, and downsizes JPEGs, no matter what you have your file types set to. If you don't change this to 'Original,' you're not actually getting full‑resolution or Raw files.

From left to right: the camera's main folder, images taken on one particular date and the view with one image selected.

When importing photos, the app helpfully organizes your images into folders for each date, so that you aren't looking at a massive wall of images. Once in a date, you can select individual files or select all with the checkbox at the top of the display. You can also tap on an image to see it larger and import from there, but, annoyingly, you'll still need to treat it like you are selecting it by tapping the box in the top left and 'Import' at the bottom.

Differential import will upload any images taken since your last upload without requiring you to select any files.

If you want to simplify the transfer process, the app also offers a "differential import" option, which is essentially a smart sync. With this enabled, when you tap to import files, it transfers all new files that aren't already on your phone. This will prevent you from uploading duplicates of files, and it also serves as a step towards an automatic upload, so you don't have to select individual files. Of course, if you don't want everything on your phone, I wouldn't recommend turning this on.

Photos transferred relatively quickly, even when moving a batch of 30 or so Raw files at once. It's not as fast as using a quality card reader, but it didn't keep me waiting long. I didn't transfer any long videos, but short clips transferred quickly, too. I also didn't have any issues with the connection dropping when transferring batches of images. However, if I wanted to transfer a full shoot of hundreds of images (even just JPEGs), I would likely use a USB-C connection or a card reader to avoid potential issues and speed up the process. For a handful of images here and there, though, it worked very well.

There aren't many options for video transfer settings.

There are only a few options for video imports. If you shoot with proxy recording turned on, you can choose whether to import only the proxy, only the original or both. The only other video import setting is related to Sony's Shot Mark feature, which allows you to drop in-camera markers on video clips to flag important moments. If you've used Shot Mark, you can choose to have the imported clip cut around it (with options for 15-, 30-, or 60-second clips) or not cut at all.

Within the image transfer page, you'll find limited features. You see star ratings applied in-camera and view basic EXIF information. Those same tools are all that's available in the gallery page of the Creators' App, too, but you can add star ratings here instead of only being able to see them. The only other additions are a sharing option that lets you share to apps on your phone, an upload button where you can choose to upload images to a designated folder and a delete button.

There are no editing features, so you'll need to bring your images or videos into a different app for editing if that's part of your workflow. However, there is a menu for managing Look Up Tables, or LUTs, letting you upload the color profiles to your camera from your phone. Unlike some other camera apps, however, Sony doesn't offer a marketplace of LUTs within the app, so you'll need to find those elsewhere and download them to your phone before transferring to the camera.

Remote control and live view

The remote control function gives you control over a lot of settings.

Another reason many people want a camera app is for remote camera controls, and the Sony Creators' app does indeed offer those. Its list of controls is robust, including all the basics you'd expect, like camera mode, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and exposure compensation. You can also toggle between photo and video modes and change many other settings, including focus mode, drive mode, D-Range Optimizer, metering, pre-capture flash, image size, file format, movie file format, touch functions and many more.

While there are plenty of controls for the promise of easy remote shooting, the functionality and reliability are hit-or-miss. At times, it all runs smoothly with very responsive changes. The live view image accurately reflects what the camera is pointed at, it looks natural when I adjust what's in the frame, and the focus changes rapidly when I tap on my phone's display. In short, it works just how I would hope a remote control app would work.

However, that's not always the situation. On a few occasions, live view was incredibly laggy. When that's the case, unless you're photographing still life scenes, it wouldn't be usable, and even then, it would be quite frustrating. The exposure controls can also be slow to actually adjust to your changes at times, resulting in a fair amount of waiting around.

While most of the touch functions work, the "Touch Focus" option has only worked once for me.

Oddly, I haven't been able to get the tap-to-focus feature to work again after my first attempt. It simply never changes the focus point, so that feature is completely unusable for me. Despite that, the other touch functions do seem to work as expected, including the ability to tap on the live view window to set auto exposure.

We didn't experience the same lag and slowness with the iOS version of the app, and tap-to-focus worked as intended.

GPS sharing

You can share your phone's location with your camera to attach GPS information to your images.

The Creators' App enables GPS sharing, which means you can share your phone's GPS information with the camera. That way, you can have locations attached to your images and videos, since cameras lack integrated GPS.

While the GPS sharing feature works seamlessly, it is a bit hidden. To find it, scroll down on the 'Cameras' page of the app and tap on the 'Others' menu option. From there, select 'Setup' and 'Location Information Linkage.' You will have to change some phone permissions to allow the camera to pull location info, but it's very straightforward and quick.

Firmware and maintenance features

Firmware updates are easy with the Creators' App

There are also some maintenance features available in the Creators' App. If there are firmware updates available, the app will let you download and install them via your phone. It was very fast and easy to update firmware via the app, which means I would be much more likely to keep it updated than if I had to download it to my computer and jump through the required hoops for that process.

The Creators' App also lets you save your camera's settings either to your phone or the Creators' Cloud, and then apply those settings to a camera. That way, if you need to reset your camera, you have all of your settings available and won't need to remember what you usually use for each menu item. It could be a big time- and headache-saver. Saving settings only took a matter of seconds, too, so it's very convenient. Unfortunately, you can only apply settings to the same camera model, so, for example, you wouldn't be able to transfer settings from the a7 V to the a7 IV.

Lastly, Sony sometimes offers updates and new features via licenses rather than traditional firmware updates. The app doesn't provide the ability to create those licenses, however, so you'll need to obtain or purchase them through your Sony Creators' Cloud account on the website, and then use the app's License Management menu to install and activate the license on the camera.

Image: Leica

The L-Mount Alliance is gaining another member, with cinematography equipment maker Freefly joining the growing lineup. This addition brings the alliance to 11 members, further expanding the range of products offered to L-mount users.

Freefly built its name on the Mōvi lineup, a series of professional cinema-level gimbals. It has since expanded its offerings to high-end drones and high-speed interchangeable-lens cameras made for extreme slow motion. The company doesn't make any consumer-level products; instead, it focuses on professional cinematographers, industrial operators and scientific users.

Given that Freefly is currently focused on cameras, it seems logical that the company will be adding to the list of L-mount cameras available. We'll have to wait and see whether its first L-mount device is a brand-new product or simply a new version of its existing camera lineup with an updated mount.

Freefly's CEO, Tabb Firchau, says the company wants to put the mount in places it hasn't been before, "from rocket launches to fighting forest fires." Indeed, its current camera lineup is quite different from those of existing alliance members, so it will be interesting to see what comes next for Freefly and the L-mount.

"English Village in the Cotswolds. No EXIF data due to Photoshop processing." Photo: Stephen Felce

Photography has been a lifelong pursuit for DPReview reader Stephen Felce, known in the forums as keepreal. Over more than seven decades, he has developed a passion for street scenes and beautiful landscapes, moving from black-and-white to color film, and then to digital and mirrorless systems.

"I started photographing at the age of nine, learning to print my own film with guidance from my father. My passion for capturing the world around me has never waned. Photography isn't just a hobby, it's a way of seeing and experiencing life more fully."

Stephen works to bring out the beauty of places like the lochs of the Scottish Highlands and the deserts of the American Southwest, highlighting their unique natural lighting. His approach to post-processing has enabled him to turn complex scenes into images that are quite evocative.

This story is part of our What's in your bag? community spotlight series. The series showcases the diverse gear and photography of our community, and shares their stories of how that gear helped them to capture the perfect shot.

Have your photography featured on the DPReview homepage! Find out how.

"Piazza in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. This is a panorama shot with extensive Photoshop processing to cope with the dynamic range. No EXIF data due to Photoshop processing." Photo: Stephen Felce

Meet Stephen Felce (keepreal)

Home base: Greater London, UK

Favorite camera and lens: Olympus OM-D E-M5 II with Laowa 6mm and 10mm Zero-D lenses. Stephen likes this setup specifically for landscapes and street shots because it delivers the best detail and edge sharpness. The wide-angle lenses let him capture expansive vistas and architectural subtleties with minimal distortion.

What's in Stephen's bag

• Primary cameras: Olympus OM-D E-M5 II
• Lenses:
  • Laowa 6mm F2 Zero-D
  • Laowa 10mm F2 Zero-D
  • m.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO
  • m.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
• Support gear: Stephen uses a compact Hama Traveller Mini Pro tripod for most shots and a full-size Velbon Ultra REXi L tripod for larger setups. He also employs custom-made panorama heads, multiple Manfrotto ball heads and quick-release adapters to handle panoramic and detailed landscape compositions with precision.
• Camera bags: He relies on three Crumpler bags – two for camera bodies and lenses, and one for panorama brackets and accessories. For his longest lenses, such as the 75-300mm, he uses a dedicated Nikon lens case.

Stephen's camera bag Photo: Stephen Felce

Any other interesting gear you take with you?

"I kept two Nikon SB-26 Speedlights from my Nikon days, which I can fire wirelessly from the small Olympus FL-LM3 flash to get balanced lighting like studio lights. I mostly use a lightweight Hama Traveller Mini Pro Tripod now, though I also have a full-size Velbon Ultra REXi L for heavier setups."

"I even built my own panorama head from hardwood with sections for horizontal and vertical shots, using Manfrotto quick-release adapters for fast and precise alignment. For printing, I use an Epson Stylus Professional 3880 for prints up to A2 and an Expression Photo XP-8605 for everyday use, both with pigment inks for long-lasting color."

"This is a picture of the River Thames in London, England, that I took when I was twelve years old. My father lent me his Leica IIIa, and I took this shot with the 9cm Elmar, processed and printed myself, toning it sepia. A framed copy hangs in my bedroom." Photo: Stephen Felce

How has your photography changed since you started?

"When I did my own monochrome photography, I settled upon Kodak Panatomic X and Ilford Pan F exposed at about half the nominal ISO. I also developed in the Beutler formula from raw chemicals to give a long scale with beautiful highlights."

"I have always gone for pictures from high-dynamic-range scenes, usually against the light. I rarely consciously decide on contre jour; it just happens, being in my element when those lighting conditions present themselves in brilliant sunshine. You cannot get those Beutler tones on digital, possibly because there is no shoulder to the highlights in a digital image, as the slope there is far too high."

"Still, when I switched to digital, my photography really took off, and somehow I found getting good colors easy, whereas with film I never felt my results were very good."

"When I switched to digital, my photography really took off, and somehow I found getting good colors easy."

How do you post-process a less-than-ideal scene?

"One of my picturesque street scenes, Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, is familiar to most Brits because of a famous 1973 Hovis Bread advert. I took my picture there on negative color film and processed it myself. Early on in digital, I used to scan my negatives and got a superior result with Gold Hill, partly because of the light in the shot and partly because of the skills I developed with Photoshop Elements 2."

"Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset. No EXIF data due to Photoshop processing." Photo: Stephen Felce

"There was a street sign ruining the picture, weeds growing in the gutters of a nearby dwelling and more distractions spoiling the overall effect. I cloned out the distractions, straightened a wall and changed the creamy cottage to blue as the original looked sad against the white cottage two doors down. Next, I filled in the bald sky and sharpened the out-of-focus wall on the left."

"After two years of digital manipulation and printing, I finally get good results. The photo won me a copy of Photoshop CS2, which I had wanted but cost far too much for my liking."

Have you taken any particularly memorable trips?

"My best holiday ever was to the Southwestern USA in 2011... from San Francisco to LA, 3,000 miles through Utah and Arizona.

"My best holiday ever was to the Southwestern USA in 2011, driving for three weeks from San Francisco to LA, 3,000 miles through Utah and Arizona, as well as in California. I estimated the distance for my route before I went, and amazingly, it was only a mile out."

"I loved Zion National Park, where, unusually, you get different kinds of rock, different textures and colors adjacent to one another, creating a remarkable effect. I loved Zion so much that I had to include it again in a 2018 trip of a similar distance from LA to Denver to see other must-see places like Arches National Park, but I actually preferred Dead Horse Point State Park overall."

"Near the entrance to Zion National Park, Utah. I was lucky with the light, which, though extremely weak, was better than in other images I have seen of this. My favorite self-took picture, so I made an A2 framed print for my living room. No EXIF data due to extensive Photoshop processing." Photo: Stephen Felce

"Spectacular Rocks in Zion National Park, Utah. Unusual to see such variety in adjacent rocks. No EXIF data due to Photoshop processing." Photo: Stephen Felce

When capturing that perfect shot, what are your preferred techniques?

"I always take a spot reading for exposure on the brightest part of the image, more often than not, the sky, and set exposure adjustment to +3 stops. That way, highlights are never blown out, and it works in every natural-light situation. If the dynamic range demands it, I use bracketed exposures."

"On the E-M5 II, it is brilliant because I can set the gaps two or three stops apart and simultaneously use exposure adjustment to increase exposure for the deepest shadows, without having to resort to shorter exposures, which is not necessary."

For eager photographers to capture it all, what would you suggest?

"Most camera buffs feel obliged to take pictures. I don't, as I take very few even in the best of places. I can quite literally return from a trip with nothing, enjoying the outing no less for that. Some scenes are beautiful, but do not lend themselves to the camera. Instead, they can be quite an experience in real life if you are able and willing to see with insight."

"Ennerdale Water. Lovely clouds making a beautiful scene in the Lake District, northern England. No EXIF data due to Photoshop processing." Photo: Stephen Felce

Stephen really enjoyed writing the content for this spotlight article and would be grateful for you to join him in discussion in the forums. Thanks, Stephen, for being featured!

If you'd like to share your photography, tell us about your main camera, lens choices, key settings and strategies. Your photos and story could be featured in the next article!

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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Image: DJI

DJI has announced the latest iteration of its compact gimbal camera, the Osmo Pocket 4. The new generation brings more subtle changes than the last update, with integrated storage, a bump in frame rate, new controls and the promise of better low-light shooting.

Like the Osmo Pocket 3, the fourth-gen camera uses a Type 1 CMOS sensor and an integrated 20mm equiv. lens with an F2 aperture. Unlike the 3, which topped out at 4K/120, the Osmo Pocket 4 doubles its maximum framerate to 4K/240. It also uses 10-bit D-Log instead of the D-Log M found on the previous model, trading a more contrasty image that took less grading work for one with a bit more latitude. DJI promises the Pocket 4 can achieve 14 stops of dynamic range.

DJI says the new pocket camera will perform better in low light, delivering truer-to-life colors and better-looking skin tones. It also says that it will provide better results in high-contrast scenes as well. Given that the sensor hasn't changed, both changes are almost certainly thanks to improvements in processing.

When the screen is in landscape orientation, users have access to two additional buttons. Image: DJI

The Osmo Pocket 4 keeps the rotating screen that DJI added to the 3, though it adds two additional buttons that are revealed when the screen is in landscape orientation. One button is dedicated to cropping in, allowing users to digitally zoom to 2x or 4x. The second button is customizable, giving users a shortcut to their most-used settings. DJI also says the 5D joystick is new, though it isn't clear what new functions it unlocks compared to the previous iteration.

DJI added 107GB of integrated storage to its latest gimbal camera, compared to the Osmo Pocket 3's full reliance on microSD cards. It's still compatible with 1TB microSD cards as well. It also promises an additional 14 minutes of battery life, for a total of 3 hours of recording at full resolution, or 4 hours at 1080p.

Like many DJI products, the Osmo Pocket 4 supports gesture control and offers multiple subject tracking options to keep subjects sharp and centered in the frame. It relies on DJI's ActiveTrack 7, which it debuted on the Osmo Mobile 7 smartphone gimbal and promises smoother, more natural tracking, better subject reacquisition and the ability to recognize multiple subjects.

The Osmo Pocket 4 is compatible with DJI's vlogging accessories, such as its mic system. Image: DJI

The Osmo Pocket 4 is priced at £445, which is cheaper than the Pocket 3's launch price of £489. That's especially impressive given that the new model gains 107GB of internal storage at a time when that isn't coming cheap.

The camera will be available for immediate sale in the Chinese market on April 16 and for pre-order in all other regions. Official sales will begin on April 22. The standard combo costs £445 and includes the camera, USB-C cable, gimbal clamp, wrist strap, handle, and carrying pouch. DJI is also offering the Creator Combo for £549, and it includes the addition of the Osmo Pocket 3 Wide-Angle Lens, DJI Mic 3 kit, a fill light and a mini tripod.

As expected, the one exception in terms of availability is the US. DJI says the authorization application is still pending in the US, so it will not be available for purchase.

Sigma is now farming rice in Aizu, Japan, where the company's factory is located. According to CEO Kazuto Yamaki, it's an effort to support its own neighbors while maintaining an important Japanese tradition. Photo: Sigma

For Sigma, "Made in Japan" isn't just a marketing ethos; it signifies a commitment to the company's home country, and to the region surrounding the city of Aizu, where its factory is located.

In an industry where most companies manage global manufacturing and supply chains, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki takes pride in anchoring his company not only in its geography but in its culture. In fact, when Sigma introduced its new logo last year, it also doubled down on this regional connection, making "Made in Aizu, Japan" a core part of its brand identity.

Which explains why we find ourselves in Japan talking to Mr. Yamaki about rice. As we wrap up our interview at CP+, he casually mentions, "Actually, I'm not sure if you know it, but we decided to start growing rice."

Sigma products and packaging proudly emphasize the company's roots in Aizu, Japan. Photo: Richard Butler

Sigma announced its rice-growing ambitions a few days before our meeting, and while we saw the same press materials as everyone else, it was fascinating to hear the story behind the project, and what inspired it, in Mr. Yamaki's own words.

It's about history and ecology

"Aizu is known for many things," he tells us. "But one reason it's well known is for being a good production site for rice. There are many rice fields in Aizu, and they produce top-quality rice. But these days, as you know, Japan is a rapidly aging country. Also, the kids don't want to take over the farmers' business. So the farmers are losing their successors. Actually, this is nothing new. This already started in the 90s or late 80s. But thanks to the tractor and combine, we don't need many people."

"Aizu is known for many things, but one reason it's well known is for being a good production site for rice."

According to Yamaki, this represents an important economic and cultural shift from the past.

"Before World War II, we had many big landowners, but after World War II, property was shared by the farmers thanks to the American government, which occupied Japan at the time. So in Japan, there are many small farmers. Until now, some farmers asked neighboring farmers to take care of their fields because, thanks to tractors and combines, they could grow rice through the neighbors."

The Sigma factory in Aizu, Japan. Under Mr. Yamaki's leadership, the company has leaned into its roots in Japan, focusing on the use of Japanese suppliers and working with local partners. Photo: Dale Baskin

But it's not just a matter of changing demographics. As Mr. Yamaki observes, the disappearance of the small farmer is having a lasting physical impact on the land itself.

"But what is happening today is these kinds of farmers are aging, and they are losing successors. I started seeing many abandoned rice fields or paddy fields in the Aizu area. This creates a lot of problems. Paddy fields contain water, right? There's a particular ecosystem there, so we lose that ecosystem."

"The disappearance of the small farmer is having a lasting physical impact on the land itself."

"Once the land loses its ability to absorb water, it creates floods and also mudslides. And the abandoned fields have unexpected, undesirable plants. It invites bugs and harmful animals from the forest. So it creates a lot of problems. And also, the look of the landscape – I mean the traditional Japanese landscape, including the paddy fields – we are losing. So our aim, our purpose, is to keep the traditional Japanese landscape as it is. We are not going to grow the agricultural business, but our purpose is to preserve the paddy fields as they are."

A view from the train

For Mr. Yamaki, the decision to farm was a deeply personal one, rooted in a final request from his father.

"My father [Sigma founder Michihiro Yamaki] passed away 14 years ago. He had liver cancer. At the very last stage, maybe two or three months before he died, he asked me to take him to Aizu several times."

Kazuto Yamaki's father, Sigma founder Michihiro Yamaki (far right), poses with supporting members of the Sigma Research Institute Co., Ltd, around 1961. Photo: Sigma

"Because of his illness, at first I drove him to Aizu. But at some point, he told me he wanted to go by train. The local train in Aizu runs through the paddy fields. And he was looking at the paddy fields. And I realized why he wanted to go to Aizu by train. He was just looking at the rice fields, and since then, I really like looking at the paddy fields."

"But these days," he explains, "I feel very sad looking at an abandoned paddy field. So I was interested in starting agriculture about three years ago, and finally, we can start this year."

Leveraging the experience already inside Sigma

At the Sigma factory, the line between technician and tradition is closer than one might expect; some of the same hands that craft many of Sigma's world-class lenses are now being tasked with a much older form of craftsmanship: maintaining Aizu's rice paddies.

"Many of our factory workers are farmers. They know how to make rice, and they have machines. So, we can ask people over age 60 or 65, "Could you work at the rice paddy rather than the factory?" And if we rent out their tractor, we can pay. If we rent their tractor for a week, it can be revenue for them. So we already have the resources to make it."

Some of the same hands that craft many of Sigma's world-class lenses are now being tasked with a much older form of craftsmanship: maintaining Aizu's rice paddies. Photo: Dale Baskin

However, don't expect to see Sigma brand rice on store shelves anytime soon. Yamaki has a pragmatic plan for what to do with all that rice: keep it within his own family of employees.

"We consume it ourselves, because we have a cafeteria in the factory and we have one at the headquarters. If we sell to wholesalers, we have to sell it very cheaply. But we can sell it directly to the company that runs the cafeterias. So we may not lose much money. So it's a kind of win‑win situation."

For Mr. Yamaki, Sigma's foray into agriculture is an opportunity to lead by example.

"For Mr. Yamaki, Sigma's foray into agriculture is an opportunity to lead by example."

"It's really important to commit to the local community," he states emphatically.

"Well, of course, as a company, making a profit is the most important responsibility. But in today's society, companies play many important roles in society and have many social responsibilities. I think the contribution to the local community is one of the important responsibilities a company has. So we are just doing what we can do."

"Of course, we cannot save the Earth. We cannot save the whole region. But I like the phrase, "Think globally, act locally." By announcing this kind of activity, it may influence others, and if such activity spreads to the world, people may be able to help the Earth."

Image: Westend61 / Westend61 via Getty Images

Welcome back to our Question of the Week series! This reader-focused series aims to get our photographic community to share thoughts on all sorts of photography-related topics in our forums. We pose questions about gear, favorite camera stores, advice, problem-solving and more, and you share your thoughts and opinions.

This week, we’re leaning into the holiday spirit! The season of giving (and occasionally re-gifting) is upon us, and that means it’s time to unwrap some memories – both heartwarming and hilarious.

What are the best (and worst) photography-related gifts you've received?

What’s the best photography-related gift you’ve ever received? Maybe it was a dream lens that caused you to take on an adventure deep in the mountains, or a handmade camera strap that’s now an essential part of your kit. And what about the worst? Perhaps someone thought you needed yet another "World’s Best Photographer" mug, or that odd lens filter set that turned every photo a shade of green.

In this edition of our Question of the Week series, we want to hear your gift stories: the memorable, the useful and the truly baffling. Share your favorites (and flops) in the forum link below. Photos of the gifts (or what you created with them) are also more than welcome! We'll highlight some of your most entertaining and heartfelt responses in next week's roundup.

Click here to answer the Question of the week

Image: Adobe

Adobe is continuing the flow of video news from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show with its announcement of a new "Color Mode" for Premiere. The company says it's a "first-of-its-kind color-grading experience," designed to be approachable for video editors, rather than professional colorists.

The mode will live as its own tab in Premiere, alongside Import, Edit and Export. Activating it brings up a new interface with a large preview window and several tools for adjusting things like color temperature, saturation, contrast and more. You can apply your adjustment, or multiple adjustments, to a single clip or to all (or most) clips in your sequence, and use masks to apply adjustments only to certain parts of your video. Color mode will also pre-select the most prominent hues in your image, so you can quickly and easily adjust them.

Image: Adobe

The tool will include several pre-made "Style Presets," which have their own adjustable parameters. You'll also be able to save your customized version of a style as its own preset, so you can easily apply it to other footage later. You can use the tools to build those presets on their own, to go beyond basic color grading as well.

Adobe is pitching the mode as an exercise in simplicity; something designed for editors, rather than professional colorists. Rather than tweaking numerical parameters, drawing custom curves on graphs or sitting at a physical piece of hardware with an ocean of knobs and dials, it seems like you mostly control the tools through a simple mouse-based interface that lets you drag controls until you get the look you're going for.

Color mode's simple interface doesn't preclude more advanced edits, like masking. Each tool also includes a "heads up display" window that pops up to show you how your edit is changing the color. Image: Adobe

However, the company also says the system "grows with your ambition," letting you do more complex grades if necessary. Still, it seems the main appeal is its ease-of-use, with Adobe's press release calling it an alternative to unnamed other apps that "pull you out of your edit entirely and force you to study out-of-reach pro-colorist tools that were never designed for you."

In the same vein of making things easier for editors, Adobe has also released a new program called Frame.io Drive, which lets you "mount" your projects stored on the cloud as storage media on your computer. From there, you can access and clips or files directly from your computer's file manager, without having to manually download or sync them.

Color Mode is available in the beta version of Premiere starting today, while Frame.io Drive will "roll out in phases," starting with enterprise users.

The Canon MS-510 surveillance camera is the second to use its SPAD sensor. Image: Canon

Canon has announced its second camera based around a 'single photon avalanche diode' (SPAD) sensor. It's a completely different sensor technology to the CMOS sensors we typically encounter, based on a completely different physical phenomenon, and able to measure the arrival of individual photons.

The MS510 is a box camera, designed for applications such as nighttime border surveillance and maritime monitoring over long distances. The MS510 has a 3.2MP Type 1 (∼131mm²) sensor, from which it derives 1920 x 1080 video footage, Canon says it has greater sensitivity to near-IR light than the previous model.

In conventional CMOS designs, a charge is accumulated as arriving photons of light trigger the release of electrons via the photoelectric effect. This charge builds up during the exposure and the magnitude of the accumulated charge is read out at the end of the exposure.

In a SPAD sensor, the photoelectrons that are released are then accelerated by a powerful electrical field. The energy of their impact triggers an avalanche of electrons to be released within the semiconductor. This allows sensors to detect down to the sensitivity of individual photons.

Such sensors don't need to accumulate charge before they're read out, so individual photon arrivals can be detected as they arrive: continuously sampling, rather than capturing separate, discrete exposures.

And, because each avalanche of electrons is so distinct from any coincidental electronic noise, it's possible to essentially factor-out all read noise from the system. However, the nature of light means that photon shot noise (the randomness of light) would still be unavoidably present in any photograph.

Nestling behind some magnifying optics is a Type 1 SPAD sensor, capturing 1920 x 1080 footage from its 3.2MP resolution. Image: Canon

These characteristics lend themselves very well to video capture in extreme low light. Canon has previously show its SPAD sensor visualizing a single pulse of laser light as it moves. The MS510 is geared towards slightly less rapid movement, and has a movable infrared filter, allowing it to capture some light just outside the visible spectrum, for even better performance in extreme low light.

Like its predecessor, the MS510 accepted broadcast lenses designed for Type 2/3 sensors, and features magnifying optics in front of the sensor to make full use of the sensor area.

However, while some of these properties sound like they would be useful for photography, and Canon has previously talked about the SPAD sensor matching the performance of a sensor 10 times its size, you shouldn't expect to see a SPAD sensor in an EOS camera any time soon.

Also, it's woth noting that the quantum efficiency (proportion of the incoming light that it successfully measures) isn't significantly different to that of current CMOS sensors, so the benefits primarily exist in ultra-low light, where read noise plays a significant role, rather than daytime photography where photon shot noise has the most impact.

The electrical field required to accelerate photons as they arrive in the sensor uses much more power than the CMOS sensors we're used to. We only have the figures for the MS510 camera as a whole, which includes powering its controllers and fan but, for reference, Canon's other MS cameras with Super35 and full-frame CMOS sensors consume between 8 and 12W, whereas the MS510 consumes 24W. This suggests both battery life and thermal management would be challenging to produce a photographer's camera. And, for now, at least, resolution.

Photo: MPB

Spring is synonymous with growth, and it might just be the best time to upgrade your photography kit. That's why we've teamed up with MPB, the leading platform for buying, selling, and trading camera equipment, to give away a $1,000 gift card.

Because MPB has everything from lenses and bodies to bags and tripods, one lucky winner will be able to customize their ultimate shopping spree to precisely their needs. Enter below by April 29 for your chance to win.

Terms: No purchase necessary. Enter from April 15, 2026-April 29, 2026 for your chance to win. Sweepstakes is open to residents of the United States and the District of Columbia who are lawful U.S. residents, and are 18 years of age or older, as of the start date of the sweepstakes. Void where prohibited by law. Sponsor: Gear Patrol. See official rules for details and Sponsor’s privacy policy.

This is sponsored content, created in partnership with MPB. What does this mean?

Image: Leica

Leica is opening a new retail store and, as we've come to expect, that means it's also releasing a limited edition camera to commemorate the occasion. It's called the Chicago Edition 17 (no points for guessing where the store's located), and it's an M11-P wrapped in a "boysenberry leatherette."

Special-edition Leicas are nothing new, and the company has a long list of limited releases and collaborations, including the city-specific models it released as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations last year. To my eye, though, this one looks especially nice, and the special edition tax is surprisingly low. The Chicago Edition 17 will retail for $10,900, around $500 over the price of a standard M11-P.

Image: Leica

As the name implies, there are 17 of the limited-edition cameras, and they're only being sold at the Chicago store. The company says the store is "soft opening" today, but that it will be holding a grand opening ceremony on the 30th, which will include an exhibition of work by Leica photographer Craig Semetko in the location's gallery space. The company also says the store will feature work from other artists, too, such as Alana Tsui and Dr. Romanelli. That's also when the camera will be available for sale.