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Image: Antigravity

Last month, Insta360 announced its new sub-brand, Antigravity, with a teaser for its foray into the drone market. Now, details about the company's first drone – the Antigravity A1 – are here. Besides the drone, Antigravity is also releasing the Vision goggles and Grip controller for more immersive flight experiences.

As initially teased, the A1 drone will offer 8K 360-degree capture, which Antigravity says is a first for a drone. "We didn't want to just build another drone. We wanted to create an entirely new way to fly," said BC Nie, Head of Marketing at Antigravity.

Of course, 360 cameras aren't new, and the Antigravity drone builds on what Insta360 has created with its X series of cameras. As with 360 action cameras, the drone uses a dual-lens camera system for 360-degree capture. The lenses are mounted on the top and bottom of the drone, which Antigravity says results in complete capture with no blind spots.

The system then uses "advanced stitching technology" to make the drone invisible in the final footage and when flying with goggles. Insta360 cameras (and DJI's new Osmo 360 camera) have a similar process to make selfie sticks invisible for uninterrupted captures, but having that ability with real-time video is extra important. After all, if you're flying with the goggles on, you don't want any distractions in footage that could make flying more of a challenge or lead to a crash.

Antigravity says the Grip controller responds to hand gestures.

Photo: Antigravity

Antigravity says that the A1 uses its FreeMotion technology and responsive head tracking for more immersive flight. Its Grip controller enables drone control with "natural hand movements," doing away with stick controls like other drones use. The Vision goggles allow for an FPV flying experience.

One of the main benefits of 360 video is greater flexibility when editing, since it provides every viewpoint from the drone instead of having to record separate takes. Antigravity says that it will have its own app that integrates much of the technology and features of Insta360 Studio and the Insta360 app, though with features specific to drone footage. That likely means there will be plug-and-play templates to make editing the 360 footage quick and easy, even for those without extensive editing experience.

The A1 folds down to be quite compact.

Images: Antigravity

The A1 weighs 249g, falling just under the 250g limit that exempts it from requirements like registration or Remote ID for recreational flyers in the US, as well as similar regulations in other countries. The relatively compact size also makes it easier to pack when traveling. It promises to be an accessible option for seasoned drone pilots and those with zero drone experience alike.

Questions remain about some of the Antigravity A1 specs, including still photo capabilities, battery life, price and more, but Antigravity says those won't be available until closer to launch. The company says the drone is scheduled to launch in January 2026. We do know that the A1 will be launched globally, including officially availability in the US, unlike DJI's latest products.

Outside of the drone and its accessories, Antigravity has also opened applications for its "co-creation project." Selected individuals will receive a pre-production Antigravity A1 to test and provide feedback, which could be integrated into the retail version. There's even a financial reward on the table, with contributors eligible for part of the $20,000 reward pool.

Press release

Antigravity Unveils A1: The World's First 8K 360 Drone

Los Angeles – [August 14] — Antigravity, a drone brand incubated by Insta360 and third parties, has today unveiled its first product: Antigravity A1, the world's first drone¹ equipped with 8K 360-degree capture. A1 redefines what drones can do by combining an immersive flying experience with intuitive controls.

360 Capture, Reimagined for Flight

At the heart of Antigravity A1 is a dual-lens camera system that captures everything around it in 360 degrees. The lenses are mounted on the top and bottom of the drone's fuselage, enabling complete environmental capture with no blind spots.

Advanced stitching technology renders the drone invisible when viewed through the goggles and in the final footage. The result is immersive, clean video that places drone pilots directly inside the scene without distractions.

360 Immersive Flight

A key feature of Antigravity A1 is its unparalleled level of immersion. The drone, the Vision goggles, and the Grip controller work together to enable a new way to explore the skies.

With Antigravity's unique FreeMotion technology and responsive head tracking, pilots can look freely in any direction while flying the drone using intuitive hand gestures. This separates flying the drone from viewing the surroundings, allowing pilots to look in one direction while flying in another. The result is a level of immersion that makes it feel as if you're really there — turning Antigravity A1 into a tool for aerial exploration.

The 360 immersion doesn't end when the drone lands — recorded footage can be viewed in 360 degrees over and over again, letting users discover new angles every time they watch.

Designed for Limitless Creativity

Antigravity A1 is built to fit into everyday life. Its dual-lens setup mirrors the capabilities of Insta360's popular X Series, making it easy for anyone to capture stunning 8K 360 footage — this time in the sky.

Every angle is recorded, giving creators the power to reframe their footage in post and make sure they never miss a shot. This enables powerful new editing possibilities like dynamic camera moves, Tiny Planet effects, and horizon flips. Creating cinematic FPV-style footage is now more accessible than ever. This technology also allows users to export multiple angles from a single clip in any aspect ratio without losing quality.

Lightweight and Travel-Ready

Weighing only 249g, Antigravity A1 meets regulatory requirements in most countries and regions. It's the perfect drone for creators, families, travelers, and first-time pilots seeking a powerful yet accessible tool for aerial storytelling. Its compact size makes it easy to pack, carry, and launch in seconds.

A New Standard in Ease of Use and Safety

Antigravity A1 is built with simplicity in mind. Pilots fly using the Grip controller, which responds to natural hand movements, eliminating the need for traditional stick controls. Paired with the Vision goggles, users can freely explore their surroundings in real time with full 360-degree visibility. To ensure that Antigravity A1 is used solely for exploration and storytelling, it includes a payload detection to prevent misuse or unauthorized modifications.

"We didn't want to just build another drone. We wanted to create an entirely new way to fly," said BC Nie, Head of Marketing at Antigravity. "A1 is the first step in reimagining flight as something anyone can enjoy — something that is safe, intuitive, expressive, and endlessly creative."

Antigravity A1 Key Features

• 8K 360-degree capture with top-and-bottom lens configuration.
• Compact and lightweight at 249g for license-free flying in most countries and regions.
• Invisible drone effect through advanced image stitching.
• Intuitive point-to-fly controls with the Grip controller.
• 360 immersive live view and head tracking via the Vision goggles.
• Never miss a shot with easy post-flight reframing and editing.
• Safety features including return-to-home and a payload detection system.

Availability

Antigravity A1 is scheduled to launch globally in January 2026. Final pricing, bundle details, and regional availability will be announced closer to launch.

In the meantime, applications are now open for the first-ever Antigravity co-creation project. We're inviting creators from around the world to join the journey and help shape the future of Antigravity products.

Selected participants will receive a pre-production Antigravity A1 to test, explore, and share their ideas. The best ideas will be integrated into the retail version, and contributors will have a chance to win a share of the US$20,000 reward pool.

Applications are open at www.antigravity.tech.

Image: MirageC / Moment via Getty Images

Our community here at DPReview truly is a wealth of information. We see all of the helpful knowledge shared in the forums on a daily basis, along with the passionate opinions on gear, trends, techniques and more. To help spark those conversations and give you all another place to share your thoughts, we're kicking off a 'Question of the week' series in the forums. It's your chance to share your insight, and an opportunity to be showcased in the forums or on the homepage.

Question of the week

As the name suggests, the forum's 'Question of the week' will highlight a new question every Wednesday in the Open Talk forum. We'll throw out one thought-provoking question each week, and you all get to comment with your own take.

These questions may come from the DPReview team, or could come from you in the community as well. If you have an idea for a question, please share it in a forum post response. We'll be sure to recognize those whose queries we use.

Week one: What five questions should you ask yourself when buying a new camera?

To kick this series off, we were inspired by our recent conversation with Mathew Anderson, our new Community Manager. Last week, some of the DPReview team sat down to chat with Mathew about what his new camera should be. Instead of keeping that in a private Slack channel, we recorded it so you all could hear our thoughts, too. It was a great chat, and you can watch the full video on our YouTube channel.

Importantly, though, that discussion highlighted that for anyone buying a new camera, there are some critical questions you should ask yourself first. So, we're curious, what five questions do you think are most important to ask when buying a new camera? Head on over to the 'Question of the week' post in the Open Talk forum to share your take.

For this kick-off question, we'll be highlighting five distinct answers on the homepage. We'll make those selections on Monday and update this post with the results, so be sure to get your thoughts in before then!

Click here to answer the Question of the week

Photo: jorge mata / iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Capturing memorable moments with your camera is always a special feeling, but the process doesn't end there. If you want to edit or share your photos in some capacity, you'll also need to get them off your camera and onto your phone or computer. With so many cameras – both new and retro – on the market, figuring out the best way to transfer your images can be confusing. In this guide, you'll find the various options for moving photos off your camera so you can share them with the world (or just your close circle).

Wireless transfer options From left to right, the Sony, Canon and Nikon apps all allow wireless transfer.

If you have a relatively new camera, there are likely some wireless options for transferring photos that can be very convenient. First, many camera companies have developed apps, including Canon Camera Connect, Sony Creators App, Nikon SnapBridge, Panasonic Lumix Lab and Fujifilm XApp. The apps connect your mobile device to your camera via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, allowing you to move files to your phone wirelessly.

Unfortunately, those apps can be very hit or miss. Essentially every brand's app has issues with unstable connections, leading to interrupted transfers. Slow transfers are also a common complaint, as are frequent app crashes and issues with transferring Raw files. Additionally, there may be an app for your camera brand, but it may no longer support your particular camera. Some are better than others, and issues may be device-dependent, but they can lead to frustrating experiences.

Outside of apps, some cameras support direct-to-cloud uploads, meaning you can send your images from the camera to a cloud service without first going through your phone or computer. Depending on your camera, you may be able to connect to services like Google Photos, Google Drive, Lightroom, Frame.io and more. It's a convenient option for backups, but like the above apps, reviews of direct-to-cloud features are mixed in terms of reliability. In most cases, you'll need Wi-Fi connectivity to use this option, which may not always be available, such as when shooting in remote areas.

Plug your camera in

Most recent cameras feature a USB-C port that can be used for data transfer.

Photo: Mitchell Clark

While wireless connections are ideal, their unreliability means you may have to use another method. Plus, if you have an older camera that doesn't support wireless transfers, you'll need a different way to transfer images.

Modern cameras feature USB ports that allow you to connect to a computer. USB-C has become the standard on recent cameras, though some older models may rely on Micro USB or Mini USB. This transfer method is simple but requires a USB cable that supports data transfer (some are charge-only).

With the right cable, once you plug into both your camera and computer, you generally only need to turn your camera on. Then, the camera will show up as a removable drive so that you can copy your images to your computer. However, very old digital cameras may not support transfer without a driver or software, which may not be supported anymore.

Use a card reader Image: OWC

A card reader is one of the most reliable and fastest methods for transferring images from your camera to a computer or phone. That's especially true if you have a camera that doesn't work with the methods mentioned above.

Card readers are separate devices that plug into your computer or phone, though some computers may feature an integrated SD card slot. Some card readers are only compatible with one type of memory card, such as SD format, while others offer multiple slots for different types of cards.

The key is to know what type of card your camera uses so that you can get the correct card reader. A CompactFlash card, for example, won't fit in an SD card slot. Luckily, card readers are available for just about every format, including outdated ones like Memory Stick and xD.

Another thing to consider is that a card reader will impact the speed of file transfers. If you invested in fast memory cards and frequently need to transfer lots of files, especially large files, you'll also want to pay for a high-quality card reader with fast transfer rates. Budget readers are fine for more casual use, but will be slower.

Eastman Kodak warned investors on Monday that there is "substantial doubt" it will be able to continue to operate. The news came in the company's second-quarter earnings report, as CNN reports.

Kodak currently has roughly $500 million in debt that is due within the next 12 months. The company ended the quarter with a cash balance of $155 million. It also reported a 1% year-over-year decrease in revenue and a GAAP net loss of $26 million for the quarter.

Kodak added that these losses were primarily due to weak sales and higher costs. Jim Continenza, Kodak’s Executive Chairman and CEO said that "tariffs did not have a material impact" on its business in Q2 because it is "committed to US manufacturing" and makes a range of its products in the United States. However, the company added that it is assessing the potential impact of new tariffs moving forward.

Kodak's management says it is seeking ways to manage debt, which includes terminating its US pension plan to redirect cash. It's also focused on "the efficiency of our operations and investing in growth initiatives in our [Advanced Materials & Chemicals] group." That group, in part, helps produce ingredients for generic drugs domestically, for which it received a $765 million government loan in 2020.

"These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern"

While Kodak warned about its financial status, it explained that its plan to reduce debt is moving forward. "The termination of our U.S. Kodak Retirement Income Plan and subsequent reversion of excess funds to pay down debt is progressing as planned," said David Bullwinkle, Kodak’s CFO. It added that "these plans are not solely within Kodak’s control and therefore are not deemed 'probable' under U.S. GAAP accounting rules," which raises "substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern." Despite that, Bullwinkle says the company "will continue to focus on reducing costs today and converting our investments into long-term growth."

The historic company, founded more than 130 years ago, is no stranger to financial troubles. It entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 and sold off all its consumer-facing photo businesses as a result. While the brand is still associated with photography products, it has largely shifted focus to other industries, such as industrial printing and chemicals. Currently, Kodak is largely a B2B organization, meaning it primarily conducts business with other businesses, not consumers. For example, while it still manufactures film, its still photography film is distributed by Kodak Alaris, a separate entity.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content. 91%Overall scoreJump to conclusion

Product photos: Mitchell Clark

The Nikon Z5II is a full-frame mirrorless camera built around a 24MP BSI CMOS sensor. It's an update to Nikon's entry-level full-frame Z5 and is essentially a version of the Zf that trades retro styling for a more conventional design.

Key Features

• 24MP BSI full-frame CMOS sensor
• In-body image stabilization, rated up to 7.5EV
• Autofocus subject detection with support for 9 subject types
• 11 fps Raw w/ mechanical shutter
• 30fps JPEG-only mode with pre-release capture
• 3.69M dot 60Hz EVF with 3000-nit peak brightness
• 4K/30 full-width, 60p w/ 1.5x crop
• 10-bit N-Log or N-Raw capture
• Dual UHS-II card slots
• Downloadable color mode presets via Imaging Cloud

The Z5II is available for $1699 – a $300 increase over its predecessor in absolute terms, though a very similar price when considering inflation and its greater ambitions. Kits will also be available with a 24-50mm f/4-6.3 lens for $1999, or with a 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR for $2499.

Index:

• What's new
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Image quality
• Autofocus
• Video
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

Buy now:

Buy at Amazon.comBuy at AdoramaBuy at B&H Photo

• Apr 3: Initial review published
• Aug 11: Image quality, AF, video and conclusion added. Body and handling updated, review gallery added.

What's new A new old sensor

The Z5II's sensor is one we know well, as it features in cameras like the Zf and Z6 II. While it's certainly not state-of-the-art, it's historically performed excellently and offers noticeably faster readout speeds than the non-BSI sensor found in the original Z5, which hailed from the early 2010s.

That'll be most noticeable in video modes – its readout speeds are still slow enough that you likely won't want to use e-shutter mode unless you really need to shoot silently or are doing JPEG-only bursts where it drops to its faster, 12-bit readout mode. However, the Z5II supports much faster burst rates than its predecessor, shooting in Raw at up to 11fps with its mechanical shutter, where the original topped out at 4.5fps.

Hybrid abilities

The Z5II is a much more capable video camera than its predecessor, which could only manage shooting at 4K/30 with a substantial 1.7x crop. The new model, meanwhile, can shoot full-width 4K at up to 30fp and 120fps in 1080p for slow-motion shooting, double what the Z5 was capable of.

It also has a slate of advanced video features such as a product-priority focus mode, electronic stabilization, 10-bit N-Log, waveform monitors and even N-Raw. While the Z5II's target audience likely won't find much use for those later modes, it's hard to complain about their inclusion.

However, while its sensor has good readout speeds, it isn't anywhere near as fast as the one on the more expensive Z6III. That means you'll see more rolling shutter in full-width 4K, and will have to deal with a 1.5x crop if you want to shoot 60p, though the Z5II is at least capable of the higher framerate.

Latest-gen processor

The Z5II has Nikon's latest processor, the same one that powers cameras like the Z8 and Z6III. That means it largely has the same autofocus capabilities as those more expensive models. It supports the same subject recognition types – the Z5 only recognizes humans and animals, while the Z5II can also detect birds, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, trains and planes.

It also gains a 30fps JPEG-only mode, which supports pre-burst capture. The Z6III's faster sensor gives it a leg up in this area, though: it can shoot full-resolution JPEGs at up to 60fps and can hit 120fps by dropping down to an APS-C crop.

The company also claims the Z5II supports more advanced noise reduction, putting out cleaner JPEGs at high ISOs, and has added an AF-A mode, where the camera decides whether to use single or continuous autofocus.

A bright viewfinder and a more flexible screen

Nikon says the Z5II's viewfinder can reach a brightness of up to 3000 nits, which should help when shooting in harsh daylight. The company doesn't quote brightness figures for the Z5's EVF, though it otherwise has similar specs – both cameras use a 3.69M dot display running at 60Hz.

There are also some changes to the Z5II's LCD. At 3.2", it's the same size as the Z5's, but it's higher resolution and fully articulated, while the original's screen was limited to tilt adjustments.

How it compares

While the Z5II isn't as cheap as its predecessor, it is still among the least expensive full-frame ILCs ever released. Some other cameras on that list, like the original Z5 and Canon's EOS R8, are among its competitors.

At $2000, Panasonic's S5II has a substantially higher MSRP than those cameras and, before the Z5II, offered a more complete package than any full-frame camera in the sub-$2000 range. The S9, which is based around the same sensor, is closer in price to the Z5II but is aimed at a more video-focused audience, as it lacks both an EVF and a mechanical shutter. Given that, it didn't feel as appropriate for this list. While the S5II frequently goes on sale, street prices for cameras drop relative to their MSRPs – a camera that starts off at $1700 is likely to end up significantly cheaper than one that started life at $2000.

The one exception to that rule is if a camera sticks around long enough to get a permanent price cut to reposition it when its replacement arrives. That's essentially what's happened with Sony's a7 III, which was originally released in 2018. It shows its age in many ways but is still in a similar class to the other cameras in this comparison.

Nikon Z5II Nikon Z5 Canon EOS R8 Panasonic S5II Sony a7 III MSRP $1699 $1399 $1499 $1999 $1799 (Originally $2000) Pixel count 24MP 24MP 24MP 24MP 24MP Stabilization IBIS IBIS No IBIS IBIS Max burst rate (Mech / E-shutter)

11fps Raw
30 JPEG-only

4.5fps 6fps elec. first curtain
40fps e-shutter 7fps mech.
30fps e-shutter 10fps Pre-buffer Yes, JPEG No Yes, Raw, 0.5 sec Yes, Raw, 0.5 sec No Autofocus recognition subjects People
Birds
Animals
Vehicles Human
Animal People
Animals
Vehicles Human, Animal, Car, Motorcycle, Airplane, Train Eye AF Max video resolution 4K 60p w/ 1.5x crop
4K 30p full-width 4K 30p w/ 1.7x crop 4K 60p full-width

6K 30p open gate
4K 60p w/1.5x crop
4K 30p full-width

4K 30p w/ 1.2x crop
4K 24p full-width 10-bit options N-Raw
N-Log
HLG N/A C-Log3
HDR PQ V-Log
HLG S-Log 3
HLG Headphone / Mic jack Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Viewfinder res / mag 3.69M dots
0.8x 3.69M dots
0.8x 2.36M dots
0.7x 3.68M dot 0.78x 2.36M dots
0.78x Rear screen 3.2" 2.1M dot fully articulated 3.2" 1.04M dot tilting 3" 1.62M-dot fully articulated 3" 1.84M-dot fully articulated 3" 921.6K tilting Storage formats 2x UHS-II SD 2x UHS-II SD 1x UHS-II SD 2x UHS-II SD

1x UHS-II SD
1x UHS-I SD

Battery life (CIPA) 330 shots 470 shots 290 shots 370 shots 710 shots Dimensions 134 x 101 x 72 mm 134 x 101 x 70 mm 133 x 86 x 70 mm 134 x 102 x 90 mm 127 x 96 x 74 mm Weight 700g 675g 461g 740g 650g

With the upgrades it gains over its predecessor, the Z5II has become one of the most complete full-frame options for under $2000. You're not giving up IBIS, battery life and an autofocus joystick like you would be with the EOS R8, and you're not giving up an EVF and dual top-plate control dials like with the Panasonic S9. It's relatively evenly matched with the S5II, though we've generally found Nikon's autofocus performance to be more reliable.

The a7 III may still seem like a worthy competitor on paper, especially considering that Nikon and Canon can't match E-mount's wide range of lenses. However, other brands have caught up to its once class-leading autofocus system, and its menus were dated and annoying to use even back in 2018. The once enthusiast-focused Sony is really showing its age.

Body and Handling

The Z5II's design is relatively unchanged from its predecessor, though that isn't a complaint. It has a standard mode dial with three custom slots, as well as two top-plate dials for controlling your exposure settings. The camera also comes with a wide variety of buttons, including two customizable ones on the front near the lens mount.

Nikon has added its Picture Control button, which debuted with the Z50II and lets you easily control your JPEG color mode. While the Z5II comes with Nikon's classic range of color modes built-in, you can also download more via the company's Nikon Imaging Cloud service and create or customize your own using the company's desktop software.

Out of camera JPEG, shot using the 'Deeptone Monochrome' color mode.

Nikkor Z 50mm F1.8 S | F5.6 | 1/2000 sec | ISO 100
Photo: Mitchell Clark

This setup provides a fair amount of flexibility and control over the look of your out-of-camera JPEGs, though it doesn't come with the freedom and enormous back-catalog of the industry-standard LUTs that companies like Panasonic let you use.

Handling

The Z5II is a solid camera with a deep grip, which fits well in the hand. It's sturdy – Nikon says the front, back and top covers are made from magnesium alloy – and sealed against moisture and dust. We shot our sample gallery in light to medium rain with no issues.

The control layout is the same one that Nikon has used across much of its Z lineup – anyone familiar with the original Z5 or Z6 series will be instantly familiar with it. Most of the buttons on the back are generally easy to access while shooting, as is the autofocus joystick. The Z5II also supports using portions of its touchscreen to control the autofocus point. The one button that can be difficult to reach in general use is Picture Control, as its position on the top plate will likely require you to re-adjust your grip to reach it.

A good number of the buttons are customizable, but there are some odd limitations to which settings you can apply to them. For instance, we find it can be useful to have quick access to the shutter speed threshold for Auto ISO, but this can't be assigned to a button. It also can't be assigned to MyMenu, so you can't use the old workaround of putting it there and assigning 'Top item on MyMenu' to a custom button. It's a strange omission from a modern camera.

There's also no way of dismissing the on-screen button that switches between positioning the AF point, touch AF and touch shutter, so expect to tap it occasionally and find you've touch-shuttered some pictures of your feet. The Z5II also lacks a sensor indicating that the rear screen is extended, so its a bit prone to blacking-out the rear screen if you shoot at waist level, unless you switch it to LCD only mode.

Viewfinder

The Z5II's viewfinder is high-resolution and has a relatively high magnification, but where it really sets itself apart from the crowd is in brightness. It has a peak brightness of 3000 nits, which means it should still be clearly visible, even on a bright, sunny day.

The panel runs at 60Hz. While that's not as fast as the 120Hz mode found on Nikon's higher-end cameras, it should be responsive enough for all but the most fast-paced situations.

Screen

The Z5II features a large, high-resolution, fully-articulated display. While it doesn't provide stills shooters with the ability to tilt up or down in a single motion, once you flip it out, you can use it at pretty much any angle. It also lets you monitor video you're taking of yourself, an essential feature for anyone looking to try their hand at vlogging.

Ports and slots

Again, the Z5II's port selection remains largely unchanged from its predecessor's. It retains the dual UHS-II SD card slots, headphone and microphone jacks, USB-C socket and micro HDMI port. Overall, it's hard to find fault with this selection.

Battery

The Z5II uses the same 16Wh EN-EL15c battery as many of Nikon's other full-frame cameras. It's CIPA-rated to get around 330 shots on a single charge. While you can generally expect to get a fair bit more than the literal number of rated shots, the rating provides a consistent benchmark we can use to measure cameras against each other.

We'd consider a rating around 300 to be acceptable for a day of shooting or a weekend where you're occasionally taking photos, but anything more, and you'll probably want to keep an extra battery or USB-C battery bank at hand.

If you routinely have marathon shooting sessions, the Z5II can be fitted with the sold-separately MB-N14 battery grip, the same that's used for cameras like the Z6 II and Z6III. It should roughly double your battery life and lets you hot-swap in a fresh battery without cutting power to your camera.

Image quality

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

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The test scene throws up no surprises at all: detail capture is consistent with other 24MP full-frame cameras, as is noise performance at high ISO. Default JPEG color is the usual Nikon response: on the punchy side of accurate, which is a result a lot of people like.

JPEG sharpening pulls out a lot of fine detail, though false color isn't as well suppressed as in the Canon's files. Noise reduction smoothes away a little more detail than its peers, but overall, the results are very solid.

This is a well-known sensor, so the results aren't surprising, but until recently, you had to spend a fair amount more than this to get the same combination of IQ, handling and autofocus performance.

HDR photos

Like many recent cameras, the Z5II can capture HDR images using the HLG response curve and 10-bit HEIF files. The process for switching is pleasantly simple: just select HLG, rather than SDR in the menus and the camera jumps from recording 8-bit standard DR JPEGs to 10-bit high-DR HEIFs. Base ISO jumps from 100 to 400, so that exposure gets reduced in order to capture up to 2EV of additional highlight information.

Unlike, say, Sony cameras, you can shoot Raw + HLG HEIF files and use the in-camera options to reprocess the Raw as a HEIF while changing some settings. However, that can only be done with Raws that were originally shot in HLG mode: the camera needs to have exposed for HDR capture (using at least ISO 400 exposures) to capture the additional highlights that the files contain.

This is a JPEG produced in-camera from a Raw/HEIF pair. Viewed on a compatible display, the rose's petals and the upward facing leaves 'glow' in a way that's much closer to how the scene really appeared, in the HEIF version, which you can download by clicking here.

Nikkor Z 28-70mm F2.8 S @ 70mm | F4 | 1/1600s | ISO 400
Photo: Richard Butler

There's also a separate 'HDR overlay' mode that takes two images and combines them into an standard DR image. The results aren't terrible but they're not nearly as impressive as the 'true' HDR mode that captures more realistic highlights for viewing on wide-gamut, high brightness displays.

Autofocus

The Z5II's eye detection doesn't always put the focus precisely on the iris, but it gets the eye area in very good focus so often that you can just think about composition and timing of your photo, without having to worry about focus.

Nikkor Z 24-70mm F2.8 S @ 45mm | F5.6 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100
Photo: Richard Butler

The Z5II has the same autofocus interface as the company's range-topping sports cameras. You can choose from a variety of AF area modes, with a '3D Tracking' area that follows whatever's under the target area, in continuous AF. On top of these, the Z5II has a range of subject recognition modes, including an 'Auto' mode that will look to engage human, animal or vehicle recognition. These can be used with Wide AF areas, 3D Tracking and All-area AF.

AF performance

In terms of performance it works very well and is a big step up from the previous generation of cameras, meaning the sub-$2000 Z5II is an easier-to-use and more dependable camera than the Z6 II that used to sit one step further up the range.

"The Z5II is an easier-to-use and more dependable camera than the Z6 II that used to sit further up the range"

The performance isn't quite on the same level as its more expensive contemporary Nikons, as all of those use sensors that read-out faster. In particular, we noticed the camera was a little prone to picking something near the object we were trying to select, then focusing on that instead, necessitating the disengagement of subject recognition.

These experiences were reinforced by our standardized basic test, where tracking with subject recognition turned off could sometimes lose its subject.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Generic Tracking Rollover 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Face Recognition Rollover

Turning subject recognition on boosted tracking reliability but it still wasn't as responsive as the Nikon Z6III, which was a little better at maintaining focus as the rate-of-approach changed.

As light levels fell we found it got a little less good at finding eyes and faces (we were shooting alongside a camera that was doing very well, in that regard). But overall it's very competitive, relative to its immediate peers. Which is to say: light years ahead of any camera made more than a few years ago. The range of activities to which the Z5 II can adapt is really quite striking.

Video

Nikon's video has improved significantly in the past few years and the Z5II gains the majority of those benefits, making it a much more capable video camera than its predecessor.

The 24MP BSI sensor isn't the fastest to read out, so it has a reasonable amount of rolling shutter if your camera or subject moves too quickly, but this is the same sensor around which Panasonic built its video-focused S1H and S5IIX models, so it's not a bad performer, even if this is an area in which technology is improving.

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The addition of options such as 10-bit capture in SDR, HLG HDR or Log is a major step foward over the Z5, which had to crop-in to even offer 4K. The Z5II also offers N-Raw video, which produces files no larger than the 10-bit capture but appears to be sub-sampled, rather than downscaled, so captures less detail and more is more prone to moiré and hasn't had any sharpening applied. Editing support is currently rather limited, though Adobe has said it's working on it. It's worth noting that it doesn't give anything like the same increase in flexibility that moving to Raw stills does, vs JPEG shooting.

Autofocus isn't quite as dependable as in stills but, especially for recognized subject types, it does a good job of staying on your chosen target. Autofocus speed can be adjusted depending on whether you want smooth transitions or rapid, attentive autofocus on a single subject. Image stabilization works pretty well, with electronic stabilization improving smoothness in return for an addition 1.25x crop.

E stabilization Off E stabilization On 4K/30/25/24
10-bit 1.00x crop
(22.2ms) 1.25x crop
(17.8ms) 4K/60/50
10-bit 1.52x crop
(14.6ms)

1.90x crop
(11.7ms)

4K/30/25/24
12-bit N-Raw 1.00 crop
(22.2ms)
1.52x crop
(11.6ms) N/A

Interestingly, the full-width Raw footage is two-thirds the sensor's full resolution (and has aliasing suggesting it may be line-skipped), yet takes as long to read-out as the downscaled, processed 4K footage. By comparison, the N-Raw footage taken from the cropped region is read-out faster than the 4K/60p taken from the same area, suggesting it's further line-skipped at the point of being read.

Conclusion Pros Cons

• Excellent image quality
• Very good autofocus, for a range of subjects
• Excellent handling and ergonomics
• Strong feature set, including image stabilization, interval shooting, etc...
• Impressive range of video modes and support features
• Simple-to-use HDR stills and video capture
• Snapbridge App works pretty reliably (at least on Android)

• Menus rather long and featureless
• Subject recognition can sometimes distract the camera from the thing you'd asked it to focus on
• Video autofocus less dependable
• Video somewhat prone to rolling shutter
• Needs to crop to deliver 4K/60
• Battery life reasonable, rather than great
• No sensor to stop the camera switching to viewfinder mode with rear screen extended
• Lens choice limited by Nikon

The Nikon Z5II is almost unimaginably good for a camera priced under $2000. Previous models in this price range have tended to be significantly cut-down versions of more expensive cameras, assembled from elderly tech or simply been rather aged models re-positioned downmarket, past their best-before dates. That's not the case with the Z5II.

The Z5II is an impressive all-rounder that delivers excellent image quality and good video, underpinned by very good autofocus in a body that's well-designed and comfortable to use. As with any full-frame camera, many of the lenses are quite large (and expensive) but that's the price you pay for the image quality benefits.

The Z5II hasn't been shorn of control points or card slots to distinguish it from its more expensive siblings. So you get plenty of custom buttons, a joystick and two UHS-II slots, despite the lowly position in the lineup.

In part it benefits because the last generation of sensor was already so good that it still gives a solid foundation for a modern camera (Panasonic's newer, more expensive S1IIE is based on the same chip). But also, with Nikon's latest Z6III getting a major speed boost, the Z5II can be very capable without treading on its toes. So it can offer very credible video without undercutting the even better Z6III.

Like many mainstream cameras, the Z5II's menus would benefit from some pruning and reworking (as an aperture priority shooter I'd love to more easily access the Auto ISO shutter speed threshold settings), but the ability to customize the 'i' menu and neat touches like the custom settings menu memorizing which setting you last used within each section can help mitigate the challenges, somewhat.

The Z5II shoots quickly and accurately enough that you can use it for an extremely wide range of shooting. From wildlife to landscapes, portraits to sports, it'll be rare that the camera will hold you back, rather than your abilities and experience.

Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8 S @ 70mm | F5.0 | 1/80 sec | ISO 500
Raw reprocessed in-camera: white balance warmed, D-lighting increased to 'Normal'
Photo: Richard Butler

Part of that complexity comes from the fact the Z5II tries to do so much. Each may be of niche appeal but focus bracketing, interval shooting, multi-shot high-res capture and the ability to shoot faster than Nikon's pro sports model did, a decade ago, make the Z5II incredibly flexible. And Nikon hasn't omitted image stabilization or a reasonably-sized battery in the process.

Other than a relaxation of Nikon's rather restrictive approach to third-party lenses, it's hard to see what more an enthusiast photographer could want from a camera. Sure, there are higher res cameras, models with faster sensors for improved video, and pro-focused kit with more solid build and additional bells and whistles, but the Z5II will be more than enough camera for a vast number and variety of photographers. And it's likely to be a very difficult camera to outgrow, regardless of where your creativity takes you. Very few of us truly need anything more.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

Nikon Z5IICategory: Entry Level Full Frame CameraBuild qualityErgonomics & handlingFeaturesMetering & focus accuracyImage quality (raw)Image quality (jpeg)Low light / high ISO performanceViewfinder / screen ratingOpticsPerformanceMovie / video modeConnectivityValuePoorExcellentConclusionThe Nikon Z5II combines a well-regarded sensor, with a broad range of features for both stills and video shooters. It's a fairly sizeable camera, especially once you include lenses, but the provision of in-body stabilization and Nikon's latest AF systems make it a hugely accomplished all-rounder.Good forA remarkably broad range of photographers and videographers.Not so good forPhotographers looking for a compact kit for travel. Anyone with the most demanding AF requirements.91%Overall scoreRegularScoreCompareWidget({"mainElementId":"scoringWidget","mainProduct":"nikon_z5ii","scoringSchema":{"id":"SLRs","variables":[{"id":"BuildQuality"},{"id":"ErgonomicsAndHandling"},{"id":"Features"},{"id":"MeteringAndFocusAccuracy"},{"id":"QualityRaw"},{"id":"QualityJpeg"},{"id":"LowLightHighISO"},{"id":"ViewfinderScreenRating"},{"id":"Optics"},{"id":"Performance"},{"id":"Movie"},{"id":"Connectivity"},{"id":"Value"}],"categories":[{"id":"EntryLevel","label":"Entry Level Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Entry Level"},{"id":"MidRange","label":"Mid Range Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Mid Level"},{"id":"EntryLevelFullFrame","label":"Entry Level Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Entry Level Full Frame"},{"id":"MidRangeFullFrame","label":"Mid Range Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Mid Range Full Frame"},{"id":"SemiProfessional","label":"Semi-professional Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Semi-professional"},{"id":"SemiProfessionalFullFrame","label":"Semi-professional Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Semi-professional Full Frame"},{"id":"Professional","label":" Professional Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Professional"},{"id":"LargeSensorCompactEntry","label":"Entry Level Large Sensor Compact Camera","shortLabel":"Entry Level Large Sensor Compact"},{"id":"LargeSensorCompactEnthusiast","label":"Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact Camera","shortLabel":"Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact"},{"id":"VideoCamera","label":"Video Camera","shortLabel":"Video Camera"}]},"helpText":"Choose one or more cameras from the drop-down menu, then roll your mouse over the names to see how their scores compare to the camera on review."}) Compared to its peers

The Canon EOS R8 is a very capable camera but its lack of image stabilization, its short battery life and small, lower-res viewfinder look the corners that had to be cut, to stop it competing with the more expensive EOS R6 II. That's not the case with the Z5II, which is differentiated from the Z6III by the use of a different sensor, so there's less need to hold the cheaper camera back. The EOS R8 doesn't need to crop to deliver 4K/60, but the Z5II is stronger in just about every other respect.

Panasonic's Lumix DC-S5II is priced a little higher than the Nikon and it's noticeable in the more solid-feeling metal body. It offers open-gate shooting from the same, not-especially-fast sensor, along with better stabilization algorithms and a cooling fan for extended recording periods. But the Nikon's more dependable autofocus in both stills and video makes a big difference. The L-mount system offers a wider choice of autofocus lenses, but in terms of everyday usability, the Nikon's AF gives it the edge, for us.

Sony's a7 III was the camera to beat when it launched, but that was in early 2018, before Canon or Nikon had introduced their full-frame mirrorless systems. Its eye detection AF is still competitive with the Z5II but the autofocus interface and implementation, along with the rest of its UI and menus, really show their age. The Nikon comfortably out-points it in just about every other respect: video quality, video AF, viewfinder and screen quality, card slot consistency, feature set. We'd probably choose the Z5II over the more expensive a7IV, if it came down to it.

Nikon is selling off the original Z5 at some very tempting prices. We'd still be inclined to go for the Mark II if you can save for a little longer, or your budget will stretch. The image quality of the two cameras is pretty similar but the Z5 II is better in most other ways. Most noticeably, its autofocus is hugely improved, in terms of operation and performance, with the 3D Tracking mode working better, even before you engage any subject recognition. The newer model shoots faster, offers a wider array of features and has vastly improved video: it's just a more capable all-rounder.

Buy now:

Buy at Amazon.comBuy at AdoramaBuy at B&H Photo Nikon Z5II sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.

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All About Photo Magazine #49 B&W photo winners

All About Photo has revealed the winners of its latest competition, AAP Magazine #49: B&W, celebrating the timeless art of black and white photography. According to All About Photo, the winning artists "offer a global perspective on the enduring power of monochrome."

We were drawn in by the creative compositions and striking use of light and shadow in many of the winning photos. In this slideshow, we share the top three winners, along with some of our favorite Merit Award recipients. To learn more about the contest or see the complete gallery of winners, visit the contest website.

Which photo stands out to you? Let us know in the comments!

1st place winner

Photographer: Astrid Verhoef (Netherlands)

Title: Balance

Description: The artwork ‘Balance’ was shot in March 2025, at the beautiful Peninsula de Jandia, Fuerteventura, Spain. For all my artwork, I’m exploring my relationship and connection to the natural world, usually portraying a figure that always seems to linger somewhere between the natural and an artificial element, preventing her from truly connecting. Like a trace from the world she can’t leave behind.

I am used to working solo to experience my personal connection to the landscape in the most profound way without any distractions. Even though I treasure that connection and it works very well for me this way, at rare occasions I do want to work with an extra model. This particular posture is the result of movement, dancing together. It did change the experience: a dance of balance showing a connection with each other as well as with the landscape. We are one and opposites at the same time. Contrast and connection, trust and dependence. Feeling a force of nature within and around ourselves, strength and balance in the volcanic landscape where barren meets beauty.

2nd place winner

Photographer: Antonio Denti (Italy)

Title: Harder Lives (near Zagora, Morocco)

Description: Souvenir makers at work on the edge of the Sahara Desert, as in the small town nearby, their families live on. ''Harder Lives'' is part of a wider project called ''Everything and Nothing'' that tries to capture the moving essence of the little lives - our little lives - in the backdrop of the global economy and of a massive new industrial revolution in very different settings. In this case, a small village in Morocco that used to live off minimal (dates, palms, small herding, minor caravans) and now shifted to global tourism as all kinds of people travel there from all places in the world to see the magic marvels of the Sahara.

3rd place winner

Photographer: Lynne Breitfeller (United States)

Title: Stacy and Miss Kitty

Description: This image, “Stacy and Miss Kitty,” is from “People I Know,” a collection of portraits created in the early to mid-nineties of friends, family, and acquaintances. Some are candid, and others are performative. These photos bring me back to earlier times and help me visualize my early adult years and how people come in and out of our lives, and how some stay. Each holds a place in the catalog of my memory.

Merit Award

Photographer: Florian Kriechbaumer (Germany)

Title: Colossal Legacy

Description: Craig is one of the last remaining Super Tuskers on earth - elephants whose tusks weigh over 100 pounds each and literally scrape the ground. At 53, he’s no longer a youngster, with maybe a decade of natural lifespan left, but carries himself with a calm, imposing presence. During my trips to Amboseli’s incredible landscapes, I had several encounters with him while documenting the ecosystem and the work of the rangers protecting it. In the past years, three big tuskers have been killed after crossing into Tanzania, where trophy hunting and human-wildlife conflict are ongoing threats. Craig has been leaving his Colossal Legacy for over five decades, but it is up to us to ensure his successors will be able to do the same.

Merit Award

Photographer: Ylva Sjögren (Sweden)

Title: I see only what I want to see

Description: The image ”I see only what I want to see” symbolically describes people who turn a blind eye to all facts and stubbornly cling to their own version of reality.

Merit Award

Photographer: Monika Maroziene (Lithuania)

Title: Masquerade

Description: My artistic practice merges my scientific expertise with a love for photography, creating a unique art form that I see as a type of alchemy. I incorporate pine tree resin into my prints, adding warmth and durability while preserving the images, symbolic of my Lithuanian roots and my connection to the natural world. My work often features black and white photography, evoking a sense of calm, solitude, and reflection, complemented by touches of resin that transport viewers to sunny, nostalgic days. Through these images, I explore themes of memory, identity, and the poetic irony of life, inspired by the landscapes of the Curonian Spit and my lifelong fascination with the mysterious, powerful presence of women and nature.

Merit Award

Photographer: Klaus Lenzen (Germany)

Title: Steam IV

Description: The exhaust cloud from the quenching tower of a coking plant at a steel mill in Duisburg, Germany, develops an impressive dynamic. Soon, new clouds form, hour after hour, day after day. As part of a long-term project, I captured these impressive clouds from various perspectives.

Merit Award

Photographer: Giuseppe Cardoni (Italy)

Title: The Magic of the Circus

Description: The circus is a large extended family which are all more or less related to each other, held together not only by affection but also by the great passion for their Art. My main interest was to tell more about the atmosphere than the performers by focusing on the moments of preparation, pause, concentration, rather than the show, which is, however, mentioned. In this way, it seemed to me to preserve at least in part the mystery and the magic that captures the spectator when the curtain opens.

Merit Award

Photographer: Kevin Lyle (United States)

Title: City Life 20472

Description: Cities are often full of drama, some more than others. The intensity of the drama within city life is balanced by simple, less dramatic vistas that may provide food for thought, humor, comfort or wonder. I present some of these simple observations.

Merit Award

Photographer: Elena Donskaya (Russia)

Title: Young Woman

Description: Inspired by the Renaissance-era painting Portrait of a Young Girl by Petrus Christus.

Merit Award

Photographer: Ralf Dreier (Germany)

Title: Niendorf Bathing Jetty

Description: The project "Two Minutes by the Sea" is a spin-off from the overarching project "By the Sea," which is about long exposures of coastal regions with an exposure time of two minutes. The resulting minimalist black and white images show the viewer an unusual view of the sea. The simplicity of the images, in particular, focuses the eye on the main motif, but at the same time leaves enough space to prevent it from appearing too dominant. As a result, the pictures move away from reality and encourage the viewer to use their imagination, giving them the opportunity to combine what is actually depicted with their own emotions and thoughts, resulting in a very personal visual experience for each viewer.

Merit Award

Photographer: Yanitsa Genova (Bulgaria)

Title: Trapped in the Frame

Description: Half-Visible is an attempt to enter into harmony with the world. The photographs were taken over ten years. What unites them is street photography, partial visibility, and the geometric arrangement of everyday life. I point the camera at what changes my inner world. I am capable of looking at everything, both the most terrible and the most beautiful. I am here.

Merit Award

Photographer: William Ropp (France)

Title: Ethiopia, the singular man

Description: William Ropp's black-and-white work in Mali, Senegal, and Ethiopia transcends simple documentary portraiture. It is an introspective quest for the other, a dive into the intimacy of African faces, rendered with rare visual and emotional intensity. At the crossroads of photography, shadow theater, and classical painting, Ropp reveals souls rather than bodies. Ropp does not simply photograph faces: he seeks to capture what he calls the inner presence of his subjects. Through a play of light and shadow, he extracts a form of silent poetry, often timeless. His black and white is deep, almost charcoal-like, and exudes a sense of suspended time. The faces seem to emerge from a dream or a distant memory. He thus creates a universe between reality and fantasy, often tinged with melancholy.

Merit Award

Photographer: Beamie Young (United States)

Title: Mobius

Description: The rich tonalities of a black and white image have always been a source of inspiration to me. In my quest for organic patterns in nature, I am drawn to the play of light I observe in the gardens around my home. The negative space in each image is as important as the plant itself and creates an important counterpoint to the leaves.

Merit Award

Photographer: Luciano Gerini (Italy)

Description: At the end of the 19th century, Rome became the capital of Italy. It therefore needed new government offices, more factories, more workforce, warehouses, general markets, energy suppliers, and so on. A new area transformed into a well-organized site with a dense network of connections to serve the new Rome. It took decades, of course.

After over a century, some structures have become obsolete due to new technologies and growing needs. The municipality and landowners want to reuse all these buildings and open spaces, preserving as much of the old forms and styles as possible. The power plant has now become a museum, the area used as a gas depot has been transformed into an event space and offices, and the large butcher's shop has become a mix between a museum and an exhibition space. Of course, some things have been lost, such as: the atmosphere of the old great market at dawn with its lights on and handcarts, the tumbling of the enormous gas tanks that changed the skyline of the area, the traffic of trucks, etc. It might be interesting to know that in Roman times, there were docks and warehouses here for Roman ships sailing along the river, where goods arrived from distant countries to supply the city.

So, what am I doing here, taking photos? This is my city, and I have a degree in geography, so the real question is: why has everything worked so well here since ancient times? What have we lost, and what could the future hold for this place? Can photos bear witness to the change? I'm working on it.

Not all road trips go as planned. This venture to the Huaylla Belen Valley in northern Peru involved a lot more pushing than driving.

Photo: Dale Baskin

Our August Editors' photo challenge is now open! This month's theme is "Road Trip."

It's time to celebrate a great summer tradition: the road trip. Show us your favorite moments from the open highway – whether it’s epic highway vistas, quirky roadside attractions, spontaneous detours, or even views from the car. Share your best road trip photos and help us capture the essence of the classic road trip!

Photos can be submitted between Sunday, August 10, and Saturday, August 16 (GMT). This challenge is open to photos taken at any time.

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

Visit the challenge page to enter your photo in this month's Editors' photo challenge.

Click here to enter your photo in the Road Trip photo challenge

Earlier this week, we introduced our new Community Manager, Mathew Anderson. He's joining our team to help manage the online forums and, like most of us here, is enthusiastic about photography. After joining, he mentioned he was potentially interested in upgrading his camera, something the rest of the team had an opinion or two on.

Rather than hiding the discussion away in Slack, we thought it would be a fun exercise to have him on the show to discuss his wants and needs for a new camera, and to go over some of the cameras that met his criteria. You can watch the discussion above, and if you have any recommendations we missed, be sure to head over to our forums to share them with Mathew and the rest of the team!

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Image:Meike

Meike's 24mm F1.4 'Mix,' a wide-angle full-frame autofocus lens for Nikon Z, Sony E and L mount that it showed off earlier this year, is now available. While there isn't a ton of information available about the lens, the company says it's made for "creators who see in full frame."

According to the company's spec sheet, the lens is made of 15 elements in 12 groups, though it doesn't mention what kind of special glasses (if any) are used in its optical formula. According to the company's Instagram, its aperture has 11 blades and a minimum focus distance of 0.28m (11").

Image: Meike

It has a stepper motor for autofocus, and a switch on the lens barrel for quickly switching between auto and manual focus modes. Just above that is a customizable button, and rounding out its physical design is an aperture ring, though it's unclear whether it has clicked delinations or not.

The lens can accept 72mm filters, and the E-mount version weighs 556g (19.6oz).

It costs $589, and the E and Z-mount versions are available now on Meike's site. The company says you'll be able to order the L mount version on August 20th.

Sony E mount

Buy from Meike

Nikon Z mount

Buy from Meike

L mount

Buy from Meike

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Image: TTArtisan

TTArtisan has announced the AF 40mm F2, a 'normal' focal-length prime for full-frame Sony E and Nikon Z mount cameras. (An L-mount version is "coming soon" according to an Instagram post from the company.) It's made to be fast, compact and affordable despite having features like a clicking aperture ring and all-metal construction.

The lens is made of nine elements in six groups, with two high-index elements, one extra-low-dispersion element and one aspherical lens. It has seven aperture blades, and can focus on objects as close as 0.4m (15.7").

Autofocus is handled by a stepping motor. The lens can fit 52mm filters, and weighs 167g (5.9oz), despite being made out of aluminium. It also comes with a metal, petal-shaped lens hood.

The lens is available now from TTArtisan's website and only costs $168, which is a very approachable price. If you've never shot with a 'normal' focal length lens before (as in, a lens that offers a similar perspective to human vision: neither zoomed in nor out.), it could be an affordable way to try it out.

Buy at TTArtisan TTArtisan AF 40mm F2 Specifications: Principal specifications Lens Type Prime Max Format size 35mm FF Focal length 40mm Image Stabilization No Lens mount Nikon Z, Sony E, Sony FE Aperture Maximum aperture F2 Minimum aperture F16 Aperture ring Yes Number of diaphragm blades 7 Optics Elements 9 Groups 6 Focus Minimum focus 0.4m (15.7") Autofocus Yes Motor type Stepper Motor Physical Weight 167g Diameter 61mm Length 44mm Sealing No Filter thread 52mm Hood supplied Yes Material Aluminium

Image: 10Art.CC

For those interested in instant photography (and even many who are not), the Polaroid SX-70 is an icon. And now, Chinese manufacturer 10Art.CC is aiming to introduce a modern take on the foldable instant camera. The Pocket Fold 66 promises compact instant photography reminiscent of the classic Polaroid camera.

For those who are unfamiliar, the Polaroid SX-70 is a folding, single-lens reflex instant camera made by Polaroid from 1972 to 1981. It folds down to a flat rectangle and pops up when it's time to take photos. The original model was manual focus only, though a later model featured sonar autofocus.

The Polaroid SX-70 folds down into a compact rectangle when not in use.

Photo: Abby Ferguson

In its announcement post, 10Art.CC says it was inspired by the SX-70 because of its portability and image quality. The company previously released an instant film back for Hasselblad cameras as well as a standalone camera module, the former addressing quality, the latter offering portability. However, neither device satisfied the company's quest for both in one package.

The Pocket Fold 66 aims to address both of the company's goals in a single camera, just as the SX-70 did. However, it makes it clear that this isn't a replica of the classic SX-70. "Please note, this isn't a replica; it's a re-creation," it said in the announcement. "We've only retained its folding structure, as it's the only way to achieve extreme compactness. I deeply admire Dr. Land's ingenuity. Respect!"

Details are limited, but 10Art.CC says that it "optimized all components and redesigned the entire optical system, electronic system, and mechanical transmission system."

Image: 10Art.CC

The company says the Pocket Fold 66 will be a foldable instant camera with an optical viewfinder, automatic metering and EV adjustment. It will feature a 110mm F5.6 lens, though the 35mm equivalent isn't provided. The lens will reportedly offer macro capability and the ability to focus from 15cm (5.9") to infinity. The camera is indeed quite compact, apparently folding down to 16 x 10 x 4.5cm (6.3 x 3.9 x 1.8"). For comparison, the original SX-70 measured 18.4 x 10.2 x 2.5cm (7.25 x 4 x 1").

10Art.CC also says that the camera will feature a built-in rechargeable lithium battery. It claims the camera will use "Polaroid square photo paper." That is a little surprising, since most non-Polaroid instant cameras – like the folding model TTartisan announced earlier this year – use Instax film, which is more affordable and easier to find.

There is currently no price or estimated availability date, but the single image in the announcement says 2025. We may be able to expect more details later this year, then.

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Product photos: Mitchell Clark

91%Overall scoreJump to conclusion

The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII is the company's latest high-resolution full-frame mirrorless camera, now beefed-up with 8K video capabilities and improved autofocus.

Key features

• Full-frame 44MP dual gain CMOS sensor
• Up to 40fps continuous shooting with pre-burst capture (e-shutter only)
• 8.1K/8K video at up to 30p
• 5.76M dot viewfinder
• Flip-out and tilt rear screen
• ProRes 422 and ProRes RAW capture
• Capture to CFExpress Type B, UHS II SD or external SSD
• Multi-shot high res mode up to 177MP
• 32-bit float audio via optional XLR 2 adapter

The S1RII is available now with a recommended retail price of $3300.

Index:

• What's new
• What's new for video
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Image Quality
• Autofocus
• Video
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

Buy now:

$3598 at Amazon.com

• Feb 25: Initial review published
• Mar 31: Image quality and Autofocus results published
• Apr 23: Autofocus section updated and conclusion added
• Aug 7: Video section added, conclusion updated

What's new New sensor

Rather than the 47MP used in the original S1R, or the 61MP chip used in Leica's SL3, Panasonic has opted for a slightly lower resolution but faster sensor for the S1RII.

It features dual conversion gain on which, as usual on Panasonic cameras, you can manually select which of its two readout modes it uses, at intermediate ISO settings. Panasonic doesn't always disclose when it's using BSI technology, but in this instance it has confirmed it.

Its design means it's appreciable slower than the more expensive Stacked CMOS sensors, with an electronic shutter mode that takes 37.5ms (~1/27 sec) to read out in 14-bit mode and 20.2ms (~1/50 sec) in the 12-bit mode used for bursts and other quick-fire shooting modes.

Autofocus

The S1RII represents the second generation of Panasonic cameras to feature phase detection autofocus, with the inherent depth awareness that this brings. The company says it's significantly improved both its subject recognition and its tracking algorithms in the new camera, to bring its performance closer into line with the best of its peers.

The S1RII has algorithms trained to recognize the following subjects:

• Human
• Animal (Dog, Cat, Bird)
• Car
• Motorcycle / Bike
• Train
• Airplane

We're told it should be quicker at finding a subject and better at continuing to track it, even if, for instance, the subject turns away from the camera or is partially obscured. As before, you can choose whether the camera homes-in on specific details, such as the helmet of a motorbike rider, the nose of a plane or the eyes of an animal. Selecting the more precise focus position can lower the system's responsiveness to smaller, faster-moving subjects.

Cinelike A2 color mode

The S1RII gains a new 'Cinelike A2' color mode, in both stills and video modes. It offers a very gentle response, somewhere between the flat, DR-prioritizing Cinelike D2 and the punchy, ready-to-go Cinelike V2 profile.

Panasonic says the A2 mode's color response stems from work they've been doing in recent months. And it's perhaps worth considering which partners Panasonic has been working with, recently, to guess at the significance of the letter 'A' in the name. Unlike the camera's Leica Monochrome mode, any connection isn't made explicit.

Real time LUT

The S1RII gains the Real Time LUT function we've seen on recent Panasonic cameras, letting you create and upload color and tone-modifying profiles in format with a workflow that's already widely supported across the industry. The S1RII allows you to load up to 39 LUTs onto the camera, with the option to combine two LUTs with varying intensity, if you wish.

Additional LUTs can be created or downloaded via Panasonic's Lumix Lab app.

False color

The S1RII becomes one of the first stills/video cameras to include a false color display option. This is a feature common in the video world, giving a mono preview with certain brightness levels highlighted in different colors, to help you recognize which bits of the image are clipped or near clipping and which areas are exposed as mid tones or at a level appropriate for light skin tones. This display can be used in boths stills and video modes.

Capture One tethering

The S1RII becomes the first Panasonic camera that can be shot, tethered, from Capture One, the popular studio software. We're told any decisions about whether to expand support to other models will depend on customer demand.

What's new for video

The 44MP sensor means the S1RII has slightly more horizontal pixels than necessary to deliver UHD 8K (7680 x 4320) footage and a fraction short of what's needed to capture the DCI 8K's 8192 x 4320 resolution. Instead it offers what Panasonic called 8.1K (8128 x 4288), which conforms to the same 1.89:1 aspect ratio as DCI footage.

The degree to which the sensor resolution is suited to 8K capture is unlikely to be coincidental, and the S1RII offers the kind of extensive video feature set that you might expect from the company that brought us the GH series, rather than the pared-back list of options the original S1R brought.

It also includes everything you'd expect from Panasonic: the option to set exposure in terms of shutter angle, waveforms, vectorscopes, filtering or custom lists of video modes, four-channel audio and 32-bit Float audio via the optional XLR2 accessory, support for anamorphic lenses and a tally lamp to let you know you're rolling. The attention to detail goes beyond the addition of a big red button on the front.

Video options: Output
dimensions Frame
Rates Crop MOV ProRes 1.89:1 modes 8.1K 8128 x 4288 30, 25, 24 1.0 4:2:0 – 5.8K 5760 x 4030 30, 25, 24 1.0 422/HQ 30, 25, 24 1.31 – RAW/HQ 60, 50, 48 1.04 4:2:0 – DCI 4K 4096 x 2160 30, 25, 24 1.0 4:2:2 422/HQ 60, 50 1.04 60, 50, 30, 25, 24 1.52 120, 100 1.10 4:2:2 – 16:9 Modes 8.0K 7680 x 4320 30, 25, 24 1.0 4:2:0 – 5.9K 5888 x 3312 30, 25, 24 1.0 – 60, 50, 48 1.11 – UHD 4K 3840 x 2160 30, 25, 24 1.0 4:2:2 422/HQ 60, 50 1.11 60, 50, 30, 25, 24 1.52 120, 100 1.17 4:2:2 – 3:2 Modes 8K open gate 8064 x 5376 24 1.0 4:2:0 – 7.2K open gate 7200 x 4800 30, 25, 24 1.0 4:2:0 – 6.2K open gate 6432 x 4228 30, 25, 24 1.0 4:2:0 – 4:3 Modes 4.7K 4736 x 3552 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24 1.65 4:2:0 422/HQ* - Boxes marked green offer All-I compression options.
- Red boxes have a ProRes option.
* ProRes 422/HQ only available up to 30p

The S1RII can also shoot Full HD (1920 x 1080) footage at any of the frame-rates and crops offered in UHD 4K mode, with the additional ability to capture 120 and 100p footage from the APS-C region.

Dynamic Range Expansion

The S1RII gains a DR Expansion mode, letting you capture an additional stop of highlight information in high-contrast situations. This can be activated in any of the movie modes at frame rates up to 30p, and can only be applied when shooting V-Log footage (where the response curve can easily accommodate different levels of DR capture).

Base ISO 2nd gain step Standard color mode ISO 80 ISO 400 Cinelike D2, V2, A2 ISO 160 ISO 800 HLG ISO 320 ISO 1600 V-Log ISO 200 ISO 1000 V-Log + DR Expansion ISO 400 ISO 2000

This is not the same system as the dual readout DR Boost function in the company's 25MP Micro Four Thirds camera. Instead it moves to a higher bit-depth readout, meaning there's a rolling shutter cost to engaging it. It also boosts the minimum available ISO, to prompt the use of a lower exposure, to capture that additional stop of highlights.

Open gate shooting A still grab from the S1RII's 8K open gate mode.

The S1RII can capture 8K footage from the entire 3:2 region of its sensor, which can be recorded as-is, or downsampled to 6.4K.

Open gate shooting lets you choose and adjust your crop during post production. It also makes it possible to frame wide and then take both landscape and portrait video crops if you're trying to deliver to multiple different output platforms.

5.XK at up to 60p, 4K at up to 120p

Like the S5II models, the S1RII gives you the choice of 1.89:1 DCI 4K capture or 16:9 UHD 4K, or 5.9K or 5.8K versions taken from the same capture regions. All four are available as 10-bit footage, with 4K encoded with 4:2:2 chroma precision and the 5.XK modes in 4:2:0.

Footage up to 30p is taken from the full width of the sensor using the full capture resolution, with a slight crop in to give 60p. 4K (in both flavors) is available at up to 120p with the addition of a further slight crop. Line skipping is used to deliver these 100p and 120p modes.

DCI and UHD 4K can also be captured at up to 60p from an APS-C region of the sensor.

UHD DCI Crop Rolling shutter Crop Rolling shutter 8K, 5.xK*, 4K
30/25/24 1.00 24.9ms 1.00 22.4ms 5.xK*, 4K
50/60 1.11 15.4ms 1.04 15.3ms 4K
100/120 1.17 7.3ms 1.10 7.3ms 4K/30 DRExp* 1.00 31.7ms 1.00 29.8ms *8.1K and 5.9K modes give the same results as DCI 4K, 8.0K and 5.8K matches UHD

Tellingly the rolling shutter rate in DR Expansion mode is consistent with the rate of 14-bit stills, which suggests it's based on 14-bit capture, explaining Panasonic's claims of greater dynamic range.

In turn, the 60p output's rolling shutter is consistent with the 12-bit stills readout rate. This stongly implies that the standard 24, 25 and 30p modes, which are slower than this but quicker than 14-bit mode are taken from 13-bit capture.

In addition to the conventional MOV compressed footage, the S1RII also lets you capture various resolutions in either ProRes 422 or ProRes RAW formats, both of which can either be recorded to the camera's internal CFExpress type B card or to an external SSD. ProRes RAW (with a choice of HQ or standard compression levels) is taken from a 1.31x crop of the sensor, whereas the ProRes 422 (again HQ or Std) is derived from the full-width 8.1K capture. It can also output 8.1K and 7.2K Raw over HDMI to a compatible recorder.

How it compares

The new, more compact S1RII arrives in a market where you can choose between the high resolution Sony a7RV or pay more for the likes of Nikon's Z8 and Canon's EOS R5 II that are both high resolution and fast. The Panasonic occupies something of a middle ground: offering some of the speed of the faster cameras (a higher peak frame rate but with more rolling shutter), but at a lower cost than Canon and Nikon's Stacked CMOS cameras.

We've opted to include the Canon EOS R5 II in this table, but the Nikon Z8 ends up looking very similar in terms of areas of strength, if you were to substitute that in. We've also chosen the DSLR-shaped a7R V from Sony, rather than the smaller, less expensive a7C R, because the larger model more closely resembles the Panasonic in terms of form factor, viewfinder quality, shutter options and screen articulation. But if size and price are your biggest concerns, the a7C R is in the running.

Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII Canon EOS R5 II Sony a7R V Panasonic Lumix DC-S1R MSRP $3300 $4300 $3900 $3700 Pixel count 44MP 45MP 61MP 47MP Sensor type BSI CMOS Stacked CMOS BSI CMOS FSI CMOS Stabilization
(IBIS / Synced) 8.0 EV /
7.0 EV – /
8.5 EV 8.0EV /
– 6.0 EV /
7.0 EV Max burst rate (Mech / E-shutter) 10 fps / 40 fps 12 fps / 30fps 10 fps / 9 fps / Viewfinder res / mag 5.76M dot OLED / 0.78x 5.76M dot OLED / 0.76x 9.44M dot
OLED 0.9x 5.76x dot OLED / 0.78x Rear screen 3.0" 1.84M dot Tilt + Fully Artic. 3.2" 2.1M dot Fully Artic. 3.2" 2.1M dot Tilt + Fully Artic. 3.2" 2.1M dot two-way tilt Max video resolution

8.1K [1.89:1] / 30p
UHD 8K / 30p
Full-width 5.9K 60p

DCI 8K / 60p
UHD 8K / 60p

UHD 8K / 24p

5K [3:2] / 30p
UHD 4K / 60p

Output options MOV H.264
MOV H.265
ProRes 422
ProRes RAW

MP4 H.264
MP4 H.265
Canon Raw (/Light)

MOV H.264
MOV H.265 MOV H.265
MP4 H.264 Storage formats 1x UHS-II SD
1x CFe B
External SSD 1x UHS-II SD
1x CFe B 2x UHS-II SD / CFe A 1x UHS-II SD
1x CFe B / XQD Flash sync speed 1/250 sec 1/250 sec
1/160 sec 1/250 sec 1/320 sec HDR output options (Stills / Video) HLG HEIF / HLG video HDR PQ HEIF / HDR PQ video HLG HEIF*
/ HLG video HLG Photo / HLG video USB USB-C
3.2 Gen 2
(10 Gbps) USB-C
3.2 Gen 2
(10 Gbps) USB-C
3.2 Gen 2
(10 Gbps) USB-C
3.1 Gen 1
(5 Gbps) Battery life
LCD / EVF 350 / 300 540 / 250 530 / 440 380 / 360 Dimensions 134 x 102 x 92mm 139 x 101 x 94mm 131 x 97 x 82mm 149 x 110 x 97mm Weight 795g 746g 723g 1,020g

Despite being comfortably less expensive than its immediate peers, the S1RII's specs are competitive across the board. And while its video exhibits a fair bit more rolling shutter than the Stacked-sensor Nikon and Canon models, it significantly out-performs the Sony.

The a7R V's rolling shutter rate of 38ms means it can't deliver 8K/30, whereas the Panasonic can shoot 8K 30 and do so as fast as 24ms. This is respectable but not as impressive as the ∼13 and 14ms that the EOS R5 II and Z8 provide, respectively, from their much more expensive sensors.

Much of whether it's actually competitive, for both stills and video, will come down to whether the autofocus improvements are as significant as Panasonic promises.

* - Sony's implementation of HLG HEIF disables Raw recording, so you only get the output file.

Body and handling

The S1RII uses a body based on the smaller S5II series, rather than the more substantial design of the first-gen S1 series cameras. This leaves it both smaller and lighter than its predecessor.

It has the internal fan from the S5II, with two small exhaust ports on either side of its viewfinder hump. This doesn't give quite 'GH series' recording reliability, but still allows the S1RII to record for extended periods.

However, while the body itself is similar in size to the S5II, it has a deeper hand grip, making it more comfortable to use with larger lenses. It maintains a row of three buttons along its top plate, immediately behind the shutter button, but omits the top plate display that the Mark 1 had.

Other losses in the move to the smaller body see the S1RII offer only a single function button between the mount and the hand grip, and the replacement of the two-position switch at the lower corner of the front panel by a large red [REC] button (whose function can be customized).

The S1RII also goes without a flash sync socket, but gains a dedicated Stills/Movie/Slow&Quick switch. Moving the exposure modes to the right of the camera allows the drive mode to be promoted to the top of the left-side dial, making room for shooting mode to occupy the switch underneath. Both mode dials have toggle lock buttons.

The removal of movie mode from the exposure mode dial in turn provides room for five custom positions on the exposure dial, each of which can be customized separately for stills and video custom settings. Position 5 on the dial can be used to access custom banks 5-10, if you wish, giving you a total of up to ten photo and ten video custom setting sets. Thankfully the camera's settings can be saved to a memory card and duplicated across cameras.

Rear screen

On the back of the camera, Panasonic has adopted a similar screen layout to the one Panasonic used on its explicitly video-focused S1H: a fully articulated rear screen mounted on a cradle that tilts up and down. This means that stills shooters can use the tilt mechanism if they want to keep the screen on-axis (and can flip the screen to face inwards for protection, when stowing the camera), but video shooters can extend the screen out and tilt it away from the mic, headphone and HDMI sockets while shooting.

Battery

The S1RII uses the same 15.8Wh DMW-BLK22 battery as the S5II, a significant reduction compared with the original S1R. Despite this, it achieves a CIPA battery rating of 350 shots per charge if you use the rear screen and 300 via the viewfinder. The usual caveats apply to this number: most people get many, many more shots out of a camera than the CIPA rating (between two and three times the rated figure isn't unusual). To put it in context, 350 is a respectable figure and shouldn't leave you caught out during a busy day's shooting, but it doesn't have the confidence-inspiring duration that Sony's a7R V offers.

A new DMW-BG2 battery grip is also available to fit the S1RII. It adds a second battery in the grip, and is designed to allow hot-swapping of batteries: the external battery is used until the battery door is opened, at which point the camera switches to using the internal battery until a new battery is inserted in the grip. The grip also allows the camera to use both batteries simultaneously, for high power-consumption combinations such as capturing high bit-rate video to an external SSD.

Image Quality

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

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The results are pretty positive. In terms of detail capture, the S1RII performs as we'd expect, capturing less detail than the 61MP Sony a7R V but with no meaningful difference vs the likes of the Canon EOS R5 II, Nikon Z8 or its own predecessor.

There's a fair bit of moiré visible in various places suggesting there's no anti-aliasing filter. But it's not significantly more pronounced than in most of its rivals, suggesting we were just unlucky that we got to see some artefacts in one of our real-world shooting. If anything, looking around various high-frequency targets in the scene, Panasonic's JPEG engine seems to be doing a pretty good job of suppressing the effects of moiré.

In terms of color rendition the Panasonic looks a lot like its immediate peers, with no significant differences in most colors, compared with its peers. The light skin tone patch is perhaps a fraction more pink than Canon's rendering, but there aren't any nasty surprises: something backed up by our experiences of shooting with the camera.

Noise levels seem competitive at low to moderately-high ISO settings but it looks like noise reduction is being applied to the Raws at the higher ISO settings, with distinct blurring of the noise patterns. JPEG noise reduction strikes a pretty good balance between noise suppression and detail retention, but gets a bit overwhelmed at the highest settings.

Dynamic range

The S1RII's sensor is a modern design with dual conversion gain; it has Panasonic's 'Dual Native ISO' function that lets you decide exactly where the switch in modes happens, but at default settings, it's at ISO 400 that the switch happens. Sure enough, if you brighten an ISO 320 image, you'll see it has slightly more noise than images shot at ISOs above that point, with the same exposure.

The further you venture into the ISOs from that low gain mode, the more noisy you'll find the very deep shadows (this is exactly the read noise that using the higher gain step minimizes). So the widest possible dynamic range is encountered at ISO 80, but if you're tempted to underexpose in low light, to protect highlights, you shouldn't venture below ISO 400.

The S1RII has a lower base ISO than its predecessor, so you can't make a direct comparison (the new camera receives 1/3EV more light), but even with that slight discrepancy, it's results seem comparable. It's a competitive result, even compared with the best of its peers.

High res multi-shot

Shot using hand-held multi-shot mode.

Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 | 26mm | F8 | 1/250 sec | ISO 80
Photo: Richard Butler

While we generally haven't found high-resolution multi-shot modes to be particularly useful, they can help you capture a bit more detail in the right circumstances. The S1RII has one of the best implementations of the feature, too, with both tripod and handheld modes and the option to compensate if your subject moves a bit at the cost of resolution in that area. Perhaps most importantly, the processing happens in-camera; you don't have to manually combine the shots later on in desktop software.

It's pretty apparent that the Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII is built around the IMX366 sensor from Sony Semiconductor. So we see a sensor with dual conversion gain giving lots of dynamic range at base ISO and well-controlled noise once you move to the second gain mode. Its BSI design means its high image quality should be maintained right to the corners of the image, as it means the pixels can reliably receive light from more acute angles than on older FSI sensors.

Autofocus Autofocus operation

The Panasonic S1RII features a revised version of the phase-detection AF system introduced with the S5II cameras. It can detect and track more subjects than the S5II supported at launch, and Panasonic promises it's both quicker to find focus and more tenacious in terms of tracking.

The S1RII's button layout puts all your autofocus controls close at hand.

The interface will be familiar to anyone who's used a Panasonic in the past ten-or-so years: pressing the AF Area button on the back of the camera brings up a row of seven icons representing the different AF areas the camera offers. Pressing upwards on the four-way controller or joystick then lets you choose whether the camera should look for a recognized subject near your chosen AF area. Pressing the 'DISP' button lets you select which subjects the camera looks for.

The S1RII's autofocus menu gives you a lot of options from a single screen.

There's a twist, though: the S1RII can either be set to use its focus tracking system or it can be set to track a recognized subject but, unlike most modern cameras, these are separate functions. The upshot is that if you want to focus on a non-recognized subject for one shot, or the camera fails to find the subject it's supposed to recognize, you'll need to disengage the subject tracking: the S1RII will not fall back to its generic tracking system.

This is disappointing as the S5II has now gained the ability to detect all the same subjects as the S1RII, but its subject recognition is built on top of the generic tracking system, so the camera will fall back to tracking AF, making it more flexible.

AF interface

The interface generally does a good job of managing multiple subjects without overwhelming you with information. In most AF area modes, it'll only draw a box over the recognized subject nearest your selected area. If you move the point over another subject in the scene, it'll instantly snap the box to that subject instead. It's responsive enough that it doesn't feel like you're missing out by not having all the recognized subjects highlighted.

When the S1RII finds faces, it can do a good job of sticking with them. In this scenario, it was able to track someone who started out walking straight-on towards the camera but who ended up at an angle to it without losing track of them or jumping to the person next to them.

Lumix S Pro 24-70 F2.8 | 35mm | F4 | 1/200 | ISO 80
Photo: Mitchell Clark

If you prefer, you can use the 'full area' tracking mode. In this mode, the camera highlights all the recognized subjects, letting you select which one you want to focus on using the joystick or touchscreen. The boxes do jiggle quite a bit, though, and can sometimes flicker on and off, which isn't the most confidence-inspiring user experience and means a tap of the joystick doesn't always select the subject you wanted.

Autofocus performance

Our experiences with the S1RII were distinctly mixed: when the AF system works, it can be very good, but overall, we found it to be appreciably less reliable than we've come to expect from the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras.

We found the camera's AF Custom Setting Set 3 mode was better at tracking the subject than the defaults, which frequently lost track of it if it changed speed as it approached the camera. The custom setting, which is designed to handle unpredictably moving subjects, increased success in following the subject around, but the camera usually still struggled to keep it in focus as it changed speeds.

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Standard tracking, AF Custom Setting Set 3

The subject recognition mode is more successful at tracking the subject and keeping it in focus; using AF Custom Setting Set 3 upped this dependability further. While the camera couldn't respond quickly enough to the subject's approach-rate changing to get every shot in focus, unlike the generic tracking it recovered quickly enough to give a good hit rate.

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Subject recognition mode, AF Custom Setting Set 3

Testing the camera in a variety of settings suggests the S1RII's AF performance varies much more with adjustment of the AF Custom Settings than we've become used to with other brands. Generally, we consider Set 3 to be a good starting point.

Perhaps the most concerning behavior, though, was one we've seen in other recent Panasonic cameras, where very occasionally, tracking AF will fail to find something to focus on at all and will simply present a red flashing box and make no further attempt to focus. This is offputting enough to undermine our faith in the reliability of the camera, probably out of proportion to how often it occurs. Just knowing that the camera will sometimes fail to focus and make you wait a few moments is an unpleasant thought to have lingering in the back of your mind and not something we're used to encountering on a modern camera.

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Following the v1.2 update, the S1RII now supports an open-gate 8K mode, which records a 3:2, 8064 x  5376 image using (almost) the entire sensor. Unsurprisingly, it offers a noticeable increase in detail captured compared to the downsampled ∼6K open-gate mode initially offered in the camera, and the 6K open-gate modes found in its other models like the S5II/X and S9. Most people shooting in this mode will be doing so because they want flexibility to reframe their shots in post, and the higher resolution offers even more of that; you can crop in even further while still retaining a native 4K resolution.

The camera's UHD 8K and 1.89:1 "8.1K"* capture are derived from this full-width region of the sensor, and have the same level of detail, though are less flexible in post as they're already in delivery-ready aspect ratios. Still, if you plan on outputting in 4K, they'll offer at least some room to move the frame around.

Standard 4K 24p output is on par with the oversampled modes from Canon's EOS R5 II, though the Nikon Z8's output shows noticeably more detail than either, suggesting Panasonic and Canon may be filtering out aliasing before downsizing. The S1RII's rolling shutter rate is considerably higher than the Canon or Nikon; see the chart below for its readout speeds. Compared to the EOS R5 II's subsampled 4K mode, which is mainly useful for avoiding overheating or accessing higher framerates, the S1RII's footage provides finer detail.

UHD DCI Crop Rolling shutter Crop Rolling shutter 8K, 5.xK*, 4K
30/25/24 1.00 24.9ms 1.00 22.4ms 5.xK*, 4K
50/60 1.11 15.4ms 1.04 15.3ms 4K
100/120 1.17 7.3ms 1.10 7.3ms 4K/30 DRExp* 1.00 31.7ms 1.00 29.8ms *8.1K and 5.9K modes give the same results as DCI 4K, 8.0K and 5.8K matches UHD

The story is much the same at 60p, where the S1RII's 4K footage retains a similar level of detail found in the 24p mode, which is good news for anyone hoping to slow their footage down a mild amount, or who prefer the hyper-real look. It does, however, come with a slight crop, and the lower rolling shutter rates strongly imply that it's derived from a 12-bit readout rather than a 13-bit one.

While 60p isn't available in the open-gate modes, you can shoot it at greater-than-4K resolutions; it's available in the 16:9 5.9K mode and the 1.89:1 5.8K mode, which offer slightly more detail than their 4K counterparts, and more flexibility in post.

120p is only available in 4K resolutions, and the capture has a noticeable loss in detail compared to lower framerates; the S1RII is obviously skipping lines to achieve these readout speeds. (Panasonic makes a camera with a faster sensor that's much better-suited to shooting at 120p if that's vital to you.)

Raw video

Panasonic's implementation of ProRes Raw currently doesn't support lens corrections, which will likely require some more work when shooting with modern mirrorless lenses.

LUMIX S 50mm F1.4 | F5.6 | ISO 200 | 1/100 sec | 5.8K ProRes RAW (Internal) | No sharpening

The S1RII has several options for Raw video output, including the ability to send a 8.1K open-gate raw stream to a supported BlackMagic or Atomos recorder via HDMI as of the latest firmware update. It can also record ProRes and ProRes RAW to a CFexpress card using an up-to 5760 x 4030 native-pixel, 1.31x crop (though there are currently no 16:9 options).

Raw video doesn't offer the dramatic benefits that stills shooters may be used to

We'd only recommend a Raw workflow to those working on professional productions that have a compelling reason to use it. While Raw recording can offer more flexibility to adjust parameters like white balance and lightness ("ISO") in post, as we've detailed before, it doesn't offer the dramatic benefits that stills shooters may be used to from comparing Raw and JPEG files.

Shooting Raw also requires substantial post-processing to add back in noise reduction and sharpening. And, while ProRes RAW gained support for lens correction data in 2023, Panasonic's implementation currently doesn't support it, unlike Canon or Nikon's cameras. This adds further work if you're shooting with modern lenses designed with geometric distortion correction as part of their optical formulas instead of older or cinema glass (which, realistically, is what we'd expect most people shooting Raw to be using).

Autofocus and Stabilization

Panasonic continues to have best-in-class sensor stabilization performance and provides several options for tuning it, including a 'Boost' mode that increases steadiness by correcting all movement (rather than assessing whether some movement may be intentional). Outside of that mode, it responds well to pans and tilts, simply smoothing out shakes without any noticeable jumps or other odd behavior.

The electronic stabilization is similarly good, further reducing noticeable shakes without introducing the grab-and-release effect during pans that some other systems suffer from. New to the S1RII is a "cropless" e-stabilization mode, which is intended to reduce perspective distortion when using a wide-angle lens, without reducing the field-of-view. While the resulting footage obviously isn't as smooth as what you'll get from the traditional electronic stabilization, we've found that it can make a noticeable difference.

Video autofocus is capable, but not class-leading

The camera's autofocus performance in video is similar to its performance in stills mode, which is to say that it's capable, but not class-leading. The generic tracking is relatively tenacious, but can occasionally get confused, drifting off target or getting stuck onto something else. However, the camera's subject detection modes are also available in most video modes, and can provide better results depending on what you're shooting.

Conclusion

By Mitchell Clark

What we like What we don't

• Excellent image quality
• Solid and highly customizable controls
• Comfortable ergonomics
• Large, responsive viewfinder
• Versatile display with tilting and articulation
• Competitive burst rates and pre-burst options
• In-camera multi-shot provides resolution boost for static subjects
• Solid L-mount lens ecosystem
• Extensive suite of video features, codecs, and resolutions
• Fan allows dependable video recording for extended periods

• Relatively short battery life
• Autofocus tracking still isn't as reliable as its rivals
• Subject detection doesn't fall back to standard tracking autofocus
• Higher rolling shutter rates than Stacked-sensor cameras
• Relatively small buffer given fast burst rates
• In rare instances the AF will fail to focus altogether

The S1RII was always going to be a difficult camera to build. Its predecessor was Panasonic's flagship stills camera, but since its release, the company has become famous for its devotion to providing every video feature and workflow tool you could possibly want. To its credit, Panasonic doesn't seem to have compromised much on the stills side in its quest to make the S1RII a very capable hybrid shooter.

Image quality is, as you should expect from a modern camera, very good. The out-of-camera JPEGs are attractive, and the Raws seem to be both detailed and flexible when you process them. The S1RII gains Panasonic's LUT options, giving you essentially endless customization options if you want to develop your own 'look.' And, while we tend to find multi-shot high res modes quite limited in their value, the S1RII has probably the most usable implementation.

A 177MP image, produced using the hand-held multi-shot mode.

Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 | 21mm | F8 | 1/500 sec | ISO 80
Photo: Richard Butler

We were also impressed by the S1RII's body and handling. It has a more comfortable grip and retains a good level of direct control and customization without these control points getting too cramped, despite a move away from the large 'professional' style body of its predecessor. It's only really button backlighting that goes missing in the transition, but the updated tilting/articulating screen more than makes up for that, in our opinion.

Our biggest concern with the camera is its autofocus system. While AF tracking is an improvement from previous Panasonic cameras, its performance is still well behind that of its competitors. That's combined with Panasonic's unusual decision to separate general tracking from subject recognition, which makes the camera slower and less dependable to use. The battery life also isn't great, considering its pro-level aspirations, though that can be mitigated with Panasonic's battery grip, which supports hot-swapping.

The S1RII offers the most complete video shooting package

On the video side, there's a lot to recommend the S1RII. Its sheer number of resolutions and recording modes, not to mention support for internal and external Raw, anamorphic desqueeze preview and best-in-class stabilization, make it a formidable video tool. While its rolling shutter rates may appear outdated by the standards set by Stacked sensor cameras, they're still very usable for many types of videography and filmmaking.

But while it offers video features that competitors like the Z8 and EOS R5 II don't, it's hard to argue that you should choose it over those cameras unless you need the unique things it offers. The S1RII may offer the most complete video shooting package at a lower price, but it's not like those other cameras are slouches when it comes to their filmmaking credentials.

That's ultimately the story with the camera as a whole. It is certainly a capable option, and for some people it may be the best option. But while it's a very able camera, especially for video, the autofocus system and performance make a compelling argument to spend the bit more for one of its high-resolution competitors if your shooting includes action and movement. While it's still possible some of those issues will be fixed with firmware updates, we don't feel the S1RII currently stands out enough to get one of our awards.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RIICategory: Semi-professional Full Frame CameraBuild qualityErgonomics & handlingFeaturesMetering & focus accuracyImage quality (raw)Image quality (jpeg)Low light / high ISO performanceViewfinder / screen ratingOpticsPerformanceMovie / video modeConnectivityValuePoorExcellentConclusionThe S1RII is a hybrid camera that offers solid detail capture, pleasing JPEGs and plenty of video capabilities, but its autofocus system isn't the best for capturing action and movement.Good forHigh quality movie and stills shooting without stacked sensor priceNot so good forShooting action when absolute dependability is required91%Overall scoreRegularScoreCompareWidget({"mainElementId":"scoringWidget","mainProduct":"panasonic_dcs1rii","scoringSchema":{"id":"SLRs","variables":[{"id":"BuildQuality"},{"id":"ErgonomicsAndHandling"},{"id":"Features"},{"id":"MeteringAndFocusAccuracy"},{"id":"QualityRaw"},{"id":"QualityJpeg"},{"id":"LowLightHighISO"},{"id":"ViewfinderScreenRating"},{"id":"Optics"},{"id":"Performance"},{"id":"Movie"},{"id":"Connectivity"},{"id":"Value"}],"categories":[{"id":"EntryLevel","label":"Entry Level Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Entry Level"},{"id":"MidRange","label":"Mid Range Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Mid Level"},{"id":"EntryLevelFullFrame","label":"Entry Level Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Entry Level Full Frame"},{"id":"MidRangeFullFrame","label":"Mid Range Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Mid Range Full Frame"},{"id":"SemiProfessional","label":"Semi-professional Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Semi-professional"},{"id":"SemiProfessionalFullFrame","label":"Semi-professional Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Semi-professional Full Frame"},{"id":"Professional","label":" Professional Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Professional"},{"id":"LargeSensorCompactEntry","label":"Entry Level Large Sensor Compact Camera","shortLabel":"Entry Level Large Sensor Compact"},{"id":"LargeSensorCompactEnthusiast","label":"Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact Camera","shortLabel":"Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact"},{"id":"VideoCamera","label":"Video Camera","shortLabel":"Video Camera"}]},"helpText":"Choose one or more cameras from the drop-down menu, then roll your mouse over the names to see how their scores compare to the camera on review."}) Compared to its peers

The Canon EOS R5 II and the Nikon Z8 are the S1RII's main competitors. They offer similar image quality and hybrid capabilities, though they don't have the excellent tilting/articulating rear display and can't deliver multi-shot high-res images out-of-camera. Both, however, have better battery life, deeper buffers and lower rolling shutter rates for shooting video or stills using the electronic shutter. We also find their autofocus tracking performance to be more capable and user-friendly, as they both fall back to their still quite reliable generic tracking systems when there's no subject to detect. You'll certainly pay for the extra speed and reliability, but it's probably worth it.

Sony's a7R V also has a very capable autofocus system, though it trades speed for even higher resolution. If you're looking to do video or shoot faster-moving subjects, the S1RII is a much better pick, as the a7R V reads out quite slowly. However, it produces even more detailed photos, which may be useful depending on what you're shooting.

Buy now:

$3598 at Amazon.com Sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.

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When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Photo: Tamron

Tamron's 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD APS-C lens is now available for Canon's RF and Nikon's Z mount. When the company announced the new mount options for the lens earlier this year, it caused a bit of a stir, as it's the first third-party APS-C zoom lens with autofocus released for Nikon's mount.

The company is pitching it as an "all-in-one" option for people looking for a lens that can both shoot ultra-wide (27mm equiv. on Nikon, 29mm equiv. on Canon) and capture relatively far-away subjects at its tele setting (450mm equiv. Nikon, 480mm equiv. Canon).

While this class of zooms generally doesn't provide the image quality you'd expect from a prime or higher-end zoom, they are undoubtedly versatile. That makes them a popular pick for people starting out, as they provide reach that smartphones don't, without making you juggle multiple lenses.

These kinds of lenses are a popular pick for budding photographers

Both versions of the lens have a zoom lock switch to keep it from accidentally extending while you're not using it. The version for Canon cameras also has an AF/MF switch and a stabilization switch.

On RF mount, the Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD will be competing with the Sigma 16-300mm F3.5-6.7 DC OS, which fills a similar niche. That lens isn't available on Z mount, and Nikon doesn't make any single APS-C lens that covers this kind of range.

The RF and Z mount versions will cost $629, which is actually $70 less than the retail price for the Sony and Fujifilm versions when the lens was originally announced in 2021. The Z mount version will be available on August 28th, and the RF mount version will follow on September 26th.

Z mount:

Buy at B&H

RF mount:

Buy at B&H Manufacturer Samples Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab. Photos: Tamron

Press Release:

TAMRON Announces the Launch of All-in-One Zoom Lens for Nikon Z and CANON RF mounts

One Lens That Covers Wide-Angle to Ultra-Telephoto and Everything in Between!
18-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD (Model B061)

August 7, 2025, Commack NY – TAMRON Americas announces the launch of the 18-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD (Model B061) all-in-one zoom lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras on August 28, 2025, for Nikon Z mount and September 26, 2025, for CANON RF mount. Both lenses will retail for $629 USD / $849 CAD.

The 18-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD (Model B061) is an all-in-one zoom lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras. It was the world's first lens1 to achieve a zoom ratio of 16.6x when it was released in 2021 for the Sony E and FUJIFILM X mounts.2 And now, it is being released for Nikon Z and CANON RF mounts.

The 16.6x zoom range lets you take photos from wide-angle to ultra-telephoto without having to change lenses. With its wide to ultra-telephoto reach3, this all-in-one lens is ideal for a wide range of scenes, including landscapes, snapshots, portraits, animals, and birds. What's more, thanks to its compact design, you can easily take it with you on vacation, backpacking, and hikes. The MOD (Minimum Object Distance) is 5.9” (0.15m) at the wide end, and the maximum magnification ratio is 1:2, making it possible to capture impressive images that bring out the power and detail of the subject. The lens is equipped with the high-speed, high-precision linear motor focus mechanism VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) and TAMRON's original VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilization mechanism, supporting comfortable and stable shooting. This all-in-one zoom lens makes photography more fun because you can use it in an unlimited number of situations. Its versatility will inspire you to push your creativity further and further.

Product Features

1. Versatile 16.6x zoom range to capture all kinds of photography including landscape, travel, snapshots, portraits, animals, birds
2. Compact and lightweight design fits APS-C camera concept, and is ideal for travel and everyday photography
3. Uncompromising optical performance throughout the entire zoom range
4. Best-in-class autofocus VXD that’s fast and precise, great for sports, action, bird and animal photography
5. Maximum magnification ratio is 1:2, absolutely amazing for an all-in-one zoom lens
6. Tamron's proprietary VC supports telephoto and low-light shooting
7. AF/MF switch and VC on/off switch for Canon RF mount
8. Firmware update with Tamron Lens Utility™ software for Nikon Z and Canon RF mounts
9. Ø67mm filter diameter for system convenience
10. Protective features (Moisture-Resistant Construction and Fluorine Coating)

1. Among interchangeable zoom lenses for APS-C mirrorless cameras (As of July 2021: TAMRON)

2. The lens for Sony E-mount launched September 24, 2021, and on October 28, 2021, FUJIFILM X mount

3. A full-frame equivalent of 27-450mm for Nikon Z mount, and 28.8-480mm for CANON RF mount

Photo: Serhii Prystupa / Moment via Getty Images

It's no secret that photography gear is expensive. For most of us, whether professionals or hobbyists, purchasing cameras, lenses, tripods and other equipment is a significant investment. Repairing or replacing damaged or stolen gear could be cost-prohibitive, leaving you without gear you need. But a camera isn't much good if you never take it out because of worry over what could happen to it.

That's where insurance comes in. Just as you might get insurance for your expensive guitar or jewelry, a plan for your camera gear can help protect your investment in case something happens. If you're curious about insurance for your camera, here's what you need to know.

Homeowners or renters insurance may not be enough

Homeowners and renters insurance typically are limited in what they cover for camera gear.

Photo: witsarut sakorn / iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

If you rent or own a home, you likely have insurance for that. Such policies cover your personal belongings, but they often have limitations that could render the policy insufficient for your needs. For example, many policies don't cover accidental damage, such as if you drop your camera. Additionally, a claim may be denied if you use your camera for any amount of professional use, even if it's just an occasional paid shoot or selling prints.

Even more of an issue is that many plans have strict caps on the value and number of items covered. The value caps could even be as low as $1000. That may be enough if you're a casual hobbyist with a beginner-level camera and a single lens, but any more than that could fall outside of coverage, leaving you to foot the bill.

There are policies for your equipment

Homeowners and renters insurance typically doesn't cover accidental damage, so a policy for your gear is a smart investment.

Photo: Boy_Anupong / Moment via Getty Images

If your renters or homeowners insurance is too limiting, you may want to consider a dedicated plan or add-on (called a rider) for your gear. The names of such plans vary depending on the insurance company, but it could be something like a "Personal Articles Policy" or "Valuable Personal Property Insurance."

Cost of coverage varies based on your location, insurance company and the value of your items.

The cost of coverage varies based on your location, insurance company and the value of your items. The more you need covered and the more expensive those items are, the higher the annual cost. However, it is generally relatively affordable even with an extensive, professional kit. Plus, considering what it could save you if something happened, it is well worth the expense.

Even better, many plans don't have a deductible, unlike homeowners or renters insurance, which often have relatively steep deductibles. For example, a $1000 deductible on a $1400 camera often isn’t helpful. Plus, filing a claim is often easier than dealing with homeowners' insurance.

Who should have insurance for camera gear? Photo: Jeff Keller

Dedicated insurance for your camera equipment is likely a good decision if you spent (or plan on spending) a good amount of money on cameras, lenses and other accessories. It's especially worthwhile for those who travel or spend time outside with their camera, where it could get dropped, stolen or damaged from the elements. Even if you only have a single fixed-lens camera, a specific policy for your camera may be smart if your homeowners or renters policy is limited in what it will cover.

A protection plan makes even more sense if you're a professional photographer, since homeowners' and renters' insurance won't cover your gear in such cases. It's also critical if you have many pieces of high-end gear. After all, your livelihood, or at least part of it, is dependent on your equipment. If something happens and you have to pay for a new camera out of pocket, it could mean the difference between continuing your business or folding.

It's important to know that general personal article policies typically don't cover professional use. If you make money from your photography, you may need to get a plan specifically for a small business. Look carefully at the plan details beforehand so that you don't end up with a denied claim because of professional activity. It's also worth noting that, while not gear-related, certain states, cities or venues may require photographers to carry liability insurance. However, that type of plan is often separate from gear coverage.

How do you get coverage? Photo: Pattanaphong Khuankaew / iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

If you decide to take out insurance for your photography equipment, you'll want to get some things in order. Each insurance company has specific information they require, but most will ask for a list of all your gear with the serial numbers (when applicable), value, description and proof of ownership (such as a receipt) for each item. They won't be able to give you a quote for your annual premium until they have that information. Plus, that list is also helpful for your records, even if you don't want to get it insured. Some companies may also require photographs of each item for their records.

You can insure far more than just your camera and lenses.

Keep in mind that you can insure far more than your camera and lenses. Tripods, camera bags, laptops, lights and other accessories can all be quite expensive, so it makes sense to insure those, too.

When it comes to choosing an insurance company, most large insurers will offer some variety of personal property insurance. In the United States, State Farm, Progressive, USAA, Allstate and more offer such plans. Most also have plans suitable for professionals, though many working pros prefer specialized insurers because of better claim handling and scope of coverage. For example, organizations like Professional Photographers of America (PPA), the National Photographic Society (NPS) and The Guild of Photographers offer insurance for members.

Other notes on insurance Photo: Peter Cade / Stone via Getty Images

If something happens to your gear, there are a few things to remember. First, if it is stolen, file a police report immediately. Insurers will require a police report if you're filing a claim for theft, and you want that on the record as soon as possible. If you're traveling out of the country, make sure you do so before you leave, because getting a police report once you're home is next to impossible.

For broken gear, write an account of what happened while it's fresh in your mind, and take photos or even videos of the damaged item(s). Then, contact your insurance as soon as possible. Many companies have deadlines for claim submissions, and if you wait too long, they may not accept your claim.

Talk to an insurance agent

The cost and benefits of insurance coverage will ultimately vary depending on your location, gear and specific needs. If you're on the fence or confused about needing a specific policy or want to know the cost, contact an insurance agent for more specific advice. Additionally, some of the information in this article is specific to the US. While insurance is broadly similar in other countries, it's best to check locally to ensure you have the most accurate information for your area.

Here at DPReview, we don’t usually write news articles about ourselves, but today I’m making an exception to share an exciting update. We’ve added a full-time person to our team dedicated to managing our online forums. This represents a significant investment in the future of DPReview and, more importantly, in you, our community.

The enduring value of our forums

DPReview’s forums have been a central part of our site since the very beginning, with millions of posts dating back as far as 1999. These forums are a vault of information dating to the early days of digital photography and are one of the most frequently cited forums on the internet by Google. To say they’ve had a massive impact on the digital photography community would be an understatement.

For the past 25 years, our forums have run more or less autonomously, thanks to an incredible team of dedicated volunteer moderators. Their commitment has been essential in preserving the expert-driven discussions that make our forums a reliable resource. The addition of a full-time Community Manager is not a replacement for these moderators, but an expansion of our commitment to the forums, allowing us to support our volunteers more effectively.

Meet our Community Manager

On that note, I’m thrilled to introduce our new Community Manager, Mathew Anderson, who joins us with over 15 years of experience managing large online communities. More importantly, Mathew is a DPReview reader and has used our camera reviews to guide his own purchases. In other words, he’s one of us, and he’s excited to engage with our community.

DPReview's new Community Manager, Mathew Anderson, at his desk preparing for an online community roundtable event.

Photo courtesy of Mathew Anderson

Mathew’s primary job at DPReview is to represent you – our readers and forum members. Consider him your advocate and key communications link to our team; don’t hesitate to send him a message if you need assistance or just want to say hello.

What this means for our forums

Adding a full-time person focused on community will allow us to bring you a better forum experience.

In the near term, this means we’ll be able to provide you with better support, more quickly. When you have a question or need assistance, we’ll be able to resolve it sooner. It will also allow us to deliver more consistent moderation. Our volunteer moderators are a dedicated bunch, but they need our guidance and support. Mathew is already working to provide them with better tools, improved communication channels, and direct support for challenging moderation decisions.

With about 85 different sub-forums, the DPReview forums are a busy place.

However, it’s when we look further out that things get really exciting. We’re planning to launch a number of new community initiatives, which may include things like staff-sponsored discussion threads, member spotlights, or even community events. This dedicated focus will help us do a better job surfacing interesting and informative content from users and finding ways to share it with you.

Finally, our team is working on some big changes behind the scenes that will kick our forum experience up a notch and will allow us to do things we haven’t done in the past. I won't give anything away right now, but you can consider this an official teaser that something is coming.

A commitment to our community

Our community is at the core of what we do. DPReview’s homepage may get the headlines, but it’s in our forums where people share knowledge, forge personal connections, and develop communities based on shared interests.

By adding a Community Manager to our team, we’re making an active investment not only in the future of our forums but in DPReview as a brand, and we’re excited to have you all along for the ride.

Finally, if you have a moment, please welcome Mathew to the DPReview team in this dedicated forum thread.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.

Canon EOS R5 II | Canon RF 20mm F1.4 L VCM | F1.4 | 1/800 sec | ISO 100

Processed in Capture One
Photo: Mitchell Clark

Earlier this year, Canon announced the RF 20mm F1.4 L VCM, a fast ultra-wide entry to its lineup meant to be good for shooting stills and video. There were promptly a ton of other camera and lens announcements, but we've finally had the time to shoot with one in a variety of situations to get a feel for how it performs.

As is standard with our lens samples, the images in the gallery have been processed using Capture One, though you're free to download the Raws to poke around at them for yourself.

See the sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.

Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.

When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Please open this article's permalink in a browser to view this content. Product photos by Richard Butler 88%Overall scoreJump to conclusion

The Sony DSC-RX1R III is the company's fourth full-frame compact camera with the same Zeiss-branded 35mm F2 lens. The latest version uses a 60.2MP sensor and Sony's latest processors.

Key specifications

• 60.2MP BSI CMOS sensor
• 35mm F2 Zeiss-branded lens
• 2.36M dot (1024 x 768px) EVF with 0.7x magnification
• 2.36M dot (1024 x 768px) fixed LCD touchscreen
• NP-FW50 battery, rated to 300 shots per charge
• 4K video up to 30p with 10-bit 4:2:2 options, Log and S-Cinetone
• Range of color modes including 3 'Film' modes

The RX1R III is available now, at a recommended price of $5099, £4200, €4900. There are also a series of rather expensive accessories available, including an add-on thumb rest, a lens hood and a leather half-case.

The US price is notably higher, in comparison to the European and UK prices, than is typical for Sony products. We have to assume the approximately 10% higher pricing is a result of the tariffs imposed by the US government.

Index:

• What's new
• How does it compare?
• Body and handling
• Image quality
• Autofocus
• Video
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications

Buy now:

Buy at AdoramaBuy at B&H Photo What's new

The RX1R III is a surprisingly subtle update of the Mark II, given the near 10 years gap between models, but the changes that have been made are significant.

The most obvious is the move to the 60.2MP BSI CMOS sensor from the a7R V and a7CR, and also the Leica Q3 models that most directly compete with the Sony. The lens remains unchanged, but that turns out to be less of an issue than many people predicted. Gone is the unique 'cancellable' anti-aliasing filter, with the higher resolution sensor needing it less, especially behind a lens that's a touch soft at wide apertures.

Another big upgrade is the addition of Sony's latest 'Bionz XR' processor with accompanying 'AI Processing Unit,' a dedicated processor for crunching the complex, chewy algorithms produced by machine learning. Collectively, these promise much improved AF tracking both for recognized and unrecognized subjects.

Beyond that there's a fixed viewfinder, rather than the RX1R II's pop-up unit. It's the highest-resolution 2.36M dot (1024 x 768px) unit that's available in the smallest panel size, but this means the spec and the 0.7x magnification optics are shared with the much less expensive Sony a7CR. The rear screen is now fixed, which feels like a step backward: taken to keep the body size down.

Finally, the camera gains a new battery. The NP-FW50 isn't especially large (it was one of our least favorite features of most of Sony's APS-C mirrorless cameras), but it's a big step forward from the old camera, both in terms of capacity and voltage. Sony has managed to fit it into a body that isn't much wider than the battery itself, and it addresses one of the biggest criticisms of the existing models.

Crop mode Crop factor Pixel count Effective sensor size 35mm 1.00 60.2MP 36 x 24mm 50mm equiv 1.43 29.4MP 25.2 x 16.8mm 70mm equiv 2.00 15.1MP 18 x 12mm

With the boost in resolution, Sony has added a "step crop" feature that lets you crop in to a 50mm or 70mm equivalent region of the sensor. If you're shooting Raw, it continues to record the full image but includes crop metadata that your software may or may not choose to honor. As with the GFX100RF these modes can be handy but be aware you're effectively paying a high price for a smaller sensor camera when you use them.

How does it compare?

Like most prime lens compacts, the Sony is priced higher than the otherwise similarly specced Mirrorless model elsewhere in the range. We include the a7CR for reference, but its most direct competitors are the Leica Q3 43, which is conceptually most similar, and Fujifilm's X100VI, which is essentially an APS-C attempt at the same prime-lens photographers' compact concept.

Sony DSC RX1R III Leica Q3 43 Fujifilm X100VI Sony a7CR MSRP (2025) $5099 / £4200 / €4900 $7380 / £5900 / €6750 $1599 / £1599 / €1799 $3200 / £4200 / €4900 Sensor size Full-frame
(864mm²) Full-frame
(864mm²) APS-C
(369mm²) Full-frame
(864mm²) Pixel count 60.2MP 60.3MP 39.8MP 60.2MP Lens 35mm F2 43mm F2 23mm F2
(35mm F3 equiv) ILC Stabilization No Lens Sensor Sensor Burst rate 5 fps 4fps with AF 15fps 12-bit with S-AF 6 fps (Mech)
13 fps (Elec)

8 fps (Mech)

Max shutter speed 1/2000 at F2.0
1/3200 from F4.0
1/4000 from F5.6 1/2000 sec 1/4000 sec 1/8000 sec Flash sync speed Max shutter speed Max shutter speed Max shutter speed 1/160 sec Viewfinder
Res / Mag 2.36M dots / 0.7x 5.76M dots / 0.76x 3.69M dots /
0.66x hybrid optical / EVF 2.36M dots / 0.7x Rear screen
Size / Res / movement 3.0" / 2.36M dots /
fixed 3.0" / 1.84M dots /tilt up/down 3.0" / 1.62M dots / tilt up/down 3.0" / 1.04M dots / fully articulated Storage 1x SD (UHS-II) 1x SD (UHS-II) 1x SD (UHS-I) 1 x SD (UHS-II) Battery life
Shots/charge 300 LCD
270 EVF 350 LCD 450 LCD
310 EVF 530 LCD
490 EVF Video max res/rate UHD 4K/30 DCI 8K/30 6.2K/30
UHD 4K/60 UHD 4K/60 Dimensions 113 x 68 x 88mm (inc eyecup) 130 x 80 x 98mm 128 x 75 x 55mm 124 x 71 x 63 mm (w/o lens) Weight 498g 772g 512g 515g (w/o lens)

The lack of stabilization and the low-res viewfinder are the most glaring omissions from the RX1R III. Its video specs are also relatively modest but this isn't a camera we'd particularly look to for video shooting. For the RX1R III, the key specs (and two we don't give best/worst ratings for) are the size and weight. Despite its larger sensor and the lens that comes with that, it's the lightest camera here and also the smallest full-frame camera currently on the market. If that isn't right near the top of your list of priorities, there are plenty of less expensive alternatives out there.

Body and handling

The RX1R III is small and feels very solidly built. It does a good job of minimizing weight without feeling too light and a good job of being small without negatively impacting handling.

The camera puts the aperture ring exactly where your left hand is likely to hold the camera, the exposure comp dial under your thumb, with the rear command dial and AF-On buttons a short movement away. A custom button next to the shutter button is easy to reach and there's another hiding on the right flank, where the [REC] button used to be on the RX1R II.

The viewfinder cup screws into place on the top left of the camera, adding to the size of the body but significantly increasing comfort and usability, both compared with using the camera without one, and with the pop-up finder on the predecessor.

Despite the camera's features being fairly stripped back (the lack of stabilization means it lacks the a7R models' multi-shot high res mode), the RX1R III's menus are pretty dense and complex. They definitely feel like a hollowed-out version of a still-more complex menu structure: the contrast with the ruthless focus of Leica's current menus is stark. Quite a high proportion of the menu options appear to be for limiting the number of options available, elsewhere, whether that be in terms of AF area modes, subjects to detect or drive modes.

In keeping with recent Sony models, the RX1R III has a settings display page, one level deep in the menus, between the user-definable My Menu section and the main body of the menus themselves. Here more than ever, its presence and function is hard to fathom: it feels like a quick menu that's got accidentally misplaced in the midst of a menu structure: not customizable, easy to inadvertently navigate away from, and with a menu system that defaults to opening on an empty page adjacent to it.

Thankfully, with its dedicated aperture ring, exposure comp dial, top-plate thumb dial and (if you need it), fiddly rear-plate dial, you have most of the camera's key functions to hand, with eight custom buttons available to gain more.

By the time you've slimmed-down all the options you might want to use, and maybe amended some of the Fn menu options, it's hard to see why you'd need to visit the menus at all.

The one instance that might require menu diving is if you want to shoot HLG HDR images, as you not only have to engage HEIF shooting and select the HDR mode but also disengage Raw shooting. So it requires some fairly involved button smashing to switch to and from HDR stills capture.

Image quality

Image quality offers no great surprises: we've seen this sensor often enough to know it's excellent for stills.

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

Image ComparisonThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.

We'll take a closer look at the lens in a separate test, but you can see the RX1R III's sensor performs as you'd expect. It can't quite match the Leica Q3 43 for detail but it's capturing finer detail than the Mark II, with its 42MP sensor, could. Noise is comparable with the two other cameras with which it shares a sensor and with its predecessor, when compared at a common output size.

The JPEG engine does a good job of pulling out fine detail, and retains it to a reasonable degree at high ISO. Color rendition seems to be a match for recent Sony cameras, with perhaps slightly less bluey greens and greenish yellows than the RX1R II had.

Shooting the lens at a variety of apertures shows that it doesn't sharpen up to yield the full resolution of the camera until something like F5.6. But portraits shot at the sorts of distances and apertures you might want to use look really good, without being excessively revealing, while more stopped-down images bristle with detail.

The combination of a large sensor, bright lens and good autofocus in a small package is more flexible than it might at first appear.

Sony DSC-RX1R III | F4.0 | 1/125 sec | ISO 6400
Cropped and selectively warmed with Adobe Camera Raw
Photo: Richard Butler

It feels odd to sound like we're in the realms of 'good enough' in a camera costing this much money, but it's more a case that it delivers what you might want it to, where needed. It doesn't match the Leica Q3 43's lens, in a test-chart shootout, but when you're out shooting, you may find the difference matters less than test charts might make it might appear.

That said, it's worth noting that as a means of ensuring maximum detail from the sensor, Sony has configured the Auto ISO's default setting to maintain a minimum shutter speed of 1/125 sec (roughly 1/ four-times-focal-length). This means shooting in anything other than bright light may see the camera need to raise ISO earlier than expected, with the reduced exposure hitting image quality. Some degree of stabilization would have allowed higher IQ in these circumstances, for relatively static subjects.

Autofocus

The RX1R III's autofocus system is essentially a match for recent Sony models, and it's striking how much these things have improved since the last RX1R model.

The camera has something like twelve shapes and sizes of AF area, tracking versions of which become available in AF-C mode. There's also an array of subject recognition modes, some of which can be selected as part of an 'Auto' subject detection mode. The camera only focuses on a recognized subject on or near your chosen AF area.

There are countless options for customizing and fine-tuning the AF system. You can set it to jump to a different preset location when you rotate the camera, or register an AF position and mode to be recalled at the press of a button. You can limit which subjects are listed in the recognition list and define, per-subject, how strictly the camera should honor your chosen AF point, when it recognizes a subject elsewhere.

The high resolution of the camera highlights when eye-detection puts focus closer to the eye-lashes, rather than the surface of the iris, but overall the system is impressively responsive and dependable.

Sony RX1R III | F4 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100
Photo: Richard Butler

But for the most part, you don't need to: we found we could set the camera to AF-C and a medium-sized tracking target, engage human detection and just shoot. It would focus on a human if we directed it to, or focus on something else if we chose not to.

You can set an AF point by tapping the rear screen or (if you engage the Touchpad function) by tapping or swiping on the screen while the camera is held up to your eye. The Touchpad area and behavior can be specified to avoid inadvertent operation.

The focus itself works unexpectedly well: improved algorithms (and, we suspect, an improvement in focus motor speed) make the RX1R III one of the fastest focusing large-sensor, prime lens cameras on the market. Eye detection doesn't always put focus precisely on the iris, but it's close enough, often enough, quickly enough that you'll get the shot you're going for.

Video

The RX1R III can shoot video, with the settings topping out at 4K/30 in 10-bit 4:2:2 precision with All-I encoding. But, to a large extent, that's only because the software already exists. In the same way that the a7CR missed out on 8K capture for concerns of temperature, the RX1R III misses out on 4K/60, too.

But, while the RX1R can shoot video, it gives a series of hints that it's not expected to be used much. So although the camera has the same option to upload LUTs for preview, embedding or application to footage, it's worth noting that the camera has no headphone socket for monitoring audio. It has no movable screen, to allow operation in a steady fashion. And it's lost its dedicated video record button.

The footage itself is subsampled, giving a decent balance between detail capture and rolling shutter (18.3ms). The only stabilization option is an 'Enhanced' electronic stabilization mode which applies a 1.3x crop and significantly lowers detail levels.

Then there's the fact that camera will run through its battery in no time at all, once you start rolling. It's not a camera we'd recommend if you're expecting to shoot a lot of video, but it can do it if you just need some clips, here and there.

Conclusion

By Richard Butler

Pros: Cons:

• Excellent image quality
• Smallest full-frame camera available
• Impressively lightweight
• Best-in-class autofocus performance and operation
• Battery life much improved
• Attractive JPEGs and excellent Raws
• Very good photo-focused controls and layout
• High build quality

• Image stabilization would be a benefit
• Fixed rear screen will be limiting
• Lens isn't critically sharp at close distances and wide apertures
• Battery life still not great
• 'Film' color modes are quite extreme
• Dense, complex menus

The RX1R III is an expensive camera that succeeds an expensive camera, following a decade with periods of relatively high inflation and, in the US, the imposition of arbitrary tariffs. It also arrives not too long after the launch of the a7CR, with which is shares many of its core components, and whose feature set it fails to match. All of which make it seem more extravagant than ever.

But, although the RX1R III is expensive (especially in the US), it's usual to pay a premium for the niche appeal of a prime lens photographers' camera. All the more so when they're the smallest full-frame digital camera you can buy, which is what the RX1R III currently is.

If you like a small, prime-lens compact and you like the 35mm focal length, the RX1R III is an excellent camera. The autofocus is vastly improved, to the point that it's probably the fastest and most usable camera of its type.

A key part of the RX1R III's appeal is its size and weight. If that isn't one of your top priorities, then the camera as a whole won't make sense. But for those people who need a small, well-built and highly photo-focused camera, it's an excellent, albeit expensive, option.

Lots of 35mm shooters don't find tilting screens or image stabilization to be essential, but it's hard to argue that their inclusion wouldn't have significantly benefited the RX1R III. Of course, you have the option to buy the Leica Q3 (/43) if you consider them necessary for your shooting, but there's a cost to be paid for that, both in terms of size and at the till.

Click here to read our experience of shooting with the Sony RX1R III

There are plenty of people that don't see the appeal of Fujifilm's X100 series, and yet they've continually found an audience among keen photographers. The RX1R III is a rarefied version of that same concept: a compact, photography-focused 35mm equiv camera, but boosted by the image quality benefits of a larger sensor. If you're fed up of waiting for an X100VI, this is what a Super-X100 looks like.

The lens is a little softer at close distances and wide apertures. It's up to you whether you think this is going to be a problem for your photography.

Sony RX1R III | F2 | 1/800 sec | ISO 100
Photo: Richard Butler

While it is an excellent camera in its own right, the pincer-movement of the higher-specced a7CR below it and the larger, but image stabilized, Leica twins above, can't help but further narrow its already niche appeal. But if you are the kind of photographer who wants top-notch image quality in a tiny package...

Ultimately, we can only review the camera that's been released, not the one we think could or should have been made. With the RX1R III, Sony has addressed the focus and battery life concerns we have about the previous camera, and made what might be a future classic in the process. While the criticism that Sony could have done more seems reasonable, and the pricing (especially in the US) doesn't, if you're lucky enough to get the RX1R III in your hands, you'll immediately recognize that it's incredibly good at what it sets out to do.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

Sony DSC-RX1R IIICategory: Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact CameraBuild qualityErgonomics & handlingFeaturesMetering & focus accuracyImage quality (raw)Image quality (jpeg)Low light / high ISO performanceViewfinder / screen ratingOpticsPerformanceMovie / video modeConnectivityValuePoorExcellentConclusionThe RX1R III is the smallest full-frame camera on the market. It features a 35mm F2 lens that can be a touch soft at wide apertures but delivers the full resolution when stopped down. Its autofocus is best in class, in terms of speed and dependability. It's an expensive camera and there are cheaper models with more features, but it's hard to think of a photographers' compact that takes better images so readily.Good forX100 users who want even more. Photographers for whom size and portability are paramount.Not so good forAnyone needing flexibility. Photographers shooting lots of video.88%Overall scoreRegularScoreCompareWidget({"mainElementId":"scoringWidget","mainProduct":"sony_dscrx1riii","scoringSchema":{"id":"SLRs","variables":[{"id":"BuildQuality"},{"id":"ErgonomicsAndHandling"},{"id":"Features"},{"id":"MeteringAndFocusAccuracy"},{"id":"QualityRaw"},{"id":"QualityJpeg"},{"id":"LowLightHighISO"},{"id":"ViewfinderScreenRating"},{"id":"Optics"},{"id":"Performance"},{"id":"Movie"},{"id":"Connectivity"},{"id":"Value"}],"categories":[{"id":"EntryLevel","label":"Entry Level Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Entry Level"},{"id":"MidRange","label":"Mid Range Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Mid Level"},{"id":"EntryLevelFullFrame","label":"Entry Level Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Entry Level Full Frame"},{"id":"MidRangeFullFrame","label":"Mid Range Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Mid Range Full Frame"},{"id":"SemiProfessional","label":"Semi-professional Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Semi-professional"},{"id":"SemiProfessionalFullFrame","label":"Semi-professional Full Frame Camera","shortLabel":"Semi-professional Full Frame"},{"id":"Professional","label":" Professional Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR","shortLabel":"Professional"},{"id":"LargeSensorCompactEntry","label":"Entry Level Large Sensor Compact Camera","shortLabel":"Entry Level Large Sensor Compact"},{"id":"LargeSensorCompactEnthusiast","label":"Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact Camera","shortLabel":"Enthusiast Large Sensor Compact"},{"id":"VideoCamera","label":"Video Camera","shortLabel":"Video Camera"}]},"helpText":"Choose one or more cameras from the drop-down menu, then roll your mouse over the names to see how their scores compare to the camera on review."}) Compared to its peers

Leica offers the Q3 and Q3 43 models, if you prefer a focal length slightly wider or narrower than 35mm. Both cameras share a sensor with the Sony and have excellent, bright lenses. The Sony has the edge in terms of autofocus reliability and usability, but the Leicas add both tilting screens and image stabilization. You'll have to pay around a 30% premium for the German brand's cameras, but you are getting something beyond just the name, for that upcharge. The Sony is appreciably smaller, but it's never going to say Leica on the front, if that's something that speaks to you.

The Fujifilm X100VI is, in many respects, the most similar camera to the Sony on the market. It's a very photo-focused compact, built around a large sensor and a fixed 35mm equivalent lens. The distinction is the Fujifilm rocks a classic aesthetic and dedicated dials (along with programmable command dials) and its innovative hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder, whereas the Sony is more utilitarian. The most significant difference, though is the sensor size, with the RX1R III commanding a premium for having a sensor 2.3x larger, and the stop-and-a-bit IQ benefit this can bring. This, combined with the Sony's faster, more reliable focus is what makes us see it as a 'super-X100,' but you've really got to want that extra capability to make the step up worthwhile.

The Sony a7CR is a very different camera. It's undeniably better specced, with image stabilization, a bigger battery, flip-out screen and more extensive video capabilities, before you even get to the flexibility of being able to change lenses. But it'll never be as small or focused as the RX1R III (which is most of the camera's raison d'etre). In practice, even with the smallest lenses, you can't fully recreate the RX1R III experience with a Mirrorless camera, so it comes down to a question of whether size and focus or spec and utility matter most to you: both conclusions are equally valid.

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Photo: Mitchell Clark

If you regularly change lenses on your camera, dust or debris will eventually end up on your sensor. There are things you can do to mitigate that, but any time you expose your camera's interior to the surrounding environment, you risk particles entering, resulting in sensor spots. Dealing with that is simply a normal part of camera maintenance, so there's no need to panic. Here's what to do if you notice a dirty sensor in your camera.

Edit them out The Adobe Camera Raw "Visualize Spots" feature makes it easier to quickly see and edit out those dark specks.

First and foremost, you don't need to delete all the images you just took that have spots. Editing software like Adobe Photoshop makes it easy to edit them out. Of course, if your sensor is filled with debris, it may be quite time-consuming, but a few here and there will be quick and easy.

Adobe Camera Raw even has a feature specifically for editing out those pesky specks. If you navigate to the Remove Tool, there is a check box for Visualize Spots. Photoshop will apply a filter that makes it easier to identify them, with a slider to adjust the sensitivity. Then, you can use the brush tool to quickly edit them out. If you open multiple images in Camera Raw at once, you can even edit them all at once, since the spots will be in the same place every time.

Start with the camera's sensor cleaning function Many cameras have a cleaning mode that tries to shake debris off the sensor.

If you don't want to deal with editing out those annoying marks, there are multiple ways to clean your sensor. Many modern cameras feature a built-in sensor cleaning mode, which is a good place to start. When activated, it vibrates the sensor to help shake off loose dust. In some cases, that can be enough to leave you contaminant-free. That's not always the case, though.

Use a bulb blower Bulb blowers are very useful tools for photographers.

If the sensor cleaning function wasn't enough, the next step is to use a bulb blower. It's safe, easy, only requires an affordable item and may completely take care of the problem. For mirrorless cameras, simply remove your lens, point the lens opening towards the ground to use gravity, and squeeze some air towards it.

With DSLRs, use the "mirror lock-up" or "sensor cleaning" mode in your settings menu to raise the mirror and access the sensor. Then, as with a mirrorless camera, point the camera down so that the dust you blow off doesn't fall back onto the sensor. For both types of cameras, it's also a good idea to blow off the rear element of the lens before reattaching it.

The key here is that you choose the right type of blower. Using your mouth to blow into the camera can just introduce more debris, while canned air and similar products can severely damage your sensor. A bulb blower is safe and effective. Just be sure to keep the tip at a safe distance.

Try a sensor brush

Sometimes, debris can be a little stubborn, and a blower may not always cut it. If that's the case, you could try a sensor brush. These look similar to paintbrushes, but to be clear, you shouldn't use just any old brush you have lying around. Those will only introduce more dust or other contaminants. Sensor brushes are specifically designed to use static charge to attract and lift dust. They are also reusable, so you don't need to buy disposable products, which is always a plus for your wallet and the planet.

Wet cleaning for stubborn spots

Stubborn contaminants or seriously dirty sensors call for wet cleaning.

Photo: Nurma Agung Firmansyah / iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Finally, if you've tried the above methods and still have spots, you may need to do some wet sensor cleaning. Sometimes sensors may have oil spots or stubborn dust that a bulb blower won't remove. In those cases, wet cleaning is necessary.

When wet cleaning, only use purpose-made sensor cleaning fluid. To be clear, this is not the same as lens cleaning fluid. You will also need purpose-made sensor cleaning swabs that are designed for your sensor size. Using a smaller swab on a larger sensor could add streaks, so make sure you have the right size.

Each kit will have specific directions. Generally speaking, you will put a few drops of fluid onto the swab and gently wipe all the way across in one fluid motion. Many will have you wipe in each direction after you rotate the swab to use the fresh side.

What to do about compact cameras

While sensor spots are more common in interchangeable lens systems, compact cameras aren't immune. Dust can find its way into odd places. For compact cameras, start by checking if the camera is still under warranty. If so, you may want to send it back to the manufacturer for a proper cleaning. If it's not, your only real course of action is to use a vacuum pointed at the lens attachment point.

What you shouldn't use to clean your sensor

A photography student cleaned this sensor, which resulted in permanent damage because they used products not meant for sensors.

Photo: Myra Holt

We've touched on what you should use to clean your sensor, but it's also worth pointing out what you shouldn't use. As mentioned (though it can't be said enough), do not use canned air or other spray-type blowers. These can cause all sorts of problems, including residue from the liquid propellants, freezing and moisture risks.

You should also never use lens cleaning liquid or general-purpose screen cleaners. Sensor cleaning liquids are purpose-made to ensure they don't damage any special coatings. They are also made to evaporate rapidly, contain minimal dissolved solids and use pure solvents that won't leave streaks or spots. That's not the case for lens cleaning liquid and screen cleaners, which could leave your sensor in worse shape than before, potentially causing permanent damage.

You should also never use lens cleaning liquid or general-purpose screen cleaners.

While it can be tempting to use a microfiber cloth, especially for a quick touch-up, these can trap dust and grit that could scratch your sensor's protective glass. Similarly, lens pens, while perfect for lenses, can transfer grease and particles to your sensor, potentially resulting in scratches or smears.

Finally, general cleaning products like cotton buds (Q-tips), cleaning brushes and household cleaners should also be kept away from your sensor. These will only introduce more debris and can cause permanent damage.

When in doubt, send it out

Cleaning your sensor can be intimidating. There's always a risk of adding more spots or, even worse, damaging your sensor. Although there is a protective layer of glass over your sensor to help prevent damage, tackling more robust cleanings can still be nerve-wracking.

If you're nervous about cleaning it yourself, or your sensor is exceptionally dirty, you can send it out to let professionals handle it. Most camera companies have service centers that will do this, or you may be able to find a local camera shop that offers cleaning. Just be aware that you may need to be without your camera for a while.

The Carretera Austral is a remote highway in Chile that runs through the rugged landscape where the Andes Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean. Although it looks like a major highway on many maps, it's very rural and in many places remains unpaved. I captured this photo on a road trip along the Carretera – one of many times I had to stop for... local traffic.

Photo: Dale Baskin

The theme for our August Editors' photo challenge is "Road Trip."

It’s summer, and we’re ready to celebrate one of its great traditions: the road trip. Show us your favorite moments from the open highway – whether it’s epic highway vistas, quirky roadside attractions, spontaneous detours, or even views from the car. Share your best road trip photos and help us capture the essence of the classic road trip!

Photos can be submitted between Sunday, August 10, and Saturday, August 16 (GMT). It is open to photos taken at any time.

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

Visit the challenge page to read the full rules and to submit your photos for consideration as soon as the challenge opens.

Visit the challenge page to see all the rules

This video is part of our Intro to Photography series, where we break down some of the fundamental concepts of the image-making process. You can find a written version below.

Intro to Exposure

• What is Shutter Speed?
• What is Exposure?
• What is Aperture?

What is aperture?

Aperture value is one of the fundamental aspects of exposure and perhaps the most intimidating, but it needn't be. The easiest way to think about it is as the name of the size of the hole through which your camera sees the world. A bigger hole lets in more light, and a smaller hole lets in less.

Why are aperture numbers in that sequence? At first, it can be hard to grasp the aperture scale, since it goes 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, etc.

The naming system can seem confusing at first: aperture settings are named for what fraction of the focal length the diameter of the hole is. This risks being confusing in two ways: firstly, a smaller number represents a larger hole, and, secondly, the pattern relates to the square root of 2. Most people won't be able to spontaneously think in terms of root 2, so your best bet will be to memorise them.

How does aperture affect exposure?

The key thing to learn is that changing your aperture value by a whole'stop' lets in double or half the amount of light, in just the same way that doubling or halving your shutter speed does. With time, you'll come to remember that F2 is a whole stop brighter than F2.8 and that F4 is another stop less bright.

F2 F2.8 F4

This is why lenses with very large apertures are typically so much larger and more expensive than lenses that aren't as bright.

As well as letting in more light, to give you better image quality in low light conditions, a wide aperture will also give you shallower depth-of-field, and blurrier backgrounds. But that's a story for another day.

Intro to Exposure

• What is Shutter Speed?
• What is Exposure?
• What is Aperture?