A new retro-inspired digital camera with a waist-level viewfinder has quickly raised nearly $270,000 on Kickstarter, absolutely shattering its meager $4,996 funding target.
This week on the PetaPixel Podcast, the team discusses the updates coming to Canon's EOS Cinema line as well as Nikon's ZR, Wandrd tried to reinvent the camera strap, an Jordan Drake sits down with Jared Raab, cinematographer of BlackBerry and Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie.
Metalenz has acquired Israeli startup PxE Imaging. PxE's claim to fame is its Holocoder technology, a replacement for the Bayer color filter found on traditional image sensors.
95 Certified Keeper Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art 16 reviews 
84 OM System PEN 23 reviews 
New 89 Certified Keeper Nikon Nikkor Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S 9 reviews 
86 Certified Keeper Sigma 20-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Contemporary 10 reviews 
93 Certified Keeper Nikon Z8 47 reviews 
69 Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 5 reviews 
New 82 Sigma FP2 14 reviews 
94 Certified Keeper Sigma 50-120mm f/2.8 DC OS Contemporary 6 reviews 
New 89 Tamron 16-50mm f/2.8 A 6 reviews 
89 Certified Keeper Sony a7 V 28 reviews 
89 Certified Keeper Sony a7R VI 29 reviews 
84 Apple iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max 61 reviews 
74 GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS 13 reviews 
74 Nikon Z5 IIC 9 reviews 
New 83 Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro 13 reviews 
91 Certified Keeper Canon EOS R5 Mark II 24 reviews 
89 Certified Keeper Nikon Z6 III 58 reviews 
90 Certified Keeper Canon EOS R6 Mark III 31 reviews 
New 89 Certified Keeper Oppo Find X10 Pro Max 40 reviews 
42 Godox C100 11 reviews 89 Certified Keeper Nikon Nikkor Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S 9 reviews 83 Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro 13 reviews 82 Sigma FP2 14 reviews 89 Tamron 16-50mm f/2.8 A 6 reviews 94 Certified Keeper Sigma 50-120mm f/2.8 DC OS Contemporary 6 reviews 89 Certified Keeper Oppo Find X10 Pro Max 40 reviews 74 Nikon Z5 IIC 9 reviews 
80 Mandler 50mm f/1.4 Pre-A 5 reviews 69 Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 5 reviews 
93 Certified Keeper Sony FE 400mm f/4.5 GM OSS 7 reviews 
80 Canon EOS R8 Mark II 17 reviews 
79 Apple iPhone Duo 31 reviews 84 Apple iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max 61 reviews 84 OM System PEN 23 reviews 86 Certified Keeper Sigma 20-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Contemporary 10 reviews 95 Certified Keeper Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art 16 reviews 
87 Sony FE 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye 10 reviews 
89 Fujifilm XF 400mm f/4.5 R LM OIS WR 9 reviews 
92 Certified Keeper Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS 8 reviews 
81 Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS 8 reviews The 1839 Awards has announced the winners of its annual Photographer of the Year contest, celebrating exceptional, creative photography across multiple categories. Photographers from nearly 80 different countries entered the 2026 edition.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard's new documentary about Richard Avedon, succinctly titled just Avedon, has arrived on Netflix, and is being lauded by critics. Early indications suggest it's a must-watch, especially for photography fans.
Leica is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Noctilux lens family with the launch of a book that is centered on the optical achievement over the years. "From the first series-produced Leica lens with aspherical surfaces to the newest wide-angle variant, this book tells the story of how an audacious idea became a legend," Leica says.
I know how to take pictures, but ask me how the lens on my camera is made and I have a lot less to say. A visit to the Okaya Manufacturing Site in Japan, followed by some research afterward, gave me a lesson in a subject I’d never understood particularly well. I wanted to understand how the glass inside a lens is crafted, how the tools used in that process are prepared, and how people learn to do that work.
Yesterday, Adobe announced a bunch of updates across its ecosystem and while many of them are really great, the overwhelming sentiment online is negative due to the company's focus on AI. This might be a good time to resurface a story I wrote back in April, because it seems just as relevant now as it was then.
We are continuing to build PixelMeter in direct response to your requests, which last week led to the addition of a comparison tool and now, today, we've opened up user reviews. Consider this a first pass, so only PetaPixel Members will be able to leave reviews. We hope this cuts down on review bombing and we'll look at possibly opening this up to non-Members in the future.
You can find the option to add a User Review on any product page under critic reviews. Let us know what you think!
RØDE Capture, the compay's all-in-one mobile content production app, is now available on Android. It is designed to simplify mobile production by bringing microphone configuration and video recording controls together within one interface. Depending on the connected microphone, available audio controls include gain adjustment, Gain Assist, Noise Reduction, split or merged recording modes and high-pass filtering. The app supports a broad selection of RØDE microphones, including products across its Wireless range, compact on-camera microphones and USB desktop microphones.
"A key feature for Android users is Direct Connect, which enables compatible RØDE wireless transmitters to connect directly to a smartphone without requiring a separate receiver," RØDE says. The app is available to download now from Google Play.
Tamron has announced the return of its annual Photo and Video contest. Entries are accepted across seven categories (Landscape, Wildlife, Portrait, Macro, Video, Legacy, and Fast Action) and winners will receive $1,000 cash as well as a choice of a Tamron lens worth up to $1,299.
"Entries must be captured using current Di and Di III Tamron lenses, as listed on the company’s website for qualifying categories, apart from submissions entered in the Legacy category. The Legacy category is open exclusively to work created with discontinued Di, Di II, and Di III lenses," Tamron says.
Each category winner is eligible for the first-place prize along with seven more each second and third place prizes worth $500 and $300. Full contest rules can be seen on Tamron's website. Submissions will be accepted until November 30.
Last month, CineStill partnered with NBC to photograph the Emmy's red carpet event entirely on film, but didn't stop there: it also processed and scanned the film on location.
"For the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, we partnered with NBC to celebrate their 100th year by photographing the entire event — from the red carpet, to the awards show, to backstage BTS — all on film. But we even took it a step further by processing and scanning the film live on-site during the awards. Select photos on film were then published the next day by VanityFair as an exclusive behind the scenes look at the Emmy’s on film," Cinestill explains.
"All of the images were photographed by Ashley Osborn and Brian Wright, entirely on 800T, both in 35mm and 120 Medium Format film."
In addition to the short video above, CineStill just published a blog detailing the whole experience.
The writers behind Saturday Night Live have turned their wicked pens toward wedding photographers, mocking them for being overly enthusiastic.
It's true that the pressure of nailing all of the shots on a bride and groom's big day can make a photographer frantic, but drones inside the church is definitely OTT.
Fujifilm has announced the return of its Create With Us tour that originally started with a Seattle event in 2023. The event continued in Austin for 2024, followed by Minneapolis the following year. Now the event is going nationwide and kicking off first in Dallas on December 5, 2026 and Miami on January 16, 2027.
"Each stop on the tour will offer something a little different, shaped by the local creative community. Planned activations include Hands-On Demo stations, where attendees can explore Fujifilm cameras and lenses, guided photowalks, sponsor-led product demos, workshops led by experienced industry professionals, and a networking meetup to finish out the day," Fujifilm says.
Admission to these events is free. Fujifilm says these two events mark the beginning of a wider schedule, with more destinations to be announced in the future. To see what each event is offering and to register to attend, visit Fujifilm's website.
Images 2.6 has arrived in ChatGPT. Beyond expected improvements like faster image generation, Images 2.6 can also turn a prompt or photo into an editable animated GIF. The memes will go wild.
"People now generate more than four billion images per week across ChatGPT and the API, up from more than three billion per week that we shared eight weeks ago during the launch of Images 2.5," ChatGPT says. "On average, that's more than 500 million images per day."
The Canon EOS system fully entered the video production market in November 2008 when it released the EOS 5D Mark II DSLR, equipped with groundbreaking Full HD video recording capabilities. Since then, Canon has released 17 Cinema EOS cameras, 53 Cinema EOS lenses, and a bunch of hybrid cameras.
Cinema EOS products are heavily used across the professional video space, including to create Academy Award-winning films, award-winning television series, and so much more.
Congratulations, Canon. Here's to many more years of Cinema EOS cameras and lenses.
Canadian photographer and inventor Peter Modzelewski has launched Forma on Kickstarter via his independent photo gear studio, Oramod. It is a pocket-sized optical viewfinder designed for a wide range of film and digital cameras.
In May, VSCO came under scrutiny for wording in its Terms of Use that seemed to give the company permission to use certain user content to develop, train, and improve generative AI or machine learning models. It has now taken the extra step to clarify that it doesn't do that, and won't.
Home security can now fly. Amazon-owned Ring has announced the Ring Drone Cam, a $250 indoor flying security camera designed to automatically patrol a home's interior.
The good news keeps coming for photographers using Adobe's software. Alongside big Lightroom Classic updates, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) has been updated today to version 19.0, ushering in a wide range of tweaks, some of which are major.
Adobe's MAX press kit focused on just a few updates to Lightroom and gave Lightroom Classic no specific attention, but that doesn't mean that the popular RAW editing and organization app hasn't received big changes. Lightroom Classic 16.0 is here, and it includes a ton of meaningful improvements.
The finalists for this year's Close-up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) have been announced -- a competition showcasing the very best of close-up, macro and micro photography.
Beni, the adorable rolling robot which made waves with tech YouTubers when its beta version was first shown off last July, is now a finished product. Mondo Robotics has announced the robot cameraman is available to purchase today for $799.
Peak Design has expanded its line of Roller Pro rolling luggage to include three new hardshell suitcases called Roller Lite, which appears to be a play on the design's ability to retain hardshell exteriors but with lighter construction than what the style is known for.
Just over a year ago, Aura unveiled its first cord-free e-paper digital picture frame, the 13.3-inch Aura Ink. The company has now introduced the Aura Ink 10", a smaller e-ink digital frame that builds upon the success and technology of the original Aura Ink 13".
Adobe has been developing agentic AI for years, and at this year's Adobe MAX in Miami, it looks like it has finally been fully unleashed. Adobe is ushering in significant expansions to the Adobe Creative Agent, which users can direct using text across not only Adobe's Firefly AI platform but also Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop and Premiere.
Adobe is updating Premiere with a ton of AI-based tools and assistance as well as promising a new, wholly revamped approach to color grading.
Today at Adobe MAX 2026 in Miami Beach, Adobe announced a wide range of updates to its core applications and technologies, including Photoshop and Lightroom.
Leica has announced the Cine Play 1 Plus, an upgraded version of its compact 4K smart projector that increases brightness and contrast compared with its predecessor.
A photographer has died after she was struck by a vintage airplane that she was taking pictures of.
IMAX reported its strongest quarterly financial performance in the company’s history last week, with record box office, revenue, and profits for the third quarter of 2026.
ProMaster, a brand known for making quality gear for every kind of creator, is bringing you deals you can’t miss this holiday season. From a multitool tripod and stylish rolltop backpack to a portable studio kit and adaptable softlights, there’s something for everyone (including you!). These products are on sale for a limited time, so shop now to take advantage of the sales and check your favorite photographer off your list!
Artizlab has announced the Classic-M 1:1.4/50mm, a new 50mm prime lens that emulates the character and appearance of the classic Leica Summilux 50mm f/1.4 (E43) lens.
The North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) has unveiled the incredible winning photos from its annual 2027 Showcase. The award-winning images show wildlife doing amazing things, stunning landscapes, and the most beautiful nature from around the world.
Red Bull Rampage is one of the most demanding events in mountain biking, but the challenge isn't limited to the riders. Photographers covering the competition must navigate steep, unforgiving terrain while carrying heavy equipment, often with only one opportunity to capture a defining moment.
Moment has announced the Go Front Pack, a small sling bag that the company says was inspired by hydration and running vests. It mounts on the user's chest, giving them immediate access to a phone, lenses, filters, and cables without bouncing when the wearer moves.
Sirui has announced the Aurora 15mm f/1.6 and 24mm f/1.4 wide-angle lenses for full-frame mirrorless cameras.
Italian filmmaker Claudio Ripalti released Director Mode, a new iPhone and iPad app that lets videographers monitor and control up to four wirelessly connected cameras. As of now, the app works with a wide range of Canon and Sony bodies.
A New Zealand weather camera has captured a remarkable 20-year time-lapse showing two decades of changing skies over Lower Hutt -- a city close to the capital of Wellington.
Wyoming is the most AI-paranoid state in the U.S., recording 4,700 annual searches per 100,000 residents. Vermont ranks second with 4,300, followed by Alaska with 3,600.
Nvidia, a $4.5 trillion company at the time of writing, has a new CEO scandal. Nvidia said on Sunday that its board is investigating whether its CEO, Jensen Huang, had been targeted by foreign intelligence as part of an extramarital affair.
A Red Baron pizza worker who was filmed being harassed by a prankster pretending to steal $20 from him has paused donations on a GoFundMe page set up on his behalf after it neared $800,000.
Sweating with labored breath, I push my fully loaded bicycle over Kyrgyzstan’s 12,400-foot Koi Dzolu Pass. The 23,000-foot peaks of the Pamir Mountains loom above while storms dance on either side, pelting me with occasional hail. In moments like this, I deeply appreciate every ounce shaved from my setup to stay mobile.
The 1990s brought Bill Clinton, The Simpsons, MP3s, Napster - and the age of personal digital photography and personal computer video.
The world's largest wildlife crossing, the $114 million Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, hasn't officially "opened," but that hasn't stopped the animals from using it above the extremely busy Highway 101 in Agoura Hills, California.
Lime Bike Jousting was conceived by Cameron Carnegie-Brown (AKA Camtholomew the First) and Jack Carden, two London creatives who turned a joke about jousting on rental e-bikes into a viral performance art event.
The two major third-party manufacturers from Japan have a complete trinity of full-frame professional f/2.8 zoom lenses. Sigma has long had a complete set, and Tamron has its excellent G2 series finalized. The Chinese companies are only now venturing into the autofocusing pro zoom lens market, but Samyang, out of Korea, has worked very hard — and quickly — to complete its full set, too. With the release of the new $1,099 Samyang X Schneider Kreuznach AF 60-180mm f/2.8, that goal is realized.
Explore how posture, shape, light, and composition can help wildlife photographers create striking backlit imagery that tells a powerful story.
The work of a pioneering female photographer, whose images remained hidden for decades until thousands of her negatives were discovered in suitcases, is being exhibited for the first time.
After numerous teases and even a sponsored YouTube hands-on video, Motorola has finally, thankfully, fully unveiled its new flagship smartphone, the Signature 27. It is being billed as the world's fastest Android smartphone. It's certainly among the most expensive slab phones.
The holiday season is ramping up and that once again means Canon is trotting out the same cash cow it has milked for the last three straight years. Costco (soon to be followed by other stores, surely) is offering a Canon EOS R100 kit for an enticing $520. Do not buy it.
Meike has announced yet another addition to its Mix series of primes, and this time it's a portrait prime for APS-C mirrorless cameras. The Meike 58mm f/1.2 Mix is a fast $449 prime for Sony, Fujifilm, and Nikon mirrorless systems.
It’s about time that the diminutive king of instant film got some Film Friday love, so we are giving this week’s spotlight over to Fujifilm’s Instax Mini color instant film and sharing why we love these small prints (and why you should as well).
The North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) will host its annual half-day event, NANPA LIVE, on Saturday, November 7, 2026, offering a free global livestream from 3:00 to 6:00 PM PT that includes giveaways worth thousands of dollars.
Grass, snow, sand, and laterite—these are the surfaces Saype (real name Guillaume Legros) has spent the last fifteen years exploring, creating monumental, ephemeral works of art around the world with his 100% biodegradable paint.
Apple's brand-new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display, the first Mac to ever feature a touchscreen, arrives today, and Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve 21 video editor is ready.
Not everyone is stoked that smartphones keep getting larger, offering ever-bigger displays. In fact, some people are very much in love with the small phones of years past. New smartphone company Enough believes there are, well, enough of those people to justify launching an all-new small smartphone in 2026.
B&H launched its Holiday Deal Zone this week, giving you an early jump on upcoming Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday deals. We have a potpourri this week, with storage, memory cards, cameras and lenses, and computers.
The Canadian Liberal government's new Budget 2026 will carve out protections and support for Canadian artists, including photographers.
