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Alex Cooke

Cleveland, OH
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Articles from Alex Cooke

Canon Announces the RF 20-50mm f/4 L IS USM PZ, a Power Zoom for the EOS R6 V Era

Alongside the EOS R6 V camera body, Canon today announced the RF 20-50mm f/4 L IS USM PZ, the first L-series lens from Canon to include built-in power zoom without requiring an external accessory. The lens is aimed at video shooters and hybrid creators working on gimbals, sliders, and handheld setups, and serves as the native companion to the video-focused EOS R6 V.

Canon Unveils the EOS R6 V: A 7K Full Frame Video Camera at $2,499

Canon today announced the EOS R6 V, a new full frame mirrorless camera built around video capture, alongside the RF 20-50mm f/4 L IS USM PZ lens and a set of accessories aimed at solo creators and small productions. The R6 V is the first V-series body to use a 32.5-megapixel full frame sensor, and it slots into Canon's lineup as a video-first counterpart to the still-focused R6 Mark III.

What Is Truth in a Post-Photography World?

In March 2026, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released an online ad featuring a minute-long video of Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico speaking into the camera, reading statements the real Talarico had not spoken on camera. The Talarico in the video was generated entirely by artificial intelligence, voicing content drawn from the candidate's old social media posts. The words "AI Generated" appeared in small text in the corner of the frame at the start, then faded into even smaller text that remained on screen while the fake Talarico continued to speak. 

Leica M11-D Review: What Shooting With No Screen Actually Does to Your Photography

The Leica M11-D is a digital camera with no rear screen, and that single omission is either its greatest flaw or its greatest feature depending on how honest you are with yourself about how you actually shoot. If you've ever told yourself you'd stop chimping and never followed through, this camera calls that bluff immediately.

Panasonic Jumps Into the Compact Camera Game With the LUMIX L10

Panasonic has announced the LUMIX L10, a new fixed-lens compact camera built around a Four Thirds sensor and a Leica-branded zoom. The release marks the 25th anniversary of the LUMIX line, and Panasonic is launching the camera in three finishes: Black, Silver, and a limited Titanium Gold Special Edition.

Why Every Photographer Needs to Delete 90% of Their Portfolio

Most working photographers have a portfolio problem. The problem is not that the work is bad. The work is usually fine. The problem is that there is too much of it. Portfolios that should have 12 to 18 images contain 40 or 50 or 80. Websites that should load three galleries fast contain eight galleries that load slowly. Instagram grids intended to function as portfolios contain two years of inconsistent work that blurs the photographer's identity rather than sharpening it. The photographer has spent years building the portfolio and cannot bring themselves to remove anything from it.

The Fujifilm XC 13-33mm Kit Lens Is Cheap, Wide, and Surprisingly Capable on Some Cameras

The Fujifilm XC 13-33mm f/3.5-6.3 OIS is the one of the newest kit lens options for the Fujifilm's X-mount system, and it takes a different approach than most. Instead of the typical 15-45mm range, this lens goes wider, giving you a full frame equivalent of 20mm to 50mm, which opens up genuinely different shooting possibilities for landscapes, interiors, selfies, and vlogging.

When Plans Fall Apart Mid-Shoot

Shooting in brutal coastal wind is one of the fastest ways to learn what your gear and your plans are actually worth. When conditions fall apart mid-shoot, what you do next says more about your photography than any perfect golden-hour session ever could.

Why Niching Down Is the Single Most Profitable Decision Many Photographers Never Make

The photography business has a strange relationship with specialization. Almost every working photographer starts as a generalist. The first few years of paid work are a scramble: weddings on weekends, headshots during the week, a real estate gig when a friend asks for a favor, some product work to pay for a lens upgrade, maybe a few corporate events when the calendar is thin. The logic is obvious and reasonable. Early in a career, any paying work is better than no paying work, and saying yes to every request builds both experience and cash flow. That first phase of generalist scrambling is not a mistake. It is how most photographers who become successful actually learn their craft. The mistake is staying there.

Why a 50mm Prime Might Be the Best Travel Lens You're Ignoring

Choosing a single prime lens for travel forces a real trade-off, and most people default to a 35mm or a wide angle out of habit. The 50mm prime makes a compelling case that it deserves that spot instead, especially if you care about how a location actually feels in a photo rather than just how much of it you can fit in the frame.

Starting Photography in 2026? Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes

 If you're starting photography in 2026, the path to improvement isn't paved with better gear. Brenda Bergreen has spent years shooting weddings, adventure, landscapes, portraits, and travel, and she's mapped out exactly where beginners waste time and where they actually grow.

OM System Survived Its Split From Olympus: Who Expected This?

When Olympus sold its imaging division to Japan Industrial Partners on January 1, 2021, the new company was called OM Digital Solutions. The OM SYSTEM product brand arrived later, announced in October 2021 as the name the company would put on its cameras going forward. Most of the photography press wrote the obituary in advance of either event. The division had been unprofitable for years. Olympus itself, after more than eighty years of making cameras, was exiting the business. Micro Four Thirds had lost the sensor-size argument in the public imagination to APS-C and full frame. The buyer was a private equity firm, not a camera manufacturer. The standard expectation was managed decline: a few years of catalog padding, a thinning lens roadmap, and eventual fade.

Why Your Most Personal Photos Shouldn't Come From Your Main Camera

Choosing a dedicated snapshot camera changes how you shoot, and the Ricoh GR IV is one of the more interesting options for that role right now. This video makes a compelling case that serious shooters are missing something by always being in "photography mode," and that having a second camera specifically for personal snapshots can fill a gap that even a smartphone can't.

Full Frame vs. APS-C in 2026: The Case for Going Smaller

The idea that full frame is the "serious photographer's" destination has shaped how people spend money on gear for decades. In 2026, that assumption deserves a hard look, because the lens market, sensor technology, and real-world shooting habits have all shifted in ways that change the math.

How to Use Doorways to Frame, Balance, and Pose Your Subjects

Doors are one of the most underused compositional tools in photography, and once you start seeing them, you can't unsee them. Whether you're shooting portraits or working the streets, a well-placed door can frame a subject, anchor a composition, or tell a story in a single frame.

Why Fujifilm Is the Only Major Manufacturer That Understands Gen Z

The Fujifilm X100VI has been supply-constrained for more than two years. The camera launched in February 2024, and as of April 2026, availability remains spotty: Fujifilm's own US shop typically shows it as "Notify Me" rather than in stock, and major retailers list the camera as temporarily out of stock with rolling expected availability windows rather than steady inventory. The company raised the US price from $1,599 to $1,799, and the camera still moves for above MSRP on the secondary market. Two years of reported shortages is not a production problem that got solved. It is a demand problem that Fujifilm is openly uninterested in solving.

The Best Camera for Fujifilm X100VI Fans Who Want Interchangeable Lenses

The Fujifilm X-E5 sits in an interesting spot in the Fujifilm lineup: it has the same 40-megapixel sensor as the Fujifilm X-T5 but in a body closer in size to the X100 series, with interchangeable lenses. After a year of daily use, including replacing the X-T5 as his main body, Mitch Lally has a clear picture of exactly who this camera is for and where it falls short.

Depth Range Masking in Camera Raw: Adobe's Most Useful New Photoshop Feature

Adobe quietly added a depth map masking feature to Camera Raw in a recent Photoshop update, which lets you isolate specific depth layers in a photo. Unlike subject or background masks, this one lets you target a slice of depth in a scene, from foreground rocks to a hazy midground to a distant sky.

The Cheapest Way to Shoot Digital Leica M-Mount in 2026

Leica and affordable rarely share the same conversation, but the Leica M240 might be the exception worth paying attention to. It's a full frame, M-mount digital rangefinder that costs a fraction of what modern Leica bodies go for, and it still delivers the core experience that makes these cameras worth owning.

Your Video Workflow Is Probably Five Tools Duct-Taped Together and Vmake Is Betting You're Tired of It

If you produce short-form video for clients or your own brand, take a second and count the number of apps, browser tabs, and subscription logins sitting between the moment you have an idea and the moment you hit publish. There's the scriptwriting tool (or a blank doc you've been staring at for twenty minutes). The generation or editing platform. A separate captioning service you pay for monthly. Something for thumbnails, maybe a dedicated generator, maybe you're still screenshotting frames and adding text in Photoshop. A background removal tool. Possibly a video enhancer you bookmarked six months ago and keep forgetting to cancel.

A Love Letter to My Film Cameras

I sold my Mamiya 645AFD, and I regret it every time I think about it, which is more often than I would like to admit. The film got too expensive, and the scanning costs added up, and I told myself the rational thing to do was to let it go and put the money toward something more practical. I was right about the math. I was wrong about everything else. 

7 Steps to Better Minimalist Landscape Photos

Minimalist landscape photography is one of the hardest styles to pull off well. Strip away too much and the image feels empty; leave too much in and you've lost the point entirely.

Don't Miss This Beautiful New Large Format Film

The beloved Ilford Pan F Plus is now available in 4x5 and 8x10 sheet film for the first time, and it's a bigger deal than it might seem at first glance. Sheet film manufacturing isn't as simple as cutting down roll film stock, as the base thickness has to be different to keep the emulsion stable, aligned with the film plane, and practical to load and process, which is exactly why not every emulsion makes it to large format.