When Nikon added the gold ring to the lens mount of its 28-135mm f/4 PZ earlier this year, I was ecstatic. Finally, Nikon was leaning into its brand color. I was saddened to learn it would only do this on select products moving forward. That got me thinking: every brand is leaning away from color when they should be leaning into it. For a tool designed to create art, the camera tends to be dreadfully boring.
Is our pursuit of exquisite photos inconsistent with what is expected in art? Or is beauty something we should continue to strive for?
Far be it from me to criticize one of my fellow PetaPixel writers, but I feel it necessary to counter Bimal Nepal's recent "Stop Making Digital Look Like Film" op-ed.
I shoot digital. I don’t do film, and I have never touched a film camera. I have never spent hours in a darkroom waiting for a print to appear under red light. My photography career began entirely digital, and I have grown to appreciate the possibilities it offers. Every modern camera provides clarity, precision, and control that film could never fully deliver. Every detail, every color, every expression is there, ready to tell the story as it happened.
Last week, I received multiple emails from different case makers showing supposed designs for the iPhone 17 series. Then this week, that ramped up to Dbrand, Moment, UGreen, and basically every case maker at IFA showing the same thing, all flaunting the same design. Apple is historically excellent at keeping a secret, so what changed this year?
In an effort to learn to love the 35mm full-frame focal length, I took the latest Meike 35mm f/1.8 Pro lens out for a spin. The Meike 35mm f/1.8 is an affordable take on the popular focal length, but it has some handy tricks up its sleeve that belie its lower cost. Many creatives who are looking for a compact and sharp lens will find the Meike 35mm ideal for street photography and travel. I carried it on a little road trip around southern Alberta, and it proved to be a handy companion.
It is hard for anyone to deny the positive effect that the transition from film to digital has had on photography. The sheer number of photographs taken each year has increased exponentially in the digital age, particularly now that cameras are included on nearly every cell phone. But we have lost one aspect of photography: the photo album.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's record-breaking engagement photos have the internet buzzing, and will undoubtedly give rise to new photography trends. Here's what we think of the striking images and what they might mean for working photographers.
The camera isn’t dying: it’s disappearing, not into nothing, but into something smaller, smarter, and always connected. For more than a century, photography tools got lighter and easier to carry—but the smartphone didn’t just shrink the camera. It absorbed it. Today, the last barrier between phones and pro gear is breaking, and the effects will be huge.
There's a relatively new Micro Four Thirds camera on the market that costs $799, but you probably haven't heard of it. It's the YoloLiv YoloCam S7, and it's weird.
Limitations are a blessing and a curse. I always wanted more, a better camera, more pixels -- name it, and I wanted it. Until I found out, that having more also gave me creative paralysis.
I’ve been a photographer for 14 years — ten in Boston, Massachusetts, and the last four in Austin, Texas. I’ve photographed weddings, concerts, portraits, travel stories, and countless events where the light was less than perfect.
While Nikon's vintage-inspired Zf and Zfc mirrorless cameras have proven exceptionally popular with photographers, they are not Nikon's first foray into a retro-styled digital camera. No, that was 2013's Nikon Df, arguably the most bizarre DSLR Nikon ever released. 12 years later, people are returning to the Df and appreciating all its novel charms.
While the digital camera market is doing relatively well this year, thanks in large part to surging camera demand in China, the digital camera market during the smartphone era has been in near-constant decline. This has put significant stress on all camera manufacturers, although some have navigated the challenges better than others. Fujifilm is a particularly strong example of a company that has managed not only to survive in the ever-changing market but also to thrive.
It’s getting ever more challenging to earn a living from photography. It is especially difficult to start a photography business now. So, here are some of the barriers you may meet and how to overcome them.
Insta360 and DJI are swirling toward one another like two ends of a growing hurricane. As the Insta360-incubated Antigravity drone brand prepares for launch on one end, DJI introduced its first 360-degree camera on the other.
Yesterday, I shared a deep-dive into the Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 lens made by my friend Gordon Laing. As I was putting that piece together, a thought that has been flitting in and out of my consciousness for the last several months resurfaced: "wait, why hasn't Nikon remade this lens?"
This week, a decades-old technology and commerce site recommended taking advantage of a 79% discount on a digital camera which is now available at Walmart for $60. No, you should absolutely not buy this "popular vlogging camera."
Since the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 launched in October 2023, it has been selling like gangbusters. Arguably, no single camera model has been anywhere near as successful as the Osmo Pocket 3.
When Sony announced the a7CR in August 2023 alongside the a7C II, the compact high-res a7CR flew a bit under the radar. With the shock announcement of the highly anticipated RX1R III fixed-lens premium compact camera, the a7CR is getting more attention, and it's well deserved.
Although PetaPixel rarely deals with photography rumors, there is one that keeps popping up that warrants attention. For about a year, numerous publications have reported that DJI is gearing up to release a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Is it possible? Sure. Does it make sense? Not really.
I enjoyed my experience reviewing Sony's new FE 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G OSS lens in February so much that I bought the lens myself, replacing the FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS in my kit. As someone who loves wildlife photography, it was an excellent choice.
This year has been my busiest for travel in some time. As camera and smartphone companies are launching new products all over the world, I've found myself on multiple continents living out of a suitcase. Through it all, I've found myself with a new appreciation for high-quality plugs and battery banks.
Annie Leibovitz has been catching heat this week for her Anne Hathaway photo shoot for Vogue magazine. But what do the PetaPixel writers think?
Last week, B&H hosted its second Bild Expo at the Javits Center in New York City. After years of attending the Photo Plus expo and seeing its rapid decline, I had questions about the viability of a show in New York City. Whatever expectations I might have had, they were absolutely shattered by what I saw there.
As new entry-level cameras from major manufacturers become pricier and the segment shrinks altogether, photographers on a tight budget may be tempted to buy one of the many very cheap brand-new cameras available through online retailers. However, a much better option for those looking to get a camera without breaking the bank is the used market. You can get a lot of performance for relatively little money.
Two weeks ago, enterprise software developer Digimarc released a Chrome extension that could verify and display image provenance for photos or designs embedded with C2PA Content Credentials. After two weeks of testing, PetaPixel found it to be mostly useless, but that's only because the C2PA rollout has been so disjointed.
In April, ChatGPT users stumbled across the AI's unnervingly accurate ability to locate where just about any photo was taken. At first blush, it seems harmless, but a recent story on Vox points out that it's now very easy to stalk someone from just their social media photos.
We have all seen the online drama and hate that has been thrown at the recent photographs of Pamela Anderson, age 57. This Canadian-American actress, model, and media personality has been the center of attention for nearly four decades.
Late last year when Fujifilm announced that it was putting the sensor found in its GFX 100 II into a cinema camera, I was not clear on the value proposition. While huge, the slow sensor didn't feel suited to movie-making. After spending some time with the camera yesterday, however, I'm starting to see the vision.
After a photographer provoked the ire of Denzel Washington on the Cannes Red Carpet, many criticized the photographer. But the truth is that kind of environment is a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world and because I have experienced it, I understand the photographer's perspective.
The following article is a resource to help the world’s photography competition judges work out if the “travel” images they are judging are real or not! Yep, this is the first library of fake travel photos focusing on people photography in Asia. You’re welcome!
Flagship DSLRs are all but dead. The Nikon D6 was discontinued this month, and the Canon EOS 1D X Mark III might as well be. While both Canon and Nikon have since launched flagship mirrorless cameras -- and they're excellent -- the company's mid-tier models best reflect the transformative leap in camera technology from the DSLR to the mirrorless era.
Last week, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) announced its annual Journalism Awards which includes the Photo of the Year (which is called the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage) and the winning image is probably not the one anyone expected.
Speaking to PetaPixel at the NAB Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, Nikon said it aims to have 50 Nikkor Z lenses on the market by next spring. This hope begs the question, what is Nikon's Z system missing now? What do photographers (and videographers) need and want next?
Adobe just released the public beta of its free Content Authenticity app, and photographers should take notice.
There have been increasingly absurd regulations being imposed on visitors to Svalbard in recent years, particularly surrounding the protection of polar bears. One of the most contentious of these mandates is the requirement to maintain a minimum distance of 500 meters from a polar bear (about five American football fields), no matter the circumstance.
When Sigma announced the super-sleek "radically simple" BF camera in late February, it also doubled down on its rich Japanese heritage by unveiling a comprehensive rebranding effort. Alongside a new wordmark, logo, and redesigned website, Sigma also switched up all its product packaging, and wow, is it ever gorgeous.
Atomos, the brand that made a name for itself with its external monitors and HDMI recorders, is significantly diversifying its product catalog in what appears to be an attempt to see what it can release that will be its next successful offering.
Kind, caring, and generous. These adjectives describe two important parts of my life; my late grandmother Anna, and my wife's late dog Buckeye. These are where the similarities end, but not according to Apple's Photos app.
If you had told me four years ago that Nikon would not only be in the business of making true, honest-to-goodness video gear but would also own what is arguably the most disruptive player in the truly professional, Hollywood-production-ready market, I would probably have laughed in your face.
Everyone who knows me is aware that I love pushing the limits of what’s possible and creating the “makeable” from both the possible and the impossible. This time, however, I didn’t succeed, and the Glanzlichter nature photo competition disqualified me.
Last week, Chris Niccolls and I were in Prague for the launch of the Fujifilm GFX100RF. While he spent the majority of our time with the new camera while I filmed his thoughts, I did enjoy several hours with it snapping photos of my own. Looking over them now, I can't help but be shocked at how sharp the lens is.
In a one-on-one interview, I learned why Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki is so passionate and driven for the success of his family business.
OM System isn't willing to sacrifice the performance of its computational photography features in order to increase the resolution of its sensors. That strategy leverages one of the company's competitive advantages, but it also very well makes it difficult for its cameras to appeal to any photographer.
The Sony a7R V will turn three years old this fall, but photographers would be forgiven for thinking it was much older than that. A lot has happened within and outside Sony's Alpha mirrorless lineup since the a7R V landed, but the venerable a7R V remains a favorite of ours here at PetaPixel.
With companies releasing hit after hit of new gear from cameras to lenses at CP+, gear acquisition syndrome is very real. But does upgrading really make such a difference? I recently had the opportunity to find out.
For 70 years, Photokina was the international photography exhibition on the planet. When it shuttered in 2020 due to what was blamed as a “massive decline in markets for imaging products,” it left a gaping hole in the industry -- and CP+ in Japan has firmly replaced it.
It's bizarre to think that a $6,000 lens is a bargain, but that's precisely what Sigma's brand-new 300-600mm f/4 DG OS Sports lens is, thanks to the landscape in which it exists. Telephoto primes with an f/4 aperture can be extremely expensive, way more than $6,000, and Sigma's new lens zooms. It's a highly appealing lens, and Sigma targets an absurdly aggressive price point.
Today Sigma announced the BF, the company's latest camera that makes a series of wild, unexpected design choices. Sigma calls it "radically simple" and for the first time in a while, a company's marketing language isn't overselling the product.
