Month: February 2025

I distinctly remember when the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 lens first entered the market. It was a lens designed to project a larger circle of light onto the sensor and therefore it was huge. As bulky as it was, this oversized design enhanced the overall sharpness of the lens, especially toward the corners, and quickly cemented itself a legendary status. However, the Zeiss Otus lenses were designed for DSLR cameras and it has been six years since the 100mm Otus … Continue reading “Zeiss Otus ML 50mm f/1.4 First Impressions: Still Legendary?”

Alberta, Canada, has been pounded by polar vortex after polar vortex, pushing daytime temperatures down to -25 Celsius before any wind chill factors in. As Alberta-born Canadians, Jordan and I can brave the frigid temperatures for the sake of the show, but with our lavalier microphones refusing to hold a charge and our camera EVFs running at eight frames per second, we pressed on to review a fascinating little lens on what we knew would be a taxing day. [Read … Continue reading “Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G Review: Worthwhile Compromises for Compactness”

The Sony FE 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G OSS addresses many of the shortcomings of the popular Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS, delivering an excellent telephoto zoom lens for wildlife photographers. [Read More]

I wasn’t looking forward to a trip halfway around the world even though I’ve always wanted to see northern Norway. My main concern was the two full days of flight time to partake in the two-day-long launch event, but the rumors pointed to a long-awaited S1R replacement so it was worth the toil. The weather turned out to be very wet and very cold, but the camera may have made it all worthwhile. [Read More]

In 2024, the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS Sports was highly regarded in the PetaPixel’s ranking of Sigma’s 2024 optics. As one of Sigma’s high-end Sports lenses, it offers many pros and few cons. One of the most common requests we’ve seen has asked us to test its performance on one of the most challenging subjects: birds in flight. [Read More]

PetaPixel’s Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake aren’t the norm: one of them presents while the other one operates the camera. Modern content creators typically work alone, and that includes me. That means the same number of tasks that are enough of a burden for two full-time jobs is somehow supposed to be crammed into one person. [Read More]

When it comes to autonomous, compact drones, ZeroZero Robotics’ HoverAir X1 ProMax is a clear winner over the DJI Neo. We can pour over all the specs, put each drone’s real-world performance head-to-head, and dissect the footage frame-by-frame. The X1 ProMax will win every single time. [Read More]

If you had told me only a few years ago that Nikon would release a video-focused power zoom lens, I’d have called you all kinds of names. But since the release of the Z9, it has become abundantly clear that Nikon intends to capture the hearts of videographers and cinematographers, a strategy which has become even more clear since it acquired RED about a year ago. Now we have the first Z-Mount video-first product from Nikon, the Nikkor Z 28-135mm … Continue reading “Nikon 28-135mm f/4 PZ First Impressions: Prestige and Power”

If you are anything like me, choosing a monitor smaller than 27 inches would be a hard decision to make when it comes to photo editing or video production. So it was pretty surprising that even with its smaller footprint and arguably “odd” 16:10 aspect ratio (2,560 by 1,600 pixels at max resolution), the $479 BenQ SW242Q 24 inch IPS display stands out as a very attractive option for retouchers and editors. [Read More]

The Honor Magic 7 Pro has the potential to revolutionize mobile photography, but its image sensors and software computation may be holding it back. [Read More]