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Nikkor Z DX 16-50mm F3.5-6.3 @ 16mm | F6.3 | 1/160 sec | ISO 100

Photo: Richard Butler

As part of our ongoing review, we took the Z50II traveling over the Christmas period, to see what Nikon's little APS-C model is like as a day-to-day camera. We found it small enough to take on a madcap 11-day trip to Mexico and the UK.

The gallery was primarily shot on the retractable Nikkor Z DX 16-50mm F3.5-6.3 VR kit zoom but we also took the Nikkor Z DX 24mm F1.7 and the Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN, for a bit of variery.

We've still got some of our more formal testing to do, so the review is still likely to be a few weeks off. But in the meantime you can get a sense of its versatility from our samples gallery.

Buy now:

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Japan is a street photographer's paradise, but it's the rain that really transforms Japanese cityscapes into something magical. City lights reflect off wet pavement, creating depth and dimension that only exist when it rains, and everyone carries umbrellas, creating captivating shadows and silhouettes. This image, taken in Tokyo during a downpour last year, encapsulates the feeling of wandering through the city's intimate side streets and alleys on a rainy night.

Panasonic S5II X and Panasonic 28-200mm F4-7.1 lens | ISO 1600 | 1/100 sec | F4
Photo: Dale Baskin

We've received numerous requests to host an Editors' Photo Challenge for street photography, so our theme for January is 'B&W Street'.

This is your chance to showcase your best black-and-white street photography! We want to see the city through your lens, whether it's an unexpected scene, a candid portrait, or some other "decisive moment." Our favorites will be featured on the DPReview homepage later this month.

Important: Images MUST include a title and a caption of at least 25 words to be eligible. Viewers want to know the story behind your photo. We will consider both photos and captions when selecting our winners, so make sure to tell us that story!

This challenge is open to photos taken at any time. Photos must be submitted by Saturday, January 25 (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.

• Hands (closes Jan. 13)
• Dance (closes Jan. 17)
• Reflections on Water (closes Jan. 17)

• A Big Year 2024-2025 (opens Jan. 13)
• Show us STATUES! (opens Jan. 13)
• Lights at Night (opens Jan. 14)
• Restaurants, bars, taverns, pubs (opens Jan. 18)
• Abstract (opens Jan. 18)

Companies like Viltrox and Sirui have been putting out Z-mount autofocus primes for a while and Tamron has released a few zoom lenses, but it's still easy to be frustrated with Nikon's selectiveness as to which third-party lenses are allowed on its system. And while the Z mount's design lets you adapt lenses from many other mounts, the adapters can be expensive if you want to use autofocus.

Viltrox is looking to change that. Its new E-Z AF adapter lets you mount lenses made for Sony's system to your Nikon camera, and the company says it supports "fast and precise autofocus" and EXIF data transmission. It also says the adapter supports stabilized lenses and will work with cameras that have stabilized sensors.

The E-Z AF adapter supports "AF-S, AF-C, AF-A, AF-F, and MF" modes according to Viltrox, though the company's site recommends "switching to a different focus area setting" if you're using the pinpoint focus mode, warning that "focus efficiency may decrease in pinpoint mode." It also supports lenses with aperture rings.

None of this is groundbreaking; companies like Megadap, FotodioX, and Techart make E-to-Z adapters that support autofocus and other functionality. However, they're usually priced at over $220, though Neewer does make a more budget option that comes in around $150. Viltrox, however, has lowered the barrier to entry even further – the E-Z AF costs $99. If it lives up to the company's promises, it could help assuage some photographers' fears about lens availability on Nikon systems, as long as they're willing to adapt lenses.

The adapter doesn't currently seem to be available on sites like Amazon or B&H, so if you want to pick it up, you'll have to buy it directly from Viltrox. We'll update this story if it becomes available elsewhere.

It's a new year, and we're back with our weekly accessory roundup after taking a bit of a break over the holiday season. It's just in time, too – this week was CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, where many manufacturers show off their latest and greatest tech.

Before we take a look at the accessories unveiled this week, let's see what's on sale.

Canon's EOS R6 II, a full frame camera aimed at enthusiasts, thoroughly impressed us when we reviewed it last year. These days its competition is a little stronger following the release of the Nikon Z6III, but it gets a leg up by currently being on sale. You can pick one up for $1,999, around $500 off its MSRP.

If you need (or just want) more resolution and performance than the EOS R6 II offers, the excellent Nikon Z8 is also on sale for $300 off its MSRP.

Buy now:

Godox's latest products technically came out before CES, but we didn't get to highlight them due to the holidays, so we're doing it now. The company has released three small, on-camera flashes: the iM20 / iM22 – essentially the same flash in different profiles – and the iA32.

The iM20-series are small manual on-camera flashes that Godox says will work with "a wide range of hot-shoe cameras" via its single contact. They feature five brightness levels and a built-in battery that the company says will get you 440 full-power flashes with a 3-second recycle time.

The iA32 is a bit beefier, though it still uses a single hot-shoe contact for syncing. You can adjust the angle of the flash tube from 90° to -7° via a dial on the side, letting you bounce it off the ceiling or point it directly at your subject. It has eight manually selectable power levels but also features an "auto" mode that lets you input your ISO and aperture and let the flash recommend a shooting distance. It uses two AA or LR6 batteries for power, and Godox quotes 490 flashes with a 2.5-second recycle time.

If you're more of a phone photographer, Godox has also announced the MA5R, a magnetic wireless power bank that doubles as an RGB light panel. It has an 18.13Wh battery, which you can either use to top up your phone or to power the 5W array of LEDs if you happen to be taking a video of something. It also has a small selfie light under a screen that displays settings and battery life information, if you don't need the full panel's power.

The ProGrade PG20 adds three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB A port, and can charge your computer.

Image: ProGrade

ProGrade's new PG20 Thunderbolt 4 hub puts an interesting spin on the idea of a card reader dock. On its own, it splits a single Thunderbolt connection into three and adds a single 10Gbps USB A port. It can provide the computer you connect it to with 85W of power, which should be enough to charge all but the beefiest of laptops.

It also gives you a place to put two sold separately ProGrade card readers.

Image: ProGrade

Its top, however, is magnetic and looks like it has a tray cut out of it. That's because it's designed for you to put up to two ProGrade card readers on top of it, turning it into a combo hub / photo and video offloading station. Unlike card reader docks with slots that you slide modules into, connecting two card readers to the ProGrade will require taking up two of your three Thunderbolt ports. However, at $170 for the hub itself, it is a substantially cheaper option than those currently made by Sandisk or Lexar, though those options are far more expandable.

Camera bag maker ThinkTank has updated two of its air travel-focused bags. The company says the Airport Navigator V2 and the Airport Roller Derby V2 are both designed to be easily maneuverable, thanks to their eight wheels that can turn and roll in pretty much any direction.

The Navigator is a smaller bag that ThinkTank says can hold two gripped bodies with lenses, along with a few primes and flashes. The Roller Derby, meanwhile, is a bit bigger – it can even fit a 400mm F2.8, provided it's not mounted to a camera. The bags also have the usual suite of photographer-focused features: an included raincover, tripod attachment points, and a security cable and lock.

Airport Roller Derby V2

Airport Navigator V2

Satechi has made a combination stand and dock for the new M4-powered Mac Mini, expanding the computer's I/O options, and making it easier to use. While the diminutive desktop has enough processing power for all but the most demanding photographers, it lacks a few features. The dock's most notable addition is a UHS-II SD card reader, which lets you easily offload your memory cards.

It also includes three USB-A ports – two that run at 10 Gbps second and one that runs at much slower USB 2.0 speeds – and has a cutout to make pressing the Mac Mini's bottom-mounted power button easier.

You can also install an M.2 SSD in the base, giving you access to more storage that's more or less permanently attached to your computer. That could be a powerful selling point for the budget-oriented. While the base model Mac Mini includes a fair amount of RAM, it only comes with 256GB of storage, and Apple charges a king's ransom for upgrades – bumping the Mac Mini's internal SSD up to 2TB costs $800 while you can easily get a top-of-the-line 2TB SSD to install in the dock for around $150 – though do note that Satechi says you'll only be able to read and write to it at up to 10Gbps, so it won't have anywhere near the same performance as the computer's internal storage.

The stand is due out next month and will cost $99.

The Rapid 90 and Rapid 120 softboxes can fold down into a very compact package.

Image: Nanlite

Lightning company Nanlite's new softboxes have a neat trick: they fold up flat, making them relatively easy to store and transport compared to more traditional designs. There are two sizes: the Rapid 90, which has an 89cm (35") diameter and the Rapid 120, with a 120cm (47.2") diameter.

Once unfolded, it's a standard parabolic softbox.

Image: Nanlite

After you expand the Rapid softbox, which Nanlite says you can do "in just a few seconds," it pretty much acts as a normal softbox. It comes with an egg-crate grid and one standard and one "lite" diffusion layer for modifying whatever light you attach via its Bowens mount.

Rapid 90

Rapid 120

Ultra-fast standards like Thunderbolt and USB 4 are great when you need to move a lot of data around quickly – something becoming increasingly important in the age of high-megapixel cameras and >4K video – but they do come with a notable downside: the cables are generally quite short. If you want to move data at 40Gbps over more than a meter or two, you're going to need something exotic; the $159 price tag of Apple's 3m Thunderbolt 4 "Pro Cable" seems ridiculous at first glance until you realize it's one of the only options on the market that long.

That capability is getting less expensive, though. At CES, Other World Computing announced its active optical cables, which can carry data at Thunderbolt / USB 4 speeds, along with power, over very impressive distances. The 3m version, which costs $98, is capable of carrying up to 240W of power, and while the 4.5m version can only do 60W, it manages to be longer and cheaper than Apple's top-end cable, coming in at $129.

While that's still undoubtedly a lot of money for a cable, if you need to move a lot of data a long way, there's not much else out there that can match this performance for this price.

A few years ago, Apple built a battery case for the iPhone 11 that had an integrated camera button. Not only did the case let you keep your phone running for longer, but it also gave you a physical control for launching and controlling the camera. Unfortunately, the company didn't revisit the concept when it launched the iPhone 12, and instead started building camera controls into the phones themselves.

This year, though, Belkin has taken that concept even further. The Stage PowerGrip attaches to your phone via MagSafe, and can keep it charged with its 10,000 mAh battery. It's shaped to add a substantial amount of grip to your phone and has a button that looks perfectly placed to act as a shutter release, though Belkin's press release doesn't actually mention what it's for.

The Stage PowerGrip has an integrated USB-C cable, a USB-C port, and an LED screen for displaying how much battery it has left. It's price is yet to be determined, but the company says it should come out in May. It'll be available in five colors: "powder blue," "sandbox," "fresh yellow," "pepper" and "lavender."

If you're in the market for a 6K 32-inch display, you'll be getting another option soon. LG has announced the UltraFine 6K 32U990A monitor, which connects to your computer via Thunderbolt 5. Details – including price and when it'll be available – are scarce at this point, but LG promises that it'll deliver "exceptional color accuracy" for "media professionals."

It's not the first display with this size and resolution. Perhaps the most notable is Apple's Pro Display XDR, which sports very impressive brightness levels that come with a whopping $5,000 price tag, not including a stand. For people willing to sacrifice brightness for savings, there's the $2,500 Dell U3224KB, which appears to use a similar panel to the LG UltraFine. However, it's housed in a somewhat strange-looking case with a very large top bezel to accommodate an integrated webcam. The LG monitor, meanwhile, has a design that appears... let's call it 'heavily inspired' by Apple monitors.

Read the previous accessory roundup

This particular plane was not the one involved in the incident, but it shows the capacity of the SuperScooper.

Photo: De Havilland Canada

A civilian drone collided with a firefighting airplane flying over the Palisades fire in California on Thursday, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch an investigation. While the airplane in question, the Quebec 1, landed safely with no injuries reported, the collision resulted in a large hole in its wing, leaving it grounded and out of commission at a time when all resources are needed.

The strike also resulted in all planes being grounded for nearly a half hour on Thursday while officials ensured skies were clear, as Christopher Thomas, a spokesperson with the California state firefighting agency, Cal Fire, told CBC. "We all know how fast a fire can travel in half an hour. So this is a seriously dangerous situation because now that fire is able to go a little more unchecked," he said.

The Quebec 1 is a Canadian CL-415 “Super Scooper,” an aircraft specifically designed to scoop up more than 1,500 gallons of water to drop on fires. The drone that struck the Quebec 1 was flying illegally in restricted airspace and was destroyed in the collision. As of yet, there are no details about who was flying the drone, but the FAA is investigating.

The FAA issued a statement about the incident, warning of consequences for flying drones in such situations. “It’s a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands,” the statement said. “Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations” during a temporary flight restriction.

A post shared by Los Angeles County Fire Dept. (@lacountyfd)

To prevent further incidents, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the FBI is planning to come to the area with “aerial armor.” The FAA also noted that there are several Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) in the Los Angeles area to protect firefighting aircraft. Its statement reiterated that “all other aircraft, including drones, are prohibited from flying in TFRs unless they receive authorization.”

Toy photographer Benedek Lampert is at it again with another epic scene mimicking real life. In 2022, we shared Lampert’s Lego Eiffel Tower photograph, which looked like it could be the real thing due to the use of forced perspective and other tricks. This time, he set out to recreate the Endurance, the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew in the 1914 expedition aimed at crossing the Antarctic continent for the first time.

The story of that expedition is a remarkable tale of survival. The Endurance became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915, eventually getting crushed by the ice and sinking, leaving the crew without a ship. Despite that, the entire 28-man crew managed to survive after a year and a half on the ice and an 800-mile journey in an open lifeboat by some of the men in a quest to get help. The wreckage of the Endurance was finally rediscovered in 2022, 107 years after the crew abandoned ship.

When setting out to recreate this expedition using Lego, Lampert researched the journey and referenced archive photos taken by official expedition photographer Frank Hurley. Lampert’s goal was to create a historically accurate scene, which involved paying attention to details and recreating actual events. He started with the Lego Endurance kit, a 3011-piece Lego set. While he explained that the original set is beautiful, it lacked the ropes covering real-life sailing ships. So, he added ropes to create a more lifelike model. He also removed the sails since the actual photos of the trapped ship showed those were not in place.

Lampert got creative with materials during the shoot to create the setting for the ship. He used powdered sugar as snow and ice and painted foam board for icebergs. A fog machine came into play to create a more dramatic atmosphere. Lampert even went so far as to use real fire for a campfire and lit a Lego brick with an LED to create a lantern. In terms of photography equipment, Lampert used a Nikon D750 camera. He used both a Nikkor 24-78mm F2.8 lens and a Laowa 15mm F4 macro lens.

One of the biggest challenges Lampert said he encountered was lighting. He explained that with toy photography as a whole, “in the same diorama, a poorly lit scene may indeed look like just a toy, while with different lighting, it can appear completely lifelike.” As a result, he said he experimented a lot with the lights while analyzing Frank Hurley’s photographs to recreate the same Antarctic light on his tabletop setup. Finally, Lampert relied on overlays to create a more dramatic, historical look. All in all, Lampert’s attention to detail and dedication to his craft are impressive, and the resulting images clearly show his creativity.