Reviews

Did Christmas come early? It’s the middle of the summer, and I am testing my favorite lens focal length. Not only that, the lens also happens to have a fast f/1.4 aperture and this comes just days after having tested the very impressive Viltrox 85mm f/1.4 Pro. I must be really lucky because the Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4 is lightweight, well-built, and a very affordable $600.

Recently, at the Bild Expo in New York City, I asked some prestigious photographers and creative professionals an important question: What is the greatest digital camera of all time? Some said the Fujifilm X100 series, some said the Nikon D780, and I even heard the DJI Pocket 3. Of course, they were all wrong. The correct answer is, of course, the Panasonic Lumix GM-5.

In the world of wildlife photography, capturing fast-moving subjects from a distance requires the perfect blend of reach, speed, and image quality. Sigma, renowned for its high-performance lenses, has recently announced the launch of the Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG DN OS Sports, a powerful zoom lens specifically designed for wildlife photographers.

The Viltrox FE 85mm f/1.4 Pro is a professional-quality lens, but it is not the highest-end offering from Viltrox. The Lab series is the premier line of optics from Viltrox, and with this Pro series lens being a $599 bargain, I started to wonder if it was too good to be true.

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC Art is the successor to Sigma's legendary 18-35mm zoom lens for crop-sensor cameras. It has been a long time coming and stands out as a truly professional APS-C zoom lens in a mirrorless era where APS-C zooms often target beginners and enthusiasts more than seasoned professionals. But does Sigma's latest live up to its legacy?

I'm not a huge fan of ultra-light travel tripods. As compact as they are, they often lack the stability required for anything beyond casual use. There is a balancing act involved in finding the right amount of stability while still keeping the tripod convenient enough to enjoy. I did not like the Peak Design Travel Tripod due to its fiddly head design and slightly wobbly legs, but they may have reached the Goldilocks zone with the latest Peak Design Pro Lite. This one feels just right. At $800, …

Flagship cameras always get the biggest fanfare but it’s often the model that sits right below that gets the most play. These are the cameras made for the enthusiast photographer who does not need the biggest and fastest camera but does want some high-end features at a decent price. Where the OM System OM-1 Mark II is the pinnacle of OM technology, the new $1,200 OM-5 Mark II will probably be the workhorse of the lineup.

The Fujifilm X100 series of cameras is the most popular design out of the entire brand and possibly out of anyone else's brand, too. These cameras hit an ideal balance between styling and compactness, but they never really appealed to me as much as they seem to for everyone else. I know that I am in the vast minority with this very unpopular opinion but I think that a better Fujifilm camera exists and we all get to appreciate it together now because the X-E5 has finally arrived.

To usher in the next generation of its 360-degree action camera, Insta360 didn’t go back to the drawing board. Instead, it turned to the community, taking stock in what its customers liked, but also didn’t like about the brand’s X4 action camera.

As smartphones have made photography more accessible than ever, a small Japanese company is taking a radically different approach to capturing memories. The Kyu camera, launched in Japan in late 2024 and now available for pre-order in the U.S., wants to challenge our relationship with digital memories through an intriguingly restrictive design philosophy.

When I first reviewed Leica LUX, I approached it with a blend of cautious optimism and healthy skepticism. Leica’s decision to enter the mobile photography app space was bold, considering both the reverence surrounding the Leica name and the saturated, high-standard world of iPhone photography apps -- where names like Halide, Obscura, and ProCamera dominate. At launch, Leica LUX showed promise but also left a lot to be desired. Now, nearly a year later, it’s time to revisit it. Spoiler …

Who can afford an L-mount, general-purpose f/2.8 professional lens anymore? Turns out, a lot more people will have this opportunity with the launch of the new Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm f/2.8.

Shimoda’s Sidecountry camera backpack is the brand’s latest flagship offering in its Side Series, meticulously designed to meet the needs of photographers who require versatility, comfort, and easy access to gear while exploring the outdoors.

Venus Optics' Laowa brand is known for its weird and wonderful lens designs. Sometimes, they are exquisite, unique designs that bring versatility to the photographer's bag. Other times, the lenses are budget alternatives that trade some optical performance in the name of "character." The latest version of the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Macro is definitely in the latter category, but that doesn’t mean that it lacks value. At $399, this is a solid, budget-friendly optic.

It’s been more than four years since the launch of Sony’s very popular FX3 compact cinema camera, so I was expecting an update to that model to come any time. Imagine my surprise when Sony instead launched a high-resolution cinema camera with a strong emphasis on photographic functionality and a brand-new design.

Being a film photographer is an expensive hobby. Sure, it's easy to get started with the relatively low cost of hardware but film and developing costs (even if you're doing it yourself) add up fast. That's why Kentmere Pan 200 is so welcome: it's good, it's readily available, and it's cheap at $8 per roll.

The most advanced mobile photography features are a trickle-down affair where some end up being part of mid-range and affordable phones. That’s been Google’s Pixel A series in a nutshell, only in the case of the Pixel 9a, it also applies to the AI-driven tools that play a key role in the broader imaging package.

When Fujifilm teased its new X half camera, the industry went into a tizzy trying to figure out if it was a half-frame analog camera or a compact digital. It turns out that the Fujifilm X half is actually not half a camera but more like two cameras in one.

SSDs continue to get faster, but the bottleneck for performance usually comes down to connectivity. It doesn't matter how fast your drive can write if the cable can't push data through to match. With Thunderbolt 5, though, that throughput has been jacked up, and OWC's new Envoy Ultra SSD shows that for those who need pure speed, there is an option.

You might think that the world has enough 24-megapixel full-frame cameras by now, but you would be wrong. With image quality having reached a performance plateau, the only way to improve is by going faster. Last year, Nikon released its Z6 III, debuting a new partially stacked sensor. We wondered when another camera might come out that utilizes this same excellent technology, and now that wait is over.

The DJI Mavic is the all-around choice for midrange professional use, and now we get to witness the fourth version in all its splendor. Much like the 3 Pro that comes before it, the Mavic 4 Pro features a three-camera array on a sophisticated gimbal using Hasselblad color science to provide stunning photos and videos.

Samsung looks to trim some fat and return to an age when smartphones can be unapologetically thin again. That’s the Galaxy S25 Edge in a nutshell. Samsung’s latest premium device is the lightest it has made in years.

I love the 75mm focal length. In fact, anything around 70mm to 90mm is more like a normal lens for me than a 50mm. And if the lens has a fast aperture, I'm even more enamored.

Professional telephoto lenses made specifically for wildlife and sports tend to be the most expensive money can buy. They push the envelope of lens technology, not to mention size and weight. What if I told you that Sigma made a lens that delivers the same f/4 aperture combined with a more versatile zoom range but is also only $6,000, substantially less money than the competition? It sounds too good to be true.

Smartphone gimbals are old hat by now but they’ve always had room to get better, and that’s how DJI approaches the Osmo Mobile 7P. The big jump? Being able to use it to track subjects using third-party apps.

The Odyssey Pro Smart Telescope is among Unistellar's smallest and lightest reflector-based systems. It makes viewing and capturing the night sky as simple as clicking a few buttons on your smartphone or tablet. It is small, light, easy to travel with, and it has an actual viewfinder (powered by Nikon optics) allowing users to start viewing the night sky in less than five minutes.

Compact point-and-shoot cameras are more popular than ever. I thought they would be gone forever, replaced and surpassed by the modern smartphone but boy, was I wrong. The compact digital camera is experiencing a renaissance and Yashica has jumped into the fray with its City series of cameras to capitalize on the hype.

The PowerShot name belonged to some of the best Canon compact digital cameras ever made but it has faded into obscurity of late. However, in the spirit of excellent cameras such as the Canon PowerShot G1X, we now see a return to the storied lineup. The $900 Canon PowerShot V1 has arrived and this latest vlogging camera has everything charming and powerful about its predecessors.

The Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 G Master lens is the first of its kind, not only for Sony but any lens manufacturer. It's exciting for photographers whenever a company breaks new ground with a lens. In the case of the 50-150mm f/2, the excitement is taken up a notch (or two) because the lens is phenomenal.

The Nikkor 35mm f/1.2 changed my mind about the 35mm focal length. You may already know that I am quite vocal about my disdain for this particularly popular prime but the unique look that an f/1.2 aperture can provide finally won me over.

I've been a fan of Espresso Displays for several years now and used the 17 Pro regularly while traveling for a majority of last year. In January, the company announced a new brighter, lighter, and smaller 15 Pro model and for my needs, it's even better.

I just spent the weekend exploring Iceland, Australia, Italy, and Japan, all without leaving home, thanks to Lushfoil Photography Sim, a simulation video game made for photographers by a photographer, Matt Newell.

Years after the success of the first Sony ZV cameras, manufacturers keep introducing "vlogging cameras" to the market despite the release of the near-perfect vlogging platform, the DJI Pocket 3. However, I do feel that there is some need for more of a “Creator Camera” that can be used for web calls, podcasts, and product videos.

In the camera review game, the continuous grind of lens and camera reviews can get a little monotonous sometimes. But every once in a while, a product comes along that is so innovative and so outside the box that you can’t help but stand in awe. Outdoor Monster represents a moment exactly like this and I had the privilege to test it out for myself.

It appears that Harman Technology's foray into 35mm color film series has been a success, following the release of Phoenix 200 in late 2023 -- which is still widely available despite being described as limited edition upon release --- Harman followed up with another color negative film, Red 125.

The original Nikon Z5 is four years old now and probably still represents the best bang for the buck in the affordable full-frame game. With ample controls, excellent 24-megapixel image quality, and even dual card slots, the Z5 had no right to be as affordable as it was.

Every summer as a child, I attended a day camp during the school break because my single-parent mother had to work to make ends meet. Of course, I wanted to stay home and play video games but I soon began to love learning archery, making new friends, and exploring the wilderness without TV or computer screens to distract me. Many wonderful memories were made and I look back on these times fondly. It is this nostalgia for a simpler and more adventurous time that Camp Snap Photo is trying to …

It was on The PetaPixel Podcast a few months ago that Becca Farsace was talking about her impressive collection of old Kodak digital cameras. That reminded me of a now ubiquitous camera innovation first seen in a Kodak point and shoot from a long time ago and that started my quest to shoot with one again.

There’s something unassuming about the Vivo V50 when first looking at it, yet its camera performance should be a wake-up call to others. The company still sees this phone as unique for its Aura Light in portrait photos but the more significant improvements come from everywhere else.

Fujifilm's GFX medium format camera line features versatile and relatively affordable cameras in an industry normally dominated by prestigious names like Phase One or Hasselblad. However, Fujifilm also makes the insanely popular X100 series of cameras which make for a perfect compact companion to the traveling urban photographer. So what would happen if you combined the over-your-shoulder convenience of the X100 with the raw image quality of the GFX? The answer is the GFX100RF.

In the DSLR days, Sigma was well known for making affordable super-zoom lenses that traded convenience for some image quality. However, recently, Sigma has transformed itself into a preeminent optics manufacturer, building high-grade lenses that many professionals prefer over OEM glass options. Now Sigma is back at it, and it's a welcome return.

Apple calls its new M3 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio its most powerful computer ever. It's a big claim and comes with a price tag to match. Apple's ambitions create two questions, and we will answer them both: Is the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra truly Apple's most performant computer, and if it is, is it worth it?

One of the most fundamental lessons taught in any art form is to strip away the excess; to streamline and distill down to its essence, only the most essential parts. We see this in many art forms such as sculpture, writing, and even photography, and now we have it in a camera. But is it possible to go too far?