Viltrox has been busying itself with full-frame Z-mount releases over the last year, building upon the core of its business which has been centered around APS-C. In fact, the last Fuji X-mount release was the "Pro" monikered 27mm f/1.2 that I reviewed in August 2023. The new 56mm f/1.7 sits at the opposite end of the spectrum, retailing at an extremely modest $139. It may be budget in price, but its performance is far from it.
Viltrox stepped up to the plate last year and delivered its first pro-level lens in the form of the AF 75mm f/1.2, which is a devastatingly good lens. It has followed that with the 27mm f/1.2 that has a tempting price of just $545.
Long-time Sony executive Shigeki Ishizuka recently gave an interview in which he candidly spoke about early developments in the imaging division and how the flip to mirrorless was part of a longer-term plan to unsettle the camera market. Was this really a clever strategy or a re-writing of history to fit the narrative?
The monochrome digital camera is an odd beast - something talked about in revered terms - with echoes reverberating from those hallowed Leica halls because it is only Leica that had dipped its toe in the proverbial monochrome waters... until now.
What Canon says and does is important to the camera industry because it is so dominant across large swathes of the sector. And as a publicly listed company, it is required to publish both its financial results and business strategy going forward. Canon recently updated its medium-term strategy, so where does it see itself in five years' time? In one word: dominant. More importantly, what does this say about the future for everyone else?
Why pay for something outright when you can borrow it? Renting is an obvious solution - particularly when the item is potentially very expensive - to be able to use something you can't afford. Someone else makes the outright purchase and you pay them a small fee to have exclusive use.
It seems like a small request to a simple need... you shoot an event using your main standalone camera and want to upload a few choice shots to social media or send to a client to give them something to post straightaway. Or - as I've done - undertake some quick processing on your phone before sending it to an Instax printer and giving your customer an instant print.
The Zeiss ZX1 promised "intuitive" photography that mixed a standalone camera with smartphone software. But now that it's marked as discontinued, is this finally the end of the Android camera?
Lenses are big business: while we have seen the value of camera shipments nose-dive year-on-year, lens value has slowly increased and is now equal to about a third of the camera market. It's for this reason that third-party manufacturers have increased their stake in this market and particularly at the low-cost end where Chinese manufacturers proliferate. Who are these companies and what does their appearance presage in terms of the camera market as a whole?
Camera manufacturers have long told us that the future was mirrorless and - as if there was any doubt - Canon and Nikon even joined the party as far back as 2018, yet compact cameras and DSLRs have stubbornly refused to die. With 2022 well and truly over, we can now safely say that it was the year of the mirrorless camera and this marks some profound changes across the board for the industry as a whole.
The Viltrox AF 75mm f/1.2 doesn't slot neatly into Viltrox's existing prime lens lineup for APS-C cameras (and currently for Fuji X-mount) - in fact, I'd call it an aberration, an experiment, possibly even a mistake. But what a wonderful mistake.
Nikon's recent development announcement for a 26mm f/2.8 lens sent chills down my spine, exacerbated by its diminutive proportions. While maybe not the most important lens in their lineup, is any mirrorless system complete without one?
The camera market is a bastion of high tech as manufacturers constantly innovate to create market-leading products. Not only that, they appear to invest increasing amounts of money into research and development in order to stay relevant as the smartphone onslaught continues unabated. Or do they?
Leica innovated the heck out of the camera with the Leica 1 back in 1925, breaking new ground with the Leica 2 and then the M3. However, not so much in recent years and I argue the "classic" M is now actually holding back Leica's innovation.
Adobe recently announced new Camera to Cloud integrations, following its recent acquisition of Frame.io. The Fuji X-H2S will become the first stills camera to natively shoot "to the cloud". This might seem like a niche feature, however look beyond the headlines and this could be a generational step change. Not only because of the ability save to the cloud (like Google Photos) but because of what this then enables.
Earlier this month Olympus revealed some of the thought process behind the 2020 sale of its camera division in which the company jettisoned it in order to pursue greater stability and profitability from its broad portfolio of medical technology. This is in stark contrast to Nikon, which has wiped the slate clean and started again. What is going on with Japanese camera manufacturers and are there any lessons to be learned?
The death of the DSLR was always in the cards - as soon as Nikon and Canon entered the mirrorless fray in 2018 it was not a case of if, but when. However, what was perhaps not expected was the rapidity with which the sales rug would be pulled from beneath DSLR consumers' feet. It's all or nothing when it comes to mirrorless.
Many photographers are nostalgic for film. It might be the smell of the darkroom as you wait for your print to develop, the physically mechanical nature of shooting photos, or the skill required to bring home a decent photo.
The Africa Geographic 2019 winner "Tim in Amboseli National Park, Kenya is a great photo. It shows Tim the elephant majestically backlit against a dramatic sky. Except, it didn't win: it was later disqualified for excessive manipulation.
The death of the DSLR has long been vaunted, and even after the appearance of the RF and Z mirrorless systems, it still sees signs of life. But dedicated lens manufacturers might finally have killed it off.
The mark of a mature camera system is the breadth and depth of lenses that are available for it. The most recent news swirling around Canon, its RF mount, and third-party lens manufacturers demonstrates the principal battleground between competing mirrorless brands.
The ultimate skill of the photographer -- of the artist -- is to create the aesthetics of the scene in front of them "in the moment". The Natural Landscape Photo Award is perhaps the epitome of this with minimal image manipulation allowed, while the World Press Photo has a Code of Ethics. So straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) has got to be the pinnacle of ability, hasn't it? Or is there more to the notion of what an image is and where the skill lies in producing it?
Ordinarily, it is the end-of-year results that are the most interesting as they provide a picture of how the year has gone and what the outlook for the next year is. However, with this report, Canon has confirmed three critically important aspects of the camera market which gives it increased confidence going forward.
Pentax could now be in the strange and advantageous position as the main beneficiary of the demise of the DSLR as both Canon and Nikon prepare to exit the space.
If there was one word to describe 2022's camera sales trends so far, it would be "pivotal." When I say pivotal, I mean it to say that it seems as if a switch has been flipped and the market has turned on its head.
Micro Four Thirds had a lot going for it when it launched as it promised low cost, smaller lenses, and good image quality. So why didn't it become the go-to format?
With Canon's strong foothold -- or should that be increasing stranglehold -- on the mirrorless market, you can easily argue it is becoming the Microsoft of the camera world.
The Viltrox AF 13mm f/1.4 STM lens slots neatly into an existing range of Viltrox primes for APS-C cameras, a focal length that is notably absent from Fujifilm directly. The 13mm, which is equivalent to 20mm on 35mm full-frame, is fairly wide and works well for landscapes or architecture, especially for the low price of $429.
We're sold software on the basis that what we can't get right in-camera, we can fix and improve after the event. Even with all the fancy algorithms that are available to us, the single best thing you go do to your image is a simple crop.
As a photographer, you might be out on the street or at a vantage point in the landscape. You raise the viewfinder to your eye, compose the framing that you envisioned, then click the shutter. You have a picture that was acquired using the technical elements at your creative disposal: focal length, shutter speed, and aperture. But where was the camera?