I love watching adventure stories, especially when they pull back the curtain on the work required to tell them well. Salomon’s short documentary, The Women Who Took Over UTMB, does exactly that, following an all-women photo, video, and social team as they cover UTMB, one of trail running’s largest and most demanding events.

The team is there to document 23 Salomon athletes across five races and nearly 400 kilometers of mountain terrain over six days. They’re navigating unpredictable weather, road closures, long drives around the Mont Blanc massif, patchy connectivity, tight turnaround times, and the physical effort of carrying heavy camera kits to the places where the most compelling moments might unfold.

The film covers a lot, including the logistics of capturing an event like this. It is easy to see a dramatic mountain-running image or polished race recap and forget the chain of decisions behind it: where to position a photographer, how to get a camera operator ahead of an athlete, when to stop shooting and start transmitting and how to keep creating after little sleep. The crew has to make those calls constantly, while contending with rain, snow, exhaustion and a mid-race course adjustment.

I’ve helped a runner during a far less intense ultramarathon and got a small taste of just how grueling the experience can be, even without the pressure of covering it or the burden of camera gear. Calling this assignment demanding would be an understatement, and the team did a phenomenal job producing photo, video, and social coverage throughout the event.

The fact that the content team is made up entirely of women adds a welcome dimension in a space that has been male-dominated. The film touches on why this team was assembled in the first place and on some of their experiences as women in the field. It also highlights that these are simply experienced creatives doing incredibly difficult work at a very high level, supporting one another and finding the human stories within a massive endurance event.

For anyone interested in adventure, storytelling, sports photography, filmmaking, or the often-invisible labor behind major event coverage, it’s a compelling watch.

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Earlier this week, Fujifilm announced the XF 400mm F4.5 R LM OIS R, a super telephoto prime lens for its APS-C X-mount system. We had the chance to test it out ahead of its launch, putting the compact, 609mm-equivalent lens to work photographing birds and other distant subjects.

Bird photography is not a genre I have spent any time with, but the lens made the process feel approachable (and I’m not determined to get the perfect bird photo). Its autofocus moved quickly from the 2.7m (8.9′) close-focusing distance out to infinity, which was helpful when I wanted to switch from a near subject to one in the distance. It isn’t entirely silent, but the autofocus is quiet enough that I didn’t worry about its sound disturbing the wildlife I was trying to photograph, especially at the distances I was shooting from with this focal length.

Abby Ferguson

The XF 400mm F4.5’s manual focus ring has a relatively long throw distance, so I wasn’t able to react quickly with subject changes while on manual focus. But that proved useful for fine adjustments. It has enough resistance to make precise changes easy, and its texture feels especially good under a fingertip. The clicked aperture ring has a deliberate, satisfying action, and it can be locked into place for operation through the camera’s dial.

The XF 400mm features a maximum aperture of F4.5, which gives it a slight advantage over the company’s XF 500mm F5.6 when light is limited. It gave me some flexibility when photographing birds, but I still had to rely on fairly high ISO settings while shooting in the woods at dawn or trying to freeze fast-moving subjects. Photographers who regularly work in very dim conditions may want more light-gathering ability, but F4.5 should be plenty practical for wildlife and action in brighter conditions. It also keeps the price and size much more reasonable than they otherwise would be.

Abby Ferguson

At 1245g (2.7 lb), this is still a substantial lens (as all super telephoto lenses are), but it is impressively manageable for its reach. I wouldn’t shoot one-handed with it, though I was comfortable carrying the camera and lens that way while walking around. Fujifilm says the lens is weighted toward the rear for better maneuverability when panning, and it felt well matched to the X-H2 I was using.

I didn’t have enough time with the XF 400mm F4.5 for a full technical evaluation, but I came away happy with the images it produced. More importantly, it made my first more deliberate attempt at bird photography mostly enjoyable (minus the biting flies I had to deal with on one trail).

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Lomography recently launched the Fisheye No. 2 Graffiti, a redesigned version of its long-running Fisheye No. 2 camera that pairs a 170° fisheye lens with a graffiti-styled 35mm body. It sits below the brand’s LomoApparat in price, and Lomography says it packs bulb mode, multiple-exposure capability and a built-in flash into a compact, beginner-friendly body.

The Graffiti edition shares its core optics and feature set with the standard Fisheye No. 2 but distinguishes itself with its graphic design. It still is a point-and-shoot camera with a fixed F8 aperture and 1/100 sec shutter speed. There are also no ISO settings. Its bulb mode allows for long exposures, and multiple-exposure support lets photographers play with layered images in camera for unexpected results. 

Lomography

Lomography describes the lens as producing heavy vignetting and spherical distortion, characteristics that the brand frames as exciting features rather than flaws. The camera focuses as close as 10cm, which opens up the opportunity for exaggerated wide-angle close-up shots. The beginner-friendly features and its relatively affordable price make it an ideal option for experimental shooters looking for an easy entry into analog fisheye photography.

This isn’t the most affordable camera Lomography has launched this year, either. The brand recently added a $35 half-frame camera that gives photographers twice the frames on a single roll of film. These build on a broader industry trend of releasing beginner-friendly film cameras, a pattern Kosmo Foto’s Stephen Dowling recently argued is good for the medium.

The Fisheye No. 2 Graffiti is available now for $69 through the Lomography shop.

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Fujifilm has announced the Fujinon XF 400mm F4.5 R LM OIS WR, a new super-telephoto prime lens for its APS-C X-mount system. The company says the lens delivers exceptional sharpness in a relatively compact package aimed at wildlife and sports photographers.

The XF 400mm F4.5 is positioned as a sister lens to the previously released XF 500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR. Alongside the XF 200mm F2 R LM OIS WR, which Fujifilm sees as a set, the three lenses cover full-frame-equivalent focal lengths from roughly 305mm to 762mm.

Fujifilm

The new 400mm F4.5 provides a 609mm equivalent focal length on X-mount cameras. It is also compatible with Fujifilm’s 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters, providing equivalent focal lengths of 852mm and 1219mm, respectively. It offers 5.5 stops of optical image stabilization and is weather resistant with 20 sealed points, two must-have features for most wildlife and sports photographers. 

Fujifilm says the 400mm lens shares a nearly identical optical design to the 500mm, with some slight changes to the rear group. It features 21 elements in 14 groups, which include 4 ED and 2 super ED elements. According to Fujifilm, its engineering team in Japan says the 400mm is sharper than the 500mm. It is also slightly lighter than its 500mm sibling, weighing 1245g (2.7 lbs). It measures 239.5mm (9.4′) long with a 104.5mm (4.1′) diameter. The lens is compatible with 95mm filters.

Fujifilm

The XF 400mm F4.5 uses a linear motor for autofocus, which Fujifilm says results in silent operation. It can focus as close as 2.7m (9′) and offers a maximum magnification of 0.16. There is a focus limiter switch to prevent it from focusing closer than 5m away, resulting in faster autofocus when photographing distant subjects. Near the front of the barrel, a Focus Control button works in tandem with a Focus Select switch, allowing photographers to choose whether the button activates autofocus, locks AF, or recalls a preset focus distance. 

The XF 400mm F4.5 R LM OIS WR will be available sometime in mid-September for $3200. That’s a $200 premium over the XF 500 mm’s launch price, but that lens now retails for $3599 due to tariff-related price increases.

Fujifilm

Fujifilm XF 400mm F4.5 R LM OIS WR

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DJI has announced the Osmo 360 II, its second-generation 360-degree action camera. The latest version is an iterative successor rather than a redesign, building on the original model’s dual square-sensor design and 8K panoramic capture, without substantially changing the camera’s core hardware or shooting concept.

DJI

One of the most consequential changes is the move to swappable lenses, rather than the fixed ones used by the original Osmo 360. Following in the footsteps of Insta360, DJI now sells a replacement kit for $30, which is substantially more affordable than having to replace the entire camera if you accidentally scratch or crack a protruding lens.

The camera uses two Type 1/1.1 square sensors (one for each lens) with 2.4 μm pixels, matching the sensor specifications of the original Osmo 360. The company says each of its sensors features “an imaging area equivalent to that of a 1-inch CMOS sensor with a 4:3 aspect ratio,” or 123mm² each.

DJI claims 14.5 stops of dynamic range from the camera, which is one additional stop compared to the previous model. As with most dynamic range claims, though, we’d take that number with a grain of salt, and DJI hasn’t specified where that extra stop is coming from. There’s every chance it’s mainly due to noise reduction, although DJI did somewhat quietly switch to a LOFIC sensor in its Osmo Pocket 4P to improve dynamic range.

DJI

The camera is capable of up to 8K/60 video, up from the original version’s 8K/50. Slow motion video also gets an increase, with up to 4K/240 possible, compared to a max of 4K/100 previously. Panoramic photo resolution remains at 120MP, though it gets the benefit of HDR this time around. DJI also added a ‘Spotlight Follow’ mode that promises to track your subject, keeping them in the center of the frame, with footage up to 4K/30 possible in this mode. 

DJI has also updated how users connect the camera to its Mimo app. It now supports the ability to tap to connect using NFC. The Osmo 360 II keeps the same 105GB of onboard storage and is waterproof to 10m (33′) without a case.

The DJI Osmo 360 II will be available for purchase outside of Asia starting on September 15. As expected, it will not be officially available in the US. In most EU countries, the new camera will cost 589 EUR.

DJI

DJI Osmo 360 II

Zeiss has named KEH Camera its exclusive authorized repair and service center for photography lenses and equipment in the US and Canada, the two companies announced today. The Atlanta-based used-gear specialist will handle work on everything from postwar Zeiss Jena glass to current Otus ML optics.

KEH will handle both in-warranty and out-of-warranty work for those in the US and Canada. The KEH technicians are trained directly by Zeiss and will use genuine manufacturer parts along with Zeiss-approved calibration tools and procedures, according to the announcement. The companies specify that all repairs will meet Zeiss engineering standards. 

KEH

The most important detail of the announcement is the scope. Coverage extends to “decades-old legacy lenses,” with the companies specifically citing postwar Zeiss Jena optics, the 1960s Contarex system and large-format Zeiss lenses built for Linhof and Graflex, alongside current Batis and Otus ML lines. “Be they new or legacy ZEISS cameras and lenses, we are confident that KEH Camera has the skills necessary to provide value to our loyal optics owners,” said Tony Wisniewski, senior manager for Zeiss Photography Americas.

The coverage of older lenses represents a reversal of Zeiss’s long-stated position: its photography service pages state that legacy Hasselblad, Contax/Yashica, Rollei, Carl Zeiss Jena and Zeiss Ikon gear “can unfortunately no longer be repaired by Zeiss,” directing owners to independent workshops. Now, though, the companies have confirmed that even Yashica and Rollei optics can be serviced by KEH.

For gear that previously fell under Zeiss’s service policy, the new partnership replaces a rather roundabout arrangement. Until now, Zeiss instructed US photo lens owners needing warranty service to contact their dealer or the distributor in the country of purchase, rather than sending equipment to a dedicated Zeiss service center. Under the new agreement, users can initiate repairs through Zeiss’s online service portal, with KEH coordinating shipment. Customers can also drop off equipment at KEH’s retail location in Atlanta. 

KEH already serves as an authorized repair partner for Sony and Sigma, and says it is the only reseller in the camera industry with manufacturer-approved repair facilities. Its track record shows that repair is central to its business. KEH chairman and CEO Glenn Kaufman connected the Zeiss agreement to that mission, explaining that it’s “a natural extension of what KEH has always stood for: keeping great gear in circulation and out of landfills.”

Zeiss

Zeiss “decided to kind of hit pause on photo, to wait and see what happens” during the pandemic, Wisniewski told us last year, while continuing to sell the lenses it already made. That pause ran nearly six years, ending with two Otus ML lenses in 2025. This partnership to expand repair options for customers in North America suggests the company’s renewed investment extends past new products.

Disclosure: MPB, a competitor to KEH in the used-gear market, is a DPReview sponsor. This article was produced independently.

If you’ve ever held a small card of 24 colored squares up to your subject, you’ve used a piece of imaging history that just hit a milestone birthday. The ColorChecker (also called the Macbeth chart if you’ve been around a while) is turning 50, and Calibrite has marked the occasion with a virtual museum for the little chart that helps photographers keep colors accurate. 

The anniversary hub for the occasion includes a timeline from the founding of the Macbeth Artificial Daylight Company to today, along with fun facts about the card and some of its famous uses. It also breaks down the purpose behind each of the 24 patches and features a quiz to test your knowledge of each color. 

The small chart debuted in a 1976 paper, “A Color-Rendition Chart,” by C.S. McCamy, H. Marcus and J.G. Davidson, written while Macbeth was a division of Kollmorgen. The idea was simple but clever: each patch was locked to a spectral reflectance value instead of a printed ink mix, so the card could be measured, reproduced and trusted across different materials and lighting conditions. 

Calibrite

When photography went digital, the ColorChecker came along for the ride. Shoot a Raw file with one in the frame, then feed it into Adobe Lightroom or DxO PhotoLab, and you get a custom camera profile that pulls your colors closer to how the scene actually looked. The ColorChecker Digital SG, though, saw an expansion of color, jumping to 140 squares that include the original 24 colors, a 17-step grayscale for fine tonal control, and 14 dedicated skin-tone patches.

The card has changed hands a few times: Gretag, GretagMacbeth and X-Rite all owned it before Calibrite took over. It’s also changed in size. The original measured roughly 13 by 9 inches, with proportions that closely match a 35mm film frame, and it now comes in a range of sizes, including one barely bigger than a postage stamp for macro subjects. But the patch layout and spectral targets have stayed consistent enough that profiles built around the standard remain interchangeable. Fifty years on, and photographers still reach for this tool for the same reason they always did.

DxO has announced PhotoLab 10, the latest version of its subscription-free Raw editor. The new iteration of the app offers more advanced masking tools, a new color grading wheel, automatic sensor dust removal and direct connectivity to Affinity, all under the company’s perpetual license. 

Most of the updates revolve around masking changes. That includes the addition of Depth Masks, which it previously released as part of Nik Collection 9 earlier this year. DxO says the feature uses AI to build a detailed depth map from any Raw file, based on distance from the camera, even without embedded depth data. It allows photographers to independently target the foreground, midground or background for more precise editing. 

DxO

DxO is also expanding some of PhotoLab’s existing AI-based masking tools. The company says that the AI Masks tool can now identify every person in a scene and allows photographers to create a single mask for all people, combine only selected people into one mask or create individual masks for every person. For even more control, the tool even allows photographers to select individual features of people, such as eyes, hair and lips. 

Users can now also select individual features such as eyebrows, eyes (as a whole or breaking out the iris, pupil and whites), teeth, facial hair, face skin and lips from the list of selectable AI Mask categories. It should offer even more fine-tuned control while retouching portraits. The masking updates also include an expanded U Point toolkit, DxO’s approach to creating local adjustments based on the color and luminosity of a sampled point. Users now have access to a brush-based Control Brush and elliptical Control Points alongside the existing circular ones. 

DxO

PhotoLab 10 adds more than masking changes. DxO has brought over the color grading wheel introduced with Nik Collection 9, which puts shadows, midtones, highlights and global color on a single wheel. It’s tone-based grading, distinct from the hue-targeted color wheel that remains in the app. It also added an AI-powered sensor dust removal tool that automatically removes sensor spots on Raw files. Lastly, there is now a new export option for Affinity, Canva’s now-free professional image editing software, so photographers can send images directly to that platform for additional editing. 

PhotoLab 10 is available starting today for macOS and Windows. A new license costs $250, while upgrades from PhotoLab 8 or 9 are $130. A 30-day free trial is available on DxO’s site.

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Mistakes are part of life as a photographer or videographer. I’ve messed up too many times to count, forgetting to pack an extra battery, showing up to a shoot with a full memory card and botching my settings badly enough that the images were unusable.

Most of those just cost me lost photographs or some added stress. But sometimes a mistake leads somewhere better than the plan. While attending Sony’s Kando event, where Sony invited me along with fellow press and other image-makers, I asked six photographers and videographers about a mistake they’re glad they made. Here’s what they said.

These conversations happened on the fly at the event, so most of the creatives didn’t have the specific image handy. The photos below are from their portfolios, with the exception of Nancy Borowick and Jabin Botsford.

Sarina Soriano

Sarina Soriano (@sarinasoriano_)is a senior producer and director of photography (DP) for the San Francisco 49ers, where she’s a nine-time regional Emmy winner and was the first woman in the role, as well as one of the first Latina cinematographers in the NFL.

Her mistake was a setting she didn’t intend to be shooting at. “A mistake that I made that ended up actually turning out well was that I put a high shutter on one of my videos, but was able to really slow it down in DaVinci, and it looked absolutely epic,” she said.

Nate Luebbe

Nate Luebbe (@nateinthewild) is a landscape, wildlife and adventure photographer and a member of Sony’s Alpha Imaging Collective, with a portfolio built around grizzlies, northern lights and remote wilderness.

Luebbe’s mistake was accidentally using too slow a shutter speed for wildlife, which ended up being a visual tool that he likes utilizing. “Every now and then, a little bit of motion blur can tell a good story about an animal that’s moving fast,” he said.

He pointed to an image he took in Katmai National Park as an example of where the approach works: shooting the bears at the top of the falls in low light, he kept his shutter slow rather than pushing his ISO. “I ended up getting some motion on the water, but the bears were standing still. It looks kind of cool, and you can still see what’s going on. It added a little more depth to it.”

Nancy Borowick

Nancy Borowick

Nancy Borowick (@nancyborowick) is a documentary photographer, author and Sony Artisan of Imagery who has worked regularly with The New York Times since 2013 and whose work often centers on health and relationships.

Borowick’s mistake was a missing caption. Early in her career, she was photographing the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which she describes as “the most fun in the entire world,” she said. When prepping to send images to her editor, she realized one frame’s caption was incomplete. “I had asked the name of the dog, because we were at a dog show, but I never asked the name of the human, and I felt like that was important to have,” she said.

So she went looking online. “All the champion dogs have these Facebook pages, naturally,” she said, and the dog’s page led her to its owner, who, as it happened, was also named Nancy.

Two hours of messaging later, they were friends. That turned into permission to photograph the woman, her wife and their pack of golden retrievers at home, which has now become a long-term project called Part of the Pack, a series dedicated to photographing the relationship between dogs and those who breed, own and show them. “Caption information is so important, especially getting it right,” Borowick said, “but on occasion, mistakes lead to happy accidents and long-term projects.”

Jabin Botsford

Jabin Botsford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who spent 11 years on staff at The Washington Post covering politics, breaking news and, since 2014, Donald Trump.

Botsford’s mistake was a moment of missed focus. In 2020, he was in the Rose Garden for one of many Trump press conferences, this one running well past its expected length. “While the rest of my colleagues were just filing and hiding in the shade, I went around the side and shot all these photos with a 400mm,” he said. He noticed a fly circling the president and fired off a long burst. In one frame, his autofocus locked onto the fly rather than Trump, right when the insect flew in front of Trump’s open mouth. “It looked kind of like it was coming out of his mouth,” he said.

Dani Hamm

An example of Hamm’s high-key work, not the original frame that she mentioned.

Dani Hamm (@danigoinghamm) is an adventure, wildlife and nature photographer. Her portfolio is filled with stunning portraits of animals, from tiny birds to massive buffalo. 

When I asked about a mistake that turned out for the better, she instantly had an answer: “Overexposing an image and it ending up being a really cool high-key photo.” The blown-out background stripped away context and left just the animal, and she now creates high-key images on purpose.

Allison Anderson

Allison Anderson (@photoallison) is a travel and lifestyle photographer, videographer and Sony Alpha Ambassador who documents her solo trips all over the world.

Anderson’s mistake took a decade to pay off. Very early on in her photography path, she shot everything as JPEGs, mostly because she didn’t like how much space Raw files took up on cards and hard drives. Then she took a trip to Italy. “When I got home, I went to import all my photos, and I realized that somehow the camera had gotten set to shooting in Raw. And I was so annoyed because the file sizes were enormous,” she said.

She dumped them on a hard drive and forgot about them. “Ten years later, I went back, and I went through the hard drive again, and everything I’d shot at that time was mostly in JPEG except for this one trip that was all in Raw.” Because of that, she was able to edit the file, and one of those images is now printed large and hanging over her fireplace.

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I spend a lot of time thinking about my own photographic practice, but not nearly as much time doing anything about it. I have ideas for individual photos, for series I want to start or expand and concepts I would like to explore deeper. I’ve thought of different ways of printing and hanging my work, in case I ever get to show any of it. But when it comes to actually making the work, my follow-through is often lacking.

That tension was on my mind this week while attending Sony’s Kando event in Vermont, where Sony invited me, along with fellow press and other image-makers. One session in particular, Works in Progress, brought some of those thoughts into focus.

Works in Progress is modeled after National Geographic sessions, where photographers briefly present a single project they are currently working on in order to get feedback and find inspiration from each other. At Kando, individuals get seven minutes to share images or videos and a little bit about the body of work.

The session isn’t about gear at all; in fact, it was rare for someone to mention their setup and no technical details were mentioned. Instead, each presentation focused entirely on the ideas and images from a particular project they are passionate about and currently developing.

Abby Ferguson

That passion is my favorite part of the session: seeing people’s commitment to the work. Ira Block, a Sony Artisan of Imagery who co-chaired the session, summed it up well after the presentations: “Nothing is more inspiring than watching the inspiration of others.” There were remarkable photographs and videos throughout, but what stayed with me was watching people stand in front of a room and talk openly about the projects that matter to them. It made me look at my own work with a bit of renewed lens.

I could give a long list of reasons for pushing my own photography to the side. I have a full-time job and teach a college photography course. My husband and I just bought a house that needs a fair amount of work. My studio space is not really a studio at the moment, and it may not be for some time. It is expensive. I struggle to find the right venues, calls for art, and people to connect with. The list goes on.

Thankfully, I have been slightly more active with my art over the past month, and that feels like progress. I recently made time for a self-portrait that had been on my mind for months, and the process was deeply fulfilling. I also joined two friends to install a small exhibition at the campus gallery where we teach. Even better, the work I hung was from a series I have barely shown or discussed. 

Katie Tasch

Those were small steps toward finding my artistic voice again. They were a small flex of the creative muscles. And they also reminded me that I need to make something regularly, even if it is small.

I also need to remember the value of being around other creative people from time to time. I have written before about how joining local photography groups helped me find community in what can be a very solitary practice. This was a different kind of gathering, but it offered a similar reminder: making work can become isolating, especially when it keeps getting pushed behind work, responsibilities and everyday life. Being in a room with people who are actively wrestling with ideas, taking creative risks and sharing unfinished work can be an important kind of fuel.

That is what the Works in Progress session offered. Seeing what others were making and the care they were bringing to it gave me a burst of energy to return to my own work. It was a reminder to keep making photographs, even if I don’t yet know where a project is going, whether anyone will like it or whether it will ever see the light of day.

I know this session won’t be a magical kick in the pants that suddenly makes me create on a regular basis. But hearing that voice in my head more often can only help. And maybe my writing this can be that voice for someone else who also needs a gentle push to get out that camera or make some art. I hope it is.

I’m at Sony’s Kando event this week, where Sony invited DPReview to join press, photographers, filmmakers and educators from across its creative community. There’s no new gear being announced here, but the event is a chance to meet people doing genuinely interesting work across a wide range of genres. Below are five of them whose projects, approaches or images caught my attention.

Eli Reed

Calling Eli Reed a creative is like calling the ocean wet; it’s technically true, but wildly insufficient. He was the first Black photographer to join Magnum Photos, coming on in the early 1980s and becoming a full member in 1988. He was also a Pulitzer finalist for his photographs of life in a San Francisco public housing project, and he has taught photojournalism as a clinical professor at UT Austin since 2005.

The core of his work is photojournalism, ranging from Beirut, Haiti and Central America to a decades-long documentation of Black life in America. But he’s also spent years on film sets, photographing Tupac for “Poetic Justice” and stills for “A Beautiful Mind” and “8 Mile.”

Reed has been a Sony Artisan of Imagery since 2014, which is what brought him to Kando. I had the privilege of riding on a bus with him for an hour, listening to him tell stories from past projects and about the people he’s worked with. You can see his work on the Magnum website.

Wild Gina

I love the natural world but prefer tighter images of specific things in it over broad landscapes, so Gina Danza, who goes by Wild Gina, has an approach and a philosophy that resonate with me. Danza is a Sony Alpha Ambassador and Alpha Collective member who describes herself as an intimate landscape photographer and SciArtist, and her work centers on finding what she calls the “intimacy of nature.” In practice, that means a lot of macro and close-focus nature work.

During a panel discussion on this trip, she said she wants her work to feel like a fantasy, or like she’s a kid again. Her images are vibrant and playful, and I love the idea of seeing things with the eyes of a child, when everything still seems fresh. She also collaborates with scientists and shares a great deal of information about what she photographs, which, as someone who strives to be a lifelong learner, is very exciting to see.

Hannah’s Honeycomb

Speaking of macro and science, Hannah Alexander, who posts as Hannah’s Honeycomb, is doing remarkable work in the same close-focus space. She picked up a camera to share insight into beekeeping, and it grew from there. In 2021, she won a Sony Alpha Female+ grant to fund the Pollinator Project, documenting the lives and behavior of pollinator species through stills, video and high-speed slow motion.

An environmental educator by day, Alexander is deeply knowledgeable about all things insect- and plant-related, and she uses her photography to pass that knowledge along and build appreciation for the natural world at that scale. Her photographs of bees, insects and plants show them up close in a way we rarely get to see them. She’s also an ideal person to bring on a photo walk, since she can tell you where to find interesting macro subjects and what you’re looking at.

Criz Quinn

Heading in the opposite direction from macro is Criz Quinn, an aerial photographer and cinematographer who co-founded Aerial Media and serves as its lead photographer. She’s a licensed commercial drone pilot in both the US and EU, and she travels the world shooting aerial landscapes in some genuinely unreal places. She’s part of Sony’s Alpha Female community and won one of its micro-grants, and she’s also a molecular pathologist by training, which puts her in good company on this list.

Surrounded by photographers working with models and chasing wildlife, Quinn pointed out that she photographs “things that don’t move.” Though she’s underselling herself a bit: her subjects may be patient, but the light and the weather aren’t. If aerial work is your thing, she’s worth following on both YouTube and Instagram.

Becca Farsace

Lastly, switching gears again is Becca Farsace, who was The Verge’s senior video producer and the face of much of its camera coverage before going independent in 2024. She now runs her own YouTube channel, where, as she told me, she covers “anything with a battery in it.” That includes cameras and accessories, but also mobility aids, projectors and plenty more. Her videos are highly approachable and engaging, and an easy way to keep up with new tech or trends in the creator space.

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7Artisans has announced the AF 10mm F2.5 Max FF, a full-frame fisheye lens that offers autofocus with a 185-degree field of view. The lens is available for Sony E, Nikon Z and L-mounts and fills a gap for ultrawide photographers, as autofocus fisheye options for full-frame mirrorless cameras are particularly thin. 

At 510g (1.1 lbs), the AF 10mm is still relatively compact for a full-frame fisheye, particularly given its autofocus mechanism, F2.5 maximum aperture and metal construction. It is 60g (2.1 oz) less than 7Artisans’ manual focus 10mm F2.8 fisheye, though just slightly heavier than Canon’s RF 7-14mm F2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM (476g (1.3 lbs)). Thankfully, it substantially undercuts Sigma’s bulky 1.36 kg (3.0 lbs) 15mm F1.4 fisheye.

7Artisans didn’t specify the type of autofocus motor, but says it is smooth and reliable enough for dynamic genres like street photography. It can focus as close as 0.15 m (5.9″). The optical design comprises 11 elements in 8 groups, including 1 aspheric and 2 extra-low-dispersion elements. It also features a nine-blade aperture diaphragm. 

7Artisans

Despite the budget price and compact build, 7Artisans included some useful on-lens controls, which the company says are designed for video use as well as still photography. There are two customizable control buttons, an AF/MF switch and a clicked aperture ring. 7Artisans also says the lens supports A-B Focus, a video-oriented feature that automates focus transitions between two saved distances. 

The 10mm F2.5 is the second lens to carry 7Artisans’ Max designation, following the AF 135mm F1.8 Max. While the company has not yet fully defined the sub-brand, its first two entries suggest it is being used for higher-spec full-frame autofocus primes with more ambitious optical designs, metal construction and expanded on-lens controls.

The 7Artisans AF 10mm F2.5 Max FF lens is available for purchase as of today for $449. 

7Artisans

7Artisans AF 10mm F2.5 Max

• $449 at Amazon

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The Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year is sharing a sneak peek of the 100 winning images of this year’s contest. This year marks the 62nd edition of the competition, which saw a record 65,403 entries across 121 countries and territories.

The competition recognizes photographs across numerous subjects and approaches, including animal behavior, portraits, underwater scenes, urban wildlife, photojournalism and ecosystem-focused work. It also presents awards for photo stories and portfolios, a Rising Star prize for photographers ages 18–26, and separate age-group awards for young photographers.

While celebrating outstanding nature photography, the contest also aims to deepen public understanding of the natural world and the need to protect it. As Natural History Museum Director Dr. Doug Gurr said, “At a time when nature is under more pressure than ever before, these photographs remind us of both what is at stake and what is worth protecting.”

An international panel of experts in wildlife photography, filmmaking, science and conservation judged the anonymous entries on creativity, originality, technical excellence and storytelling. Category winners and the Grand Title awards will be announced on October 13 at a Natural History Museum ceremony hosted by wildlife presenters and conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin; the winning images will go on display at the museum in London beginning October 16.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. The full gallery of category winners and the Grand Title recipients will be published on the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year pages following the October 13 ceremony.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 62 — highly commended preview

The 15 images below are drawn from across the competition’s categories. Descriptions are reproduced as supplied by the Natural History Museum.

Biting Back

Andrea and Maceo Grammatico / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Andrea and Maceo Grammatico

Award: Highly Commended, Animal Portraits

Image title: Biting Back

Image location: Sierpe, South Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Description: Andrea and Maceo Grammatico (France) get a snake’s-eye view of a mosquito drinking a venomous viper’s blood.

Twins Andrea and Maceo describe this image as “one of the most demanding focus stacks we’ve ever created.” It required immense concentration and care. It wasn’t until they reviewed their photographs that they noticed the mosquito on the snake’s head.

The fer-de-lance is a highly venomous viper, responsible for the greatest number of fatal snake bites in Central America. The snake’s effective camouflage and adaptability in plantation habitats occasionally surprises unsuspecting workers.

Technical details: OM System OM-D E-M1 Mark III | OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO | F8 | 1/50 sec | ISO 200 | Godox V860III flash + Cygnustech diffuser | Focus stack of 37 images

Wings of Darkness

Andrew Parkinson / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Andrew Parkinson

Award: Highly Commended, Animal Portraits

Image title: Wings of Darkness

Image location: Meeting of the Waters State Park, Northern Pantanal, Brazil

Description: Andrew Parkinson (UK) spies a black vulture over the carcass of a yacaré caiman in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands.

When Andrew spotted this vulture, it was too good an opportunity to miss. He kept his boat back and used a long telephoto lens to frame what he saw as ‘the menacing nature’ of the vulture. Out of frame, a jaguar was waiting to retrieve the caiman from the water.

After the vulture flew away, the jaguar claimed its prize. It was then that Andrew noticed ‘a suspiciously clean, straight wound’ on the back of the caiman’s head, possibly caused by a blow from a speeding boat.

Technical details: Nikon Z9 | Nikon Nikkor Z 800mm F6.3 VR S | F10 | 1/1600 sec | ISO 800

Flock of Gold

Bence Máté / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Bence Máté

Award: Highly Commended, Behavior: Birds

Image title: Flock of Gold

Image location: Ashnil Aruba Lodge, Tsavo East National Park, Kenya

Description: Bence Máté (Hungary) observes a flock of birds descend to quench their thirst at a small pond.

For Bence, watching in the golden light of a late afternoon, the sight of this swirling mass was breathtaking: “You could feel the rush of air from tens of thousands of wings beating in unison, even from 30 meters (98 feet) away.”

Red-billed queleas are found in almost every part of central, eastern and southern Africa apart from in tropical forests. They gather in groups as large as two million, and the global adult breeding population is estimated to number 1.5 billion, making them the most abundant wild bird on Earth.

Technical details: Sony a9 III | Sony FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4x teleconverter | F8 | 1/4000 sec | ISO 5000

Mutual Friends

Ernest Porter / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Ernest Porter

Award: Highly Commended, Behavior: Birds 

Image title: Mutual Friends

Image location: Manyeleti Game Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Description: Ernest Porter (South Africa) is delighted by an oxpecker cleaning its bill against a rhino’s skin in the soft afternoon light.

While searching for wildlife in the reserve, Ernest witnessed a group of white rhinos with red-billed oxpeckers feeding on the insects that infest their skin. He noticed one rhino with a subtle blue ring in his eye, which immediately became his unique muse.

In Swahili, the red-billed oxpecker is called askari wa kifaru, a name that translates to “the rhino’s guard.” Oxpeckers act as sentinels, calling out to alert their hosts to the approach of other dangerous animals.

Technical details: Canon EOS R7 | Canon RF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM | F2.8 | 1/5000 sec | ISO 800

Lifted to the Surface

Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen

Award: Highly Commended, Behavior: Mammals 

Image title: Lifted to the Surface

Image location: Kvænangen, Troms County, Norway

Description: Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen (Norway) watches an adult orca supporting the body of a calf in the freezing waters of a Norwegian fjord.

Vegard had just launched a drone to document sightings for the Norwegian Orca Survey when something caught his attention — an adult orca carrying a deceased calf, occasionally dropping it and then retrieving it as it sank. Although difficult to witness, Vegard felt it was “important to document the moment.”

Cetacean mothers have been known to use their heads to lift newborns to the surface to breathe, raising the possibility that Vegard was witnessing efforts to revive the calf. Some researchers interpret this behavior as a reflection of the deep bond between mothers and calves.

Technical details: DJI Mavic 4 | Hasselblad 28mm equiv. | F2 | 1/50 sec | ISO 640

Up a Tree without a Squirrel

Allegra Hutton / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Allegra Hutton

Award: Highly Commended, Behavior: Mammals

Image title: Up a Tree without a Squirrel

Image location: Okavango Delta, Botswana

Description: Allegra Hutton (USA) watches a young leopard chase a squirrel up a tree in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

Allegra had already watched the leopard try — and fail — to stalk a rabbit. The squirrel also avoided the leopard’s clumsy maneuvers, eventually ascending too high for the leopard to follow. By then, the cat could barely hang on. An awkward backward retreat ensued.

The world is a dangerous place for young leopards. Less than half of cubs survive to independence. Many are killed by male leopards or fall prey to lions and other predators.

Technical details: Sony a7R V | Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS at 467mm | F11 | 1/640 sec | ISO 4000

Split-Second Escape

Jens Cullmann / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Jens Cullmann

Award: Highly Commended, Behavior: Amphibians and Reptiles

Image title: Split-Second Escape

Image location: Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana

Description: Jens Cullmann (Germany) gets eye-level with an African bullfrog as it lunges for an African babul butterfly — and misses.

Jens noticed tadpoles on a previous visit after heavy rains and returned the following month to find ponds and puddles full of young bullfrogs. He spent more than two weeks watching the young frogs “eat everything that moved.”

As adults, African bullfrogs grow up to 12 centimeters (5 inches) in length, turn a drab green and spend 10 months of the year in a dormant state underground, only emerging after the rains to breed and eat voraciously.

Technical details: Canon EOS R3 | Canon RF 100-300mm F2.8 L IS USM | Canon Extender RF 2x | F9 | 1/4000 sec | ISO 2500

Hidden Dragon

Gil Wizen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Gil Wizen

Award: Highly Commended, Behavior: Invertebrates

Image title: Hidden Dragon

Image location: Wildsumaco Biological Station, Napo Province, Ecuador

Description: Gil Wizen (Israel/Canada) shares the beauty of this lichen dragon katydid.

At only 15 millimeters (3/5 of an inch) long, this little lichen dragon katydid was not easy to find. Luckily, Gil was able to spot it when it moved slightly, though distinguishing between the katydid and the lichen in the camera’s viewfinder made it challenging to photograph.

Found only in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, Lichenodraculus matti, or “Matt’s little lichen dragon,” takes part of its scientific name from its discoverer. “Dragon” alludes to the spiny armor that protects it against eagle-eyed predators that see through its disguise.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D Mark II | Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM | F11 | 1/100 sec | ISO 400 | Canon Speedlite Macro Twin Lite flash + customized diffuser

Calm Amid the Storm

Shane Gross / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Shane Gross

Award: Highly Commended, Oceans: The Bigger Picture

Image title: Calm Amid the Storm

Image location: D’Arros Island, Seychelles

Description: Shane Gross (Canada) slowly approaches a school of bigeye trevally as the morning light breaks and a storm approaches.

Shane noticed this school of fish swimming near the shore every morning at sunrise. Aiming for a split shot, he flipped the camera upside down to aid buoyancy distribution and adjusted his position, slowly approaching the curious school.

Bigeye trevally are fished in many parts of the world, but here they are relatively safe. In 2023, the waters surrounding D’Arros Island were made a Marine Protected Area and designated as no-take zones as part of the worldwide initiative for governments to protect 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030.

Technical details: Nikon D500 | Tokina AT-X 107 DX Fisheye 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 | F16 | 1/200 sec | ISO 500 | Aquatica AD500 housing | 2x YS-250 Sea & Sea strobes

Pooltime Pastime

Loren Elliott / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Loren Elliott

Award: Highly Commended, Urban Wildlife

Image title: Pooltime Pastime

Image location: Monrovia, California, USA

Description: Loren Elliott (USA) observes a black bear stopping for a dip in a southern California pool.

Loren spent many hours watching through the kitchen window of a local resident’s home to photograph bears that frequently pass through this yard. “I most like how it shows the very common overlap of wildlife and residential living in Los Angeles County,” he says.

Where housing developments have spread into the bear’s habitat, human–bear coexistence is increasingly challenging. The owner recognizes that he is living in “bear country” and endeavors to be a responsible resident, ensuring no food is left out and doors and windows are kept shut.

Technical details: Sony a9 II | Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II at 24mm | F4 | 1/1000 sec | ISO 320

Ocean Protector

Ralph Pace / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Ralph Pace

Award: Highly Commended, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture

Image title: Ocean Protector

Image location: Monterey Bay, California, USA

Description: Ralph Pace (USA) glimpses a sea hare gliding through an eelgrass meadow in Monterey Bay.

In the shallows of Monterey Bay on the Pacific coast of the USA, the evening light traces the silhouette that earned this sea slug its name — sea hare. Ralph wanted to depict an unexpected, hopeful scene of “a gentle giant safeguarding the last green meadows of the sea.”

Sea hares play an important role in the restoration of eelgrass meadows by grazing on the red algae that block sunlight to the meadow. Eelgrass is vital for coastal ecosystems and is an important carbon sink.

Technical details: Nikon D850 | Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm F2.8D ED-IF AF | F18 | 0.6 sec | Sea & Sea strobes

The Show Goes On

Pietro Rojas / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Pietro Rojas

Award: Highly Commended, Photojournalism

Image title: The Show Goes On

Image location: Doha, Qatar

Description: Pietro Rojas (Guatemala) documents a brown bear riding a small motorcycle, muzzled and secured to the apparatus as it circles a circus ring in Doha.

Noticing that a circus with animal acts was in town, Pietro decided to document it. What he found most compelling about this image was “the contrast between the wild nature of the animal and the human environment imposed upon it.”

Many countries have banned the use of wild animals in circuses. Where brown bears are used, they often are trained to perform in unnatural postures like standing upright for long periods of time, contributing to health and behavioral problems.

Technical details: Leica Q3 43 | Leica Apo-Summicron 43mm F2 ASPH. | F2.5 | 1/500 sec | ISO 400

Eye of the Storm

Dewald Tromp / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Dewald Tromp

Award: Highly Commended, Animals in Their Environment

Image title: Eye of the Storm

Image location: Namib Desert, near Swakopmund, Namibia

Description: Dewald Tromp (South Africa) witnesses a chameleon battling a sandstorm in the Namib Desert.

The wind picked up as Dewald was photographing this Namaqua chameleon weathering the sudden storm. Soon, it became difficult to breathe and “in a matter of seconds, you could hardly see the person next to you,” Dewald recalls.

Namaqua chameleons are insectivorous desert specialists, harvesting moisture from the air directly. Droplets that collect on their skin as dew are channeled to their mouths via microscopic surface grooves. They also use their tongue to collect fog water condensed on vegetation, sand and rocks.

Technical details: Nikon D850 | Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm F4E PF ED VR | F8 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 400

Urban Wanderer

Sora Miyazawa / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Sora Miyazawa

Award: Highly Commended, 11–14 Years

Image title: Urban Wanderer

Image location: Tokyo, Japan

Description: Sora Miyazawa (Japan) focuses on an Eastern Japanese toad as it wanders through the street after a rainfall.

Sora chanced upon this toad in the heart of one of the world’s largest cities, Tokyo. With a slow shutter speed, he composed the image before the toad hopped back into the bushes from where it had emerged.

Exactly how this species thrives in a city of 14 million people is unclear. Toads are more successful than other amphibians at dispersing and surviving in new habitats, including in urban environments like this one.

Technical details: Nikon Z6 III | Nikon Nikkor Z 24-120mm F4 S at 24mm | F4 | 1/10 sec | ISO 200

The Art of Flying

Jack Crockford / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Jack Crockford

Award: Highly Commended, 15–17 Years

Image title: The Art of Flying

Image location: London, England, UK

Description: Jack Crockford (UK) watches as a low-flying swift passes by, its shape echoed by an incoming plane to Heathrow Airport.

Jack observed swifts flying overhead, completing their yearly migration back to London and filling the air with their piercing, high-pitched calls. Most were flying too high to photograph, but occasional low-flyers allowed Jack to get the composition he’d been hoping for.

Swifts’ physical characteristics allow them to migrate from equatorial and southern Africa to breeding grounds in northern Europe. Their long, scythe-shaped wings enable exceptional speed and maneuverability. Living almost their entire lives in the air, they usually only land when they’re ready to breed.

Technical details: Nikon D500 | Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm F5.6E ED VR at 350mm (525mm equiv.) | F8 | 1/5000 sec | ISO 1600

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LK Samyang’s AF 60-180mm F2.8 is now available for L-mount, following its initial release for Sony E-mount in June. Developed in collaboration with Schneider-Kreuznach, the lens brings a lightweight, affordable telephoto zoom option to L-mount photographers.

The AF 60-180mm F2.8 weighs just 730 g (1.6 lbs), which is substantially lighter than the comparable F2.8 telephoto zooms for L-mount. While offering slightly more reach, optical stabilization and internal zoom, the Sigma 70–200mm F2.8 DG DN OS Sports is one of the closest alternatives, and it weighs 1345 g (2.9 lbs). The Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70–200mm F2.8 OIS comes in at 1570 g (3.5 lbs), though it’s worth noting that it’s one of the heaviest options on the market, coming in at 400-500g more than comparable options from Sony, Canon and Nikon.

Mitchell Clark

Both the Sigma and Panasonic options are internally zooming, whereas the LK Samyang lens uses an extending zoom design. The length of the LK Samyang 60-180mm F2.8 increases from 149mm (5.9″) at the wide end to 174mm (6.9″) when zoomed in, which is still shorter than the Sigma, Leica and Panasonic 70–200mm F2.8 lenses. 

The L-mount model shares the E-mount version’s core optical and physical specifications. It consists of 17 elements in 14 groups, which include one high-refractive, seven extra-low dispersion and two aspherical elements. A linear stepping motor drives the autofocus, and it features a floating focus system that promises to maintain image quality across the focus range. The lens can focus as close as 0.35m (1.2′) when zoomed out, with a maximum magnification of 0.26x. 

While more limited in on-lens controls than more expensive offerings, it does feature an AF/MF switch, a customizable control button and a zoom lock to keep the zoom constant even when moving. It accepts 77mm filters, offers a USB-C port for firmware updates and features weather sealing. It does not include optical image stabilization.

LK Samyang

The AF 60-180mm F2.8 is part of a trio of lightweight zoom lenses with a constant F2.8 maximum aperture, which also includes a 14-24mm and a 24-60mm. Thus far, however, LK Samyang has only made the AF 14-24mm F2.8 and now AF 60-180mm F2.8 available to L-mount. The standard zoom still remains an E-mount-only lens. 

DPReview’s Mitchell Clark recently tested the E-mount version and found it capable for its price, despite a stiff and inconsistent zoom ring and comparatively basic-feeling plastics and controls. For L-mount photographers who value a smaller, lighter F2.8 telephoto zoom at a more budget-friendly price over 200mm reach, top-end image quality, optical stabilization and an internal-zoom design, it is a compelling alternative.

There is a slight downside for L-mount users: the 60-180mm costs $1199, which is $100 more than the E-mount model. Still, that price is substantially lower than the alternatives for the mount. 

LK Samyang AF 60-180mm F2.8

• $1,099 at B&H

Jay Maisel, the influential American photographer and devoted educator whose images reshaped the visual language of advertising, editorial and street photography, died on August 24, 2026, at age 95. Across a career spanning more than seven decades, Maisel made iconic pictures while teaching generations of photographers to recognize the expressive possibilities of light, color and human gesture.

Maisel began his professional photography career in 1954 and went on to make pictures for major magazines, advertisers and cultural institutions, bringing the same alert, keen eye to celebrity portraiture, magazine covers and street scenes. He received numerous honors over the course of his career, including induction into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame; the American Society of Media Photographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award; and a Lucie Lifetime Achievement Award. His most famous single image may be the cover photograph for Miles Davis’s landmark 1959 album Kind of Blue, a portrait now inseparable from the best-selling jazz album of all time.

For nearly 50 years, Maisel lived and worked in the six-story Germania Bank Building on the Bowery, a former 1898 bank he bought in 1966 and transformed into an extraordinary home, studio and repository for his work. Known simply as “the Bank,” the 72-room building became as legendary in photography circles as its owner. The 2019 documentary Jay Myself, directed by Stephen Wilkes, offers a look inside the remarkable space and chronicles Maisel’s departure from it after he sold the building in 2015.

I have long been drawn to Maisel’s interest in objects and their photographic potential. The Bank’s floors held different collections, and the way he surrounded himself with things seemed to embody the curiosity and sense of play evident in his photographs. As someone who also collects objects, I found his ability to show familiar things anew a direct influence on my own work. “Art is, to some effect, trying to make others see what you see,” he said; it’s an idea I have returned to often in my own work.

That way of seeing also informed Maisel’s teaching, for which he was equally admired. His core framework – light, gesture and color – was an invitation to pay closer attention to the world: to the way illumination can shape a scene, color can organize it and a fleeting gesture can give it life. He also urged photographers to take responsibility for every part of the frame, finding images through sustained observation. Through workshops, seminars and lectures, Maisel extended his influence far beyond his own pictures, leaving photographers with one clear instruction: look harder.

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TTArtisan has announced the AF 85mm F1.8 Neo, a budget-friendly, full-frame portrait lens for Sony E and Nikon Z mounts. The lens strips out any on-lens controls, including the aperture ring and focus ring, opting for simplicity to keep the price just below $100. 

The new lens is the second in TTArtisan’s minimalist Neo series. Until now, the lineup consisted solely of the AF 50mm F1.8 Neo, another design with no on-lens controls. Experienced shooters may find the lack of manual focus unusual, but it is one of the compromises that come with the low price. Aperture, which ranges from F1.8 to F16, is adjusted through the camera body.

TTArtisan

One interesting feature of the Neo lineup is the ability to add 3D-printed shells to the lens. TTArtisan promoted this with the 50mm F1.8 Neo, highlighting the ability to customize the look of the lens to your liking. The shells aren’t included and TTArtisan doesn’t sell them directly, but it does provide downloadable 3D lens-model files for users to design and print their own. 

TTArtisan

In terms of lens specifications, the 85mm F1.8 Neo is lightweight for its class. The shell is made from reinforced fiberglass, and it weighs just 332 g (11.7 oz). It measures 90.5 mm (3.6″) long and accepts 62mm front filters. Its optical formula consists of 12 elements in 8 groups and includes 2 extra-low-dispersion and 2 high-index elements, which TTArtisan says provide “optimal” sharpness. It also features an 11-blade aperture diaphragm.  

The TTArtisan AF 85mm F1.8 Neo is available for pre-order now for $99 with versions for Nikon Z and Sony E mounts. 

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Barely four months after the Osmo Pocket 4’s debut, and less than two months after the Pocket 4P arrived, DJI is already rolling out a substantial firmware update for both pocket gimbal cameras. The updates promise to make both devices more useful as self-contained capture tools, adding background uploads to cloud storage to the pair, along with expanded tracking and control options for the Osmo Pocket 4 and 10-bit D-Log slow-motion recording on the Pocket 4P. 

Coming to both the Osmo Pocket 4 and 4P is DJI’s Camera Cloud Service. The feature allows users to automatically upload footage to supported cloud services or compatible network-attached storage (NAS) when the camera is idle. DJI says the service supports Google Drive, OneDrive and NAS, potentially making it easier and faster to offload clips after a shoot, provided you can connect the camera to a Wi-Fi network. 

DJI

On the Osmo Pocket 4, the update adds a new subject-tracking option that can identify and select a person or object more quickly, then use the gimbal to keep it in-frame as it moves. The camera also gains additional tracking controls, including the ability to zoom while tracking, and the ability to retain the last Smart Gimbal Mode used after the camera is powered off.

DJI has also expanded customization tools. The physical Custom Button’s hold action can now be assigned to either zoom out or open the custom-settings menu. In portrait orientation, the on-screen custom button can be mapped to single press, double press, triple press and press-and-hold actions.

Mykim Dang

The most notable change for the Pocket 4P is that its slow-motion mode can now record in 10-bit D-Log rather than relying on a baked-in color profile as before. It’s important to note, though, that DJI lists this specifically as D-Log, not the newer D-Log2. Still, it provides a more flexible starting point for users who want to grade footage or match it to other cameras. DJI has also updated its D-Log-to-Rec.709 and Rec.709 Vivid LUTs to version 2.0.

Finally, the Pocket 4P joystick now supports 45-degree inputs, allowing diagonal gimbal moves that combine pan and tilt in a single control motion.

Both updates are available now through the DJI Mimo app.

Capture One has released version 4.0 of its mobile app as part of its August 2026 update, bringing four tools previously limited to the desktop software to iPhone and iPad. The release narrows the feature gap between the company’s desktop and mobile apps, giving photographers more editing capabilities on the go.

Capture One

Enhanced Denoise is a standout addition to version 4.0. Like other noise reduction tools these days, it uses AI to reduce noise while, according to Capture One, preserving fine details. Capture One has also added Color Balance, its three-way color grading wheel that allows photographers to adjust the color balance of shadows, midtones and highlights. It gives mobile users more tonal control than what was previously available in the Capture One mobile app. 

Another highly requested feature is the Heal & Clone tool, which lets photographers remove distractions on mobile devices. That means retouching no longer needs to wait until you’re back at the desktop. Capture One has also added Keywords support. Photographers can now tag and organize images in the field, making it easier to find the images they need. Lastly, the crop tool has been updated to follow the camera orientation when shooting tethered or copying and applying adjustments.

Capture One

These tools are all welcome additions to the mobile version of Capture One, which has long lagged behind the desktop in features. Our 2023 iPhone app review found the app well-suited to professionals but noted the fairly substantial toolset gaps. Thankfully, version 4.0 closes several of the most significant ones. For subscribers also using Capture One Pro on the desktop, the mobile app should function as a more credible extension of that workflow rather than a stripped-down companion.

Version 16.8.5 of the desktop app also sees some small updates, including the ability to pan with the middle mouse button, support for the OM System OM-3 Astro and more.

The updated versions are available now for iPhone, iPad and desktop.

Our guess yesterday about what Polaroid was gearing up to release was correct, but we didn’t expect just how big this launch would be. As we surmised, Polaroid has released a Pokémon-themed Go Gen 3 camera, but the launch also includes two additional cameras, three special packs of film and three accessories. Polaroid calls it its biggest collaboration yet, timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Pokémon, the hugely popular franchise that spans video games, anime and trading cards.

Polaroid

The core of the launch is three limited-edition cameras, which cover both the full-size Polaroid Now Gen 3 and the tiny Go Gen 3, which was released earlier this summer. The Now Gen 3 version, which takes full-size i-Type film, takes the styling of a Poké Ball, with bold red, white and black colors. 

Polaroid

For those who want something a bit more character-focused, the Go Gen 3 is available in a Pikachu-styled version with a bold yellow body and a hand strap shaped like Pikachu’s lightning-bolt tail. Or you can go for the Sylveon Edition, which features that Pokémon’s soft pink, blue and white colors. All three cameras also feature Poké Ball-shaped shutter buttons for an added thematic touch. 

Polaroid

The cameras aren’t all, either. If you already own a Polaroid camera, you don’t have to miss out on the fun, as the company also released three limited-edition packs of film, one full-sized i-Type and two packs of the smaller Go film. The i-Type film, like the camera, is more broadly Pokémon themed, with frames that feature iconic characters like Charmander, Clefairy and Squirtle. The Go film matches the theme of each of the Go cameras, with one pack focused on Sylveon and the other for Pikachu. Each pack comes with custom dark slides designed around the collaboration as well. 

Polaroid

Finally, Polaroid also has three accessories for Pokémon fans. There’s a Polaroid Go Poké Ball camera case and Poké Ball photo album for photos from the Go, along with a Pokémon edition camera strap, which is compatible with both the Now Gen 3 and Go Gen 3.

Polaroid

The Polaroid Now Gen 3 Pokémon costs $140, while the Go Gen 3 Pikachu and Sylveon editions are $100, all of which represent a $10 premium over the standard versions. Likewise, the limited-edition film is slightly more expensive, with the i-Type coming in at $23 and the Go film at $25 for a double pack. 

The Polaroid x Pokémon collection is only available in limited quantities, though Polaroid didn’t provide any specifics about how many are available. Pre-orders open August 25, with a full release on October 5. 

Photo editing software company ON1 has announced a new version of its standalone, AI-powered noise reduction software, NoNoise AI 2027. The company also says it’s updated the TackSharp AI deblurring models in NoNoise AI for sharper images with less noise. 

One of the standout features of ON1 NoNoise AI 2027 is the addition of a model selector that matches a particular AI model to the subject of the photographs. ON1 says that it built the models for the situations when photographers are most frequently dealing with noise. That includes astrophotography, portraits and wildlife, though there’s also a general model and one made for ISOs greater than 128,000. Additionally, it offers a film scan-specific model, which presumably will maintain some natural film grain. 

ON1

ON1 says that the models will remove noise while retaining texture and details such as feathers, fur and starlight, resulting in a cleaner, more natural image that doesn’t look smoothed over. While you can select the model manually, it will also automatically match the right option to your subject. 

The 2027 release also brings an updated TackSharp AI, its deblurring engine that promises to make images that were slightly soft look in focus without adding noise or artifacts. As with the noise reduction, TackSharp AI provides access to the model selector. It also provides access to automatic subject and background masking to sharpen or reduce noise in specific areas, and native support for Windows PCs that use Arm-based processors. ON1 has also added expanded Raw file support for more than 30 camera models, though it didn’t specify which ones. 

ON1

ON1 NoNoise AI 2027 is available for pre-order today for $70 ($50 for ON1 owners) and will be available in late September 2026. As with previous versions, it is available for Mac and Windows and can be used as a standalone app or as a plugin for Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, Capture One and more. The 2027 version is also included in the ON1 Photo Studio Subscription.