Sigma created an art form out of its Art series of lenses. They are beautiful, professional, and often chosen over OEM options. But there is always room for improvement, and the Art series has been on the market for a minute, so new technology inevitably leads to new updates. It could be argued that the Sigma 35mm F/1.4 Art is one of the most popular primes in the Sigma arsenal, and now we have a successor.
A wet and rainy San Francisco was the venue for this year’s Galaxy Unpacked launch event and the testing ground for shooting the new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. The Ultra model is priced at $1,299, which is the same as last year’s model. I’m going into this review with the usual intention of testing this phone more as a camera and seeing how it stacks up as a creative tool.
In 2018, I reviewed the Peak Design Travel Backpack for Imaging Resource and while that review has since disappeared from the Internet, I can still recall my feelings in extreme detail: I hated it.
It seems fitting that on the centenary of the Leica I Model A, the German brand takes its iconic legacy and applies it to the Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi. One hundred years after the first 35mm camera came to market, this device tries to mix modern and retro in ways other handsets don’t.
The Chinese tech industry is a colossus, but there is a distinct lack of access to many of the more interesting options in North America. While Chinese lens designs are fairly common in North America, we are largely ignorant of the mobile phone options, as they are so rarely available.
If you own an APS-C E-mount, RF-mount, or X-mount camera, Sigma has a brand new prime lens that provides wide-angle coverage and plenty of light. This new $579 Contemporary lens makes a lot of sense for darker interior shots, so I headed to the Contemporary Calgary art museum to see what I could find. You just have to shoot with a Contemporary lens at Contemporary Calgary.
The Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary is located just outside of Calgary, and does amazing work housing and rehabilitating these amazing wolf hybrids that often prove too much for owners to handle. We took the $3,199 pre-production Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S II lens out to see how it handles this dynamic location.
Lots of photographers might dismiss the Flashback One35 V2 as a gimmick; a digital non-disposable camera aimed at image-conscious Gen Z users more interested in aesthetics than artistry. That characterization, however, misses the mark.
Tamron consistently creates zoom lenses that break the norm when it comes to focal length, offering alternatives to the classic patterns that most other manufacturers pursue. Even the more conventional Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and 70-180mm f/2.8 refuse to match the more common 24-70mm and 70-200mm formulae. However, the standout lens from Tamron in recent memory is the oddly effective 35-150mm f/2-2.8 lens, which proves to be an ideal event lens for almost any situation. If it could be faulted in any way, it would be due to its rather heavy weight and bulky size.
Canon has created, in a very short time, a complete line of L-series prime lenses that cater to the hybrid photo and video shooter. It is quite an achievement to build a whole line of professional prime lenses that are all similar in size, weight, and form factor, while still maintaining the quality expected of an L-series optic. The latest addition to the family is the 14mm f/1.4L VMC, a first for Canon in its RF-mount. I took this $2,600 lens for a spin, appreciating its compact nature, but with serious trepidation that Canon may have pushed the envelope a little too far this time.
For the last several years, if you were an L-Mount user looking for a super telephoto lens, Sigma was your only option (or a Leica version of a Sigma lens). Now Panasonic has introduced their longest full frame lens yet, with the Lumix S 100-500mm f/5-7.1 OIS. It’s compact and light, but also slow and expensive. Is there a place for this $2,100 lens in the L-Mount lineup? Let’s find out.
One look at the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 (2025) might be enough to dismiss its plastic-heavy build as little more than another PC lost in the shuffle. Asus figures you won’t feel that way once you open it up and take it for a creative-laden spin thanks to its attractive OLED screen and dependable performance.
Learning to love the rangefinder was a long process for me. I could appreciate the simpler and sometimes slower approach to photography that a rangefinder represents. There is more demand on the photographer to focus, compose, and pre-visualize the image.
Ultra-fast 35mm lenses are not a new thing. Leica users have had access to the excellent Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton across multiple versions for many years. The Noctilux title isn't new either. Leica has multiple insanely fast 50mm lenses, going down to as bright as f/0.95, on the market.
Earlier this year, memory brand Glyph debuted its new Atom EX SSDs with a specific focus on serving content creators. With Sandisk still refusing to publicly acknowledge the problems with its compact SSDs, I was pretty happy to see another brand step up and create something for photographers and filmmakers.
Making a camera backpack is not easy. Photographers rarely look for the same features in a bag, and everyone has an opinion on what they want, which makes creating a singular design that everyone will like simply impossible. Hasselblad decided to try and, in doing so, managed to do something few makers have managed: make a unique and exceptional interior.
The Leica M-mount is a dynamic arena for third-party lens manufacturers, even though the brand is considered quite exclusive. These prestigious cameras come with huge price tags and the easy assumption would be that Leica users would only stick to Leica lenses. However, as one of the oldest camera manufacturers around, third-party lens makers have been creating for this illustrious mount for almost a century, and I got to play with a piece of history for my latest review. Well, sort of.
The Honor Magic 8 Pro is part photography upstart and part AI canvas in how it approaches still photos, relying more and more on what machine learning can do along the way.
Why buy a dedicated monochromatic camera when a regular camera can take black and white photos? It's more expensive, far less versatile, and made for a very small market of users. That's the question I hear a lot, and I get it. But I would argue that photography isn't always about the most efficient tool, or the easiest path to a final result.
By now, everyone knows about the dominance that Fujifilm holds over the instant photography market. Instax is a huge part of its business and has become the de facto photography gift for birthdays, parties, and at the holidays.
With all the budget lens manufacturers available to a prospective buyer, it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sirui is a well-known manufacturer of tripod gear, and when I heard they were making lenses too, I was very skeptical.
If you're looking at picking up a drone, you probably are thinking of one made by DJI, or another DJI, or yet a third DJI option. Others have tried, but largely, all have failed to get a solid foothold. However, this only refers to the drone market that appeals to the creative videographers. When it comes to the first-person view (or FPV) market, there are many brands vying for attention.
It’s the holiday season, and Reto has come up with the perfect Christmas present for photographers. The new Kodak Charmera is a tiny keychain-sized camera that uses licensed Kodak designs and logos to incredibly popular effect. The Charmera is true to its name and is a marketing masterpiece that is almost impossible to get now. I wanted to find out if this toy camera is worth all the hype, and whether it is worth purchasing after the holiday season.
BTS -- or "behind the scenes" -- footage has become an essential part of how I tell stories; not just for social media, but for documenting the reality of underwater work. When it comes to shooting underwater, there are a ton of factors to think about — from managing your buoyancy and checking the settings on your camera housing, to being aware of your surroundings and controlling your breathing. The last thing I want to spend time worrying about, then, is how I’m going to capture behind-the-scenes content at the same time.
K&F CONCEPT has expanded its lineup of photography accessories with the Popod 72" Phone Tripod, a 3-in-1 magnetic tripod and selfie stick designed for mobile creators. With a snap-open design, adjustable tripod head, Bluetooth remote, and support for 1/4" screw-mounted accessories, the Popod aims to simplify content creation for solo shooters and small-scale creators.
Earlier this year, 7Artisans announced the Floral Bloom Art Cine Lens series, with the first being a 37mm T2.9 for PL mount only. It sounded interesting, so we agreed to check it out. We appreciate the effort and applaud the company for trying something new, but unfortunately, this lens is terrible.
Everyone wants a point-and-shoot digital camera. There is something to be said for having a compact, simple, fun, pocket camera that you can take photos with, just for the pure joy of it. Memories to be made, without having to know the exposure triangle, or shoot RAW photo formats and edit later. But not everyone wants a used hand-me-down that may or may not function properly, and Camp Snap is hedging its bets that some consumers out there want a fresh start.
It’s felt like a long six months since Sigma first announced the Aizu Primes (which cost $8,300 each), the company's new series of full-frame compatible T1.3 cinema lenses. Currently available focal lengths include 25mm, 27mm, 32mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, and 75mm. Fortunately, after shooting several projects with them while traveling, I finally have a trio of them at home to do some controlled testing.
Canon recently made a huge stir with its excellent do-it-all R6 III and for a while, it looked like the year was going to end with a big win for Canon. But with the Sony a7 V coming seemingly out of nowhere, we have a serious contender for the best all-round camera on the market.
Come in for the camera but stick around for the battery life. That’s one way to sum up the Oppo Find X9 Pro, a flagship smartphone that makes a strong case for being one of the top three in the world. And with a global version available, this is the kind of device that makes you think about how much you’ve been missing from the average flagship in North America.
The original Camp Snap camera was released a while back and became an unexpected hit. This digital camera was extremely limited and lacked an LCD screen in an attempt to bring the fun back to photography. Now Camp Snap is bringing this philosophy into the world of video with the Camp Snap 8 (CS-8), a video camera with no LCD, no playback, and only an EVF for framing.
This is DJI’s second gimbal within 12 months, following the Osmo Mobile 7P, and it can be viewed as something of a correction. That’s not to denigrate the OM7P, which remains a very capable gimbal unto itself, but the $159 Osmo Mobile 8 addresses numerous shortcomings of its predecessor.
In a photo industry of ever-increasing prices, it's refreshing to see optics that supply exceptional value for the dollar. The new Canon RF 45mm f/1.2 STM made the entire industry double-take upon seeing an f/1.2 optic for only $479. Surely, there must be a catch, so I took the handy little 45mm to a local Christmas market to explore the myriad lights using an extremely shallow depth of field lens.
The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo, which lands on Netflix this week, opens with a line implying Nick Ut is a liar: "What you do know is what you didn’t take." But is that really true? I've always thought the inverse makes more sense.
Leica is by far the leading company to create monochromatic versions of its most popular camera models, and that is because, love it or hate it, black and white exclusive cameras sell really well. Now the Leica Q3 gets the Monochrom treatment that we've seen in the recent Q2 and M11 models. It comes with a higher price at $7,790 and the limitation of only shooting monochromatic images, but it also comes with some image quality improvements.
As a Chinese brand, OnePlus skips the number 14 for cultural reasons, though after using the OnePlus 15 and its camera, I’m more likely to suggest the previous model was the lucky one. As a phone, the device is very impressive thanks to its outstanding battery life, gaming features, and superb software experience. Yet, as a camera system, it presents results that don’t feel like a worthy successor.
Tamron has a long and illustrious history of making travel-zoom lenses with massive focal ranges. These lenses provide a maximum amount of convenience, but how much of a compromise needs to be sacrificed to make this all possible? The new $900 Tamron 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di VXD G2 is set to make a mark on the travel-zoom industry.
In PetaPixel's review of the new Canon R6 Mark III, the lack of a fan versus the C50 -- which uses the same sensor and has many of the same video features -- was mentioned as one of the reasons a videographer might want to go with the cinema-focused body. When it comes to the R6 Mark III, we do see overheating as a possible concern in some use cases.
With modern, high-resolution camera systems, photographers are capturing tens or even hundreds of gigabytes of files per shoot, before even considering video. Your storage workflow is now almost as important as the camera and lenses you use to capture everything. This is why portable, interchangeable Solid State Drives (SSDs) like the TerraMaster D1 SSD Plus have become commonplace among photographers.
The Canon EOS R6 III is an excellent camera for nearly every type of photographer and is better than its impressive predecessor in many essential ways. But did Canon play it a bit too safe with its new enthusiast-oriented, photo-first camera?
I recently took a trip to Aizuwakamatsu, Japan and this represented an ideal situation to also test the Sigma Contemporary 20-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DG super zoom lens. The autumn colors were just staring to turn and the mountainous area around Mt. Bandai promised some excellent landscape and wildlife opportunities.
It only takes a few shots to realize just how different the Vivo X300 Pro is as a mobile photography tool. It is laden with improved performance and output, plus a photography kit made up of a 2.35x telephoto lens extender and grip with built-in physical controls and a 2300mAh battery. It's stacked.
The Osmo 360 is something of a reverse situation for DJI. Rather than being a category leader in this respect, the device is more of a response to what competitors like Insta360 have been doing. That widens the scope and scrutiny for what a camera like this could and should be, given the versatility DJI claims it has.
The "M" in the Leica M series stands for Messucher, which refers to a large and accurate rangefinder incorporated with a viewfinder. For decades, this Leica rangefinder system has been synonymous with its brand and is the basis for the charming shooting experience that Leica M cameras are famous for. But with the Leica M EV1, Leica has forged a new path, and it is sure to polarize its fans.
Fujifilm has a crowded lineup of cameras, which, from an optimistic viewpoint, offers photographers many choices. However, from a pessimistic viewpoint, the degree of choice can be intimidating to beginners. This is part of why it is so important to have a solid entry-level camera to welcome new photographers into the Fujifilm family. For many years, the X-T30 series has served this role well, and now a third version has arrived. Priced at $999, it keeps photography affordable.
Although Apple’s Pro, Max, and Ultra-series chips rightly get significant attention in the creative professional space, the company’s base M-series chips are nothing to scoff at. The brand-new MacBook Pro with M5 (14-inch) is an excellent example of just how great Apple’s base model chips are. Photographers and most video editors should take notice, because the new MacBook Pro with M5 is a fantastic machine.
Since the Canon Cinema series was started over a decade ago, the cameras have targeted professional users in film and television, leading to large, expensive bodies that appealed to a small group of users. That changed with the release of the new $3,899 Canon C50, which is the smallest, most affordable and possibly most exciting camera yet related in this line. Or does it?
Many of us started our photographic journeys with a fixed 50mm lens. Arguments abound about what the best focal length is, but none can deny that a 50mm is the crossover point from wide angles to telephotos. It is a versatile focal length that can accommodate so many different kinds of photography if one is simply willing to move their legs.
Zeiss is a famous and prestigious name in the world of optics, and it is very willing to partner with other brands to bring the weight of its name to the table. So often we see the Zeiss name attached to Sony products, Vivo smartphones, Contax cameras, and Cosina optics, to name a few brands, both past and present.
Laowa has made a name for itself by releasing wonderfully weird optics that the major lens manufacturers would never think to produce. Probe lenses, ultra-wides, incredibly bright manual focus lenses, these are the kind of oddities Laowa is best known for. I was, therefore, surprised when they started teasing a 200mm f/2 C-Dreamer professional autofocus lens.
