World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

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

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

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

Overall winner

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

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

Title: The Elderly Having Delicious Food

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

Bring Home the Harvest

Category: Bring Home the Harvest

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

Title: Net Fish in Water Fields

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

Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration

Category: Đặng Hoài Anh

Photographer: Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration

Title: Banh Hoi Cake

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

Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers

Category: Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers

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

Title: Delfina, A Pasta Granny

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

Cream of the Crop

Category: Cream of the Crop

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

Title: Flour Swirl

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

Overall Winner of Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year

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

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

Title: Pinot Noir at Midnight

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

Hotel Art Group Food Stylist Award

Category: Hotel Art Group Food Stylist Award

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

Title: Put All Your Pasta In One Basket

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

Jamie Oliver Youth Prize 13 -17

Category: Jamie Oliver Youth Prize 13 -17

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

Title: Early Morning Puris, Delhi, India

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

Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture

Category: Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture

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

Title: Crispy Kale

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

MPB Award for Innovation

Category: MPB Award for Innovation

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

Title: Laundry Day

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

Politics of Food

Category: Politics of Food

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

Title: Afghan Refugee Women Wait for Free Bread

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

Production Paradise Previously Published

Category: Production Paradise Previously Published

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

Title: Sky Mushrooms

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

Street Food

Category: Street Food

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

Title: Ramadan Special Parantha Halwa

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

The James Beard Foundation Photography Award

Category: The James Beard Foundation Photography Award

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

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

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

Tiptree Cake Award

Category: Tiptree Cake Award

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

Title: Pavlova’s Arabesque

Photographer's description: None

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

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

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

Title: La Matassa. A Real Work of Craftsmanship

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

World of Drinks

Category: World of Drinks

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

Title: Sunshine Gin

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

The Bimi® Prize

Category: The Bimi® Prize

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

Title: Buddhist Offerings

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

Logo: Adobe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Skylum has teamed up with Google to unveil Luminar Photo Editor, now available for Android and ChromeOS:

Skylum Partners with Google to Expand Luminar Photo Editing to Android and ChromeOS

This launch brings Luminar’s powerful, intelligent editing capabilities to mobile and Chromebook users, offering a fresh, intuitive, and playful experience designed especially for creative photographers of any level. The interface has been carefully adapted for a wide variety of devices, including phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and foldable devices. Luminar dynamically adjusts to different screen sizes and aspect ratios, providing a consistent and comfortable workflow whether on a single-screen smartphone or a dual-screen foldable. This level of UX refinement ensures a seamless, device-aware editing experience that stands out across platforms.

Luminar stands out with its AI-powered tools that deliver professional-looking results in just a few taps, without the need for advanced photo editing skills or a desktop setup. Whether retouching a portrait, replacing a sky, or preparing Instagram-ready visuals, Luminar helps users edit with confidence, ease, and speed. With just a few clicks, users can enhance their photos and bring their creative vision to life — right from the convenience of their phone, tablet, or Chromebook. 

“By bringing Luminar to Android, we’re showcasing our greatest strengths: professional‑grade imaging technology powered by an intuitive, engaging interface. It’s this unique fusion that sparks the urge to create, giving every photographer, on any device, the confidence and excitement to push boundaries and tell new visual stories.”— Ivan Kutanin, CEO, Skylum

"We're excited to collaborate with Skylum to bring its powerful AI-driven photo editing tools to the Android and ChromeOS ecosystems. This partnership showcases the potential of AI to enhance creativity and simplify complex tasks for users across different devices."— Maria Schmidt, Strategic Partnership Manager, Google

“Partnering with Google accelerates our product innovation and reinforces our position as a market leader. Together, we're committed to delivering exceptional user experiences that surpass expectations by bringing the power of Luminar to Android users worldwide.”— Kostiantyn Tymoschuk, VP of Growth, Skylum

With this release, Skylum and Google deliver a seamless, cross-platform creative experience that empowers users to focus on their artistry, not the technicalities.

Luminar Key Features:

AI-Powered Tools:

• Enhance AI — A single slider intelligently adjusts up to a dozen essential settings - including shadows, highlights, contrast, tone, saturation, exposure, and detail - to improve the overall image quality instantly.
• Structure AI — Brings out detail and clarity while preserving a natural look. Enhances only the necessary areas of an image without over-sharpening or introducing noise where it's not needed.
• Relight AI — Gives full control over the lighting in a photo, ideal for creatively enhancing mood or correcting backlit scenes. The tool analyzes the image in three dimensions to realistically adjust foreground lighting without affecting the rest of the composition.
• Atmosphere AI — Adds realistic fog, mist or haze, using content-aware and depth-based masking. The effect is applied with precision to enhance mood without covering key subjects, ensuring a natural, realistic look.
• Sky AI — Automatically detects the sky in the image and replaces it seamlessly with a new one, factoring in realistic lighting and reflections, specifically on water and other reflective surfaces.
• Skin AI —  Smooths skin and removes blemishes with a single tap, helping portraits look polished while preserving natural texture.
• Body AI —  Allows subtle adjustment of the torso shape - either reducing or enhancing the volume - for a more balanced appearance. AI precisely maps key body features, ensuring natural-looking edits without distorting the background.

Core Editing Tools:

• Develop: Adjust exposure, temperature, tint, smart contrast, highlights, shadows, blacks, whites, saturation, vibrance, vignette, and more.
• Essential Tools: Crop, Details, Erase, Landscape Enhancer (Foliage Enhancer, Golden Hour, Dehaze), and Monochrome.

Filter collection: Robust color correction, film-inspired looks, and nostalgic tones loved by many in the photography world.

For more information and to download the app, please visit the link.

New Luminar Mobile app for iPhone is now available (20% off coupon code included)

The post Skylum Luminar Photo Editor now available on Android and ChromeOS appeared first on Photo Rumors.

Sony released its FY2024 financial results. As usual, there is little information provided for the camera business, which is part of the Entertainment, Technology & Services Segment (ET&S Segment):

• Despite the impact of the decrease in sales and the recording of additional restructuring charges in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2025, operating income increased 2% year-on-year to 190.9 billion yen, primarily due to a reduction in operational expenses.
• The interchangeable lens camera market performed well in FY24 Q4, mainly in the Chinese market which benefited from subsidies, and grew approximately 9% year-on-year on a unit basis.
• During this fiscal year, we plan to operate our business conservatively, prioritizing risk mitigation, because we anticipate disruptions to markets and supply chains due to the recently adopted U.S. tariffs.

Source

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Sony has a teaser for a new camera announcement on June 2nd. I am pretty sure the short video will be removed any moment becuase it actually has a picture of a Canon camera - this is what happens when you rely on AI to do the work for you:

The post Sony is teasing a new camera for June 2nd appeared first on Photo Rumors.

Photo: William Brawley

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

Benefits of GoPro cameras for travel

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

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

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

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

Downsides to using a GoPro as a travel camera

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is a GoPro good for travel?

Photo: William Brawley

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

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

Panasonic now offers a 5-year extended warranty on Lumix full-frame cameras and lenses in select countries - here are a few examples:

• UK: 5 years (WEX Photo)
• Germany: 2 years (Foto Erhardt)
• Sweden: 5 years
• Australia: 5 years
• US: 3 years (B&H Photo)

Check your country for additional information.

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The Sony price increase for the US, which I exclusively reported last week due to the Trump tariffs, is now in effect for all Sony products manufactured in China - check the current Sony pricing at B&H. You know that even if the tariffs are removed one day, those prices will never go down again.

Significant Sony price increase coming on May 19th

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Another FujiFilm half-frame digital compact camera teaser and another leak:

Hey @Fujirumors, Here's the video clip of the upcoming Fujifilm X Half that the leaked photo is from.
Don't ask me how long it took to find this
Also sorry it's jumpy, I cropped in and tracked it myself to not dox the guy that accidentally uploaded it. pic.twitter.com/05b1uGKAai

— Joinen (@JoinenTV) May 15, 2025

Via FujiAddict

The post Another FujiFilm half-frame digital compact camera teaser and another leak appeared first on Photo Rumors.

2025 Milky Way Photographer of the Year

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

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

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

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

One in a Billion by Don Pettit

Photographer: Don Pettit

Image title: One in a Billion

Image location: ISS (International Space Station)

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

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

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

Tololo Lunar Eclipse Sky by Petr Horálek

Photographer: Petr Horálek

Image title: Tololo Lunar Eclipse

Image location: Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile

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

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

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

Boot Arch Perseids by Mike Abramyan

Photographer: Mike Abramyan

Image title: Boot Arch Perseids

Image location: Alabama Hills, CA, USA

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

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

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

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

Bottle Tree Paradise by Benjamin Barakat

Photographer: Benjamin Barakat

Image title: Bottle Tree Paradise

Image location: Socotra, Yemen

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

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

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

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

Double Milky Way Arch Over Matterhorn by Angel Fux

Photographer: Angel Fux

Image title: Double Milky Way Arch Over Matterhorn

Image location: Zermatt, Switzerland

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

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

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

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

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

Valle de los Cactus by Pablo Ruiz

Photographer: Pablo Ruiz

Image title: Valle de los Cactus

Image location: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

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

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

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

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

Cosmic Fire by Sergio Montúfar

Photographer: Sergio Montúfar

Image title: Cosmic Fire

Image location: Volcán Acatenango, Guatemala

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

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

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

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

A Sea of Lupines by Max Inwood

Photographer: Max Inwood

Image title: A Sea of Lupines

Image location: Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

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

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

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

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

Diamond Beach Emerald Sky by Brent Martin

Photographer: Brent Martin

Image title: Diamond Beach Emerald Sky

Image location: Great Ocean Road, Australia

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

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

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

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

Blossom by Ethan Su

Photographer: Ethan Su

Image title: Blossom

Image location: Hehuan Mountain Dark Sky Park, Taiwan

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

Gear:

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

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

The Night Guardians by Rositsa Dimitrova

Photographer: Rositsa Dimitrova

Image title: The Night Guardians

Image location: Easter Island, Chile

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

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

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

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

Evolution of Stars by Kavan Chay

Photographer: Kavan Chay

Image title: Evolution of Stars

Image location: Otago, New Zealand

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

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

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

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

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

Winter Fairy Tale by Uroš Fink

Photographer: Uroš Fink

Image title: Winter Fairy Tale

Image location: Dobratsch Nature Park, Austria

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

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

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

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

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

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

Echiwile Arch by Vikas Chander

Photographer: Vikas Chander

Image title: Echiwile Arch

Image location: Ennedi, Chad

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

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

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

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

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

Photographer: Xingyang Cai

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

Image location: California, USA

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

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

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

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

Image: Cosina Voigtländer

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

Image: Cosina Voigtländer

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Ricoh 360 Theta A1 camera (R07010) coming soon

Ricoh announced FY2024 financial results: “camera business performed well”

Leica US price increase examples

Just released: new Leica LUX App Artist Look by Greg Williams

The Nikon Zr will be the next Z-mount camera with RED tech (R for RED)

Nikon Z50II camera accessories (part II)

Canon EOS R1 Wins Reed Dot Design Awards Highest Honor

Fujifilm X-Half Frame X Summit Experience May 22 in LA Announced

Fujifilm at P&E

The post What else is new? appeared first on Photo Rumors.

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

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

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

See the sample gallery

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.

Image: Nick Merc

Photographing birds can be thrilling and frustrating at the same time. These creatures are fast and unpredictable, so documenting them requires more than a sharp eye. You need the right camera settings to freeze motion, capture fine detail, and handle challenging light. Whether you're tracking birds in your yard or out in the wild, photographing them perched or in flight, the right combination of shutter speed, aperture and autofocus can make all the difference when getting the shot. Here are some quick recommendations to get you started.

Camera settings for bird photography

Your camera settings will depend on the conditions, but there are some general rules of thumb. First, choose a shutter speed that, at minimum, matches your focal length to avoid camera shake. For example, if you're using a 400mm focal length, choose a shutter speed of at least 1/400s. In some scenarios, IBIS may let you get away with slower shutter speeds, but given how quickly birds move, you'll likely want to avoid those if you're trying to capture birds in flight or in action. For moving birds, something around 1/2000s or faster will typically be necessary to freeze the motion.

A relatively wide aperture, such as F5.6, will allow plenty of light through your lens while blurring the background to keep your bird the star of the image. Finally, a low ISO will help you maximize image quality. However, depending on how bright it is outside, you may need to raise your ISO to compensate for the lack of available light.

Canon EOS R5 | Canon RF 800mm F11 STM | 1/1600 sec | F11 | ISO 800 Image: Richard Butler

There are more settings to consider beyond exposure, too. Autofocus settings are especially important. Single-point autofocus is ideal for small or well-camouflaged birds, while zone or area autofocus is best for flocks. You'll also want continuous autofocus so that the camera adjusts focus as the bird moves. Finally, choose a burst or continuous drive mode so that you can take multiple shots in rapid succession, giving you better chances of documenting the perfect moment. If your camera offers a pre-burst mode, it can help you get the shot even if you're a little late to the shutter button.

Wrapping it up

In bird photography, even small tweaks to your settings can lead to big improvements. With the right shutter speed, aperture and focus mode, you'll be better equipped to capture sharp, striking images of your feathered friends. Practice, patience and the ability to improvise as conditions change will help immensely.

If you're also looking to expand your bird photography gear or learn more about how to find birds, be sure to check out our additional guide.

Read our tips on bird photography

The patient cyclist This photo was taken during a late-night walk through Miami Beach, where plenty of people were out walking, biking, skateboarding and more. Even though it was November, it was warm enough that plenty of people were wearing shorts and T-shirts – that's Florida for you. Sony a1 II | Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM @ 64mm | 1/80 sec | F2 | ISO 2500

Submissions have closed for our May editor's challenge, where we were looking for photos of human-powered travel. That means it's time to vote for your favorites submitted by the community.

You can head to the challenge page to see the entries and to vote on them. User votes don't determine which photos end up getting selected to be displayed on our homepage next week – it is the Editor's challenge, after all – but they do help show support for community members who share their photography. The voting period will end on Saturday, May 24th.

See the submissions

While you're there, don't forget to check out some of the other community-run contests. The "Look What I Have For You!" challenge hosted by RHES is currently open for voting, and submissions have opened for DrLex's bird-focused "A Big Year 2025" challenge and RHES' "A Bench or Table" challenge.

Panasonic S1IIE | Lumix S Pro 16-35mm F4 @35mm | F4 | 1/100 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Mitchell Clark

This week, Panasonic announced the Lumix S1IIE, which features the same sensor found in the S5II and a host of other cameras. We've been able to spend some time shooting with it to get a feel for what kind of images it produces and to see how the updated body changes the experience of using it.

Our sample gallery also includes examples taken with the 96MP handheld high-resolution multi-shot mode.

See the sample gallery

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

A promotional image for The Odyssey, which will feature Matt Damon as the titular Odysseus. Image: Universal

Here's some exciting news for film Friday: Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie, The Odyssey, will be the first commercial feature film to be shot entirely using Imax film cameras, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While many of Nolan's previous blockbusters have made extensive use of the 65mm format, they've also had a varying number of scenes shot on 35mm film, due to the practical limitations of shooting with the large, noisy Imax cameras.

Imax CEO Rich Gelfond reportedly told members of the press at Cannes that the director asked the company to improve its cameras and workflow, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and it obliged. The cameras Nolan is using to shoot The Odyssey are reportedly lighter weight, 30% quieter and, currently, exclusive. THR says the new models have been set aside for him until the movie finishes filming, after which they'll be available for other directors to rent.

The company has also apparently improved how it processes and scans the film, which should help with the dailies process where filmmakers watch back the footage they shot the day before.

A frame of Imax film from Interstellar. This scene appears to have been shot on 35mm film, as it does not fill the entire film frame and has black borders on the top and bottom. Photo: Mitchell Clark | Interstellar: Paramount Pictures

Theaters that can actually exhibit an Imax film movie in its original format are few and far between, using it for the entire movie has a benefit that pretty much all theater-goers may be able to enjoy. In previous Nolan movies, the aspect ratio has changed dramatically between shots filmed on 35mm and shots filmed on Imax. With The Odyssey, that likely won't be the case.

While Nolan's next movie may be the first feature-length commercial movie shot entirely with Imax film cameras, there is a reason the statement is so specific. Plenty of films have been shot entirely on Imax film; they've just been documentaries, the types of things that museums with Imax screens would show, rather than something general audiences would go to a theater to see. That barrier has also been crossed if you're willing to look outside of film: 2018's Avengers: Infinity War holds the title of the first Hollywood movie shot entirely with Imax cameras, though those were of the digital variety.

Plenty of films have been shot entirely on Imax

Still, it's exciting news for fans of films shot on... well, film. Even as other directors have increasingly moved towards digital production, Nolan has been a steadfast proponent of the format, and it's nice to see that he and his team are still pushing it forward.

If you're interested in learning more about the process of shooting and distributing a movie in Imax, director Ryan Coogler recently worked with Kodak to put out a great video on the topic. YouTuber Radioactive Drew also has a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the projection process for Oppenheimer, Nolan's previous film.

The Odyssey is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 17th, 2026.

Nick Ut speaks with the press. Image: Wikimedia Commons

In response to claims made in a documentary, World Press Photo has suspended its official attribution for one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century. The Stringer, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, raises questions about who took The Terror of War, an image that's become known as Napalm Girl.

The 1972 photo of a naked nine-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, fleeing a napalm attack has long been credited to Nick Ut of the Associated Press (AP). However, the film alleges the photo may have been taken by Nguyen Thành Nghe, a freelance driver for NBC during the Vietnam War. According to the film, Nghe sold his pictures to the AP without receiving credit.

The Stringer presents testimony from Nghe's family and former AP colleagues, as well as forensic analysis from the NGO Index, which concluded that it was "highly unlikely" that Ut captured the image. An internal review cited technical analysis indicating that either Nghe or Huỳnh Công Phúc was better positioned to capture the image, whose authenticity remains undisputed by World Press Photo.

The AP has rejected the claims. Its vice president, Derl McCrudden, said the organization conducted two in-depth reviews and found no evidence that questions Ut's authorship. "It makes no difference to us if we changed the credit, but it has to be based on facts and evidence," McCrudden said. Ut has also continued to assert that he took the photo. "This whole thing has been very difficult for me and has caused great pain," he told the AP.

World Press Photo now lists the author of The Terror of War as unknown. The organization stated that the image remains a contested piece of history and that a true photographer may never be definitively confirmed.

Image: Leica

Like many companies, Leica is making pricing adjustments in the US due to the ever-changing tariff situation the country. After raising the price of its D-Lux 8 to $2790 earlier this month, the company tells DPReview it's lowering it by $875 to $1915: still $320 more than its original MSRP.

The company is also adjusting the price price of its Lux Grip for phones. After initially raising it from $329 to $625, it's now lowering it to $395. The new prices for the US will go into effect on Monday, May 19th.

The D-Lux 8 is assembled in China, unlike many other Leica cameras that are put together in Germany. President Trump's original tariff plan called for a 20% tax on products imported from the European Union, but the rates on Chinese goods may end up being much higher. After back-and-forth sparring between the US and China, the rate settled at 145%, though the countries have since negotiated a 90-day stay, during which the rate will be 30%.

Leica isn't the only camera company being impacted by the US tariffs. Canon and Sigma recently announced that they would have to raise prices in the country in response, while Tamron announced that it would be shifting its lens production. Fujifilm and Nikon have warned investors that the tariffs could eat into their profits by tens of millions of dollars.

Even at its original price, the D-Lux 8's price tag was hard to swallow – when naming the camera as his Gear of the Year, Richard Butler called it "somewhere between fanciful and absurd." Post-tariffs, the value proposition is looking even worse, especially considering how similar it is to the now nearly seven-year-old Panasonic LX100 II, which retailed for $1000 (and currently still sells for around as much on eBay). Of course, the costs brought on by tariffs aren't something the company has control over.

Leica is leaving the door open to the prices changing again as the tariffs evolve.
"As the tariff situation evolves, Leica Camera North America will continue to evaluate and adjust pricing accordingly," it said in its statement to DPReview. Normally, that may be a signal to potential buyers that they should act fast before prices go up again, but both the D-Lux 8 and Lux Grip are out of stock at most retailers and have been for a while.

Panasonic S1IIE vs S5II: what's the difference between the full-frame hybrids?

Panasonic recently announced the S1IIE, a full-frame camera that has the same sensor – and therefore similar capabilities – as the S5II and S5IIX. However, it's paired with a newer processor and a upgraded design, which bring with them some differences that make shooting with it a noticably different experience.

In this article, we'll break down what features the cameras have in common, and the differences that set them apart.

Body

The S1IIE uses the same body as the rest of the second-gen S1 cameras, which is a minor refresh of the one used for the S5II-series. The S1II models have a slightly deeper grip, which makes the camera easier to hold when paired with a big lens, as well as a higher-resolution EVF. The display also gets an upgrade: the S5II's is fully articulated, but the S1IIE adds the ability to tilt it in line with the EVF, without sacrificing the ability to view it from the front.

The S1IIE has a beefier shutter that Panasonic says should be good for up to 400,000 shots. Unlike with the S5II, you can set it to close when you turn the camera off, helping keep the sensor clean when you're changing lenses. Panasonic says the S5II is dust and splash resistant, and the S1IIE adds freeze resistance.

Controls

The S1IIE's controls are largely the same as the S5II's, but there are some key differences. Like the rest of the S1II line, the S1IIE has a lock switch, which you can customize to only lock certain controls in specific modes. The shooting and drive mode dials also have toggle locks, which lets you prevent them from accidentally switching settings while you're shooting or taking your camera in and out of a bag. The S1IIE gains a separate dial to switch the camera between stills, video and slow and quick mode; on the S5II, this was handled by the mode dial.

The S1IIE's (pictured) top plate is similar to the S5II's but with locking dials.

That gives the S1IIE room for two more custom mode settings, for a total of five. It also has an additional record button on the front left corner of the camera, which makes it easier to start shooting video if you have the camera facing you or mounted on a rig.

Battery

The two cameras use the same DMW-BLK22 batteries, though use two different battery grips: the DMW-BG1 for the S5II-series, and the DMW-BG2 for the S1II series. The later also allows you to hot-swap batteries, essentially letting you run the camera indefinitely.

The S1IIE is rated to get slightly more shots out of a single charge when using the screen than the S5II, though it will get noticeably fewer if you're mainly using the higher-resolution EVF.

Ports

The S5II and S1IIE have the same selection of ports, but they're arranged slightly differently. Compared to the S5II, the S1IIE's USB and HDMI ports have swapped places. The port doors are also different; two flaps cover the S5II's ports, while each port gets its own door on the S1IIE.

Even more different is the storage configuration. The S5II has dual UHS-II SD card slots. The S1IIE swaps one of those out for a faster CFexpress Type B slot.

Video Recording

The S5II and S1IIE have similar resolution and framerate options, but the latter gains a new 2.4:1 "Cinemascope" aspect ratio, along with a new CineLikeA2 color mode designed to give you more dynamic range, but without having such low contrast that it's not output ready; it's a midpoint between the CineLike D2 and CineLike V2, similar to Fujifilm's Eterna or Sony's S Cinetone response curves.

The S1IIE will also support a paid upgrade that adds Arri's LogC3 for anyone needing to match their footage to that of a high-end cinema camera.

The S5IIX comes with All-I and ProRes codecs built-in (which also available on the S5II via a paid upgrade) and has the ability to record video to an SSD and output Raw video via HDMI. The S1IIE has those features, too, but can also internally record ProRes Raw to its CFexpress card.

The S1IIE can also record 1080p proxy video files to the SD card when you're shooting in some formats, giving you smaller files that can be easier to edit, or that don't have a LUT baked in.

Video Workflow

The S1IIE has several additional features not found on the S5II which make it a bit easier to shoot video. This includes:

• Support for 32-bit Float audio via the add-on XLR2 adapter, which all but eliminates the risk of clipping
• LEDs on the front and back that act as tally lamps
• A false-color overlay that helps show what's clipping and where your skin tones should be.

Stabilization

The S1IIE's in-body stabilization system is rated for 8EV of stabilization at the center, which is 3EV more than the S5II's system. However, it's worth noting that the S1IIE's rating drops to 7EV at the periphery and that it's tested to a newer version of the CIPA standard, so it's not necessarily a 1:1 comparison, as the new test is a bit harsher.

It does, however, have video stabilization features the S5II doesn't, like:

• Cropless e-stabilization, which is mainly meant for use with wide-angle lenses and corrects for distortion at the edges; only compatible with Panasonic S-series lenses
• Improved e-stabilization performance with anamorphic lenses
• Can use "High" e-stabilization mode with anamorphic lenses

Autofocus

The S1IIE's autofocus system has some upgrades from the S5II's, with the company promising improvements to human face and eye recognition. It also gains an 'Urban Sports' human detection mode, which is meant to be better at recognizing people moving their bodies in out-of-the-ordinary ways, such as when skateboarding or breakdancing.

The S1II series also includes a relatively major change to the autofocus user experience. When subject detection was turned on, the S5II would fall back to its generic tracking system if it didn't detect a subject in the scene, so your focus point would still attempt to follow whatever you had placed it over. This isn't the case with the S1IIE: if you have subject detection active and place your focus point over something the camera doesn't recognize as a subject, the camera won't track it and your focus point will stay in the same position in your frame.

HDR

Both the S5II and S1IIE have several options for recording HDR video, but the newer camera also includes support for saving 10-bit HEIF files with the HLG tone curve for stills. While HEIFs are less widely compatible than JPEGs, you can use them to produce straight-out-of-camera images that pop on displays that support HDR.

Panasonic was one of the first brands to output 10-bit images with the HLG curve, but the adoption of the HEIF format brings them into line with Sony and Nikon, increasing the chances of more widespread adoption.

Connectivity

The S5II supports live streaming via Wi-Fi for services and apps that support the RTMPS protocol. The S1IIE adds on to this with support for USB-tethering with UVC/UAC, which lets the camera show up as a webcam when you plug it into a computer, without the need for additional drivers or software.

Panasonic has also added support for some additional third-party accessories. The S1IIE is validated to work with Godox's X3 flash trigger and V10 on-camera flash, and you can use Atomos' UltraSync Blue with it to wirelessly synchronize timecode with other devices.

Extra features

The S1IIE includes an important feature for studio photographers: support for tethering with Capture One. It also gains a few other workflow-related features that could be useful for pros, such as the ability to import and export its settings to and from other S1II-series cameras via an SD card and to copy individual files from your CFexpress or SD card to an external SSD via USB-C.

It also comes with an AI-powered white balance feature, which Panasonic says can help nail white balance in tricky lighting situations. It's only available when reprocessing a Raw, not while shooting, but if you found that the camera's auto white balance didn't quite get it right, the AI white balance may do a better job, saving you from having to fix it manually.

Conclusion

While they share a lot of similarities, the S1IIE is a bit more than just the S5II in a fancier body. If you're trying to decide between the two, however, you will have to decide how much value you place on those differences. Even comparing MSRPs, the S1IIE is notably more expensive, coming in at a $500 premium over the standard S5II, and costing $300 more than the S5IIX. However, the S5II cameras are a few years old at this point, and can often be found on sale for hundreds of dollars off, which may change the calculus even further – at least until the S1IIE also starts to go on sale.

S1IIE:

S5II:

S5IIX: