performance

Fujifilm Instax

Fujifilm’s Business is Booming Thanks to the Success of Film

It's the time of year when many corporations announce performance over the last year and Fuji is no different, except all eyes are on recovery from COVID shutdowns and supply chain problems. So how did Fujifilm do? The short answer is very well and, for its Imaging division, film is king.

Mac Studio with M1 Ultra

Apple Mac Studio with M1 Ultra Review: Insane Power for the Price

Ever since Apple moved to the M1 chip, we’ve consistently lauded the performance improvements we’ve seen. It feels like with each iteration we say “most powerful” or “surprising” in some way, but those are still perhaps the best words to underscore just how impressive the M1 Ultra in the new Mac Studio is. Because it is impressive.

Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Max Review: Hail to the King

It is extremely difficult to come into a review of the new MacBook Pro with a truly neutral mindset. The original M1 was just so darned impressive that a follow-up naturally has enormous shoes to fill. Somehow, not only does the MacBook Pro powered by M1 Max meet expectations, it exceeds them: this computer is a marvel.

How to Optimize Lightroom Classic for the Best Performance

One of the consequences of reviewing computers for PetaPixel and running benchmark after benchmark is that you learn a thing or two about working in Lightroom. From weird quirks to the optimal performance settings for import, export, and editing, there are a few key changes you can make to coax a little more speed out of Adobe's Raw editor.

Dell XPS 17 Review: A Photo Editing Powerhouse with a Stunning Display

When Dell decided to bring back the XPS 17, I was skeptical. Most 17-inch laptops fail to give you enough performance to justify the drop in portability; what you end up with is either too big, not powerful enough, or both. That's what makes the XPS 17 so special. This is a 17-inch laptop built with creative professionals in mind.

CFexpress: A Real-World Performance Comparison

The newest, best cameras coming on the market use a new kind of memory card called CFexpress Type B. They’re fast, but they’re new, so users don’t really have an impression of which ones might be better to buy. This review shows tests from the better of the ones available and presents the results so that readers can use the factors most important to them to choose the best card for themselves.

Nikon D6 Wildlife Photography Review

Wildlife photographer Steve Perry of Backcountry Gallery has just completed a massive review of the Nikon D6. And after using the camera in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and Yellowstone National Park, he has some thoughts on whether or not wildlife photographers should consider buying Nikon's flagship DSLR.

DXOMark Admits They Screwed Up Their Canon 1D X Mark III Review

Earlier today, DXOMark issued an apology. The popular sensor testing company revised its controversially low score for the Canon 1D X Mark III, admitting that "erroneous testing data" had affected the scoring and screwed up their initial review. In other words: this sensor is much better than they thought.

Microsoft Surface Book 3 Review: A Great Laptop, Flawed by Design

I like the Microsoft Surface Book 3. In fact, I like it a lot. The build quality is great, and the design is both useful and pretty much unique right now. But it's also flawed... critically flawed by the selfsame design that makes it a unique product, which is why I can't recommend it to most working photographers.

Review: The New 13-Inch MacBook Pro is Surprisingly Powerful

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is a confusing proposition from Apple. We called it a "half update" in our first impressions, and I stand by that. But it's also an important update that gives photographers and video editors a lot more performance bang for their buck—as long as they're willing to spend $1,800 or more. Let's dive in.

How to Rebuild Lightroom Previews to Optimize Speed, Space, and Integrity

Over time, Lightroom may become slow to render thumbnails and scroll through images. Rebuilding all previews may significantly improve performance. It may also significantly reduce the size of your Lightroom catalog. Rebuilding previews also serves as a file integrity check. So what are you waiting for?

Adobe Updates Lightroom with GPU Accelerated Editing

Adobe has officially released their August Photography update for Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, which is focused on "performance and improving your workflow." The update adds several little improvements, but the most intriguing update is the addition of GPU Accelerated Editing.

Lightroom Shootout: $6,700 iMac Pro vs $5,700 PC

Pye Jirsa over at SLR Lounge recently published a Mac vs PC comparison that answers an important question for photographers: which is better for Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, a powerful iMac Pro or an equivalent custom-built PC?

This 4K Short Film Shows the Low-Light Abilities of the Nikon Z6

While Nikon's new Z7 full-frame mirrorless camera is the Z Series flagship, the cheaper Z6 is designed to be a low-light powerhouse. Bulgarian filmmaker and photographer Marin Marinov got to test a pre-production Nikon Z6, and he ended up shooting this 1-minute short film titled "Dreaming."

Lightroom Sucks: An Open Letter to Adobe

“Panic on the streets of London, panic on the streets of Birmingham, I wonder to myself, could life ever be sane again?” You’d be forgiven for thinking The Smiths were singing about wedding photographers mid-summer running around the streets in a naked hysteria after they’ve just installed the latest Lightroom update.

MacBook Pro CPU Throttling Was Due to Software Bug, Apple Says

Last week, reviewers reported that Apple's latest generation of MacBook Pro laptops suffer from thermal throttling, or having the CPU run much slower than advertised during intense processing because of heat issues. If that turned you off to the laptop, there's some good news today: Apple says the throttling was due to a software bug that has since been fixed.

‘You Must Create’: This Spoken Word is Inspiration for Photographers

Photographers can easily become distracted by the pursuit of things like popularity and success, but one thing that many photographers find beneficial is going out and creating photos just for themselves rather than for others. Here's a 5-minute spoken word performance titled "You Must Create" that encourages photographers to do just that.

Lightroom Still Slow? Another Major Performance Update is Coming

After finally admitting that Lightroom is slow in 2017, Adobe pledged to speed it up and released a big performance update in October 2017. Unfortunately, the updated Lightroom can still be sluggish, even if you spend $6,000 building the ultimate Lightroom editing machine. There's some great news today, though: Adobe says that another major performance update is on the way.

This Guy Built an Ultimate Lightroom Battlestation for $6,000

Hobbyist photographer and Twitter product designer Paul Stamatiou recently decided that his 2-year-old iMac was no longer up to the task of handling his high-res RAW photos in Lightroom. Instead of shelling out $13,199 or $7,128 for a fully loaded iMac Pro or Mac Pro, Stamatiou decided to switch to Windows and build himself a custom Lightroom photo-editing monster.

iPhone to Soon Let You Disable ‘Power Management’ to Restore Speed

Apple sparked worldwide controversy and issued an apology in December 2017 after it admitted that the company has been quietly throttling performance in aging iPhones in order to prevent the weakened batteries from causing unexpected restarts. Apple has now revealed that an upcoming update will allow this "power management" to be disabled.