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Camera DecisionReviewsNikon ZR vs Nikon Z8: $1,200 Apart, and Only One of Them Has a Viewfinder A reader lined the Nikon ZR up against the Nikon Z8 in our size tool this week, and it is a better question than it looks. Same mount, same sealing, same missing mechanical shutter.

Camera DecisionReviewsEvery Laowa Lens in One Place: 53 Photo Lenses and 85 Cine Lenses We just finished adding the rest of the Laowa catalogue, so the whole line is now on the site: 53 photo lenses in 213 mount versions, plus 85 cine lenses.

Camera DecisionReviewsMicro Four Thirds Brands: GoPro Joins, and Panasonic Has Not Launched an MFT Camera Since 2024 GoPro is now officially part of Micro Four Thirds. So I went through every MFT camera and lens we list to see who else still makes gear for the mount.

Camera DecisionReviewsSony A9 III 120fps Lenses: 53 Sony Lenses Keep Autofocus Tracking at Full Speed The Sony A9 III shoots at 120 frames per second, but only some lenses let the autofocus keep up. Sony's own compatibility data says 53 of its lenses track at full speed, including every current…

Camera DecisionReviewsCheapest L-Mount Cameras in 2026: Panasonic S9 at $1,198, and Leica Starts at About $4,900 Three companies make L-mount cameras, and they could not be more different on price. Panasonic starts at $1,198 with the S9 on sale. Sigma starts at about $2,000 with the BF.

Camera DecisionReviewsNikon Z5IIc Leaks Ahead of Next Week's Launch, and the Viewfinder Is the Big Question Nikon looks set to announce a Nikon Z5IIc next week. It is said to be a 24MP full-frame camera with in-body stabilization, built on the Z5 II and aimed straight at Sony's A7C line.

Camera DecisionReviewsDJI Osmo 360 II vs Insta360 X6: Same Sensor Size, and Only the X6 Is Sold in the US The DJI Osmo 360 II and the Insta360 X6 came out three weeks apart, and underneath they are closer than the marketing suggests: both use two square 1/1.1-inch sensors.

Camera DecisionReviewsSony FX5 Now Due Late October or Later, Two Months After Its Original Date Sony finally has a new date for the FX5, sort of. On September 18, Sony Japan updated its delay notice: the camera and its three launch accessories now ship in late October 2026 or later.

Camera DecisionReviewsSony A7CR Alternatives: Its Top Rival Is the A7C II, but the A7R V Now Costs Just $100 More The Sony A7CR packs 61MP into a body the size of an A7C II. Readers compare it with 1,421 cameras here, and the A7C II is its number one rival. But the price has moved.

Camera DecisionReviewsDJI Osmo Pocket 3 Alternatives: Its Top Rival Is a Sony Mirrorless Camera, Not Another Gimbal Insta360 launched the single lens Luna Pro last week, aimed straight at the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. So I looked at what our readers already compare the Pocket 3 with.

Camera DecisionReviewsAll 24 of Our Photography Tools Now Live on One Page We have been building small tools for years, and they ended up scattered across the site. Some of you found the depth of field calculator and never knew the golden hour one existed.

Camera DecisionReviewsPanasonic S 20mm F2.5 vs 18-40mm F4.5-6.3: Same Size, and the Zoom Is the Better Buy Panasonic's new Lumix S 20mm F2.5 is a lovely little lens. But Panasonic already makes a lens the same size that also covers 20mm, plus 18mm and everything up to 40mm, and it costs less.

Camera DecisionReviewsSony A6700 Alternatives: Its Top Rival Is the Full Frame A7C II, and Readers Split Almost Evenly The Sony A6700 was the camera readers dropped into the compare tray more than any other this week. So I looked at what they put next to it. The number one rival is not another APS-C body.

Camera DecisionReviewsSongRaw AF 50mm F1.2 MS and AF 85mm F1.2 MS Cost $549 and $649, About Half the Moonlit Price SongRaw now sells cheaper versions of its two Moonlit F1.2 primes. The AF 50mm F1.2 MS is $549 and the AF 85mm F1.2 MS is $649, for Sony E and Nikon Z.

Camera DecisionReviewsPanasonic Lumix S9 Firmware 2.1 Arrives October 13 With 4K 60p MP4 (Lite), and a Flash Fix for the S1 II Panasonic has announced firmware 2.1 for the Lumix S9 and a flash fix for the S1 II series, both arriving October 13.

Camera DecisionReviewsRicoh GR IV 30th Anniversary Edition Kit Is Official: 6,000 Units, From 21 October Ricoh has made the GR IV 30th Anniversary Edition Kit official. It is limited to 6,000 units worldwide and goes on sale on 21 October, 30 years after the film GR1 arrived.

Camera DecisionReviewsCanon Patented a 180-590mm f/6.5 Internal Zoom, the 600mm Zoom Canon RF Is Missing A Canon patent filing holds a full-frame 180-590mm zoom at a constant f/6.5, and the lens never changes length. Sony and Nikon already sell 600mm zooms that work this way.

Camera DecisionReviewsPanasonic Lumix S 20mm F2.5 Announced at $499.99, and It Is the Same Size as the 40mm F2 Panasonic has announced the Lumix S 20mm F2.5, a small wide prime for L mount. It weighs 142g, is sealed against dust and splashes, and is exactly the size of the Lumix S 40mm F2 from April.

Camera DecisionReviewsNikon Z8 Firmware 3.11 Fixes a Freeze After Picture Control Changes Nikon has put out firmware 3.11 for the Z8. It is a small one, three bug fixes and nothing new to play with.

Camera DecisionReviewsCanon Speedlite EL-5 Ver. 2 Announced at $379, With 50m Radio Range and Better Sealing Canon has announced the Speedlite EL-5 Ver. 2 at $379, with preorders open now and stock due in October. The radio range grows from 30m to 50m and the sealing is better.

On the calendar

· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

On view

This week, from that corner the newest stories from the corner of the industry you picked

The wire their own posts, translated

How pictures get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

Sources

Fetched every three hours, linked to the original

About

The small bracket on top of every camera, from a phone rig to an ARRI.

The hot shoe is where the flash goes, and the microphone, and the monitor, and whatever the next decade bolts on. Every camera has one and nobody photographs it. This magazine is named after it because that is where the whole business meets: the body, the glass, the light, the sound, and the person holding it.

I shot news in Gothenburg for nine years and documentary for hire after that, then stopped taking assignments to write about the tools. Since 2021 I live in Tokyo, ten minutes from the used-camera shops of Shinjuku, which is not an accident: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Ricoh and Sigma make almost everything worth pointing at a subject, and their own press writes about it first, in Japanese. So this magazine reads it there, and in German, French, Italian and Spanish, and in English from the reviewers who actually put a card in the slot — around eighty sources and thirty channels, counted and plotted so you can see what is moving.

Bodies and lenses, cinema cameras and drones, film and the darkroom, firmware and the software that finishes the picture, the rumours before the launch and the reviews after it, and the photographers and shows the rest of it is for. I test what I write about on a job before a word goes down. I shoot film on Sundays and do not think that makes me interesting.

A story here is a headline, a short excerpt, one picture and the link to whoever reported it. We never reprint the article, and the picture belongs to the photographer or the maker. A story written in Japanese appears in Japanese, as its author set it down; the link goes to the original.

— Mara Lindqvist, Tokyo