Over the weekend, Meta's official Threads account posted a series of AI-generated images of major cities with the Northern Lights overhead along with the line, "You missed the northern lights IRL, so you made your own with MetaAI." It's a stark reminder of the contempt Meta, and much of big tech, have for artists.
The Sony a7S series is the oft-forgotten member of the Alpha lineup, languishing in the shadows of its siblings and never quite finding a place to shine. However, while some think the series should -- or at least will -- be left in the past, perhaps the Sony a9 III shows that there's instead a path to a bright future for a hypothetical a7S IV.
At PetaPixel, we've been covering generative AI advancements pretty heavily over the last two years for two major reasons. One, the technology is becoming inextricably linked to the software we use to edit photos, and two, it simultaneously represents an existential threat to the art of photography.
The iPhone 15 Pro series and the new iPhone 16 Pro series offer really gorgeous video capture capability, especially thanks to the addition of ProRes Log. The standard video capture suffers from oversharpening, but the log footage doesn't. But the log footage takes up a lot of storage, which means some creators might be tempted to use SD cards.
Namibia is planning to kill more than 700 wild animals, including elephants, zebras, and hippos, and distribute the meat to the people struggling with food insecurity as the country grapples with its worst drought in 100 years.
Point-and-shoot cameras are having a moment right now, but many now-popular models have been long forgotten by manufacturers. Cameras are selling with high markups on eBay and used marketplaces, and the latest generation of pocketable compact models from 2019 are widely sold out.
The Canon EOS R5 II can use older Canon batteries, but there are significant limitations for video shooters beyond what Canon outlines in the R5 II user manual.
Since digital image editing tools like Adobe Photoshop hit the scene in the late 1980s, there have been heightened concerns about whether photos can be trusted. This long-time worry has become an increasingly common refrain among artificial intelligence's most ardent defenders, but it doesn't serve as a sound defense against criticisms of AI.
There is a widely held belief that AI images pose a danger to society. The technology is able to create fake images that can pass as genuine creating opportunities for bad actors to spread misinformation.
Pretty much as expected, Google leaned hard on the AI capabilities of the Pixel 9 series as selling points over major hardware improvements (a nice new design notwithstanding), but its implementation of these -- especially the generative AI additions -- lacks anything close to the proper levels of disclosure they needs.
Last week, Google updated its agreement with "Team Pixel" members to stipulate that they weren't allowed to support any other smartphone brand or else risk ejection from the platform. Because many in that program considered themselves reviewers, it exposed a major disconnect between how many perceived themselves versus how Google perceived them.
This week, PetaPixel published a podcast where the entire premise was simply posing questions provided by photographers to Adobe. But just the act of publicizing those answers immediately turned some viewers off, showing a huge number need to see action, not words -- if anything at all will work at this point.
We have been extremely skeptical of AI tools, especially as they relate to photography. But today during the launch of the Pixel 9 Pro, Google said its latest round of Gemini-powered AI would be actually helpful and after seeing some of what it can do, we might agree.
Starting earlier this year with the Samsung Galaxy S24 launch, the companies behind the most popular smartphones seem to be dead-set on using AI features as selling points for new hardware. Much of it will be free to start with, but eventually everything comes with a cost.
Yesterday, Ricoh announced the G900 II and G900SE II cameras. Designed for use by businesses, they come packed with multiple security enhancements including a password-locking option that should be a standard feature in every camera.
After today's initial testing of the Canon R5 Mark II sensor by DPReview, it's becoming increasingly apparent that camera makers -- namely the big three in Sony, Canon, and Nikon -- are not only willing to, but happy to, trade still photo image quality for other benefits.
There's a clear need for a consistently effective way to tell if an image is fake on news and social media. However, current implementations of fake-detection technology have missed the mark and can potentially undermine the more effective tools that will undoubtedly arrive later.
AI-generated headshots are now a thing. Tech companies can offer hundreds of "professional" images for just $10. The question is: Should photographers be concerned?
In an opinion piece I authored last weekend, I wrote: "Attracting and supporting professional shooters should be the priority." A commenter asked what I meant, since pros are not nearly as numerous as average photographers, so why do they matter more?
On Tuesday morning, a day before the R1 was announced, I was finalizing our coverage and looking over the materials Canon prepared. "The Canon EOS R1 is Ahead of the Game," a header in the press release promised. I scratched my head in confusion.
In this industry, perception matters -- a lot. Side by side, spec for spec, the Canon R1 is obviously improved versus the R3 but not to the degree that feels like an entirely different camera line.
It's easy to think that the Canon EOS R1 is the main attraction of Canon's announcements this week. The company made a development announcement for it and it's been heavily teased. However, while relegated a bit to the shadows, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II is the more interesting and exciting of the two new Canon cameras.
In some of PetaPixel's images of the Canon EOS R1, you may have noticed that the logo wasn't visible. In some cases, that was due to electrical tape blocking it, which is common practice for pre-release hardware that may be seen in public. In other cases, it's because the "R1" logo actually fell off.
I was a minor photojournalist once. I wasn't taking iconic photos and nobody cares about my body of work. But I will tell you two things: I loved it and I didn't get paid very much.
What makes a great wildlife camera? Excellent image quality, lots of megapixels, strong autofocus performance, fast shooting speeds, robust build quality, and access to great telephoto lenses. The new Canon EOS R5 Mark II checks all these boxes, and then some.
My history with the Canon mirrorless series started in late 2018 with the launch of the EOS R. Since then, I have switched from the EF to the RF mount, and for the past four years, I have worked intensively with two EOS R5 cameras. They have been loyal companions during my projects, and I have completed hundreds of photo and video shoots with them. When I became aware that Canon was launching a successor, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a sample.
Regardless of the complex cultural, social, and political impacts of the attempt on former president and 2024 election front-runner Donald Trump's life, the event has left an indelible mark on the photography world and offers a chance to consider how society consumes, shares, and thinks about images.
Since Nikon announced the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 lens last week, I have been asking myself -- and Nikon -- a lot of questions about it. What about the 35mm S-Line lens on the roadmap? Is this new lens a sign of affordable f/1.4 lenses to come? What's Nikon's overall strategy?
Adobe has had a rough go of it lately and as a result, more photographers have been asking what legitimate options exist that can replace Photoshop and Lightroom. I've been testing a few and while they're all capable performance-wise, I'm left feeling spoiled by Adobe's absurdly fast support for new camera RAW profiles.
The Nikon Z6 III's peak dynamic range can't keep pace with its predecessor, the Z6 II. The gap isn't minor, either. But how much does it matter, and does it mean photographers should opt for the older model?
