Buying a new camera is an exciting feeling, but so is seeing the great photos you take with it. For last week’s community question, we asked readers to share a favorite photo or story from their new gear. From majestic animals to intense bokeh scenes, and from antique cameras to modern mobile phones, the responses covered a wide range of interesting categories.

As always, there was also a mix of useful tips you’ll want to read about.

Here are some of the photos and stories they shared. Click their names to see more within the forum conversation.

“Two experiences. The first was the first dance concert I shot with the Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 PRO. I was more than happy to do this with ‘smaller’ (relatively speaking) gear than full-frame gear. Second was the first time I did portrait shots for posters, of dancers, in full costume, with two flash units, umbrella reflectors, etc. Those first-time experiences are always sweet, no matter how many times I do it afterward.” – Satyaa

“Last Christmas, I managed a photo which I had waited literally years to take. It’s usually impossible to take a photo of the center of the Octagon at Ely Cathedral from below because there’s normally a modern oak altar in the way. I had gone to the cathedral to try out my new Hasselblad X2D II with a 20-35mm lens. Lo and behold, a team of workmen was preparing the central area for some school carol concerts. The altar had been removed. One nod of approval later and I was in!” – ClaireJRedHat

PhillipKukelhan

“Since moving to Cleveland 5 years ago, I’ve spent a lot of time riding my bicycle along the old Ohio & Erie Canal, where I see a lot of wildlife, mostly deer, snakes, bird life, and turtles.” – PhillipKukelhan

“Two years ago, I decided to upgrade a Canon 40D 12mp with the used X-T4. After having the camera a couple of months, I had a vacation to Japan scheduled. My intention was to buy an array of lenses while I was there. I put one of them to use the very night I purchased it. Because of the low-light conditions and fast-moving moments, I realized from those photos what a great purchase my X-T4 and Sigma 10-18mm F2.8 were. Personally, there isn’t a better feeling than successfully capturing these moments.” – ronphoto

“As a second-generation photographer, I grew up using Canon, and most of my gear was handed down from my father. Around 2014/2015, I was tired of using cast-offs and older generation equipment, so I set out to purchase my own gear and explore other systems. I had already picked up an A6000 (or A6300) as a secondary camera to my 1D Mark II, but when Sony released the A7RII, I decided to rent it for a big annual job.” – reflux83

Minolta TC-1

“I decided to get the XF 56mm F1.2 WR because the image quality is so good that it compensates for the fact that it’s just really rather big on my X-E5. Well, when I started using it at the next concert, this is the kind of thing that really convinced me it was money well spent. It was even a bit emotional – taking me back 20+ years to when I finally bit the bullet, bought that Zuiko 90mm F2 and got my first photos back. Just one example says enough.” – Minolta TC-1

“Having introduced Eye Control AF (ECAF) with the second camera in the RF series, Canon made it an upgrade I couldn’t pass up. I always believed ECAF had the potential to significantly improve my photography, and I wasn’t wrong. The feature is particularly valuable with lenses such as the Canon RF 28–70mm F2 L USM, whose large and heavy glass elements require more time to focus. By allowing you to direct the AF system immediately to the intended subject, Eye Control AF reduces unnecessary focus hunting and helps the lens lock focus more efficiently, without wasted tries.” – PhotoKhan

“It wasn’t one image so much as hundreds that assured me my stabilized AF telephoto macro lens was a great investment for the online store.” – Jefenator

Invisible Man Potography

“I realized I made a great decision in upgrading from a Canon R6 Mark II to a Canon R5 Mark II when I reviewed my files from the June 26, 2026, 20th Anniversary of fashion designer Diego Cerón’s ‘Couture a Table’ in Mérida, México. Standing outside the room, I photographed Pablo Mercader Duch – performing as ElHada Frozen and embodying Marie Antoinette – through the crowd. In that moment, I made the artistic decision to allow the people to form a natural frame around Pablo.” – Invisible Man Photography

So many other stories we couldn’t fit in this article are shared in the forums. Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit a favorite photo from their first new camera purchase.

Feel free to participate in the series at any time. New questions are posted here on the homepage and in the forums every other week We can’t wait to read your stories and see your photography!

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Viltrox has expanded its mid-tier lineup with the AF 26mm F2.8 Evo, a new pancake prime. As the smallest Evo offering yet, it continues the series’ focus on durable build quality and external controls, positioning itself as an everyday carry option for street and travel photographers.

The AF 26mm F2.8 Evo is made for full-frame E and Z mount cameras. As a pancake lens, it’s highly compact and lightweight, measuring just 24mm (0.9″) thick and weighing only 130 g (4.6 oz). Despite its diminutive size, it still offers useful controls. That includes a clicking aperture ring, though there is no toggle to de-click it. There’s also a separate focus ring for manual focus.

Viltrox

The lens uses an optical design of eight elements in six groups, including two aspherical elements and one high-refractive index (HR) element. Viltrox promises good sharpness even with the aperture wide open, and says that in-camera corrections minimize distortion. It uses a seven-blade aperture diaphragm.

The new lens uses an STM autofocus motor. It can focus as close as 0.2m (7.8″), enabling close-up shots in addition to broad views. A machined metal barrel offers greater durability, and it is dust- and splash-resistant around the lens mount. The lens is compatible with 43mm filters, as long as you use the included lens hood, and it uses a magnetic front lens cap. A USB-C port enables firmware updates.

The Viltrox AF 26mm F2.8 Evo is available today for E and Z mounts for $299.

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Fujifilm has released updated firmware for its GFX Eterna 55 medium format cinema camera, and set out a roadmap of additional updates that will follow over the next year.

Firmware v1.1 promises improved stability and usability but future updates include support for desqueezed previews of additional anamorphic lens ratios, improved SDI and HMDI latency, with LANC control and variable electronic ND arriving later.

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Tamron is introducing a fast, ultra-wide zoom lens for full-frame cameras: the 12-20mm F2.8. It’s being released for Nikon Z-mount and Sony E-mount, and is also ushering in a new look for the company’s lenses.

The 12-20mm F2.8 uses an optical formula with 17 elements in 12 groups, with one expanded glass molded aspherical element, three glass molded aspherical lenses, one extra low dispersion element, and three low dispersion elements. The company says it’s designed to be sharp to the corners, and to minimize and correct for aberrations like color fringing and sagittal coma flare. The latter is especially important for astrophotographers, who may be interested in this lens thanks to its wide focal range.

At 12mm, it can focus on subjects as close as 0.18m (7″), and at 20mm, its minimum focusing distance is 0.28m (11″). It has a 12-blade aperture. Because of its bulbous front element, it can’t accept front filters, but it has a rear filter holder in addition to its integrated lens hood.

Focusing is handled by a linear motor and is internal. While zooming doesn’t make the lens any longer, the front element does physically move back into the body. The lens has both an MF/AF switch and a manual focus lock switch; the latter is again something that will be appreciated by astrophotographers.

Beyond those switches, the lens is covered in controls. There’s a customizable function button in both portrait and landscape orientations, a zoom lock switch that can be used to keep the lens at either 12mm or 20mm, a lock for the aperture ring (or control ring on Nikon), a switch to click or declick that ring and a custom setting switch, which you can use Tamron’s Link software to configure to switch between focus position, change your rings’ rotation direction, limit focus, etc. There’s also a USB-C port you can use to update the lens’s firmware, or to connect it to your phone via a cable or wireless adapter to use Tamron Link.

In its briefing, Tamron took a lot of pride in the lens’s size and weight, saying it was comparable to slower lenses, or ones with less range, and substantially lighter than other options. The E-mount version of the lens weighs 570g (20.1oz), with the one for Nikon weighing 15g more. The Sony version is 119mm (4.7″) long, with the Z-mount version adding 2mm.

This isn’t just a new lens for Tamron, though. The company is also introducing its new branding alongside it. Those familiar with the company’s naming conventions may have noticed what’s not there, first: there’s no “Di III” or “VXD” at the end of the name, denoting it as a mirrorless lens that uses a linear motor. Like Sigma , the company has decided that it doesn’t need to distinguish its DSLR lenses from its mirrorless ones directly in the name, and likewise, most of its lenses going forward are likely to use linear motors.

The updated industrial design language that Tamron is launching with the lens is called “Toned Profile Next,” which the company says is made to match how modern cameras are designed, while feeling better in the hand and more recognizably Tamron. Compared to its older lenses, the 12-20mm F2.8 has chunkier rings for zooming, aperture control and focusing, updated textures for its touchpoints, and new placement and print color for its branding. It also narrowed the champagne-colored “brand ring” that borders the lens mount.

I personally quite like the new look, especially since it comes with a clicking aperture ring on E-mount, something Tamron hasn’t been including on its recent lenses. I also appreciate that it’s now quite easy to grip the control rings and to distinguish which one your finger is on just by feel. The switches and buttons are all satisfying to use, and the lens feels solidly built, even if I don’t prefer the finish’s smooth texture.

The Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 will cost $1699 for the E-mount version and $1799 for the Z-mount version; the company says the difference comes down to volume, behind-the-scenes differences in manufacturing, and the competition on the different mounts. The Sony version will be available starting July 30th, while Nikon owners will have to wait until August 27.

Sample Gallery

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

Thanks to Nikon for the loan of a Z8 to shoot this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer’s distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting. The profile corrects a minor amount of distortion – barrel at the wide end and pincushion at the long end – but we wouldn’t consider it an essential part of the lens design.

Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 specifications:

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Jimmy Chin is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, National Geographic photographer, author and elite mountain athlete. Known for telling epic adventure stories from remote corners of the world, Chin is also a Canon Explorer of Light. He recently sat down for a Q&A session on Canon’s YouTube channel, sharing his insight on his gear considerations and general approach to photography.

One thing I found particularly interesting was that he’s reduced the amount of gear he brings on shoots. Instead of hauling a huge kit, he’ll only take a couple of lenses, or sometimes just a single lens. “I’ve found that when you are working within certain constraints, it actually pushes you creatively,” he says. “It makes you find creative solutions to the different problems and challenges that you face on a shoot.” Of course, for the type of photography and videography he does, having less gear is also helpful logistically and physically, but I appreciate his mindset of using less to grow creatively.

Adaptability is also a key trait according to Chin, both in terms of gear and overall mindset. “Adaptability is a huge part of being a great photographer and being able to roll with the punches on shoots,” he says. “Sometimes you get really focused on the single shot that you really want, and you’re missing all kinds of other shots. So you have to keep your eyes open and your mind open.”

Chin also recommends looking at a lot of photography and, specifically, paying attention to many genres, even beyond what you’re personally interested in. “Look at all the greats. Understand kind of the approach that all these different artists have come to their craft,” he says. “I think that understanding and the thought processes of creating images is a really good place to make photography fun for you, because all of a sudden you are looking at the world in these different ways and then you kind of find your own language and your own ideas for how you think about photograph, and that’s what makes your photography special.”

The video has plenty of other great advice, too. It’s well worth a watch, especially for newer photographers trying to figure out how to move forward.

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing $25,000 fines against eight companies after they allegedly failed to respond to questions about DJI‑related products sold in the United States. The agency is examining whether these firms played a role in bringing cameras, drones and other wireless devices based on DJI technology into the country under different brand names.

The companies named in the action are Cogito Tech, Fixaxo Technology, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh Tech, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact, WaveGo Tech and Xtra Technology. According to the FCC, the proposed penalties stem from the companies’ refusal to answer formal letters of inquiry, rather than from a final determination that specific products violated U.S. equipment rules. Each firm has until July 20 to respond before the Commission decides whether to proceed with the fines or take further enforcement steps.

This latest action builds on a series of moves that have steadily tightened U.S. scrutiny of DJI. In late 2025, the FCC added DJI to its “Covered List,” a designation that prevents new DJI radio‑based products from receiving equipment authorization, effectively blocking future models from entering the U.S. market. Existing, previously approved drones can, however, continue to be sold and flown. As DPReview reported at the time, that shift marked a turning point in the long‑running debate over a possible “DJI ban” and pushed creators toward stockpiling current models or looking at alternative brands.

Xtra

Xtra’s inclusion in the new enforcement action is particularly notable for photographers and filmmakers. The brand has been selling cameras and gimbal systems in the U.S. that closely resemble DJI’s Osmo Pocket and Osmo Action lines, effectively providing a path for DJI‑style hardware to reach U.S. buyers despite the Covered List restricting new DJI‑branded products.

What this could mean for DJI’s U.S. prospects

In the short term, the FCC’s move does not mean that existing DJI or Xtra products are suddenly banned or pulled from shelves. Equipment that already holds valid FCC authorizations remains legal to own and operate. However, if enforcement pressure causes these lesser‑known brands to scale back or exit the U.S. market, the supply of DJI‑adjacent “clone” or rebadged devices could become more limited.

Longer term, the enforcement push could complicate DJI’s efforts to return to the U.S. under its own name rather than help it. By formally targeting companies suspected of funneling DJI‑linked technology into the country, the FCC is reinforcing the idea that this hardware poses enough concern to warrant ongoing scrutiny. That may strengthen the case for strict controls and keep political and regulatory pressure on DJI high, even as the company continues to challenge its inclusion on the Covered List and push for a path to get new products approved again.

We’ll have to wait and see what the outcome will be, but the direction from regulators is clear: companies tied to DJI‑linked technology are expected to fully cooperate with FCC investigations, and a lack of cooperation could result in additional enforcement action beyond the currently proposed fines.

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The Godox iT32 is a pocketable, $80 flash. And it essentially sweeps away all the hurdles that stood in the way of me using flash.

I suspect I’m not alone in having found the cost of flash systems off-putting, when I first started photography. I’d scrabbled together enough money for a camera body with a nice kit zoom and immediately turned my attention to additional lenses. Flash was always the next thing on my list. And, two decades later, it still is.

You learn early on that flashes are most effective, creatively when they’re positioned away from the camera, but this invokes all the costs of remote triggers and off-board flashes, or being limited by the length of cables, because I’d bought an entry-level DSLR that couldn’t act as a flash commander, and I didn’t feel confident enough to start with manual, rather than TTL-controlled flash.

Mitchell Clark

The iT32 solves that off-camera problem because it connects to your camera via a small, hotshoe-mounted radio-frequency controller. The cost of this controller? between $20 and $34, depending on which brand of camera you use.

The X5 controller slots into your camera’s hotshoe and the iT32 attaches magnetically to the controller. Or you can disconnect the flash and fire it remotely. The flash itself communicates using Godox’s own communication protocol and can pair with any X5 controller, providing TTL compatibility whatever brand camera you own. It also means that you can buy a single iT32 and make it work even if you have cameras from more than one brand.

Richard Butler

*Godox says Canon cameras with multi-interface hotshoes should use an adapter to mount the X5 C. It makes a “X5 Cm” version for these newer cameras but has limited its sales to China.

The X5 can only control flashes operating in a single group, so you can’t use it as the basis of a complex multi-group setup, but the iT32 itself can operate in different groups, so will still be usable, if you decide to expand your setup, later.

So far, I’ve just been using the X5 and iT32 combination and have found it to be a really low-risk place to start experimenting with flash. It’s a genuinely small unit, that makes it easy to keep with me. It has a guide number of 18m, so it’s not especially powerful, but it’s enough of a step up from any camera’s built-in flash that, especially combined with the ability to use off-camera, is enough to make it worth carrying around.

In-use

Mitchel Clark

For such a small unit, the iT32 has a surprising number of control points. There’s a power/flash test button, a Set button and a Menu button, along with a dial on the side, used for quick control. But the iT32’s small rear screen is also touch-sensitive, so it’s really quick to operate, rather than requiring odd combinations of button pressing and dial turns.

To turn the unit on you hold the power/test button for two seconds then scroll the control dial upwards to confirm that it’s not just pressed against something in your bag.

You can access the menu by pressing the Menu button or swiping down on the screen. In the menu you’ll find options for controlling the modelling lamp on the front of the flash, a control for switching between TTL, Manual and multi-flash (strobe) modes, as well as deciding whether the flash is in on-camera mode, sender or receiver.

Mitchel Clark

The iT32 automatically switches to receiver mode when you detach it from the on-camera X5, so you don’t need to give most of this much thought.

In use you can set exposure compensation by turning the dial on the side of the flash, by swiping left or right on the touchscreen or, when the iT32 is working remotely away from the base, by pressing the small + and – buttons on the back of the X5 controller.

If you have a pair of iT32s you can your their controls to set them to different manual flash values (or flash exposure comp values if in TTL mode). You can still use the X5 to increase and decrease these values remotely, but any increase or decrease will be applied to both flashes, so you can’t remotely adjust them independently, as you would in a proper system of grouped flashes.

Mitchel Clark

When working handheld, I found the touchscreen to be very sensitive and the control dial very easy to jog, so tended to make use of the ‘Lock’ function in the menu, to stop myself accidentally changing the flash settings. Once lock is engaged, you need to hold ‘Set’ for two seconds to re-activate the controls.

The iT32 has its own, built-in battery, so you don’t need to hunt around for a fresh set of AAs all the time. It recharges over its USB-C socket, which is also used for updating firmware for both the flash and the X5. The X5 unit has its own battery, which charges up when connected to the iT32. You can check the battery level on the menu of the flash, when it’s connected, or long-press the – button, where it will communicate its charge level with between zero and four flashes of its tiny red LED.

Richard Butler

Generally, getting started with the iT32 is simplicity itself. The two units pair with one another when physically connected, switching the flash to the correct camera brand’s protocol, and then auto switches between on- and off-camera operation. It’s only two swipes on the touchscreen to manually engage receiver mode, if you power the flash on again later and don’t want to have to physically re-connect them each time.

As you use the setup more, it’s worth scanning through the manual, as there are some differences between camera brands about how to access modes such as high-speed sync and rear curtain flash sync, but there’s nothing that a complete novice should find off-putting at all.

Overall, though, I found the X5 / iT32 pairing to be a remarkably cost-effective way to access the world of flash photography. And, significantly, the realm of off-board flash. This simple, sub-$100 set overcame pretty much all of my previous concerns about cost, about compatibility and around batteries, leaving me with no excuse.

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Capture One has built its reputation as the professional standard for commercial and beauty photographers thanks to its precise color management and tethering tools. But the company is also in the midst of an expansion, adding tools for new types of photographers, from photojournalists to those working with film.

We sat down with CEO Rafael Orta to talk about what that growth looks like, how the company approaches AI, and how it differentiates itself from other editing platforms.

Who it’s for

Capture One

While some editing platforms aim to serve everyone, Capture One is intentionally more narrow in its scope. Orta is clear about who the company builds for: photographers who have made photography their career choice, whether as a primary income source or a serious secondary one.

The professional lens shapes everything from feature priorities to how the company talks about its product. Capture One is often considered the commercial standard for beauty and product photography, but Orta says it has deliberately expanded into professional portrait, wedding and family photography in recent years as well. It’s also seen lots of growth in its enterprise segment, with the Associated Press coming on as its first photojournalism client last year.

The key is that all of these are genres where client relationships and deadlines can define the work. “We have a really good understanding of how photographers work with clients, work under deadlines and how clients are the ultimate judge of your work,” Orta says. “It’s a tool that has been built with professional standards in mind.”

AI on its terms

There’s no getting around the fact that AI is everywhere these days, and it’s reshaping many aspects of the photography software market. But Orta is careful about how Capture One positions itself within that shift, and it comes down to trust in the company’s identity. “We are not confused about who we are,” he says. “We are a photography company first, not a software company that happens to serve photographers.”

That identity, according to Orta, is what allows the company to incorporate AI responsibly. He tells me that Capture One owns more cameras than it has employees and that many of the photos on its website and in its marketing are taken by Capture One team members, who are photographers. “We are incredibly protective of usage rights; even in internal presentations, you need to credit the photographer,” he explains. The company also runs a monthly internal photography competition with winning images adorning the walls of their offices.

Orta explains all of this to make it clear that AI tools in Capture One are built by people who take photography seriously; they aren’t added simply to keep pace with competitors. “It’s why we’ve been able to bring AI into Capture One without the backlash others have faced,” he says. “We built it as a participant in the industry, not an operator standing outside it looking in,” he says.

A pulse on the community

Earlier this year, Capture One released a negative film conversion feature. While this could seem like an odd move for an editing platform dedicated to commercial work, Orta sees it as the perfect example of how in-tune with the industry the company is.

“It’s the perfect example of our connectivity in the industry,” Orta says. “We saw early on that there was a resurgence of film photography, and it quickly began to enter the commercial space.” He explains that they want to offer a better way for commercial photographers to integrate all their work into a single platform. Doing so enables photographers to maintain a more consistent workflow and create a more coherent look across both film and digital.

Orta is also clear about how intentional the company is with new features and the work involved in creating those. “We are soaking in the industry, and we listen and respond to the requests,” he says. “But because we’re precious about quality, some of these things may take a bit of time. We spent the best part of two years on negative conversion to make sure the results would be good.”

As an example of how dedicated the team is to its new features, Orta tells me that a few weeks ago, the company held its annual gathering and handed out disposable film cameras to everyone there. Now, the employees are using the negative conversion tool to scan in their own negatives. It’s another example of the team getting real-world experience with the features they develop.

Pricing adjustments

Capture One

Capture One has never been the cheapest option for photographers, and recent pricing increases have made that especially true. The editing platform has raised its prices twice in recent years, and another 6% increase took effect this month. The new price is more than double the cost of Adobe’s Lightroom, a gap that is certainly hard to ignore.

Orta doesn’t shy away from the pricing question, though. “What we have committed to is yearly pricing increases, and we will do them in a modest way,” he says. As for the why, Orta simply cites inflation and foreign exchange as factors in the decision.

Naturally, he points to what subscribers get in return. Orta says that Capture One has been pushing more than one update per month to at least one of its platforms, bringing a constant stream of improvements. He explains that these include server-side updates to things like its collaboration tools (Live, Live for Studio) and admin platform, not just desktop and mobile app updates. Some of these updates are visible to a user, while others aren’t. He adds that the company has simplified its product lineup in recent years to make pricing tiers clearer. Overall, Orta frames the increases less as a burden and more as a reflection of ongoing investment in the product.

A clear vision for the future

For Orta, all of Capture One’s recent changes, including the newly added Hasselblad support, point in the same direction: a company that’s clear on who it is and who it’s building for. “We try to serve specific genres and build products and services that are perfectly adapted to the needs of each one,” he says. For a company with its roots in commercial studios, that’s a wider net than it used to be, but it doesn’t mean that the focus is any less intentional.

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The Sony RX10 V arrived just before a trip I had planned to San Francisco, giving me some more interesting / less familiar shooting opportunities, the chance to play with an extremely long lens, and a lesson in how hard it is to re-create Todd Walker’s famous 1964 photo of California Street.

I made sure to grab some low-light photos as well as some trams, sunshine and marine-layer gloom.

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Insta360 is teaming up with 3D printer company Bambu Lab to encourage custom accessories for the new Luna Ultra gimbal camera. To that end, the pair has launched a co-branded Luna Ultra Design Challenge and made official design files available for creatives.

The challenge is hosted through Bambu Lab’s MakerWorld platform, a community where creators can share and 3D‑print custom designs. To make things easier for those interested in creating accessories, Insta360 has published official 3MF and STL design files for the Luna Ultra. Insta360 is the first camera brand with an official presence on MakerWorld, and it’s certainly not typical to see a company sanctioning third-party 3D-printed, precision-fit accessories for its cameras. That hasn’t stopped people from making their own accessories, but having an easier means to do so will likely be appreciated by many users.

The contest has two entry tracks: Track A is about designing and uploading actual 3D-printable parts for Luna Ultra, while Track B is about showcasing or pitching those ideas through content across major social platforms.

Track A is geared toward 3D designers and engineers and is meant for fully realized models. It consists of two categories: The Practical Add-ons category includes things like stability mounts, filming rigs and advanced creator tools, while the Creative Mods category focuses on aesthetic covers, playful themes and stylistic upgrades. Those submitting to Track A should use #PrintForLuna within MakerWorld.

Track B can include finished 3D-printed products, but it’s also open to hand-drawn design concepts and creative accessory ideas, so even those without a 3D printer can still take part. Those interested in submitting projects in Track B should tag their posts with #PrintForLuna, #BambuLab and #Insta360LunaUltra on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook or Reddit (r/Insta360).

Insta360

The challenge has prizes up for grabs. Insta360 says there are a total of 40 joint awards, with selected winners receiving the Insta360 Luna Ultra camera and either the Bambu Lab X2D Combo or A2L Combo 3D printers. There will also be other hardware prizes, along with gift cards and coupons. Additionally, the company says the best ideas may be selected for further development and possibly turned into an official product. Creators of those designs will have access to “exclusive collaboration opportunities and additional rewards, with full details confirmed with the winners directly.”

The Luna Ultra Design Challenge runs from now through August 9, with winners announced on August 20. You can download the 3MF and STL design files from MakerWorld, and learn more about submission requirements on the challenge page.

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A new video from Kodak and movie studio A24 follows actress Olivia Wilde as she tours Kodak’s Film Lab in New York City. The tour is technically a promotional stop for “The Invite,” a recently released dark comedy Wilde both directed and stars in, though it doesn’t come across that way. Instead, the four-minute video offers a short glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes when movies are shot on film.

In the video, Wilde walks through various parts of the lab with technicians who briefly explain what they do, from loading the film in the darkroom to running it through the development steps and splicing it all together. What struck me is how very low-budget the space looks. Aside from the required specialized equipment (I especially love the fancy machine used to dry the negatives), it looks like any gritty big-city studio/lab space. Piles of miscellaneous items are piled everywhere, there are old radiators with paint rubbed off, and the people working there don’t seem fussed by any of the attention. It’s far from a glamorous space.

The video is a short watch, so it absolutely doesn’t get into the nitty-gritty details of the process. But it’s a nice overview of how the lab turns exposed negatives into usable images, and it’s always neat to see behind-the-scenes looks like this.

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The Sony RX10 V is an update to the company’s long-zoom large-sensor compact. It’s built around a 20MP stacked Type 1 (116mm²) sensor and a 24-600mm equiv, F2.4-4.0 stabilized zoom.

It’s a long-zoom ‘compact’ whose newfound processing power means it can shoot a range of subjects from landscapes to wildlife and maybe even a little sport. We’d be tempted to make the comparison to a Swiss Army knife, only the RX10 is far from pocketable.

Key specifications

• 20MP Type-1 (116mm²) stacked CMOS sensor
• 24-600mm equiv. F2.4-4.0 lens
• Up to 30fps shooting
• 4K up to 120p with crop (60p full width) in 10-bit
• 3.68M dot EVF
• 1.62M dot tilting rear LCD
• UHS-II SD card slot
• 630 shot/charge battery life rating

The RX10 V will be available in early August with a recommended price of $2,300. This is exactly in line with the US consumer price index inflation rate applied to the $1700 launch price of the RX10 IV, nine years ago. To use a different benchmark, it’s cheaper, relative to the a7 V and that camera’s peers, than the Mark IV was, relative to its contemporary a7 model.

Index

• What’s new
• Body and handling
• In use
• Video
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What’s new

It’s been eight years since the RX10 IV and Sony has made big steps forward in both technology and ergonomics in the meantime: the RX10 V benefits from both.

On the technology side, the RX10 V gains the Bionz XR processor and “AI processing unit” from the previous generation of Alpha cameras. This brings the full range of subject recognition modes, including birds, animals, cars, planes and the “human pose estimation” system that is designed to recognise people-shaped things in the scene, even when the face or eyes aren’t visible, to help the camera continue to track the same subject.

The added processing power allows the RX10 V to shoot at up to 30 frames per second with a blackout free viewfinder. You also gain the Speed boost function that lets you temporarily engage a faster (or slower) shooting mode, when you hold a customized button down, but you don’t gain the pre-capture function.

Autofocus has come a long way in the nine years since the previous RX10 was released, and the new model feels like a thoroughly modern camera. The other area of significant improvement over the same period is video, and the RX10 V is a bit step forward in that regard, too, with a host of Sony’s latest options including, significantly, the ability to capture 10-bit and H.265 footage, both of which make it more pleasant to work with.

Sony says it’s the same lens as on the RX10 IV but CIPA standards for reporting focal length have apparently changed in the meantime, meaning it’s quoted as a 9.1-210mm zoom, rather than the 8.8-220mm figures printed on the side of the previous two models. We suspect the figures now quoted are the literal focal lengths, rather than the effective focal lengths after corrections has been applied. The end result is the same, though: a 24-600mm equiv range with an F2.4-4.0 maximum aperture and in-lens stabilization.

It’s hard to get your head round just how much flexibility a 24-600mm lens gives you until you use it. There are cameras that offer even more range, but all of them are based on much smaller sensors, so you pay a price in terms of image quality, if any survives the heat haze.

The lens has a built-in shutter which can go as fast as 1/1000th of a second at wide apertures, and 1/2000 sec at F8 and slower. This is great for flash, as you can sync up to those maximum speeds but quickly becomes limiting in bright light. You can switch the camera to e-shutter mode which, with a rolling shutter rate of 15.7ms (1/64sec) is still pretty fast, but this requires you to switch to the lossy compressed Raw format. There’s no auto mode to let you use mechanical shutter up to its limit, then e-shutter beyond that.

Body and handling

Richard Butler

The RX10 V is a substantial camera but that’s to be expected for something trying to deliver a 24-600mm equivalent zoom range. It’s been a long time since we handled an RX10 IV but the grip shape seems improved, offering a sturdy grip on the dense, polycarbonate body.

There’s no front dial, the logic presumably being that you’ll use your index finger for operating the zoom rocker. This means the two command dials on the rear shoulder are both operated with your thumb. There’s also a rather fiddly dial on the rear plate of the camera but thankfully, with the provision of two customizable command dials and an aperture ring, there’s rarely need to use it (it’s not used in photo mode, by default).

Richard Butler

Unlike recent Sony cameras, the RX10 V has a 10Gbps USB-C socket for fast data transfer but then retains the USB Micro B ‘Multi’ socket for attaching external accessories. This can no longer be used for charging the camera, reducing its usefulness to being an accessory port.

The RX10 V still uses a single SD card but the interface now uses the slightly newer UHS-II standard, rather than the UHS-I slot on the previous model. This is quick enough to accommodate the 600Mbps (75MB/s) data rate required for 4K/60 video capture with All-I compression.

Viewfinder

Richard Butler

The viewfinde gets an upgrade to 3.68M dots (1280 x 960px), which is a decent step up from its predecessor. The resolution drops a little if you engage the high refresh rate mode, and battery life drops, too, but whichever mode you choose, the resolution is maintained, even when using C-AF, so you don’t get the potentially distracting drop in detail when you half-press the shutter.

Screen

The screen is also refreshed, with the Mark V using a 1.62M dot (900 x 600px) screen that matches the sensor’s aspect ratio, rather than the 4:3, 800 x 600px panel on the previous model. The screen is still mounted on a tilt up/down cradle, which gives a decent level of flexibility but isn’t well suited to portrait orientation shooting.

Battery

Richard Butler

Other than the improved autofocus, perhaps the biggest change on the Mark V is the move to the much larger NP-FZ100 battery. This is the 16.4Wh battery that has powered the various a7 models for the past nine years. It has a capacity more than twice that of the FW50 battery used in previous RX10 cameras, giving much better battery life in a way that seems appropriate for a camera so likely to be used for travel and long shoots outdoors.

In use

When you first start up the camera, you’re confronted with a very simple, compact-camera display, with five large touchscreen buttons arrayed down both sides of the screen. This ends up feeling somewhat nostalgic, having not encountered a mainstream point-and-shoot for some time, and rather at odds with the more Alpha-styled controls and main menu.

Anyone not wanting to use touchscreen buttons, or wanting a less cluttered display can remove them (the option to do so is under Touch Operation / Touch Panel Settings, rather than with the display options in Operation Customize).

With this done, the RX10 V feels a lot like an Alpha-series camera, with the new menus representing a big improvement over the ones in the previous models. It’s not without its foibles but for the most part it’s well grouped and organized, and with a little customization of the Fn menu and custom buttons, you can minimize your need to visit it.

The RX10 V has the same issue as other Sony cameras in terms of a couple of incompatible settings: you’ll need to disengage Raw and switch to HEIF format before you can engage the camera’s HLG Stills mode to shoot true HDR images, and you’ll have to switch your Raw format if you want to engage the electronic shutter mode. All of which leaves the risk that you forget to switch back.

Richard Butler

Also, somewhat disappointingly for such a travel-friendly camera, Sony remains the only major brand not to offer some kind of in-camera Raw conversion. So if you take a nice shot but want to tweak the white balance, color mode or DRO level before sharing it, tough luck, you’ll just have to messily hack the JPEG around on your phone.

There’s a lot to like, though. The dials and joystick give a good sense of direct control, letting you feel you have direct command over the camera’s really rather impressive capabilities. It has its limits, though: it will try to keep focusing if you zoom with the ring around the lens (you can’t use the zoom rocker), but it definitely struggles, which can limit some sports or action shooting. But the ability to quicky zoom with the rocker under your index finger and fine-tune the framing with the lens ring helps keep the power zoom feeling pretty engaging.

Video

The previous RX10 V’s video topped-out at 4K/30, despite the use of a fast, stacked CMOS sensor. The Mark V pushes way beyond this, with the option to shoot 4K/120 with a significant 1.38x crop or oversampled 4K/60 from the full width of the sensor. As you’d expect from a modern camera, this can all be done in 10-bit, making Log, and in particular, the more ambitious S-Log3 curve, much more usable.

Richard Butler

But video improvements over the past nearly decade go further than speed. The RX10 V lets you shoot in the attractive, S-Cinetone color mode and it lets you upload LUTs for previewing your preferred color grade, or to burn directly into the footage. It has Sony’s Auto Framing mode that identifies a subject, punches in and follows them around, upscaling the footage and giving a camera operator dynamism to what are actually locked-off shots. There’s also the Active Mode IS that corrects a wider range of movement, available at up to 4K/60.

Then, on the audio side of things, the RX10 V can capture up to four-channel audio, if you attach an accessory to its multi-interface connectors in the hotshoe. A 72mm filter thread allows you to attach ND filters as needed.

Above all of this, though, the RX10 V’s video also benefits from its improved autofocus system, which is much more tenacious and dependable in terms of subject tracking, especially if your subject is of a type the camera has been trained to recognize.

Initial impressions

Richard Butler

It’s been nine years since the last RX10 model was released and, although things have been pretty quiet on the compact front, the rest of camera technology and performance have continued to make advances. Much like watching a young relative you rarely get to see grow up through a series of infrequent visits, the prolonged gap really makes you notice how much has changed in the meantime.

The RX10 V is a dramatically more advanced camera than its predecessor: faster to focus and much more dependable at subject tracking. The menus and ergonomics have come a long way, too, and its video capabilities are leagues ahead of where the RX10 IV had brought us to.

I’m not generally a fan of long-zoom cameras, as I’d usually prioritize compactness over that additional reach that I rarely find myself wanting to use. But the enhanced AF performance and speed capture add a lot to what was already a camera with a strong following. They vastly expand what the RX10 V can do, and the changes to the controls and battery are significant benefits, too.

Unlike the recent L10, that doubling of battery capacity hasn’t led to much of a change in body size, and it wouldn’t have made much difference anyway, on a body so dominated by that vast lens.

There can be a few delays, here and there, waiting for the lens to initialize, and it was disappointing to have to swap shutter modes (and Raw filetype) or stop down when hitting the 1/1000 sec limit of the mechanical shutter. But overall I’ve found the RX10 V to be a pleasant travel companion whose lens constantly challenged me to think of photos that I couldn’t otherwise take.

Whether that makes it worth $2300 is for each individual to decide, but it’s striking to get to see what nearly a decade’s worth of improvements, delivered all in one go, look like.

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.

Sony DSC-RX10 V specifications

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Fujifilm has announced the GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR, a cinema power zoom lens. This marks the second power zoom lens for the GFX system, joining the GF32-90mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR.

The GF 19-35mm T3.5 offers a 35mm equivalent focal length of 15-28mm, providing an ultrawide perspective. It offers the widest angle of view for the GF format, though it just achieves that by only 1mm over the GF 20-35mm F4 R WR. Like Fujifilm’s first power zoom lens, the 19-35mm T3.5 covers the GFX Eterna 55’s full sensor, making it compatible with the camera’s open gate recording mode.

The lens’s built‑in focus motor enables the GFX Eterna 55’s full suite of autofocus modes, making it suitable for everything from handheld documentary work to more controlled studio productions. Its internal servo system lets users control focus, iris (aperture) and zoom directly from the GFX Eterna 55 body for more precise, integrated operation on set. It features built-in image stabilization, ideal for run-and-gun filming.

Fujifilm

The lens consists of 23 lens elements in 15 groups, including four extra-low dispersion (ED) elements and three aspherical elements, which Fujifilm says successfully suppress aberrations. Fujifilm says its optical design suppresses focus breathing, keeping the angle of view consistent as the focus is adjusted. It features a 13-blade aperture.

The GF 19-35mm T3.5 shares the exact exterior dimensions as the GF32-90mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR, measuring 222mm (8.7″) and weighing 2.1 kg (4.6 lbs), making it possible to use the same accessories and setups. It also shares the same controls, with geared rings for focus, iris and zoom, all of which use the same 0.8m gear pitch as existing Fujinon cinema lenses.

The GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR will be available on July 23 at a suggested price of $5499.95.

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With the updated DPReview website, new things are all the rage today. We’ve previously asked you about your first and favorite new cameras, about your first and favorite photos, and now we’d like to combine the two for this week’s community question.

What image made you realize your new gear was worth it?

We’d love to hear the story behind the piece of gear – whether it’s a lens, camera, flash or something else – and see the images that sparked that appreciation. It could be a piece of equipment that was only new to you, as was the case for the camera used to take the image at the top of the article, or something fresh out of a box.

Drop a reply in the comments section below, and if you’ve got a photo to include, it may be selected for next week’s showcase article on this topic!

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DPReview has an all-new website, our first redesign from the ground up in over 25 years. For the full story, see our announcement article. If you just want a quick answer, you’re in the right place.

If your question isn’t covered here, post it in this forum thread or in the comments below, and we’ll get you an answer. If it’s something others would find useful, we’ll add it here.

General questions

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Account and history

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Article comments

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A: Our previous commenting system was deeply integrated with the old website, and it wasn’t feasible to bring it over to the new one. We know commenting matters to many members of our community, so keeping it meant building a new system on a new foundation. Comments still appear under articles, but they work a bit differently.

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Q: Is there a paid ad-free subscription?
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Challenges

Q: What happened to Challenges?
A: As we mentioned in April, our old Challenges system was tied closely to the previous site and couldn’t move over as-is. Rather than rebuild it exactly as it was, we’re building a new Challenges system from the ground up that reflects a lot of the feedback you’ve given us over the years. It’s actively in development.

Forums

Q: Does the new website impact the forums?
A: No, the forums are not affected. They run on a separate platform that isn’t part of this migration, so you can keep using them exactly as before. To get there from the new homepage, click “Discussions” in the navigation bar, which links directly to our most popular forums, or select “All Forums” to see the full index.

The Beta label and site speed

Q: Why does it say “Beta” at the top of the site?
A: It’s our way of being upfront that we’ll keep refining things over the coming weeks. That includes addressing known issues and dialing in details as we go. Separately, a small number of features, like Challenges, aren’t live yet and are being rebuilt from the ground up; you can read more about that below.

Q: How long will it stay in beta?
A: We expect the site to stay in beta for several weeks. We’ll drop the label once we’re confident the site has earned it.

Q: Why are some pages loading slowly?
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Getting help and bug reporting

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Mitchell Clark

The much larger battery in the L10 takes up almost 1/3rd of the body’s volume, so it’s no surprise that the camera is larger than the LX100 models.

The Panasonic L10 is appreciably larger than the LX100 models that came before it. This has caused some people to dismiss it as no longer making sense, once it’s comparable to the size of the smallest ILCs and their retractable lenses.

It’s also brought into question our use of the term “compact camera” which we’ve historically used for cameras with built-in lenses, but that’s an issue for another day.

Handling the L10, it quickly becomes apparent why it’s so much larger, with the new, much larger battery taking up approximately 1/3rd of the body space. This is because the L10 uses a battery with over twice the capacity of the one used in the LX100s: 15.8Wh, rather than 7.4.

The camera has also become a little deeper, because the screen is now articulated, rather than fixed (something we found frustrating on cameras with such a wide-angle lens). The L10 also has a separate door for its SD card, rather than it slotting in behind the battery, though sadly the door is so close to the tripod socket that this separation doesn’t bring any particular benefit.

Having traveled with the camera for a while, I found myself appreciating those two changes more than I was put off by the loss of pocketability. With a wrist-strap, it’s small enough to comfortably carry all day, but now with the battery life to sustain it over prolonged periods, and the ability to turn the rear screen in for protection, when stuffing it into a camera bag or carry-on luggage.

Does it have as much flexibility as an ILC? No, but its lens is brighter (in both absolute and equivalent terms) than ILC + kit lens pairings that come close to its size. And, like the Fujifilm X100 cameras, that are the same height and width as the L10, there’s a certain appeal to a self-contained device that does one particular thing, rather than a camera that could, theoretically, do anything. If you don’t see that appeal, then it’s not the L10, or its size, you dislike, it’s compact/fixed-lens cameras.

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Alongside the EOS R6 V, Canon introduced the 20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ. Like most power-zoom lenses, it’s clearly mainly focused at video users who have access to a zoom toggle at their fingertips. But Canon made the unusual decision to take a hybrid approach; with the flick of a switch, you can control the zoom in the traditional manner by rotating a ring on the lens barrel between two fixed points.

We’re in the process of testing the EOS R6 V, but thought it’d be worth taking the lens out to shoot a few photos, too, to see if it also makes a decent photo lens on a camera without that zoom lever.

To answer the most obvious question first: no, the manual zoom mode isn’t mechanical. The lens’s focal length is still controlled by the power zoom motors, and there is an ever-so-slight delay between you turning the ring and the lens arriving at its destination. The lens is pretty quick, so it’s not too noticeable if you’re just zooming in slightly, but you can definitely see (and maybe hear) it if you’re going from 20mm to 50mm.

This somewhat breaks the illusion of direct control that the manual zoom portion of the lens is designed to add. It also doesn’t help that the ring is just a bit too easy to turn. That both makes it easy to accidentally change your zoom level when you didn’t mean to, and acts as another signal to your brain that you’re actually remote-controlling something, rather than physically moving parts of the lens yourself.

The good news is that, unless you bump the zoom ring, the lens will retain its focal length setting when you turn the camera body off; unlike with a compact camera, you don’t have to wait for it to move back through its range to 50mm when you turn your camera back on. However, if you move the zoom ring while the camera’s off (accidentally or otherwise), you’ll have to wait an extra moment or two for the lens’s motors to change its focal length when you turn the camera back on, during which time you won’t have any live view preview.

While I imagine some photographers may be disappointed reading the above, I’ll also say this: after about an hour or two of shooting with the lens, I mostly stopped noticing the quirks. That’s not something I can say about any of the other power zooms I’ve shot photos with, which were always that bit more annoying to use. Sure, the experience of using the 20-50mm isn’t the same as using a mechanically zooming lens. But it’s also much nicer for photography than a traditional power zoom that can only be controlled with a rocker or finicky on-lens control.

For those who care about video, the story is more straightforward: this lens is really nice to use, especially if the camera it’s on has a zoom toggle. Even if it doesn’t, the power zoom control on the lens works well. With a bit of finesse, you can use it for slow, purposeful pushes or pulls, or for crash zooms, depending on how far you push it to the W or T side.

There are also times when it’s nice to use it in the manual zoom mode, where how easy the ring is to turn becomes a feature, rather than a bug. I’ve always found it quite difficult to get smooth zoom pushes or pulls using a lens’s traditional mechanical zoom ring, but with this lens, it’s a breeze, while still offering a bit finer-grained control than the traditional power zoom control.

Canon RF 20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ specifications:

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Stuart Palley

When Stuart Palley began photographing California wildfires in 2013, the data already pointed toward more serious wildfire problems ahead. Over the next 13 years and nearly 200 fires, he watched that prediction come true. Fire seasons grew longer, fires burned faster and more aggressively, and January 2025 brought an inferno to the hills of Los Angeles at a time of year that usually felt like a safe time.

Through all of it, Palley has been there with a camera, building a visual record of the American West’s fire crisis. I had the opportunity to chat with him about his journey capturing wildfires, the toll it takes and Terra Flamma, his current ongoing series dedicated to a fresh perspective.

Fire as light

Stuart Palley

While Palley is still very focused on the journalistic side of his photography, his Terra Flamma series blends the boundaries between documentary and fine art. The project involves using long exposures to photograph fires at night, and Palley was drawn to making these images in part because of the colors they allow.

Palley explained that he frequently thinks about a quote from Vincent van Gogh, who said, “I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” Van Gogh’s paintings, like “The Starry Night ,” were direct inspiration for Palley’s fire-lit nightscapes. “That use of color and night scenes just always stuck with me from growing up, and I just loved access to the color palette that wasn’t otherwise available,” he said.

Stuart Palley

The images grasp onto that idea, showcasing landscapes in a manner we don’t often see. “Fire is its own light source, and it bathes everything in this warm light,” Palley explained. “When you add in smoke and other geographic features, it can either be an enormous warm softbox, or it can paint everything in orange and red, and then contrast it against a more blue or purple night sky. So it creates this incredible color palette that is only available when the fires are happening.”

Terra Flamma isn’t just about color, though. The long exposures give you a different look at the fire’s behavior, too. “You see what it’s doing, you see where the smoke’s going, and it sort of illuminates the scene,” said Palley. The long exposures also showcase the landscape, providing a bigger view of the situation. “Ultimately, the goal of Terra Flamma is to take these landscape photos of fire and put them in the context of where they are,” he said. “Is this happening in the mountains in the middle of nowhere? Is it happening near downtown LA?”

Stuart Palley

Palley has also expanded the series to include stories beyond the fire itself, including firefighters, crews, communities, air quality, forestry management and more. “The fire has become part of a broader ecosystem when it comes to storytelling about climate and natural disasters here in the American West,” he told me.

While Terra Flamma occupies the fine art end of his work, it represents only part of what Palley does at a fire. During the day, he’s working as a photojournalist documenting firefighters, crews and affected communities with the same immediacy as any news photographer. The long-exposure landscapes come when the sun dips down.

Putting gear in the line of fire

Stuart Palley

Of course, long exposures create logistical challenges that daytime images don’t. Fires are dynamic and can change rapidly, and setting up for a long exposure requires time. Thankfully, most of his long exposures give him the benefit of distance as a safety buffer. “A lot of times when I’m doing these longer landscape exposures, it’s from further back, looking at the fire in context across a canyon or down a hill,” he said. “So, I typically have some space built in that gives me both geographic safety and the time to make these images.”

That’s not always the case, though. Palley remembered one image in particular where he was much closer to the fire, with a 30-second exposure capturing embers swirling around him. “I had to stand there holding my camera in the wind, getting pelted by embers,” Palley said. “I’ve got like a hood, a helmet, goggles and all this stuff. So, I was fine. But I decided at that point that it was worth making that picture because it showed the ember cast in such a wild way that it was worth sitting there for the 30-second exposure.”

Stuart Palley

Thankfully, fires haven’t been the direct cause of damage to Palley’s gear. “I’ve certainly damaged and destroyed multiple cameras at these fires, but it’s not necessarily from negligence,” he said. He recalled one time in 2015 when he dropped his camera after getting attacked by a displaced beehive because they were attracted to his yellow Nomex suit. Another time, he melted a lens hood because it fell into burning grass.

The most common issue, he says, is smoke. “The cameras smell like ashtrays,” he said. “You get smoke and ashes on it, but you get alcohol wipes, and you wipe the cameras down every day to reduce smoke exposure and things like that.” He also sends them off yearly for a cleaning to maintain his gear. “But ultimately, it’s a tool and tools used in challenging conditions just often need more maintenance,” he explained.

Training is key

Stuart Palley

While Palley, of course, wants to create incredible photographs, he draws a clear line. “The key thing here is no photo is worth me getting hurt or getting in the way of firefighters,” he said. He’s always putting his safety and the job of firefighters first.

That focus on safety has only increased over the years, too, as fires have become more intense. “I’ve always been safety oriented, but I’m very, very conservative now on how I approach these fires because the fire behavior is so extreme,” he said. “From having been at almost 200 wildfires at this point, the fire behavior continues to surprise me with how aggressive and rapid it is.”

Stuart Palley

Palley’s safety record is no accident. Since early on in his career, he has devoted a lot of time to making sure he is well-trained, knowledgeable about fires and has the right gear. “When I first started photographing fires, I had basic Nomex PPE, but the boots didn’t quite fit right. I didn’t have the right fire shelter,” he told me. “So within the first year, I went to a private wildland fire school for a week to get my general wildland firefighter training.”

He’s also careful to continually update his gear so that it meets current standards. For example, he recently purchased a $3000 radio because many agencies have updated their radios, and he needs an easy way to listen to what’s going on to stay safe and out of firefighters’ way. “When I’m at fires, I want to be there to tell the story, not become part of it,” he said.

Stuart Palley

Palley has also started sharing his knowledge with others. He recently led a two-day wildfire media safety course for 20 Reuters staffers and freelancers. “It’s a blend of some very general wildland fire behavior and training that’s standardized for firefighters, but it’s sort of customized in a curriculum I just developed to teach journalists,” he explained. That information can then help other journalists stay safe, while producing informative coverage of these events.

That directness extends to how he talks about irresponsible coverage more broadly. Palley is a genuine believer in the democratization of media and is all for more people covering these events. But he has little patience for journalists or creators who treat dangerous situations carelessly. “When I’ve seen so many extreme fires, fatality fires, homes burn down, I don’t have time to sugarcoat these explanations,” he said. “Sometimes you have to just be direct and tell people to get their shit together. This is serious stuff happening. It needs to be taken seriously.”

Building trust and the ethics of wildfire photojournalism

Stuart Palley

Trust is also a factor when photographing these fires. Palley is often working in the vicinity of firefighters, and they need to know that he’s not a liability and that they can trust him to be responsible and safe. “If you’re a journalist there, to a wildland firefighter, you’re the X-factor,” he said. “Trust is one of the biggest things, and that’s the reason why I’m big on having the right gear and the training and knowing how to use it.”

Trust extends beyond wildland firefighters and safety crews, too. Palley often photographs communities when people return to their homes after fires, a traumatic and emotional experience. “When you’re photographing people on the worst day of their lives or the most stressful day of their lives, sometimes they don’t want that to be photographed,” he described.

“I want to respect the dignity that people deserve in these situations and build that trust,” Palley said. Because of that, he gives people space when requested, moving on to other areas and photographs. “To me, that’s more important than making that picture,” he told me.

The cost of the work

Stuart Palley

Palley considered conflict photography early in his career before deciding against it, in part because of the mental health toll he knew it could take. The irony is that wildfire photography has its own cost.

“Journalists deal with vicarious trauma, and if it’s not treated, it essentially develops into PTSD,” he said. He’s clear about what the work actually demands. “When these fires happen, you’re working 16, 18-hour days on assignment. It’s just very intense,” he said. “The human body and mind are not designed for that level of stimulation for that amount of time.”

There’s been a growing movement in both journalism and the firefighting world to acknowledge this, and Palley learned it firsthand. In 2023, he was feeling the burnout and stepped back from photographing fires for about a year.

Chiara Dollak

Recovery, for him, has meant therapy, stepping away from social media during intense fire periods and making space to decompress. “When it’s been a really intense fire reporting period, just kind of be present, literally touch grass, rest, get away from the digital screen,” he said.

The cost of this work is real, but so is Palley’s commitment to it. He returned to the fire line when the LA fires broke out in January 2025 and hasn’t stepped back since. For those looking to stay informed, he recommends Watch Duty, a free nonprofit app he volunteers for that sends real-time alerts about fires and evacuations across the United States.

His parting advice, after 13 years and nearly 200 fires, is straightforward: “If you’re worried about a fire and you haven’t gotten an evacuation order, you don’t have to wait for an evacuation order to leave. You can always leave.”

You can follow along with Palley’s work on his Instagram , YouTube channel and website .

DPReview

I have an admission: there’s just something I don’t love about shooting with the Nikon Z8. Pressing the shutter and hearing the speaker go “click” just isn’t the same experience as hearing and, more importantly, feeling, a mechanical shutter fly open and slam closed at 1/200th of a second.

There are absolutely benefits to this approach: the e-shutter won’t wear out, no matter how many times it’s used, you don’t have to worry about shutter shock* and the sensor never being blocked means the EVF has a constant feed of what’s happening in front of the lens. Were the Z8 the only camera I shot with, I’m certain I’d grow used to it and, in time, probably come to love the experience of an e-shutter-only life.

I think, though, that this mild dissatisfaction has less to do with the Z8 specifically, and a… let’s not call it an issue, but perhaps a quirk of mirrorless cameras in general and how they interact with my specific experience. They are, unquestionably, technological marvels, better in almost every way than what came before. But they aren’t mechanical wonders.

Richard Butler

I’m approaching 30 years old, which means my entire life has taken place after the digital revolution, both in cameras and the world at large. There is no Before Computers for me; some of my earliest memories are messing around with the settings of the family desktop when I was four.

As I grew older, I turned that interest into a job, building and fixing computers and, eventually, programming them and writing about technology. As a result, I understand how they work at a pretty fundamental level. While I might describe a mirrorless camera’s autofocusing and subject recognition capabilities as “magical,” I know they’re not. I’m familiar with how machine learning works, and could explain it in excruciating detail. I can recognize great software engineering, but I’m not astounded by it.

This isn’t the case for DSLRs. While I have a decent understanding of how they do what they do, I still find it incredible that it’s all possible at all. What do you mean you can use a system of mirrors, optical splitters and custom-made line sensors to let you look through the lens and autofocus at the same time? And the mirror and shutter coordinate to flip up and fire at precisely the right time to expose the sensor? 10 times a second? And they figured this out in the 90s?

Canon

It’s even truer for film, where you have a similar level of SLR complexity, but the computer part – the stuff I understand – is replaced by a strip of chemicals that physically change when exposed to light. Again, I have some knowledge of what’s actually going on. I’ve done the reading. But every time I pull developed film out of the tank and look at the negative, it just feels like witchcraft. How could pressing a button on a mirrorless camera and kicking off the take picture function in its computer ever compare?

Until you look at the pictures and realize that the Z8 can track a subject from the very edge of the frame, and have it in focus the entire time. And that it can capture it at 20fps, with no viewfinder blackout. And sync with flash at 1/250 of a second, without a mechanical shutter . It’s old news today, but versus any (D)SLR, it’s revolutionary.

Richard Butler

This effect extends beyond cameras, too, in our increasingly computerized world. I’ve pretty much exclusively worn digital watches of some form, but my coworker Richard says the obvious point of comparison is intricately made and fully mechanical watches versus computer-powered smartwatches. The silicon models are simpler, easier to understand, and more accurate than a mechanical model could ever be. But where’s the soul?

For me, the more obvious point of comparison is one more familiar to me (but no less clichéd): internal combustion engine vehicles versus electric ones.** Like with mirrorless systems, I understand at a fundamental level how EVs work. And no matter how many truly excellent explainers I watch, and even how often I work on my own cars, I still can’t really wrap my mind around how a combustion engine does what it does. (You expect me to believe all these precise operations can be synchronized by a belt or a chain?) But like with cameras, that complexity, beautiful as it is, comes with a cost: I know some prefer the traditional experience, but driving an EV, it’s hard not to see it as the future.

With all this said, there are still mechanical wonders around; both the kinds you’d expect, and ones that are a bit easier to overlook. As an example of the former, take Leica’s M-series cameras; the rangefinder mechanisms are intricate and precise, the kind of thing an unskilled technician could take apart, but not put back together. And while the company was, at one point, only producing a few hundred of its film rangefinders a year, they’ve seen a surge in popularity again, indicating a demand for that mechanical, analog experience.

There’s plenty of complex physical engineering to be found in the mirrorless world, too. Stabilization systems, both in-camera and in-lens, are an impressive dance between gyroscopic sensors, software and actuation mechanisms, and become even more so when coordinating together. And gimbals take this to an even higher level; seeing one in action can be so mesmerizing that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that the device that you’re watching corrects for the movement it’s detecting in real-time and moving a who-knows-how-heavy camera setup to match only costs $300.

I also fully realize that there will be those for whom the wonder is flipped; a mechanical engineer might be more awestruck by complex algorithms than mechanical linkages, no matter how delicate or ingenious. And some folks may be completely flummoxed by cameras new and old, alike. But whichever makes most sense with your brain, it’s worth stopping to remember that cameras aren’t just technology. They are, of course, impressive pieces of tech. But they’re also doing something special, whether we understand how it’s happening or not.

* – Which becomes an increasing concern as sensor resolution increases; there’s a reason the Sony a7R series use electronic front curtain, which avoids shutter shock, by default.

** – Apologies for choosing three particularly contentious examples.

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