Lighting company Amaran today launched the Amaran Go, a compact, MagSafe-compatible two-way mini LED for smartphones. The mobile lighting solution aims to reduce the barrier to entry for aspiring content creators.
Many smartphones released in China and other overseas countries never make it to the United States. PetaPixel tries to cover the most interesting of these devices because there are many international readers. Oppo is one of the most interesting smartphone companies with no official presence in the United States, and its latest flagship phone, the Oppo Find X8 Pro, is a Hasselblad-powered doozy of a phone.
Canon joined the growing number of camera manufacturers making custom cropping guides available to high-volume photographers, such as school portrait photographers. Like others, Canon is charging an upgrade fee for using custom gridlines. However, Canon is the first to require a camera to be sent to a service center for the upgrade.
Rode unveiled the next-generation Wireless Go (Gen 3), the latest iteration of what Rode calls "the world's most popular wireless microphone."
A brand-new Hubble image delivers an incredible view of a quasar, enabling the space telescope to "peer closer than ever into the throat of an energetic monster black hole." The new views, described as "weird," show what could be a group of galaxies falling into a black hole.
After announcing its new text-to-video AI generator, Sora, back in February, OpenAI has finally released it to the world.
Engineer, builder, and YouTube creator Shane Wighton, known for the YouTube channel Stuff Made Here, has tackled a lot of fascinating engineering questions over the years. The latest is one of the craziest yet. Can a camera see around objects?
Sigma's refreshingly candid CEO, Kazuto Yamaki, sat down with Sigma UK's Tim Berry for a nearly half-hour-long interview concerning a diverse range of topics, including Yamaki's favorite photographers, why Sigma remains a "Made in Japan" brand, and an upcoming lens.
In September, Rode announced the $250,000 Creator of the Year Awards. The competition awarded creators across 22 categories, including one overall winner, Gawx Art, taking home $20,000 in cash and $30,000 worth of prizes. Rode has announced winners, including a familiar face and friend of PetaPixel, Becca Farsace.
German artificial intelligence software company PRC announced the latest version of its AI-powered photo management program, Excire Foto 2025. The software promises to help photographers, even those with massive image libraries, keep their photos organized. The app also uses AI to help photographers with one of the most arduous tasks of all: culling.
With 2024 winding down, various apps and services are launching "year in review" recaps. Many people have first-hand experience with this feature with music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Some photo-oriented platforms do it, too, including Google Photos, as of this year.
Chinese optics company Kipon, known for its lenses and optical adapters, released two new 0.62x focal reducers for medium-format cameras.
When a lake-effect snowstorm hit Erie, Pennsylvania after Thanksgiving, Pittsburgh-based freelancer Jeff Swensen drove 130 miles to make widely published photos for Getty Images.
After a slight hiccup and one-day delay, the European Space Agency's incredible Proba-3 mission successfully launched into space. The Proba-3 mission will do something never seen before: it will precisely and repeatedly create solar eclipses in orbit using two satellites. Lining up these satellites is a remarkable technological feat and relies heavily on breakthrough imaging technology.
Earlier this year, Canon made the (great) decision to allow third-party manufacturers to bring autofocus-equipped lenses to RF mount, albeit only RF-S (APS-C) lenses. Since that announcement, companies like Tamron and Sigma announced RF-S lenses. Now South Korean lens maker Samyang is getting in on the action by bringing its 12mm f/2 ultra-wide prime to RF mount.
Professional cinema company Arri announced a new Alexa camera, the Alexa 265. This new-generation 65mm camera is significantly smaller and lighter than the standard Alexa 65 and features an improved large-format image sensor.
Launched in December 2009, the Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) ended its mission on July 31, 2024, and, as expected, reentered Earth's atmosphere on November 1, burning up. However, while NEOWISE is gone, its impact is still felt. As Space reports, the NEOWISE team recently did one final data release and shared never-before-seen images.
Like many photographers, I'm entrenched in a specific editing workflow. I use Adobe Lightroom Classic for the basics -- and even some of the more advanced edits -- and Photoshop for the rest. It works for me, and I'm not keen to jump through any hoops to change my process. However, Pixelmator Pro features a tool that made me pivot last week when I tried to make a print at home over the Thanksgiving holiday: Smart Deband.
National Geographic's annual "Pictures of the Year" issue celebrates the incredible adventures that Nat Geo photographers embark on each year and the remarkable, vital photographs they bring back.
This holiday season, upgrade your gear and save on select Tamron lenses for your Sony E-mount, Nikon Z mount or FUJIFILM X-mount camera! Enjoy big discounts on a wide-range of lenses including fast zooms like the 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III VXD G2 for Sony E-mount and the versatile 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD for Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount! With a diverse selection of lenses available, Tamron provides outstanding quality and performance to assist you in capturing breathtaking images during this holiday season -- and in any season.
Amid considerable fears about the impact that AI-generated content may have on the 2024 Presidential Election in the United States, Meta claims that less than one percent of election misinformation was created by AI, at least on its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
Fujifilm has a problem, albeit a good one, in that it is struggling to make enough cameras to meet demand. The excess demand has resulted in a significant issue: scalpers, people who buy a popular product to resell it at a markup. Fujifilm is doing something about it, at least in Japan.
Capture the Atlas' Northern Lights Photographer of the Year competition always features spectacular aurora photos, but this year's seventh annual edition is especially incredible thanks to exceptional solar conditions in 2024.
Milwaukee-based Retrospekt reignited its relationship with Sanrio for a new Hello Kitty collaboration. This time, Retrospekt and Sanrio are back in the saddle for the Hello Kitty "Howdy Partner" collection, comprising a trio of new analog photography products, including a 35mm film camera.
Friend of PetaPixel and Cameralabs founder Gordon Laing is back with another entry in his excellent Retro Review series. Laing's latest target is Nikon's 2005 APS-C camera, the Nikon D200.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continues showing off its remarkable imaging technology. Webb's latest target, the Sombrero galaxy, gives the $10 billion telescope ample opportunity to showcase its mid-infrared and infrared cameras.
2024 has been an exciting year for film photography enthusiasts, and the thrill is not over. Lomography, well known for its analog cameras, unveiled the Lomourette Half Frame camera today. The 35mm camera can capture 72 images on a single roll of film.
Display company ViewSonic unveiled the winners of its fifth annual ColorPro Awards, a global competition celebrating the visual arts, including spectacular photography. Photographers and other artists from over 100 countries entered nearly 10,500 artworks into the contest, themed around "Momentum."
LumaTouch announced a significant update to Storyblocks for LumaFusion, adding new features, including Multicam Studio and Speed Ramping, at no additional cost to subscribers. With this feature expansion, the company is also renaming the Storyblocks for LumaFusion subscription to the LumaFusion "Creator Pass."
Photographers struggling to find the perfect angle for a group shot have often relied upon clumsy tripods, clunky self-timers, or, worst of all, missing out on being in the frame to take the photo themselves. Enter PhotoBot, a robot photographer who promises to capture a good shot and can take instructions and use a reference photo when finding the ideal composition.
Everyone has an intimate relationship with food. The job of food photographers, says an award-winning pro, is to create images that connect food’s personality to people who consume it.
Tamron is a prolific lens maker for numerous camera systems, including the Sony E-mount. Since Sony released the speedy a9 III late last year, which offers 120 frames per second of continuous shooting, third-party lens makers have been updating lenses to keep pace. The latest lens to receive the update is Tamron's 70-180mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom.
Fujifilm and Google announced a collaboration between Fujifilm's Instax series and Google's flagship Pixel 9 Pro smartphone.
A lot of the conversation surrounding Sony's new flagship camera, the a1 II, concerns the camera's image sensor. The 50-megapixel backside-illuminated stacked sensor is the same as the one featured in the original a1 which released in 2021. While some describe the reused sensor as disappointing, it is normal for Sony to use the same sensor across multiple iterations of the same camera series.
The DJI Mic 2 has proven extremely popular among content creators thanks to its excellent audio quality and wireless functionality. DJI's new Mic Mini, weighing just 10 grams (0.35 ounces), promises to pack great wireless mic performance into an extremely compact package.
Earlier this month, the Leitz Photographica Auction previewed some of the 423 lots that were for sale over the weekend in Vienna, Austria, including a rare Leica M prototype auction organizers expected to sell for as much as 700,000 euros (about $735,000). Now that the auction has occurred, it turns out the estimate was far too low -- the Leica M prototype sold for 2,040,000 euros ($2,143,509).
Newly filed patents in Japan suggest Canon is, at the very least, considering bringing new telephoto and super-telephoto prime lenses to its EOS R mirrorless camera system, with numerous designs promising relatively compact and lightweight alternatives to exotic lenses.
Radiant Imaging Labs announced the launch of Radiant Photo 2, the latest major release of the company's photo editing software built to preserve color and help photographers get the most from their images.
The first OstLicht camera auction on Chinese soil included some heavy hitters, including a one-of-a-kind Leica camera that sold for an incredible record sum of 3.62 million euros, or just about $3.8 million.
With the debut of the Sony 28-70mm f/2 GM lens this week, Sony now has 56 full-frame lenses and 77 total E-mount lenses. That is a lot of lenses -- by far the most among all full-frame camera systems and as the 28-70mm f/2 shows, Sony is finally free to experiment more.
Photographer Reuben Wu, known for pioneering light painting in beautiful landscape photography, including through the use of drones, has begun work on a brand-new project. While the project is in progress, Wu captured some beautiful shots in August that are too cool not to share a little early.
Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) announced a new global shutter image sensor earlier this week. While aimed at industrial applications and therefore unlikely to appear in a consumer camera anytime soon, if ever, the 24.5-megapixel sensor's specifications are well worth discussing.
Space telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope typically capture head-on images of galaxies, showing them in all their frame-filling glory. However, Hubble imaged its latest target, UGC 10043, from the edge, capturing an unusual, beautiful perspective.
American technology company Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent company, claims that New Mexico's bombshell accusations about the company's failure to protect children have it all backward. In a motion for dismissal, Snap says New Mexico's Attorney General mischaracterized the company's alleged shortcomings and committed a shoddy investigation.
WhiteWall's new Coffee Table Book promises to be more than just another photo book. This is a lofty target, and through the use of premium materials and the attention to detail WhiteWall is known for, the company's new offering hits the mark.
The Sony a1 II has arrived, and it is a fantastic flagship camera. However, while its predecessor was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, the mirrorless flagship camera race is much closer in 2024 than it was in 2021, and it has left the a1 II in a somewhat awkward position -- it feels like the middle child in a camera series that only actually has two models.
As its name suggests, British company 3 Legged Thing is best known for its tripods and associated accessories, like camera plates and L brackets. However, the company has ventured into new territory this week with its Str3amcase triple mic system, hereafter referred to as "Streamcase."
Chinese lens maker Yongnuo recently teased a new 35mm f/1.8 prime lens in its native market. Details on the specifics of the lens are scarce, but Yongnuo has unveiled the prime's complete name: YN35mm f/1.8 DA Art. Yes, that's right, "Art" -- a term strongly associated with Sigma's Art lens series.
Cosina will release three limited edition Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 VM Limited lenses next month, and all three feature striking, unusual colorways.
For the first time, astronomers captured a zoomed-in picture of a dying star in a galaxy outside the Milky Way Galaxy, not only learning vital information about the nature of the Universe but demonstrating remarkable advancements in imaging technology.