The Fujifilm X-T50 is a classically-styled mid-level APS-C mirrorless camera. It's built around the 40MP X-Trans sensor used by the X-T5 and X-H2, and gains image stabilization.

It also gains the majority of the X-T5's features in a smaller, less expensive body.

Key specifications

• 40MP X-Trans BSI CMOS sensor
• X-Processor 5 with majority of capabilities from X-T5
• Image stabilization rated at up to 7.0EV
• 20 Film Simulation modes, including Reala ACE
• Continuous shooting at up to 8fps (20 with E-shutter and crop)
• Subject recognition AF
• Tap to track AF in video mode
• Video capture up to 6.2K/30 in 10-bit up to 4:2:2
• Raw video out over HDMI
• 2.36M dot viewfinder with 0.62x magnification
• Tilting rear touchscreen with 3.0" 1.62M dot LCD
• Battery life rated up to 390 shots per charge (eco mode)
• UHS-II card slot

The X-T50 will be available soon at a list price of $1399, representing a $500 increase over the X-T30 II and a $100 increase, relative to the 26MP, stabilized X-S20. It's also available with the retractable 15-45mm power zoom for $1499 or with the new 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 for $1799.

Fujifilm highlights how many of the X-T5's features it includes, for $300 less. The X-T50 will be available in Silver, Black or a darker silver color scheme called Charcoal.

Index:

• What's new?
• How it compares
• Body and controls
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What's new:

Image stabilization

The X-T50 is still appreciably smaller than the X-T5 but finds room to add an image stabilization mechanism. This has the same rating (up to 7.0 stops of correction) as its more expensive big brother.

The X-T50 gains image stabilization: a first for this line of cameras. Until now you've had to choose between the X-Sx0 cameras, which had stabilization and DSLR-style command dials or the unstabilized X-Tx0 models with a shutter speed dial, whereas now you can simply base your decision on which control system you prefer.

The system is rated as delivering up to 7.0EV of correction, using a combination of gyro data and live-view image analysis to assess and correct movement.

40MP Sensor and X-Processor 5

The X-T50 gains the 40MP X-Trans sensor and latest X-Processor from the X-T5. This combination brings not just the same image quality as the X-T5 but the bulk of that camera's features, too. This includes the latest AF algorithms, as included in the X-T5's f/w 2.0, along with all the subject recognition modes that camera offers.

The X-T50 also includes the Camera-to-Cloud function that lets it upload directly to the Frame.io sharing platform over a Wi-Fi network, along with features such as tap-to-track autofocus in video, recently added to the X-T5.

Film Simulation dial

To make the camera's Film Simulation color modes as accessible as possible (and to remind you to experiment with them), there's now a dedicated dial. You can choose which modes are accessed with the FS1, 2 and 3 positions.

After the addition of image stabilization, the most significant update might be the addition of a Film Simulation dial on the camera's left shoulder. This replaces the drive mode control that's been present on previous X-Tx0 models.

It might seem like a small detail, given all Fujifilm models have a selection of Film Simulation color modes, but the addition of a direct control is a smart move for a camera such as this.

There's a world of difference between knowing an option exists in a menu and having a constant reminder of its presence, every time you pick up the camera. A direct control point also significantly lowers the barrier to that feature's use.

The X-T50 fits dedicated shutter speed and exposure comp dials onto its top plate, and even finds room for a customizable button.

Every camera on the market has a series of color modes, some more attractive than others, but Fujifilm's selection of generally subtle, attractive and memorable (thanks to their invocation of film stock names) help deliver some of the best JPEGs out there. The front-of-mind prominence and simplicity of selecting them will undoubtedly prompt more X-T50 photographers to make use of them.

It's not perfect, in that it's a twelve-position dial for a camera that has fourteen film simulations, on which one position passes control off to the camera's command dials. But it's easy enough to customize the three custom positions on the dial, with the option to specify a simulated color filter for the mono modes, once you remember this option is in the main IQ menu, not the setup section.

6.2K video

The X-T50 can shoot full-width (but sub-sampled) 4K, 6.2K video from a 1.23x cropped region, or 'HQ' 4K footage derived from this.

The X-T50 offers essentially all the capabilities of the X-T5 on the video side of things, with the ability to shoot 6.2K video at up to 30p (or 'HQ' 4K video derived from it), from a 1.23x cropped region of the sensor. Alternatively it can capture sub-sampled 4K from the full width of its sensor at up to 30p, or up to 60p with a 1.14x crop. As with the X-T5, there's a direct choice to be made between how much detail you wish to capture and how well controlled the rolling shutter is.

Tap-to-track autofocus in video (only added to the X-T5 in late April), F-Log2, a self-timer options, red frame outline when you're recording and control of front and rear tally lamps are also present. The X-T50 can output a data stream over HDMI that can be encoded by Atomos or Blackmagic external recorders as ProRes RAW or Blackmagic Raw, respectively.

Just about the only X-T5 video feature not offered is the ability to attach an accessory fan unit to extend the camera's recording duration.

How it compares

The X-T50 faces some impressive competition as a result of its price increase. Its price puts it directly in line with Sony's very capable a6700 and much nearer to the cost of Canon's image-stabilized EOS R7 than the less expensive R10 model. Nikon doesn't really have a high-end APS-C camera in its lineup, so we've picked the Z fc, which doesn't offer stabilization but comes closest to Fujifilm in terms of throw-back look and feel.

On paper the Sony is the camera to beat in this company. With its excellent autofocus, its strong video capabilities and impressive battery life making it an easy choice. But there's a lot to be said for the well-honed usability of the Canon, especially now Sigma and Tamron have been allowed to flesh-out the selection of lenses available. This makes life tougher for the Fujifilm, especially in light of its significant price hike. The main area that the Fujifilm stands out is resolution, both for stills and video, and its selection of interesting and attractive 'Film Simulation' color modes.

That said, we've not included the X-T5, one of our favorite APS-C cameras, in this table. Other than battery life, greater feeling of solidity and much nicer viewfinder, the X-T50 matches its specs in many regards. An extra axis of LCD tilt, compatibility with an external fan unit and the inclusion of a second card slot also set the more expensive camera apart though.

Body and handling

Part of the reason for the X-T50's small viewfinder is that Fujifilm has left room for a small built-in flash.

Although it maintains the same family appearance and the X-T30 II, the X-T50 is a completely new body. Rather than being essentially a rectangle with rounded corners, when viewed straight down in the plan view, the new cameras has completely curved ends and a forward-jutting extension at the top of the front grip.

It's a wider camera than its predecessor but less deep, despite the addition of in-body stabilization. The revised grip not only helps the camera more closely resemble the X-T5, but also makes it easier to get a firm grip on.

The X-T50 has a mic socket but requires a USB-to-headphone adapter if you want to monitor audio.

The camera's AEL button has been moved around a little, with it now sitting at the top of three buttons running up the back of the camera, rather than sitting next to the rear command dial. The Q Menu button still sits out on the end of the rear thumb grip.

The X-T50 includes the same AF joystick as the X-T5, but placed a little further down the back of the body, which makes it a little more awkward to control. Its role is make a little less significant by the camera's inclusion of subject recognition AF, though, as it means you don't need to place the AF precisely over your chosen subject, if you want the camera to focus on it, if you're trying to capture one of the subjects the camera can recognize.

As with Fujifilm's other cameras, the Face Detection and Subject Recognition modes are completely separate. This is positive in the sense that you can set a button to toggle Eye AF on and off, but means you'll need to configure two buttons if you find yourself wanting to switch from subject mode to face detection and back (engaging one and then disengaging it puts you back in standard AF mode, not with whichever detection mode was previously active).

The viewfinder hump still features a pop-up flash but, as before, this limits the size of the viewinder panel and optics, meaning the X-T50 continues to offer one of the smallest finders in its class.

The X-T50 still uses a 2.36M dot [px] OLED viewfinder panel, which is competitive but not outstanding compared to its peers, but its 0.62x magnification marks it out as being unusually small.

The rear screen is also unchanged, with a tilt up/down read LCD that shares its 3.0", 1.62M-dot [px] panel with the X-T30 II.

Battery

The X-T50 uses the same NP-W126S battery as previous X-Tx0 models. This is Fujifilm's smaller, 8.7Wh battery, which delivers up to 305 shots per charge.

These numbers tend to significantly under-represent how many photos you'll actually be able to take (it's not at all unusual to get twice the rated number of images or more) but they're broadly comparable between cameras. A rating of 305 shots per charge (presumably using the rear screen: Fujifilm doesn't specify), is low for this class, though.

Initial impressions

By Richard Butler

For a camera aimed at less seasoned photographers than the X-T5, the provision of quick and easy access to the camera's Film Simulation modes strikes me as a smart move.

From a hardware point of view, the X-T50 looks very promising. Just as the X-T30 included most of the X-T3's capabilities in a smaller, less-expensive body, so too does the X-T50 with the bulk of the X-T5's. If anything, the X-T50 includes more of its big brother's feature set, with essentially all of its stills and video modes and features included.

There are still major differences: heavier-duty build, twin card slots, a larger, higher-resolution viewfinder, larger battery, compatibility with the accessory fan unit and greater monitor flexibility. But on the flip-side, the X-T50 is more compact camera that comes in at a lower price and includes a built-in flash and fun touches like a dedicated Film Simulation mode that gives easy access to one of the features that helps the camera stand apart from the competition.

The slightly smaller, lighter and wider 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR lens makes an impressively capable combination, but it comes at a price.

But, although it's less expensive than the X-T5, the X-T50 arrives at a much higher price than previous models in its line. This might leave more room for an X-T300 to sit below it, but also means it has to compete with some extremely capable cameras.

We found ourselves favoring the X-T5 over Canon's EOS R7 when we conducted our review, but with Canon allowing third-parties to bolster its APS-C lens availability and the X-T50 coming in at only $100 less, it's going to be a challenging comparison. Likewise Sony's a6700, which is an impressively capable camera in just about every regard.

We feel the X-T50's chances will, to a great extent, hinge on the performance of the new 16-50mm F2.8-4.8. In this new lens Fujifilm has replaced one of the best kit zooms on the market, and a key factor in us recommending its cameras. The new lens loses a little length and around half a stop of brightness at the long end, but it now extends to 24mm equiv, rather than 28mm equiv at the opposite extreme. Between this wideangle expansion and the promises of faster focus and improved optical performance, it'll probably represent a net benefit overall for most uses. It loses optical stabilization just as the X-T50 gains in-body correction and promises weather sealing but it also adds yet another $100 over the cost of previous kits.

The new 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR reaches wider and fractionally less far than its predecessor, it's also a little slower at the long end and omits optical stabilization but it moves to an internal zoom design and Fujifilm says it'll be faster to focus and sharper.

Sigma's 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN is a more expensive option, as there are no kit discounts to be had, but it offers over a-stop-and-half benefit at the long end and is smaller. It will soon be available for Canon and Sony, as well as Fujifilm's mount, meaning it's no longer just X-mount that offers an accessible premium zoom option.

Click here to see our Fujinon XF16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR sample gallery

Promises of improved AF performance over its predecessor and a much higher pixel count sensor than its peers mean it's too early to be think about picking winners, but the price hike that's come with the X-T50's feature boost means it'll have its work cut out for 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.

Image: Fujifilm

Fujifilm has released the XF16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR, a replacement for one of our favorite kit zoom options, the Fujinon 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 R LM OIS.

The new lens loses a little at the long end, and becomes approximately half a stop darker, but now expands out to 16mm, meaning it gives an appreciably wider 24mm equivalent wide angle-of-view, rather than 28mm equiv.

The lens is no longer image stabilized but Fujifilm says it's improved in three specific ways: its autofocus is designed to be faster than the older lens, the move to an internal zoom design allows it to be classed as weather resistant and it's sharper than the outgoing version, making it a better fit for the 40MP X-series cameras.

Image: Fujifilm

The new design is made up from eleven elements in nine groups, making it slightly simpler than the existing design but, while it still utilizes three aspherical elements it makes greater use of extra-low dispersion (ED) glass, with three elements, rather than one.

The close-focus distance is improved, dropping from 0.4m to 0.24m, with maximum reproduction ratio increasing from 0.15x to 0.3x.

The 16-50mm has a rubber focus ring, rather than the ridged metal ring used in the 18-55mm. The weight has dropped around 10%, to 240g (8.5oz).

The 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 will be available from June 2024 with a list price of $699. Alternatively it can be bought as part of a kit with the X-T50, X-T5 or X-S20, where it replaces the 18-55 kits. It adds $400 to the body-only prices of each camera.

Sample gallery

We've shot a sample gallery with the 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 to give an impression of how it performs in front of a 40MP sensor.

Fujifilm XF16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR specifications

Photo: Fujifilm

Fujifilm has announced the GFX 100S II, a faster version of its $5000 GFX model with a nicer viewfinder, subject recognition AF, pixel shift high-res mode, enhanced video capture tools and uprated image stabilization.

Fujifilm says the sensor isn't the higher-speed chip included in the more expensive GFX 100II, but it's still been able to squeeze up to 7fps shooting out of the S II, compared with 5fps from its predecessor. Image stabilization is now rated as giving 8.0EV of correction, rather than the 6.0 of the original 100S.

And, while it doesn't have the removable, 9.44M dot viewfinder of the GFX 100II, it gains a 5.76M dot viewfinder, a major improvement from the 3.69M dot panel of the 100S. The viewfinder is also larger, with 0.84x magnification, rather than 0.77x in the previous version. It also refreshes faster and can operate at up to 120hz.

Photo: Fujifilm

Like the existing GFX 100S, the 100S II can shoot 4K video (UHS or DCI) at up to 30p, but its 10-bit 4:2:2 options now extend the maximum quality up to 720mbps. It can also output Apple ProRes 422 footage over its USB-C port to an external SSD.

Beyond this the camera's video support tools are significantly enhanced, with tap-to-track autofocus in video mode, waveform and vectorscope displays and the newer F-Log2 profile. It's also compatible with Atomos' AirGlu BT Bluetooth timecode syncing system and can output a data stream over its HDMI socket that can be encoded as ProRes RAW or Blackmagic Raw with the appropriate Atomos or Blackmagic external recorder.

As well as subject recognition AF, the GFX 100S II gains the Reala ACE Film Simulation and camera-to-cloud function that allows direct upload of stills and video to Adobe's Frame.io collaboration and sharing platform.

Vs GFX 100II

Compared with the more expensive GFX 100II, it lacks the nicer viewfinder and the ability to remove it and mount it on an articulating cradle. It also uses a smaller battery and SD cards, lacks an Ethernet port and full-sized HDMI socket, can't be paired with a battery grip or fan unit and tops-out one frame per second slower. In return, the GFX 100S II is around $2500 less expensive.

The GFX 100S II inherits the grippier 'bishamon tex' pattern on its rubber surfaces, bringing it into line with the 100II. At 883g (oz), it's a fraction lighter than the GFX 100S.

The GFX 100S II will be available from June at a price of $4999.95.

Fujifilm GFX 100S II specifications

Photo: Fujifilm

Fujifilm has announced the GF500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR, a relatively lightweight, compact super-tele prime for its GFX medium format system.

The 500mm delivers a 396mm equivalent angle of view in a lens that's 247mm (9.4") long and weighs 1,375g (3.03 lbs). It has built-in image stabilization rated to give up to 6.0EV of correction.

The design features 21 elements in 14 groups, including 5 extra-low dispersion (ED) elements and 2 Super ED elements. It can be used in conjunction with the company's 1.4x teleconverter to give a 700mm (554mm equiv) angle of view with F8 maximum aperture.

Photo: Fujifilm

The lens uses a small internal focus design with a linear motor to make AF speed usefully fast. It has a focus limit switch that restricts focus to the range between 5m (16.4') and infinity, to speed AF still further. Fujifilm says the lens is suitable for sports and wildlife as well as landscape, street and cityscape photography.

Fujifilm says the lens is designed for the 102MP sensors it uses in its GFX 100 models.

Fujinon GF500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR specifications

Tucked away at the bottom of Fujifilm's GFX 100S II press release is the news that Fujifilm has joined both the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) and the Content Authentication Initiative (CAI).

The two organizations are, respectively, a group developing the specifications and standards around "content credentials," the metadata requires to provide proof and traceability of photo and video creation, and a group of companies working to promote the adoption of these credentials as an open standard.

The company says it's ultimately committed to applying this verification system to its own cameras. Various manufacturers, including Leica, Nikon and Sony are already developing content authentication systems to the C2PA and CAI standard in their cameras.

In late February, Sigma surprised us by announcing its 15mm F1.4 DG DN Diagonal Fisheye lens, an optic squarely aimed at astrophotography. Sensing an opportunity, we put the lens into the hands of José Francisco Salgado, a professional astrophotographer, just in time for a photography trip to the Canadian sub-arctic to shoot the aurora borealis.

An important note about these sample photos: When shooting sample galleries for lenses, we typically keep ISO values as low as possible to prevent image noise from affecting the apparent sharpness of images. By its very nature, astrophotography often requires higher ISO values, even with the fastest lenses. As a result, we asked José Francisco to capture his nighttime photos using ISO settings that were appropriate to the conditions. To allow for critical evaluation of sharpness, he also included several daytime photos in the gallery that were photographed at low ISO values.

What did he think of the lens? "Diagonal fisheye lenses are part of my arsenal to capture very wide sky subjects such as auroras and the Milky Way," he told us. "The Sigma 15mm F1.4 DG DN is the fastest and sharpest diagonal fisheye lens I have ever used. Its focus lock is a feature that, as an astrophotographer, I have been wishing for for years."

You can learn more about the lens here.

View the Sigma 15mm F1.4 DG DN Diagonal Fisheye sample gallery

Note: 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.

José Francisco Salgado, PhD is an Emmy-nominated astronomer, night sky photographer, public speaker, and photo tour operator who creates multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways. His Science & Symphony films through KV 265 have been presented in more than 260 concerts and 215 lectures in 21 countries.

José Francisco, a seasoned aurora photographer, leads his Borealis Science & Photo Tours in Yellowknife, Canada, where you can view, photograph, and learn about the Northern Lights.

You can follow him on Flickr, Instagram, 500px, Facebook, and Twitter

Image: Canon

Canon has announced it is developing the EOS R1, which it describes as the "first flagship model for [the] EOS R system."

It would be consistent with the company's previous development cycles to deliver a pro sports flagship in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics, so it doesn't come as a complete surprise.

The company has tried to avoid using the word 'flagship' in reference to its current EOS R3 high-speed model, meaning this will be the first model to explicitly take over from the EOS-1D series of DSLRs at the top of the Canon lineup.

Details in amongst the marketing speak are rather vague, but the company promises to improve on both stills and video performance compared with the existing EOS R3, with a
"Digic Accelerator" processor providing additional capabilities beyond those of the existing Digic X processor with which it will be paired.

This co-processor is likely to be tasked with handling the complex algorithms created by the machine-learning process, as the company talks about "never-before-seen" advancements in autofocus. The camera will aim to better track subjects when multiple plays overlap and intersect, with one of the few details of new features being an "Action Priority" function that will shift the AF point to a player it recognizes as taking a decisive action.

Canon says the new camera will be built around a new CMOS sensor and that the camera will be capable of implementing sophisticated noise reduction that would currently need to be applied in PC-based software.

We'll expect more concrete details as the Paris Olympics approach, but Canon suggests the camera is already being field-tested in preparation for them. Canon says it's aiming for a 2024 launch.

Updated:

US retailer Adorama has published a series of specifications for the camera which, if true, would suggest it will be:

• 30MP Stacked CMOS sensor with dual gain design
• Flash sync speed of 1/1250th sec (implying 0.8ms read speed)
• Lossy compressed Raw options allowing 60fps (1:3 compression) or 40fps (1:2 compression)
• Up to 120fps continuous shooting with full capabilities
• Up to 240fps bursts including up to 1 sec pre-burst
• Dynamic range greater than EOS R3 or EOS R5

We haven't seen any specifications from Canon but it would be unusual for a major retailer to publish such figures from anywhere other than the manufacturer.

Simera 28mm F1.4 Image credit: Thypoch

Chinese lens maker Thypoch has announced its Simera 35mm & 28mm F1.4 lenses are coming to Z, X, E and RF mounts. The new lenses are versions of Leica M-mount offerings released in September 2023. You'd be forgiven if you're unfamiliar with Thypoch, as the company is a new player in the lens market and the M-mount lenses were its launch products.

Both lenses are pretty straightforward; they are fully mechanical with manual focus and aperture rings, and they don't communicate any EXIF data back to the camera.

The 35mm version is composed of 9 elements in 5 groups, has a 14-blade aperture and has a minimum focus distance of 0.45m (1.5 ft). It's about 64mm long, give or take a little depending on your mount, and weighs 297-310g, depending on which mount you choose.

The 28mm version has 11 elements in 7 groups, a 14-blade aperture and a minimum focus distance of 0.4m (1.4 ft). It ranges from 68-72mm long and weighs 344-368g, again dependent on which mount is selected.

The aperture ring on both models can be set to 'click' or 'de-click,' which may be of interest to video users.

Between the aperture ring and the focus ring is a depth of field indicator, perhaps its most visual calling card beyond the rangefinder-style design. Adjusting the aperture from shallow to wide adds red dots, which indicate the breadth of focus users should expect. It's an interesting feature, 'cute' may be the word, but we suspect the novelty will wear off eventually.

The M-mount version had metal construction and a metal hood, and Thypoch has not indicated that this has changed for these additional mounts.

Simera 28mm F1.4 Z-mount Image credit: Thypoch

Price and availability

Image credit: Sirui

Announced in mid-April, Sirui has released the Night Walker 16mm T1.2 S35 cine lens, its latest addition to the Night Walker line of APS-C / Super35 cine lenses. It is available starting today for Canon RF, Sony E, Micro Four Thirds, Fujifilm X, and L mounts.

The 16mm (24mm equiv on APS-C) prime lens is composed of 14 elements in 5 groups, which include three extra-low dispersion (ED) elements to reduce chromatic aberration. It also has a 13-bladed aperture.

The controls are fully manual, which isn't unusual for a cine lens. Along the barrel is an aperture ring and focus ring. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 0.3m (11.9"). It is compact at about 93mm (3.7") and weighs about 587g (1.3 lbs), but depending on your mount choice, these measurements shift a few grams or millimeters.

Sirui's Night Walker line is touted as having excellent low-light performance, which the company says helps solo filmmakers reduce the need for external fill lighting. It promises sharp visuals with minimal focus breathing.

Listed at $400, but available for $340 at an 'early bird' discount, the lens presents an intriguing value proposition, one which may be best suited for casual users curious about cine lenses who aren't sure if they need to invest in more expensive gear.

There was no clear word on whether the Night Walker 75mm T1.2 S35 cine lens, which was also announced last month, would be available soon.

Buy now:

Last week, Google announced the Pixel 8a, which slots in below the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro in Google's smartphone lineup. Although it's a member of the Pixel 8 family, the 8a uses the same sensors and lenses found in the Pixel 7a to keep its price lower than its siblings.

On paper, one of the Pixel 8a's headline features is a 64MP image sensor. However, the camera uses binning to deliver a 16MP image; you can't capture full-resolution photos using Google's camera app. To do that, you'll need to step up to the Pixel 8 Pro. You can see the full rundown of the Pixel 8a's camera specs in our launch coverage.

We used the Pixel 8a in various lighting conditions, from daylight to nighttime. This gallery was primarily shot with the phone's main camera, though we've included some images from the smartphone's ultrawide camera as well. We've also included images captured using Google's Night Sight and Long Exposure modes.

View the Google Pixel 8a sample gallery

Note: 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.

Buy now:

Every week, we ask newsletter subscribers a question about gear, creativity or life. Last week we asked readers: What's a camera you used to own that you regret letting go of, and why?

Many wrote in to share thoughtful and surprising responses. It was curious to see just how many shout-outs we saw for older film cameras.

Many regretted leaving behind high-end SLRs when they moved to digital. In hindsight it seems a new appreciation has grown for the simplicity and engineering of classic cameras.

A strong subset of responses congregated around medium-format cameras as well (you can count me among that group), which tended to deliver a slower, more deliberate process than 35mm, in part because the cameras generally weren't designed for moving quickly.

Here are three of our favorite responses:

1.Canon F1

Canon's first SLR designed for the professional market. Image credit: Steve H/DPReview

Phil A: "I sold a Canon F1, some lenses and accessories to buy the first Nikon DSLR. Big mistake."

2. NIKON F3P

The Nikon F3P was a modified F3 created for photojournalists. It was made to be extra durable with special seals for dust and sand resistance and removed the film door release lock, self-timer and multiple-exposure lever. Image credit: Arne List/Wikipedia

Stephen E Lawrence: "The NIKON F3P, as it’s a working Pro camera that never failed me as a NPS member using it was easy to use, felt like a precision piece that it was and took great pictures every time."

3. NIKON F2

The Nikon F2 was the company's last all-metal mechanically-controlled professional-level Nikon SLR. Image credit: Photopath/Wikipedia

A DPReview reader wrote: "NIKON F2. The F2 was the best looking 35mm film camera ever made. Also loved the sound of the F2 titanium shutter. Perfect. Such a satisfying camera to use and own."

What's your take? Let us know in the comments.

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What was your first camera?

This year is DPReview's 25th anniversary. Naturally, we've been thinking a lot about cameras from the past quarter century and even beyond. In that spirit, we thought it would be fun to update an article initially published a few years ago in which current and former DPReview editors share the cameras that gave them their start in photography.

We asked each editor two questions: "What was your first camera?" and "What was your first digital camera?" (For some, even their first camera was digital.) Read on to see what they were.

While we're at it, tell us about your first camera in the comments. With such a diverse group of readers, we know there will be some interesting answers!

Richard Butler

DPReview staff 2007-current

Technically, my first camera was a Halina Flashmatic 110 Tele: a thin box-like camera with a teleconverter that tightened its 25mm (50mm equiv) angle of view down to a 43mm (86mm equiv) tele at the push of a slider. My Dad bought one for both me and my sister, but I was the one who really embraced it. And probably spent a fortune in getting terrible photos processed.

Skip over a short-lived 35mm point-and-shoot that used to eat batteries to the first camera that made me fall in love with photography: the Pentax P30. Sold as the P3 in the US, it was an auto-exposure, manual focus SLR. I only ever had the little 35-50mm F3.5-4.5, but it served me well through my teenage years, darkroom experiments and up to shooting bands for the college magazine. The lens got broken when I let one of the other magazine writers use it, but the body itself still works.

My first foray into digital cameras came some years later when I was working on an engineering magazine. I’d enjoyed using the office Olympus UZ on a couple of factory visits, so I decided to buy something similar. Days of research on a really in-depth website with a black background led me instead to the Fujifilm S5500, a 10x 'bridge' superzoom camera with a lens that started at 37mm equiv. I loved the ability to see the impact of my settings immediately, but quickly grew to hate how little control you got over depth-of-field and how low the IQ could be, despite lugging such a large camera around. I decided I was enjoying photography enough again to justify a DSLR like many of the people in the Flickr group I’d joined: back to DPReview to do some research.

Pentax P3 photo by John Nuttall (Creative Commons license)

Dale Baskin

DPReview staff 2014-current

I genuinely have no idea what my first camera was. When I go back and look at old family photos, even ones in which I’m barely a toddler, I always seem to have a camera in my hands, running the gamut from my Dad’s rangefinder to a free plastic camera someone chose over a toaster when opening a bank account. When I got serious about learning photography, however, there was one camera that appealed to me like no other: the Miranda Sensorex.

Why? Probably for the same reasons that many people started photography with a particular camera: it was my Dad's, and it was available to me. I didn’t care that the camera was older than I was and heavier than a rock. It looked the way a camera was supposed to look, and it had the latest sensor technology. (That technology was called ‘film’, and my Dad taught me to use the Kodachrome and Ektachrome varieties).

It was a great camera to learn on as there was no auto, program, or aperture priority mode to fall back on. I recall reading somewhere that the Sensorex was the first 35mm SLR with TTL metering, and to this day, I love the match-needle method of setting exposure. It may be a dinosaur by today’s standards, but it still works and will probably continue for decades.

My first digital camera was the Canon PowerShot S300, a 2.1MP point-and-shoot. Back in 2001, that extra 0.1MP was important! I agonized for weeks over whether or not to spend hundreds of dollars more for a 3MP camera, but ultimately, I couldn’t justify doing so. I immediately fell in love with digital photography, especially the ability for easy sharing across social networks – a social network being defined as someone in your circle of friends to whom you could snail-mail a CD-ROM of photos they would never look at.

As fun as digital was, it still didn’t give me the same quality as scanned slides, so I stuck with film for a few more years until the Canon EOS 20D came out, and the rest is history.

Shaminder Dulai

DPReview staff 2022-current

A 110 Kodak wasn't my first film camera, but it was the first one I was consistently allowed to use and the camera that birthed my lifelong love of photography. I thought the camera was the bee's knees, so futuristic and compact, like a camera James Bond would use while sneaking about the Swiss Alps in pursuit of Blofeld. The interchangeable cartridges reminded me of Atari or Nintendo, and it felt so satisfying to quickly slap them in and get to work.

It was my mom's camera, and she encouraged me to take it on school field trips, to family events and around the neighborhood, so long as I was well-behaved and waited for my parents to save up for a few months to buy film and have funds for developing.

We didn't have any extra money; we were a family that didn't eat out, go to movies or take vacations, but I think my parents saw how much I enjoyed photography and didn't want to discourage me. Every few months, I'd ask if I could use the camera, and my parents would see if we had film, take it off the top shelf of the linen closet and let me have at it. Each frame was precious, so I had to be very methodical, trying to stretch that roll for weeks or months. Then, I'd keep an eye out for the drugstore coupons for development. It taught me to be grateful and patient, to observe and be thoughtful and deliberate in which frames I captured.

I wish I could remember exactly which model it was; it's not the one in the picture. All I can recall is that it had a clamshell cover, built-in flash and yellow trim around the shutter button. Maybe one of you can help me sort it out?

Kodak Instamatic 192 photo by Joost J. Bakker (Creative Commons license)

My first digital camera was born the same year as DPReview. The EOS D2000 was a Canon/Kodak mashup from the early days of professional digital photography. The camera was a rebadged Kodak Pro DCS 520, a model created by Kodak engineers trying to produce digital cameras in the 1990s for the professional market. At the time, Kodak was experimenting with early digital sensors, some as digital backs for film cameras. One of the designs they landed on paired a Canon EOS-1N with a CCD sensor.

While it was released in 1998, I was using it in 2004 as my daily camera for photojournalism assignments at university and for freelance. It was pretty beat up when I got it as a loaner from the school equipment library. I couldn't tell you how many shutter acquisitions it had, but I have to imagine it was in the hundreds of thousands as it was used by staffers at the San Jose Mercury News for over half a decade.

I was happy to have it. I was still shooting film and couldn't afford a digital camera on my own, and by 2004, the writing was already on the wall: if I was going to make a go at photojournalism as a profession, I needed to go digital and quick. By this time, the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N and, to a lesser extent, the Nikon D2X were the standard cameras for most newsrooms, so my gear was severely outdated. The camera was a pain: it used dual PCMCIA slots, was limited to 3.5fps and the file format was no longer supported without special drivers on anything past Mac OS 9. But it did help me learn and get work. It was also a great conversation starter: an AP photographer gave me grief for using the relic but it also helped me get him to review my work and share some honest feedback.

This camera was also the one that helped me discover DPReview. I needed to learn how to get the most out of the D2000, and this site came through again and again. Fast-forward, and I'm now in the building writing for DPReview. What a trip!

Jeff Keller

DPReview staff 2013-2021

Unlike most of my colleagues, I wasn't a huge film photographer. I recall owning one of those flat 110 cameras, followed by a standard-issue clamshell compact, which was promptly stolen by someone in the baggage department at London's Heathrow airport. I ended up running to Harrods to pick up something similar. I probably paid way too much.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on digital cameras really early – like 1996 early. After toying around with early Kodak, Casio and Apple cameras, I finally bit the bullet and dropped $900 on the Olympus D-300L, also known as the Camedia C-800L. This powerhouse had an F2.8, 36mm-equivalent lens and a sensor with XGA resolution.

My real pride and joy was the Olympus D-600L (Camedia C-1400L), which cost me $1300 in 1997. It had an unusual design, large-ish 2/3" 1.4MP sensor, and a 36-110mm equivalent F2.8-3.9 lens. Its optical viewfinder had 95% coverage and was supplemented by a 1.8" LCD. I don't know what I did with it, but I wish I still had the D-600L in my possession!

Olympus C-800L photo by Erkaha

Allison Johnson

DPReview staff 2013-2020

I’m counting my first camera as one that I used early on, and am now entrusted with, but isn’t strictly mine. I had some kind of point-and-shoot film camera of my own when I was young, and shared a Game Boy Camera with my sister, but Dad’s Nikkormat FT3 was the first 'real camera' I shot with. Let me tell you, that camera is built for the ages. It’s heavy and indestructible and as far as I can tell, still works like the day it was born. I take it out with me nowadays when I know I’ll be able to slow down and think about what I’m doing, and when I know I won’t be devastated if I screw it all up and come back with nothing. I haven’t been disappointed yet.

The very first digital camera I bought is slightly embarrassing: a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700. It was one of the super-slim Cyber-shots of the late 2000s that was all touchscreen. What can I say? I was taken in by its sleek looks and pocketability. It started up when you slid the front panel down to reveal the lens, and there was a real risk of the whole camera flying out of your hands every time you did that. It also had the world’s tiniest zoom lever in one corner on the top, which was pretty annoying to operate. The photos were fine in daylight, though I was just taking casual snapshots and didn’t exactly stress test it. I can confidently say my smartphone now does a fine job of everything that I was using this camera for. Therein lies the whole compact camera market, I guess.

Nikkormat FT3 photo by BastienM

Barney Britton

DPReview staff 2009-2022

My first camera was a Pentax MX, inherited from my Dad (who is still very much alive), along with a 50mm F1.7 prime and a couple of Tamron Adaptall-2 zooms. It was the camera I learned photography with, and the only camera I took on a round-Europe rail trip when I was 18. I sold it when I went to university to fund a Canon EOS-3, and always regretted it. I found an MX in a junk shop last year, and I’m not going to sell this one.

My first digital camera was the Canon EOS 10D. I saved up for an entire year, working in a hotel restaurant during university holidays to pay for it (a story told in part, here) and it was my main camera for a couple of years.

The EOS 10D was the first ‘affordable’ DSLR that really stacked up against high-end film models in terms of build quality and functionality. Although its AF system was primitive compared to the EOS 3, it was extremely well-built, and very reliable. At the time, the 10D also offered the best image quality of any enthusiast DSLR (and arguably, the best image quality of any DSLR, period). Noise levels were low across its standard ISO range, and an extension setting of ISO 3200 offered filmlike grain, which looked great in black and white. I still see 10Ds 'in the wild' occasionally, and for a long time, we used an EOS 10D as our main studio camera at DPReview.

The EOS 10D had a magnesium-alloy body.

I shot my first published work on the EOS 10D, which felt like quite an achievement given how poorly its autofocus system performed in low light. If I’d never become a professional performance photographer, I might still have it. After the 10D I upgraded to an EOS-1D Mark II, when I started getting more serious about theatre and music photography.

Pentax MX photo by Alf Sigaro

Carey Rose

DPReview staff 2015-2021

The first camera I have any sort of memory of actually using (besides disposable cameras and my Grandpa's Canon EOS 650 film camera, which was so cool) was a PowerShot A75. It was a hand-me-down from my dad, and the perfect 'first digital camera' for a socially awkward high-schooler. It was fairly small (though that didn’t stop me from wanting a camera phone as soon as such things became practical and available), ran on easy-to-find AA batteries, and the photo quality was great for the time.

It was also called 'PowerShot,' a brand name that, to this day, sounds way cooler than competing models like such as FinePix, Easyshare and Coolpix, all of which should have died out along with animated backgrounds and auto-play music on your favorite Geocities ‘links’ page. It even survived a tumble onto concrete for a while, though eventually it succumbed to the dreaded ‘lens error’ where the lens wouldn’t properly extend or contract.

It was superseded by a Samsung NV10, a camera which looked cooler, was a lot smaller and had a lot more megapixels (plus a funky Smart Touch control system with soft keys surrounding two sides of the display,) but I ended up preferring the overall ‘look’ of the PowerShot images I used to get. So when I left the NV10 on a train while traveling across Europe, I replaced it with another PowerShot, the S3 IS, and never looked back.

Sam Spencer

DPReview staff 2014-2017

The first camera I used was probably the same as anyone born before 1990-something: a disposable point and shoot. Being six years old, I had no idea about focus, flash, or anything of the sort and tried to take a macro picture of a spider at less than six inches away….

A couple years later my father proudly came home one evening with a Ricoh RDC-2. I wasn’t allowed to get my prepubescent mitts on it until later when computer monitors grew to 1,024 pixels on the long side, making the VGA Ricoh obsolete. I remember using the AC adaptor for it almost exclusively since it ate through AA’s almost as often as its now-diminutive memory filled. I also seem to remember using its OVF more often than the (optional) flip-up screen on top. I mostly used it to try and capture various members of my remote control car collection airborne after launching off jumps I made out of tape and cardboard. Remember, I was about 8 or 9.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S75 had a 3MP CCD, 34-102mm equiv. lens, a rear LCD info display and plenty of manual controls. Its lens, labeled 'Carl Zeiss,' could be found on numerous other cameras under different names (e.g. Canon, Epson).

That camera was replaced with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S75, which was the first time I had ever seen or heard the name ‘Zeiss’. That camera offered a bit more manual control (like focus!) than the Ricoh, was what got me truly enthusiastic about photography in Junior High, leading to signing up for darkroom photography my freshman year. Then I was handed a ‘real’ camera, a Minolta SRT200, which worked well until Nikon released the D50, a DSLR affordable enough to convince my generous father to help me purchase (he definitely paid for the majority).

Simon Joinson

The Fujica ST605N was an M42 screw-mount SLR made in the 70's and 80's. Photo by Alf Sigaro.

DPReview staff 2004-2017

I have my father to blame for my lifelong love affair with photography. Not because he was a particularly accomplished or prolific photographer (based on the wallets of photos I have from my childhood I’d characterize his technique as a bit hit and miss, with a lot more ‘miss’ than ‘hit’), but because he gave me my first camera at age 12 or 13. I got this hand-me-down because he was replacing his camera – a Fujica ST 605N – with something a lot fancier (a Minolta X500, chosen after an excruciating amount of research including, much to my mother’s consternation, two visits to a camera show from which he returned with a roll full of pictures of semi-naked models on motorbikes).

Anyway, I didn’t care because I now had my own real camera, complete with 35mm, 55mm and 135mm lenses packed into an ancient gadget bag that released a heady aroma of moldy old leather and film every time I creaked open its lid, and whose numerous pockets were home to a fascinating collection of dusty accessories and starburst filters. It was the most amazing thing I had ever owned.

The Fujica ST605N was one of dozens of similar no-frills M42 screw mount SLRs made during the 70s and early 80s (although it appears that the mere fact you could see the currently selected shutter speed in the viewfinder was quite the selling point in 1978), but it was compact, nicely made and had a decent focus screen and a fast (at the time) silicon exposure meter.

And I loved it. And, like all photographers who started with a fully manual camera and a small selection of prime lenses that took about 10 minutes to change (thanks to the screw mount), I quickly learned the basics of photography (specifically apertures and shutter speeds), partly by reading but mostly through trial and error.

I can still remember the first roll of I put through it, at the local zoo, and the thrill of getting the prints back only 5 days and 2 weeks' worth of allowance later (on this point my father made it clear I would need to reign in my enthusiasm and that a 36-exposure roll normally lasted him for at least a few months).

After many years of enjoying his Fujica, Simon moved on to the Nikon F-301, known as the N2000 in the United States. Photo by John Nuttall.

I kept - and used - the Fujica all my teen years, adding an old flashgun that took 5 minutes of high-pitched wheezing to charge up, a slightly moldy 70-200mm Vivitar zoom I found in a junk shop, and a sizeable collection of blower brushes and cap-keepers that came free on the covers of photography magazines. My time with her only ended when I went to college – all students were required to arrive on the first day with a Nikon SLR, so I had to trade-in my trusty old ST605N for a Nikon F301 (aka N2000), which seemed like something out of Knight Rider by comparison. But that’s another story…

The Casio QV-10, with its low resolution CCD and rotating lens, was one of the world's first consumer digital cameras.

My first digital camera? Well, the first I used was a Casio QV10, but since I started writing about digital cameras in 1995, I never really had to buy one (we had a house full of them), and I just borrowed what I wanted when I wasn’t shooting for work. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I didn’t actually buy a digital camera for myself until 2011 (funnily enough it too was a Fuji – a first generation X100).

Dan Bracaglia

DPReview staff 2014-2021

My first real digital camera (ignoring the Game Boy Camera of my youth) was a Canon Rebel XTi (EOS 400D). I bought it midway through my first year of college. Before that I had shot on film all through middle and high school mostly on a Canon AE-1 Program. Truth be told, up until college, I believed digital to be the devil.

My first time using a digital camera was also my first assignment for my college newspaper, The Daily Targum. I think I shot that assignment with a Nikon D100. Anyhow, I had no idea what white balance was at the time, so when I submitted the images to my editor, he patiently explained to me why everything had a blue tint.

After picking up a few more assignments for the paper, I decided I wanted a digital camera of my own and saved up for said Rebel XTi. Though borrowing gear from the paper tempted me to buy a Nikon, my allegiance was still with Canon as a result of my time with the AE-1.

However, within a year of owning the XTi, I knew I wanted/needed more camera (I was also studying photojournalism at the time). I set my sights on the just-announced Nikon D300 and began saving.

So while the Canon Rebel XTi was my first digital camera, the Nikon D300 was the first digital camera I owned that I actually liked. I still have it today (the XTi has long since been sold).

So what was your first camera (film or digital – both are fair game)? Let us know in the comments below!

With a cloud-free sunrise, I focussed on this telephoto detail of glowing wave sea spray at the typically wide-angle friendly Bombo Headland, New South Wales. ISO 100 | F18 | 1/5 sec

Bold sunrises. Moody clouds. Radiant sunstars.

These elements often come to mind when we think about landscape photography. And for many years, they’re what I chased trip after trip.

But I’ve found that coveting and waiting for glorious skies vastly limits the type of landscape photos we can capture. Expectations stifle our creativity and lead to disappointment when the conditions fall short or fizzle out.

Landscape photography can be (and is) so much more than golden rays and brilliant colors. It’s about capturing the essence of an environment and immortalizing defining details in the landscape.

So what if you simply excluded the sky altogether?

"Expectations stifle our creativity and lead to disappointment when the conditions fall short or fizzle out."

While I still chase bold skies when they occur – they’re worth capturing for a reason – I no longer let the state of the sky dictate my photography outings.

In fact, smaller scenes have formed some of my most striking compositions. Compared to sweeping vistas at scenic lookouts, these more intimate moments are less likely to be replicated by other photographers.

So here are six tips to help you expand your creativity with fresh compositions and make the sky no longer the limit.

Follow the periphery of your perception

This first tip may seem a bit pretentious. But it’s a crucial place to begin.

I recently read a passage from Peter Dombrovskis (a famed Australian photographer from the 1980s) that crystallized this concept for me:

"My most productive days are when I move through the landscape with an attitude of acceptance – of leaving myself open to all possibilities rather than expecting to find anything in particular.

I look ahead to guide my feet over rocks and roots, but images are more likely to insinuate themselves from the edges of my view, the periphery of my perception."

The takeaway for your photography? When you remove preconceived ideas that anchor your creativity, you’ll begin to appreciate the smaller scenes around you. You’ll notice quieter moments beyond the epic seascapes, grand vistas and verdant forests.

Slow down and take notice of underfoot scenes, such as these confetti-like myrtle beech leaves at Cradle Mountain, Tasmania. ISO 200 | F14 | 1/4 sec

Your eye may catch intriguing shapes, contrasting colors or patches of light. And when you do, you’ve already gifted yourself the attention and mental space to further follow that thread of interest. You might move closer, shift angles or return later under different light.

So rather than entering environments hoping for ‘ideal’ conditions, I now (try to) enter each environment with an open mind. I allow myself the freedom to wander, to entertain the potential of smaller scenes that I would have otherwise ignored and overlooked.

Simplify the scene and fill the frame

An open sky often serves as a largely clean, distraction-free compositional element. So when you don’t include one, you may be looking down or across at environments overflowing with complexity.

Herein lies a central challenge of intimate landscapes. Chaotic elements, like messy foliage or incongruent textures, can combine to undermine the sense of harmony in your image.

A simplified frame of ghost gum trunks contrasting against the red rock of Karijini National Park, Western Australia. ISO 160 | F16 | 1/3 sec

So, when you find smaller scenes too overwhelming, do what you can to simplify them. Focus on key details, isolate defining features, and obscure others.

You might simplify a woodland scene by highlighting shapely branches while excluding the undergrowth. Or, for rocky terrain, you might switch to a telephoto lens to fill the frame with striking rock patterns.

To help create order amongst the complexity, here are some examples of what you might focus on in different settings:

• Forests: Compressed trunk columns or fractal branches spreading out
• Deserts: Sweeping lines and overlapping layers
• Rivers: Long-exposure patterns as streams cascade down
• Coastlines: Repeating pebble or stone textures
• Lakes: Smooth ripples and reflected golden hour light

As mentioned, smaller and simpler scenes have formed some of my strongest compositions. By filling the frame with key details, you’ll walk away with a more personal photo to call your own.

Don’t stand still: Shift your position and angle

A sure-fire technique to help you notice and capture smaller scenes? Gain some height and then zoom in.

So look for natural features that can provide a higher elevation, such as a boulder, a fallen trunk or a hill. Or venture out to a lookout and use a tighter focal length to shoot down onto the landscape.

Sometimes, even an extra foot or two in elevation will significantly alter the composition or enable you to exclude distracting sky patches. You’ll be better positioned to shoot across the scene (rather than up at it) and experience the landscape around you from a fresh perspective.

After waiting for the afternoon sun to cloak a distant mountain in shade, it illuminated these shapely branches at Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. ISO 100 | F10 | 1/30 sec

Similarly, once you’ve noticed a compelling formation, scout your surroundings to find the strongest angle. For example, I captured one of my favorite smaller scenes of a beech tree in Fiordland, New Zealand. Gaining height allowed me to position the branches in front of a distant mountain. So that when the sun fell, it illuminated the leaves against the valley shrouded in shadow.

When you’re on a well-worn track, you’ll likely only see a fraction of the potential frames on offer. So, go explore and discover new angles to shoot from. But be careful – and considerate. If the area looks pristine or delicate, leave it that way. No photo is worth ruining the scene in which it was taken.

One last benefit from a technical level: In some situations, gaining height may enable you to shoot perpendicularly onto the scene rather than skim across it. This will reduce the necessary depth of field and help to minimize focus stacking. (Which can be tedious and is one of my least favorite parts of photography.)

Challenge yourself and make it fun

For many years, I struggled to break free from legacy ways of seeing the landscape.

So here’s one technique to help you capture smaller scenes: set a challenge for yourself. It’s counterintuitive, but introducing more 'rules' will force you into a different mindset and may allow you to view the landscape anew.

When you’re struggling to compose intimate landscapes, try a fresh approach. Here are a few rules that you may create for yourself:

• Set restrictions: Work within a 20-minute timer or limit yourself to 10 frames
• Go handheld: Leave the tripod behind and bump up the ISO if needed
• Set a schedule: Take a photo every 5 minutes (great for daytime hikes)
• Stick to a theme: Perhaps textures, colors, parallel lines or what’s underfoot

Remember, the purpose of the challenge isn’t to walk away with ideal images. It’s to get you to look at the landscape differently. To experiment without the paralysis of perfection.

The combination of low tide and an ever-shifting stream carved out these braiding sand patterns on sunset at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria. ISO 100 | F16 | 1/6 sec

Afterward, go back through your images and take note of your favorite scenes. Often, one or two (or more) frames will jump out and resonate with you.

Once you’ve settled on a frame with potential, consider how you might improve the image even further. A tighter crop? Placing the subject off-center? Or returning under soft light?

After the challenge is over, then it’s time to revisit your favorite frames with your tripod to make the best image you can.

Document smaller scenes with your smartphone

With unfathomably powerful computers (and cameras) in our pockets, modern photographers live in an age of abundance.

So, while our devices can be overwhelming and distracting (see tip #1), they also equip us with tools that past generations could only dream of, like live cloud tracking, detailed satellite maps, and a capable camera to take snapshots of promising compositions.

When I’m out exploring, I’ll often reach for my phone before I reach for my camera. The intentionality needed to set up a tripod, attach the right lens and dial in the settings is often a barrier to creation. (This is why I enjoyed low-friction shooting with the handheld Fujifilm X100V so much.)

Beyond weather tracking and location planning, my phone serves as a core part of my photography workflow in two ways:

As a scrapbook of potential compositions: It’s particularly helpful when I spend multiple days exploring a new area. In the evenings, I’ll scroll through my snapshots and review the day’s scenes with fresh eyes. Then, I can return to refine and strengthen standout scenes with my camera. The process also helps to prime my mind to look for similar but perhaps stronger compositions later in the trip.

To test telephoto focal lengths: Zoom in until you fill the screen with your preferred composition, even if it's beyond the 3x or 5x lens, and take a snapshot. Then, in my iPhone photo library, I can swipe up on the photo to inspect the precise focal length. This helps me determine what lens I’ll need and whether I need to attach a teleconverter.

Sweat the small things: Miscellaneous tips

Here are some small – yet just as impactful – tips for compelling, intimate landscapes:

Composition is still key. Even when there’s no sky, try to retain some breathing room around your subjects and carefully position elements to balance visual weight across the frame.

Experiment with light. If time permits, see what it’s like to capture the scene under different conditions. High-contrast scenes may look more flattering under soft light, while low-contrast scenes may benefit from harsh light.

Be mindful of what is (and isn’t) in focus. When shooting close scenes, select a small aperture (such as F16) and take at least five images, focused in the center and each corner, to help you focus-stack the scene.

Rather than including everything (and potentially diluting the visual story), this tight detail captures the essence of a much larger cascade at MacKenzie Falls, Victoria. ISO 100 | F20 | 1/8 sec

Fine-tune your frame for a clean view. Sometimes, shifting your camera by a few centimeters can evoke a more pleasing sense of order in your scene.

Lastly, stop looking for perfection when it comes to smaller scenes and intimate landscapes. You won’t find it, and you’ll only set yourself up for disappointment.

Nature is complex, raw and unstructured. So, as you capture skyless scenes, remember that not every image will be a portfolio-worthy shot. The point isn’t to produce perfection but to capture scenes that resonate with you on a personal level.

When the sky isn’t the limit, you allow yourself the freedom to fail. To look for interesting yet imperfect scenes. To experiment with new angles, focus on fresh features and refine your approach to make more meaningful photos.

About the Author

Mitch Green is an Australian landscape photographer. He can be found on his website, on Instagram or by the beach at 5 am waiting for sunrise.

Apple's newest iPad Pro models incorporate a novel OLED display. Image: Apple

At its "Let Loose" event on Tuesday, Apple announced new products, apps, and accessories aimed at content creators and multimedia users. Whether you're a photographer, videographer, or even a video editor, there's a lot that's new. Here's a rundown of the day's announcements.

iPad Pro

The headline feature of the latest iPad Pro is its new OLED display, which promises to deliver deeper blacks and brighter whites for photo and video applications, resulting in improved contrast, better motion processing and improved HDR.

Apple says that standard OLED screens don't produce the levels of brightness required for its XDR display technology, so the iPad Pro's OLED screen employs a feature Apple calls "Tandem OLED," which uses two OLED panels and combines the light from both.

The result is a screen that produces 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, with up to 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR. This matches the numbers for the previous 13" iPad Pro (which used a mini-LED panel) but significantly improves upon the previous 11" model, which maxed out at 600 nits.

Apple's newest iPad Pro models incorporate "Tandem OLED" displays that combine the light from two OLED panels to generate enough brightness for Apple's XDR display. Image: Apple

For the first time, the iPad Pro's screen includes a nano-texture glass option, which does a better job of maintaining image quality and contrast while reducing glare and which Apple says should provide a better experience for people using color-managed workflows or those who work in bright conditions with light and reflections.

The new iPad Pro is the first device to use Apple's newest M4 processor, skipping over the M3 generation entirely and seeing a big jump in processing power. Apple claims the M4 delivers up to 50% faster CPU performance than the previous M2-based iPad Pros and up to 4x the rendering performance of the M2.

"The new iPad Pro is the first device to use Apple's newest M4 processor, skipping over the M3 generation entirely"

The M4 also received an update to its Neural Engine, which is dedicated to AI processing. Apple claims it delivers faster performance than neural processing units in any PC and can support AI-based features in applications, citing the example of using AI in Final Cut Pro to isolate the subject from a 4K video clip at the tap of a button.

The iPad Pro receives a design makeover as well. To start, the front-facing camera has been moved from the short edge of the device to the long edge, making it much more usable in landscape view. Considering that Apple has often positioned the iPad as a possible laptop replacement, complete with detachable keyboards, this makes a lot of sense. In fact, it's surprising it took this long.

The new 11" iPad Pro is just 5.3mm (0.21") thick, compared to 5.9mm on the previous 11" model, and weighs in at 444g (0.98 lbs), 22g lighter than its predecessor.

The new iPad Pro models are even thinner than their predecessors. Image: Apple

The new 13" iPad Pro is even thinner at 5.1mm (0.20"), compared to 6.4mm for the previous 13" model, which represents an impressive 20% decrease in thickness. (Who says Apple isn't obsessed with making things thin?) It weighs 579g (1.28 lbs), compared to 682g on the previous model, a 15% drop.

Despite reduced weight and size, Apple says the new iPad Pros deliver the same level of battery performance as their predecessors thanks to the increased power efficiency of the M4 chip and that the new processor can deliver the same performance as the M2-based iPad Pros with just half the power.

Finally, the new models double the base-level storage to 256GB, with storage options up to 2TB. The 11" model starts at $999, and the 13" model starts at $1299.

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad

Apple also announced Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad, the first major update since the application debuted a year ago. The new version adds external project support, allowing editors to create or open projects on an external storage device like an SSD. This makes it possible to start a project on an iPad and later bring it into Final Cut Pro on a Mac if desired.

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad includes support for live multi-camera recording. Image: Apple

The other significant feature in Final Cut Pro 2 is Live Multicam, which allows users to connect and preview up to four iPhone or iPad cameras live for multi-camera recording and editing. When using Live Multicam, Final Cut Pro will automatically transfer and sync video from each connected device to simplify a multi-camera workflow.

As with the original version of Final Cut Pro for iPad, the new version has a subscription model that costs $5/month or $49/year.

Final Cut Camera

In addition to Final Cut Pro 2, Apple introduced a free app called Final Cut Camera, which can be used with the new Live Multicam feature in Final Cut Pro 2. Final Cut Camera includes monitoring tools like zebras and audio meters, and allows users to adjust settings like white balance, ISO and shutter speed, and supports manual focus.

The Final Cut Camera app provides more granular controls than Apple's built-in camera app. Image: Apple

Final Cut Camera isn't limited to integration with Final Cut Pro. It can also be used as a standalone app for shooting video, providing much more granular control than Apple's built-in camera app and potentially creating some new competition for advanced third-party video recording apps like Blackmagic Camera or Filmic Pro.

iPad Air

For users who may not need or want all the features offered by the iPad Pro, Apple also unveiled new iPad Air models. Most noteworthy is the addition of a new 13" iPad Air. Apple says it added the larger model based on the fact that roughly half of iPad Pro users choose the 13" screen size.

The iPad Air now includes 11" and 13" models. Image: Apple

The updated iPad Air models are built around Apple's M2 processor, which Apple claims results in 50% faster performance than the previous M1 model.

Like the iPad Pro, the iPad Air sees the front-facing camera move to the long edge of the device to better support camera use in landscape mode. Also, like the iPad Pro, base storage has doubled and now starts at 128GB with options up to 1TB.

The new iPad Air is compatible with accessories like Apple's Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The 11" iPad Air starts at $599, while the 13" model starts at $799.

Accessories

Along with new iPads and apps, Apple updated one popular accessory, the Magic Keyboard, and introduced a second, the Apple Pencil Pro.

The new Magic Keyboard, which connects to an iPad using magnets, is thinner than previous models and adds a row of function keys. It also includes a larger trackpad with haptic feedback. The new Magic Keyboard for 11" iPads retails for $299, while the model for 13" iPads retails for $349.

The Apple Pencil Pro is an evolution of the existing Apple Pencil. Its party trick is that the pencil barrel becomes a control surface: squeeze it, and a sensor in the barrel with haptic feedback can be used to do things like open a tool palette. It also includes a gyroscope, so it's possible to rotate the pencil to reorient the direction of a shape or brush. The Apple Pencil Pro works with iPad Pro and iPad Air and retails for $129.

Apple says all the new products announced today can be ordered immediately, with availability beginning next week.

Image: Google

Google has announced the Pixel 8a, its latest mid-priced smartphone, bringing the sensors and lenses from the Pixel 7a but the more powerful processor and features from the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. It also gets a brighter screen, now earning Google's 'Actua' branding.

The main camera is a 64MP camera with an F1.89 lens with an 80° angle of view (approximately 26mm equivalent, in 35mm terms). This uses a Type 1/1.73 (7.4 x 5.5mm) sensor.

There's also a 13MP ultrawide with an F2.2 aperture and 120° angle of view (∼12.5mm equiv). The front camera remains a 13MP camera with F2.2 lens and 96.5° AoV (∼19mm equiv). Both these cameras use Type 1/3 (4.7 x 3.5mm) sensors.

While the cameras themselves remain unchanged, the 8a gets an upgraded screen, now offering a peak brightness of 2000 nits. This, and a wider color gamut, earn it the company's 'Actua' branding, previously only used on the top-end phones. It can refresh at up to 120Hz, to give a smooth, responsive look.

The panel is not exactly the same as that in the Pixel 8, though, with the company calling it a glass-OLED, rather than the plastic-OLED panel used in the 8.

Google says one of its core aims with the new phone was to deliver "the best camera in a smartphone under $500." Underpinning these hopes is the use of the same Tensor G3 processor used in the more expensive Pixel 8.

The Pixel 8a will be available in four colors, including Aloe (pictured), Obsidian (black), Bay (blue) and Porcelain (off-white). Image: Google

The Pixel 8a includes features such as 'Best Take,' which takes a burst of images and then lets you choose the expression for each person in the image. It also includes Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to fill in the background, allowing you to select, resize and move subjects in the image, and Magic Eraser to remove distracting objects.

It also includes a "photo unblur" system that tried to up-res blurry parts of your images.

New to the Pixel 8a is Audio Magic Eraser, which analyses the audio in videos, splits it up into what it thinks are the different sound sources, and lets you selectively delete just the distracting audio elements.

It also includes the Guided Frame feature that gives audio cues for people with limited vision, which has been expanded to help take photos of pets, food and documents, as well as faces. As with all recent Google cameras it also utilizes the company's 'Real Tone' processing to more accurately render a wider range of skin tones.

The company promises a 15% increase in battery life over the 7a, and the 8a maintains the same IP67 weatherproofing rating as its predecessor. It's also essentially the same dimensions, at 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm (6.0 x 2.9 x 0.4").

The Pixel 8a will be available starting from $499, in 128Gb or 256Gb varieties. Google promises security updates will be provided for seven years from launch.

Read Google's blog post on the Pixel 8a

The Hasselblad XCD 2.5/25 V has a snap-back focus ring, engaging manual focus and revealing a distance scale. Image: Hasselblad

Hasselblad has announced the XCD 2.5/25V, a 25mm F2.5 lens for its X-system 44x33mm medium format cameras.

The 2.5/25V ends up acting as a 20mm equivalent ultra-wide lens on the X1D, X2D and 907x cameras, making it the second-widest option in the lineup, behind the 21mm F4. As with all XCD lenses, it features an internal leaf shutter, in this case allowing flash sync all the way up to its maximum speed of 1/4000 sec.

Hasselblad suggests its use for "shooting at night or dusk and blue hour," and says it can be used for: "cityscapes, street photography, natural landscapes/astrophotography ... as well as low light indoor portraits and close-ups."

Image: Hasselblad

It shares the features of the company's V ("versatile") series of XCD lenses, including a snap-back manual focus ring that reveals a distance scale on the barrel. It also has a user-configurable control ring, that can be used to control settings such as aperture value or ISO.

The complex 13-element, 10-group design includes four aspherical elements and three extra-low dispersion glass elements. It features an internal focus design driven by a stepper motor to deliver what the company describes as "fast, accurate, and responsive focusing."

It can focus down to 25cm (9.8"), giving a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:5.8.

The 2.5/25 is 105mm long and 75mm in diameter (4.1 x 3.0") and accepts 72mm filters. It weighs 592g (20.9 oz).

The lens will cost $3699.

Hasselblad XCD 2.5/25 V specifications

Image: Viltrox

Viltrox has formally announced the release of its AF 16mm F1.8 Z lens, a fast, wide autofocus prime lens for full-frame Z-mount cameras. It joins the lineup next to Viltrox's existing AF 16mm F1.8 lens for Sony E-mount. Viltrox says the lens is aimed at applications like astrophotography, landscape and architecture.

The AF 16mm F1.8 Z is built around 15 elements in 12 groups, including 4 ED and three aspherical elements. It has a minimum focus distance of 0.27m (11") and a maximum magnification ratio of 0.1.

A stepper motor drives autofocus. The lens has a nine-bladed aperture.

The lens also includes two function buttons and includes one-click access to infinity focus, a feature that should be popular with astrophotographers. It features a 77mm filter thread. Viltrox describes the lens as "dustproof."

Although Viltrox is formally announcing the AF 16mm F1.8 Z today, reviews on YouTube began appearing last week.

The AF 16mm F1.8 Z has a suggested retail price of $549 and is available immediately.

Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Z specifications

The author looking pensive, perhaps pondering whether he's condemned to over-think every aspect of cameras.

It's unusual for us to publish both a review and then follow up with an opinion piece. So why am I doing it here? Our reviews do their best to act as a guide for the 'typical' user of a product, and to provide enough information for you to make your own mind up.

But we all have different needs and expectations, myself included. I don't believe my own personal perspective represents the 'typical' user, so didn't want to weight the review too heavily towards it. Instead this is just my opinion, based on my experiences with the X100VI and how it worked for me.

So don't you like the camera?

I really like the Fujifilm X100VI. It's the best version yet of the kind of camera that we always hoped someone would make. Photographers who looked back longingly at the likes of the Contax T series or Olympus RC rangefinders were overjoyed when the X100 was launched, and the cameras have just got better. Hence the Gold award.

I understand that there are people who'd like a camera that's smaller, or one with a lens that's wider, or who don't see the appeal when interchangable lens cameras exist. But, just as with the Ricoh GR cameras: the X100 is what it is and it isn't (and isn't supposed to be) anything that it isn't.

And armed with this perspective, I don't feel there's any contradiction between giving the X100VI a positive review for what it is, and then saying what I wish were different about it. Because I'm not asking for it to be something it's not, but instead that I wish it were even more what it's trying to be.

In short, I feel that the X100 borrowing so much from Fujifilm's other models risks detracting from its X100-ness.

Loss of focus

As the X100 series has continued, it's gained the dual clickable dials from the other cameras in Fujifilm's range, along with a using the focus ring as a control ring. This means there are more possible ways of controlling it but risks it taking longer for you to settle on your preferred way of doing so.

Noticeably, when you first switch the camera on, there are three settings assigned to the front dial, none of which actually does anything unless you hand-off control from the dedicated dial for each of those settings.

Given the number of direct controls on the camera, it seems odd to have four exposure parameters also assigned to the front and rear dials. And while I appreciate being able to use a press of the rear dial to punch in on the camera's live view, I feel that one or both dials being non-clickable dials would still allow for most people's preferred way of controlling exposure while also giving a higher-quality feel and less chance of accidentally pressing a dial and changing the function.

A control point that does do something out-of-the-box is the manual focus ring when you're not in MF mode. It's a free-rotating ring, ill-suited to the stepped variables that can be assigned to it, and it's all too easy to knock and only later wonder why you've spent the last two hours shooting in an unexpected Film Simulation mode or Small image size.

The X100's manual focus ring now acts as a far-too-easy to nudge control ring. I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to make it so easy to accidentally change film simulation or switch to Small image size, but I doubt we'd get along.

Of course, it's quite possible that this only stands out to me because, as a camera reviewer a) it's my job to explore the ways in which the camera could be used, rather than just picking one and getting on with it and b) because I've used all the other cameras its UI resembles, such that I recognize that the X100VI feels like the do-everything X-T5 but can't do as much. Upon tapping the front dial, I found myself having to think about how to configure and use the camera before I could start to fall in love with it.

Inappropriate features

The hybrid X-H2 models, which are designed to cover a wider range of photo and video pursuits than the X100VI, have fewer dedicated dials, yet don't have clickable command dials. So why does the X100VI need them?

From a development (and cost) perspective, it makes sense for Fujifilm to offer as much commonality across its cameras as possible. And there's no-doubt some added concern about appearing to be withholding features if you omit something that the hardware is capable of offering. But does the X100VI need all the X-T5's features?

The X100VI has the same machine-learning-trained subject recognition system as the X-H2S and X-T5, but its much slower-moving lens means it can't focus on moving subjects with anything like the hit rate they offer. Likewise, do enough people capture pictures of birds with a 35mm equivalent lens to make the presence of bird detection AF worthwhile? Maybe other people are better at quietly approaching birds without disturbing them, but even with a 40MP sensor, I think I'd need to crop extensively to get anything useful.

And, even as someone who's written about why virtually all cameras include video, I'm not sure the X100VI would be any worse for not being able to capture cropped, rather rolling-shutter prone 6K video. Though I accept it may be more expensive, if it meant establishing parallel development streams for its firmware.

Overlooked quirks

Finally, I worry that carrying over so much code from other models means that the unique properties of Fujifilm's rangefinder-style cameras aren't as fully developed as they could be.

Take, for example, the behavior of the pop-up tab in the optical viewfinder, onto which an electronic preview can be projected. This retracts every time you nudge the AF joystick, then pops back up when you try to focus. But it only does this with the joystick's default behavior. If you set the joystick to simply position the AF point, rather than moving and letting you change its size, then the pop-up tab remains engaged.

This is a little odd, but becomes even stranger when you remember that it's not actually possible to change the AF point size when you're looking through the OVF. So why doesn't the joystick simply switch to position-only mode, when your eye is up to the finder?

Similarly, the pop-up tab can show a magnified version of the chosen AF point, for confirming critical focus position and accuracy. But only in AF-S mode. If you set the camera to AF-C (though why would you?), the tab shows a tiny version of the entire scene: the thing you're already seeing through the viewfinder itself. Both of these are really, really minor oddities, but could they have been better if Fujifilm had time to focus solely on what the X100 can do, rather than sharing firmware more widely?

And yet?

For all of my nit-picking about the X100VI, I think it's a superb photographic tool.

To be clear, none of this stops the X100VI being an excellent camera. But part of me misses the simplicity and, perhaps, inflexibility of the early models. If you've decided to straightjacket yourself with a slow-to-focus camera with a fixed focal length, would it be so terrible to have to adapt to the way it's designed to be used, rather than even having to think about how to configure it and deal with its foibles? And would a few fewer features in any way diminish the appeal?

Perhaps Leica, whose SL cameras are full of functions but whose niche manual-focus rangefinders have had their video capabilities excised, is onto something.

We've been pretty busy testing cameras over the past few weeks, and these days, camera testing usually includes shooting video samples to evaluate video quality.

You can find these samples in our recent or upcoming camera reviews, but here's a quick roundup of video test reels we've shot recently for those who may have missed them.

Sony a9 III

Sony's a9 III is the first mirrorless camera to feature a global shutter, which is exciting to many videographers. But what about video quality? Check out this sample reel by former DPReview editor Carey Rose to see how it performs.

Fujifilm X100VI

Fujifilm announced the much-anticipated X100VI rangefinder-style camera at an event in February. DPReview editor Richard Butler was present at the camera's launch in Japan and shared this overview of the camera from the streets of Tokyo.

Panasonic S5II / S5IIX

The Panasonic S5II landed on our doorstep just as we learned of our parent company's intention to close DPReview in 2023, and we've been looking for an opportunity to shoehorn it back into our testing calendar ever since we joined Gear Patrol last summer. The good news: we finally managed to block out time to finish our review of the camera.

For this video test reel, shot with the S5IIX, editor Dale Baskin picked a maritime theme and took the camera to Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal, Fisherman's Terminal and Ballard Locks to capture samples in a variety of of settings.

Panasonic G9 II

The long-awaited Panasonic G9 II is an impressive camera for both stills and video. Former editor Jeff Keller, who still writes for DPReview and authored our Panasonic G9 II review, took the camera to the Bloedel Reserve, a forest garden near Seattle, to capture this video reel.

Nikon Zf

The Nikon Zf may look like a film camera from the 1980s, but it's a capable video tool. For this sample video, Richard Butler followed a friend on a ferry trip across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island to visit a favorite haunt for fish and chips.