Earlier this summer, LK Samyang announced the AF 60-180mm F2.8, its latest lens that it says was developed in collaboration with German optics company Schneider-Kreuznach. We’ve had the chance to test it out the version for E-mount (though the company has recently announced it’ll be available for L-mount next week), shooting with it in a variety of conditions to produce a sample gallery, and forming some impressions along the way.

In use

The thing I immediately noticed about this lens was its weight, as it comes in at just 730g (1.6lbs). According to LK Samyang, it’s the lightest option in this class, and I found that difference noticeable. It was very easy to carry around, even for extended shooting sessions. While the lens extends as you zoom in, this doesn’t result in a substantial shift in its center of gravity, which is always nice when changing focal lengths.

Speaking of, though, the zoom ring might be the lens’s weakest point. It has a nice textured rubber coating, but can be a bit difficult to turn with any amount of precision, as it’s quite stiff, but inconsistently so; I sometimes had to work to turn it from 60mm, before finding myself in an easy patch sailing right through the focal length I wanted. It’s not end of the world, and I got used to it with practice, but it is a reminder that you’re using a budget lens. 

Mitchell Clark

The lens is also made out of a plastic that isn’t the most premium-feeling. Nor does the customizable control button, though it’s a nice inclusion. Finally, LK Samyang has added a lock switch to keep the lens at 60mm while you’re walking around with it, though I found the mechanism’s stiffness was enough to keep it from accidentally extending. However, it does hold it incredibly well; I once accidentally locked the lens, and was completely unable to turn the zoom ring until I discovered what had happened.

It focuses quite quickly, though it’s not the absolute fastest I’ve ever experienced. That’s not surprising given that it uses stepping motors rather than linear ones, but it should be more than acceptable for everything but the fastest of action. I also appreciated its close focusing abilities, as it has a minimum focusing distance of just 0.35m (1.2′) at the wide end, letting me get quite close to my subject, which suits my style of shooting. Unlike the zoom ring, the manual focus ring is perfectly pleasant to use.

While this lens is in some ways competing with the venerable 70-200mm F2.8 options available from Sony, Panasonic and Sigma, its closest competitor is the Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VC VXD G2, a lens I tested out earlier this year. In my mind, there’s no clear winner between the two; the Tamron weighs a bit more, but its body and controls feel a bit nicer (or, in the case of the zoom ring, a fair bit nicer). It also has optical image stabilization, snappy autofocus motors and access to the special features Tamron’s been adding to its lineup via its app. But then I also found myself appreciating the ability to go that bit wider with the Samyang. And both have image quality that would’ve been unthinkable at this price range just a few years ago, though the vignetting at F2.8 is perhaps a touch less noticeable on the Samyang.

It’s nice that there’s another budget option for a fast tele-zoom for E-mount, and one that’s quite capable for its price. It’s perhaps more exciting that it’s coming for L-mount, where there aren’t that many lightweight, budget tele options. It’s also nice to see that Samyang doesn’t seem to be waiting a long time between releasing lenses for the system after announcing them for E-mount.

Sample gallery

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

Thanks to Sony for the loan of an a7R V to shoot this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer’s distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting. The profile corrects a fair amount of barrel distortion at the wide and some pincushion distortion at the long end. It’s enough that we’d recommend using the corrections if you can, though we don’t consider them an essential part of the lens’s design.

Photography YouTuber Casey Cavanaugh, also known as GXAce, is working on something new: a camera called the GX-P1. Cavanaugh has been teasing the camera for a few weeks, and there’s still a lot more we don’t know, but a newsletter he wrote, seen by PetaPixel, has shed a bit more light on what it’ll look like.

According to PetaPixel, the GX-P1 will be a fixed lens digital camera that shoots images in the 65:24 aspect ratio popularized by the Hasselblad XPan. The goal is to make a camera “built specifically for photography,” something Cavanaugh says “not a single camera company seems to want to do.” His goal is to crowdfund the camera later this year, though there’s apparently still quite a lot of work to be done.

While the ultra-wide format has a number of dedicated fans, there aren’t that many options if you want to shoot it these days. Fujifilm built a setting for the aspect ratio into the GFX100RF, and Panasonic has built support for it into many of its full-frame cameras, but it’s far from common. But even if you have no interest in a camera dedicated to it, there could still be reasons to follow the GX-P1 project.

According to PetaPixel, Cavanaugh plans on publishing videos about the process of creating the camera, offering a rare inside look into what it takes to build a digital camera from the ground up. As he himself points out in his review of the Pixii Max, a small, independent team’s journey to bring a camera to market will look very different than that of a major company that has experience, existing relationships and economies of scale, but I’m still excited to see the process.

Cavanaugh is working with designer and creative director Ash Thorp, who has worked on movies like 2022’s The Batman and 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and the GXAce videos place a heavy emphasis on aesthetics, so I suspect we’ll get a lot of information about the work that went into the physical design the camera. So far, the team has only shown a few photos of the device, revealing what looks like an optical viewfinder, top plate informational display and a control dial.

We’ll have to wait until Cavanaugh releases more information, or the first video of the series, to find out more, but we’ll be eagerly waiting for the first episode.

The Camera Intelligence Caira is something between a dedicated camera and a phone accessory. It has its own Micro Four Thirds mount, an 11.4MP sensor and a Snapdragon processor to handle computational tasks like multi-exposure image stacking, and autofocus and white balance calculations. However, it only has a single control – a shutter button – and no display. To actually use it, you need an iPhone (specifically, as it won’t work with an Android phone), which physically connects to the back of the Caira using MagSafe and digitally connects to it via Wi-Fi for liveview and control.

It’s also a camera that’s all-in on AI for both shooting and editing. It uses the tech to control autofocus, white balance and exposure while you’re taking a picture, and, after you’ve captured the scene, you can change it using an editor powered by Google’s “Nano Banana” generative AI model. The app gives you preset changes, like removing clutter from a scene, changing eye-lines and applying a VHS-style filter, as well as a chatbot to make more arbitrary changes, or to get feedback on the image you’ve taken. However, that bits that deal with generative AI are optional (and, indeed, require a monthly subscription), so we’ll mainly be focusing on how the Caira behaves as a camera.

The Caira is available for pre-order for $1000, though there’s more to the availability story.

Key Specifications

• Micro Four Thirds mount
• 11.4MP ~Four Thirds (244mm²) BSI CMOS sensor w/ Quad Bayer
• Brightness-map HDR JPEG output
• Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• MagSafe mount for iPhone
• AI exposure, white balance and autofocus
• Built-in generative AI-powered editor
• 64GB internal storage

Note: this review was written after using the camera with several beta firmware versions provided by Camera Intelligence, and extensive use with the latest version.

Body, handling and controls

Mitchell Clark

The Caira’s body is made out of aluminum, and it’s a nice-feeling physical object. There are only a few features on it: a (disappointingly vague) shutter button, the lens mount, a power button, a USB C port for charging and 3.5mm microphone jack. It also has a cold shoe for mounting accessories.

While I found it relatively comfortable to hold in one hand, using my thumb to control it and index finger to press the shutter, I couldn’t help but worry about the connection between the camera body and my phone. Apple’s MagSafe is relatively robust, but it still just relies on magnets, which are only strong in certain directions. When I’m using the Caira, it’s hard not to imagine bumping my phone wrong and sending it crashing to the ground.

Mitchell Clark

Speaking of my phone, most of the camera’s interface is actually in its companion app. It connects to the camera via Wi-Fi, and provides controls for various parameters: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and focus. You can also set the controls to “Advanced” to change lens distortion correction and white balance temperature / tint.

By default, the controls are collapsed, and the camera handles exposure and white balance automatically. If you tap a button to gain access to the controls, though, you can then tap the icon for each parameter to turn it into manual mode, and control it using a slider. I’ve found this to be okay for controlling focus – the camera has some decent assist tools – but not so great for exposure; the sliders make it easy to make big adjustments, but fine-grained ones like picking F4 instead of F3.5 or 4.5 require a fair amount of concentration. This is a camera best used in auto mode, with manual intervention only when necessary.

Mitchell Clark

I found that the Caira works best with smaller, lighter lenses (the kind that are thankfully abundant in the Micro Four Thirds ecosystem). I used it a bit with the OM System 12-40mm F2.8 II Pro, and found it a difficult to keep steady with how front-heavy it was; it’s difficult to compose when the preview is jittery and bouncy. It was still workable, but I don’t think I’d want to shoot with anything much bigger, and preferred using small primes.

Image Quality

Before we dive into image quality, a note on the sensor. Very much like the Panasonic’s GH5S, the Caira uses a slightly oversized Four Thirds sensor, that allows you to use different region of the sensor to produce different aspect ratios. But while the Panasonic went up to 10.2MP in its 4:3 mode, the Caira allows you to go up to 11.4MP in its 3:2 mode. This essentially uses the standard Micro Four Thirds sensor height but extends around 10% further than usual, horizontally.

This is because, rather than limiting itself to using the sensor area covered by the Micro Four Thirds imaging circle, it instead uses that extended region, warning you that your lenses may or may not be able to project light onto the whole thing. So far, all the lenses I’ve tested with it have performed well, with no notable vignetting in the corners, but it’s worth keeping in mind that there’s a potential trade-off between maximum compatibility and resolution.

And you may want to think twice before giving up any resolution, as the Caira captures less detail than most other cameras you can buy today. That’s not to say that it’s insufficient – the photos it takes will look great on social media and most computer monitors and small prints – but you don’t have to zoom or crop in far before things start to look a little soft. It also has a base ISO of 400, so the cleanest images you can get out of it will still be 1EV noisier than most other Four Thirds sensor cameras, at least in its single-shot mode. However, there’s a good reason why.

One of the Caira’s tricks is that, as we’ve seen with the Sigma BF and Hasselblad X2D II, its JPEGs contain embedded gain maps to produce an HDR effect. When shooting a high-contrast scene, the camera is reducing exposure to retain as much highlight information as possible (a task it didn’t always do successfully; I have a lot of pictures with clipped highlights). Then, it’s raising the shadows in the JPEG to produce an image that looks correct, but that includes dazzling highlights.

This is actually a method of shooting we often advocate for, given the strong dynamic range performance of modern sensors, so it’s interesting to see a camera that actually does it with relative success, even if it doesn’t seem like this sensor is the absolute best fit for that style of shooting. It would also explain why the camera’s base ISO is 400, as it’s trying to capture one additional stop of highlights, compared with the ISO 200 modes on most Micro Four Thirds cameras designed to shoot in SDR.

While the camera’s low-light mode can stack up to 16 images together, the results are usually still relatively noisy, without a ton of detail. The process also won’t work with a moving subject. Still, in some circumstances it can result in decent images, but it’s definitely worth taking the name of the feature seriously: it’s a low light mode, not a no-light mode. It also reduces the amount of manual control you have, understandably locking shutter speed and ISO into auto, as those parameters start to mean less as you stack exposures.

Both cameras were set to auto and told to set focus and aperture on the same flower. Note that the iPhone is set to shoot using its 24MP mode.

It’s hard to directly compare a more traditional camera with a phone, as the latter is always doing a lot of heavy lifting with computation, where the Caira currently only uses a single exposure outside of its low-light mode. However, I found that my iPhone 15 Pro was typically better at focus and making the lightness and white balance more true-to-life. What the Caira could do that it can’t, though, is use Micro Four Thirds lenses that provide more flexibility in focal lengths and deliver pleasing bokeh that comes from optics, rather than computation. Even when I didn’t prefer how the Caira interpreted the scene (or was annoyed that it missed focus), the photos had an undeniable look to them that phones still can’t replicate.

Autofocus and performance

Mitchell Clark

The Caira has three autofocus modes: single, continuous and manual. It has a single size autofocus point, and you tap on the screen to choose its location. It can recognize faces, which it can use to track a person as they move through the frame, though you can also tell it to focus on a non-human subject even when there’s a face in the frame. Outside of tracking faces, though, the autofocus point doesn’t attempt to stick to the object you put it over if it or the camera moves; it stays in the same position in the frame.

I’d be tempted to complain about the lack of generic subject tracking, but I won’t. The camera seemingly used to have it prior to the continuous autofocus update (that, or it was just extremely overeager when it came to identifying things as faces), and it was incredibly frustrating, wandering off the subject and resetting to its original point just before I was going to take a picture, with no way to turn it off. It’s a pity to not have it as a function, but better to have a system that predictably works for the things you ask it to do than one that gives you false hope.

Camera Intelligence gives you several options for how you want the focus to behave when you half-press the shutter, as well as manual focusing assistance tools, like a tiny, low-contrast “rangefinder” patch that you can line up with your subject to ensure focus, and a much more reasonably-sized magnified window that appears when you half-press the shutter in manual focus mode (though it’s rendered in black-and-white, rather than color).

Autofocus performance

The Caira doesn’t use a traditional contrast-based or phase-detection system for AF. Instead, it uses “custom-trained neural networks running on the camera to estimate from the preview feed exactly how far and in which direction to move the lens to bring the image into focus,” according to Liam Donovan, the company’s CTO. The camera also uses different algorithms for single-shot and continuous AF.

I found the single-shot mode to be, broadly, quite frustrating. It’s sometimes capable of nailing focus, but never feels confident. I have sequences of images where it would get the first exposure sharp, then drift out of focus in subsequent shots, and it typically ends up hunting quite a lot.

This behavior will still happen occasionally in the continuous mode, but it’s overall less indecisive and my hit rate with it was much higher. That’s not to say that its autofocus is as good as most of the other cameras I test – there were plenty of relatively easy situations where it still completely missed focus – but it was at least usable, which isn’t how I’d describe the single-shot algorithm.

There’s another issue with the focus though, which makes it even harder to trust. The live view preview, transmitted over Wi-Fi, is compressed to the point where it’s very difficult to tell if the image is soft because it’s completely out of focus, or if it’s just the low-quality video stream. This would be one thing if I could trust the AF system to get it right all or most of the time, but since I can’t, it makes getting sharp images out of the camera that much more difficult.

Speed

The Caira app is responsive on my iPhone 15 Pro, though that isn’t surprising given it’s a relatively modern flagship phone. What isn’t as snappy is the camera’s readout speed. The camera doesn’t have a mechanical shutter, so you’re stuck using the E-shutter, which takes 50.7ms to read out in stills mode. This means that any fast-moving subjects will have substantial rolling shutter distortion, and there’s a risk of banding when shooting under artificial lighting.

Using Wi-Fi, the pictures can also take a beat to transfer from the camera to the phone, and the app can occasionally get confused during this process if you try to review a photo too early, showing you your previous photo rather than the low-res preview of the incoming one.

A camera tied to a phone

Mitchell Clark

That aforementioned blocky, soft autofocus preview is just one symptom of the Caira’s total reliance on the iPhone it’s attached to. Shooting with it made me realize that I take the integration of a traditional camera for granted. If I see a shot I want to take, I can pull the camera out and, typically with a flick of my finger, turn it on and take the picture.

This was not the case with the Caira. Even in the best-case scenario, capturing a moment with it requires unlocking my phone (a process that, occasionally, means putting in a passcode), and waiting a beat for the Caira app to get back up to speed.

But just as often, it meant doing that, then having to switch back to the app from whatever I had previously been doing on my phone – looking at a map, texting my wife, sharing photos, or whatever else I needed my phone for – and having to reconnect to the Caira’s Wi-Fi, since it only stays connected to your phone for a (thankfully customizable) set period of time. And that’s assuming I even had my phone attached to it, which I wouldn’t always, since having a camera and lens stuck on the back makes it hard to use as, you know, a phone.

As a reviewer, I typically try to set aside my personal preferences when evaluating a product. Even if I, say, prefer 35mm to 28mm, I won’t hold the choice of the latter against a compact camera. However, the multi-step process required to take a picture with this camera was genuinely a massive barrier to me wanting to use it. I frequently saw something that I wanted to take a photo of, but ended up not bothering because of the hassle of having to wait for the camera to turn on (which takes around 15 seconds), then wait for my phone to connect to its Wi-Fi; a process that I mustn’t start even a second before the camera is ready, otherwise I’ll have to wait for the phone to fail to connect before telling it to retry.

It’s also worth saying explicitly: the only reason I’m even able to have these complaints is because I’m an iPhone user. If I had an Android phone, I couldn’t use the camera at all. It’s completely unusable without its iOS-only app.

This approach isn’t without its benefits, though. The wireless connection between camera and phone means you have near-unlimited flexibility when it comes to how you frame your shots, since you can pull your phone off the body while maintaining the preview, as long as you don’t stray too far away from the Caira. You can also remotely adjust its settings and trigger the shutter.

Despite how good many camera apps have become, the Caira is by far the easiest camera to share photos from, as they’re downloaded as soon as I take them. While some camera apps have a similar function, it requires manually starting the app and connecting it to the camera; of course, the Caira requires this too, but you’ll never forget to do it, as it’s a prerequisite for even being able to use the camera.

It has its own storage, but the photos – Raws and JPEGs – are also dumped straight into my Apple Photos library, where they’ll automatically sync with all my devices via iCloud. It’s really nice coming back from a shoot, opening my laptop, and immediately having access to all the pictures I just took.

It’s also rare that I’ve used a dedicated camera with a screen as good as my iPhone 15 Pro’s. Not only is it larger and higher-resolution than the typical camera screen and bright enough to be visible in most conditions, it can also easily display the HDR images the Caira takes in their full glory.

The future of cameras?

Mitchell Clark

Unsurprisingly, given the Caira’s ties to phone photography, it joins the relatively small ranks of cameras that shoot for HDR output by default. We’ve seen some other camera manufacturers start to adopt similar techniques, especially now that it’s possible to create backwards-compatible files that will display as standard JPEGs if your hardware or software doesn’t understand or can’t display the gain map. However, it goes further than any other camera I’ve tested, though, providing several “levels” of HDR effect, ranging from “Subtle” to “Extreme.”

When enabling the latter, the app even warns you that images taken with the setting will be displayed using your screen’s full capabilities, and that it could even compromise quality on older devices. Despite this, and somewhat ironically given the name, I found the differences in the images taken at the various settings to be quite subtle, and the camera doesn’t appear to adjust its metering (and hence highlight capture) based on how much HDR effect you’re asking it to apply. The differences are small enough to make me wonder if the feature is even working as intended, as is the fact that setting HDR to “Disabled” still results in images with an embedded brightness map that light up my MacBook and iPhone’s screen.

Whichever setting it’s at, the Caira’s HDR implementation has become appreciably more subtle and pleasing after a few software updates. Donovan says the company redid it to make sure it got things right, and represented colors accurately.

Mitchell Clark

Because so much about the Caira is defined by software, it’s comparatively easy for the Camera Intelligence team to update it, often in substantial and fundamental ways. During my time testing the camera, the company has improved the image processing in a way that genuinely leads to much nicer-looking pictures, and has added features I consider to be vital, like an exposure compensation control.

There are still improvements to be found – I found the camera still occasionally gets white balance and colors quite wrong, and some of my night mode shots ended up with corrupted rows of pixels – but, unlike other camera companies, I strongly suspect Camera Intelligence will keep working on it.

While the Caira was arguably released in a much less finished state than most cameras, with its barely-working AF and lack of critical features, I wouldn’t mind seeing other manufacturers focus more on addressing user feedback and making improvements after a camera’s release. While there are some that do – Panasonic and Nikon deserve a shout out for their most recent models – it’s rarely with the same speed as Camera Intelligence (which, in fairness, only has to support a single model).

I also appreciate the phone-like use of stacking to improve image quality in low-light, with no requirement to assemble the image in post, as we’ve seen with other cameras. While there are definitely benefits to the single-shot exposures, having the option to do multi-shot stacking would be a nice addition to smaller-sensor cameras (and, indeed, is a welcome inclusion on cameras from companies like OM System and Panasonic). Camera Intelligence also says that it’s working on a multi-shot high-resolution mode which, again, I would expect to be very easy to use, not requiring a desktop app to put it all together.

Finally, there’s the camera’s voice control mode, which theoretically lets you issue commands to your phone to control the camera in everyday language. I say theoretically because half the time it either missed what I said, or just decided to ignore it. When it worked, though, I could see the bones of a useful feature. I could do basic commands like “take a picture” or “shoot in black and white,” but I could also ask it to do things like “make the background less blurry,” and watch it adjust the aperture.

Mitchell Clark

That could be really powerful for people who don’t know photography terms, but was unfortunately a very mixed bag. Basic asks like “make this picture brighter” yielded no results, and requests that it did understand were sometimes clunky. If the aperture was in auto mode, asking it to change anything about it would only switch the aperture setting to manual. It didn’t fully implement my request until I repeated it, making it a two-step process. And sometimes when I asked it to make my background less blurry, it’d pick something sensible, like F7.1. Other times, it’d stop the lens all the way down to F22. It did this in the same shooting conditions, so it’s not the result of it being clever about how much light was in the scene.

Oh, and if I did try to do things manually and tell it to “set my aperture to F4” or F8, it consistently set it to something other than what I asked. It would show on the screen that it heard me say F4, then I’d watch as the aperture slider moved to… F5. F8 was F7.1, and a request for F16 got me F14.

Beyond a reliance on an external device, there are other aspects of the Caira that I wouldn’t like to see carried over to traditional cameras. While the company says it’s added additional guardrails to the Google Nano Banana generative AI editing, beyond what the model itself enforces, I’m still not a fan of changing the reality of what was captured. I believe the imperfections in images, and the challenge of working around less-than-ideal shooting conditions, are vital parts of the craft. I don’t like the idea of a future where photographers get used to just fixing it in post the way filmmakers creating a fictional narrative do, or where its the norm to assume that every photo you see has been altered with AI (though it may be too late for the latter).

The Kickstarter of it all

I suspect most people won’t come away from this review planning on buying the Caira, but if you have, a word of caution. Before working on the Caira, the same team made a similar product called the Alice camera, which was initially sold via crowdfunding site IndieGoGo. Despite the camera being available in retail stores, there are backers who have complained as recently as March of this year that they haven’t received the cameras they paid for in 2021. When we asked the team about the unfulfilled orders late last year, they said clearing their backlog was their “highest priority,” and detailed the logistical and legal hurdles that had led to the shipments being delayed.

While the Caira’s Kickstarter is far less overdue, its comments section is still full of people asking where their camera is, and bemoaning the lack of communication from the company. Camera Intelligence is still putting out updates to backers, but they’re not terribly frequent. It’s also selling preorders on the dedicated Caira website, which a bit of an uncomfortable look when the team is still working on fulfilling its Kickstarter backlog for two separate projects.

Conclusion

Reviewing a camera like the Caira is hard, because it’s such a moving target. If I had written this a few months ago when I first received the camera, it would’ve been a very different conversation. It’s been impressive seeing the camera go from something that, frankly, barely worked, to something that’s genuinely okay to use.

However, over that time I’ve also discovered firsthand why previous attempts at this kind of camera/phone accessory hybrid from companies like Sony and DxO haven’t really taken off, despite being released in an era where smartphone’s cameras were far less capable on their own. The vast collection of AI features and tech built into the Caira hasn’t fixed the inherent clunkiness to the experience of an app-reliant camera. True, it improves on the smartphone by giving you access to a larger sensor and interchangeable lens mount, but so would buying a traditional ILC, which will give you a far more enjoyable shooting experience.

Mitchell Clark

And that’s a shame, since there are some really good ideas in the Caira, even if many of them are still at the “has promise” stage of implementation. And the team behind it clearly has talent; the fact that they built a working AI-powered autofocus and exposure system and multishot-stacking algorithm from the ground up is impressive, despite still feeling like they need a lot of work.

Camera Intelligence bills the Caira as a camera for creators, for those who want good photos and video without having to understand how to make those. Unfortunately, it’s not there yet. Even as an experienced photographer, I often struggled to get it to do what I wanted, largely thanks to the autofocus system and controls. The results it produced weren’t enough of a step up from my (much easier to use) phone to justify the extra bulk of carrying it around, and the multi-step process to take a picture. Plus, the lack of stabilization combined with its somewhat awkward ergonomics can make previewing your image a bit of a pain unless you have rock-steady hands.

Still, my time with the camera was enough to make me hope that Camera Intelligence is able to stick around to keep working on the Caira so it can reach its full potential, and to continue talks with other camera makers who may be interested in using their technology. However, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that the former may be more of a proof of concept or beta test for the latter, rather than an actual consumer product, despite the creator-focused marketing. Even if those talks go nowhere, though, I’d still like to see the company stick around, at the very least so everyone who ordered one gets it.

Sample Gallery

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

A note on captions: I’ve shot with three major firmware versions while testing this camera, all of which have come with relatively fundamental changes to the image processing and/or shooting experience. Images taken with the original firmware have it noted in the caption, while images marked “Shot with Continuous Autofocus Update” were taken using the latest firmware available at time of writing, and include the updates to the image pipeline that came with the second version of firmware.

Polaroid is teasing something new coming tomorrow, posting a graphic on its social media page inspired by the hugely successful video game franchise Pokémon, implying that it could be some sort of collaboration. The post’s caption says “Something’s almost ready to show itself… revealed on August 18th.”

It’s always possible the company is riffing on a meme format to tease a completely new product, but if we had to guess, it seems more likely that it’ll be an existing product with a Pokémon theme. The silhouette in the image looks a lot like the existing Polaroid Go with a Pikachu tail, and we’ve seen instant cameras made to reference the franchise’s most recognizable character before. It’s also not out of the question that the announcement is about a co-branded film, rather than a camera; the company has done both, releasing cameras with Thrasher and MoMA liveries, and films with Pantone-colored frames.

Whatever it is, it’s more than likely it’ll be something camera-related. There was a time when the Polaroid name and logo appeared on a wide array of products that had very little to do with taking photos, from TVs to AA batteries, thanks to other companies licensing the brand. While this practice is still alive and well in the industry, it seems to be less common with Polaroid after it was purchased by the same person who owned the Impossible Project, leading to film and cameras once again being sold under the company’s name.

Recently, the company has been going after an audience tired of screens and phones, with its “the best summer is analog” campaign. The target audience clearly skews younger, the kind of people who would’ve grown up playing Pokémon games on their Nintendo DS or smartphone. So a collaboration between the two makes sense, tugging at people’s nostalgia for a time when the devices in their pocket were for having fun, rather than doomscrolling. Whatever it is, we won’t have to wait very long to see it fully unveiled.

Earlier this week, Google announced the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, the latest entry in its lineup of folding phones. While it includes some meaningful improvements over its predecessor, Google is still asking people to pay $1900 for a phone that makes a lot of compromises, at a time when its competitors have offerings that don’t ask you to give up much.

The issue is most evident when it comes to cameras. Despite its “Pro” branding, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold’s camera setup is more similar to that of the standard Pixel 11 – a phone that costs $1000 less – than the Pixel 11 Pro. It has the same Type 1/1.56 (48mm²) main sensor and the same Type 1/3.2 (15.5mm²) telephoto camera as the Pixel 11, and its ultrawide camera is actually fractionally smaller. So yes, even compared to the Pixel 11, the Fold’s cameras are technically worse, while the Pro’s array beats it in every way.

Compare this with Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Sure, it costs $200 more than Google’s foldable (though at these prices, that only amounts to an 11% premium), and its three cameras are the same as you’d find on the top-of-the-line Galaxy S26 Ultra. Now, the Z Fold 8 Ultra lacks the periscope camera you’d get on the candybar ultra, but for most shooting situations, its cameras are comparable to those on standard flagships like the iPhone 17 Pro or Google Pixel 11 Pro.

In fairness to Google, if you’re just comparing the cameras, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold comes out a bit ahead of Samsung’s price-competitive Galaxy Z Fold 8. That phone has a better ultrawide, but omits a telephoto option completely. However, it’s also a passport-style phone, adopting a form-factor that looks like it may be the future of foldables, if early reviews are any indication. When Samsung compromises on the cameras, you get something in return.

Still, you could potentially argue that Google is competing with Samsung on the camera front, as long as you ignore that the latter offers another model if you don’t prefer to compromise. But while cameras are obviously our primary concern here at DPReview, we recognize that most people’s phone purchasing decisions won’t hinge on the minutiae of sensor sizes (though if you’re spending almost $2000 on a phone, odds are you’re an enthusiast who wants the best whether you’ll use it to its fullest or not). Unfortunately for Google, the 11 Pro Fold is falling behind in other ways, too.

Samsung

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold has a few physical changes that are genuine improvements. It has slimmer bezels, is a touch thinner and lighter and is more durable. But when you open up that interior screen, you’ll still be greeted with a noticeable crease down the middle, something Samsung has all but eliminated in its latest foldables thanks to some clever engineering. The Korean giant is also starting to adopt silicon-carbon battery tech, letting it pack more energy density into the same space. I suspect these two factors will be big points in Samsung’s favor to the typical foldable buyer – the big screen you’re paying so dearly for will be nicer to look at and your phone will likely last longer on a charge – even if they don’t care about cameras.

As if Samsung’s foldables weren’t enough of a threat to Google’s foldable ambitions, there’s even more competition on the horizon. Apple is expected to release its first foray into the form factor soon, likely with a passport-style phone. While I’d bet that its cameras won’t be anything special (if the iPhone Air is anything to go by), Apple undoubtedly has a way of exciting consumers about technologies that its competitors have long since adopted*. Google has brought a mild refresh with compromised cameras to a hype cycle fight.

What’s more, it’s really only Americans who will be choosing between the Pixel, Galaxy and iPhone. Outside of the US, there are even more options from companies like Oppo or Huawei, and while neither company has made one that uses the massive image sensors found in their main phones, that feels more like a matter of when, not if.

None of this is to say that I think the Pixel 11 Pro Fold will be bad. This is Google’s fourth folding phone, and it’s pretty good at making them by now. I’m sure the pictures it takes will be fine for most people, and that it’ll be good enough that the Google faithful will be happy to have it as an option. But with prices for foldables being higher than ever, and such fierce competition that promises to only get more intense in the coming months, I just don’t buy that good enough is good enough.

* – I’ll own up to the fact that this works on me, too. In 2024, I wrote an opinion piece about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold entitled “I don’t want to pay $1799 for worse photos.” And yet, hypocrite that I am, there’s a very high chance that I’ll buy the foldable iPhone, which may very well have worse cameras than my current iPhone 15 Pro. At the very least, it’ll almost certainly have fewer of them. The only thing saving me from being a complete liar is the fact that there’s no way Apple will charge $1800 for its foldable. I’ll consider myself lucky if it’s under $2000.

Tariffs are back in the US, and this time they’re targeted at drones. According to a statement posted by The White House on Thursday, there will be a 25% tariff on drones smaller than 25kg (55lb) and components for them. This comes as the drone market in the US has already suffered a major blow when the FCC said it would no longer approve new drones from foreign companies for sale, effectively making it so none of the major drone makers (read: DJI) could launch their new products in the country.

The White House positions the tariffs as a way to “address the national security threat posed by imports of drones and their components,” though the statement specifically calls out that the smaller drones being tariffed at 25% “lack certain capabilities that particularly implicate national security.” The tariffs come down much harder on heavier industrial and agricultural models, or drones that have thermal imaging capabilities; those are being taxed at 100%.

This is the latest move from the US government aimed at curtailing the popularity of foreign-made drones. Last year, it made it so companies couldn’t get regulatory approval to sell new drones in the country, but allowed existing models to remain on store shelves. That hasn’t changed, but with the addition of tariffs, it seems certain that those drones will now be more expensive, leaving Americans to pay more for now-outdated models.

The tariffs on drones will take effect 21 days from when the proclamation was signed, while the ones on some components may take a while longer to go into effect. In case it wasn’t clear that the administration was largely targeting drones made in China, the proclamation also contains a carveout on drones and components made in the EU, Japan, Liechtenstein, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK, as long as “substantially all hardware, software, and technology originates from within these countries and the United States.” If they meet that bar, they’ll only be tariffed at 15% (or 10% for the UK).

DJI

This isn’t the current US administration’s first attempt at tariffs. Last year it announced wide-ranging import tariffs on goods from virtually every other country, sparking trade wars, which saw threats of tariffs as high as 25% on goods from Japan, and up to 145% on Chinese imports. While they were in effect, nearly every camera company raised its prices on most or all of their products. While the reciprocal tariffs were deemed illegal by the Supreme Court earlier this year, we’ve yet to see a wholesale softening of those prices.

As for whether these new tariffs will meet the same fate, it’s impossible to say. But if you’re an American considering a drone, it may be worth getting it sooner, rather than later.

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In the lead-up to the total solar eclipse on August 12th, we asked our community members who would be in its path to share the best photos they took of it. It ended up being a very special event, too; typically, you need a solar filter to shoot the sun in any form, making it the only thing you can see in the frame. But because this eclipse happened when the sun was so low on the horizon, it allowed people to capture it like they would a typical sunset photo, with the landscape visible in front of it.

Despite the brief window of time and relatively limited area it was visible from, our community absolutely delivered on the opportunity, capturing and sharing some incredible shots. Here are a few (but not all) of our favorites.

Total eclipse images

The main event of a solar eclipse – what gets people to spend hours or even days traveling to a surely crowded area – is the moment of totality, where the sun is completely blocked by the moon. And while it’s easy for most pictures of this moment to turn out very similar, some of our readers found interesting ways to capture it, putting it in context.

Abenjaldun

User Abenjaldun captured this image in Cerceda, Spain, where the totality lasted around 35″.

ml6

This photo from user ml6 was one of several they posted showing the moment of totality. While others in the gallery show it in more detail, this one captures the feeling of the moment, of being surrounded by people all experiencing – and trying to capture – the same thing as you.

ARSPR

This image captured by user ARSPR shows a solar flare erupting from the sun at the moment of eclipse. ARSPR says they shot the image planning to use the ISO invariance of the Sony a6700’s sensor to brighten it later, though this particular photo is an out-of-camera JPEG.

Partial eclipse images

While pictures of the total eclipse are striking, partial eclipses are visible in more places, so more people have a chance to photograph them. And, because there’s more light, it’s easier to capture the scene around it, while still producing a beautiful image.

Jonathan MacDonald

User Jonathan Mac managed to get several great photos from the eclipse, despite saying that this was their first time photographing (or even experiencing) one. Jonathan began researching what gear and techniques would be required to capture it back in December, and says it’s their “longest and most complicated photography project” to date. That work, and the fact that the eclipse combined with a sunset, paid off, resulting in a frame that looks straight out of a classic sci-fi movie.

TheDispossessed

Normally, clouds rolling in would ruin the chance to take pictures of celestial events, but user TheDispossessed was able to capture a moment where they heightened the experience, instead of detracting from it. The photo was taken in Durham, and TheDispossessed says it was just in the nick of time; the sun apparently disappeared right after they pressed the shutter.

RFB97

Speaking of clouds and sci-fi, user RFB97 says they left their telephoto lens at home, but were able to improvise with their dad’s Nikon P1000 to get a close-up of the partial eclipse as seen from Algeria. RFB97 missed seeing the full eclipse because it happened as the sun was setting, and seems disappointed in the photo they captured because of the heat waves and lack of detail, but we think the image turned out really well.

cbf_si

User cbf_si took this photo near Slovenia’s highest mountain, resulting in a landscape shot so beautiful, you might be forgiven for missing the fact that an eclipse is happening during it.

Didier_Fr

Didier_Fr chose to visit the Saint-Mathieu lighthouse in the west of France to capture the eclipse, which seems like an inspired choice. I’m personally a sucker for images of light sources with the sun behind them, and the cool-factor of it is substantially higher when the light is coming from the partially-obscured sun.

Finally, two of our users, t_3, in Germany and Eric_., in Cambridge, UK, took a crack at the timelapse format that’s always popular with eclipses.

t_3

Eric_.

Through a different lens

One of the most interesting effects of a solar eclipse is that it turns everyday objects into cameras obscura – anything with a hole in it that’s the correct size will project an image of the event onto the surface behind it, resulting in bizarre and lovely patterns of light and shade. A few of our users captured this effect in some truly stunning pictures.

Daneland

User Daneland says this photo shows the sunlight filtering through a tree’s leaves, projecting dozens of tiny eclipses onto the face of a Chinese restaurant.

BratPix

User BratPix says they were just outside of Paris, watching the eclipse on TV, when they noticed that the eclipse was being projected into their kitchen.

See the rest

This article highlights only a few of the wide selection of great photos that our users have sent in, and we expect we’ll see more throughout the day as people continue to edit and post their work. It’s well worth taking a look through the entire thread, as there’s a lot of really good stuff in there that we just didn’t have room to fit into this article. And if you took any photos of the eclipse, be sure to drop them in!

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When Honor first showed off the Robot Phone last year, it seemed like an idea that would forever live as just a concept and CGI renders. A phone with a built-in gimbal that folds into the camera bump? That’s also a collaboration with cinema camera company Arri? It all seemed a bit far fetched.

And yet today, the company actually launched it, and it’s for sale in China. At least a few members of the press have even had the opportunity to try it, and Honor teamed up with cinematographers to film some truly wild promo videos with it to show off its video capabilities.

I, personally, would not trust the AI assistant in my phone to control my spaceship.

The Robot Phone’s main camera – the one mounted on the integrated three-axis gimbal – has a 200MP Type 1/1.28 (76mm²) sensor with a 23mm equiv. F1.6 lens. It’s optically stabilized, but obviously the titanium gimbal will do most of the heavy lifting in that regard.

It’s not just for keeping the camera steady during longer exposures or video though; there’s an AI tracking mode to keep your subject centered in the frame, even as you move around, a panorama mode, a star assist feature to track stars across the sky for astrophotography and time lapses, and a rotation mode that will produce a dramatic spinning shot. There are also several different stabilization modes for the gimbal, depending on the look you’re going for.

The gimbal isn’t only relegated to camera duty, though. The phone also features an AI companion called “Yoyo,” which exists as an animated character on the screen, and which can move the gimbal to simulate making gestures. For example, if you ask Yoyo to make an excited expression, the eyes on the phone’s screen will light up, and the gimbal will rock back and forth. It can also “dance” along to music, moving the gimbal along to the beat.

On the opposite end of the playfulness spectrum, Honor is marketing the phone as a serious video tool, saying it allows for a “professional Arri cinematic workflow.” It can shoot in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio, and has a few color modes inspired by “Arri Image Science,” as well as support for recording 10-bit 4:2:2 video using the Arri LogC3 curve (though, thankfully, there is a Log assist view so you don’t have to look at a low-contrast preview while you’re recording). That theoretically allows you to use LUTs designed by professionals to grade your footage, and Honor specifically calls out that Davinci Resolve can grade the footage from the phone. It can record video at up to 4K/120 on its gimbal camera, though the LogC3 mode is limited to 4K/60.

The phone has two other cameras, though they’re more traditional models fixed into the camera bump. There’s a 200MP Type 1/1.4 (63mm²) sensor for the telephoto camera, which has a 62mm equiv. F2.6 optically stabilized lens, as well as a 50MP ultrawide camera with a 10mm equiv. F2 lens. Honor doesn’t specify the sensor size for the latter.

Honor

The company didn’t just make a fancy camera and call it a day, though, as the rest of the phone has top-of-the-line flagship specs. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 system on a chip, has a silicon-carbon battery with a 7060mAh capacity (which can be charged at up to 120W wired, or 50W wirelessly), and a 6.31″ display that can reach a (literally) eye-watering 6800 nit peak brightness. 

Unsurprisingly, it’s a touch thicker and heavier than other flagship phones. It weighs 248g (8.7oz) versus the iPhone 17 Pro’s 206g (7.27oz), and is 9.6mm thick versus the iPhone’s 8.75mm. The iPhone, of course, has a substantially lower-capacity battery and also doesn’t have a built-in gimbal.

The Honor Robot phone seems to be a continuation of a trend that seemed finished: the pop-up camera. A few years ago, as phone manufacturers were fighting to shrink the bezels on their phones for a true edge-to-edge display, some companies tried to move the selfie camera from the front of the phone into a mechanized module that would pop up from the top. There were always concerns about the longevity of those solutions, and, at the end of the day, they added a lot complexity for relatively little gain (especially once phone makers figured out how to hide cameras under the screen, or realized people would accept a hole-punch or notch).

This feels different, though. If you’re into video, a gimbal is a genuinely big upgrade from standard IBIS and electronic stabilization, and having one built-into a phone is undeniably extremely convenient. Sure, there are plenty of standalone gimbals designed to work with phones, as well as portable vlogging cameras with integrated gimbals from the likes of DJI and Insta360, but always having access to that kind of stabilization without having to charge and bring along a separate device could be game-changing for certain kinds of shooters. Of course, those durability concerns still remain – when not in use the gimbal is tucked away behind a sliding window, but it’s still a complex moving part – but this time the trade-off could be worthwhile.

Honor

It’ll be very interesting to see if this phone makes its way to markets outside of China, or if it gets an update later down the line. It costs 9,999 Chinese Yuan – around $1500 – for a version with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and 3000 Yuan (~$444) more for a version with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage.

Alongside its traditional candybar style phones, Google has also announced the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, the latest iteration of its foldable smartphone. While the majority of its improvements relate to the phone part of it, there are some updates to the camera, too.

Like its predecessor, the Fold has a three camera array: the mix of wide, ultrawide and telephoto we’ve come to expect from most modern smartphones. While its cameras aren’t up to par with the ones found on the non-folding Pixel 11 Pro – in fact, one of them is worse than the one on the standard Pixel 11 – the sensor in the main wide camera is an improvement over the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It now uses the same 48MP Type 1/1.56 sensor (48mm²) found in the standard Pixel 11, which is noticeably larger than the Type 1/2 (30.7mm²) model used by its predecessor.

Otherwise, the phone features the same ultrawide and telephoto sensors as its predecessor, though Google now gives you the option of doing a 30x “Super Zoom” crop on the 5x lens. The camera bar has also been redesigned, and now includes the “HiLight” multi-color notification indicator, which can tell you if you’re receiving a call from a particular contact, even when your phone is face-down.

While the cameras may represent relatively mild upgrades, the rest of the phone has gotten more attention, starting with its build. Google says it’s 10% lighter and 1mm thinner than its predecessor, and yet three times more durable. While it’s hard to really quantify durability in a way that can be multiplied, like its predecessor the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

The real gains likely come from the back of the phone, which Google says is made from a glass fiber composite that’s “nearly impossible to crack.” The front 6.5″ display also now uses an “ultra durable” ceramic glass.

Speaking of those displays, the front one is now 20% brighter, shining at up to 2400 nits while displaying HDR content, and capable of reaching peaks of 3600 nits. Those specs are matched by the internal 8″ display, again representing an improvement over the Pro 10 Fold. Google also says the phone now has the thinnest bezels in its series.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold uses the same Tensor G6 processor as the mainline Pixel 11 phones, but comes stock with 16GB of RAM, which is no surprise given the company’s increased focus on multitasking this year. Google has also upgraded it to Qi2.2, allowing for 25W wireless charging.

It also has the same upgraded set of photography features, including the “Camera Looks” feature that gives you more control over how your photos are processed, the faster capture and processing for low-light “Night Sight” photos and the “Magic Capture” mode meant to hand over control of which moments to photograph to the phone, so you can focus on what’s happening in front of you.

The phone now starts at $1899 for the model with 256GB of storage, which is $100 more than the previous version. While that’s not a surprise given the current state of pricing for electronics, the price increase also comes at a time when the competition is fiercer than ever. Samsung’s latest foldables, especially the passport-style Galaxy Fold 8 are getting a lot of buzz, despite their also-hefty price tags.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold will be available in “Olive” green and “Obsidian” black.

Google has announced its new lineup of standard format (as opposed to folding) phones: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL. Both include improvements to their main cameras, as well as the now-iconic bar they’re housed in, and a host of new photo-focused features.

The Pixel 11

Infamously, last year’s Pixel 10 added a telephoto camera, but at the cost of the main camera: where the three generations before it had a 50MP Type 1/1.31 (72mm²) sensor behind a 24mm lens, the 11 used a 48MP Type 1/2 (31mm²) and a fractionally slower lens, meaning it could gather much less light. Its ultrawide camera was also downgraded, though to a slightly lesser degree.

With the Pixel 11, Google is walking that reduction back, using a larger 48MP Type 1/1.56 (48mm²) sensor for the main camera. While that’s not as large as the sensors found in the Pixels 7, 8 and 9, the company says it should let in around 56% more light than the one on the 10.

While the ultrawide and telephoto cameras are the same as the ones in the Pixel 10, the company has redesigned the bar they live in. It’s now completely covered in glass, rather than featuring a metal accent, and is 40% thinner. While this doesn’t result in a completely flat back like you’d find on the Pixel 10a, Google says that if you put one of its silicon cases on the phone, it essentially won’t have a camera bump.

Unsurprisingly, Google has also updated the processor in the phone, using its new Tensor G6 chip, which it says is faster, and has an upgraded image signal processor, which will specifically help improve the phone’s video (more on that in a bit). Unlike some competitors, the company doesn’t appear to have opted for a silicon-carbon battery, which can provide greater energy density in the same footprint; the Pixel 11 has roughly the same battery capacity as its predecessor. However, it has been upgraded to use Qi 2.2 wireless charging, letting it refill at up to 25W instead of the 15W the Pixel 10 maxed out at.

The base Pixel 11 model starts with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $899. While that’s the same price as a Pixel 10 with the same storage, Google has removed the 128GB option that sat below it for $100 less (though it has added a 512GB option above it). That’s unfortunate, but unsurprising in the age of ballooning NAND chip costs.

Pixel 11 Pro

The camera upgrades on the Pixel 11 Pro and its larger sibling, the Pro XL, are slightly more subtle. The company says the 50MP main camera has been upgraded, but it’s hard to tell exactly what’s changed. It still has a Type 1/1.3 (72mm²) sensor with an F1.68 lens and a 2x center crop mode.

The 48MP telephoto camera, however, is undeniably larger. It uses a Type 1/1.95 (32mm²) sensor, which Google says lets in 30% more light than the Type 1/2.51 (23.5mm²) model on the Pixel 10 Pro. You can also now use the portrait mode on the telephoto camera, adding computer-generated bokeh on top of a focal length that’s traditionally more useful for portraiture.

While the camera bar isn’t as thin as the one on the standard Pixel 11, Google says it’s been redesigned. Part of that includes a new indicator, which the company is calling HiLight. It’s a multi-color light that acts as a status indicator, letting you know about incoming calls, even if the phone is face down on a table. Google pitches it as a feature that will let you be more present in the moment, while still being able to see if someone is trying to contact you. The company says it’ll be able to indicate more things in the future, such as notifying you about text messages.

The displays – 6.3″ for the standard Pro and 6.8″ for the XL – have the same resolution and refresh rates as their predecessor’s. However, they can go a touch brighter; up to 2400 nits, with 3600 nits peak brightness, up from 2200 and 3300 nits, respectively. The glass covering those displays is also improved, with Google promising double the scratch resistance.

Google

Like the Pixel 11, the Pros are getting a de-facto $100 price bump via the removal of the base storage tier. The standard 11 Pro now starts at $1099 for a version with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM (though the 512 and 1TB models have 16GB of memory), and the XL starts at $1299. Apart from screen and battery size, the standard and XL models have the same specifications.

The Pixel camera features

Whichever phone you opt for, Google has also included a few new camera features and improvements. With the new Tensor chip, the company says you can capture “Night Sight” low-light photos up to 4.5 times faster, without any reduction in quality compared to previous-generation phones.

Google

The company is also introducing a feature called “Camera Looks”, which lets you customize how your photos look at time of capture, without having to go in and edit them later. There are several preset modes, including some that Google says are designed to make your photos look “less processed” by using fewer frames to produce an image. This builds on what seems to be a trend of people wanting smartphone photos to look a little more natural and contrasty, rather than hyper-processed.

Several third-party apps, like Adobe’s Project Indigo, and other phone manufacturers, have added similar modes. Of course, the Camera Looks also let you go the opposite direction too, with more distinct looks and film emulations. The camera app lets you set a look as the default, so you don’t have to select it each time you open the camera.

Google has also introduced a mode designed to give the phone control over which moments it captures, letting you pay attention to the thing you’re trying to photograph; think capturing a child’s first steps, or a birthday party. It’s called “Magic Capture,” and to use it, you basically just tell your phone when to start recording, then point it at the subject. It tries to recognize the moments worth saving, and capture them as video clips and what Google says are “HDR+ images.” (Though that designation implies the pictures won’t be as high quality as the ones you’d get from the standard camera mode, which would make sense if they’re derived from video capture). After you’re done, you can choose to apply minor edits to the photos, such as crops and deblurring.

Google

Finally, Google says the new crop of Pixel phones have “the best video quality ever” for the series, with the company having tweaked things like sharpening and noise reduction. It’s been common knowledge among creators for years that iPhones offer much better video than even high-end Android phones, so it seems like Google may be trying to combat that stereotype with these latest phones.

It’s also building in several tools for video creators, such as a teleprompter, overlays with gridlines and safezones for various social media platforms and an audio monitor overlay.

Christopher Nolan’s recent blockbuster hit, The Odyssey, was the first full-length narrative movie shot entirely on 15/70mm IMAX film, with each frame exposed onto a 70×48.5mm negative. There’s been a countless amount of ink spilled over the challenges of working with the massive cameras needed to shoot the format for every scene (and about how few people were actaully able to see it as the director intended*), but recently the Instagram account for Sunny16Labs shared more details on a production quirk that movie buffs noticed in behind-the-scenes footage: Nolan’s strange choice of director’s viewfinder.

Directors and their cinematographers often carry around devices that allow them to compose and block shots before having to set up the actual camera. This is especially important if you’re shooting film, as those cameras tend to be bulkier and heavier than their digital counterparts (and don’t have the same ability to give you an exact preview of your shot). These devices often have a lens mount, so you can see what the scene will look like through the actual glass you’re shooting with.

One small problem, though: IMAX cameras don’t use the same lenses as their Super35 or full-frame counterparts, and the optics need to be much larger and heavier to cover the massive film format, so there aren’t many pre-made solutions. According to Sunny16Labs, the IMAX team solved this by modifying a Pentax 67, removing the shutter assembly and modifying the mount so the camera could accept the same lenses as the IMAX film cameras.

Of course, taking out the shutter means that the camera can no longer capture images. But because it was designed to shoot stills on medium format 56mm x 70mm film, its viewfinder and mirror are capable of showing the entire image from an IMAX lens. The modified camera also includes frame-line previews for the IMAX negative, allowing Nolan and longtime collaborator and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to choose their lens and framing before having to set up the massive camera rig.

This isn’t actually the first time Nolan and his team have used this kind of setup, as there are also shots of them using it on the set of Dunkirk. Cary Joji Fukunaga, director of the James Bond film No Time To Die, has also been photographed using a 67 with an IMAX logo on the viewfinder. (It could be that it’s the exact same camera; there’s famously only so much IMAX gear out there.) Likewise, cinematographer James Neihouse has discussed using a modified Pentax 67 as a director’s viewfinder, but he says he was able to take pictures with the version he used, suggesting it was a different design that retained the shutter.

In the photography world, the Pentax 67 is famous for being a relatively large and heavy camera, so it’s funny to see it being used as a lightweight alternative. That goes to show the difficulties of shooting with such large format, but, given that Nolan keeps pioneering what can be done with IMAX with each movie he makes, he clearly thinks it’s worth it. And the market seems to agree: according to an IMAX press release, The Odyssey is the “highest grossing IMAX release of all time,” with 70mm screenings accounting for $37.5 million of the film’s billion-dollar box office run.

* – Not to brag, but I actually did make the seven hour drive to a theater that was showing actual 15/70 IMAX projections of the movie. I absolutely appreciated the extra immersion of the giant screen and 1.43:1 aspect ratio, but did feel like I might have preferred digital IMAX GT projection. Sure, it’d likely have a bit less detail – though probably not enough for me to notice – but it also wouldn’t have had the flicker that comes with film projection, which was especially noticeable in bright scenes. Still, it’s hard to imagine that I could’ve picked a better movie for my first real IMAX viewing, and the sound alone made the premium format worth it. 

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Blackmagic has released a firmware update that adds continuous phase-detect autofocus, complete with object tracking and face detection, to its full-frame Cinema Camera 6K. This makes the camera more competitive in an increasingly crowded landscape of video-centric cameras focused on owner-operators and creators.

When the $3000 Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K launched, it could acquire focus on something in the center of the frame, but it was a one-time operation; it wasn’t able to keep the subject in focus as it or the camera moved. While this wouldn’t have been a deal-breaker for many users – as the “cinema” name implies, much of its target audience will be using manual-focus lenses with focus pulling equipment – it also narrowed the scope of what you could do with it. It would work fine for more careful, scripted shoots, but wasn’t really ideal for more run-and-gun productions.

BlackMagic

Now, though, the camera will be able to continuously focus on a human subject, tracking their face, or on a generic subject through object tracking. Blackmagic also isn’t making you completely give up control to use autofocus; the camera has settings to control how fast it transitions focus, and lets you pause autofocus by holding down a button. That way if your subject goes from moving to stationary, you can make sure the AF system isn’t going to pulse or try to focus on something else.

That last point, however, highlights a potential gap between the Cinema Camera 6K and other video-focused cameras, like the Sony FX3, Canon EOS R6 V and Nikon ZR. Those cameras use AF systems that are much more mature, so you don’t have to worry as much about managing them; you can just leave them on, and trust them to keep your subject in focus in most situations. While Blackmagic’s autofocus system has been out in public beta for around a year now, early adopters reported mixed results, and it’s still not as tried and tested as the others.

However, this full release is a starting point for the company’s autofocus ambitions and at least puts the Cinema Camera 6K in the conversation with those other cameras, giving people who need autofocus another option that has a robust set of features. It offers 6K open gate recording and internal Raw, full-size HDMI and mini-XLR connectors, a 5″ rear display and an optional detachable EVF. It also uses L-mount for lenses, which is relatively adaptable and has a growing selection of native options.

Hopefully now that the Cinema Camera 6K’s autofocus support has fully launched, we’ll see it come to more cameras in Blackmagic’s lineup. While not all of them will have the phase detection hardware on their sensors, the company promised it’d be coming for more, unspecified cameras when it initially announced the feature last year, and it’s currently available in beta for the Pyxis 6K.

The Blackmagic Camera 10.2.2 firmware that enables autofocus is available as a free download from the company’s website. It also adds support for Blackmagic’s cloud streaming system, 4-channel audio recording and up to 10 minutes of pre-recording, letting you save the moments before you press the record button.

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Earlier this week, Sony announced the FE 100-400mm F5.6-8 OSS, a stabilized, full-frame telephoto zoom that comes in well under $1000. We were able to spend some time shooting with it to see how it performs, and you can see the results in the gallery below.

What the images won’t show is just how easy it is to carry around. It tips the scales at just 654g (23.1oz), which, combined with its length, meant that it and the a7R V I had it attached to fit comfortably into my sling bag, so I didn’t think twice before bringing it along on hikes and other outings.

Mitchell Clark

The lens feels nice in the hand given the price, and the zoom ring is easy to use, with a relatively short throw. It’s an extending zoom, so the center of gravity inevitably changes as you adjust your focal length, but that weight means it’s still quite easy to manage. Lens creep, where it will slowly extend as you walk around with it, is an issue, though the lens does have a lock switch to keep it at 100mm. It’s nice to see that Sony has still included that detail, along with the focus limiter and function button, despite the lens’s budget nature.

Sony’s linear focus motors continue to make for a very good AF experience, with the lens able to quickly and accurately go from focusing close up (though not that close; it has a 0.86m (2.8′) minimum focusing distance at the long end) to far away. However, the manual focus ring is less lovely, as its stepped response and lack of precision made it very difficult to focus on a bird that the camera wasn’t able to recognize, or a particular part of a flower. 

While I haven’t subjected the lens to a full battery of tests, I’m pretty happy with the images it produced, again, given its focal range and $850 price tag. However, I’ll add the caveat that the entire state of Washington was covered in wildfire smoke for the entire time I had the lens, and it was especially bad in Spokane, where the gallery was shot. That makes it hard to judge things like sharpness, especially for a telephoto lens. 

Mitchell Clark

Of course, a major limit to the image quality you can get out of this lens will be its light-gathering ability. I found myself having to put it away relatively early in the evening; even before sunset, shooting at 400mm in the shade meant having to raise the ISO up to 10,000, even with the benefits of coordinated in-body and optical stabilization.

Still, I’m sure many people will be willing to make that trade-off, given the lens’s size and price, especially if they mostly shoot in the daylight. Canon has already proven that there’s a market with its very similarly-speced option, and while third-parties like Sigma and Tamron have made budget-oriented telephotos for E-mount, they are about twice the weight due to their more ambitious focal ranges and light-gathering abilities. It’s also nice to see Sony releasing a 100-400mm aimed more towards beginners, after its announcement of the $4300 pro-grade FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS earlier this year.

Thanks to Sony for the loan of an a7R V to shoot this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer’s distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting. The profile fixes an extremely minor amount of barrel distortion at the lens’ wide and long ends, and we don’t consider it to be an essential part of this lens’s design.

Tamron has announced its second quarter financial results for 2026, reiterating its goal of releasing ten new own-branded lens models this year. While the promise isn’t new, the company bringing it back up to investors is a chance to measure its progress towards that goal.

By Tamron’s math, it has released six new models already this year. That decidedly doesn’t mean six new lenses, though: it means two versions of the 35-100mm F2.8 (one for E-mount, one for Z-mount), bringing the 17-70mm F2.8 from 2021 to Canon RF and Nikon Z mount, and releasing the new 12-20mm F2.8 for both Sony and Nikon.

Tamron

While Tamron hitting its goal of releasing 10 models this year theoretically means it has four more models to go, that’s unlikely to mean that we’ll see that many new optical designs. Indeed, the company can hit that goal without any new optical designs, as it still makes plenty of lenses that are currently only available on E-mount that it could bring to other platforms.

Still, it’s clear the company is becoming more ambitious with its releases. The chart in its financial statement says that from 2023 to 2025, its goal was six to seven models launched per year; before that, it was five new models.

Mitchell Clark

Part of the strategy to increase releases likely involves a shift away from only releasing new lenses on E-mount. When we interviewed the company at the CP+ trade show earlier this year, Kei Nagai, the section manager of Tamron’s Overseas Sales Department, told us the company was “moving toward simultaneous multi-mount launches.” He also said Tamron would “take a holistic view of the entire market and existing lineups to carefully determine which spec and mounts to prioritize.”

At the same time, the company’s future is more in question now than ever. Last week, Tamron announced that Sony had made an offer to acquire it, and said it had set up a special committee to evaluate that offer. If that deal goes through, it’s unclear how it would affect that strategy, or the company’s goals.

One thing is sure, though: with the promise of more releases and a potential resolution to the Sony story, the next few months are shaping up to be very interesting for Tamron.

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Nikon has released firmware updates for two of its six-year-old DSLRs: the D6 and the D780, as discovered by Nikon Rumors. While the fixes included in them are relatively minor, it’s impressive to see last-generation models getting some love, and it speaks to how Nikon has become an exemplar of improving its cameras through software.

According to the release notes, firmware version 1.71 for the D6 fixes an issue where photos taken with older D-type lenses would “sometimes be underexposed,” as well as one where using the recall shooting feature to quickly change settings could limit your shutter speed if you were also using Auto FP High-Speed Sync. Firmware version 1.21 for the D780, meanwhile, solves an issue where the camera could underexpose images if you were zooming in while shooting a high-speed continuous burst. Both firmware updates are available to download via the company’s website.

Nikon also released a firmware update for a much newer camera, the Z50II, though its changelog makes the updates to the D6 and D780 look like complete overhauls in comparison; it basically just changes the names of some menu items in Chinese.

While all of these are minor updates, they’re illustrative of Nikon’s commitment to software updates. Ask a camera enthusiast about post-release software support, and you’ll probably hear about Fujifilm and Kaizen, but it’s worth realizing that other companies like Nikon and Panasonic have caught on. In recent years, the company has released software updates that substantially improve the capabilities of its cameras be that the addition of bird detection mode to the Z6III, a new film grain mode and support for its Imaging Cloud service to the Zf or the ability to use shutter angle in video on the Z8.

This isn’t to say that Nikon has done things perfectly. It’s easy to find complaints about how some features take longer to come to some cameras than others, when it seems like the models should be on par with each other. And  the company has, on occasion, broken things with its updates. (Its still-unfixed Content Credentials implementation for the Z6III and issues with updating cameras with third-party lenses – even licensed ones – attached come to mind.) And while these issues may stem from the practical realities of software engineering and how many resources Nikon can put into it, that doesn’t change the fact that those issues don’t make for a great user experience.

Still, it’s commendable that Nikon is continuing to support older cameras and improve its existing models. I’m sure most Nikon users would rather it continue along that path with the occasional misstep, rather than it not bother with updates at all. Now we just need that update it promised for the ZR.

Viltrox is making it easier for owners of Fujifilm cameras with silver bodies to accessories. The company has announced “the silver trio” of lenses: the AF 9mm F2.8 Air, AF 15mm F1.7 Air and AF 25mm F1.7 Air for X mount, which you can now get with a coat of silver, rather than black, paint.

Apart from the different coloring, the lenses are the same as the black versions that the company released throughout last year. However, those undeniably looked like many other Viltrox lenses, which themselves have similar styling to the lenses released by other third-party manufacturers. The silver versions might stand out just that bit more, and should better match the myriad cameras that Fujifilm makes in a similar finish. It’s easy to imagine these being mounted to an X-M5, or an X-T30 III.

Despite the “silver trio” name, these lenses join another two X-mount lenses that Viltrox was also producing in silver: the AF 35mm F1.7 Air and the AF 56mm F1.7 Air. 

Of course, there will be those who prefer the black versions, and some people will scoff at the idea that anyone cares about what color their lens or camera body is, and whether those things match. There will also be those that wish the emulation of Fujifilm’s style wasn’t just skin deep, and that the lenses would include things like aperture rings, which both drastically change the aesthetic, as well as the experience of using them.

But whether it makes sense to the function over form crowd, many photographers clearly care about the color and decoration of their gear, as evidenced by the fact that Fujifilm itself sometimes sees fit to create silver versions of its lenses to sit alongside the black ones, and the frequency with which companies like Leica produce equipment in new colors. It’s nice to see a company providing these options on some of its budget-oriented gear as well; the prices vary depending on which lens you’re looking at, but they all come in under the $250 mark.

The silver versions of the lenses are available now from Viltrox’s website, at the same prices of their black counterparts. Humorously, the versions of the lenses for Sony E and Nikon Z mount are still only available in black for the time being (though neither company is as prolific as Fujifilm when it comes to releasing silver cameras).

7Artisans is making its tiny, lightweight 40mm F2.5 lens available to more shooters. The $159 full-frame option launched for Sony E-mount earlier this year after its announcement at CP+, but is now available Nikon Z mount and L mount.

The lens is the same one we saw at the trade show in February. It has a clicking aperture ring, tiny function button, 46mm filter ring and a manual focus ring, as well as a switch to go between manual and auto focus modes. The latter is provided by a stepper motor, and the lens can focus as close as 0.4m (15.7″). Despite this list of features, which is about as complete as you could hope for a compact prime lens, it only comes in at around 90g (3.2oz).

Optically, the lens consists of 7 elements in 6 groups, with one aspheric lens and three high refractive index elements. It has a 9-bladed aperture. 

Zorta / 7artisans

When the lens was announced in February, options for small, lightweight lenses were relatively thin on the ground for Z and L mount users. However, there have since been a few new options released: Panasonic announced its compact 40mm F2, and Viltrox has come out with a tiny 26mm F2.8 pancake for E and Z. Both fit into the same role as a small, walkabout lens (though obviously the 26mm offers a very different focal length), though they are also a fair bit more expensive.

The Z and L mount versions of the 40mm F2.5 are now available through 7artisans’ website, though they haven’t made it to online retailers like Amazon or B&H at the time of writing.

We’ve seen a recent trend of camera accessory companies building in clever hiding spaces for Apple AirTags into their products. Whether it’s a camera cage with a hole for one cut out, or a bag with a tiny pocket for them, there are more and more options for making sure you can find your expensive gear if it gets misplaced or stolen.

Falcam is taking the concept even further, building support for Apple’s Find My network into batteries for Canon and Sony cameras. For those unfamiliar, the trick of Apple’s Find My is that it uses many of the company’s products – including the iPhone – to anonymously track the location of devices on the network. This solves the issue of previous Bluetooth trackers by making it so you’re no longer relying on a relatively small group of people who use the same tracker as you and are running the app to be around the thing you’re trying to find.* The tech is what powers Apple’s ever-popular AirTags.

Falcam

Of course, the main purpose of Falcam’s TagBatts isn’t to find a misplaced camera; it’s to power the device you have in your hand. The company is making two versions: one that’s compatible with cameras that use Sony’s NP-FZ1000 series batteries (which is to say, most of the company’s modern cameras, as well as a host of other devices), and one that mimics Canon’s LP-E6 (again, supported by a wide range of the company’s DSLRs and mirrorless cameras). Falcam’s site also indicates that versions for Nikon and Fujifilm cameras are coming soon.

Both versions of the battery have a 17.4Wh capacity, which is slightly higher than the own-brand models they’re meant to replace. In an FAQ on its website, Falcam says the tracking feature uses a very small amount of power that “does not meaningfully reduce normal camera runtime,” though notes that it won’t work if the battery is completely drained. The battery also has a built-in USB-C port, letting you charge it directly outside the camera if you want, though it’s still compatible with traditional cameras and can also be charged inside the camera.

There are a few caveats to note. The first is that camera manufacturers don’t typically guarantee support for every camera feature when you’re using a third-party battery, and Falcam is new to making batteries, so it might be worth waiting for a few reviews to make sure everything works as expected. The second relates to Find My; many people will be familiar with the AirTag feature that lets you search around for your device, using your phone to point the way. This feature, however, isn’t inherent to Find My devices, and Falcam’s website makes no mention of the ultra-wideband tech that enables it on its product page for the batteries. That means they’ll be useful for seeing where your camera is on a map, but won’t help you figure out which bag you left your spare batteries in.

The Falcam TagBatt costs $70 for the Sony version and $65 for the Canon one, and they are available from the company’s website. That’s definitely pricier than competing third-party models from companies like SmallRig and Wasabi Power, but those don’t include Find My functionality. Neither do the own-brand models, which cost more.

* Though it introduces a new problem in that it’s not particularly cross-platform compatible. Android phones won’t report a Find My device’s location, and the Find My service won’t be particularly useful to you if you don’t have an Apple device. Google has its own version of the system, but the two are broadly incompatible.

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Last week, DJI finally launched its dual-camera DJI Osmo Pocket 4P outside of China. If you’re living in the parts of the world where it’s now on sale (a list that unfortunately doesn’t include the US) and are curious about it, here are a few great videos you can watch to get up to speed on it.

DPReview’s overview

Our very own Mykim Dang had the chance to spend 48 hours with the Osmo Pocket 4P, putting it to the test on a trip to Toronto, Canada that DJI put on. Her video breaks down what it is, and how it compares to the pocket camera that many creators already carry around with them: a phone.

The reigning champ versus the upstart

The DJI Osmo Pocket series has been around a while, and has become the de-facto pick for people who want a vlogging camera that produces a high-quality image and steady footage, thanks to the built-in gimbal. But like it did with action cameras, Insta360 is now making a play for the market with its very comparable Luna Ultra camera. Shahbaz Sheikh does a great job of breaking down the differences that don’t show up on the spec sheets, but that really matter.

Stay for the cinematography and story

To test the Osmo Pocket 4P, Brandon Li decided to shoot a beautiful short documentary about a very interesting subject as a preface to his thorough explanation of what the camera is. While the video is sponsored by DJI (a fact that Li is up-front about), he also doesn’t shy away from covering some of the camera’s downsides and some of the things it doesn’t do as well.

Why is this a big deal?

If you’re not sure why people are so interested in a small gimbal vlogging camera, this video by YouTuber Chollette will explain it. It was actually made using a previous version, the Osmo Pocket 3, but it shows what kind of content people are using this tool to create… or, at the least, the kind of videos people imagine they’ll be able to make when they buy one.

Want to go more in-depth?

If you have any more questions about the Osmo Pocket 4P and the market it’s launching in to, our coverage of its launch in China and, later, globally should answer them.

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Updated August 2, 2026

Travel can expose you to once-in-a-lifetime sights and experiences, and a good camera can be the perfect way to preserve those memories. We’ve looked at a range of models that offer great image quality, good autofocus and excellent video, so you’ll be prepared to capture whatever you run into.

We’ve also tried to select relatively small cameras so they don’t interfere with your trip, though it’s worth touching briefly on lens size. If you choose a system with a Four Thirds or APS-C sensor, you’ll be able to use lenses that are lighter and more compact than their full-frame counterparts. Full-frame sensors, however, offer the potential for even better image quality, so it’s worth considering whether portability or image quality matters more to you and doing some research on what types of lenses you’d like to use and how big the full-frame versions are.

Our recommendations

• Portable full-frame: Sony a7CR
• All-round compact capability: Sony a6700
• The great travel kit: Fujifilm X-T50 with 16-50mm F2.8-4.8
• The ready-for-anything option: OM System OM-3
• The stylish travel companion: Nikon Zf
• Best pocketable travel camera: Ricoh GR IV
• The classic choice: Fujifilm X100VI
• The fun-to-use compact with a zoom: Panasonic L10
• The portable option with a ton of reach: Sony RX10 V
• The best video camera for travel: DJI Osmo Pocket

Portable full-frame: Sony a7CR

Richard Butler

The Sony a7CR is a relatively compact full-frame camera with an image-stabilized 61MP CMOS sensor. You sacrifice the convenience of an AF joystick and get a pretty small and basic viewfinder to keep the camera’s size down, but there’s little else that delivers this much image quality in such a compact package.

You’ll need to pick your lenses carefully to keep the camera portable but the a7CR’s autofocus means it can respond rapidly to just about anything you encounter on your travels.

Read our full Sony a7CR Review

See the Sony a7CR studio scene

All-round compact capability: Sony a6700

Richard Butler

The Sony a6700 is built around a 26MP APS-C-sized sensor. Its excellent autofocus performance means it excels at both stills and video capture. There’s a good choice of relatively compact lenses available, too. We’d suggest avoiding the really small 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 though: it’s not the lens to get the most out of this camera.

Fast, dependable autofocus with a selection of subject recognition modes means the a6700 will help maximize your chances of capturing the unexpected moments on a trip.

Read our full Sony a6700 review

See the Sony a6700 studio scene

The great travel kit: Fujifilm X-T50 w/ 16-50mm F2.8-4.8

Richard Butler

The X-T50 can be purchased with Fujifilm’s excellent 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 kit lens, which provides a versatile focal length for travel and should be able to keep up in darker environments. Fujifilm also sells a wide variety of relatively fast, compact primes.

Read our full Fujifilm X-T50 review

See the Fujifilm X-T50 studio scene

The other APS-C options

If you’re looking for an APS-C camera that’s even smaller than the X-T50, the Fujifilm X-M5 may be worth considering. It’s substantially cheaper, though it’s easy to see where the company has saved money: it uses a lower-resolution 26MP sensor, which isn’t stabilized, and there’s no EVF. It does have the same film simulation dial and autofocus subject recognition modes, though, so those tradeoffs may be worth it if size or price are your top priority.

The Nikon Z50II is also a strong all-around contender, but its lens selection isn’t as strong as Sony or Fujifilm’s, nor does it have a stabilized sensor. However, it does have solid autofocus performance, a viewfinder, and a sub-$1000 price point.

The ready-for-anything mirrorless: OM System OM-3

Mitchell Clark

The OM-3 is well-suited to traveling, as the Micro Four Thirds system lets you use especially compact lenses, and its Stacked sensor gives it fast autofocus, incredible burst rates for shooting even the fastest subjects, and the ability to use computational modes to adapt to a wide variety of situations. It also sports an IP53 rating for dust and water resistance, so you won’t have to worry if it starts raining.

Read our OM System OM-3 review

See the OM System OM-3 studio scene

The other Micro Four Thirds options

OM System’s OM-5 is substantially cheaper than the OM-3, though you give up the speed, USB-C port and advanced subject recognition autofocus, as well as a few of the computational modes. It is, however, slightly more compact if space is at a premium in your pack.

The stylish travel companion: Nikon Zf

Richard Butler

The Nikon Zf is a classically styled full-frame camera built around a 24MP full-frame sensor that’s used by many of its peers. The angular 80s-style body isn’t the most comfortable to hold in your hand for extended periods, but the lack of stick-out grip makes it smaller than many of its rivals, making it a tempting travel companion. However, like with the a7CR, many of the full-frame lenses available for it will greatly increase its size and weight.

At least in its all-black form, there’s a chance of it being mistaken for a film camera, which may help avoid the wrong kind of attention when you’re out and about in an unfamiliar setting.

Read our review of the Nikon Zf

See the Nikon Zf studio scene

Best pocketable travel camera: Ricoh GR IV

Richard Butler

The Ricoh GR IV is the latest entry in the company’s series of classic compact cameras with large APS-C sensors and a 28mm equivalent lens. It’s not the most flexible camera, but it has engaging controls and is one of the most pocketable models with a large sensor, which is probably why the GR series has built up a dedicated following of photographers who find it a joy to shoot with.

Our one concern with using the GR IV for travel is that some users of the previous generation model reported dust getting into the lens. Ricoh has said it’s made a few changes that should help prevent that, but still doesn’t make any claims of weather sealing, so it may be worth keeping it in protective bag and putting it away in particularly unpleasant weather.

There’s also the GR IIIx , which has the previous generation sensor and processor, but with a longer, 40mm equivalent lens. This may be a little tight for documenting your travels, but it’s historically a popular focal length. Ricoh also sells a GR IV Monochrome, though a camera that only shoots black and white probably wouldn’t be our first pick for travel photograph.

Read our Ricoh GR IV review

See the Ricoh GR IV studio scene

Other compacts

Canon has recently announced that it plans to increase its production of compact cameras, citing an increasing number of orders for the PowerShot G7 X III , which has a 24 – 100mm (equiv.) zoom lens, providing a solid range for travel photography. Its autofocus isn’t

The Leica D-Lux 8 features a larger sensor than the G7 X III – it uses up to up to 83% of the area of a Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor, while the G7 X III has a Type-1 (13.2 x 8.8 mm) sensor – and has a photo-focued interface that we particularly like. However, its slow zoom, only decent image quality and substantial price tag make it hard to recommend to all but the most Leica-faithful.

The classic choice: Fujifilm X100VI

Richard Butler

Like the Fujifilm X100V before it, the Fujifilm X100VI is a classically styled fixed lens camera with a 35mm equivalent F2 lens. Updated with in-body image stabilization rated at up to 6EV of correction and a 40MP BSI CMOS APS-C X-Trans sensor, the X100VI is a significant upgrade over its predecessor despite looking virtually identical. And those improvements in part explain the X100VI’s $200 increase in list price to $1,600.

It’s not smallest or most inconspicuous camera, but its fixed focal length means you develop an ‘eye’ for the photos it’ll take, essentially making it a better quality, more engaging alternative to snapping away with your phone.

The addition of subject-detection autofocus has given the X100VI the ability to recognize animals, birds, automobiles, motorcycles and bikes, airplanes, and trains though human (face/eye) detection is a separate mode. However, the lens the X100VI shares with the X100V is not the fastest to autofocus, prioritizing sharpness over speed.

The X100VI brings a level of polish you would expect from a sixth iteration of a camera. Fujifilm has done a great job keeping the X100-series up to date without messing with the formula that’s made it so popular. No surprise, this is the best X100 yet.

Unfortunately, despite ramped-up production, demand for the X100VI seems to have outstripped supply with the camera already on backorder at virtually all dealers.

Read our Fujifilm X100VI review

The fun-to-use compact with a zoom: Panasonic L10

Mitchell Clark

The L10 takes a lot of what the Ricoh GR IV and Fujifilm X100 VI get right – it’s relatively small, engaging to use, and has great image quality – and pairs it with a zoom lens instead of a prime one. While primes definitely have their place, it can be hard to tell what you’ll run into while traveling. If you want the experience of a compact but the flexibility of a 24-75mm equiv., the L10 is the camera to pack.

Read our Panasonic L10 review

See the Panasonic L10 studio scene

The portable option with a ton of reach: Sony RX10 V

Richard Butler

The Sony RX10 V is built around a Type 1 (116mm2) 20MP Stacked CMOS sensor, and features a far-reaching 24-600mm equiv. F2.4-4 lens.

For many of us, traveling somewhere and looking at faraway things is a big part of vacationing. And with its 24-600mm equiv. zoom, blistering fast burst rates and best-in-the-business autofocus, the Sony RX10 V is the perfect tool for photographing things in the distance (while still being engaging for capturing nearer subjects). It’s not the smallest compact ever, but almost anything else with this kind of reach would be much bigger, heavier and more expensive.

While we haven’t completed our full review of the camera yet, we’ve used it enough to know that it belongs on this list. It provides good image quality, is engaging to use, and features Sony’s latest autofocus tech, which is still among the best in the business.

Read our Sony RX10 V review

See the Sony RX10 V studio scene

The best video camera for travel: DJI Osmo Pocket

Richard Butler

DJI’s Osmo Pocket series of cameras feature a stabilized handheld vlogging camera, designed for on-the-move vlogging. The main cameras on them are built around a type 1 (13.2 x 8.8mm) sensor mounted on a tiny gimbal, meaning it can deliver stabilized footage with smoother motion than any conventional camera or phone.

When you’re traveling in an unfamiliar place, there are a million things to focus on; the Pockets let you capture it all, without requiring much effort on your part. It can also natively film in horizontal or vertical, which can be useful if you’re looking to share footage from your travels on social media.

The reason we’re referring to multiple cameras is that the Pocket’s availability will vary depending on what region you’re in. If you’re in the US, the latest version you have access to is the Pocket 3. In the rest of the world, though, the Pocket 4 is now available, adding integrated storage, high framerates and better controls, along with a few other improvements. There’s also the Pocket 4P, which adds a second 60mm equiv. camera with a Type 1/1.28 (75mm²) sensor and features better dynamic range on its main camera.

The Pockets’ small sensors mean they works better in well-lit situations, though a reasonably bright F2.0 lens on the main camera mean they’re usable indoors, too.

It can shoot 4K 16:9 video or, by rotating the screen into the upright position, 3K vertical 9:16 footage. A small joystick lets you control the camera’s movement, and tapping the joystick button flips between the camera pointing toward you or away from you.

The older Pocket 3’s reliance on contrast-detection autofocus means its focus can be prone to hunting, though the cameras’ face-detection mode works well enough that this is rarely a problem when talking to the camera.

The video quality isn’t always the highest, and the autofocus can occasionally lead to frustration, but overall the quality and convenience of the Pocket as a package is really hard to beat.

Read our hands-on impressions of the Osmo Pocket 3

Why you should trust us

This buying guide is based on cameras used and tested by DPReview’s editorial team. We don’t select a camera until we’ve used it enough to be confident in recommending it, usually after our extensive review process. The selections are purely a reflection of which cameras we believe to be best: there are no financial incentives for us to select one model or brand over another.

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