If you’re in the US and have been waiting for your chance to buy a Ricoh GR IV, this may be the moment. B&H Photo and Adorama currently have the three different versions in stock for their retail prices, something that hasn’t reliably been the case for the past few months, according to Gear Patrol staffer James Tirado, who has spent a while casting a jealous eye at the product page.

It’s hard to say how long they’ll stay in stock, so it’s probably worth acting fast if you’re sure you want it. And if you aren’t, perhaps check out our reviews; we have one for both the standard GR IV and its Monochrome variant, both of which are available at time of writing. The HDF version, which switches out an internal ND filter for a high diffusion one that creates a glow around highlights, is also in stock.

Of course, there is one reason you may potentially want to hold off: the company has already announced that an “x” variant, which swaps the 28mm equiv. lens for a 40mm one, is due out later this year. Of course, if the standard edition, and the former GR IIIx, are any indication, that one may also be quite hard to get a hold of, too.

Ricoh GR IV

Ricoh GR IV Monochrome

Ricoh GR IV HDF

If a standard GR IV is too pedestrian for your tastes, the company is also coming out with a limited-edition anniversary edition this month. There will only be 6000 available, so you’ll probably need to act fast to get your hands on one, too.

You can never have enough of a good thing, right? So, for this week’s Question of the week, don’t worry about your GAS problem and instead lean into it. Demand from camera manufacturers that their cameras all lack that one key feature you wish were included. A feature so effective or powerful, you’d sell all your other gear to get it.

As the lead image in this article indicates, I’m a huge steampunk fan. If I were a camera engineer, the one feature I would want is a steampunk skin for my favorite camera. I could easily see this on some of the more retro-looking cameras, such as the Fujifilm X-M1.

So, with that said…

What one camera feature that doesn’t yet exist would you like to have?

Let’s put everything on the table, from the mundane, simple tweaks to the outrageous additions that would break the industry and even spacetime itself.

Drop a reply in the comments section below, and if you’ve got a photo to include of one of your cameras that looks like it might have been overengineered, it may be selected for next week’s article on this topic!

Amazon’s fall Prime Big Deal Days sale is officially underway, running through October 7. Similar to previous Amazon sales events, there’s a lot of marketing and hype, but once you cut through all that there are some good deals hidden in the noise, including all-time low prices on some cameras. However, let’s set expectations: not every deal here is the lowest price we’ve seen, and discounts often skew toward older models. We’ve tried to include only products whose prices represent a good deal relative to historical pricing, but even then, some have been cheaper in the past.

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days prices require a Prime membership, and prices can – and do – change mid-sale. The deals below were current as of the time of writing, but may sell out or expire before the sale ends on October 7. It’s also worth checking out competing retailers like B&H or Adorama, that often match some Prime Day prices.

Camera deals

Richard Butler

Camera discounts can be hit-or-miss during Amazon’s sales, but this is a good one if you shoot Nikon. The Z8 is at the lowest price we’ve seen, including body-only and with the 24-120mm F4 kit lens, and the Z6 II and Z5 match their all-time low prices. Those last two are previous generation models, but remain capable cameras if one appeals to you. Also worth noting: the Fujifilm X half is $100 cheaper than it was during Amazon’s Prime Day in June.

Nikon Z8 $3297 (was $4300)

Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm F4 S lens $4197 (was $5200)

Nikon Z6 II $1297 (was $1750)

Nikon Z6 II with Nikkor Z 24-70mm F4 S lens $1897 (was $2350)

Nikon Z5 $897 (was $1147)

Canon EOS R50 V with RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ lens $749 (was $949)

Fujifilm X half $449 (was $650)

Panasonic Lumix S9 $1098 (was $1198)

Lens deals

Sony

The lens selection this time around is thin, but there are options for different budgets, particularly if you shoot Sony – its FE 50mm F1.4 GM is at the lowest price we’ve seen. Canon’s RF 800mm F11 IS STM matches its all-time low price, making it an inexpensive way to get a lot of reach on a Canon mirrorless camera.

Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM $1198 (was $1398)

Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM $1498 (was $1798)

Sony E 35mm F1.8 OSS $400 (was $600)

Canon RF 800mm F11 IS STM $899 (was $1198)

Action camera and drone deals

Amazon

Similar to Prime Day last June, some of the best discounts are on action cameras, vlogging cameras and drones – though the list of models is limited.

DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo $495 (was $629)

DJI Osmo Pocket 3 $395 at B&H (was $439)

GoPro Max2 $300 (was $500)

GoPro LIT Hero $180 (was $270)

DJI Neo $139 (was $199)

DJI Flip Fly More Combo with RC 2 $588 (was $779)

Memory card and storage deals

Amazon

The cost of memory has risen dramatically as demand by AI tools and data centers has spiked, so memory cards and storage cost much more than they have historically, even when on sale. A discount today is a discount relative to current pricing, not a return to what you would have paid a year or two ago. There are no bargains here that demand action, but if you need cards or SSDs now, these prices are lower than what we’ve seen recently.

Memory cards

Sony Tough CFexpress type A 160GB $330 (was$399)

Storage

SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD $210 (was $300)

SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD $360 (was $451)

SanDisk 4TB Extreme Portable SSD $715 (was $860)

Samsung T9 Portable SSD 2TB $350 (was $490)

WD 20TB Elements Desktop Hard Drive $550 (was $815)

Accessory deals

Rode

Rounding things out, there are some healthy discounts on gimbals, microphones and printers.

DJI RS 4 $369 (was $469)

DJI RS 4 Mini Combo $309 (was $459)

DJI RS 4 Mini $259 (was $369)

Røde Wireless ME $70 (was $106)

DJI Mic Mini (2 TX + 1 RX + Charging Case) $79 (was $99)

Shure MoveMic Two Wireless Lavalier Kit $279 (was $389)

Canon Pixma Pro-200S Professional 13″ Wireless Inkjet Photo Printer $479 (was $648)

Canon Selphy CP1500 with RP-108 ink and paper set $170 (was $200)

Canon Ivy 2 Mini Photo Printer $90 (was $120)

Full-frame has been the center of attention for the past few years, which can result in it overshadowing other formats. But, with the right support, different formats have their place, and we all lose out if those options are neglected.

Full-frame gets its name – and much of its level of manufacturer backing – from the fact that it allowed photographers to use their film-era lenses as originally designed. The economics of sensor manufacture pushed the likes of Canon, Nikon and Konica Minolta into the use of smaller sensors at the start of the digital era, but the large user-bases, including professional users with existing lens commitments, along with significant R&D investment having been spent on building up lens lineups, created powerful incentives to move to sensors that captured the “full frame” that those film-era lenses were designed to project.

That same push from users wanting to keep using their existing lenses, along with an audience now familiar with the image quality of digital full-frame, ensured that similar pressures came to bear as the industry moved across to mirrorless, such that the dimensions of “35mm” film still dominate the pro and enthusiast-focused products from Canon, Nikon and Sony.

And this concentration of development efforts means “full-frame” is the most extensively supported format on the market. Canon, Nikon and Sony all make APS-C cameras, but the bulk of their lens investment has been focused on full-frame, just reinforcing that format’s primacy in their lineups.

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

But that doesn’t mean it’s the best format or even some kind of carefully considered optimum. Like all formats, it’s an arbitrary choice; in this instance, it dimensions came about because a German engineer decided to use silent-era cinema film the wrong way round, more than a century ago.

Every sensor format represents a trade-off between size, price and image quality. Larger sensors (or film formats) have an inherent image quality advantage because they have more light-capturing surface, but the lenses needed to provide any given field-of-view have longer focal lengths, making them bigger, heavier and more expensive. You can hunt around for exceptions: a particularly large or small body, or one especially small prime lens, but for the system as a whole, the overall trade-off remains true.

Full-frame digital can offer spectacular image quality, but even with the move to mirrorless, its cameras and lenses are larger than their film-era counterparts were. If the 35mm film format was a Goldilocks balance of quality vs portability and cost, then digital full-frame isn’t, because it offers a completely different balance. Better image quality, but with both a size and financial cost (and these differences are worth considering before you decide to point out that 35mm film could be called ‘small format’).

If you’re after something closer to the balance of size, price and image quality that 35mm film offered, you might find it in APS-C instead. Its smaller sensor means it doesn’t match the depth-of-field that 35mm film offered, but in terms of IQ, camera and lens size, it’s much closer to being a match. Just compare the size of the Nikon FE, Fujifilm’s X-T5 and Nikon’s Zf, paired with appropriate lenses, to confirm this for yourself.

Richard Butler

Likewise, for travel and wildlife in particular, the smaller Four Thirds format lets you further downsize the whole setup, giving lenses with longer reach or compact prime-lens combinations that let you travel light. Yes, you pay an image quality cost for moving to a smaller format, but you might end up with a shot that you simply wouldn’t get if your kit becomes too unwieldy to carry with you. 

The same is true in the other direction: 44 x 33mm Medium Format offers around a two-thirds-of-a-stop advantage over full-frame, at the same exposure, if you want better image quality. But those same downsides of larger, more expensive lenses are inescapable.

All formats are arbitrary size/price/image quality trade-offs. They may be popular or well-supported, but none is inherently best, because each has an innate compromise at its heart. And what makes sense for you, isn’t necessarily ideal for everyone.

Those other options, and that ability to choose a format that suits your kind of shooting, will only exist if those formats continue to be supported by manufacturers and by photographers. We lose that choice if we decide that some formats are lesser, or just stepping stones to another, rather than treating each as an entity in its own right.

Last week, we had the opportunity to spend some time with DJI’s latest 360 camera, the Osmo 360 II. It features replaceable lenses, dual Type-1/1.1 (92mm²) sensors (which, when recording 360, are combined to roughly the area of a Type-1 (128mm²) sensor) and can record 360 video at up to 8K/60p, or flat video at up to 4K/120p*.

I thought it’d be a good opportunity to check in with the state of the 360 camera market, having been an early adopter of them in the mid-2010s, when it seemed like the future of content consumption may involve a cardboard headset with a phone in it.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t. In the video, I go through how people are using 360 cameras these days, if not to create 360 content, and take a look at some of the pros and cons of cameras that capture the entire world around them. You’ll also get to see a lot of footage shot on a 360 camera, as we filmed it almost entirely using the Osmo 360 II (giving me a new appreciation for how DJI’s cameras can automatically sync with the wireless microphones I typically use.)

If you want a higher-level overview of the camera, you can also check out our unboxing below.

*- You can also choose to sacrifice some resolution to go even slower with the camera’s “4K” (3840×1920) 240p mode.

Last month, we announced a special mini-challenge event that invited the community to submit a themed photo, with the theme rotating every 48 hours. This meant 15 distinct themes with 15 opportunities to submit a photo throughout September.

Below is a selection of the challenge participants in no particular order. Read on to see what wild and diverse photos, and the story behind them, came about from this event.

Something that moves

GulfCoastFL

GulfCoastFL: What are the odds I would catch this hummingbird just as it passes our Blue Angels bluebird house while being pursued by a lizard? I see these lizards every day trying to ambush the hummers on our feeders. Quick as the hummers are, I think they are safe.

Photograph of a framed photograph

jaberg

jaberg: This photo of my father, walking in a local park, hangs in the corner where his chair once sat. The rest of the “decor” is a work in progress. My partner and I are still figuring out where things should go – most of this is waiting for an assignment.

I still see dad daily at his assisted living, but I miss having him here, in his corner.

An everyday object with an interesting story

Myles Baker

GWKilgore: I’ve owned a fair few watches over the years, from my first Timex more than half a century ago to my latest smart watch bought a few months ago. It’s rare that I do not have one on my wrist.

I wear them for much the same reason that I use cameras, there is something tactile & real about both that you don’t get with the ubiquitous smartphone.

This particular watch is the oldest one that I currently own & was a gift from my wife on our first wedding anniversary, 32 years ago. Constant wear over the years shows on the case & strap, but it still keeps on keeping on.

Oddest thing around your neighborhood

Ansel Spear

Ansel Spear: The inappropriately scaled and situated Ben Ainslie building was built in 2014 in Old Portsmouth, the historic quarter. It was designed to give Ainslie’s racing team a local foothold during the 2015 / 2016 America’s Cup Series, held in the Solent, off Portsmouth, using AC45F foiling catamarans.

After getting through sponsors Land Rover and INEOS at an injudicious rate of knots, Ainslie’s lot up-sticks and leaves, leaving us with a colossal blot on the landscape. To call it an eyesore would be an understatement.

Most photogenic scene in your neighborhood

Joachim Wulfers

Joachim Wulfers: One of the exhibits at a hot road show.

Something old that you still use

jaberg

jaberg: My Grandfather’s coffee mug. My father had an identical cup. It’s an object that has always been in my life – I literally can’t remember a time when it wasn’t present, and it might predate my birth. My nephew has that mug now. I don’t drink from Grandpa’s mug anymore. It sits on my dresser, organizing my “carry” pens, pencils, etc., and serves as a location for (non-e) tickets to upcoming events. A twice-daily reminder of my grandfather, my father, and from where I come.

Something outside that makes you happy

cbf_si

cbf_si: Cultural heritage cannot be replaced, but it must be preserved. The photograph shows shepherds’ attire on the nearby mountain of Velika Planina, where cows are still grazed and cheese is made by hand. Photo taken at the 53rd National Costume and Clothing Heritage Days held in Kamnik, Slovenia.

Something you couldn’t replace

beorn76

beorn76: A Moka Bialetti that has seen so many coffees over the years, never a flinch, always ready to please its many admirers eagerly and patiently waiting.

Something growing or changing

Spid

Spid: Chilies ripening in the glasshouse, awaiting their turn to be turned into something hot and tasty.

What’s on your dinner plate?

david kohn

david kohn: When in Roma, the pigeon doesn’t get your pizza.

There are more 48-hour themes to check out in the event’s album, along with many interesting stories about the photos from our community. We would love for you to join in on the discussion!

This month, Nikon released the Z5IIC, which is essentially a version of its Z5II mirrorless camera, but with the viewfinder removed and a lower price point. And while that top-line summary is closer to the whole story than usual, there are a few nuances that are worth looking at if you’re trying to decide between the two models.

No EVF

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

The most obvious difference between the two cameras is that the Z5II has a (particularly nice) electronic viewfinder that you can use in sunny conditions, or when you’d prefer not to look at a rear screen, and the Z5IIC does not. How much that will bother you comes down to personal preference; are you willing to give up an EVF to save some money, and do you value you the camera being a bit smaller and easier to get into and out of a camera bag?

While both the Z5IIC and the Z5II have 3.2″ fully-articulating displays, the one on the more expensive, full-size model is a bit higher-resolution at 2.1 million dots, versus the Z5IIC’s 1.04M. That’s not as big a difference as those numbers may seem – they equate to 1024 x 682px and 720 x 480px, respectively – but while we found the screen to be quite usable, it is undoubtedly not quite as nice. Neither comes all that close to a display you’d find on a smartphone, though.

Storage

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

This is another relatively simple arena: the Z5II has two UHS-II card slots, while the Z5IIC has one. This could be a slight annoyance when shooting video, where it can be nice to have your recording automatically roll over to a second card once you’ve filled one up, and can bring some peace of mind if you’re a photographer worried about the possibility of your card dying before you can offload it (something that can happen, but very rarely). That assurance is also nice if you’re capturing a once-in-a-lifetime event or trip.

Most shooters, however, will be perfectly well-served by a single card-slot camera. And in cases where you absolutely must have backups, Nikon’s app lets you automatically transfer 8MP JPEGs from your camera to your phone as you take them. (Unfortunately, there’s no option for full-size JPEGs or Raws, unless you have the camera directly connected to Wi-Fi and set to automatically upload to Nikon’s Imaging Cloud service).

Controls and handling

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

The Z5IIC and Z5II have, once again, very similar controls, with essentially the exact same mix of programmable buttons on the top, rear and front plates. (The one difference: by default, the button to the right of the mode switch on the Z5II is set to AF On, while on the Z5IIC it’s focus and exposure lock, though either can be customized to behave like the other). Likewise, both cameras have twin top-plate control dials.

The one control omitted on the Z5IIC is a joystick, leaving you to control your AF point using the touchscreen or the multi-directional controller. When we were using it, we frequently found ourselves reaching for the nonexistent joystick, since it can be more convenient than using the touchscreen, especially if you’re shooting at odd angles. But at least we never had to worry about how to control the focus point when we had the camera’s EVF up to our eye…

There is one other difference between the two: the Z5II has three user-defined settings on its mode dial, while the Z5IIC only has two, replacing the third with a “Scene” setting.

Scene modes

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

Choosing the Scene setting lets you select what you’re trying to take a picture of and have the camera automatically optimize some of its settings for it. For instance, if you set it to sports, the camera will do its best to choose a fast shutter speed. If you instead tell it you’re trying to capture a dusk or dawn scene, it’ll set the white balance to preserve the colors as your eye sees them.

This isn’t a feature Nikon has included on its full-frame cameras before, so it’s absent on the Z5II. This may make the Z5IIC seem more attractive if you’re looking for your first camera and aren’t accustomed to having full control over the wide variety of settings mirrorless cameras offer. (However, we believe you’ll be better served by learning to make those decisions yourself, rather than using a somewhat clunky mode that can restrict your creative freedom).

Size and weight

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

Despite the Z5IIC’s lack of an EVF, it isn’t substantially lighter than the Z5II. It comes in at 620g (22oz), versus 700g (25oz), a mere 11% reduction.

Likewise, it’s only marginally shorter at 81mm (3.2″) tall, rather than 101mm (4.0″). We did find the lack of an EVF hump meant it was easier to slip in and out of a camera bag, but it being the same thickness and width as the Z5II means you’ll probably need to have a dedicated bag to carry it around in. Once you have a lens mounted, it’s a bit big for all but the roomiest of purses, and would struggle to fit in even the most generous of jacket pockets.

Autofocus

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

Both cameras have very similar autofocus systems, with all the features we’d want from a modern mirrorless option, including the ability to recognize and track various subjects. And while we haven’t done our in-depth testing on the Z5IIC yet, the experience we’ve had with it gives us no reason to suspect that it won’t perform the same as the Z5II.

The one other autofocus difference: the Z5II has an AF assist lamp, which the camera can use to add a little extra illumination when it’s trying to focus in an extremely dark scene. The Z5IIC trades this for a tally light to indicate when the camera is recording video.

Pricing, now and in the future

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

Many people have been quick to point out that, at the moment of the Z5IIC’s launch, you can buy a standard Z5II for around the same money, or even less. And if that’s the still the case as you’re reading this, our advice is straightforward: you should buy the Z5II.

However, it’s worth keeping in mind that MSRP is always an opening bid. This is likely the most expensive the Z5IIC will ever be (at a price that still makes it the joint second least expensive full frame camera ever), and, based on past pricing trends, we expect it will be sold for remarkably cheap after a few months on the market. That is, after all, what it seems to be designed to do. If and when you can buy it for as much cheaper than the Z5II as the delta between the cameras’ MSRPs suggests, it’ll be a much easier recommendation if you’re trying to save some money while starting a new hobby.

Summary

The Z5IIC and Z5II are much more alike than they are different. Beyond what we’ve covered in this article, they’re essentially the same, spec-for-spec, with the same stabilized sensor, mechanical shutter, burst rates, ports, video modes and more. It’s remarkable how inexpensive Nikon has managed to make the Z5IIC without making it feel cheap, both in terms of features and build.

Deciding between the two will largely depend on your budget and how much you value an EVF and the other features the Z5II offers.

Nikon Z5II

Nikon Z5IIC