Whenever I've photographed weddings, world events, landscapes, or anything else, it's not been uncommon for other photographers to come up and start a chat about gear. And as someone who's worked for a major camera company and taught photography for almost two decades, I've always been happy to engage in talks about megapixels, autofocus, and dynamic range.
Who doesn't love a good theme park ride photo? Faces contorted in delicious mixes of fear, anticipation, and fun make for interesting photos. And while it's easier than ever to buy the photos, sometimes all you get is crushing disappointment in the form of thumbnail-sized photos that look like they were taken with a potato.
I'm some kind of glutton for punishment. I've reviewed all manner of cheap cameras, and then even cheaper cameras, all so you, the reader, can get a good laugh. I went into this review of the Chuzhao Mini TLR thinking that I was going to provide more entertainment by lampooning the camera, but alas, I can't.
So after hearing about the Viral Cameras of 2026, there was one that stood out from a familiar, but somewhat tarnished, name in the camera business: the Kodak Charmera.
While I've opined in the past about what cameras are good for kids, this might be the one: the Goldilocks camera that's perfect for kids.
One of the benefits of the Micro Four Thirds system is that there are many, many lenses to choose from to get the job done. If that job is specifically portraits, look no further than this deep dive into almost a dozen of the options available for the system.
While some of us were indoors spraying Windex on our groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic, others took the time to explore how to visually relate to that time through passion projects.
At a thrift shop the other day, I found a couple of relics. No, these weren't the usual camera finds, but rather 16-year-old photography magazines, specifically the now-shuttered Shutterbug and the still-active Professional Photographer. It got me thinking: How expensive has it become to be a photographer these days?
From Kodak's Charmera to the strange-but-interesting screenless Escura InstantSnap digital camera, 2026 is shaping up to be the year for some wild, hot takes on what makes a camera these days.
I've been covering protests for a long time, as a journalist and journalism professor, and one of the things I've noticed is that, at least in the Trump era of the last decade, more people are showing up with cameras to photograph these happenings than before. I've been trying to parse out why that is.
There's been a lot of press about how the new MacBook Neo performs on one photo or video task or another, and largely the consensus has been that it can do a number of things, but not all things. Well, what does that mean in actual raw data?
In what is a hot take only if you're an Adobe shareholder, the MacBook Neo is the biggest sign yet that Adobe's subscription model needs some major rethinking.
I love sitting outside with my camera on a tripod, catching a scenic view of the sunrise or sunset over a great landscape (usually with a lighthouse included). While great photos are always the goal, there's one tool that can help you with a side quest that you perhaps hadn't thought of.
Photo fakery has existed since the darkroom days, with photographers removing poles from people’s heads or positioning dead bodies in photos for impact. But the fakery has shifted to the one place it never should have: the government itself.
I have a strange obsession with photographing lighthouses. They have a way of making a landscape that much more interesting, and I often find myself taking a road trip just to photograph one. Here are a few tips to help make your photos stand out from the scores of other tourists making the same images.
I have long wavered between being a "bag 'o primes" shooter and a zoom lens shooter in my personal work. Sure, as a photojournalist and sports photographer, the choice was always easy: zooms. But for everything else, are zooms the best choice?
So recently, I suffered a bout of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) and sold most of my Canon EOS M system cameras and lenses and switched back to Micro Four Thirds. But here’s the crazy thing: In some cases, I got more than I paid for the cameras brand new, which really shines a light on how much tariffs have warped the sense of what an affordable camera is.
One of the strengths of the Micro Four Thirds mount is that it’s a large enough sensor to get excellent image quality, yet small enough to design some very svelte lenses for. Here are five that might fit both your budget and your bag for travel and street photography.
Photographers have a tendency to prescribe ways things should be done. But that flies in the face of the beauty of art, doesn't it? Here are some common takes on photography that maybe, just maybe, require a rethink.
Action cameras are a tough sell these days. They’re in a category that’s being squeezed from above by 360 cameras that largely duplicate their functions, and smartphones that perform similar functions and are always with you. So where does that leave the Insta360 GO Ultra?
There have been so many times when I've forced myself to bring my iPhone 16 Pro (and 14 Pro, and 13 mini—you get the idea) as my only camera on an excursion, whether a trip to the city or an extended family vacation to someplace beautiful. Here's how it goes with the latest model.
War photography is not for the faint of heart. Beyond having technical expertise in your equipment, there’s a whole other level of engaging with people and resilience that comes into play. While that last part takes years of experience and training to learn, here’s a peek into what one war photographer uses to shoot with on the battlefield—and his gear will definitely surprise you.
Another year, another iPhone, but the new iPhone 17 Pro brings with it a significant set of new features that might be of interest to photographers.
When mirrorless cameras first came out, the initial premise was DSLR-like quality in a smaller package. While that has largely fallen by the wayside with cameras like the Canon EOS R1 and other such beastly mirrorless cameras coming out, there are still plenty of gems from those early days when size trumped most other considerations.
Computational photography has long been a staple of smartphone photography, enabling tiny sensors to punch above their weight and perform some neat tricks, but is the technology at the point where it can replace traditional methods of photography?
There are hot takes and there are hot takes. And coming in with the hottest of them all is travel photographer Roman Fox.
There's a lot to be said for the capabilities of mirrorless cameras today, with myriad autofocus options and other features at your fingertips. But there's also a lot to be said for simplicity, and it's in this regard that Canon's EOS 6D was the perfect expression of what a camera should be.
Going to make a bold prediction (or a hot take) here: Camcorders are going to make a point-and-shoot style comeback in the next year. In the same way that compact cameras have experienced a resurgence among youth looking for the nostalgic vibes, so too will the handy cams that those of us who actually used the things back in the day will never understand.
I think I've been thinking about old cameras all wrong. At least, this video from James Warner of Snappiness has me rethinking how I look at old smartphone cameras, as he talks about the three best "vintage" smartphones to use exclusively for photography.
While Last Week Tonight host John Oliver is not someone you'd expect to see on a photography-oriented website, he just might have the most frightening and plausible take on the danger of AI-generated imagery yet. It's worth a watch.
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What do you do when you’re out and about and forgot your camera? Well, if for some strange reason you don’t want to use your phone, Five Below has you covered. I checked out the store’s $15 camera offering, the Up-Tech Mini Digital Camera. Is it worth it?
If you've opened up any social media at all in the last year or two, you've probably seen a fair number of AI-generated videos set to music. I know for me, my feed is filled with many strange videos involving Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and a bag of Cheetos. But none of those videos have had any dialogue—until now, with Google's Veo 3.
One need only look at GoPro's stock price, once at almost $94 in 2014 and now trading at less than a dollar, to recognize that maybe action cameras — and other niche, specialized cameras — aren't the best ideas. Still, that hasn't stopped me from buying a good many of them over the years, and after watching this video, I have some feelings.
While the 360 camera market has seen a lot of entries from established names like GoPro and Ricoh, as well as upstarts like Insta360 and Kandao, there's one industry giant that's been notably silent: DJI. That may about to change.
It seems that the major manufacturers are hell-bent on making prime lenses obsolete, or at least it seems that way with Sony's release of the new FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens. Should wedding photographers bite?
