Gear Reviews

Elinchrom has long been known for their amazing lights and modifiers. But does their newest release, the Elinchrom FIVE, live up to the hype?  

The Nikon Z9 and Sony a1 are two of the most advanced mirrorless cameras on the market right, capable of capturing high-resolution images at blazing burst rates, all backed up by some of the most sophisticated autofocus systems out there. And so, how do they perform against each other in one of the most challenging genres for a camera, wildlife photography?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra takes a well-established platform and formula and builds upon it with a number of improvements and new features, one of the most notable being its 200-megapixel wide angle camera. This excellent video review takes a look at the new phone and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.  

Do you have $20,000 burning a hole in your pocket? If you have ever wondered what you can accomplish with a lens that costs the price of a car, check out this excellent video review that takes a look at what is arguably the most extreme lens on the market right now, the Canon RF 1200mm f/8 L IS USM. 

While instant photography cameras like Fuji’s Instax series have gained a large following amongst a younger generation discovering the beauty of instant prints, lugging around a sub-par camera just for the hard-copy photos is a drag. That’s where portable photo printers such as Liene’s Pearl K100 Portable Photo Printer come in. 

Once upon a time, Sigma was a brand thought of by many as the compromise lens if you couldn't afford the household names. Times have changed, though, and Sigma has gone beyond offering competitive lenses to making remarkable lenses and even some notable industry firsts.

Is it a graphic tablet, a monitor, or both? Let’s take a look at the implications of what a 22-inch pen display can offer for your editing and retouching workflow. 

Sigma recently released a prime wide angle lens, which promises to be fabulous. Does it live up to the high standards of the other lenses in its class? 

The new Nikon NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.2 S lens is here, and it brings with it the promise of some of the most uncompromising optical performance ever seen from the company. Can it live up to that promise in practice, though? 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 practice.  

The Canon EOS R50 is here, and it brings with it a lot of Canon's advanced mirrorless camera features at a very affordable price. This great video review takes a look at what you can expect.  

The Canon EOS R8 is here. Here is what you can expect. 

Coming to you from Gordon Laing, this great video review takes a look at the new Canon EOS R8 mirrorless camera. The EOS R8 brings full frame performance and a variety of advanced features, including: 

I have quickly become a big fan of the Sigma Contemporary lenses for Fujifilm X Mount. A few months back, I reviewed the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8, a lens that delivers superb image quality and performance in an extremely small and well-constructed package.

Samsung's latest update to its flagship phone is here, and the Galaxy S23 Ulta brings with it a range of improvements and new features, including new camera modules led by a 200-megapixel wide angle camera. This great video review takes a look at the cameras on the new phone and everything you can expect from them in usage.  

In the past couple of years, Viltrox has established themselves as a manufacturer capable of creating lenses at some of the most competitive prices on the market that often outperform their affordable costs.

The Canon EOS R6 was one of the most well-balanced cameras of the past few years, offering a range of the advanced features found on the EOS R5 without the more extreme specs that most photographers do not need, making it a practical and well-priced option for a huge range of users.

Zeiss lenses are loved for their uncompromising image quality, with sharp rendering, deep and contrasty colors, and beautiful bokeh. The Batis 40mm f/2 CF offers the respected Batis design in tandem with a wide aperture and unique focal length.

This review is for you if you’re a Capture One Pro user and are wondering if the iPad version is worth adding to your workflow. It is also for those who don’t yet use Capture One but are looking for a budget-friendly introduction to it and already own an iPad. I will be looking at the application’s features, pros and cons, and comparing them to the desktop version. 

For Android users, it does not get much better than Samsung's Galaxy Ultra series, and the company's latest flagship, the S23 Ultra, continues to raise the bar. This great video takes a first look at the new phones and just how much you can expect from them. 

Portrait photographers generally prefer focal lengths over 50mm. This is because these types of focal lengths help to produce a more flattering look. Personally, I find a 50mm lens to be slightly too wide and an 85mm lens just a tad too long. For this reason, I thought I'd compare two lenses that sit in-between these focal lengths. 

100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lenses have long been popular among sports, bird, and wildlife photographers for offering a very useful focal length range in tandem with maximum apertures that balance performance, bulk, and price.

Sigma's new 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports lens is potentially one of the most versatile lenses on the market right now, covering a massive focal length range that should be appealing to bird, sports, and wildlife photographers. Can it still offer the kind of image quality and performance we have come to expect from Sigma despite that extreme design?

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.

For Fujifilm photographers who want the ultimate levels of reach, the XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR offers a full frame equivalent of 229-914mm, making it quite the intriguing choice for sports and wildlife photographers alike. 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.  

We are lucky to have a huge range of quality supertelephoto zoom lenses to choose from nowadays — so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to know which is right for you.

Film continues to enjoy a steady resurgence, and one of the most intriguing ways to differentiate it from working with digital is to pick up a 645 medium format camera, which produces negatives far bigger than even the most expensive digital medium format cameras.

The 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is the workhorse of choice for many creatives, offering a useful range of focal lengths and a decently wide aperture. However, for those who do not need that fast aperture, an f/4 option is both far cheaper and more portable, making it a nice alternative. Sony's FE 20-70mm f/4 G is one such option, and it offers extra reach at the wide end, making it more versatile.

The Mac mini has long been a favorite of casual users and creatives alike who want the Mac experience in a desktop without dropping top dollar on a Mac Studio or Mac Pro. And now, with the ability to add an M2 Pro chip, the mini is more capable than ever. This great video review takes a look at the new Mac mini with the M2 Pro chip and just what you can expect from it.  

While the Canon EOS R5 got a lot of the accolades upon its release, the EOS R6 is arguably the most practical workhorse in Canon's lineup, with a balanced feature set that borrows a lot of the advanced capabilities from its bigger sibling without the added luxuries that would drive its price up.

The MacBook Pro has long been the workhorse of choice for many creatives, able to handle the needs of even the most demanding photo and video projects. Apple's transition to their own silicon has revitalized the lineup with improved performance and battery life.

Nikon’s newly released MC-N10 handgrip might be the accessory you need, even if you didn’t know you needed it. 

I tested a range of raw camera files in different development programs in a quest to find the ultimate development tool. This time it is the turn of DxO PhotoLab 6. Lightroom is good, and Capture One was better. How does Photolab 6 compare, and is it worth the investment? 

The Sony a7R series of mirrorless cameras has long been popular for offering some of the highest levels of resolution and image quality available in a full frame camera, but now in the fifth iteration, the a7R V is far from a one trick pony. A range of new and improved capabilities make it a powerhouse camera capable of tackling a variety of scenarios and needs.

The Canon EOS R5 signaled to the industry that Canon was deadly serious about the professional mirrorless space, but along with it came the EOS R6, which kept many of the former's most impressive capabilities without such a high-resolution sensor and features like 8K raw video, which the vast majority of professionals do not need.

The 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens from Sigma is an affordable, fast prime lens. On paper, it looks like it should be a fabulous piece of glass. I put it through its paces to see if it lived up to its marketing blurb. 

For Fujifilm photographers, the XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR and XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR offer both a wide angle and a normal focal length in tandem with a wide maximum aperture, making them versatile options for a wide range of genres, including wedding work, street photography, portraiture, and much more. How do they hold up over time?

Fujifilm's latest entry in the X Series, the X-T5, brings with it some of the company's newest and most advanced features and capabilities in its most well-known design. Can it compete with the many powerful full frame options on the market? This excellent video review takes a look at the performance and image quality you will be able to expect from it.  

Sony just announced an all-new full-frame lens, the FE 20-70mm F4 G, which combines an ultra-wide focal length with a standard zoom.  

The new Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports lens is one of the company's most versatile lenses yet, covering everything from normal to supertelephoto focal lengths and promising to do so with great performance and image quality, making it a potentially fantastic option for sports photography, wildlife work, and more. Can it live up to its potential?

Sony's a7R series has long been respected for offering extremely high levels of resolution (the highest available in a full frame camera, in fact), along with a range of advanced features that make it the workhorse of choice for a wide range of applications. Now in its fifth generation, the a7R is quite refined and can satisfy the needs of many users.

There's definitely more than meets the eye with this new standard zoom lens option. Aside from a wider range and a smaller size, let’s see what else this has to offer. 

Ricoh's GR series of compact cameras have long been considered some of the best options for street photography, as they offer a wide angle lens paired with a large sensor for a compact body, making them discreet but powerful. This excellent video review takes a look at the latest version, the GR IIIx, and how it performs for street photography.  

Glyn Dewis takes a look at the Sony A7R V with his usual comedic but incredibly informative style.

In the past few years, Tamron has reinvented themselves as a company that offers both lenses that make smart compromises to be highly affordable and lenses that push the boundaries of design.

TTArtisan makes some of the most affordable lenses currently available, and the 28mm f/5.6 is no exception to that trend, offering a relatively wide angle focal length in a lens that fits in the palm of your hand. Can it offer image quality too? This great video review takes a look at what you can expect.  

The Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary Lens is the new addition to the Sigma range for Fuji X Mount to accompany their three existing contemporary f/1.4 prime lenses. So how does this lens fair when it comes to image quality, value for money, and useability?

Tamron has established itself as a manufacturer of both practical and competitively priced lenses as well as options that push the boundaries of lens design.

Okay, so I know a lot of readers may disagree with me on this and have different opinions. My writing here isn't intended to cause any offense, but more to offer an opinion and start a discussion on the matter. My evidence here is based on having worked in the IT industry for over 30 years and working in the photographic industry with creatives.

When Fujifilm announced the X-T5 mirrorless camera, they also announced the XF 30mm f/2.8 R LM WR Macro lens, which offers the versatility of a true macro lens and a normal focal length in a lightweight and portable package, making it an intriguing option for everything from detail work to portrait photography.

24mm lenses are favored for offering a reasonably wide focal length without going so wide as to start running into major issues with distortion, making them great for events, astrophotography, weddings, and more.

The Sony a7 series of cameras really accelerated the photography world's transition into the mirrorless realm, and the company continues to offer highly competitive options that keep other manufacturers on their toes. Are they right for you? This interesting video features one photographer discussing his thoughts after a year using the Sony system.