Apple has announced its long-awaited take on the folding smartphone form-factor, and it’s called the iPhone Duo*. It features a “passport” style design, which is relatively short and wide, giving the interior screen an aspect ratio that’s better for watching video, viewing photos, and running apps side-by-side.

Like the iPhone Air, Apple says it’s managed to fit everything it needs to into the phone by putting “critical components” in the camera plateau. Of course, the protrusion also houses the Duo’s camera system, which, appropriately, features two cameras. The main camera features a 26mm equiv. lens and an F1.6 aperture – no adjustable aperture here – as well as a 48MP stabilized sensor. While the company doesn’t typically share sensor size info, the specs are an exact match for the iPhone Air’s Type 1/1.56 (48mm²) main camera, which would make it a substantial step down from the larger sensor used in the Pro phones.

Apple also says it’s using the same 48MP ultra-wide camera as the iPhone 18 Pro, which is almost certainly the same model found in the iPhone 17 Pro, featuring a Type 1/2.55 (23.5mm²) sensor.

Apple

Like Google before it, Apple is using the folding form factor to enhance the camera experience. It has a mode that lets you halfway fold the phone, so it will sit up on a surface with the cameras pointing outwards. The phone will then analyze the scene, taking pictures when it recognizes that everyone’s posing. The company says this makes it easier to take group shots and selfies without having to worry about a timer. There’s also a mode that will play cartoons on the front screen, aimed to make kids smile as you’re taking pictures of them.

Apple says durability was a big focus for the phone, and that the inner folding display is “designed to withstand the wear of everyday use.” Its frame is made from titanium, with the back glass getting Apple’s Ceramic Shield coating that makes it relatively resistant to shattering from drops. The glass covering the outer 5.4″ display uses the scratch-resistant Ceramic Shield 2 coating. The phone has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, a rarity among folding phones (though Google’s Pixel Fold series has had it since last year).

According to Apple, the Duo has the “largest display for an iPhone” ever, with its interior screen measuring 7.6″ It features a “nano-texture” surface, similar to what Apple’s been providing on its iPads and Macs, that Apple says will minimize the risk of scratches (a common concern with foldables, which typically have a plastic screen protector that can be marked with a fingernail), and the visibility of the crease. Both of the phones’ screens have a 1:1.4 aspect ratio, and are capable of reaching 3000 nits peak brightness outdoors, and 1600 nits when viewing HDR content. Support for using them with the USB-C version of the Apple Pencil stylus will be coming in a later firmware update.

Apple

The phone does away with the FaceID authentication system that’s been ubiquitous on Apple’s phones for the past few years. The phone instead features a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. The phone also foregoes the customizable “Action” button, but keeps the touch-sensitive “Camera Control” button, which lets you launch the camera and control various settings, like zoom. However, the camera app doesn’t feature the manual control mode debuted on the iPhone 18 Pro, nor does it have the Reference Image content authenticity mode, ProRes Raw recording, Apple Log 2, and a host of other video features that Apple reserves for its pro phones.

The iPhone Duo uses the same A20 Pro system on a chip as the iPhone 18 Pro, which Apple says will provide an up to 35% performance uplift compared to the standard iPhone 17 Pro. It also features Apple’s new, in-house “C2” chip for cellular and wireless connectivity. To that matter, the phone is e-SIM only, world wide; that’s been the case for the company’s US models for a while, but international models have typically come with a slot. However, Apple says it needed as much room for the battery as possible.

Apple

Thankfully, the phone retains Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging system, which it can use to charge at up to 25W. It also has a 10Gbps USB-C port on the bottom. (Though Apple says you can use the phone in any orientation, so who’s to say it’s not the top or the side?) The compnay claims the phone has “all day battery,” though per usual doesn’t provide specific capacity figures. It does, however, say it can do 31 hours of video playback with the inner screen, and 44 hours with the outer screen, putting it a touch behind the 18 Pro Max, which can do 45 hours.

Apple says the iPhone Duo is its thinnest phone ever when unfolded, coming in at just 5.2mm thick. Of course, it takes up a bit more room when folded, at 11.3mm. It’s also relatively hefty at 254g (~9oz).

As is often the case, Apple’s first crack at the form factor is launching into a relatively mature market. Samsung is up to its eighth generation of foldables, which first debuted in 2019. Earlier this year, the company announced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, which features a triple-camera setup, alongside the dual-camera Galaxy Z Fold 8, which features a “passport” form factor that’s a bit wider and substantially shorter. Likewise, Google recently announced its fourth foldable, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, which features three cameras. Companies like Xiaomi and Oppo also have several options, and have experimented with exotic form factors, such as tri-folds.

Apple

The phone will be available in black and silver. It starts at $1999 for a model with 256GB of storage, and the company says pre-orders start on October 16th, with the phone becoming available on the 23rd.

* – Nerdy fact: Microsoft already used this name for a foldable in 2020.

Apple has announced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max at its annual fall keynote. Although the company started the event with AI features, the standout change in the new models’ camera system is the adjustable aperture.

Apple is pitching the new aperture system as a way to get more “creative control” while taking images and videos. Contrary to the rumors, the adjustable aperture is available on both sizes of the iPhone Pro. The company says it comprises six laser-cut blades, each thinner than a human hair.

Like the 17 Pro models, the 18 Pro and Pro Max feature a 48MP main camera with a 24mm equiv. lens. The ultrawide and telephoto cameras are also unchanged from their predecessors, both of which use 48MP Type 1/2.55 (23.5mm²) sensors.

Apple

The main camera is the only one that features the new adjustable aperture system, which can go from F1.48 to F4 (the 17 Pro’s main camera had a fixed F1.78 aperture), allowing for four adjustments. Apple is also finally adding “Pro Controls,” which allows users to manually control aperture, white balance and shutter speed, something people have been asking Apple to add for years. Additionally, its Photography Styles option now supports control over grain.

For video features, the camera supports 4K time-lapses, and you can now use cinematic mode (which adds fake background blur) at up to 4K/60.

Apple also touched on image authenticity, a hot-button topic in the age of AI. We’ve seen other phone manufacturers, like Google, implement C2PA content credentials in their cameras, letting you verify that a photograph hasn’t been altered since it was taken. Now, Apple is following suit, characteristically introducing its own system called Apple Reference Image.

Apple

The company says it’s made possible by a new sensor in the main camera that “can sign every pixel it sees.” Photos taken in the “Reference mode” will capture “signed sensor data that Private Cloud Compute develops into an unalterable reference image.” Oddly, the Apple Reference Image authenticity feature is not available in China, and won’t be available in the EU to start.

The company also says it’s adding support for the SynthID standard, which adds an invisible watermark to images created or edited using AI.

The iPhone 18 Pro features an A20 Pro system on a chip, which has a 6-core CPU with 2 “super” cores and 4 efficiency cores. It also features a 7-core GPU that Apple says is 40% faster than the previous generation. It should offer double the AI processing capacity as a result of double the neural cores. Apple also says it’s doubled the battery life, despite the battery being smaller. It supports faster wired charging, letting you charge it to 50% in 15 minutes.

Apple

Apple is offering the Pro in four color options this year, where it’s traditionally been three. It will be available in black, silver, “Glacier” blue, and “Burgundy.” Last year, some people were upset that there wasn’t a black option, so this will likely be a welcome addition to the lineup.

The iPhone 18 Pro will cost $1199 for the 256GB version, while the Pro Max comes in at $1299. Both the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are $100 more than their predecessors.

In a somewhat cryptic statement, Ricoh has said it is ending production of all current Pentax K-series DSLRs. However, it also says it will “continue to pursue the shooting style that is unique to SLR cameras.”

Ricoh says: “we will leverage the K-mount legacy that was built over more than half a century, to develop a new series of digital SLR cameras based on an entirely new concept,” but warns “it will take time for these products to come to life.”

It says it will provide updates as development continues.

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Alongside the new PEN camera, OM System has announced an upgrade to its 14-42mm (28-84mm equiv.) F3.5-5.6 standard zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds. Beyond being one of the kit options for the PEN, The M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 III is more protected from the elements than its predecessor, and can focus closer.

Like the II, the III is made up of eight elements in seven groups, with three aspherical lenses. However, that doesn’t mean it’ll perform exactly the same. OM System says it can now focus as close as 0.13m (5.1″) at the wide end, down from the 0.25m (9.8″) on its predecessor. This helps you get a little tighter, reproducing objects at up to 0.26x, where the previous lens maxed out at 0.19x. However, this minimum focusing distance does extend a bit as you zoom in, going up to 0.3m (11.8″) when you get to 42mm for 0.19x reproduction.

OM System

OM System also says it’s improved the weather resistance of the lens, with it now being IPX1 rated when paired with a dust and splash proof camera. While that’s the lowest tier of IP rating, only requiring a device to survive dripping water for 10 minutes, it’ll still provide a bit of peace of mind for anyone hoping to use it as a travel lens (though if you expect to encounter rain, it might be worth picking up the sold-separately lens hood to keep the front element clear).

The company also says that it’ll focus faster, and support the computational in-body focus stacking features found on many OM System cameras.

These changes have resulted in a lens that’s a touch heavier than its 112g (4oz) predecessor, as it now weighs 125g (4.4oz). It’s also slightly larger, with a 60mm diameter and being 51mm long. This also equates to it taking larger filters; 46mm rather than 37mm. However, it’s still quite a small lens for what it is, made smaller by its retracting design.

The OM System 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 III will be available in late October and retail for $350 standalone. However, we suspect it’ll be more popular as a kit lens for the new PEN, where you can get it for a $100 premium over the body-only price.

You can see several shots taken with the lens in our sample gallery for the OM System PEN.

OM System

OM System M. Zuiko Digital 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 III

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With Sony offering over 70 E-mount lenses, it’s unusual for the company to release something that’s a first in its lineup. And yet today it’s doing so: the new FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G is the company’s first standalone fisheye lens for E-mount, one that it says is the most compact of its kind.

At 8mm, the lens creates a circular fisheye image, the kind popularized in ’90s skateboarding videos. At 14mm, the image fills the frame. Both capture a 180° field of view, but the zoom lets you choose which way you want it presented. You can also turn distortion compensation off to switch from equisolid rendering, where the center of the image is larger, with the edges being compressed, to equidistant rendering where the center looks smaller and the image looks more “even” overall. This is mostly a JPEG setting, as, if you shoot Raw, you can change whether you’re using distortion correction in post.

Sony

The lens is made up of 16 elements in 13 groups, with three aspheric elements, four extra-low dispersion (ED) elements and one aspheric ED lens, with the company promising minimal chromatic aberration across the frame. It has a 7-blade aperture, and can focus as close as 0.15m (5.9″) throughout its focal range. Focusing is handled by a pair of linear motors, which, when paired with a high-end camera, can track subjects at 120fps.

Physically, the lens is surprisingly small for a full-frame option. It weighs 314g (11.1oz), which is substantially less than the 476g RF 7-14mm F2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM that Canon recently released (though that is a touch faster and wider at its wide end). The Sony has a diameter of 63mm, and is 83mm (3.3″) long. It also zooms internally, meaning it’ll stay that length. Its lens hood is removable, though, depending on your focal length, you’ll have to take it off to avoid it appearing in the frame. It’s also sealed for dust and moisture resistance, and has a flourine coating on its front element to repel dirt and oil.

Despite its small size, Sony hasn’t skimped on features. The lens has an aperture ring, which can be clicked or declicked, a customizable button, zoom lock switch (which can hold the lens in circular fisheye and diagonal fisheye for both APS-C and full-frame) and a rear filter holder. It also has an AF/MF/FH switch, the latter of which locks your focus after you set it manually, which Sony says will be handy if you’re shooting astro or VR content.

Sony

Sony clearly sees this lens not just as a photography tool, but one for video and VR as well. The company says it has minimal focus breathing and that you can use a pair of them for VR capture, or a trio for recording 360° footage. When shooting flat (aka standard) video, though, there is one small downside: in 16:9, you won’t get the full circle, though you can avoid that if you have one of the few cameras Sony makes capable of shooting 3:2 open gate.

The Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G will launch in October, and will retail for $1599.

Sample gallery

Editor’s note: Due to a memory card failure, this sample gallery contains fewer images than usual; most of the photos captured for it were lost before they could be transferred. We attempted data recovery without success and are working with Sony to arrange additional time with the lens to capture more samples.

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

Sony

Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G

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Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G specifications

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Sigma has announced the 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG Contemporary, a full-frame zoom lens that goes from quite wide to approaching telephoto. For full-frame shooters who wish their kit lens was just a bit more capable, or for anyone looking for a compact but relatively versatile option, it could be a great pick… as long as the company that makes your camera has decided to allow Sigma to use its mount.

One of the big appeals of the lens is its size. It weighs 385g (13.6oz), and is 88mm (3.5″) long at its shortest (though it will extend as you zoom in). It also takes 67mm filters, helping you keep your photography kit relatively small. Sigma says it’s dust and splash resistant, too, and that the front element has a water and oil-repellent coating. It is, however, relatively sparse on controls; you get the zoom ring and a manual focus ring: that’s pretty much it.

Sigma

The lens is made up of 15 elements in 13 groups, with three aspheric lenses and three SLD elements. It can focus on objects as close as 15.8cm at 28mm, providing a maximum reproduction of 0.43x, though at the long end that goes down to a still-respectable 0.34x.

Autofocusing is handled by a linear motor, making for a responsive shooting experience even at higher framerates*.

Sigma

Arguably, the biggest downside of this lens has nothing to do with Sigma. The 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG Contemporary will be available for L-mount and Sony E-mount, but, as we’ve come to expect, not for Nikon Z or Canon RF, despite the fact that it’d make a great pairing for budget cameras like the EOS R8 and Nikon Z5II. Of course, anyone outside of those systems now have an excellent step-up option from their relatively slow kit-lenses, one that doesn’t ask them to sacrifice size or versatility for light-gathering ability. 

First impressions:

This first thing you notice about the 20-60mm is how compact it is, to the point that I had to look for the letters ‘DG’ to confirm to myself that it was designed to cover full-frame.

Despite going significantly wider than a conventional 24-70mm, and without losing much at the long end, it’s a usefully small and light option.

As such, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise to find that the lens drops away from its F2.8 maximum aperture almost immediately. Mounted on a Panasonic body, that reports aperture value with an unusual level of precision, the lens drops to F2.9 before you’ve zoomed as far as 21mm, so it’s worth thinking of this lens as closer to being an F4 than an F2.8 zoom.

The other factor contributing to the lens’s small size is its use of digital distortion corrections as part of its design. On L-mount bodies these are typically applied automatically, but third-party lens makers can’t force E-mount bodies to Auto apply them, so it’s essential that you engage them if you’re shooting on Sony.

Aperture progression

This is a pretty standard approach for lenses in Sigma’s more cost-sensitive ‘Contemporary’ series, and it’s worth recognizing that this lens wouldn’t be possible at this size, weight or price if geometric distortion was handled using glass elements.

In use, we’ve been pretty impressed with the results and extremely impressed with the flexibility of an ultra-wide to standard zoom. I’d be inclinded look at this lens as a replacement for the basic kit lens on any system that Sigma’s been allowed to make it for (E and L-mount, so far).

The ultrawide 20mm setting also makes the lens a handy option for video, as does its gimbal-friendly size and weight. It extends a fair amount on zooming but it’s light enough that this shift in its center of gravity shouldn’t be too much for a good gimbal to handle.

Both E and L-mounts have 20-something zooms available already, but this is smaller and more ambitious than the Panasonic 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 and much smaller and lighter than the Sony 20-70mm F4. Its extra range over the Tamron 20-40mm F2.8 is likely to be more valuable as an everyday lens than the extra stop of brightness that the Tamron offers for much of its range.

The lens will retail for $849, and will be available starting October 6.

* – Though Sony limits continuous autofocus on third party lenses to 15fps, so the motor’s responsiveness won’t help beyond that. That’s not an issue on L-mount, though.

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Sigma is finally releasing its 85mm F1.2 DG Art for E and L-mount, after announcing that the lens was in development early this year. This is the company’s third F1.2 prime, following 35mm and 50mm options, and provides a classic focal length for portraiture.

The lens has 17 elements in 12 groups, with two SLD elements and three aspheric lenses. It has 13 aperture blades, which is a few more than we’d typically expect. It can focus as close as 84cm (33″), for a maximum reproduction of 0.11x.

Sigma

Sigma says the lens is the “smallest and lightest in its class.” It weighs 905g (31.9oz), which is around 24% lighter than Canon’s 85mm F1.2 for RF, and 22% less than Nikon’s Z 85mm F1.2 S. (Of course, this lens doesn’t directly compete with those options, as it’s not available on those mounts.) The E-mount version is around 122mm long – the L-mount version is 2mm shorter – and both have an 87mm diameter. It can accept 82mm filters, and is “dust- and splash-resistant.”

Despite its focus on being relatively light, the lens still feels premium, and has all the features we’d expect of a high-end prime. It has an aperture ring, which can be clicked or declicked, a switch that locks it into or out of ‘A’ mode for aperture (which hands over control to the camera body) and a customizable button, duplicated in the portrait and landscape shooting orientations.

Sigma

Its autofocus is handled by dual linear motors, and the company says it’s designed to have minimal focus breathing for video shooters. 

As my colleague Richard Butler pointed out when this lens was first announced, its release means that all four major full-frame mirrorless systems now have an autofocusing 85mm F1.2 option; the lenses previously available for E and L-mount only went down to F1.4 (though relative newcomer SongRaw has announced its own 85mm F1.2 for Sony and Nikon systems, but it doesn’t seem to be widely available yet).

While Nikon and Canon’s 85mm F1.2s retail for $2999 and $3099, respectively, Sigma’s comes in at substantially less. It costs $1599, and will be available starting October 6.

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Nikon will be releasing a new firmware update for its video-focused ZR, which seems to correct some of the complaints videographers have had with the camera, including the more mature Log3G10 curve only being available when shooting in Raw, the relatively heavy-handed noise reduction and focus peaking not always being available. The company is also promising a big update for next year that will unlock open-gate recording, a first for its mirrorless cameras.

Nikon says firmware version 2.00 will make Log3G10 available when recording in H.265. Previously, you could use Log3G10 – a Red-developed Log curve that we found to be more sophisticated – in the R3D NE Raw format, which takes up substantially more space and requires more post-processing. You could shoot Log in H.265, but only using Nikon’s NLog. 

The company says it’s also adding an option that lets you select the level of High ISO noise reduction when recording H.265 in Log, “enabling image rendering tailored to the creator’s intent and the tone of the work.” When we reviewed the camera, we found that the ZR was clearly applying more noise reduction in the shadows than the Z6III with which it shares a sensor. This problem was also famously highlighted by YouTuber and cinematographer Philip Bloom, who cited it as a major issue with the camera. It’s good to see that Nikon’s taking that feedback and giving users more control over the effect.

Finally, the firmware will let you use focus peaking when recording in R3D NE, a feature that was bizarrely missing from the camera since its launch last year. The ZR supported focus peaking in its other Raw recording modes, just not the one that was introduced with the camera.

The company also says its goal is to add additional requested features to the ZR next year via a firmware update, including adding an open gate mode and a desqueeze assist mode for shooting with anamorphic lenses.

Many of the changes coming in V2.00 were already being promised by company representatives earlier this year, though there are still a few things they brought up that aren’t included in the upcoming updates Nikon’s announcing today. There’s no mention of a further compressed mode of R3D NE, like the one that exists for N-Raw, which uses half the bitrate. Arguably, this has become even more important since this summer, as the cost of SSDs and storage media has continued to rise thanks to AI. (It’s also a bit of an odd exclusion, given that R3D NE appears to be heavily based on N-Raw.) 

I’m also not quite sure Nikon is delivering on its promise of general improvements to H.265 recording, based on what’s in its press release. Control over noise reduction is a great first step, but there are still a few odd issues to have on such a video-focused camera, including the bitrate being substantially lower in the first few seconds of footage, and the camera not providing an accurate report of how much record time it has left.

Still, it’s great to see that Nikon is solving some of the community’s biggest issues with the ZR, and promising to make it even more powerful in the next few years. The update may be a bit overdue, but if it’s done right it’ll have been worth the wait. Nikon also says it’s updating the Red Control and Red Control Pro apps to support remotely controlling the ZR, and says it will “continue to enhance its products through firmware updates that address user needs, while also contributing to the development of imaging culture in the field of cinema.”

The firmware update is due out at some point this year.

Nikon is announcing a series of nine T1.9 cinema lenses, following up on a teaser from this time last year and another (slightly more detailed) one in April. The company is still keeping plenty of aspects about the line under wraps, though. There’s no word on pricing, when they’ll be available or what focal lengths will be included, with one exception.

Here’s what Nikon has said: the lenses will be branded as the “Nikkor Z Cinema T1.9 VV ” series, and one the nine lenses will be a 50mm. (While there’s no word on what the other options will be, the relatively fast T1.9 figure suggests they’ll all be primes.) The company also says it’ll be the “first Nikkor lens series to feature an image circle large enough to cover the V-Raptor [X] VV sensor,” which has a 46.3mm diagonal, versus standard full-frame’s 43mm.

The company also says the lenses will feature “a highly precise autofocus mechanism,” though that was hinted at in the teaser by the presence of an AF/MF switch. It also seems safe to assume they’ll be fitted with the Z-mount, given both the name and the fact that many more standard cinema mounts like PL don’t support autofocus. 

It’s hard to guess when we’ll get the next drop of information about these lenses. This is one of several cinema and video related announcements this month, which are likely tied to the International Broadcasting Convention happening in Amsterdam this week. And while there’s a National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show happening in New York in October, the main event is scheduled for next April.

Here’s a refreshing bit of news: there’s at least one camera company out there whose products are getting appreciably cheaper. Today, cinema company Blackmagic Design announced that it’s slashing the prices of its full-frame Cinema Camera 6K and Pyxis 6K models by over $1000, something it says it can do after “securing better pricing on parts.”

Neither camera is particularly new: the Cinema Camera was announced in 2023, and the Pyxis in 2024. So it’s not surprising that Blackmagic is able to make them for less than it initially was. What I wouldn’t typically expect is the company passing those savings on to its customers, given our age of prices rising due to AI-driven chip scarcity and inflation. 

It’s also not a situation where Blackmagic raised prices due to tariffs in the US, and is lowering them back down now that they’re gone. It did raise prices – the Cinema Camera 6K launched for $2595 – but the new prices are well below what the cameras were originally announced at.

Realistically, I realize most of our audience won’t be interested in dedicated cinema cameras in an age when the best hybrid mirrorless models excel in both video and stills, no matter how inexpensive they are. But I’d like to think this is a sign that things might be changing in the camera world. While it may be too much to hope that we’ll see new models that are cheaper than their predecessors, or similar price reductions for existing cameras – I suspect the bigger, more established companies are already getting parts for as cheaply as they can, and Blackmagic is just moving up towards that level of economy of scale – perhaps we’ll at least see some cameras that aren’t substantially more expensive than their predecessors.

GoPro’s merger with Starman Optical doesn’t mean the company will stop making action cameras, according to a letter from the action cam company’s CEO, Nick Woodman. Earlier this week he said the company planned to address “important areas of national security related to cameras, optics and AI infrastructure,” but now tells the GoPro community that he expects the merger to “make GoPro a stronger, more capable camera company than ever before.”

If you missed the merger announcement earlier this week, that statement may seem unnecessary; of course GoPro would keep making cameras, that’s the main thing it does. But its consumer-facing business didn’t get much attention in its merger announcement, with the company talking more about expanding into “AI data center, government, defense and aerospace markets.” It did promise to “continue to fully support its existing consumer products and its subscription and cloud platform,” but the word “existing” made some (myself included) wonder how much work it’d put into future consumer cameras.

In his new letter, Woodman says the company’s “improved financial strength” after the merger, planned for later this year, pending regulatory approval, will put the company in “a much better position to innovate, invent and advance the future of consumer and professional content creation.” He also says that Starman is passionate about the GoPro brand, too.

“We plan to bring you more innovative cameras, smarter accessories, and more powerful software and services designed to make capturing, editing and sharing your experiences easier and more exciting than ever,” he says later in the letter.

Personally, I’m glad to hear this, as I think GoPro is an important competitor in the action camera space, even if it’s struggled to keep up with the pace set by other companies like DJI and Insta360 in recent years. Of course, there’s a storied history of companies and executives making promises about what things will be like post-merger, with the reality ending up very different. But for now, it sounds like GoPro plans to continue working on cameras alongside bringing manufacturing of optics and transceivers to the US and breaking into the defense market.  

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

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

Lomography

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

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

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