Equipment

Canon perceived premium compact users to want a bright powerful zoom lens with relatively large sensor and a viewfinder in the PowerShot G1X Mk II and G16, but Sony proved astutely there was a huge demand for a quality compact that could slip into a pocket.

When Canon was busy building old-school destroyers, Sony designed a sleek modern frigate in the form of the RX100 with a 1” sensor. It took Canon two years to respond, but they finally launched a compact with but one purpose – to regain the throne of best compact from Sony.

Ollie Baker, the 18-year-old tinkerer who made headlines when he turned an old Konica rangefinder into a digital camera using a Sony NEX-5 sensor, is back at it with a Kickstarter project that's even more exciting: he wants to turn your Leica M3 into a digital camera by packing the full-frame sensor from the Sony a7 inside!

Ben Canales, an Oregon-based photographer and filmmaker, wasted no time putting his new iPhone 6 Plus to the test once he had it in hand.

As soon as he got it, Canales packed his bags and took to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to piece together a short film that shows you just how capable the iPhone 6 (Plus) and iOS 8 are when it comes to mobile photography and cinematography.

It took a minute, but it seems Canon has finally started to take Sony and Panasonic's compact camera game seriously. The G7 X -- basically a cheaper Sony RX100 Mark III with better zoom but no EVF -- proved this already, and more evidence is piling up thanks to a Canon Hong Kong press release that hints at a potential RX10 competitor.

Forget 4K, 4K is for babies. How about 6.5K coming out of a sensor that is three times bigger than Super 35 and considered, "the largest high-performance motion picture sensor available on the market"? If you have the need and, more importantly, the capital for it, ARRI has you covered with the new Alexa 65.

Dr. Hubert Nasse has been working in optics for almost 30 years. A ZEISS master, many of us dream of sitting down with a man of his optical know-how and just having a conversation in which he enlightens us (pun intended) on the basics of lens design.

Fortunately, photographer and photo educator Matt Granger is making that dream come true for us today with his video interview with Dr. Nasse from Photokina.

It's no mystery that the Sony A7s kicks every other camera's butt handily when it comes to low-light shooting, but just how capable is it? And what's the creative potential of this sort of capability? Both of those questions are answered quite impressively in the aptly-titled 'Moonlight,' shot with the A7s using only moonlight.

While everybody was still speculating and chasing after rumors about the then unofficial iPhone 6, photographer Austin Mann was hopping a plane to Iceland with a 5S, 6 and 6 Plus in tow. His mission was to test these three phones out side-by-side and see if the major tech updates Apple made to the camera translate into real-world results.

If you thought the $2,750 Nikon Df was too expensive as is, you might want to skip this one. Announced a few hours ago via Facebook, it seems the company Brikk is planning to release the 24K gold version you see above.

Just over a week ago we featured Matt Granger's review of ZEISS’ recently-announced Otus 85mm f/1.4, and today he’s back with a quick review and comparison test of Nikon's newest full-frame camera: the D750.

These days, it seems that if you want to get a nice sharp lens, you have to spend $1000 on a piece of L glass. Aside from the nifty fifty’s of the world, there are very few lenses that deliver quality results at a low price. But if you look harder, there are actually a few old lenses that still offer amazing quality for extremely low price. How is that possible? Well, it is. Keep reading to learn how.

Photokina isn't just a place for major camera brands with big lens and body announcements, a lot of smaller companies use the trade show to gain some traction for their sometimes-weird, sometimes-ingenious camera accessories as well.

Fortunately for us, the Lens Flipper by Go Wing -- a double sided mount accessory that makes carrying and swapping lenses super quick and easy -- fits into the latter category.

Talk of Canon dropping a bomb on the megapixel war with a high-MP DSLR is nothing new, but several rumor sites are now reporting on the possibility of a 46MP pro Canon DSLR next month at PhotoPlus in New York City. Take THAT Nikon and your measly 36 megapixels.

Update on 3/15/17: Here's a statement provided to PetaPixel by Peak Design regarding the issue reported in this article:

The product issue described in this article was limited to a single batch of products sent out to a subset of Peak Design's Kickstarter backers in October, 2014. Upon discovering this defect Peak Design immediately halted production until they fixed the manufacturing error. No defective units ever hit retail shelves or peakdesign.com. Peak Design offered their Kickstarter backers free replacement straps, as well as a DIY fix-it-kit.

When you're in the business of keeping photographers' cameras secure and safe, having your product fail can lead to disastrous results. This past weekend, San Francisco photo gear company Peak Design sent out an email to some customers warning them about a newly-discovered issue with their straps.

Apparently a small percentage of straps have a component that can disengage without the photographer wanting it to, potentially leading to dropped cameras.

Say hello to the Canon M4 D Mark II, the assault camera that shoots 10 shots per second and is equipped with a 100-400mm scope. The barrel is able to extend and retract, and offers stabilization features while in use.

This funny little arrangement was created by French photography studio KOEphotography and shared on its Facebook page.

The Panasonic CM1 smartphone with its 1-inch sensor and super-fast Leica lens might not be available outside of a few European countries any time soon, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't have a supercharged smartphone camera.

Enter Relonch: an iPhone case that adds a much larger APS-C sensor and fast f/2.0 lens to any iPhone 5 or 6.

After releasing a total of 6 cameras, both digital and analog, at Photokina today, Leica would have been remiss to leave us without a few new pieces of glass. Don’t worry though, they’ve delivered in the form of six all-new lenses and two old lenses that have received a metallic makeover.

Today has been all Leica at Photokina, and we're not even done yet. Beyond the new big guns in the S-series, the LCD-less digital rangefinder and the all-mechanical M-A film rangefinder, Leica also improved its compact camera lineup with a number of new additions.

Specifically, they announced the Leica X, Leica X-E, Leica D-LUX and Leica V-LUX.

A photo of a previously-patented ultra-wide angle zoom lens leaked online earlier today, and it has the Canon faithful all atwitter in the hopes that the leaked image is indeed the real thing and not just some hoax playing on their hopes and dreams.

The long-awaited Polaroid 'Socialmatic' -- a square camera that looks like the Instagram app logo (which was, of course, inspired by a Polaroid camera in the first place) -- is one step closer to an official release. And now that Polaroid brought some prototypes with them to Photokina, the unwieldy digital instant camera is starting to look more and more like a potential flop.

Looking to make its medium format S-series lineup a bit more robust, Leica unveiled two new S-series camera bodies and a new S-series lens at Photokina this morning. The two cameras are the ‘entry-level’ CCD-sensor Leica S-E (Type 006) and the ‘top-end’ 4K-capable CMOS-sensor Leica S (Type 007), and they're joined by the Summicron-S 100mm f/2 lens.

It looks like Sony started something with its QX-series lens cameras. Olympus, with some help from MIT, is jumping on the bandwagon at Photokina where they've debuted a Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens module that is meant to connect up with your smartphone and tablet and be used much the same way the QX cameras are.

If removing the LCD from a digital rangefinder just isn't retro enough for you, Leica has something that even the most adamant of purists won't be able to dog. Dubbed the Leica M-A (Typ 127), this all-new film rangefinder is 100% mechanical: no built-in light meter, no electronic control, this beauty doesn't even take batteries.

60 years ago, in 1954, the very first M-Series rangefinder made its debut, and Leica has decided to celebrate this occasion by releasing a digital rangefinder that is as close to that original M3 as possible. So say goodbye to the LCD screen and embark on a journey back to the 'essence of photography' with the Leica M Edition 60.

Whether you're looking for ridiculous reach or social-friendly, strangely-shaped cameras, Canon's got you covered today with the last of its camera announcements from Photokina. Not as exciting as the Sony-competitor G7 X or the long-awaited 7D Mark II, the two other point-and-shoots Canon debuted are nevertheless interesting additions to the family.

We've said it before and we'll say it again, one of the major downsides of the exceptional Sony A7, A7r and A7s full-frame mirrorless cameras is the lack of native lenses, but Sony and ZEISS are working hard to remedy that.

Just last week ZEISS debuted the Loxia line of FE lenses, and today Sony introduced a brand new wide-angle lens and teased several primes at Photokina.

Olympus wants pros to seriously consider the company's flagship OM-D E-M1 as their primary shooter, and the new silver version of the powerful camera, the major firmware version 2.0 that shipped with it, and the brand new 40-150mm f/2.8 lens make that abundantly clear.

The last of Panasonic’s camera announcements from the Photokina floor today is a second member of its super compact GM lineup of system cameras, the Lumix DMC-GM5, which was accompanied by two new GM-series lenses for good measure.

Whoever said size doesn’t matter was lying, or so Panasonic seems to think. In a rather surprising announcement from Photokina, Panasonic unveiled the Lumix CM1: a 4.7-inch Android smartphone built around a 1-inch image sensor and 28mm equivalent f/2.8 Leica lens.

In the ongoing effort to provide the biggest punch in the smallest package, Panasonic has just announced the LX100. Considerably the most sophisticated compact camera Panasonic has ever created, the LX100 looks to set itself apart from the competition with a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor, a Leica-branded lens and 4K video capabilities.