Four cameras, seven lenses, and one Commonwealth Games. That was the equipment I brought to Glasgow 2026. Most days, however, only three cameras came with me to the competition venues. The fourth stayed at the hotel as a backup, unless I planned to use it as a remote camera.
We are all familiar with the social mandate of smiling for photographs. Every time someone points a lens at our mug, we are expected to give a wide, toothy smile. If you don’t comply, the photographer will quickly remind you with a religious “say cheese!”. Many years ago, it occurred to me that this practice was not only shallow but silly. Granted, a candid smile captured in photography can be telling and beautiful. On the other hand, a contrived smile for a photograph, not so much. Here …
Magnum has announced its newest Square Print Sale, celebrating the best photos that explore the sometimes very fine line between fact and fiction.
82 Sigma FP2 11 reviews 
89 Tamron 16-50mm f/2.8 A 5 reviews 
91 Sigma 50-120mm f/2.8 DC OS Contemporary 4 reviews 
88 Certified Keeper Oppo Find X10 Pro Max 21 reviews 
75 Nikon Z5 IIC 6 reviews 
71 Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 4 reviews 
93 Certified Keeper Sony FE 400mm f/4.5 GM OSS 7 reviews 
81 Canon EOS R8 Mark II 17 reviews 
80 Apple iPhone Duo 20 reviews 
84 Apple iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max 27 reviews 
86 Certified Keeper OM System PEN 15 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 
86 Sony FE 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye 9 reviews 
88 Fujifilm XF 400mm f/4.5 R LM OIS WR 7 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 
74 GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS 13 reviews 
76 Google Pixel 11 Pro / Pro XL 38 reviews 
77 Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold 26 reviews Photographer Vilhelm Gunnarsson has been shooting the south coast of Iceland, showing a landscape that is battered by the relentless forces of the Atlantic Ocean.
A few months ago on the PetaPixel Podcast, we did a lens draft where we had to pick our favorite lenses from a whole selection of choices. Naturally, this came with a lot of research, and as we delved deeper into reviews and ratings, we found that the Zeiss ZM lenses were some of the most highly reviewed lenses for that mount. This piqued our interest, and I was determined to find out why these lenses appeared to be so beloved.
Bright and joyful, energetic and optimistic, but also a sign of caution. Bold monochromes and subtle glows, conceptual pieces and documentary moments; yellow is a warning sign, a memory, a burst of light.
Photographer Lara Porzak, who has spent more than three decades using analog techniques to create photographs that function as both images and physical artifacts, has published her first book.
Frequent PetaPixel Podcast guest Gordon Laing's Cameralabs is one of YouTube's longest running photography shows, and he has just debuted a new format. Coinciding with the release of the Sigma FP2, The Cameralabs Show is a magazine style, long form video encompassing reviews, travel, and vintage gear retrospectives with a small cameo from Chris Niccolls. It's great to see such a long running show mixing things up, and I strongly encourage you to take a look for yourself.
Sigma FP2 82 Sigma's cameras are always polarizing, but the FP2 seems to have hit enough general high notes to get more approving nods than grimaces. Initial reviews are in and it has landed at a Strong 82 on PixelMeter, Sigma's highest mark for any camera it has ever released and significantly better reviewed than the BF. We'll see if these opinions hold as more reviews come in over the next few weeks and months.
The Sigma FP2 launched today and out of the box, it's not the most ergonomic camera. You could go with Sigma's first-party accessories to address it, or you could consider SmallRig's new options. It launched a hand grip and a more elaborate cage, with the latter adding a cold shoe for mounting -- a boon since the FP2 doesn't have a shoe mount at all.
NASA Astronaut Anil Menon, who currently lives onboard the International Space Station, recently posted a behind-the-scenes video of how to set up for a shot in the cupola.
The cupola module is a seven-sided window perfect for epic photography of Earth and celestial objects. Menon reveals he uses a shroud for nighttime shots so that light pollution from inside the cupola doesn't affect the photo.
Certified Keeper Oppo Find X10 Pro Max 88 Oppo appears to have another winner on its hands with its new flagship Find X10 Pro Max. The triple 200-megapixel camera system is one of the highlights, but the impressive battery life, excellent display, and powerful new chipset are praised.
"The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is a complete package, with excellent cameras and battery life, and speedy software," 9to5Google's Ben Schoon writes. "[T]he X10 Pro Max is excellent, offering everything you’d need from a flagship phone right now," Andrew Lanxon from CNET adds.
It's an excellent showing from Oppo, with the Find X10 Pro Max hitting Certified Keeper status, too.
Police in Israel have arrested 10 people over the brutal assault of Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, the Associated Press reports.
Levine, an American photographer based in Jerusalem, suffered multiple lacerations, a broken rib, broken vertebrae, and a badly broken finger while covering the Olive Harvest in the West Bank last week.
The arrests follow international condemnation over the incident. Masked settlers in the West Bank were responsible for the attack on Levine and other incidents.
Apple iPhone Duo 80 The Apple iPhone Duo reviews embargo lifted this morning and the consensus is in: while it's got first-generation product quirks, it provides an overall positive experience.
Those who are more mixed on it lean into issues with compatibility.
"It’s incomplete as a product, but complete enough as an idea that you can see where things are going," The Verge writes. "After 20 years of iPhones that look mostly the same, it's exciting to see Apple chart a new course. But the Duo is still one of the most early adopter Apple products I've tested in a long time," Joanna Stern adds.
But those who like it, really seem to like it.
"The iPhone Duo is the best designed foldable phone I’ve ever tested, Mark Spoonauer writes on Tom's Guide. "The Apple iPhone Duo arrives as a fully realized folding smartphone from a company that, perhaps smartly, sat back and watched a category stumble, grow, develop, and solidify into a desirable form factor," TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff gushes.
Check out my review of the Duo here and see how all reviewers landed on PixelMeter.
Antigravity, which makes the unique and very good A1 drone, has announced a new Follow Me Bundle. It pairs the A1 drone with new accessories to convert the drone into a full, 8K-capable 360° "follow-me drone." Antigravity notes that unlike traditional follow-me drones, which capture just one perspective at a time, the A1 captures the entire scene. The A1 is controlled via portable Watch and Ring Remotes, enabling hands-free shooting and follow-me activation.
"This new bundle makes Antigravity A1 the best 360 follow-me drone for family outings and sporting activities, giving people an easy way to capture memories while staying in the moment," says Michael Shabun, CEO of Antigravity. "As the Antigravity ecosystem grows, we’ll continue expanding what’s possible with A1 and unlocking new possibilities in aerial creativity."
The Antigravity Follow Me Bundle is available now, starting at $799.
Although Apple itself isn't offering leather cases for its new premium foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, third parties are stepping up to the plate to fill the void, including Sandmarc. The company has unveiled its new full-grain leather iPhone Duo cases, available in black and brown leather. The thin, lightweight cases are fully compatible with Sandmarc's iPhone lens and filter ecosystem, too. The new cases are available to preorder now with delivery starting in November for $89.99.
A photographer spent over a decade living with Black cowboys and cowgirls in the U.S., capturing a culture that is often overlooked.
The James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) newest Picture of the Month shows what the European Space Agency (ESA) describes as a "turbulent cauldron of star formation." The star-forming region named LHA 120-N 159, also known as N159, is located 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
Thypoch has announced the Simera-C 100mm T1.9 Cine lens, completing the company's seven-lens full-frame cinema prime lineup.
Hungarian photographer Imre Potyó is the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026. The competition, organized by the German Society for Nature Photography (GDT), celebrates the best European nature photography each year, and Potyó's striking photo beat over 26,000 others for the grand prize.
Today’s Film Friday takes a look at a blast from the past: Kodak ColorPlus 200. This all-purpose film is one of the most affordable color negative films available for loading into your favorite 35mm film camera. It is very much a jack-of-all-trades type of film (and a master of none) that will do everything you want it to decently well and save your camera budget in the process. So let’s get started.
A signed original 1988 photograph of Michael Jordan's legendary dunk that turned him into a global icon -- is up for auction.
Canva has released its first image generation model, which was trained on design templates rather than photographs.
Photojournalist Jerry Gay -- who won a Pultizer Prize for his shot of four firemen resting after fighting a house fire and took some of the most iconic images of serial killer Ted Bundy - has passed away.
Canon is one of the biggest names in photography, and it has been for a long time. The company's mirrorless EOS R series cameras are routinely among the best-selling on the market, and some are currently available at discounted prices. There are also great deals on RF-mount lenses.
Astrophotographer Evan McKay has been named Photographer of the Year in the 2026 Astrophotography Prize, taking the competition’s highest honour with his image, Cathedral Cove, New Zealand. He took home $3,000.
Fans of Formula 1 have noticed some impressive, physics-defying camera transitions at the last couple of races, and social media is convinced it's AI.
Netflix has released a trailer for an upcoming documentary about the legendary photographer Richard Avedon.
I absolutely love Sigma lenses, but I really struggle with the camera designs. This is not a recent development either; I’ve disliked every single camera body I’ve tested. Usually, the reason comes down to strange ergonomics that don’t feel comfortable in hand, menus and controls that force you to use the camera in one rigid way, and risk-taking design decisions that often lead to a perplexing shooting experience.
Sigma has announced the 50mm f/1.4 CL DG Contemporary, which it describes as a "new lineage" for premium compact prime lenses that emphasizes old-school aesthetics over optical perfection. But beyond that, it pushes the boundaries of lens design in new, exciting ways.
It's been a long time since Sigma announced the fp, billed as the world's smallest full-frame mirrorless camera. Much has changed in the industry since 2019, and now the Sigma FP2 is here with a fresh style to its model name and some new tricks up its sleeve. What hasn't changed, though, is the megapixel count and the ultra-compact design.
With Apple's debut foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, launching tomorrow, the internet has been buzzing about Apple's iPhone Duo Case and how sticky it is. Yes, it's unprecedented for Apple to make an adhesive iPhone case, but it's common for foldable phone cases.
Seven years ago, Lensbaby unveiled the creative Omni Filter System. Now Lensbaby is back with the fresh Omni Color II and Omni Crystal II collections, introducing even more ways to dramatically change the look of photos and videos in-camera.
A farmer in western Minnesota discovered an approximately 11-foot-wide metallic object in his cornfield that authorities believe may have come from space.
A rare original ambrotype photograph of Abraham Lincoln has been acquired by the museum in the city where the image was taken in 1858.
GoPro has announced a new set of close-up filters for the Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 cameras made in tandem with PolarPro. With these new filters, which come in three strengths, the camera can overcome one of its biggest complaints: poor focus distance.
Cooke Optics, a legendary name in cinema lenses, has announced the S4 FF/i series of cinema primes. These are "invigorated" new full-frame versions of Cooke's iconic S4/i S35 lenses, and all six of them feature fast T2.0 apertures.
A suspect has been arrested three years after a well-known local photographer was killed after leaving his photo studio in Atlanta.
Oppo has unveiled the Find X10 series, headlined by the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max. Both phones feature Hasselblad imaging technology, but only the Find X10 Pro Max is the world's first smartphone to include a triple 200-megapixel rear camera system.
Insta360 has announced the Mic, which is only very slightly different from the Mic Pro it announced earlier this year. Instead of an onboard SSD, the new Mic retains internal recording via removable microSD, which lets the company drop the price by $80.
Getty Images has launched a solicitation process to advance its bankruptcy proceedings in the United States so that the stock photo agency can restructure.
Researchers have pinpointed the exact location of Louis Daguerre's 1838 View of the Boulevard du Temple -- the first photograph to capture human beings.
More than half a century after they were captured on the streets of Toronto, photographer Brian Condron’s remarkable black-and-white photographs, most of them previously unpublished, are collected in a new book, Toronto in the Seventies: Photographs by Brian Condron.
A footprint belonging to a 20-foot-long carnivorous theropod dinosaur that walked around on its hind legs has been discovered in Thailand.
Mexico-based documentary photographer Dennis Berti developed WorthWait, a new mobile camera app that replicates the disposable-camera experience.
KEH's Overstock Sale is back, giving photographers a chance to save even more on pre-owned cameras, lenses, and accessories.
PetaPixel has announced PixelMeter, the camera industry's first review aggregator platform. PixelMeter collects reviews from across the landscape and condenses the opinions into a single, standardized score so photographers can see the best gear at a glance.
Alongside the winners of the 52nd annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography competition, Nikon Japan also announced the winners of its 74th annual Nikkor Photo Contest.
Just last week, OM Digital Solutions (OMDS) warned photographers in Japan that their preordered OM System PEN cameras and kits might not arrive until next spring. The bad news keeps coming, as OM System has now outright delayed the PEN's launch in Japan.
Researchers have developed AI tools that use photographs of a person’s face to estimate biological age and predict survival outcomes among patients with cancer.
Nikon has announced the winners of its 52nd annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. This year's winning photos celebrate the world's best and most captivating images captured through a microscope, showing the world in an up-close and unique way.
Australia is set to sue all major social media companies, accusing them of failing to enforce a national ban on users under 16 and allowing children to remain on their platforms.
Food delivery app Just Eat has apologized over several inaccurate AI-generated photos on menus, including a nauseating picture of bacon and eggs floating in a soda.
Birmingham City Council in the U.K. got its own city mixed up last night after sharing a photo of Birmingham in Alabama.
The iPhone Duo pulls me in two directions. On the one hand, it's a brilliantly designed phone that feels premium and invites you in like no other Apple handheld has before. On the other, it surfaces issues I've never had with an iPhone before.
A man has won his lawsuit against Google Earth for publishing aerial photos of his home, with a German court ruling that the tech giant has no right to share such images without his consent.
Consumer drones and cameras have revolutionized and democratized wildlife photography. Once the preserve of an elite band of photographers, the humble fisherman is now capable of recording something extraordinary.
Leica and Formula 1 have teamed up for a limited-edition version of the Leica Q3 43.
Vivo has announced the V80, a new mid-range smartphone with a camera system co-engineered by Zeiss.
