Rumors and vague teasers have been suggesting for months now that Insta360 is developing a mirrorless camera. Now, the company’s CEO, Jingkang “JK” Liu, has confirmed that not one, but two mirrorless cameras are in development. Liu even added that one will apparently have a shape not considered before. 

The confirmation came from an interview with Mynavi News in conjunction with Insta360’s flagship store opening in Asakusa, Japan. This isn’t the first time the company has hinted at a mirrorless camera, though. In January 2026, Liu posted on Weibo with the phrase ‘Heading towards new focal lengths,’ which started the mirrorless speculation. 

In the interview, Liu gave slightly more details than that initial vague teaser. “At this point, there’s only so much we can say, but we are developing two types of mirrorless cameras,” Liu said. While he wasn’t able to provide many details, he did drop one hint that certainly seems intriguing:  “One of them will have a surprising shape that you’ve never even considered before.” 

When asked why Insta360 decided to tackle an ILC, Liu explained that the goal is “to make it easy for people who don’t know how to use interchangeable-lens cameras to use them by introducing new technologies and AI.” Given that the company has introduced plenty of AI-based features in its app and cameras, it isn’t surprising that it’s thinking about AI for an ILC, either. We’ve seen one take on extensive use of AI in an ILC with the Caira camera, which takes a notably AI-forward approach to ILC design. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see in terms of specifics on how Insta360 plans on implementing this.

GoPro

Insta360 isn’t the only action camera company eyeing the ILC market. GoPro has already announced the Mission 1 Pro ILS, its own interchangeable-lens camera. However, that camera uses a Type 1 sensor and a mount that accepts Micro Four Thirds lenses, but it can’t electronically communicate with them, limiting which models it’ll work with, and making it a manual focus-only affair. Insta360’s rumored models, by contrast, appear to target a genuine Micro Four Thirds system.

Liu didn’t share any further details about the cameras, though leaked images circulating online suggest a Micro Four Thirds mount, with details covered by both RedShark News and TechRadar. There have also been suggestions that the name of the camera will be the Z One. Given Nikon’s well-established Z system, this seems an interesting choice. 

Liu shared that Insta360 may be able to show a prototype at CP+ in February 2027, so it could be a while before we learn more. 

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Skylum has announced an update to Luminar – its photo editing suite that became synonymous with AI sky replacement – which arrives under the pitch of protecting human talent and creative vision.

According to Skylum, the update is arriving in two phases. Phase 1 shipped on August 5 as version 1.28.0, and includes user interface and performance improvements. The Catalog and Edit modes have been merged into a single workspace, with Presets, Tools and Edits gathered into one reorganized panel on the right. Skylum claims exports are now up to 27% faster, preset previews up to 3.8 times faster, and masking uses up to 33% less memory.

The release also adds camera support for the Leica SL3-P and M11-P, the Panasonic Lumix DC-L10 and the Sony a7R VI, plus compressed Raw support for the a7 V. Additionally, the company says it has rebuilt its generative model to produce results that blend more naturally into the original photograph.

Skylum

We also noticed a quiet change: “Neo” appears to be going away. Skylum’s August release notes are headed “Luminar 1.28.0” whereas June’s were headed “Luminar Neo 1.27.1,” and the press materials don’t mention the word. Skylum’s own website hasn’t caught up, and still refers to the app both ways.

Phase 2 is slated to arrive this fall and will focus more on feature improvements. The company says a revised Crop tool will evaluate an image and propose several finished compositions, weighing subject, balance, leading lines and visual weight, and the Atmosphere Fog tool is being rebuilt to respond to a scene’s light, color and depth rather than laying a flat layer over the top. An improved Enhance tool is designed to reduce the risk of overprocessing, and the AI Assistant is being updated to take a description of the look you’re after and apply a combination of Luminar tools to deliver the result you want.

Finally, Skylum says it’s introducing a new web editor to support cross-platform editing.

Skylum

Skylum’s earlier marketing leaned heavily into AI as a selling point, through Luminar AI’s launch and Luminar Neo’s debut. This announcement reads a bit differently: Skylum says the update arrives as the industry grapples with fears that AI might “overshadow human talent” and bring an end to what it calls a nearly 200-year-old craft, with CEO Ivan Kutanin adding, “Creative vision comes first; technology is here only to let it shine.” 

That’s an interesting position from the company that popularized one-click sky replacement, but Skylum seems to be drawing a distinction between craft and documentary photography; effects that prove convincing in a scene versus ones that look pasted in. (The fact that the software also lets you reshape a subject’s body in a portrait makes that a tougher sell.)

Price and availability

Luminar is available as a one-time purchase in three versions. A desktop-only version for Mac and Windows sells for $129. The All Platforms version adds support for iOS, Android and ChromeOS apps, cross-device editing and access to Luminar on the web when it arrives this fall; it retails for $259, but is on sale for $159 through August 31. The Max version adds a year of the company’s Luminar Prime service and retails for $399, but is on sale for $199 through August 31.

I’m a big history buff when it comes to all things civilization, so I was excited when a community member suggested we ask everyone who their biggest photography inspiration is. The question initially got me thinking about the deep history of cameras and how our use of them can shape future generations, so I took our community member’s advice last week and asked you all who inspires you.

Today, we’re sharing some of the results of that conversation, which is still ongoing in the forums. I encourage you to jump in and join the conversation with your own inspiring stories.

Inspiration from family

Inspiration can come from many sources. As was anticipated, many folks thought of their parents, or a friend or colleague.

Sergii Lakhno: When I was a kid, one of my dad’s friends was a professional photographer and worked for the news agency, who taught me a lot. Actually, he taught me everything, starting from EV choosing and ending with composition, light settings and more. Working on the big events or in the studio, I always remember his advice and follow it.

Inspiration from famous photographers

Photography’s greats were also mentioned. Topping the list was Ansel Adams, the American landscape photographer and environmentalist best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West. Close behind was Galen Rowell, an American wilderness photographer and mountaineer. Both have helped shape our community’s perception of great photography.

sirhawkeye64: Ever since I was a kid, I liked to take pictures. When I feel like I’m not making much progress on some days, I remember something many photographers have said over and over again: not every shot has to be a hero shot, and if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying. My favorite quote, though, is from Ansel Adams: “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. [“crop” meaning selection]”

Ernst Haas

Your stories

Here are several other community stories that mention over a dozen famous photographers, ranging from 1950s magazine portraits to 2026 Instagram hits.

Klaus dk: My first thought was Annie Leibovitz for making the iconic picture of Whoopi Goldberg in the bath of milk, and Gregory Heisler for his magazine portraits. Then it dawned on me that the inspiration from those top-shelf photographers (and I have an even longer list) all filter down to my level through layers of professional fashion and portrait photographers that are only known in small circles.

T-Schaeffer: Henry Turner. I’ve been following his YouTube channel for several years. Henry’s photography skills, combined with his infectious enthusiasm for the art, have inspired me to improve. I appreciate his down-to-earth approach and personable live-time narrative style. It makes one feel like they’re right there with him, experiencing the realities and joys of landscape photography.

egk4260: Bill Fuller, my science teacher near retirement in the late 1960’s. As a side project, Mr. Fuller got me interested in the basics of optics and film. We even did work in his home darkroom. Imagine the teacher who dared, or the parent who allowed that in the current era! My favorite early image, a surprisingly detailed image of the house across the road, was taken with a pinhole camera, a shoebox with a pinhole in the aluminum foil aperture.

Nicolas Alexander Otto: First, I would cite Kilian Schönberger, one of my photography colleagues and friends, who pretty much influenced a whole new style during the early days of Instagram. I do not share his stylistic trades even though we work together, but simply because I think his work ethic is absolutely commendable.

RetCapt: When I started in photography, I was living on the Monterey Peninsula in Calif. Despite being brand new and limited to 35mm film, I was drawn to the works of Adams, Edward Weston and the others who were part of the F64 group. Their images had to be razor-sharp, which meant maximum depth of field. I started making my own prints, using a great old Leitz Focomat 1c enlarger. The die was cast for me then.

Galen Rowell

Dale Baskin: I’ve loved cameras my entire life. In at least half the photos from my childhood, I’m holding some type of camera. Growing up, I took photos for years and loved it – some of them were even pretty good – but beyond trying to take great photos, I never quite figured out what to do with photography.

When I got older and started reading books and magazines about photography, I instantly fell in love with Galen Rowell’s work. He wasn’t just a photographer: he was a skilled writer and a legitimate explorer, one who went on expeditions and made first ascents of Himalayan peaks. He was doing the things I dreamed of: exploring remote places, taking photos, and writing about them.

But perhaps the most important thing I learned from Rowell is that it’s not enough just to get a nice photo or visit an unexplored place. You have to tell the story. Whether it’s a photo essay, an article, or some other medium, the story is what matters and what people remember.

Share who’s inspired you

Do you have a favorite photographer who’s inspired you? Share your photos and story in the forums.

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Alongside its traditional candybar style phones, Google has also announced the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, the latest iteration of its foldable smartphone. While the majority of its improvements relate to the phone part of it, there are some updates to the camera, too.

Like its predecessor, the Fold has a three camera array: the mix of wide, ultrawide and telephoto we’ve come to expect from most modern smartphones. While its cameras aren’t up to par with the ones found on the non-folding Pixel 11 Pro – in fact, one of them is worse than the one on the standard Pixel 11 – the sensor in the main wide camera is an improvement over the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It now uses the same 48MP Type 1/1.56 sensor (48mm²) found in the standard Pixel 11, which is noticeably larger than the Type 1/2 (30.7mm²) model used by its predecessor.

Otherwise, the phone features the same ultrawide and telephoto sensors as its predecessor, though Google now gives you the option of doing a 30x “Super Zoom” crop on the 5x lens. The camera bar has also been redesigned, and now includes the “HiLight” multi-color notification indicator, which can tell you if you’re receiving a call from a particular contact, even when your phone is face-down.

While the cameras may represent relatively mild upgrades, the rest of the phone has gotten more attention, starting with its build. Google says it’s 10% lighter and 1mm thinner than its predecessor, and yet three times more durable. While it’s hard to really quantify durability in a way that can be multiplied, like its predecessor the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

The real gains likely come from the back of the phone, which Google says is made from a glass fiber composite that’s “nearly impossible to crack.” The front 6.5″ display also now uses an “ultra durable” ceramic glass.

Speaking of those displays, the front one is now 20% brighter, shining at up to 2400 nits while displaying HDR content, and capable of reaching peaks of 3600 nits. Those specs are matched by the internal 8″ display, again representing an improvement over the Pro 10 Fold. Google also says the phone now has the thinnest bezels in its series.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold uses the same Tensor G6 processor as the mainline Pixel 11 phones, but comes stock with 16GB of RAM, which is no surprise given the company’s increased focus on multitasking this year. Google has also upgraded it to Qi2.2, allowing for 25W wireless charging.

It also has the same upgraded set of photography features, including the “Camera Looks” feature that gives you more control over how your photos are processed, the faster capture and processing for low-light “Night Sight” photos and the “Magic Capture” mode meant to hand over control of which moments to photograph to the phone, so you can focus on what’s happening in front of you.

The phone now starts at $1899 for the model with 256GB of storage, which is $100 more than the previous version. While that’s not a surprise given the current state of pricing for electronics, the price increase also comes at a time when the competition is fiercer than ever. Samsung’s latest foldables, especially the passport-style Galaxy Fold 8 are getting a lot of buzz, despite their also-hefty price tags.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold will be available in “Olive” green and “Obsidian” black.

Google has announced its new lineup of standard format (as opposed to folding) phones: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL. Both include improvements to their main cameras, as well as the now-iconic bar they’re housed in, and a host of new photo-focused features.

The Pixel 11

Infamously, last year’s Pixel 10 added a telephoto camera, but at the cost of the main camera: where the three generations before it had a 50MP Type 1/1.31 (72mm²) sensor behind a 24mm lens, the 11 used a 48MP Type 1/2 (31mm²) and a fractionally slower lens, meaning it could gather much less light. Its ultrawide camera was also downgraded, though to a slightly lesser degree.

With the Pixel 11, Google is walking that reduction back, using a larger 48MP Type 1/1.56 (48mm²) sensor for the main camera. While that’s not as large as the sensors found in the Pixels 7, 8 and 9, the company says it should let in around 56% more light than the one on the 10.

While the ultrawide and telephoto cameras are the same as the ones in the Pixel 10, the company has redesigned the bar they live in. It’s now completely covered in glass, rather than featuring a metal accent, and is 40% thinner. While this doesn’t result in a completely flat back like you’d find on the Pixel 10a, Google says that if you put one of its silicon cases on the phone, it essentially won’t have a camera bump.

Unsurprisingly, Google has also updated the processor in the phone, using its new Tensor G6 chip, which it says is faster, and has an upgraded image signal processor, which will specifically help improve the phone’s video (more on that in a bit). Unlike some competitors, the company doesn’t appear to have opted for a silicon-carbon battery, which can provide greater energy density in the same footprint; the Pixel 11 has roughly the same battery capacity as its predecessor. However, it has been upgraded to use Qi 2.2 wireless charging, letting it refill at up to 25W instead of the 15W the Pixel 10 maxed out at.

The base Pixel 11 model starts with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $899. While that’s the same price as a Pixel 10 with the same storage, Google has removed the 128GB option that sat below it for $100 less (though it has added a 512GB option above it). That’s unfortunate, but unsurprising in the age of ballooning NAND chip costs.

Pixel 11 Pro

The camera upgrades on the Pixel 11 Pro and its larger sibling, the Pro XL, are slightly more subtle. The company says the 50MP main camera has been upgraded, but it’s hard to tell exactly what’s changed. It still has a Type 1/1.3 (72mm²) sensor with an F1.68 lens and a 2x center crop mode.

The 48MP telephoto camera, however, is undeniably larger. It uses a Type 1/1.95 (32mm²) sensor, which Google says lets in 30% more light than the Type 1/2.51 (23.5mm²) model on the Pixel 10 Pro. You can also now use the portrait mode on the telephoto camera, adding computer-generated bokeh on top of a focal length that’s traditionally more useful for portraiture.

While the camera bar isn’t as thin as the one on the standard Pixel 11, Google says it’s been redesigned. Part of that includes a new indicator, which the company is calling HiLight. It’s a multi-color light that acts as a status indicator, letting you know about incoming calls, even if the phone is face down on a table. Google pitches it as a feature that will let you be more present in the moment, while still being able to see if someone is trying to contact you. The company says it’ll be able to indicate more things in the future, such as notifying you about text messages.

The displays – 6.3″ for the standard Pro and 6.8″ for the XL – have the same resolution and refresh rates as their predecessor’s. However, they can go a touch brighter; up to 2400 nits, with 3600 nits peak brightness, up from 2200 and 3300 nits, respectively. The glass covering those displays is also improved, with Google promising double the scratch resistance.

Google

Like the Pixel 11, the Pros are getting a de-facto $100 price bump via the removal of the base storage tier. The standard 11 Pro now starts at $1099 for a version with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM (though the 512 and 1TB models have 16GB of memory), and the XL starts at $1299. Apart from screen and battery size, the standard and XL models have the same specifications.

The Pixel camera features

Whichever phone you opt for, Google has also included a few new camera features and improvements. With the new Tensor chip, the company says you can capture “Night Sight” low-light photos up to 4.5 times faster, without any reduction in quality compared to previous-generation phones.

Google

The company is also introducing a feature called “Camera Looks”, which lets you customize how your photos look at time of capture, without having to go in and edit them later. There are several preset modes, including some that Google says are designed to make your photos look “less processed” by using fewer frames to produce an image. This builds on what seems to be a trend of people wanting smartphone photos to look a little more natural and contrasty, rather than hyper-processed.

Several third-party apps, like Adobe’s Project Indigo, and other phone manufacturers, have added similar modes. Of course, the Camera Looks also let you go the opposite direction too, with more distinct looks and film emulations. The camera app lets you set a look as the default, so you don’t have to select it each time you open the camera.

Google has also introduced a mode designed to give the phone control over which moments it captures, letting you pay attention to the thing you’re trying to photograph; think capturing a child’s first steps, or a birthday party. It’s called “Magic Capture,” and to use it, you basically just tell your phone when to start recording, then point it at the subject. It tries to recognize the moments worth saving, and capture them as video clips and what Google says are “HDR+ images.” (Though that designation implies the pictures won’t be as high quality as the ones you’d get from the standard camera mode, which would make sense if they’re derived from video capture). After you’re done, you can choose to apply minor edits to the photos, such as crops and deblurring.

Google

Finally, Google says the new crop of Pixel phones have “the best video quality ever” for the series, with the company having tweaked things like sharpening and noise reduction. It’s been common knowledge among creators for years that iPhones offer much better video than even high-end Android phones, so it seems like Google may be trying to combat that stereotype with these latest phones.

It’s also building in several tools for video creators, such as a teleprompter, overlays with gridlines and safezones for various social media platforms and an audio monitor overlay.

Insta360 has announced the X6, its latest flagship 360 camera. It boasts quite a few updates, including Type 1/1.1 (101 mm²) square sensors, native 8K/50 with 10-bit color, in-camera Dolby Vision and a new body design. The camera also marks 10 years of 360-degree cameras for the company.

Sensors and processing

Insta360

At the core of the X6 are two custom square Type 1/1.1 (101 mm²) Sony sensors (one for each lens). Insta360 says they are 33% larger than the Type 1/1.28 (76 mm²) sensors found in the X5. The lenses keep the same F2.0 aperture as the predecessor, but Insta360 says the larger sensors mean the cameras will perform better in challenging lighting situations, such as low light and backlight.

Insta360 says the camera has 500% more computing power than the X5, while using 35% less power, thanks it is new 8-core processor. Each sensor also has a dedicated image processing chip, and the company says this power lets it produce cleaner images while increasing battery life.

Also new on the X6 is in-camera Dolby Vision, which Insta360 says is a first on a 360 camera. This format captures dynamic metadata, allowing compatible displays to adjust their brightness, contrast and color response, frame-by-frame, to deliver better HDR results. You can also record in the company’s 10-bit I-Log profile to get more latitude in post.

Video and capabilities

Insta360 frames the X6 as a 3-in-1 device, aimed at serving content creators for more than just 360-degree video needs. Because of the native 8K/50 resolution captured upfront, its in-camera reframing and subject-tracking capture mode can track subjects and reframe to flat 4K after the fact without locking in a composition at the time of shooting. In single-lens mode, the camera is capable of traditional action camera footage up to 5K/60 or 4K/120 for slow motion.

While primarily meant for video, the X6 can take still photos, too. It can output 120MP 360 photos with a 2:1 aspect ratio, or 42MP flat photos with a square aspect ratio.

Design and durability

Insta360

The X6 features a new design, with a noticeably shorter body than previous Insta360 X-series cameras, though it’s still not as squat as the DJI Osmo 360 or GoPro Max2 360. To accommodate the new build, Insta360 did away with the buttons at the bottom of the camera.

It features a 2.32″ OLED display, which can achieve 1200 nits peak brightness. Insta360 also says you can fast-charge the battery from empty to 80% in 24 minutes, though you probably won’t have to do that as often; it can record 140 minutes of 8K/30 footage on a charge, 47 more than the X5 at equivalent settings.

The promised durability is also improved, with an IP68 rating and waterproofing to 20m (66′) without a case, 5m (16′) more than its predecessor. You can also pair it with the company’s dive housing for depths up to 60m (197′). Insta360 says its replaceable lenses are now even more scratch-resistant and 60% cheaper to replace than the previous generation. The camera is rated for temperatures from -20℃ to 40℃ (-4°F to 104°F). It ships with 64GB of storage, though only 47GB of that is usable.

AI editing and cloud tools

One of the practical advantages of shooting 360-degree footage is that you capture everything around you and decide on framing later. While the flexibility is nice, it can be overwhelming to edit. Insta360 is aiming to make editing footage easier with a set of AI tools designed to automate processing of the 360 footage. Those modes are powered by PanoMind, which Insta360 says is the first 360-native AI model. The company claims it can better understand the full spherical scene thanks to its training on 10,000 hours of footage across more than 30 scenarios.

PanoMind drives its new AI Director, which builds a highlight edit on the camera itself rather than the cloud when you plug it in to charge. That footage is then sent to the Insta360 app for further adjustments. A separate cloud-side tool called Moments Pro, built with Google Gemini, lets users describe the edit they want by setting subject, mood, style and timeframe.

Accessories and availability

Insta360

The X6 works with more than 100 accessories and shares the magnetic mounting ecosystem with the X5, X4 and Ace series, meaning creators who own multiple Insta360 cameras don’t need to buy separate accessories. These include a Power Selfie Stick that adds a promised 180 minutes of runtime, a Foldable Selfie Stick Remote that features a joystick for gimbal camera-like use, a dedicated motorcycle mount and a charging case.

The camera also offers activity-specific features like a holographic speed overlay and automatic license plate blur for motorcyclists, as well as cycling stats overlays from Garmin and Apple Watch.

The Insta360 X6 goes on sale August 12 at the Insta360 official store, Amazon and authorized retailers for a starting price of $700 for the standard bundle.

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I’m just as passionate about gaming as photography, so you can imagine my elation when my team mentioned to me Toem 2 is about to release. Toem 2 is an upcoming casual indie adventure about photographing a character’s world as they adventure through it. Something We Made, the developers behind the game, recently announced that Toem 2 will be available to play on major consoles and PC on September 29, 2026.

Here’s how Something We Made describes the game: “Step back into the shoes of a curious photographer and set off on a brand new adventure all about uncovering hidden details, helping friends along the way, and documenting the world’s little wonders in Toem 2.”

Toem 2 is meant to be a relaxing adventure through a monochrome world filled with whimsical characters. I enjoy playing these types of games because you don’t feel pressured to compete with others for space or points as some arbitrary clock ticks down to zero. The game is single-player and can be played in short increments as you have time.

Something We Made

What’s been revealed of Toem 2‘s gameplay so far reminds me of a blend between Beasts of Maravilla Island, Lush foil Photography Sim and even a sprinkling of Lake. These other games also have photography-related leanings. Toem 2 aims to offer a wide variety of fun events to explore. Its casual, cartoony style isn’t an emulation of professional photography like the tools built into some other games, but sometimes it can be nice to take off our Serious Photographer hats.

Check out the 30-second trailer below. The gameplay is truly a unique blend I personally can’t wait to explore. I especially love how they styled the voices to be language independent, fitting perfectly with their fun character themes:

As soon as Toem 2 is released on September 29, 2026, we’ll get our hands on it and show you all what it’s about. If you don’t want to wait, the original game, Toem 1: A Photo Adventure, is available now on Steam.

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VSCO is selecting one photographer from every state to have their work licensed for use on public billboards across the country. The campaign, called The Fifty, is a free open call for VSCO members with submissions running through September 10, 2026.

To enter, photographers simply post an image to VSCO using the hashtag #TheFifty with a hashtag for your state, such as #Kansas. There should also be a short caption, and you’ll need to add your state to your bio in the app. VSCO suggests submitting three to five images, especially if they are part of a series. It says it’s looking for “strong, impactful images with a story that extends beyond the frame” and wants to see photographs that prompt people to slow down and look closer. 

The brand says it will curate selections from submissions and compensate the 50 chosen photographers, though exact compensation details have not been publicly specified. Each selected image will appear on a billboard in the photographer’s home state. It also says that selected images may also be showcased through editorial features, curation and licensing opportunities, giving even more exposure to photographers and helping them grow their careers. 

The campaign fits a pattern VSCO has been building for the past several years of actively spotlighting the work of creatives who share images on its app. The company has made a point of surfacing and celebrating that work through editorial features, curated in-app showcases and now physical placements. It also acquired a freelance mentorship platform in 2025 to expand career support for photographers, and The Fifty extends that same direction into public space, fitting VSCO‘s mission of helping creators grow and be seen.

For the millions of US-based photographers already using VSCO, the barrier to entry is low: you’ll need a VSCO account (the free version works), then post a photo, add the hashtags and your state to your bio, and submit before September 10. For those outside of the US, VSCO says opportunities will be coming in the near future.

Arthur Detienne

A mockup of the hero shot Detienne and his team are going for.

\On August 12, a total solar eclipse will cross mainland Spain for the first time in over 120 years, with geometry unlike almost any eclipse that preceded it. The eclipsed sun will sit just above the horizon at totality, low enough that a person can share the same frame as the corona. Cinematographer Arthur Detienne and his crew are building an entire shoot around that fact, recording an hour-long DJ set on location during the eclipse, building up to the hero shot during totality.

Because they will only have a 36-second totality window at their chosen location, every decision, including filter mounts, exposure charts and composition, has been planned out to avoid missing a single shot. Detienne sat down with me ahead of the eclipse to walk me through how they developed their plan and the gear they’ll be using the day of.

Composition begins with terrain

Arthur Detienne

After deciding on the overall vision for the shoot, one of the first steps of the planning process was choosing where it should take place. Detienne’s team chose its location northwest of Zaragoza, Spain, by balancing the eclipse’s position, the landscape and the odds of clear skies. That’s because of the specific vision for the hero shot, which needs the sun low and large at sunset, with a performer placed between it and the camera.

Detienne told me that they calculated they would need roughly 100–150 meters (328-429′) of distance between the camera and the subject, plus a specific elevation difference to align the silhouette with the eclipsed sun. Their current location allows for about 105 meters (344′) of separation and 6 meters (19.7′) of elevation.

Cloud risk also shaped the decision. The crew used The Eclipse App to compare historical cloud-cover probabilities along the path of totality, choosing an area Detienne said had a 5–10% chance of clouds rather than 60–70% in some alternatives.

Arthur Detienne

They also considered atmospheric shimmer: because the eclipse occurs near sunset, the low sun’s light will travel through a thicker layer of atmosphere, making a long-lens image more vulnerable to distortion. The selected area includes a large body of water beyond the setup, which the team hopes will provide more stable conditions. “There is no perfect choice,” Detienne said. “It’s always dealing with constraints.”

While some creatives choose a location for aesthetic reasons, that was not the case here. “It was not a very creative choice,” Detienne said. “We need very special conditions.”

Previsualizing the hero shot

The entire video will be an hour long, but the moment at totality is the star of the show and the primary focus while deciding on composition and gear. During the planning process, Detienne’s team used set.a.light 3D to model the planned eclipse composition. The software allowed the crew to enter the date, location, camera setup and predicted sun position, then preview how the performer’s silhouette could align with the eclipsed sun.

That process helped the group refine its lens choice, camera placement and performer position before traveling to the site, helping to take as many variables out of the equation as possible. Engineers reviewed the team’s calculations, but Detienne said the simulation remains a starting point rather than a guarantee. “It’s still assumptions, we will need to verify that,” he said, which is why the crew has set aside the day prior to the eclipse to verify the composition on location.

Calculating exposure

Arthur Detienne

The crew can test its framing and filter workflow in Spain, but the exposure transition at totality remains an educated calculation. Before and after totality, solar filters will protect the cameras from direct sunlight. During totality, when the sun is roughly 100,000 times dimmer, the filters must come off to reveal the corona.

Detienne’s team used Fred Espenak’s eclipse exposure references as a starting point, then ran additional calculations for the sun’s low altitude at sunset. At that angle, sunlight travels through more atmosphere than it would higher in the sky, changing the expected exposure. Engineers also reviewed the team’s numbers, but Detienne said the final settings cannot be fully tested in advance. “The reality is, we cannot test that. So the biggest risk right now will be that one,” he said.

Speed is critical. The team built custom filter mounts intended to come off almost instantly, preserving as much as possible of the 36-second totality window. They also need to reinstall the filters as direct sunlight returns: Detienne said their calculations suggested an unfiltered long-lens camera could suffer sensor damage in roughly seven seconds.

Reach and stability for the hero camera

Fred Espenak

The hero camera will pair a Nikon Z8 with a 600mm lens and teleconverters, bringing the optical focal length to roughly 850mm. Recording in 8K will also give the crew room to crop to a 4K deliverable, producing a framing Detienne estimates as equivalent to about 1700mm. That reach is central to the composition, enlarging the eclipsed sun behind the performer.

The camera will sit on a weighted Sachtler 20 S1 tripod to limit vibration at that focal length. Detienne said the team will keep the hero camera locked off rather than track the sun: “We want it to be focused on the subject,” he said. “The sun will just go behind them.”

The crew will also test whether to disable in-body and lens stabilization, which can sometimes introduce movement when a camera is already on a highly stable support. Drones, wider-angle cameras and gimbal rigs will provide additional angles for the hour-long live session, but Detienne said, “What we want people to remember is this hero shot.”

Testing the plan against reality

Arthur Detienne

The day before the eclipse, Detienne’s crew will gather at the location for a full rehearsal with the actual equipment. They will verify their calculated camera and performer positions, check whether the planned elevation needs adjustment and test the manual workflow for focus, white balance, exposure and stabilization.

Weather remains the variable no rehearsal can resolve. Detienne said the rapid temperature change around totality can produce clouds within minutes, potentially obscuring the sun just as the shot begins. Historical cloud-cover data helped the team choose its primary area, and it has identified backup locations, but none can guarantee an unobstructed view.

“There are a lot of unknowns. We cannot avoid them,” Detienne said. “But we intend to minimize them.”

A plan put in action

By the time totality begins, the crew will have dialed in the location, the camera position, focal length, filters, exposure estimates and the sequence for removing and replacing those filters. Their preparation is meant to give them the best chance at getting the shot, but it cannot guarantee the sky will cooperate or that everything else will go according to plan.

For Detienne, that uncertainty is part of the appeal. “I think we can really bring art and nature more together,” he said. “Nature is a very cool and good way to interact with art.” We’ll be eagerly waiting for the results and look forward to seeing all of the incredible photos and videos from this eclipse, including some from you, our readers.

Christopher Nolan’s recent blockbuster hit, The Odyssey, was the first full-length narrative movie shot entirely on 15/70mm IMAX film, with each frame exposed onto a 70×48.5mm negative. There’s been a countless amount of ink spilled over the challenges of working with the massive cameras needed to shoot the format for every scene (and about how few people were actaully able to see it as the director intended*), but recently the Instagram account for Sunny16Labs shared more details on a production quirk that movie buffs noticed in behind-the-scenes footage: Nolan’s strange choice of director’s viewfinder.

Directors and their cinematographers often carry around devices that allow them to compose and block shots before having to set up the actual camera. This is especially important if you’re shooting film, as those cameras tend to be bulkier and heavier than their digital counterparts (and don’t have the same ability to give you an exact preview of your shot). These devices often have a lens mount, so you can see what the scene will look like through the actual glass you’re shooting with.

One small problem, though: IMAX cameras don’t use the same lenses as their Super35 or full-frame counterparts, and the optics need to be much larger and heavier to cover the massive film format, so there aren’t many pre-made solutions. According to Sunny16Labs, the IMAX team solved this by modifying a Pentax 67, removing the shutter assembly and modifying the mount so the camera could accept the same lenses as the IMAX film cameras.

Of course, taking out the shutter means that the camera can no longer capture images. But because it was designed to shoot stills on medium format 56mm x 70mm film, its viewfinder and mirror are capable of showing the entire image from an IMAX lens. The modified camera also includes frame-line previews for the IMAX negative, allowing Nolan and longtime collaborator and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to choose their lens and framing before having to set up the massive camera rig.

This isn’t actually the first time Nolan and his team have used this kind of setup, as there are also shots of them using it on the set of Dunkirk. Cary Joji Fukunaga, director of the James Bond film No Time To Die, has also been photographed using a 67 with an IMAX logo on the viewfinder. (It could be that it’s the exact same camera; there’s famously only so much IMAX gear out there.) Likewise, cinematographer James Neihouse has discussed using a modified Pentax 67 as a director’s viewfinder, but he says he was able to take pictures with the version he used, suggesting it was a different design that retained the shutter.

In the photography world, the Pentax 67 is famous for being a relatively large and heavy camera, so it’s funny to see it being used as a lightweight alternative. That goes to show the difficulties of shooting with such large format, but, given that Nolan keeps pioneering what can be done with IMAX with each movie he makes, he clearly thinks it’s worth it. And the market seems to agree: according to an IMAX press release, The Odyssey is the “highest grossing IMAX release of all time,” with 70mm screenings accounting for $37.5 million of the film’s billion-dollar box office run.

* – Not to brag, but I actually did make the seven hour drive to a theater that was showing actual 15/70 IMAX projections of the movie. I absolutely appreciated the extra immersion of the giant screen and 1.43:1 aspect ratio, but did feel like I might have preferred digital IMAX GT projection. Sure, it’d likely have a bit less detail – though probably not enough for me to notice – but it also wouldn’t have had the flicker that comes with film projection, which was especially noticeable in bright scenes. Still, it’s hard to imagine that I could’ve picked a better movie for my first real IMAX viewing, and the sound alone made the premium format worth it. 

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Total solar eclipses are special. Imagine a giant suspended rock in the sky (the Moon) that just so happens to perfectly block the view of a ball of plasma so large that it would take a jet airliner over 200 days to circumnavigate its equator (the Sun). There’s no such other relationship in the entire solar system, and so far, it looks just as rare in the few places we’ve been able to peer closely at in our Milky Way galaxy.

Over the centuries, cultures believed a variety of more fanciful reasons for the occurrence. Many believed the event was a terrifying beast that swallowed the sun in retaliation for someone’s wrongdoings, like the wolf Skoll in Norse mythology (how the Sun recovered after such a trauma remains unclear). Other cultures viewed the event much more positively, with some indigenous North American tribes seeing it as an opportunity for spiritual renewal.

“A total eclipse of the sun is the most magnificent natural spectacle that a human eye can ever witness… It is a drama which is provided absolutely free by nature.” – Helen Sawyer Hogg (American-Canadian astronomer)

Share your August 12 solar eclipse photos

ESA & NASA

If you happen to be in the path of totality for this year’s August 12 event, which basically means most of Spain (you lucky locals), we invite you to comment on this article with a photo of the eclipse and share your story on what brings you out to see it. If we get some interesting photos and stories, we’ll write up a spotlight article for them.

More fun eclipse facts

Fast-forward about half a billion years, and total solar eclipses will sadly no longer be possible. This is because the Moon’s orbit is slowly receding from Earth. The Moon crawls its way farther out at a speedy 3.8 centimeters a year. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but over a ‘measly’ million years, it’ll be nearly 4,000 kilometers farther away.

Traveling through time a bit further than that and you arrive in the year AD 600,002,026 (ie, 600 million years from now). The Sun’s brilliance will increasingly surround the Moon from that point forward, a little bit more each year that passes. Future Sun-gazers will see it as a “ring of fire” (the Sun isn’t actually a ball of fire, but calling it a “ring of plasma” just doesn’t roll off the tongue in the same way).

Just like those North American tribes, let’s look on the bright side. In a scant 50 billion years, the Moon will be free of Earth’s tyranny and roam the galaxy on its own – assuming the sun doesn’t intervene in about 5 billion years during its red giant phase. It’s a complicated relationship: the Earth, Moon and Sun.

So, with such limited time available before total solar eclipses become a distant memory, take those photos while you can!

To learn more about solar eclipses and how to best prepare for one, check out our article, How to safely photograph a solar eclipse (and why you might just watch it instead).

Blackmagic has released a firmware update that adds continuous phase-detect autofocus, complete with object tracking and face detection, to its full-frame Cinema Camera 6K. This makes the camera more competitive in an increasingly crowded landscape of video-centric cameras focused on owner-operators and creators.

When the $3000 Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K launched, it could acquire focus on something in the center of the frame, but it was a one-time operation; it wasn’t able to keep the subject in focus as it or the camera moved. While this wouldn’t have been a deal-breaker for many users – as the “cinema” name implies, much of its target audience will be using manual-focus lenses with focus pulling equipment – it also narrowed the scope of what you could do with it. It would work fine for more careful, scripted shoots, but wasn’t really ideal for more run-and-gun productions.

BlackMagic

Now, though, the camera will be able to continuously focus on a human subject, tracking their face, or on a generic subject through object tracking. Blackmagic also isn’t making you completely give up control to use autofocus; the camera has settings to control how fast it transitions focus, and lets you pause autofocus by holding down a button. That way if your subject goes from moving to stationary, you can make sure the AF system isn’t going to pulse or try to focus on something else.

That last point, however, highlights a potential gap between the Cinema Camera 6K and other video-focused cameras, like the Sony FX3, Canon EOS R6 V and Nikon ZR. Those cameras use AF systems that are much more mature, so you don’t have to worry as much about managing them; you can just leave them on, and trust them to keep your subject in focus in most situations. While Blackmagic’s autofocus system has been out in public beta for around a year now, early adopters reported mixed results, and it’s still not as tried and tested as the others.

However, this full release is a starting point for the company’s autofocus ambitions and at least puts the Cinema Camera 6K in the conversation with those other cameras, giving people who need autofocus another option that has a robust set of features. It offers 6K open gate recording and internal Raw, full-size HDMI and mini-XLR connectors, a 5″ rear display and an optional detachable EVF. It also uses L-mount for lenses, which is relatively adaptable and has a growing selection of native options.

Hopefully now that the Cinema Camera 6K’s autofocus support has fully launched, we’ll see it come to more cameras in Blackmagic’s lineup. While not all of them will have the phase detection hardware on their sensors, the company promised it’d be coming for more, unspecified cameras when it initially announced the feature last year, and it’s currently available in beta for the Pyxis 6K.

The Blackmagic Camera 10.2.2 firmware that enables autofocus is available as a free download from the company’s website. It also adds support for Blackmagic’s cloud streaming system, 4-channel audio recording and up to 10 minutes of pre-recording, letting you save the moments before you press the record button.

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“I just wish someone would make a proper 6×7 digital camera.” It’s the logical endpoint of every discussion in which someone loftily dictates that modern digital medium format is somehow not “real” because it doesn’t follow the conventions of film photography. And I have to say, I just don’t understand it.

Is it nostalgia for a camera regretfully parted with, or a yearning for something we never got to have? That waist-level viewfinder experience that looked so cool when David Hemmings stood in for every ’60s British (male) celebrity photographer in Blow Up. Or, instead, memories of that family member with a lovingly assembled collection of Bronica or Hasselblad 6×6 gear?

I have to assume that it’s something like this, because it doesn’t make sense in reality. Unless a radically different (and much cheaper) sensor technology suddenly arrives, no one is going to make a new 6×7 system. Or 6×6. Or even 645.

The reason is twofold. The first is that it would be utterly unfeasible, economically. The second is that it would be completely unnecessary.

The economics don’t work, not even nearly

Film scales much more readily than semiconductor size: the cost of doubling the size of a piece of film is within the realms of double or triple. A single-digit multiple, anyway. Doubling the size of a sensor more than doubles the production cost. Doubling it again starts to look exponential. You can’t just pick an arbitrary size that film cameras used to use and say, “I want it that big.”

Phase One

The only modern 645 camera is the Phase 1 IQ4 150MP digital back. It costs around $50,000. Sony has just announced a movie camera with a similarly-sized chip. Its price hasn’t been made public, but it’s primarily going to be rented for use in productions with budgets that start with nine digits.

And that’s before you consider the fact that there aren’t huge caches of medium-format lenses that would shine under the scrutiny of high megapixel sensors, much less any financial motivation for any surviving company to support them. So on top of the fabulous cost of the sensor, you’d also need to fund the development of a whole new camera and lens system, to be amortized between an infinitesimal audience.

But beyond the economic impracticality, there’s a question of what you’d gain.

How much better do you need?

Yes, larger sensors can generally tolerate more light, per whole image, and hence deliver higher signal-to-noise ratios, meaning cleaner images with improved tonal quality. And, in principle, it should be easier to design a lens that resolves the higher resolution that a larger sensor could bring. These are exactly the reasons that medium-format film cameras continued to be valued after the arrival of the smaller “35mm” film format.

Richard Butler

But it’s worth recognizing that modern digital sensors outperform film by almost every metric. There’s a difference in the handling of highlights, but modern sensors deliver more detailed images with better tonal quality, even if you only consider shooting in good light. And they do so to the point that they challenge the quality of film at least one format larger. You can rival 645 film performance with a modern full-frame digital camera, if you expose it well, and if there’s any question about that, you can always move up to a 44x33mm digital camera.

The quality you can get from a 44×33 medium-format sensor is sensational, which rapidly diminishes the applications that require anything more. Which just makes the overwhelming additional costs that come with it much harder to justify.

If you need the very best image quality available, you can spend that $50,000 and buy a Phase One IQ4. And a bit more on lenses.

But until you’ve bitten that particular bullet and found the results lacking, it’s hard to argue that any company should sensibly try to embark on digital 6×7 for you. Because, seriously, what is it you’re really hoping to achieve?

Fog strips away distraction. It conceals rather than reveals, simplifying a landscape until only its essential forms remain. Ordinary subjects become mysterious, and scenes that would appear cluttered in clear weather become elegant studies of light, shape, and atmosphere. Fog encourages interpretation rather than documentation. Instead of recording every detail, it invites viewers to imagine what lies beyond the veil.

Many photographers see a bank of fog as a signal to pack away their cameras and wait for the weather to improve. Experienced photographers do the opposite, understanding that fog introduces depth, reduces complexity, and creates an emotional atmosphere impossible to duplicate under clear skies.

Like every artistic tool, however, fog is most effective when applied with restraint. Too little may have insufficient effect; too much can obscure the subject that attracted your attention. The challenge, and the opportunity, is finding the balance where difficult weather can be transformed into extraordinary photographs.

Distilling simplicity

Ben Hattenbach

Fog’s greatest artistic contribution is its remarkable ability to simplify. Many landscapes are visually overwhelming. Dense forests contain thousands of branches competing for attention. Mountain vistas often include countless ridges, rocks, and textures. Without a clear visual hierarchy, viewers struggle to determine where to look.

Fog solves this problem naturally. As distant detail gradually disappears, stronger forms begin to emerge. A solitary tree becomes the subject rather than merely one tree among hundreds. The graceful curve of a ridgeline replaces a jumble of competing textures. Negative space begins to carry as much visual weight as the objects themselves.

Depth perception

Ben Hattenbach

Successful landscape photographs often inspire a viewer’s eye to travel through the scene. Few natural phenomena encourage this more effectively than fog. In fog, distant subjects lose contrast, sharpness, and saturation, while nearby objects retain more of their original character.

Without the need for converging lines or overlapping objects, fog immediately communicates spatial relationships. Trees standing only a few hundred feet apart may suddenly appear separated by enormous distances simply because each successive row fades a little further into the mist. This gradual progression, from crisp foreground to increasingly subdued middle ground to barely visible background, is a signature of successful fog photography.

Scenes containing multiple planes often produce the strongest photographs in fog. Forested hillsides, mountain ridges, and winding rivers all lend themselves naturally to atmospheric layering. In many cases, adding only a single nearby element – a rock, tree, or wildflower – is enough to transform an otherwise flat photograph into one possessing convincing depth.

Negative space

Ben Hattenbach

When visibility decreases, the empty portions of one’s image can become as important as the subjects themselves. Fog provides one of the most elegant forms of negative space found in nature.

A lone tree emerging from blank mist. A distant lighthouse suspended in whiteness. Or, as above, the silhouette of a solitary emperor penguin peering out from behind an Antarctic ice storm. The surrounding emptiness isolates the subject, increases its visual importance, and creates an emotional sense of solitude.

Seasoning to taste

Ben Hattenbach

When photographing in fog, moderation is essential. Finding the ideal balance becomes one of the photographer’s principal creative decisions. Although you cannot directly control the fog itself, you can control how much of it appears in your photograph.

Try changing your distance from the subject. Every additional foot of atmosphere between camera and subject slightly increases the fog’s cumulative effect. Move to another altitude where the fog density will be different. Or just wait for the fog to change.

Working the fog’s edges

Ben Hattenbach

One of the most productive places to photograph is along the boundaries of fog. The transition between clear air and heavy mist often produces precisely the amount of atmosphere needed to simplify a scene without overwhelming it.

The edge of a fog bank is also where light frequently becomes most dramatic. Sunlight filtering across the boundary between clear and foggy air often creates luminous edges, illuminated layers, and glowing shafts that transform otherwise ordinary scenes into cathedrals of light. Exceptional fog photographs are frequently found during the minutes when the atmosphere is actively changing.

Shapes and silhouettes

Ben Hattenbach

Fog naturally encourages the eye to focus on form rather than detail. This makes it one of the finest environments for silhouettes. When texture disappears, shape becomes everything. The profile of a mountain ridge. A distant elk. Or as above a mother tree and her child.

Subjects that might appear unremarkable in full daylight suddenly become iconic when reduced to their simplest outlines. Silhouettes depend less on exposure than on recognizable form. The viewer should immediately understand the subject from its outline alone.

Resist the temptation to recover shadow detail during processing. Mystery is part of the photograph’s appeal. Not everything needs to be explained.

Exposure in the digital era

Ben Hattenbach

Reflective light meters still assume that the average scene should reproduce as a middle gray. Bright fog violates that assumption, encouraging the camera to underexpose unless compensation is added. Rather than relying on a predetermined exposure adjustment, use your live histogram. For scenes that change rapidly, as foggy landscapes often do, this immediate visual feedback becomes invaluable.

Unless you are seeking a silhouette, you’ll normally want to expose almost as brightly as possible while preserving important highlights. This approach maximizes image quality by recording more tonal information in the brightest portions of the file while avoiding clipped highlights.

Maintaining focus

Ben Hattenbach

Dense fog presents challenges even for the most sophisticated autofocus systems. Contrast diminishes. Edges disappear. Subjects drift in and out of visibility.

Focus peaking highlights areas the camera detects as sharp, while magnified live view allows precise placement of focus even in remarkably low-contrast conditions. If the composition contains layered subjects, consider focusing slightly closer than instinct suggests. The nearest sharp object frequently serves as the visual anchor that encourages viewers to enter the photograph before exploring its softer, more distant layers.

Remember that absolute sharpness is rarely the defining characteristic of successful fog photography. Atmosphere, not microscopic detail, is usually the subject.

Time and motion

Ben Hattenbach

Fog is seldom still. It drifts, curls and dissolves with astonishing subtlety. Those movements present creative opportunities every bit as significant as flowing water.

While fast shutter speeds preserve delicate textures within the fog, long exposures transform moving fog into smooth ribbons that emphasize mystery. Neither interpretation is inherently more truthful. Each simply tells a different story.

Lens choice

Ben Hattenbach

Ask landscape photographers which lens belongs on the camera during fog, and most will recommend a wide-angle. The answer is more nuanced.

Wide-angle lenses excel when the atmosphere itself becomes part of the foreground experience. They immerse viewers within the fog, emphasizing nearby textures while allowing distant features gradually to dissolve into the mist.

Telephoto lenses, however, often reveal fog’s greatest strengths. Distance exaggerates atmospheric perspective. Successive ridgelines merge into delicate tonal bands. Isolated subjects appear suspended within enormous volumes of atmosphere.

Rather than asking what lens covers the scene, consider which lens best expresses the atmosphere. That subtle change in thinking often transforms an ordinary photograph into a memorable one.

Forecasting fog

Ben Hattenbach

Until recently, finding photogenic fog depended as much on intuition and luck as on planning. Today, real-time tools such as Windy.com have dramatically improved photographers’ ability to predict when and where fog is likely to form. Such resources forecast fog directly on an interactive map, allowing one to see where fog will develop, drift and dissipate.

Before leaving home, spend a few minutes advancing the forecast hour by hour while studying the map. A valley predicted to fill with fog just before sunrise, or a coastal fog bank forecast to drift inland after dawn, may provide the fleeting conditions necessary for outstanding photography.

Final thoughts

Ben Hattenbach

Many photographers spend their careers searching for incredible landscapes. Fog reminds us that exceptional photographs often require nothing more than extraordinary light falling upon ordinary places. A familiar grove of trees. An empty shoreline. A road leading to the horizon.

Subjects overlooked under blue skies frequently become unforgettable once the atmosphere begins simplifying the world around them. That may be fog’s greatest gift. It teaches us to see less – and in doing so, to see more.

The finest fog photographs are seldom about weather. They are about mood. About suggestion rather than explanation. About allowing mystery to remain mystery.

The next time a forecast calls for dense fog, resist the temptation to postpone your outing until conditions improve. Instead, leave a little earlier. Walk a little farther. Stay a little longer. You may discover that the weather many photographers avoid is the weather that produces your strongest work.

When not photographing remote and foggy landscapes, Ben Hattenbach is a partner at a Los Angeles-based law firm where his practice focuses on the trial of complex intellectual property disputes. More of his images can be seen at www.benhattenbach.com and https://www.instagram.com/benhattenbach/.

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Earlier this week, Sony announced the FE 100-400mm F5.6-8 OSS, a stabilized, full-frame telephoto zoom that comes in well under $1000. We were able to spend some time shooting with it to see how it performs, and you can see the results in the gallery below.

What the images won’t show is just how easy it is to carry around. It tips the scales at just 654g (23.1oz), which, combined with its length, meant that it and the a7R V I had it attached to fit comfortably into my sling bag, so I didn’t think twice before bringing it along on hikes and other outings.

Mitchell Clark

The lens feels nice in the hand given the price, and the zoom ring is easy to use, with a relatively short throw. It’s an extending zoom, so the center of gravity inevitably changes as you adjust your focal length, but that weight means it’s still quite easy to manage. Lens creep, where it will slowly extend as you walk around with it, is an issue, though the lens does have a lock switch to keep it at 100mm. It’s nice to see that Sony has still included that detail, along with the focus limiter and function button, despite the lens’s budget nature.

Sony’s linear focus motors continue to make for a very good AF experience, with the lens able to quickly and accurately go from focusing close up (though not that close; it has a 0.86m (2.8′) minimum focusing distance at the long end) to far away. However, the manual focus ring is less lovely, as its stepped response and lack of precision made it very difficult to focus on a bird that the camera wasn’t able to recognize, or a particular part of a flower. 

While I haven’t subjected the lens to a full battery of tests, I’m pretty happy with the images it produced, again, given its focal range and $850 price tag. However, I’ll add the caveat that the entire state of Washington was covered in wildfire smoke for the entire time I had the lens, and it was especially bad in Spokane, where the gallery was shot. That makes it hard to judge things like sharpness, especially for a telephoto lens. 

Mitchell Clark

Of course, a major limit to the image quality you can get out of this lens will be its light-gathering ability. I found myself having to put it away relatively early in the evening; even before sunset, shooting at 400mm in the shade meant having to raise the ISO up to 10,000, even with the benefits of coordinated in-body and optical stabilization.

Still, I’m sure many people will be willing to make that trade-off, given the lens’s size and price, especially if they mostly shoot in the daylight. Canon has already proven that there’s a market with its very similarly-speced option, and while third-parties like Sigma and Tamron have made budget-oriented telephotos for E-mount, they are about twice the weight due to their more ambitious focal ranges and light-gathering abilities. It’s also nice to see Sony releasing a 100-400mm aimed more towards beginners, after its announcement of the $4300 pro-grade FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS earlier this year.

Thanks to Sony for the loan of an a7R V 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 fixes an extremely minor amount of barrel distortion at the lens’ wide and long ends, and we don’t consider it to be an essential part of this lens’s design.

Tamron has announced its second quarter financial results for 2026, reiterating its goal of releasing ten new own-branded lens models this year. While the promise isn’t new, the company bringing it back up to investors is a chance to measure its progress towards that goal.

By Tamron’s math, it has released six new models already this year. That decidedly doesn’t mean six new lenses, though: it means two versions of the 35-100mm F2.8 (one for E-mount, one for Z-mount), bringing the 17-70mm F2.8 from 2021 to Canon RF and Nikon Z mount, and releasing the new 12-20mm F2.8 for both Sony and Nikon.

Tamron

While Tamron hitting its goal of releasing 10 models this year theoretically means it has four more models to go, that’s unlikely to mean that we’ll see that many new optical designs. Indeed, the company can hit that goal without any new optical designs, as it still makes plenty of lenses that are currently only available on E-mount that it could bring to other platforms.

Still, it’s clear the company is becoming more ambitious with its releases. The chart in its financial statement says that from 2023 to 2025, its goal was six to seven models launched per year; before that, it was five new models.

Mitchell Clark

Part of the strategy to increase releases likely involves a shift away from only releasing new lenses on E-mount. When we interviewed the company at the CP+ trade show earlier this year, Kei Nagai, the section manager of Tamron’s Overseas Sales Department, told us the company was “moving toward simultaneous multi-mount launches.” He also said Tamron would “take a holistic view of the entire market and existing lineups to carefully determine which spec and mounts to prioritize.”

At the same time, the company’s future is more in question now than ever. Last week, Tamron announced that Sony had made an offer to acquire it, and said it had set up a special committee to evaluate that offer. If that deal goes through, it’s unclear how it would affect that strategy, or the company’s goals.

One thing is sure, though: with the promise of more releases and a potential resolution to the Sony story, the next few months are shaping up to be very interesting for Tamron.

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Editor’s note: We originally ran this story in conjunction with the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 . We’ve updated and republished it ahead of the solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 .

Essentially, it’s the ultimate photo challenge. On April 8th, photographers across the continental United States – and especially photographers within the band of totality stretching from Texas to Maine – will have no more than a few minutes to get the shot of a lifetime when the moon passes in front of the sun, and a large swath of North America will be treated to a total eclipse.

And if you ask anybody who knows anything about astronomy, it is a huge deal. Dr. Tyler Nordgren is such a man. He’s a professor of physics and astronomy, an award-winning photographer and a self-described Night Sky Ambassador. Here’s what he had to say about the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017:

“Half the people that are alive right now weren’t even alive the last time something like this was visible from the continental US. Secondly, there are 12 million people just living in the path of totality that are going to get the chance to see it, so it will be the most-viewed total solar eclipse probably in history. The most seen, most photographed, most shared, most tweeted – potentially the most people in total are going to be able to experience this in one form or another.”

But unless you’re a seasoned landscape photographer or astrophotographer, Dr. Nordgren thinks you might be better off not photographing it at all and just enjoying the view. He quotes Warren De la Rue, a pioneer of astrophotography and the first person to photograph a total eclipse. “He wrote in his journal afterward that if he ever got the chance to see another one, he hoped to be able to see it without any equipment at all.”

In short, “See your first eclipse, photograph your second.” But if you’re unconvinced, Dr. Nordgren does have some advice.

How to prepare to photograph the eclipse

Preparation is key. Time is of the essence. Of course, you’ll want a tripod and a cable release to lock everything down and minimize shake.

“If you really must photograph this, you’re going to want to practice a whole bunch of techniques in the weeks leading up so it’s as second nature as absolutely possible during those precious seconds.”

Protecting your eyesight and your gear is equally important. It’s only safe to point your eyes or your camera sensor directly at the sun during totality. Just seconds before or after, and you’re risking serious damage. He suggests a pair of solar eclipse glasses and a filter for your lens. Per NASA, your glasses should meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard.

Be sure to use both during partial phases of the eclipse – you risk damaging your eyesight, not to mention your camera, with just a pair of glasses and an unfiltered lens. Crucially, don’t forget to take off the filter during totality. You’ll be extremely disappointed with the results if you don’t.

For more details, MPB posted a useful article detailing some specific settings to dial in.

What lens to use to photograph the eclipse

What kind of lens should you use? Well, not surprisingly, it all depends on what you’re going for. If you want the sun as your main subject, you’ll obviously want a longer lens. “To really capture big detail in the corona and the object itself, you’ll want a lens with a focal length of around 500mm; between 400 and 600mm at least.”

But don’t forget that a total eclipse also presents a unique landscape photo opportunity. If you’d rather capture the eerie effect on the scene, a wider lens will produce excellent results too. It’s all a matter of personal preference.

No matter what kind of shot you’re going for, you can size things up ahead of time by photographing a full moon.

“Something to keep in mind is that during totality, the sun turns black and is surrounded by this ghostly corona, so the spectacle of the object itself is this black disk with this white glow around it. That black disk is the size of the full moon, so take whatever your camera equipment is, take whatever your lens is and go out and photograph the next full moon. See if whatever size dot that appears. If that’s interesting to you, then great – that’s the lens to use.”

Should you go to the path of the totality?

In a word: yes.

If you’re set on photographing the eclipse and have the safety and gear requirements nailed down, all that’s left to do is get yourself into the path of totality for the big moment. Easy enough, right? Well, unless you’re lucky enough to live there, or you started planning your eclipse vacation years ago, chances are only getting slimmer that you’ll be able to find accommodations. Your best bet is to find what you can within a reasonable driving distance and set out as early as possible.

Ideally, you also want to aim for somewhere that’s less likely to have cloud cover. Dr. Nordgren knows all too well what a cloudy eclipse view looks like.

“If you’re going to do the close-up photograph, you could be almost anywhere, provided you’ve got clear skies. But I’ve also seen some really spectacular photos of totality through wispy clouds that give this dramatic view as well… just as long as you’re within that path of totality and the cloud cover is not so total that you’re utterly blacked out. And I’ve had that happen.”

If you’re hoping to get a wider shot, then great news: this eclipse will cross much of the continental US. Provided you can get there, you can pretty much take your pick of landscapes. “What do you find compelling?”

Whether or not you can get to the path of totality, and whether or not you choose to photograph the event, you’ll still be treated to an amazing array of photos and videos from photographers across the US. And unless you’re dead set on photographing it, consider leaving the camera at home.

“If you haven’t seen a total solar eclipse, I encourage you, don’t waste your time photographing it. Chances are, somebody else will get a better photo. But if you are that kind of expert photographer, practice so that you can set your camera up and let it do its thing with as little input as possible.” In the very best-case scenario, you’ll get a couple of minutes.

“That is not a lot of time to see what I think is the most awe-inspiring, unnatural, natural experience in nature.”

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Last month, we saw the release of two new point-and-shoot film cameras, a Lomography half-frame camera and the Kodak EC35, both offering minimal features at wallet-friendly prices. Despite their simplicity, Kosmo Foto’s Stephen Dowling argues in a recent opinion piece that they’re a positive sign for the future of film photography.

Lomography’s Half-frame Simple Use Reloadable Film Camera (a mouthful of a name), came first. As it says on the tin, it produces half-frame images, doubling the photos you get from a single roll in a vertical format that plays well with social media. While it looks and functions like a disposable camera, it’s fully reusable. It comes preloaded with a roll, but once that’s exposed, you can rewind, remove it, and load any 35mm film you like. And even with that roll of film included, it only costs $30 with black and white and $35 with color.

Reto

The second camera, the EC35, comes from Kodak licensee Reto. Visually, it’s a bit of a step up, bringing back the sliding cover found on highly sought-after (and expensive) models like the Contax T3 and Olympus Mju-II. Functionally, it’s much the same as Lomography’s: fixed focus, fixed exposure, a plastic lens and a built-in flash. It’s available for $35, though it doesn’t come with a roll of film.

These aren’t the only affordable, basic compact film cameras we’ve seen in recent years, many of which look quite similar, even. That may leave some wondering why Lomography and Reto have thrown more hats into the ring. Dowling walks through what may have led each brand to these cameras, including their desire to reach young photographers drawn to retro aesthetics.

Lomography

Dowling also notes that while these cameras are clearly geared toward beginners and casual users, and don’t offer anything truly new, they’re still a good sign for film photography as a whole. After all, two well-established brands are confident enough in film demand to launch new cameras. I recently wrote about a similar trend on the film side, where slightly tweaked film stocks have been hitting the market with increasing frequency, which is another encouraging sign that manufacturers still see room for growth in film.

Dowling’s piece delves further into the nuances of these cameras and what may have led to their creation. If you’re interested in the state of film photography right now, especially how brands are thinking about new, younger shooters, it’s well worth a read over at Kosmo Foto.

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The Japanese Patent Office has declared one of Red’s key Raw video patents as invalid, following a challenge by Panasonic.

The court determined that many of the claims made in the patent, first filed in the US in 2008, would have been obvious to someone skilled in the subject area and familiar with existing developments.

The news, first reported by Thom Hogan, put Nikon’s video subsidiary in the position of trying to defend a patent that Nikon had previously argued was invalid.

The patent itself describes a high-resolution video camera that compresses its Raw data, and appears to correspond to the patent at the center of historic claims against Sony and Apple and the almost inevitable counter-suits from those companies. We reported on many of these challenges, as well as Nikon’s, over the years. 

Nikon famously resolved the dispute by buying the company. Some of Red’s cinema camera and Raw knowledge has subsequently been applied to recent Nikon models.

It’s difficult to know what the impact the rejection of this patent will be, given Canon, Panasonic, Sony and Blackmagic Design all now produce cameras with internal Raw video capture. One possibility the abolition of the license fees reportedly due to Red from users of Apple’s ProRes RAW codec. But given Red went from being privately held to being absorbed into Nikon, it’s difficult to get a sense for how significant these might be. And, of course, we shouldn’t assume even a minor cost reduction would necessarily get passed on to consumers.

Flashback, the company behind a digital camera built to replicate the disposable film camera experience, is advertising a “dream job” for a lucky content creator or photographer. The winner will spend up to six months in Hong Kong, fully paid, shooting content for the brand.

Flashback makes the One35 V2, a 13MP digital camera engineered to feel like a single-use film camera: it’s screenless, with a mechanical winding dial to advance frames, an optical viewfinder and a Xenon flash. Shots are capped at a 27-frame ‘roll’, after which images transfer to a companion app for ‘developing’ (with an optional 24-hour wait, a nod to dropping film at the lab).

Flashback

The company relocated its operations to Hong Kong to stay close to its Shenzhen production facility, so the city isn’t just a backdrop here; it’s central to the brand right now. The winner will be expected to produce photo and video content featuring the city.

Unlike most jobs, there’s no lengthy application process. The company simply asks for a one-minute video introducing yourself and explaining why you want the job, examples of content you’ve created and a link to your portfolio if you have one. Flashback hasn’t disclosed the compensation beyond describing the role as fully paid.

If that pitch sounds familiar, it should. Icelandair ran a similar campaign earlier this year, also built around a 60-second audition video, except it was hunting for the world’s worst photographer, on the theory that Iceland is beautiful enough to survive anyone’s bad photography skills. That one drew 127,642 entries from 178 countries, and the winner, Blanche Mortemard, walked away with a 10-day trip and $50,000.

If you shoot with any retro-inspired compact – Flashback’s or otherwise – love travel and want to get paid to document a city for six months, this could be your chance.

How to apply

Applications can be submitted through Flashback’s online form. The company hasn’t announced a deadline, so it’s probably better to apply sooner rather than later.

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