Photo News

Canon's DSLR 24-70mm F2.8 topped this year's most-rented list but the number of EF-mount rentals as a whole fell.

Image: Canon

Camera and lens rental house LensRentals has published its annual top twenty list of the most frequently rented gear.

You can find more information over on the LensRentals blog, but here's the top twenty, with an indicator of their movement since last year in brackets:

LensRentals Most Popular Photo and Video Gear 2024

1. (⇑5) Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II
2. (⇑1) Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS
3. (⇑4) Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS
4. (⇑4) Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS III
5. (⇓3) Canon RF 28-70mm F2L
6. (⇓5) Canon EOS R5
7. (⇑8) Canon EOS R6 Mark II
8. (⇑8) Sony FE 24-70mm G2.8 GM II
9. (⇑1) Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II
10. (⇑4) Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
11. (⇓7) Sony a7S III
12. (⇑1) Sony FX3
13. (⇑5) Sony a7 IV
14. (⇓3) Canon EOS R6
15. (⇑5) Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1L IS
16. (NE) Canon a7 III
17. (⇓5) Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS
18. (NE) Canon RF 50mm F1.2L
19. (NE) Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L
20. (⇓1) Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM

There are a number of interesting things to note in the numbers, the most obvious being that Canon EF-mount lenses and cameras moved up in popularity, with the DSLR 24-70 and 70-200mm F2.8 lenses taking the first and fourth spot, a rise of five and four places, respectively. And, while there's a chance that some of these EF-mount orders were placed by RF users (the EF versions are around 25% less expensive to rent), that doesn't account for the increased popularity of the EOS 5D Mark IV.

It's also interesting to note what isn't there, with just two brands' products accounting for the entire top 20. However, LensRentals has also published figures for the relative value of the rentals of different brands. And, while Canon and Sony account for more than 46% of all rentals (up from 43% last year), Nikon saw the biggest year-on-year increase, growing from under 5% of rentals in 2023 to nearly 6% this year (a 21% increase).

Nikon didn't make the top 20 list but saw the biggest year-on-year growth in rentals, cementing its third place

Fourth-placed DJI also saw an increase in rentals, with 13.82% YoY growth. Sigma and Blackmagic Design saw some decreases, while Fujifilm grew a 16.5%, though only accounted for 2.57% of the overall rentals.

Given these numbers are by rental value, there's an inherent advantage to the makers of more expensive gear: firstly the higher ticket items simply have more weighting on this list, but also people are more likely to rent pricey gear than buying it (or in the processes of deciding whether to buy). This doesn't come close to accounting for the order of magnitude difference between Canon and Fujifilm's position on the tables, though.

LensRentals blog is, as usual, well worth a read, as it digs into the relative popularity of different lens brands and lens mount. These show Canon RF growing and, despite all the appearances in the top 20, Canon EF rentals declining, year-on-year. This is enough to see RF mount lenses add up to around 50% more rentals than EF-mount lenses, in 2024.

Of course one rental company based in one particular market doesn't tell you much, if anything, about the relative strengths or popularity of different systems (if that's even something you care about). But there are definitely some interesting trends in terms of the amount of video gear and the continued popularity of high-end DSLR kit.

Click here to read the full blog over at LensRentals

Readers' Choice: Best camera of 2024

2024 was an exciting year for cameras. Whether you were hoping for top-of-the-line flagship bodies, well-provisioned enthusiast models, retro rangefinders or even compact cameras, chances are pretty good you saw something you liked this year. Now it's time to find out what you think of the Class of 2024.

Our editorial team has had its say already with the 2024 DPReview Awards, but which of this year's new cameras was your favorite? This is your chance to let us and the industry know. If you think we missed something, please leave a comment to let us know.

Polls are now open; see below.

Voting occurs in three categories (cameras, prime and zoom lenses), running through December 21.

Once the vote has closed, we'll run a fourth and final poll drawn from the first three winners to determine the Readers' Choice Product of the Year. Look out for that poll early in 2025.

Voting is easy - pick your top 3 products by dragging and dropping to rank them in order of priority. Products are listed alphabetically.

Poll widgetThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content.

Please note that for the best experience, we recommend voting on our desktop site.

Poll Rules:

This poll is meant to be a bit of fun. It's not sponsored, promoted, or paid for in any way, and DPReview doesn't care how you vote. Our readers' polls are run on the basis of trust. As such, we ask that you only vote once, from a single account.

Readers' Choice: Best prime lens of 2024

Prime lenses aren't what they used to be. Today's lenses are bigger and more costly than their SLR-era ancestors, with advanced aspheric optics and exotic lens elements. This year's class of lenses includes primes at classic focal lengths like 35 and 50mm lenses, lenses for APS-C cameras, a healthy selection of third-party options, and more lenses intended for 'hybrid' stills and video use.

We have included lenses that were introduced in previous years if they were made available in new lens mount options in 2024. In these cases, we have specified the lens mount announced this year in parenthesis.

Our editorial team has had its say already in our 2024 DPReview Awards, but which of this year's new prime lenses was your favorite? This is your chance to let us and the industry know.

Polls are now open, see below.

Voting occurs in three categories (cameras, prime and zoom lenses), running through December 21.

Once the vote has closed, we'll run a fourth and final poll drawn from the first three winners to determine the Readers' Choice Product of the Year. Look out for that poll early in 2025.

Voting is easy - pick your top 3 products by dragging and dropping to rank them in order of priority. Products are listed alphabetically.

Poll widgetThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content.

Please note that for the best experience, we recommend voting on our desktop site.

Poll Rules:

This poll is meant to be a bit of fun. It's not sponsored, promoted, or paid for in any way, and DPReview doesn't care how you vote. Our readers' polls are run on the basis of trust. As such, we ask that you only vote once, from a single account.

Readers' Choice: Best zoom lens of 2024

Zoom lenses continue to evolve, with manufacturers continuously pushing the limits of what's possible. In 2024, we saw a diverse collection of zooms that include second-generation designs, versatile lenses for travel, and more third-party options.

We have included lenses that were introduced in previous years if they were made available in new lens mount options in 2024. In these cases, we have specified the lens mount announced this year in parenthesis.

Our editorial team has had its say already in our 2024 DPReview Awards, but which of this year's new zoom lenses was your favorite? This is your chance to let us and the industry know.

Polls are now open; see below.

Voting occurs in three categories (cameras, prime and zoom lenses), running through December 21.

Once the vote has closed, we'll run a fourth and final poll drawn from the first three winners to determine the Readers' Choice Product of the Year. Look out for that poll early in 2025.

Voting is easy - pick your top 3 products by dragging and dropping to rank them in order of priority.

Poll widgetThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content.

Please note that for the best experience, we recommend voting on our desktop site.

Poll Rules:

This poll is meant to be a bit of fun. It's not sponsored, promoted, or paid for in any way, and DPReview doesn't care how you vote. Our readers' polls are run on the basis of trust. As such, we ask that you only vote once, from a single account.

Image: Canon

Canon has announced a new 'Cropping Guide' firmware update, which aims to make framing portraits easy and consistent. The feature costs $120 per camera and is available on the EOS R50, R10 and R7.

According to Canon's website, the function includes four guides with built-in borders for standard print sizes. The guides are designed to work whether you're shooting in landscape or portrait and to let you frame both headshots and full-body portraits.

The framing guides are clearly meant for professionals shooting high-throughput portraits; think school photos, sports events, or corporate events where everyone in the company has their picture taken. Driving this point home, Canon's press release mentions that it'll show the feature off at the School Photographers Association of California trade show early next year.

The feature lets you choose between four guidelines, with some offering lines for different-sized heads like you'd find in a school, and others leaving room for pieces of equipments like balls and rackets.

Image: Canon

There is one caveat for anyone looking to add the function to their camera: you have to send your camera to a service center to activate it. That could be a problem if you only have a single camera body, though that's likely not the case for most working photographers. Also, a lot of mass portraiture work happens in cycles; schools and sports leagues all tend to have pictures taken at the same time of year. Canon also sells versions of the EOS R50, R10 and R7 with the feature pre-installed at a $120 markup from the normal models' MSRPs.

Still, it's hard to ignore that Panasonic and Sony sell similar features delivered via an immediate firmware download. There are some other differences, too: Canon's framing guide is only available on its APS-C cameras, while Panasonic and Sony limit their versions to more expensive full-frame cameras like the Lumix S5 II, a7 IV and a9 III.

Panasonic's solution, called Lumix Volume Photography, also goes further than just including frame guides; it also integrates with Opticon scanners, letting you bake a student's information into the photo file for easier sorting. However, it also costs $199, versus Canon's $120 and Sony's $150.

Panasonic's firmware upgrade for volume photographers includes a suite of features meant to make their jobs easier.

Image: Panasonic

There will be people who balk at any mention of paying for new features, and you could argue that it's a slippery slope leading to cameras riddled with microtransactions or subscriptions. Ricoh started selling an $80 software graduated ND filter feature for some of its cameras earlier this year, but surely we don't want that to become the new normal.

On the other hand, this specific function is something that most people buying these cameras will never want or use, so why should they pay for the development work that went into it or have to navigate around it in their menu system? Let the professionals who will almost immediately make the money back in time saved fund it instead of baking it into the price of the camera.

However Canon's regular customers feel about paid functions, the company will likely only pay attention to how the pros respond. As we saw with Sony's a1 II, pricing for professional products is based on how much the market will bear rather than the types of value calculations hobbyists make. If you're a professional who shoots portraits, we'd love to hear from you in the comments. Would you or your company pay for this feature, and would its availability be a big factor in you choosing which camera to buy?

Press Release:

Canon Launches New Cropping Guide for Select EOS Cameras, Empowering Customers to Capture Beautifully Optimized Photos

MELVILLE, NY, December 9, 2024 – Canon Inc., the parent company of Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced today a new Cropping Guide feature that will be available via a firmware update for the Canon EOS R50, EOS R10 and EOS R7 camera models that allows users to more easily frame their subjects through the use of four tailored on-screen guides. The new feature will be available December 9th from Canon USA for the price of $120 USD. For customers who have previously purchased one of the camera models compatible with the feature, they can send their device to a Canon Service Center and it will be returned with the Cropping Guide feature installed. For those new customers interested in the above mentioned models, the option to purchase them pre-loaded with the feature (for an additional cost) will be available via Canon Direct and other dealers starting December 9th.

The new Cropping Guide feature provides on-screen guidelines that help shooters position subjects with precision, helping to ensure consistent and professional results while saving time on editing. It allows for Canon users to position the frame at the time of capture so that post-production and editing can be kept at a minimum. Lastly, the Cropping Guides can be applied to horizontal or vertical framing scenarios, allowing for a wide range of shooting situations.

Canon will showcase its new offering to visitors to the School Photographers Association of California (SPAC) trade show from January 21-25 in Las Vegas, NV at the South Point Hotel and Casino at Booth #715. This new feature is specifically designed for school photography, sports events, or any scenario in which subjects need to maintain a consistent position.

Availability

Cropping Guide will be available December 9th. For additional information about the software, a list of compatible cameras and how to access the Cropping Guide, please visit here.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.

There's a lot of gloom surrounding cameras and photography, in the past year or so. The devastating impact of smartphones on mass-market cameras seems to be being followed by a wave of AI-generated images that threaten to wash photography away as a creative form, if you believe those prognosticators with half-empty glasses. And yet it's hard to think of a year in which I've found it so difficult to choose a piece of gear to call out, because so many of them have been so good.

Having chosen Nikon's Z8 last year, the obvious decision this time round would be Canon's EOS R5 II: a camera that's almost unbelievably good at almost anything you might ask of it. The Nikon's Z6III's performance comes with a small footnote, but overall it's also sensationally capable and costs over 40% less.

On the lens side of things, Sony has made a usefully small full-frame F2.8 zoom and Sigma has developed what is essentially a full-frame version of its 18-35mm F1.8, creating the world's first AF F1.8 zoom for full-frame in the process. Then there's Fujifilm: not content with updating probably the best kit lens on the market (albeit with a loss of speed and reach at the long end counteracting the gain of width at the other), it's also replaced its premium standard zoom with a much smaller, lighter optic.

The Fujifilm 16-50mm F2.8 R LM WR II would probably be my choice in any other year. Its lightweight re-imagining meant it was small enough for me to take on a five-day hike across North Wales, and helped me assemble one of the best galleries I think I've ever shot.

"It's just exciting to see anyone introduce an enthusiast compact"

And yet instead of any of these worthy winners, I'm going to choose a camera whose merits come with some appreciable caveats and that I'll spend much of this article appearing to criticize.

Let's get this straight out of the gate: in many respects the Leica D-Lux8 is refresh of a seven year old camera. And its price tag of $1599 lands somewhere between fanciful and absurd.

And yet, in an age when second-hand Panasonic LX3s often attract 40% of their original price on eBay, despite their wonky skin tones, outdated performance and 2008-vintage batteries, it's just exciting to see anyone introduce an enthusiast compact.

The D-Lux8 has a pleasantly photo-focused interface, with shutter speed, aperture and exposure comp dominating the controls. Yet it doesn't quite manage to feel like a zoomable X100.

Photo: Richard Butler

And while the D-Lux8 shares the bulk of its hardware with the LX100 II, it gains one of the most photo-focused user interfaces I've had the good fortune to use in the seventeen years I've been writing about cameras.

It also gains a much less distracting viewfinder, which I also appreciate, and its AF tracking, while not coming close to the standards of modern mirrorless cameras, is also improved.

There's a nagging doubt whenever I've used a recent D-Lux or LX100 of why it doesn't feel even more special, given its dial layout and aperture ring suggests it should feel like a smaller X100, but with a zoom. Personally I think the added lag of waiting for the motor-driven zoom to respond helps to distance your input from the camera's reaction. Or it could just be that the photos don't look as good, thanks to its less sharp lens, deeper minimum depth-of-field and absence of Film Simulation fairy dust.

Leica D-Lux8 @ 26mm (58mm equiv) | F2.8 | 1/60 | ISO 800

The D-Lux8's image quality isn't always up to the standard of, say, the Fujifilm X100 series, but its portability means you get photos in situations in which you might not have otherwise brought a camera. But, unlike a phone, makes you feel that you played a part in getting the photo.

Photo: Richard Butler

But the 8's new interface is delightfully shutter speed and aperture focused. There aren't many custom buttons and you don't need a great many: it's a good-looking little camera that focuses your attention on taking photos. And that's something I've really missed.

Maybe there's still time for another blossoming of enthusiast compacts, now they're starting to find an audience, retrospectively. Or maybe I just need to accept that my own preferences don't match those of the wider market.

But even if the D-Lux8 doesn't herald a new Spring for the serious compact, it's not a bad note for the category to go out on. Price aside, it's a lovely little camera.

Buy now:

$1595 at Adorama$1595 at B&H Photo Leica D-Lux8 sample gallery Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.

Canon's LI5070SA sensor delivers 4K at up to 60p with no rolling shutter, with Canon suggesting 'Cinema' as one of its potential applications.

Image: Canon

Canon has made a 4K/60-capable Super35 (∼APS-C) video sensor with global shutter available to third-party buyers.

The 10.3MP sensor added to the product page of its industrial equipment and semiconductor business unit is 27.4 x 15.3mm, making it a 1.34x crop, relative to a full-frame stills camera, but in a roughly 16:9 aspect ratio.

Its 4288 x 2398 pixel count is clearly designed for delivering 4K footage. We'd usually expect Canon to have already offered it in a camera, if it planned to, before offering it to external users.

Canon sold a 4K/60 Super35 'GS' global shutter version of its EOS C700 camera, back in 2017, though available specs suggest its sensor was slightly smaller, so presumably wasn't the same as the one now being offered to external companies. Notably, Canon claimed its dynamic range was one stop lower than the progressive scan Super35 chip in the regular C700 model. There's still a chance this new chip will underpin a successor to the C700 GS.

An image of Canon semiconductor's LI7080SA sensor: a progressive scan Super35 sensor that closely resembles its global shutter cousin.

Image: Canon

At present, we're not aware of any other consumer camera maker using Canon sensors. Specialist industrial / security camera makers such as Illunis have used its sensors to make high-speed and high-resolution cameras for applications such as aerial photography and machine vision applications, but we've not seen its 120MP or 250MP APS-H chips in consumer cameras, including those from Canon itself.

Canon said it was developing a DSLR based on its 120MP sensor, back in 2015. Prototypes based on EOS 5DS bodies appeared at trade shows, but no final product ever emerged.

Canon's semiconductor business also offers a "full-frame" global shutter sensor. Again this has a roughly 16:9 aspect ratio and proposed uses include microscopy, factory automation and traffic surveillance. This sensor has been available since early 2023.

The Retrospective 30 V2 is a big 'ol bag.

The ThinkTank Retrospective 30 V2 is not a new product by any means, but it's new to me. Earlier this year, I went looking for a camera bag to replace the one I had since high school and landed on the Retrospective 30; the largest option in ThinkTank's well-known lineup of canvas shoulder camera bags.

While anyone can make a messenger bag with a few dividers and call it a day, it feels like this bag was really designed and refined by and for photographers. All its velcro flaps can be covered or tucked away to silence them if you don't want to draw attention to yourself while shooting on the street or at an event like a wedding. The top can be zippered closed for maximum protection or left open to let you quickly access gear, and it has what I think is just the right ratio of open space to built-in organization.

Some of the velcro patches have covers to keep you from ruining a quiet moment by ripping them open.

Photo: Mitchell Clark

There are also subtle touches that I've found really useful: one of the front pockets has a bright red fabric loop that I clip my keys to so I always know where they are, the water bottle pocket can be cinched tight when you're not using it and there are plenty of places to hook carabiners onto if I need to hang additional gear on the outside of the bag.

I also just like how it looks. The olive green fabric matches the antique-looking metal hardware well.

My favorite thing about this bag, though, is that it's monstrous. It's the station wagon – nay, Honda Odyssey – of messenger-style camera bags. I've used it to carry two camera bodies, a few lenses, a 14-inch MacBook Pro, an iPad, and a bunch of other bits and bobs like a notebook, an army of SD cards, a Clif bar or two, power adapters and rain jacket. Is that a sign of overpacking? Perhaps, but it's part of the job; I'm frequently testing out one camera for a review and using another to shoot a sample gallery of some variety.

It may look like there are three lensed cameras in here – a Nikon Z8, Canon EOS R7 and Panasonic S9 – but there are actually four; a Fujifilm X-M5 is hiding out in a compartment under the Z8's grip.

Photo: Mitchell Clark

Even when my camera load isn't as heavy, I've found the Retrospective 30 useful as a commuter. I live in Spokane, Washington, but travel to DPReview's offices in Seattle relatively frequently. Because I keep my entire photographic life in it – my SD cards, various cables, white balance cards and rolling shutter tester – I can just pick it up and go without having to run around making sure everything I'll need for the next week is packed.

I took a bit of a chance buying this bag: DPReview was sending me to Japan as a freelancer to cover what ended up being the Panasonic S9 announcement, and I knew the Lowepro bag I'd gotten with my first camera in high school was on its very last legs. I hoped to turn reviewing cameras into my full-time job, but I wasn't 100% sure I was cut out for it.

Me, very tired, returning home from Japan.

Photo: Mitchell Clark

If it turned out I wasn't, the 30 would be way larger than I'd ever need; my personal camera consists of a Fujifilm X-T3 and two lenses, which would get absolutely swallowed by this bag. But if I did end up at DPReview, I worried that a smaller bag might not be able to carry all the gear I assumed I'd be carting around.

I was also concerned about the price at the time: at $240, it's far from the spendiest bag out there, but I still didn't feel great telling my wife that I wanted to spend that much on anything when I'd been largely unemployed for the last year – I'd quit my job as a news writer at The Verge in April 2023 to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I spent some time working at a ski shop after I got back and did various odd jobs, but it'd been a long time since I'd meaningfully contributed to our household's budget.

But I went for it anyway; the prospect of going on a press trip and juggling cameras in a backpack that's not at all designed for them seemed like a nightmare. And obviously, it worked out: I'm working at DPReview now, and am reminded pretty much every day that it was a good idea to get something with this much capacity.

Despite its carrying capacity, the Retrospective 30 is a reasonable size to carry around on a photo walk.

Photo: Mitchell Clark

Of course, I have a few nitpicks. No bag is perfect, which is why the market for them is nearly infinite. I haven't figured out a graceful way to attach a tripod to it, even one as small as the Peak Design Travel model, the main zipper can be a bit hard to start closing if it's all the way open, and I needed a tutorial video to figure out how to use the included rain cover. I'd rather the bag's top flap was made out of waterproof material, though the canvas alone has been enough to protect my gear through short walks in light rain – phew!

The bag can also rub a bit uncomfortably on my hip when it's fully loaded, but I suspect that's more of a limitation with the messenger bag form factor as a whole. Realistically, if you're carrying over 7kg (15+lbs) of gear, you should be doing it on your back, not slung over one shoulder.

Despite my complaints, I still love this bag, and I suspect I'll continue using it for years to come. The same's true for the job, by the way – and if I'm lucky enough for that to happen, I'll have the Retrospective 30 as a reminder of where it all began.

Buy Now:

$239 at Amazon $239 at B&H $239 at Think Tank

Northern Lights Photographer of the Year winners

Capture the Atlas has announced the winners of its 2024 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards in the seventh edition of its annual photo contest.

This year was an exciting year for aurora photography – both the aurora borealis and the aurora australis – as we close in on the solar maximum of the current solar cycle. Throughout 2024, increased solar activity has resulted in aurora being visible further away from the poles than in recent years, which can be seen among the winners.

This year, the competition awarded 25 photos from photographers representing 15 nationalities. We've picked our ten favorite images from the set to share here.

Want to be ready to photograph the aurora if it suddenly becomes visible in your area? Read our article on how to photograph the northern lights to learn how.

Carpe Diem: Adrian Cormier

Photographer: Adrian Cormier

Location: Crater Lake National Park, USA

Caption: May 10, 2024, began like any other new moon cycle for me. I was shooting at one of my favorite spots along the Sonoma coastline. Around 2:30 a.m., I was surprised to feel my phone buzz with a notification, as my location had sporadic cell coverage. The alert was one I never expected—and will never forget! A fellow Sony Alpha photographer, who was in Nepal at the time, messaged me: “Get as far north as you can by sunset, it’s going down tonight!” A historic geomagnetic storm, possibly peaking at G5, was predicted.

I immediately drove home to grab my Atlas pack full of cold weather gear. My gut told me to head to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Shortly into the drive, I learned the CLNP Rim Road was completely closed due to 7 feet of recent snowfall. Fortunately, I was prepared for deep snow conditions and pressed on.

Confident and armed with snowshoes, I settled on a spot along the South Rim, east of the Crater Lake Lodge, which was closed due to the extreme snow levels. My image, “Carpe Diem,” reflects the magnificent display of geomagnetic energy that weekend, set against the iconic and unforgettable alpine landscape.

Copyright Adrian Cormier

Looking North: Lynsey Schroeder

Photographer: Lynsey Schroeder

Location: Arizona, USA

Caption: It’s not every day that the Northern Lights make it as far south as Southern Arizona! I’ve been captivated by the aurora ever since I first saw it in Iceland in 2018, so when I heard there was a chance to witness it here, I didn’t hesitate to grab my gear and head into the desert with a couple of friends.

My expectations were low, but the show completely exceeded them! As soon as we stepped out of the car, we could clearly see a pink glow on the horizon, occasionally pulsing with shimmering pillars as the night went on. I achieved a photography goal I never imagined I’d accomplish: capturing the aurora shining over the beautiful saguaros of the Sonoran Desert.

Copyright Lynsey Schroeder

In the Rays of the Solar Wind: Sergey Korolev

Photographer: Sergey Korolev

Location: Rybachy Peninsula, Russia

Caption: After a melt, we had a flash freeze with extremely cold temperatures and a clear blue sky. I was driving by a ditch on the side of a road that had been filled with water and had to stop and look (as we photographers do, can’t pass a ditch without investigating). This is what I found. Great textures and patterns, tones and flow, with lovely graphic lines creating a dynamic, abstract designs. I love this type of work – it’s so much fun, yet challenging to find just the right composition.

Copyright Sergey Korolev

Magic of the North: Josh Beames

Photographer: Josh Beames

Location: Iceland

Caption: I’ve dreamed of capturing this shot for years, and this year, everything aligned perfectly! During my annual Iceland workshop, our group witnessed the sheer power of nature as Iceland’s most recent active volcano erupted just days before.

After spending hours shooting and soaking in the incredible scene, we started to wrap up and head back to the car. Then, to our amazement, the Northern Lights began dancing across the sky! I quickly launched the drone, sending it on a mission to capture this wild spectacle.

Navigating through the wind, heat, and low visibility surrounding the volcano, I managed to capture a vertical panorama just as the volcanic smoke and ash shifted to the side. Moments later, the dreaded battery warning sounded, and I began the tense journey back. By this point, the wind had really picked up, and I honestly thought the drone was a goner… but with only 1% battery left, it somehow limped back to safety!

Copyright Josh Beames

Devil's Lights: Forest Barkdoll-Weil

Photographer: Forest Barkdoll-Weil

Location: Wyoming, USA

Caption: May 10, 2024: Aurora forecasts promised an incredible display, so I drove to Devils Tower, Wyoming, to witness the event. The solar storm delivered, reaching a historic KP9, with auroras visible worldwide. As the vibrant lights danced overhead, my father was undergoing emergency surgery two thousand miles away in Maine. It was a surreal night—awed by the celestial beauty above, yet grappling with worry for my dad.

The aurora offered a strange sense of comfort amidst the turmoil, grounding me in the moment as I captured this incredible phenomenon. My father, a photographer for over 50 years and the person who introduced me to this art, thankfully survived surgery and recovered after several days in the ICU. Although he missed this display, six months later, on October 10, we shared an even stronger solar storm together as a family—a memory I’ll always treasure.

Copyright Forest Barkdoll-Weil

Coronal Mass Eruption: Matt Haynie

Photographer: Matt Haynie

Location: California, USA

Caption: After finally capturing the elusive Northern Lights in mid-latitudes on May 10th, 2024, I was hooked. I realized there was more to predicting the aurora’s appearance than just relying on the KP forecast, so I learned how to read the charts that determine when the lights can reach mid-latitudes.

This photo is from the sixth time I’ve had the opportunity to capture them since that unforgettable night. Lassen Volcanic National Park, in Northern California, was the best option, as smoke and clouds threatened to obscure views in most nearby locations. I stayed on top of a ridge until 3 a.m., enduring frigid winds that cut through my layers, but witnessing two significant substorms made all the discomfort worthwhile.

Copyright Matt Haynie

Paddling Under the Aurora: Herry Himanshu

Photographer: Herry Himanshu

Location: Banff National Park, Canada

Caption: I live in Saskatchewan, Canada, so I’ve seen and captured the aurora hundreds of times before, but that night in Banff National Park, Alberta, was unlike any other.

As luck would have it, I was in Banff for a wedding that weekend when massive CMEs were predicted to hit Earth directly. As soon as it got dark, the aurora came out swinging, with vivid hues of reds, pinks, and purples dancing across the sky.

I had three camera setups running timelapses in different directions, but even that wasn’t enough. One brave friend took a standup paddleboard out on the lake and modeled for us beneath the insane light show. She was the perfect complement to the aurora and the mountainous landscape.

We were all in pure disbelief at the colors and patterns unfolding above us. Those shared moments of joy are what I’ll remember forever. I stayed up all night, driving hundreds of kilometers through Banff to iconic spots, capturing some of my best photos and timelapses ever.

Copyright Herry Himanshu

Cosmic Explosion: Uroš Fink

Photographer: Uroš Fink

Location: Istria, Croatia

Caption: On the night of the Perseid meteor shower, I was treated to a “multi-course menu” of the night sky. I captured the Milky Way arch with Orion, the Aurora (a first for me), the Zodiacal light, and the Perseid meteors. As if that wasn’t enough, the sky gifted me with one of the most stunning greenish airglows I’ve ever seen. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the close conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, right along the path of the Zodiacal light.

In the center of the panorama is the Cap Marlera lighthouse, built in 1880 at the southeastern tip of the Istrian Peninsula. The rugged coastline, at the entrance to Kvarner, attracts fish and dolphins. This area is also home to the Mediterranean bear, though I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting one.

Meteors rained down throughout the night, and I captured 75 of them using three cameras. I used the RegiStar software to seamlessly insert the meteors to the panorama in the exactly same spots as they appeared in the sky this night.
It was an extraordinary, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event, and I’m grateful and happy to have been part of it.

Copyright Uroš Fink

Aurora Australis: Marc Adamus

Photographer: Marc Adamus

Location: Patagonia Fjords, Chile

Caption: I’m not sure if an aurora had ever been recorded in Patagonia before, but we got incredibly lucky on the night of May 10, 2024, when a G5 storm hit. We were camped on an iceberg beach, deep in the wilderness of the Patagonia Fjords, when the incredible display unfolded.

Copyright Marc Adamus

28° Aurora: Efrén Yanes

Photographer: Efrén Yanes

Location: Tenerife, Spain

Caption: The night of May 10th was one of the most unforgettable moments since I became a photographer. I went to Teide National Park in Tenerife with the intention of capturing a circumpolar shot with the endemic tajines in bloom. After setting up my camera and finding the perfect composition, I hit the shutter. To my surprise, the camera screen showed a strange red color on the horizon. It wasn’t light pollution, but something I had never seen before.

Suddenly, I remembered hearing about a recent large-magnitude solar storm and the possibility of Northern Lights at lower latitudes. My heart raced as I scrolled through social media and saw others sharing photos of the Aurora from the Iberian Peninsula. I realized I was witnessing this extraordinary event from the Canary Islands. It was a magical experience that happened entirely by chance, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it.

Copyright Efrén Yanes

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When Nikon announced its Nikkor 50mm F1.4 lens earlier this year, the company implied that it and its 35mm sibling prioritized character over absolute sharpness, unlike Nikon's 'S' series lenses.

To get a sense of what that means, we've shot a sample gallery with it, including a few series of images that illustrate its vignetting and longitudinal chromatic aberration performance at different apertures.

This isn't a lens review by any means, but it's clear that wide open, the 50mm F1.4 has a lot of vignetting and longitudinal chromatic aberration. Whether that's a good or a bad thing likely depends on whether you view those as character or flaws. However, its price is less subjective: the 50mm F1.4 retails for $496, around $130 less than Nikon's slower 50mm F1.8 S model.

If you want to see how it compares to Nikon's 50mm F1.4 from the DSLR age, we've done a comparison article, which you can read here.

Click here to see the sample gallery

Images: Samsung

In the twenty-five years since DPReview was founded, camera companies have tried many things to differentiate their products from the competition. This was especially true for compact cameras, where manufacturers threw everything at the wall to see what stuck.

Here are six features camera makers tried that didn't find long-term success.

Swiveling lenses

The legendary Nikon Coolpix 950

Photo: Jeff Keller

The Nikon Coolpix 950 was one of the most iconic cameras released in the late 1990s. While its features were top-end, it was the design that turned heads. The lens could rotate 270 degrees, so you could place the camera up high, on the ground, or even use it for – gasp – selfies. (The 950 wasn't actually Nikon's first swivel camera; that honor belongs to the Coolpix 900.)

Nikon wasn't the only company in the swivel lens game. As we'll see a bit later, Casio produced many cameras with them, including the QV-10A, the first consumer digital camera. Sony used the 'inner swivel' design on several cameras, such as the DSC-F88. (Sony's DSC-F505 and successors had more of a 'swivel body' than a 'swivel lens.')

Image Comparison SliderThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content. The Minolta DiMAGE V included a rotating lens that could be removed from the camera but required a cable to connect it. (Cable not shown.)

Photos: Carey Rose

In my opinion, the coolest swivel lens camera was the Minolta DiMAGE V (not to be mistaken for the DiMAGE 5). While the photo above makes it look wireless, the camera and lens were attached by a 'lens extension cable'. This was 1997, after all.

The swivel lens faded into obscurity as fully articulating LCDs became more common. It's possible that weather sealing and durability also played a role in the swivel lens' demise. It was while it lasted, though.

Jump Shot Photo: iStock/Carles Iturbe Ferre

About 10-15 years ago, 'jump shots' like the one shown above were popular, especially with teens and young adults. Taking a jump photo wasn't easy, though. You'd need to leave out someone in your group, use a tripod, or find a stranger with a good trigger finger.

The engineers at Panasonic developed a feature for its smartphone Image App known as Jump Snap that solves two of those problems. The app lets you adjust the 'sensitivity', and then it's jumping time (with the phone in hand, of course). When the app notices the upward motion from the phone's gyroscope, it snaps the picture right at the peak of the jump.

There was just one problem that Jump Snap didn't solve: you still needed a tripod.

Casio's bells and whistles

The Casio QV-7000SX had the company's 'famous' rotating lens and IR blaster for sharing photos with a select number of cameras and printers.

Photo: Digital Camera Museum/Boris Jakubaschk

I have a real soft spot for Casio. In fact, I wrote an article about the company. While it was a big seller in Japan, the brand never took off in the US. What made Casio cameras great was their selection of unique modes that you wouldn't find elsewhere at the time.

"What made Casio cameras great was their selection of unique modes that you wouldn't find elsewhere at the time."

Take 1998's Exilim QV-7000SX, for example. It had an infrared transmitter, the ability to create HTML photo albums, in-camera panorama stitching and dozens of scene modes. The QV-7000SX's support for the IrDA infrared protocol allowed it to slowly send pictures to a very small collection of compatible devices, such as the Fujifilm Z20fd or Canon SELPHY photo printers.

The photo gallery created by some Casio cameras wasn't pretty, but it was the first of its kind. And if I may, the car pictured in photo 08290008.JPG is the most beautiful of all time.

Image: Jeff Keller/DCResource

The photo album feature was very handy since few people knew how to make an interactive gallery in the late 90s. (These galleries were made for viewing from your CF card, not online.) You could view slideshows, see larger versions of pictures, and examine Exif data.

The Coupling Shot feature lets you combine two separate photos into one.

Images: Casio

It takes two photos and assists you in lining up the background, like in a panorama.

Moving on, one more Casio feature worth mentioning is its Best Shot (scene) modes. The cameras had at least thirty Best Shot modes, with some cameras having seventy more on an included CD-ROM – and you could create your own! Some of the notable Best Shot modes were autumn leaves, food, eBay, and business cards. There were also several multiple exposure modes, which allowed you to add people to photos, kind of like smartphones that came 20 years later.

The MP3 player

The Fujifilm Finepix 40i with its wired remote and earbuds.

Photo: DPReview

Portable music players, along with music 'sharing' services like Napster, gained popularity around the turn of the century. While the first iPod wouldn't ship until 2001, camera manufacturers were already at it, like Fujifilm. The FinePix 40i shown above had a slick design and compact body but was limited by a fixed 36mm lens, a so-so SuperCCD sensor, and a hefty price tag. Music was loaded onto the camera's SmartMedia card via proprietary software.

The Kodak mc3 is a very mediocre camera and mp3 player in one.

Original image source unknown

To the best of my knowledge, there was only one camera I never reviewed due to its quality, and it was the Kodak mc3. While it was a fairly capable music player, the camera side was so bad that I couldn't bring myself to invest the time raking Kodak over the coals.

The mc3 was a plastic camera with a fixed 37mm-equivalent F2.8 lens and a reflective LCD that could only be seen in bright outdoor light (Kodak wasn't the only one to do this). It captured VGA-sized photos and QVGA videos with monaural sound. It lacked a remote control, so you'd have to use the hard-to-view screen to change songs. The only nice thing I can say is that it was relatively inexpensive at $299.

MP3 cameras didn't last long, as the iPod and cheap knockoffs let cameras be cameras again.

Printer docks

One of Kodak's many printer docks (camera usually not included).

Photo: Kodak

Printer docks were accessories that I genuinely wanted to succeed. For families and older folks, they were incredibly convenient, though expensive to operate. Just pop the camera on top, pick the photo(s) you want to print using the topside controls, and let the printer do its thing for a few minutes. It could also charge the batteries in your camera.

The most famous manufacturer of printer docks was Kodak by a long shot. Kodak used dye sublimation thermal printing, and a pack of 20 sheets (the ink was 'inside' the paper) set you back around $15. Kodak's printers could crank out a 4x6 print in 60-90 seconds, charge your camera's batteries, and let you view your photos on TV.

HP's Photosmart A447 camera on its printer dock

Photo: HP

The HP pictured above could output 4x6 or 4x12-inch (panoramic) prints and used a tri-color ink cartridge (yep, no black ink). It had a button for redeye removal, which got rid of the annoyance that was common on compact cameras.

Unlike the other products in this article, the printer dock didn't die; it just adapted to the times. Kodak, Canon, HP, and Fujifilm all make compact photo printers designed for use with smartphones. The difference is how you connect; instead of putting the camera on a dock, it's all done wirelessly using Bluetooth.

A Fujifilm Instax Link Wide wireless photo printer. In this case, 'wide' means 6.1 x 9.9 cm (2.4 by 3.9 inches).

Image: Fujifilm

Instant printers like Fujifilm's Instax lineup produce card-sized, square, and wide prints, often with special effects and templates. Unlike the printer docks that use ink or dye sublimation, Instax printers work like old Polaroid instant film, so it takes a little while for your print to appear.

Android cameras Image Comparison SliderThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content. The Coolpix S800c was Nikon's only Android-based camera. The Android interface was a breath of fresh air compared to typical menus. (Use the slider to compare front and back.)

Images: Nikon

It's 2013, and smartphone sales are taking off while consumers are starting to lose interest in compact cameras. Nikon, Samsung and even Zeiss tried giving people the best of both worlds: the ease of use and large app library of Android with photo capabilities that smartphones could not yet match.

Nikon was first out of the gate with its Coolpix 800c, which ran a version of Android (v2.3) that was already out of date. It had a 16 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 10X optical zoom (25-250mm equiv.), 2GB of internal storage and a giant 3.5" touchscreen to take advantage of Android. It had an SD card slot and a removable battery. Since battery life was dismal, having a spare on hand was a necessity.

"While a clever idea, the Coolpix 800c was not a great product."

Aside from being unable to make calls, you could use the 800c just as you would a smartphone and nearly every Android app was at your disposal. Who knew that one day, you could e-mail your friends or browse DPReview from your camera?

While a clever idea, the Coolpix 800c was not a great product. The photo quality was lousy, it took 30 seconds to start up, it was buggy, etc. This was the last camera review I wrote for my website, DCResource. What a way to go out.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera with its 4.8" touchscreen running Android 4.

Photo: Samsung

If there was one company that should have been able to do Android cameras right, it was Samsung. It actually made two Android cameras at the opposing sides of the spectrum: the compact Galaxy Camera pictured above and the Galaxy NX, a mirrorless camera that used Samsung's NX-mount (RIP).

The Galaxy Camera (GC) was based on Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone and came in two flavors: Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G/4G. Unlike the Coolpix 800c, the Galaxy Camera ran a much more modern version of Android (v4.1), and it had plenty of horsepower courtesy of a quad-core processor. It couldn't make calls, but there was nothing to stop you from using something like Skype to chat with friends.

"If there was one company that should have been able to do Android cameras right, it was Samsung."

Like the Nikon, the GC had a 16 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, but the lens was longer at 23-481mm equiv. It had a giant 4.8" touchscreen display, making it a lot more usable than the Coolpix. As with that camera, the GC could run virtually any Android app. Samsung included three of its own for photo and video editing.

The Galaxy Camera had a slick shooting interface with virtual dials.

The Galaxy Camera was the better of the two compact Android cameras. Image quality wasn't great, but it was more responsive, battery life was much longer, and the 3G/4G option made it usable from anywhere.

The GC apparently sold well enough for Samsung to make a sequel. The Galaxy Camera 2 had a faster processor, more RAM, NFC, and a higher-capacity battery.

Samsung exited the digital camera business in 2015, taking with it the two Galaxy Cameras and the Galaxy NX. The company sold 320 million smartphones that year.

The $6000, Android-powered Zeiss ZX1 came with Adobe Lightroom built-in. You could even use it to surf the internet.

Photo: Dan Bracaglia

On the other end of the spectrum was the Zeiss ZX1. It was introduced in 2018 but didn't actually ship until the end of 2020. As you'd expect it was extraordinarily expensive ($6000) and everything was high end. It had a 37 Megapixel full-frame sensor, 35mm F2 lens, large LCD, hybrid autofocus system, and top-notch build quality. Perhaps the most interesting feature about the ZX1 is that it had Adobe Lightroom Mobile built-in. The ZX1 was unable to download other Android apps, though the target audience probably didn't mind.

Can you think of any features from compact, DSLR or mirrorless cameras that didn't survive beyond a generation or two? Let us know in the comments below.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Image: Samyang

LK Samyang is making another attempt at selling autofocus lenses for Canon's RF mount. It announced that it's bringing the Samyang AF 12mm F2, a 19mm equivalent ultra-wide prime for APS-C cameras, to the system and says that users should "stay tuned for more exciting releases in the RF-S family."

The lens is weather-sealed, and the company says it's meant for outdoor photography, such as landscapes, architecture, and astrophotography. The lens' optical formula is made up of 12 elements in 10 groups, with three ED elements and two aspherical lenses. It has a 7-bladed aperture.

It weighs 213g (7.5oz) and is 5.7 cm (2.25") long. It accepts 62mm filters and has a minimum focusing distance of 20cm (7.9").

The company previously attempted to make autofocus lenses for RF mount, but pulled them off the market shortly after they went on sale. Viltrox, another third-party company, has said that Canon threatened legal action against it for making lenses for the system.

Other companies, such as Sigma and Tamron, have recently started producing APS-C lenses for RF, though they've explicitly stated that they've done so under license from Canon. Samyang's 12mm F2 product page doesn't appear to mention anything about an official collaboration with the company.

The AF 12mm F2 will cost $449, though it's currently listed as a pre-order on Samyang's site. That's slightly less than the retail price for the lens on Fujifilm's X mount, though slightly more than it costs on Sony's E-mount.

$449 at Samyang Samyang AF 12mm F2 Specifications: Principal specificationsLens typePrime lensMax Format sizeAPS-C / DXFocal length12 mmImage stabilizationNoLens mountCanon RF, Fujifilm X, Sony EApertureMaximum apertureF2Minimum apertureF22Aperture ringNoNumber of diaphragm blades7OpticsElements12Groups10Special elements / coatings1 × hybrid aspheric (H-ASP), 1 × aspherical (ASP) and 3 × extra low dispersion (ED) elements, ultra multi coating (UMC)FocusMinimum focus0.20 m (7.87″)Maximum magnification0.09×AutofocusYesMotor typeStepper motorFocus methodInternalDistance scaleNoDoF scaleNoPhysicalWeight213 g (0.47 lb)Diameter70 mm (2.76″)Length59 mm (2.32″)MaterialsAluminum alloySealingYesColourblackPower zoomNoZoom lockNoFilter thread62 mmHood suppliedYesTripod collarNo

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Image: LK Samyang

Korean lens maker LK Samyang has announced the Samyang AF 35mm F1.4 P, the first of its third generation lenses. The autofocus full-frame optic will initially be available for Sony E-mount cameras.

The 'P' designation refers to the company's new 'Prima' line of lenses, which it says is "inspired by a Latin word, meaning 'first' and 'important'."

It says the lens was designed to be compact and lightweight, with "practicality" as the other part of its concept. Despite these ambitions, the lens is fractionally larger than Sony's own 35mm F1.4 GM, though it is a little over 10% lighter. It's significantly smaller and lighter than Samyang's existing 35mm F1.4 II.

Its design features 12 elements in 10 groups, including three aspheric elements, one high refractive-index lens and one extra-low dispersion (ED) element. Its focus is driven by a stepping linear motor.

A minimum focus distance of 30cm (11.8") gives a maximum magnification ratio of 0.17x.

We haven't received any information about pricing or availability for the new lens and will update the story when we can get it.

Samyang AF 35mm F1.4 P Specifications Principal specificationsLens typePrime lensMax Format size35mm FFFocal length35 mmImage stabilizationNoLens mountSony E, Sony FEApertureMaximum apertureF1.4Minimum apertureF16Aperture ringNoNumber of diaphragm blades9OpticsElements12Groups10Special elements / coatings3 Asph, 1 HR, 1 EDFocusMinimum focus0.30 m (11.81″)Maximum magnification0.17×AutofocusYesMotor typeLinear MotorFocus methodInternalDistance scaleNoDoF scaleNoPhysicalWeight470 g (1.04 lb)Diameter75 mm (2.95″)Length99 mm (3.9″)SealingYesFilter thread67 mm

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Nikon's recently announced 50mm F1.4 is an interesting lens because its retail price is $496, $130 less than the slower 50mm F1.8 S model. Generally, that relationship is flipped: faster lenses cost more money.

Indeed, that was the case in Nikon's DSLR lineup. The AF-S F1.4G was the premium option at $439, while the F1.8 was $219. Adjusted for inflation from their respective 2008 and 2011 launch dates, the previous generation was priced at $643 for the F1.4 and $307 for the F1.8.

In theory, the new F1.4 lens trades quite a bit of sharpness for 'character,' letting it achieve its lower price point. But this raises an interesting question: given the last 16 years of improvements to manufacturing and engineering, will the new budget option outperform the older premium model?

We aimed to test this, attaching the 50mm F1.4 G to a Z8 using Nikon's official F to Z adapter. We took the same shots with both lenses to see how the new entry-level stands up to the older pro-level lens. We haven't applied distortion correction to the images from either, though we have used the built-in profiles and CA correction.

Sharpness and vignetting Nikkor Z 50mm F1.4 F1.4 F1.8 F2.8 F5.6 F8.0 Nikkor G 50mm F1.4 F1.4 F1.8 F2.8 F5.6 F8.0

The Z-mount lens is quite a bit sharper in the center and corners when wide open, a trend that continues until around F2.8, where the G lens sharpens up substantially in the center. Even at F5.6, though, the older lens is still a touch softer in the corners, though the two lenses are relatively comparable at F8.

Both lenses have a fair amount of vignetting, though the G model's clears up a tad faster.

Bokeh Nikkor Z 50mm F1.4 Nikkor G 50mm F1.4

To our eyes, the Z lens has more pleasing bokeh, thanks to less mechanical vignetting. That means it'll render out-of-focus points of light as circles, rather than ovals across much more of the frame. The G model can produce circular bokeh in the center, but they turn to cats eye pretty quickly as you move toward the edges of the frame.

Our one concern is that the newer lens' bokeh does seem to have slightly brighter edges, which could result in some busy-looking backgrounds if you're shooting in front of things like receding foliage.

Infinity Focus Nikkor Z 50mm F1.4 Nikkor G 50mm F1.4

At infinity focus, both lenses have a very similar field of view. That's not necessarily a given, as evidenced by...

Close Focus

...the fact that there's a pronounced difference in focal lengths when shooting a close-up object near the lens' minimum focusing distance. The Z model has a substantially wider field of view with the G exhibit much more 'breathing.'

Nikkor Z 50mm F1.4 Nikkor G 50mm F1.4

It's also worth noting that the newer Z model can focus closer than the older lens. The rollover below shows the lenses at their minimum focusing distance.

Nikkor Z 50mm F1.4 Nikkor G 50mm F1.4

While this is far from a full lens review, it's hard not to look at the comparisons here and conclude that Nikon's budget lens has caught up to and surpassed its old high-end option. The Z model is sharper and has faster, more accurate, and closer focusing capabilities.

This isn't to say that the Z 50mm F1.4 is a perfect lens. It's heavier and larger than the 50mm F1.4 G, and its sharpness, vignetting, and chromatic aberration performance could be better by modern standards. The great thing about Nikon's modern lens lineup, though, is that if want a sharper lens, you can have it: the 50mm F1.8 S performs ridiculously well in that regard. The baseline has been raised up to where professional lenses used to be, and today's pro models would've almost seemed like magic just a decade and a half ago.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.Introduction

Despite all the headwinds being faced by the camera industry (or perhaps because of them), 2024 has been an excellent year for photographers, in many regards.

We've seen breakthrough technologies and a general raising of the levels of speed, autofocus and video performance that we can expect cameras to offer. And in terms of lenses we've been spoiled by a selection of fast zooms that help underpin their respective systems' promise of performance and a variety of primes that expand what their systems can do. We've even seen lens choice for Canon and Nikon's mirrorless systems start to expand to include at least a degree of third-party involvement.

It's made selecting the key products to highlight particularly difficult. But after some lively discussion, we've reached something like a consensus. The following are the options that stood out to us as the most deserving of the year.

Best Zoom Lens Shortlist:

• Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM Z
• Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II
• Sigma 28-45mm F1.8 DG DN Art
• Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 G

Honorable mention: Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 G

2024 was a year full of interesting lenses, to the point that Sony's 28-70mm F2 GM got crowded out of a very competitive shortlist. But, while we admire the ambition of that lens and Sigma's shorter but substantially less expensive 28-45mm F1.8, Sony's 24-50mm F2.8 G takes the runner-up spot. Its range may seem a little short, but the result is a usefully small F2.8 zoom that lets a7 and a7C shooters access a good chunk of their cameras' IQ capabilities without completely undermining their relative compactness.

Winner: Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II

The Fujifilm isn't the most eye-catching lens in this company, but we like it nonetheless. A fast standard zoom is a key lens for any system, and we've really enjoyed the latest version. It's significantly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, but still performs very well optically and is priced the same as the original was in 2015. The more compact design makes it easier to travel with and lets cameras like the X-T5 deliver on the promise of offering more compact packages than full-frame. And that's ultimately the appeal: a lens that helps deliver on the potential of the system.

Buy now:

$1199 at Adorama$1199 at B&H Photo Best Prime Lens Shortlist:

• Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM
• Nikon Nikkor Z 35mm F1.4
• Sigma 15mm F1.4 DG DN Art
• Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II

Honorable mention: Nikon Nikkor Z 35mm F1.4

We still don't entirely understand Nikon's logic of making a line of premium F1.8 primes then inserting a line of more affordable F1.4s with less clinically perfect image quality below them, but we're enjoying the outcome. The more characterful Nikkor 35mm and 50mm F1.4s are still very good lenses, optically, but they help put bright primes within reach of more people. And that's good news for anyone who's looking to get more out of their Z-series camera, without committing to the premium 'S' line.

Winner: Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II

The Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II isn't a particularly flashy lens, but it addresses the few shortcomings of the Mark 1 lens to deliver a really good product overall. It's lighter and slightly sharper, but most critically, its focus is smoother and swifter than its predecessor, which still relied on DSLR-era ring-type focus motors. The move to linear motors means the GM II becomes the kind of lens where you don't even notice how it behaves; it just does its job. Which is exactly what's required of a workhorse: consistent excellence you simply take for granted.

Buy now:

$1798 at Adorama$1798 at B&H Photo Best Entry-Level or Mid-Range Camera Shortlist:

• Fujifilm X-M5
• Fujifilm X-T50
• Nikon Z50II

Honorable mention: Fujifilm X-M5

The Fujifilm X-M5 comes at an interesting moment. It's one of the increasing number of cameras focused on creators who want to take pictures and videos that are easy to get onto the internet but that will stand out on a feed full of images taken with smartphones. Like many of its peers, color plays an important role in that workflow: Fujifilm put its popular Film Simulations front-and-center by dedicating an entire dial to them. But despite its focus on video – it even has a vlog setting on its mode dial – it manages to retain photography essentials like two top-plate control dials and a mechanical shutter, which aren't always a given. It's also not for nothing that, at a time when everything is getting more expensive, including some of Fujifilm's other models, it's the first mirrorless camera we've seen with a price point well under $1,000 in quite some time.

Winner: Nikon Z50II

Sometimes, it's enough to just nail the basics. The Nikon Z50II doesn't break any new ground – it uses the same unstabilized sensor as its predecessor, which hails back to the days of the D500, and has the same processor as cameras like the Z6III, Z8 and Z9. However, that means it gets some of the best autofocus tracking around: it can recognize up to nine subject types and automatically switch between them, giving beginner photographers one less thing to think about. That, paired with a nice, bright viewfinder, up to 11fps Raw burst shooting with pre-capture, and a control scheme that borrows heavily from Nikon's more expensive cameras, make for a very capable stills camera for not a lot of money. And while its full-width UHD 4K video still maxes out at 30fps, video shooters will appreciate the addition of a headphone jack, waveform monitoring, and N-Log for when they want to go beyond the built-in color modes.

Buy now:

$1049 w/ 16-50mm at Amazon.com$906 at Adorama$906 at B&H Photo Best Enthusiast Camera Shortlist:

• Fujifilm X100VI
• Nikon Z6III
• Panasonic Lumix DC-GH7
• Panasonic Lumix DC-S9

Honorable mention: Fujifilm X100VI

The Fujifilm X100VI is like catnip for photographers and people in love with the aesthetic of photography, which is probably why it's still out of stock almost a year after its announcement. It took a winning formula for Fujifilm – a fixed 35mm equiv. F2 lens, a hybrid optical / electronic viewfinder, Film Simulations and a retro design – and updated it with a modern 40MP stabilized sensor and an autofocus system with AI-derived subject detection. It may not be a camera for everyone, but given that it's one of the best examples of its kind, it's no surprise that so many people want one.

Winner: Nikon Z6III

The Nikon Z6III is one of the most well-rounded cameras out there. It's one of, if not the best in its class for image quality, autofocus performance, burst rates and video shooting capabilities, all built into a body with excellent ergonomics. It's one of those midrange cameras that really makes you wonder why you'd spend more – of course, there are more capable cameras out there, but unless you have a specific and compelling reason to want one, it's hard to imagine the Z6III not being able to meet your needs. We'd say more, but – mild spoiler alert – this won't be the last you read about the Z6III on this list.

Buy now:

$2196 at Amazon.com$2497 at Adorama$2497 at B&H Photo Best High-End Camera Shortlist:

• Canon EOS R1
• Canon EOS R5 II
• Leica Q3 43
• Sony a9 III

Honorable mention: Sony a9 III

The Sony a9 III is a breakthrough camera, both in terms of its outright shooting speed and the newfound abilities brought by its global shutter sensor.

120 frames per second is a major step up from the 20 or 30fps of its immediate peers. It's not going to be necessary for a lot of situations but could prove highly beneficial in others. Likewise, the image quality impact of its global shutter sensor will make it less well suited for certain pursuits but prove invaluable for others. It's this 'niche-within-a-niche' level of specialization that counts against it for this award, even though we recognize what a breakthrough it represents within that specialist realm.

Winner: Canon EOS R5 II

The Canon EOS R5 II had the unenviable task of having to improve on the already impressive EOS R5 Mark 1. But with a move to a Stacked CMOS sensor and a number of other innovative additions, the EOS R5 II manages to both improve on its predecessor and justify its place in Canon's well-regarded '5' series.

The addition of Eye Control AF and the context-recognition Action Priority AF mode are the standout features but it's the improved subject recognition AF, the added video features and the lower rolling shutter that makes its fastest burst modes more useful that combine to make it a better camera for a wider range of applications than the Mark I. It's just a hugely capable camera, whatever you ask of it.

Buy now:

$4299 at Amazon.com$4299 at Adorama$4299 at B&H Photo 2024 DPReview Innovation Award Shortlist:

• Canon: Action Priority AF
• Nikon: Partially stacked sensor
• Sony: Global shutter sensor

Honorable mention: Sony: Global shutter sensor

Global shutter: the ability to capture the entire frame instantaneously, has been a long-sought dream in photography. Leaf shutters come close and global shutter sensors have existed for some time in other applications, but both have come with drawbacks in terms of cost or quality. Instantaneous capture makes it possible to capture full-power flash at high shutter speeds, it eliminates rolling shutter in video and it reduces the types of anomaly that fast-refresh LED displays can cause in photos. There's still an image quality cost to the system in the a9III, but the benefits it brings for certain types of photography can make this trade-off more than worthwhile.

Winner: Canon: Action Priority AF

Canon's Action Priority AF system is the first to move beyond subject recognition and apply machine learning to the challenge of situation recognition. It has been trained to identify pivotal moments in several specific sports and to know which player to direct focus to, in those moments.

The system has made its debut in Canon's pro-sports EOS R1, where most users will already be more than familiar with anticipating key moments in a sport. But we're more excited about the prospect of it becoming available more widely across the camera world, because not all of us are professional sports photographers with years of experience spent learning the dynamics of a sport. If cameras can give the rest of us a helping hand, it could make capturing important memories easier for more people.

Product of the Year Shortlist:

• Canon EOS R5 II
• Fujifilm X-M5
• Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II
• Nikon Z6III

Honorable mention: Canon EOS R5 II

It's almost impossible to decide between Canon's EOS R5 II and Nikon's Z6III for product of the year. Both bring impressive levels of AF performance, speed and video capability to their respective parts of the market, to deliver hugely accomplished cameras that will support their users across an even wider range of photographic challenges than their predecessors did. We've already recognized the R5 II's 'Action Priority AF' mode in our awards, so the greater accessibility of the Nikon just pips the excellent R5 II to the title.

Winner: Nikon Z6III

The Nikon Z6III is a hugely capable camera that shoots faster, focuses more dependably and comes with a hugely expanded range of video features compared to its forebears. Anyone pushing base ISO images to exploit its full dynamic range will find its files less maleable than its predecessors, but in every other respect it's a significantly more capable camera than the Mark II.

With its higher res viewfinder, significantly improved autofocus and 10-bit video, it's a camera that will serve more people well, across a wider range of photographic styles. An all-rounder that excels even against fierce competition.

Buy now:

$2196 at Amazon.com$2497 at Adorama$2497 at B&H Photo

Panasonic S5IIX and Lumix S 28-200mm F4-7.1 | ISO 1600 | 1/200 sec | F4.5

Photo: Dale Baskin

The DPReview community is full of talented photographers, and we want to showcase your best photos of 2024 on DPReview.

What was your top shot this year? Share one image you captured in 2024 and tell us about it. Make sure to tell us the story behind the photo in the caption and why you chose it as your photo of the year. Pick carefully – you can only submit one photo!

Submissions will open on Tuesday, December 10th, and you have until Monday, December 16 (GMT) to submit entries. You can read the full rules on the 'Your best photo of 2024' challenge page.

Essential details: If you want your photo to be featured among our Editors' picks on the DPReview homepage, you must include a title and a caption that tells us the story behind the picture and why you chose it (minimum of 25 words).

DPReview editors will review every photo you submit, and we'll publish our favorites in a slideshow on the DPReview homepage later this month.

We're using our challenge system to host submissions, so other readers can also vote for your photo. User voting will inform DPReview Editors' picks but will not select them. They are one factor in our evaluation.

Click here to visit the contest page and read the full rules

Do you want to shape and create content for one of the world's largest audiences of photography and video enthusiasts? DPReview is hiring! We have two open positions: a News Editor and a Community Coordinator who will help support our online forums and user community. We can't wait to hear from you.

Please note that these are US-based positions.

News Editor
Full-time (Seattle, WA or remote) Role overview

DPReview is seeking a full-time News Editor to join our growing Editorial team.

The News Editor role at DPReview requires an experienced technical writer who thrives in a fast-paced environment and possesses a deep understanding of digital photography and the camera industry. The News Editor’s primary responsibility is to report on camera and photo industry news, industry trends, and photography culture, including context and analysis that reflect DPReview’s thought leadership in the industry.

Qualified candidates will be capable of independently researching news and information, writing, editing and delivering publication-ready content. They should be able to efficiently and effectively monitor industry news and trends to identify relevant stories from sources including manufacturers, PR representatives, online resources and social media. Additionally, they must be strong collaborators who can work closely with DPReview’s Editorial team to add a unique perspective to news and other short-form articles.

A typical week for the News Editor will involve monitoring trusted sources of information to uncover breaking industry news, developing content around embargoed materials for product announcements, corresponding with PR agents and evaluating pitches for news coverage, uncovering unique stories and story angles exclusive to DPReview, and liaising with and seeking insight from the Editorial team to incorporate expert insight into news. Speed is of the essence, with a target of 2-3 published articles per day.

Like all successful DPReview team members, candidates must be goal-focused self-starters who maintain an agile mindset, operate independently, lead by example, communicate effectively across all channels, and are productive in a remote work environment.
This role will report to the Managing Editor but will work closely with the entire DPReview team in a cross-functional environment.

Role responsibilities

• Write, edit and publish short-form articles covering breaking news, product launches, newsworthy industry trends, and stories about photography and photography culture, focusing on finding a unique angle whenever possible.
• Liaise with and seek insight from the wider editorial team to incorporate expert knowledge into articles.
• Analyze news metrics and performance using analytical tools and data to improve performance and deliver increased traffic to news content over time.
• Develop and foster relationships with PR representatives to grow DPReview’s portfolio of industry contacts and to ensure consistent early access to breaking news and embargoed information.
• Build and maintain relationships with brands, industry experts and independent content creators who may serve as sources of news or similar content.
• Monitor information resources such as competitive publications, industry news sources, and social media for story ideas.
• Coordinate with DPReview’s social media and platform teams to identify impactful content for promotion across DPreview’s social media channels.

Role requirements

• A passion for photography and digital camera equipment
• Excellent understanding of the technology behind modern digital imaging
• At least 2+ years of writing and producing content at a fast-paced, deadline-oriented, product-focused publication or as an industry-centric technical writer or editor.
• Ability to independently produce 2-3 short-form articles per day
• Strong grammar and copy-editing skills
• Ability to examine and parse data into actionable editorial strategy
• Strong project management and communication skills
• The ability to work efficiently under pressure and to take feedback constructively
• A willingness to travel and work odd hours as the assignment or news cycle dictates

How to apply

Please use the link below to contact us about applying. Make sure to include the following information:

• A brief introduction of yourself that includes an overview of why you believe you are a good fit for the Reviews Editor position.
• A link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one.
• Links to writing samples you believe are most related to DPReview’s coverage. If you have writing samples that are not online, please indicate this.
• Links to any previous work applicable to DPReview.

Only those candidates considered for an interview will be contacted.

Click here to apply for this position

DPReview Community Coordinator
Part-time (remote) Role overview

DPReview is seeking a part-time Community Coordinator to join our growing Editorial team.

The Community Coordinator role at DPReview requires an individual with experience managing online communities and creating great user experiences to grow and maintain our online forums. The Community coordinator will serve as an ambassador between DPReview’s Editorial team and our community members, engage directly with users across DPReview’s forums, liaise with and support volunteer community moderators, support users requiring assistance, and approve posts awaiting moderation. The Community Coordinator will identify and create opportunities to turn community-based activity and information into content for publication on DPReview.com.

Qualified candidates will have experience working with or managing an online community or interest group, including community moderation, fostering clear communication between community members and moderators, and a passion for creating a positive and inclusive community environment. Candidates should have an interest in cameras and editorial experience, ideally for a technical publication. Knowledge about photography and related technology, familiarity with the camera market, and experience working with volunteers are strongly preferred.

A typical week for the Community Coordinator will include directly engaging with users in key sub-forums, moderating forum activity to ensure consistency of moderation, providing support to moderators directly or via a private forum, supporting users requesting assistance, reviewing posts that require moderation, and writing approximately three articles per week for DPReview.com built around community activity or content.

Like all successful DPReview team members, candidates must be able to lead by example, possess excellent communication skills, and be productive in a remote work environment.
This role will report to the Managing Editor.

Role responsibilities

• Engage with users across DPReview’s community forums and act as a liaison between DPReview’s Editorial team and our community.
• Provide support to DPReview’s volunteer moderators, monitor forums to ensure consistency of moderation and identify opportunities to improve moderation within the community.
• Arbitrate conflicts between community members or between community members and moderators.
• Provide support to users seeking assistance with moderation or account issues.
• Identify and develop community-based content to be featured on DPReview.com, writing publication-ready articles that meet DPReview’s editorial standards.
• Review and approve posts flagged for moderation.
• Identify opportunities to increase forum engagement and participation.

Role requirements

• 1-2 years experience managing an online community (forums, social media groups, Discord, Slack)
• 1-2 years experience writing editorial content for a regular publication (or similar experience)
• Ability to communicate clearly, professionally and with empathy with community members and moderators, including volunteers
• Aptitude for mediating community disputes with a respectful tone
• Initiative to produce approximately three articles per week based on community activity
• Ability to work flexible hours.
• Knowledge of photography and digital camera equipment is strongly desired
• Familiarity with DPReview’s forums is a plus

How to apply

Please use the link below to contact us about applying. Make sure to include the following information:

• A brief introduction of yourself that includes an overview of why you believe you are a good fit for the Community Coordinator position.
• A link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one.
• Links to writing samples you believe are most related to DPReview’s coverage. If you have writing samples that are not online, please indicate this.
• Links to any previous work applicable to DPReview.

Only those candidates considered for an interview will be contacted.

Click here to apply for this position

DPReview strives to be a diverse and inclusive company. We firmly believe that different voices, experiences and points of view are an essential component of our current and future success. We do not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s gender, age, race, religion, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, genetics or any other personal characteristics protected by law.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.

The Heralbony Z fcs feature patterns designed by artists, rather than the solid color that the camera usually comes with.

Image: Nikon

Nikon has announced that its limited edition Z fc, designed in collaboration with Heralbony, will now be available in the US. The designs were announced in September but hadn't been available in the States.

According to Nikon, Heralbony is a "Japanese-based creative company working with neurodiverse artists." Each of the four Heralbony editions of the Z fc features a pattern from a different artist on the leatherette-inspired wrap across the front of the camera, as well as on the top of the viewfinder and rear grip.

Image: Nikon

The Heralbony versions don't cost extra compared to the normal colors, though they are only available in a $1,199 kit with the DX 16-50 F3.5-6.3 lens; you can't buy just the body with the design or have it retroactively applied to an existing Z fc.

$1,199 at Nikon

Image: iStock/Popartic
Illustration: Jeff Keller

I've been reviewing cameras since 1997 and in that time I've learned a lot about what to do – and not to do – in that demanding business. In celebration of DPReview's 25th anniversary, here are five things I've learned about reviewing cameras, usually the hard way, both at DPR and on my website, DCResource.

Don't break embargoes Image: iStock/Fiona1

Websites like DPReview often get access to products well before they're launched. The trust attached to that privilege comes with great responsibility. If we take the product out in public, the brand and model name is often covered by gaffer's tape, just in case there are any spies nearby.

Underlying this trust is the embargo: the time when the product will be revealed to the public. Until that time occurs (which is usually late at night for those of us on the West Coast), nothing can be published. It was my job to ensure we didn't break the embargo.

For a long time, DPReview's content management system used UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), which is 7 or 8 hours ahead of Pacific Time, depending on the time of year. It was easy to forget to change the time zone in the CMS, and bad things could happen if you entered the wrong time. In one instance, I was the guilty party. When the team got up in the morning, websites everywhere had articles about how DPR had broken an embargo on a new product. The manufacturer was not happy – nor was management – and many meetings followed.

We quickly implemented checks to prevent this from happening again. The default time zone was switched to Pacific, and a confirmation dialog now pops up when you save an article with a day/time in the future.

Save every photo

Nikon Z6 III with its SD and CFExpress slots.

Photo: Richard Butler

While testing a camera, DPReview reviewers take thousands of photos. The autofocus 'bike test' everyone knows and loves can account for hundreds of shots since we're shooting multiple runs at high burst speeds. If we just copied over the photos where the camera performed well, then there would be no way to evaluate how often it didn't do well.

The same thing goes for sample photos. We always take pictures in a variety of situations but can only post a modest selection. Having the rest of the images on hand allows DPR staff to notice trends you might not notice by looking at the random set of photos in a gallery. Maybe the bokeh seems a little 'off', or some photos you'd expect to be sharp are back-focused. It may take longer to copy and save gig after gig of photos, but it's invaluable to the review process.

Stuff happens

No cameras were harmed in the creation of this photo

Photo: Jeff Keller

People can get a little cocky when carrying around expensive electronics. Most of the time, there are no problems. But how many times have you had your smartphone's screen replaced? Sometimes, things go wrong.

We use tripods extensively for testing cameras at DPReview, and everything goes smoothly 99% of the time. But my number came up when shooting a gallery with a camera that won't be named here. The camera had an expensive long telephoto lens attached and was on a pretty sturdy tripod. It was breezy – typical for Seattle.

While taking a lens out of my bag, I watched in horror as a gust of wind blew the tripod over, landing lens-first onto the concrete. Amazingly, no glass was cracked, but the filter threads were bent, and the chassis was beaten up (the camera survived, thankfully).

As soon as I returned to my desk, I sent a lengthy apology to our PR contact, explaining what happened and promising to pay the cost of the repair. Thankfully, the agency said that 'stuff happens' and not to worry about it. Phew.

Consistency is key

You've probably seen this before

Photo: DPReview

People want to see how cameras compare on a level playing field. DPReview has relied on the studio comparison scene for decades, which has had two iterations and been moved at least four times. DPReview staffers check lighting and white balance and follow a prescribed set of instructions to ensure that all cameras' settings are consistent. If, upon reviewing the photos, something's off, the test scene will be shot again. Very finicky cameras may require three trips to the studio.

DCResource also had a studio scene, though it wasn't as elaborate as DPReview's, as well as a photo of a well-known mouse.

Some of the standard DCResource sample photos

Photos: Jeff Keller

Something I still take a lot of pride in is the consistency of the sample photos I captured for cameras on DCResource. There were always three groups of photos: Chinatown in San Francisco, Stanford University, which asked me to leave and not come back, and Treasure Island, which faced downtown SF.

Since the weather in San Francisco is very unpredictable, I'd watch the conditions carefully and bring as many compact cameras as I could stuff in my bag. I think my record was ten. I'd work my way through the cameras at every stop and then move on to the next spot. While not a scientific test, I received many e-mails of appreciation for the effort.

Get to know your camera

Six of the buttons seen on this Panasonic G9 II can be customized, as can the functions of both control dials.

Photo: Brendan Nystedt

Modern cameras are loaded with customizable buttons, dials, and menus. My personal Panasonic G9 II has:

• 17 customizable buttons (five via the touchscreen) for both record and playback mode
• A customizable quick menu that is unique to still and video shooting modes
• Three custom spots on the mode dial
• A three-page 'My Menu' which can be the default when you press the Menu button on the camera

And those are just for quickly accessing functions. You can customize the burst speeds, the type of shutter used (mechanical/electronic), a preferred color profile, or how quickly the focus point moves. For video, one can tweak the speed and sensitivity of the AF system to meet my needs.

Learning every little detail of a camera, right down to the menu items, has sometimes meant that our reviews take a bit longer to publish than what you'll find on some other websites (mine included) or, these days, YouTube. Heck, if you go back several years, our reviews used to list every single menu option, and boy, were those fun to type up. But diving into the details like this allowed us to catch things and reveal subtle differences between cameras, which would otherwise have been missed.

Live and learn

These are just five things I've learned over the last two and a half decades of reviewing cameras. Not all of them were fun, but that was part of the adventure.

What have you learned over the past 25 years of digital photography, and how? Let me know in the comments.

Canon EOS 20D and 17-40mm F4 L lens | ISO 100 | 3.2 sec | F4

Photo: Dale Baskin

The December edition of the Editors' Photo Challenge is open for submissions! Our theme this month is 'Happy Holidays'.

Whatever holiday tradition inspires you – Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or something else – show us what the holiday season looks like through your lens. Whether it’s colorful lights, dazzling decorations, festive gatherings, or just a cozy moment, we want to see your best holiday season photos.

This challenge is open to photos taken at any time. Photos must be submitted by Saturday, December 7 (GMT).

Visit the challenge page to read the full rules and to submit your photos for consideration.

Enter your photos here

Also, don't forget to check out some of the other open and upcoming photo challenges hosted by members of the DPReview community. Or, see some of the great photos from recently completed photo challenges.

Open challenges:

• The Triumph (closes Dec. 4)
• Close-up/Macro - Bugs (2024 Shots Only) (closes Dec. 5))

Upcoming challenges:

• A Big Year 2024 (opens Dec. 2)