Tamron has released a firmware update for its 25-200mm F2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 lens that actually makes a noticeable change to its performance. The company says that now, when you’re shooting at focal lengths between 25-70mm, the lens’ maximum magnification ratio is greatly improved, letting you get much closer to your subject.

When the lens launch, Tamron said it could achieve approximately half-macro, or 1:2, reproduction at its widest end. However, as lens reviewer Dustin Abbot points out, shooting so close at 25mm has practical challenges, and can make it very difficult to get a well-lit photo. By the time you were shooting at 50mm, where you had a more reasonable working distance, the maximum reproduction ratio dropped to 1:3.1, or around 0.32x magnification.

Tamron

This is where the firmware update comes in. At 35-50mm, the lens can now manage a ratio of 1:1.7, or 0.58x, which is a substantial improvement. Tamron also says that it will achieve at least 1:2 reproduction throughout the 25-70mm range. For those that like to get close to their subject, this makes and already versatile lens a lot more flexible.

It’s rather unusual to see a lens firmware update that noticeably changes how you can use the lens. It’s not entirely unique – we’ve seen Laowa launch a macro lens that couldn’t autofocus in its macro range, only to enable that functionality later via software – but it still remains among the more interesting bits of lens firmware news. Tamron’s press release doesn’t include any technical details on how the company was able to achieve this, but we’ve reached out to see if it can share any. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

The V3 firmware is available to download for free via Tamron’s Lens Utility software.

Canon has released firmware updates for its vlogging-focused EOS R6 V, and its enthusiast mirrorless hybrid EOS R6 III, adding some new features and quality-of-life improvements.

The EOS R6 V gets the heftiest update, adding the ability to shoot flash with the camera, which the company promised at launch. This comes with a new menu that allows you to adjust your settings when using a flash, though it’s still a relatively limited implementation. To start, the camera is still primarily designed for video, so it doesn’t have any sort of mechanical shutter. This means you can only use flash at up to 1/60 sec, which will be a big limitation if you’re shooting outdoors. The camera also doesn’t have any of the traditional pins on its hotshoe, meaning your limited to flashes that work with the digital mutli-function shoe, unless you happen to have an adapter. (Sorry, fans of the Godox iT32.)

Still, it’s nice to see Canon following through on its plan to add flash support to the EOS R6 V for the niche situations where it’ll be useful. The V1.10 firmware also adds support for the BR-E2 wireless remote that Canon announced alongside the camera, allows the gridline overlay to display on the live view screen while you’re recording video and fixes several bugs.

The list of updates for the EOS R6 III, which, as the names imply, features very similar hardware to the EOS R6 V, is unsurprisingly similar. It too gains support for the BR-E2 and grid lines while recording, and receives several bug fixes. It also gains a feature introduced by EOS R6 V: the ability to use the AF for close-up demos setting across video modes. This feature overrides the camera’s facial recognition system if it detects that you’re holding something up to show the camera, and was previously only available in a specific mode that took away most of your manual exposure, focus and audio controls. Now, you can use it while retaining control over the rest of your image, making it much more flexible.

While it’s a relatively small feature, it’s also not always a given that manufacturers will bring features from their newer cameras to their older ones, even if it seems that they should support them. While the EOS R6 III hasn’t received all of the EOS R6 V’s video tricks, it’s nice to see that one of the camera’s quality-of-life improvements isn’t exclusive to people who aren’t as interested in photography.

The firmware updates for the EOS R6 V and EOS R6 III are available for free from Canon’s website.

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Samsung has announced three new folding phones, updating its existing models and adding a new one to its lineup, complete with a new form factor.

The flagship model is getting a rebrand. Formerly known as the Galaxy Z Fold series, this year’s entry is called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Like its predecessor, it has a 6.5″ display on the outside, and an 8″ one on the inside. As you’d expect from an “Ultra” phone, it has a triple-camera setup. The main “wide” and telephoto cameras are unchanged from the ones found on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but the ultrawide has been upgraded from a 12MP Type 1/2.5 (25mm²) sensor with an F2.2 lens, to a 50MP one with an F1.9 lens, which Samsung says will let in 33% more light.

Samsung

The company says it has enhanced its HDR mode for the main camera, as well as its low-light “Nightography” mode. The phone’s 8K video also now records in the APV codec, which Samsung says “gives users greater flexibility and quality for editing and production workflows.”

Aside from the upgraded ultrawide camera, Samsung has included the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor with 12 or 16GB of memory (dependent on what storage size you get), along with a higher-capacity 5000 mAh battery, up 600 mAh from the one in the Z Fold 7. The company has also re-engineered the phone’s internal screen to make the crease less visible, while making it brighter and nicer-feeling to open. And despite all this, it weighs the same 215g (7.6oz) as its predecessor, and each half is a hair thinner at 4.1mm.

None of these improvements come cheap, though. Last year’s Z Fold 7 was $100 more than its predecessor, and Samsung has bumped the price again, with the Z Fold 8 Ultra starting at $2100 for the 256GB model.

Samsung

There is, however, now a new option below it: the Z Fold 8, which takes on a slightly different form factor. While the Ultra has a relatively tall and narrow 3:7 outer screen and a nearly-square 1.11:1 inner screen, the new model’s cover is a wider, shorter 10:16, and the inner display is 4:3. The Z Fold 8’s outer display has a 5.5″ diagonal, while the inner one is 7.6″.

While the Z Fold 7 (which was, remember, moreso the predecessor to the phone now called “Ultra”) marked a turning point as a folding phone that didn’t come with big compromises to its camera system compared to its candybar counterpart, that trend hasn’t continued with the Z Fold 8. It drops the telephone camera entirely, and its main 23mm equiv. camera is smaller, slower and lower resolution than the one on the Ultra. The ultrawide, however, is the same 50MP model.

Not everything is a downgrade compared to the Ultra, though. The displays may be a different size, but are still just as bright, and the Z Fold 8 has the same processor and storage options. And while it’s thicker both folded and unfolded, it’s also a touch lighter. Even if you don’t prefer the more passport-style form factor, though, the price may be slightly more attractive than the Ultra’s, as the phone starts at “just” $1900.

Samsung

Finally, Samsung has also updated its Z Flip 8, the smaller model that unfolds to be a similar size to a more traditional smartphone. The company doesn’t seem to have made any changes to its cameras – it still has a wide 50MP Type 1/1.57 (50mm²) and ultra-wide 12MP Type 1/3.2 (15mm²) – but it’s lighter and thinner than its predecessor. The company has also updated the processor to that same Snapdragon model (though there’s no option for one with 16GB of RAM like with the larger models), and has made improvements to the front screen’s interface, making it easier to use if you want to avoid opening your phone and potentially getting sucked in by feeds and apps.

The Z Flip 8 retains its position as Samsung’s least expensive foldable, but its $1200 price tag represents a $100 increase over its predecessor’s.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra, Z Fold 8, and Z Flip 8 are all available to pre-order today, and are set to become available on August 7th.

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Viltrox seems poised to start selling lenses for Micro Four Thirds, according to a post on social media platform Xiaohongshu. It shows a puzzle piece about to be slotted into a hole labeled “M4/3,” and teases an announcement coming on July 23rd. While the company hasn’t posted about it on its Instagram pages, the Viltrox US account did comment on a Reddit post about the teaser, saying “Something new coming soon.”

The teaser doesn’t say what to expect, beyond having hashtags that translate to “lens.” But the idea of getting a Micro Four Thirds lens from Viltrox is exciting on its own; the company has become a major player in the world of third-party lenses, and it’s an interesting sign that it’s looking to throw at least some of its weight behind the mount, as we haven’t seen many others do so for a while.

Viltrox

There are a wide variety of companies, well known and not, making manual focus lenses for the system, and a few that continue to sell a handful of autofocus options, too. But beyond Panasonic and OM System, who also make cameras using the mount, there haven’t been any new Micro Four Thirds lenses from a major player in quite some time. Sigma used to have some options for the system, which you can still buy, but they haven’t been updated like we’ve seen with the company’s APS-C and full-frame offerings.

Of course, there are many ways to release a lens for a system. While Viltrox could come out with a lens custom-designed for Micro Four Thirds, with a sensible focal length and a small, compact size. It could also, however, just be swapping out the mount on one of its existing APS-C or, worse, full-frame designs (not that such a move would be unheard of). Even if it is a lens with a larger-than-neccesary image circle, though, it’s still a start. If whatever Viltrox releases ends up being successful, it could lead to the brand giving Micro Four Thirds more attention.

Or it could wind up being something completely unexpected, like a camera that uses the mount. It’s hard to put anything past companies at this point. Whatever it is, we won’t have to wait too long to find out.

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Sony has released a teaser for a new product announcement in its cinema line. As always, the video is very short on details, showing just the silhouette of a camera, tally lights blazing and a top handle attached, and the tagline “lighting the way forward.”

The company is no stranger to posting teaser videos, but, unlike with the one for what turned out to be the RX10 V, it isn’t giving a lot of time for hype to build. The video says the announcement is coming on July 22nd at 7 AM PT (15:00 BST), which is just around 24 hours after the video was published. Whatever the camera is, it seems we won’t have to wait long to get more details.

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The latest version of Adobe Camera Raw, 18.4.1, started rolling out a few weeks ago, but it quietly introduces a feature that I’ve personally wanted for years: the ability to see where your camera’s focus point was set to. This makes it much easier to tell whether it was your camera’s autofocus system that messed up, or if you simply put the focus point in the incorrect place (which is especially important when, say, you review cameras for a living).

The way it works is relatively simple (if a bit of a finger workout): you open up a Raw in ACR, and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + O on Windows, or Command + Option + Shift + O on Mac. You can also right click on the image and select the “Show Autofocus Points” option. After you do, ACR will draw a red box around the camera’s selected focus point or area.

Screenshot: Mitchell Clark

While the feature isn’t a fool-proof way of assigning blame for an out-of-focus image – if the box is in the wrong place, it could either mean that you put it there in error, or that your camera’s tracking failed – it’s still very nice to have access to this information without having to view it on your camera’s screen, or in camera makers’ own software. Sometimes it’s just nice to be able to check where you were trying to focus, or, to pick a random example, to see where the photographers from your favorite camera review site were focusing in the images they uploaded to their sample galleries.

Currently, the feature is available for Raw files from Canon, Sony and Nikon cameras. We confirmed that we weren’t able to see autofocus points from the most recent cameras from any other manufacturer, so hopefully Adobe will expand the models it’s available to in the future. We’d also hope that this feature, which is currently only available in Photoshop’s ACR module, makes its way to Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, too.

ACR 18.4.1 also adds a “presentation” mode that shows the photo you’re editing full-screen with a customizable matte around it, and which lets you use the arrow keys to move through the photos you currently have open within the tool. It also lets you use the company’s AI-powered “Generative Expand” feature to fill transparent edges, and improves bidirectional gradient masks, adding support for feathering and giving you more precise control over them. You can download the update through the Creative Cloud app, or via the standalone installer.

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing a retroactive ban on suspected DJI‑linked drones and cameras, affecting products sold under brands like Xtra and Skyrover. The move escalates last week’s announcement of proposed $25,000 fines against eight companies that allegedly ignored FCC inquiries about DJI‑related gear marketed in the U.S., penalties that were technically for non‑response rather than the hardware itself.

In the past, the FCC’s decisions generally couldn’t touch products that were already approved, but a recent rule adjustment changed that. As The Verge reported, in late 2025, the Commission amended its equipment‑authorization rules so it can now restrict the import and sale of previously approved devices from companies on its national‑security “Covered List,” without formally revoking those original approvals or disabling gear that’s already in users’ hands.

DJI itself was added to the Covered List in late 2025 after a national‑security review under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, a designation that already blocks new DJI radio‑equipped products from receiving FCC approval in the U.S.

Skyrover

This could be the first time the FCC uses its new power, with potential bans on products from Cogito, Fikaxo, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh Tech, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact, WaveGo, Xtra and XAG. The Commission says those products “pose an unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security because they are suspected of containing DJI‑designed radio components under different brand names.

Those who already own products from the at-risk companies won’t be impacted by the FCC’s decision and can continue using them. However, affected drones and cameras are expected to disappear from major online retailers and from the brands’ own sites if the order is finalized, and unsold inventory in the U.S. could need to be written off.

The FCC is accepting public comments for 30 days, so the ban won’t take effect immediately. The Commission says it will consider “specific evidence” that might show the products are compliant, though, as The Verge points out, the organization doesn’t have a great track record of listening to public sentiment. If you would still like to voice your opinion, you can do so via the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System on the FCC website.

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It’s been about two weeks since we launched the new DPReview website, and our team is still hard at work. Along with fixing some critical behind-the-scenes bugs, we’ve been collecting your feedback and have already made some fixes where we could act quickly, with much more to come.

In the whirlwind since launch, however, there’s one new feature we haven’t talked about much: it’s now possible to see fewer ads on DPReview.

Ads were a source of frustration on the legacy site, and the new site gives you an easy way to cut down on them.

How to see fewer ads

It’s simple: use DPReview while logged in. That’s it. Logged-in readers see fewer ads, particularly the most disruptive kinds, like motion-heavy and video ads.

To be clear, this isn’t an ad-free experience; you’ll still see ads, just fewer of them. Consider it our way of thanking logged-in readers for your support as we continue to improve the ad experience for everyone.

Don’t have a DPReview account? Now’s a great time to create one. Just click the Register link to get started.

We know nobody loves ads. Believe me, we don’t either, but they’re a necessity to keep the site running. It costs real money to operate DPReview, and advertising is an important part of how we cover those costs. It’s not our only source of revenue, but it’s one of the things that lets us offer all of our content for free, whether you visit every day or once in a blue moon.

We also get why people use ad blockers. The reasons aren’t lost on us. We just ask you to keep one thing in mind: when you block ads, you’re not only preventing us from earning revenue, you’re actively costing us money. A photography-rich site uses a lot of bandwidth, and that’s a big part of our expenses. Every time you load our content without ads, we lose money, which makes it harder to do things like pay our writers and maintain our servers.

So if you’ve been browsing with an ad blocker, we ask that you try the new site without it (while logged in). We think you’ll find the ads less intrusive than they were on the legacy site, and you’ll be helping us stay on the internet.

In case you missed it

If you haven’t seen our earlier coverage about the new website, a few links are worth your time:

Gear Patrol founder and CEO Eric Yang – a DPReview user for over two decades – wrote about why we needed to rebuild the site from the ground up, including some helpful historical perspective.

If you want to track improvements as we make them, report a bug or usability issue, or just discuss the new site in our forums, we’ve published a guide on how to do that.

Finally, thank you for bearing with us as we improve the site. We know some things aren’t working as expected and that there’s plenty left to fix and improve. We appreciate your patience while our team works overtime to address those issues so we can remove the beta logo from the site.

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