Recent Gear Articles

Nikon Updates Its 500mm f/4 and 600mm f/4 Super-Telephotos with New Coatings, Lighter Components, and Heftier Prices

Those lenses we all dream of owning but that only few truly need (and are able to afford) just got a refreshed introduction with a focus on weight reduction combined with the implementation of the latest lens coat and crystal technologies. With the new additions, however, come brand new price tags in excess of $2,000 more than the predecessors for the AF-S 500mm f/4E FL ED VR and AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lenses.

Brenthaven Shimmies into Photography Bag Market

Brenthaven is not a brand that photographers might think of when shopping for their next camera pack. I personally use Lowepro, but I know that Kata, ThinkTank, and InCase are all quite popular. Now Brenthaven, who is more known for media bag accessories for products like the iPhone and iPad, is trying to shimmy their way into this tight market with their new BX2 line.

Creating a Michael Bay-Level Rig in the Back Garden

It seems that every year we see crazier and crazier setups, usually reserved for high-end cinema productions, made available to the average person. In this video, you can see an absurdly cool orbital shot made in a back garden.
Aputure Launches STORM 1200x: A New Standard in Film Lighting

Aputure has introduced the STORM 1200x, a high-output, versatile point-source light designed for film and photography professionals. The STORM 1200x is the first product in Aputure's new STORM family, featuring a groundbreaking BLAIR light engine that significantly enhances white light quality across a wide color temperature range. This fixture promises exceptional performance for a variety of professionals, including cinematographers, videographers, lighting technicians, and photographers.

How to Make a Full Podcast Studio in a Box

Wouldn't it be great if all of your clients and subjects came to you? There are times when you may have to make the trip to them, and if you do podcasts, how easily can you pack up your studio of mics and other gear with you to record on the go?

Affordable Wide Angle: A Review of the Fujifilm XF 16mm f/2.8 R WR Lens

A good wide angle lens can be a fantastic tool in a wide variety of applications, but such lenses can also be rather expensive. If you are willing to compromise an extremely wide aperture for the still-wide f/2.8, you can save a lot of money, though. This excellent video review takes a look at one such affordable lens, the Fuji XF 16mm f/2.8 R WR.

Can This Popular and Affordable Lens Keep Up With Modern Mirrorless Cameras?

The EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM was long popular with Canon DSLR users for offering a versatile wide angle focal length range in a small body together with great image quality, all at a very affordable price. Now, with Canon developing a line of APS-C RF-S cameras, the 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 is relevant again. Can it keep up with the higher-resolution sensors on modern mirrorless cameras like the EOS R7, though? This excellent video review takes a look at what you can expect.

A Review of the New Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS Sports Lens

The new Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS Sports lens offers users extreme reach with the promise of exceptional results. This excellent video review takes a look at the new lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in usage.

A Review of the Samyang AF 75mm f/1.8 Lens for Fujifilm X Series Cameras

Samyang, well known for many years for creating fantastically sharp and affordable manual focus lenses, has moved into creating autofocus options as well in recent years. Despite the addition of autofocus, their lenses remain competitively priced, which is what makes the AF 75mm f/1.8 for Fujifilm X Series mirrorless cameras so intriguing. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

The Canon EOS R50 V: A Compact Video Powerhouse

The Canon EOS R50 V is the company's first camera in a new series geared specifically toward video creators. It builds upon the popular still-focused R50, but with key design changes and enhancements tailored directly for video use, making it a practical choice if you're stepping into more serious filmmaking without a steep budget.

Watch The Panasonic GH5S Reveal Live, Right Now

The Panasonic GH5S, the update to the wildly popular GH5, is speculated to be released right now, live in Las Vegas. Watch the press conference right here, right now.

Leica’s Classic 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Has Been Reimagined

Leica first made their Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 in 1959. It’s a classic focal length, arguably an essential lens for most genres of photography. This recent rebirth is based on the optical calculations of the second Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4, produced from 1962 to 2004.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 40 Versus Polaroid Go: What Is the Best Mini Instant Camera?

Fujifilm has been dominating the instant camera market for quite some time now. The Instax division from Fujifilm is its most profitable sector when it comes to the photography industry. However, a familiar brand called Polaroid is once again on the rise and aims to take its place back on top of the market.

Portable and Affordable: A Review of the Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Canon's RF lenses have quickly earned a lot of respect for pushing the boundaries of design and providing top-notch performance and image quality, though most have been very expensive. On the other hand, at $299, the RF 16mm f/2.8 STM bucks that trend, and in between that affordable price and its highly portable size, it looks like a potentially fantastic option. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Review of the Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VXD Lens

A supertelephoto zoom lens is tremendously useful in a wide variety of genres, and in recent years, we have seen an influx of affordable, high-quality third-party options from companies like Sigma and Tamron. Tamron's latest is the 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VXD, and this excellent video review takes a look at the lens and how it compares to a native Sony option, the FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS.

The Power of the Back Light

Too often portrait photographers obsess with key and fill lighting, and forget about the light that illuminates the background or rear of a subject. In this piece I discover the power of using the back light as my main light source.

Wedio and Cooke Optics Reimagine How Cinematographers Source Lenses: Is Your Camera Next?

For many years, manufacturers were quite distant from their consumers, choosing to sell through a series of distributors and dealers. While the last couple years have shown a little change, via developments like roadmaps, influencer connections, and some direct-to-consumer sales, it’s still tough to make your voice heard. A new announcement by Wedio and Cooke Optics shows that you might have a closer connection with the maker of your next lens.

This Is How You Get Amazing Shots Inside Waves

If you've ever wondered how surfers, water photographers, and marine daredevils get those incredible images from deep inside the heaving bowels of deathly, cavernous waves and want to know how you can do it too, find out exactly how it's done here.

A Look at the New Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus Lens

Venus Optics is respected for making some of the photography market's most interesting lenses, and the new Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus continues that trend by offering and ultra-wide focal length in tandem with a wide aperture. This great video review takes a look at the new lens for landscape usage and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Kodak Discontinues T-Max P3200 Film

This is for all you film fanatics out there. Grab yours as its still in stock! Kodak announced that it is discontinuing the Professional T-MAX P3200 film due to "low sales volume". In the past few months Kodak stopped producing digital cameras, sold its sensor business, increased the price of film by 15%, and discontinued three slide films in an effort to reorganize its business.

A Review of the New TTArtisan 35mm f/0.95 Lens

TTArtisan has established themselves as a manufacturer of ultra-affordable lenses whose performance is often at a level above that dictated by their prices. Their latest lens, the 35mm f/0.95, offers APS-C shooters an ultra-wide aperture paired with a normal focal length, making it a versatile option. This excellent video review takes a look at the new lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in usage.

Building Your Business with the Right Gear: TogTools Podcast with Fstoppers' Adam Ottke

It's that time! We have the third session in the Fstoppers series over at the TogTools Podcast ready for you all to enjoy - and it's a great one! This week's guest is Staff Writer Adam Ottke. Adam shoots fine art and travel photography, but he also serves as the Art Director for a small creative agency he started called Curate the World. In this week's podcast, Adam discusses his love for gear, how he got started in photography and as a writer for Fstoppers, how to hustle in this industry and why collaboration is important for creating strong artistic ideas.

An Unlikely Intruder: The Fly Inside a Professional Canon Lens

What seems like it could have been an April Fools joke if it had come out a few days sooner, the Lensrentals blog has posted a great (and enlightening) story on something that apparently has happened more than once: somehow, for some reason, a full-sized fly got into a lens, and the entire lens had to be disassembled to remove it. The question is: did it affect image quality?