But with Fujifilm’s new Instax WIDE Evo, you can decide which images you want to print from the camera and save the photo paper for the best shots.

The Instax WIDE Evo is a hybrid digital camera and printer, and images are stored in the camera’s internal memory or on a microSD card. The images can be printed on Instax Wide Film, which is 108 x 86 mm in size. The actual image area is 99 x 62 mm, which is 115 per cent larger than regular Instax film, and with a 16 megapixel image chip behind a 16 mm wide angle, the image quality is quite good.

It’s better than the other Fujifilm instax cameras and the WIDE Evo is also the most expensive and advanced of them all.

The lens is bigger and brighter with a 2.4 aperture and the camera’s automatic exposure controls shutter speeds from a quarter of a second to 1/8,000s. There’s no manual exposure control, the closest you get is exposure compensation of ±2 steps.

But there are many other fun things you can do with the camera.

Film and lens effects

The large screen gives you great control over both the subject and the settings. There’s a limited settings menu here, but the ace up its sleeve are the camera’s settings for creative photographers.

Two setting dials on the sides switch between 10 different film settings, and film and lens effects can be combined as desired. The ring around the lens adjusts the strength of the filter effects and you can see the effect of the settings when you turn the ring before taking the photo. You can save up to 10 of your favourite combinations of film and lens effects.

There are also five setting options for film styles. Just press the oval button on the front and you can scroll through them to select date labelling or other styles, for example.

There’s a small switch on the front that switches between normal focal length and an even wider wide angle, and above it is a small selfie mirror.

Images are captured by pressing the shutter button on the front, you can scroll through the images and when you find one you want a copy of, you can start printing by turning the print crank on the side of the camera. After a few seconds you have an image in your hands, and a minute and a half to a minute later the image is ready to be developed.

Photo quality

The camera can also print images from your mobile phone. Download the instax app and select WIDE Evo and you can select images on your mobile phone, add effects, frames and text and print from the camera. The images from the WIDE Evo can also be transferred to your mobile phone and shared as instax images wherever you want. The camera can also be controlled remotely from the mobile app. This is handy if you put the camera on a tripod, for example.

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You get a lot of creative control over the images, but little control over the technical aspects. The camera controls all the basics such as light metering, focus, aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

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(Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

This can sometimes lead to under or overexposed images. The trick is to select exposure compensation before you take the photo and make some adjustments.

The image quality is not bad at all. The 318 dpi resolution is acceptable and images are visibly sharper and less blurry than those from cheaper instax cameras. Not just bigger, as the camera uses cassettes with larger instax film.

The larger image area is an advantage in itself and the camera’s image sensor and optics work well together to give images good colour saturation and contrast. But what really makes the camera fun to use is all the opportunities you get to put your own creative touch on your instax images.

On the one hand, it was a bit strange that they thought of making an XF 16-55mm II, but on the other hand, the test shows that it wasn’t a bad idea at all.

The aging XF 16-55mm is big and heavy. Definitely the heaviest normal zoom made for the APS-C format that Fujifilm uses. But it’s sharp, quite characterful, mechanically solid and weather-sealed. The new XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II is just as bright over the same focal length range. But how did Fujifilm manage to shrink the zoom while maintaining image quality? The answer is a completely new construction.

Facts about the new XF 16-55mm II:

• 37 percent lighter than its predecessor
• Equivalent to 24-84mm in 35 format
• f/2.8 across the entire focal length range
• 0.02s autofocus response
• 30 cm close focusing distance
• 11 rounded aperture blades
• Stepless aperture selection switch
• Weather sealed

Okay, the predecessor is also weather sealed. But it’s over 10 cm long and weighs 655 grams. Plus the hood. The new one is one cm shorter and 245 grams lighter.

This has been achieved by removing one of the lens elements and reducing the diameter of several of them. There are 16 elements compared to 17 in the predecessor, and Fujifilm has added an extra aspherical element to the new design. This includes four aspherical elements, three ED lenses and one Super ED (Extra Dispersion). Which reduces chroma errors.

The aperture is new and now has 11 rounded iris blades, and the lens has Fujifilm’s linear focusing motor and, according to Fujifilm, a focus response of 0.2 seconds.

A small detail for some, a big one for videographers: the aperture ring has a switch that turns off the clicks when you change the aperture value. This makes for silent and seamless aperture changes on the fly.

The lens is weather sealed in 12 places, making it a worthy partner for Fuji’s professional system cameras in the X-Pro, X-T and XH series.

Fuji hasn’t found room for an integrated optical image stabilizer, but both the X-T and XH series have it built-in. However, for those using an X-Pro series camera, you will lose the image stabilization.

It should be noted that the predecessor does not have integrated image stabilization either.

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(Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

Focus precision

The first thing I noticed was how much faster autofocus responded with the XF 16-55mm II on an X-H2. Focus locked instantly when I pressed the shutter release and searched, found and locked onto the subject slightly faster than with the XF 16-55mm.

With the versatility of a normal zoom, autofocus can be a challenge for those who need an autofocus they can rely on in demanding situations. It’s not so critical for those shooting landscapes, people or travel documents. But it’s good to say that the XF 16-55mm II has improved in an area that matters a lot to many.

Optical performance

Here too, the front element has become smaller and the filter diameter has been reduced to 72 mm. This also makes the XF 16-55mm II slightly more versatile. This is because it’s the same filter diameter as the XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR wide-angle zoom and the XF 50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR telephoto zoom. This means you can have all the filters you need in the same diameter if that’s the setup you choose for an X camera.

The most interesting thing about the new XF 16-55mm II is of course whether it’s optically better than its predecessor, and the answer is no. It’s sharper, but only marginally sharper. But there is a difference, at least if you look for it, and it has no issues with the 40 Mp resolution of an X-H2 or X-T5. For those who occasionally use the camera in high-resolution mode, the difference is even greater, but it’s still not night and day.

The old zoom is still excellent.

But there’s less distortion at 16mm here, and there’s smoother sharpness in the corners at f/2.8. Vignetting – light loss in the corners at full aperture – is significantly better on the new version.

You can see it better on test plates than in “real life”, but the difference is there. There is probably less difference in the degree of chromatic aberration, which was and is low, but I think the new one is less sensitive to stray light, which I guess is due to a combination of a smaller front element and a better anti-glare coating.

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XF 16-55 II. (Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

With 11 iris slats it is also possible to get a finer bokeh effect, which is especially desirable for portraits, for example, where the background is blurred with a more even spread.

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(Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

Conclusion

The new XF16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR II may be the answer to a question no one has asked, but once it’s here, we have to take a bow and thank Fujifilm for making the zoom. As its predecessor was in its day, the new one is right up there in the reference class for a normal zoom, and by far the best zoom lens in Fuji’s X system. It is, however, 60 percent more expensive than the XF16-50mm f2.8-4.8 R LM WR, which is also a new design, but if you compare it to Canon, Sony or Nikon’s equivalent normal zoom, the Fuji zoom looks like a bargain.

As you can see, there is a gap here, which is largely filled by the XF 500mm f5.6 R LM OIS WR. The focal length is equivalent to 762mm on a full-frame camera, which is more than enough to capture images of birds. Or other wildlife.

If you need even more range, you can add a 2x teleconverter and double the focal length. And halve the brightness. Something that presents some challenges that good light and a tripod will largely solve. But you’ll still end up with low brightness, and reduced light transmission will also present challenges for the focus accuracy of the lens.

Normally a 500/5.6 means a big and heavy lens, but the Fuji lens weighs only 1.33 kg and is 25 cm long. Plus a lens hood.

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(Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

The Fujifilm XF 500mm f5.6 is made for Fuji’s 40 Mp image sensor cameras, the X-H2, X-T50 and X-T5, and the lens should also be able to handle high-resolution video shooting in 8K.

On a Fujifilm X-H2, the lens fits comfortably in the hand and weighs no more than two kilos. A detachable tripod mount with integrated Arca Swiss plate can act as a carrying handle when transporting the lens. It has an aperture ring, a focus ring and programmable buttons. On the side it also has switches for focus mode, image stabilization and limiting the focus range from 5 meters.

There’s also a strap mount on the lens, which is weather sealed and takes 95mm filters in front of a lens element coated with Fuji’s Super EBC coating. The hood has a handy hatch on the side for those who need to grab an ND or polarizing filter.

The integrated optical image stabilizer covers 5.5 exposure steps and the focus group is controlled by linear motors.

Focus precision

There’s a lot of glass here. 21 lens elements are divided into 14 groups, including Super ED and ED glass for consistently high sharpness at all apertures.

That in itself isn’t worth much if you can’t hold the lens still when you press the shutter release. If you’re shooting handheld, the image stabilizer is important for sharpness, but panning with such a narrow focal length is a big challenge. The angle of view is so narrow that the bird quickly disappears from the viewfinder when panning. The camera must be set to follow focus and you must select bird in the focus menu. I recommend selecting a wide field of view and preferably maximum tracking sensitivity in the menu.

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(Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

But it’s not always the case that you need follow focus and maximum shooting speed. In that case, put the camera on a tripod and select either manual focus or single focus. Then it’s just a matter of snapping away.

It quickly became apparent that autofocus is fast and accurate, it’s only follow focus that’s a challenge. Fuji claims a focus response of just 0.33 seconds – measured with phase-detection autofocus on an X-T4 in high performance mode. On an X-H2 with the latest firmware (5.10), the lens locked focus immediately. The long focal length was rarely a problem as the image stabilizer kept the subject steady in the viewfinder.

And even in the viewfinder, it was possible to see that it resulted in sharp images.

Optical sharpness

There is no doubt that Fuji has succeeded with the Fujifilm XF 500mm. The optical performance is excellent for such an extreme telephoto lens, with consistent sharpness, minimal distortion and no visible loss of light in the corners – vignetting. Sharpness is good already at aperture 5.6 and even up to f16. But the difference is marginal and luckily the lens is not sensitive to ghosting or stray light.

The 500mm can hardly be called a portrait lens, but it can indeed be used for macro shots. At least to a certain extent. The close-up range of almost three meters is a significant limitation, but with 500mm (762mm) at your disposal, you can get close to birds. But also flowers and plants in nature near and far.

I’m not sure I would choose the 500 for sports. The angle of view is too narrow for most sports and the brightness clearly limits indoor sports photography, but for wildlife and nature it’s perfect.

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(Photo: Lasse Svendsen)

Conclusion

The Fujifilm XF 500mm f5.6 is not only an extreme telephoto, it’s also the only alternative available above 200mm in Fujifilm’s catalogs. That’s not counting telephoto zooms like the XF 150-600mm and 100-400mm.

The compact XF 200mm f2.0 is a better choice for sports, especially indoors, and an XF 300mm f2.8 would be a welcome compromise between the short 200 and the extreme 500. Which covers the same area as a 305mm and a 762mm telephoto for full frame. A 300mm midway between them would cover 457mm.

But back to the Fujifilm XF 500mm f5.6. As a telephoto lens, primarily for Fuji photographers who have missed a lens suitable for bird photography, it is close to perfect.

Elegant design and ease of use

The smartest detail is the way the charging case can be used as a handheld microphone. When held like this, the system still uses the built-in microphones in the transmitters, but the ergonomics are perfect for interview situations.

The system is built around two transmitters that can be attached to clothing or magnetic surfaces. The receiver has a clear OLED touchscreen for easy access to all settings, although such a small screen can be a little tricky to swipe.

Everything you need is included: USB-C and Lightning adapters, TRS cable and magnetic clamps. No complicated app configurations are required – everything is done directly on the devices.

The sound of Sennheiser Profile Wireless

Sound quality sets a new standard. Profile Wireless delivers crystal clear sound with a treble that is both open and pleasant. The midrange may be a little soft, but it works well on my voice. Female voices also sound natural and nice, Profile Wireless simply provides a very balanced sound.

The built-in microphones can be replaced with mosquito microphones for even better sound pickup, and the safety track function ensures that you always have a backup track recorded 6 dB lower. This minimizes the risk of clipping during unexpected volume peaks.

Of course, you can’t record in stereo, but in most cases mono will be the norm for these microphones.

Long range and internal storage

With stable sound out to 40 metres, Sennheiser takes first place when it comes to range. The manufacturer’s claim of 245 metres in ideal conditions is probably more wishful thinking than reality. Unless you are willing to accept a substandard signal, full of dropouts and artefacts.

The integrated storage function with 16 GB memory provides up to 30 hours of backup recordings, which is a lifesaver should the wireless signal drop out. This makes Profile Wireless particularly suitable for important recordings where you only have one chance.

Robust build quality

It’s all wrapped up in a durable and elegant design that’s tailor-made for demanding environments. The charging case gives the system an extra 15 hours of battery life, but without it, each transmitter only lasts for 7 hours. That’s good enough for most situations, but can be a limitation for marathon shoots.

Conclusion

The Sennheiser Profile Wireless is a very successful and well thought-out microphone system. Thanks to its excellent sound quality and smart features, including handheld use, it is our first choice. The price is not the lowest, but for professional and serious content creators who demand the highest quality without compromising on usability, this microphone set is worth the investment.

How well the Polaroid I-2 will sell is anyone’s guess, but the price may put a slight damper on the excitement. Because this is a more advanced camera than you usually get from Polaroid.

What you do get is a three-lens autofocus system, Bluetooth and app control, and manual control.

“We’ve long dreamed of creating a high-end Polaroid camera and giving people more choice in analogue photography – a choice that many passionate photographers have told us they want,” says Polaroid CEO Oskar Smolokowski.

“To develop the I-2, we expanded our engineering team and spent more than four years designing and refining every element. It’s the best camera we’ve ever made and a milestone in our journey.”

Polaroid also says they opted for a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor, which detects the distance to the subject and adjusts the focus.

The camera also has manual settings and a viewfinder that displays the selected settings. There are six different shooting modes and the camera can be controlled via an app.

The Polaroid I-2 is also compatible with i-Type, 600 and SX-70 film and has a 49mm filter mount.

The price is listed at €699.

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(Photo: Kotori Kawashima)

The many batteries had been used in everything from smoke alarms and remote controls to radio-controlled toys and not least in all the camera flashes I often use. If you take e.g. a few hundred pictures with a few flash shots, every time you take a picture, you quickly get a high battery consumption. Then rechargeable batteries are definitely preferable.

There is just one drawback: Charging four AA batteries takes a long time, and a photographer needs at least two sets of rechargeable batteries. So you can charge one set while using the other.

Most chargers, such as IKEA’s ridiculously cheap Stenkol charger and four Ladda batteries, take a long time to charge four batteries. It’s not a problem as long as you only need to charge batteries for the TV’s remote control or the kids’ radio-controlled toys, but if you can not wait four to five hours for fully charged batteries, you will not get far with the cheapest chargers.

Charger for professional users

This relatively expensive charger from GP promises to do the job in under half the time. ReCyko Pro charges up to eight batteries at a time and consists of a dock with space for two battery clips with four batteries in each.

The dock can be purchased separately, as can the battery holders, but this combination consists of the dock, two battery clips and eight rechargeable 2000 mAh NiMH batteries. And power supply to the dock.

The batteries are called ReCyko Pro Photoflash and are just made for faster charging time. So you can take photo series with a professional flash without the battery having to think for a while after three photos.

The battery holder can also be used with AAA batteries, and you can charge them individually or in pairs, either in the holder itself or placed vertically in the dock. The battery holder has a USB connector, so you can charge from a laptop or a regular mobile charger with 5 volt voltage and 2 amps of power.

It is well thought out, because then e.g. a photographer leaves the dock at home and just takes four extra batteries with him in the battery holder. And a USB cable for charging anywhere, anytime.

How it works

Since the battery holders are placed vertically in the dock, it does not take up much space. Charging starts when you put the holder in the dock and a small LCD screen shows the battery status of all connected batteries. The small screen also shows the selected charging mode, and with the buttons in front of the display you can choose between five other charging modes than just fast charging of the batteries.

While most chargers only do one thing, ReCyko Pro can also recondition (refresh) batteries that have lost a lot of capacity after many charging cycles. In that case the battery is first completely discharged, and after that a charging process starts, which can last three to four days.

The charger also shows if there is something wrong with the battery.

Charging speed

The speed of fast charging depends on the battery and its capacity. Ordinary rechargeable batteries usually take three to four hours to charge if charged in eco mode, which slows down to avoid reducing battery life and capacity. True lightning charging can halve the charging time – GP says down to 80 minutes – but it was difficult to achieve in our test.

Even with empty batteries (according to the screen) the charging time varied. It may have something to do with the fact that the batteries did not have identical capacity, but at least the Photoflash batteries were ready in a much shorter time than some of my old rechargeable batteries with similar capacity.

While the old batteries lost more than half the capacity after a flash cycle of 100 frames with the flash at full power, it could not be seen that the GP batteries were used. They were also ready practically immediately after the cycle, while the flash remained inactive for almost 20 seconds before the old batteries were ready again. Promising for photographers who need fast charging and long capacity.

Charges in ten minutes at half the price

For those who can not wait for an hour and a half or more for fully charged batteries, there is an easier solution called ReCyko Charge 10. I also had to try it. It comes with only four 1700 mAh AA-size batteries (can also be used with AAA) and an accompanying charger, and fills the four batteries to about 90 percent capacity in ten minutes. Says GP.

It turned out to be fine. The charger has its own algorithm according to GP, which monitors the charging, and the charging curve should be steeper at the beginning and then flatter than usual (we have not been able to verify this).

This kind of emits heat, and therefore you can hear the hiss from the built-in fan when charging. The charging current is stated at 1.5-10 amps, while ReCyko Pro works with 2 amps charging current.

The super-fast batteries do not charge a large flash as fast as the Photoflash batteries after a flash cycle. But fast enough for most people who are not terribly busy.

Conclusion

If I had to choose, I would treat myself to a ReCyko Pro. With eight batteries in two practical battery holders and lightning-fast charging, it is perfect for anyone who uses battery-powered flash, triggers and other equipment that needs high battery capacity and fast charging.

Most others will do fine with the Charge 10, which, although not having the same capacity as the Pro version, manages to charge in record time. It is e.g. gold worth for gamers who do not like to run out of power, and others who need more battery capacity fast. The price is half of the Pro edition, which is best suited for demanding professional use.

Underneath the minimalist exterior, it shares the same technology that Fuji uses in its far larger and more expensive professional cameras, the X-T4 and X-Pro3, but since not everyone needs the same features as the pros, the X-E4 is a simpler and more handy edition in a smaller format.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no difference in the technical image quality is on an X-E4 versus X-T4. They use the same 26 Mp image chip with a BSI-CMOS – backlit – image chip, with Fuji’s special X-Trans color filter, which provides very good detail resolution. The autofocus is the same with 2.16 million phase points and it can also record video in high 4k quality.

Admittedly, there is a lack of image stabilizer, and there is only room for one, not two memory cards here.

But it has Fuji’s excellent film simulations, 18 of them, which give you the Fujifilm emulsion film ‘in your pocket’ available in the camera whenever you want. Personally, I like Classic Chrome, Velvia and Acros (black and white) best, and I usually program the film simulations to one button. So that they are easy to choose. The film simulations only work on jpeg images, if you choose raw + jpeg storage, you always have an untouched image file on the memory card, in addition to the film simulation.

You can also save a copy of a raw file in the camera, as a jpeg with preferred film simulation.
Fuji has also listened to the criticism, and updated the camera with far better 4K video, albeit only for 15 minutes at a time. But with 4K/30p oversampled from 6K resolution, you get sharp and detailed video with very little image noise.

A better camera

Fuji has updated almost all the cameras to the new autofocus module with a new processor and better focus algorithms. This goes for the X-E4 too, and compared to its predecessor X-E3, the camera focuses much faster and more precisely. It locks on faces and eyes with confidence-inspiring speed, and the follow-up focus is noticeably more precise.

But as always, it depends on which lens you use with the camera. They are not all equally fast, but an XF 18-55mm and the new 70-300mm are really fast on an X-E4.

Since the camera is so small and light, it fits well in the hand, but it can feel slippery in sweaty hands. There is no grip to wrap your fingers around here, this is an accessory, so use the strap that comes with the camera for safety.

If you turn the camera around, you will soon find out that it actually has a tiltable screen. It is only well integrated in the slim camera body. The touch screen can be tilted almost 90 degrees down, but a full 180 degrees the other way, for the inevitable selfie pictures.

The electronic viewfinder is relatively large for such a small camera, but at 2.36 Mp the resolution is moderate for a camera in 2021. Several of the buttons can be reprogrammed to other more used functions, and the setting wheel on the front is pressure sensitive for extended functionality, but I missed a similar one on the back.

Instead, you get a joystick – which you can use to move focus points with, but it can also be used to navigate the menus. You can also shift focus with your finger on the touch screen, which can also be used as a trigger. A light touch where you want focus, then the camera shifts focus there and exposes.

Like all Fuji cameras, this one also has the convenient Q button that opens a configurable context menu, where you get quick access to the most popular settings.

Lightning fast firing rate

Besides being a camcorder with 4K video in 30p up to 200 Mbps, it is also a lightning fast camera with a shooting rate of as much as 20 frames/s, when electronic shutter is selected (up to 1/32000s), and you can withstand a 1.25 x cropping, up to 230 frames/s.

Video in 4K can be stored on memory cards in 8-bit with F-log for finishing, or in 10-bit if stored on an external recorder connected via HDMI. It has a microphone input for external mic, but you need an adapter that is included to use headphones on the X-E4.

Smart accessories

The camera can be delivered as a housing without optics, or with the updated XF 27mm f2.8, which has been given an aperture ring with auto-setting and weather sealing, since the last time we tested it, in 2013. Optically it is similar, but the compact wide angle – which corresponds a 40mm on the X-E4, provides a very travel-friendly combination, when used on this camera.

The most useful zoom lens for the X-E4 is the aforementioned XF 18-55mm f2.8-4.0, which is a compact, light and affordable normal zoom with excellent image quality. If you want a lighter and brighter lens, we recommend the small XF 23, 35, and 50mm lenses, all with f2 – and if you need an even wider wide angle, our choice is XF 16mm f2.8 (equivalent to 24mm).

I have already criticized the absence of any kind of grip, but there is actually a suitable grip for the X-E4. It’s called MHG-XE4, and is screwmounted on the bottom, and has a stand mount for Arca-Swiss mount integrated.

Flash? The camera comes without it, and there is no built-in either, but Fuji itself makes a compact version called EF-20, but here there are many third-party manufacturers who have flashes that fit the camera.

Image quality

After several generations of Fuji X cameras on the test bench, there are certain expectations for how good the image quality will be. The later models come with a high degree of predictability since they share the same image chip and almost the same processor.

With the exception of the X-T200, most newer X cameras share the same X-Trans image chip, and then the image quality is the same, provided the lens is the same. Therefore, you get the same magnificent color reproduction, the large dynamic range and the same high level of detail here, as on an X-T4.

You can run the ISO sensitivity all the way up to 51200 ISO, but I recommend stopping at 6400 ISO, because then you see the image noise creeping in with coarser grain noise and color artifacts.

The Fujifilm X-E4 is smaller and more travel-friendly than its closest competitors. Sony a6400 and Nikon Z50. The ergonomics are better on the Z50, and the a6400 has faster autofocus, but the X-E4 is faster, does not crop 4K video as the Z50 does, and has a far better touch screen than the a6400.

The image quality is very similar between them, but although the color reproduction on the Z50 – especially on skin tones – is brilliant, I prefer the colors from the X-E4.

Conclusion

The Fujifilm X-E4 is the perfect travel camera for anyone who wants a system camera that is small and light, and better than a mobile phone or a compact camera. It is lightning fast, the image quality does not get any better in this class, and it delivers on usability, whether you are a new or advanced photographer. With a small handle and image stabilizer, there would be little to draw on, and next time we also want a larger viewfinder and even better following focus. Until then, this is the best camera in the class.

This is not only because it has a large 102 megapixel image chip of 44 x 33 mm, but the camera is simply heavy. Something I noticed well when I took the first pictures with the camera in Japan in 2019, and later brought a GFX 100 to northern Italy.

Then there were times when I wanted a smaller and lighter camera, and which was not so visible to the surroundings.

Now the wish has finally been fulfilled in the GFX 100S, which is a GFX 100 with the same 102 Mp image chip we already know well, only in a much smaller and lighter camera body. Here you get the same extreme resolution, image dynamics and color depth, from 14- or 16-bit (uncompressed or lossless) raw files, and video recording in 4K quality.

The best thing about it is that the GFX 100S costs almost half of what a GFX 100 costs.

So you save a lot of money here, without having to give up much. The battery life is of course shorter with only one smaller battery compared to two larger ones, and it is also not possible to apply any vertical grip, for those times when taking pictures in portrait format. The viewfinder is also not removable, and has a lower resolution.

Improved on several areas

But the camera is not without improvements, compared to the camera we know as the GFX 100. A new and more compact image stabilizer should be effective down to six exposure steps. The handle with the thumb grip at the back is far better to hold and provides a safer grip. The unmarked setting wheel has become a clearly marked program wheel where you can store as many as six preferred layouts, and the camera has a marked switch for movie recording and still images.

Otherwise, the basics are technically similar:

• 102 Mp 44 x 33mm BSI-CMOS
• 4K@30p video with 4: 2.2 10/12-bit output
• Five-axis 6-step image stabilization (new)
• 5 exposures/s firing rate
• 425 focus points with phase focus
• 16-bit raw files, lossless or uncompressed
• 1/16,000s electronic shutter
• 50 to 102400 ISO
• Fixed 3.69 Mp OLED viewfinder (new)
• Three-axis touch screen
• Weather sealing
• Nostalgic Negative Movie Simulation (new)

Basic similarities

The technical and practical differences are thus small. The operation is based on the same push and turn operation with buttons and setting knob, and the camera also has a large status screen that can display selected settings, histograms or display shutter speeds and aperture as analog setting wheels. The screen is not backlit, but you can switch to a white background to see it better in low light.

The touch screen can be tilted three ways just like on the GFX 100, and several of the buttons and setting wheels can be programmed, and even more settings can be changed by swiping up, down or to one of the sides of the touch screen.

Connections

The battery can be charged in the camera via USB on the left side, and the camera has connections for video and still images via the HDMI output, there is also a headphone and microphone connector here, PC sync for flash, and a connector for wired remote control. It can also be controlled from the Fujifilm app on the mobile, and of course supports tethering from a computer.

On the right side, the weatherproof camera housing holds two UHS-II compatible SD memory cards. As mentioned, it does not have the detachable OLED viewfinder we know from the GFX 100 with 5.76 Mp resolution, but a smaller viewfinder with 3.7 Mp resolution, not unlike the one we know from the GFX 50S.

Ease of use

The camera is surprisingly easy to handle, despite being a bit larger than a Fujifilm X-T4, or a full-frame camera like the Nikon Z7 II. It fits better in the hand with than the GFX 100, and balances nicely with a GF 30mm f3.5 or GF 80mm f1.7, which I used during the test of the GFX 100S.

The shape of the thumb grip at the back and the handle at the front, seems better adapted. The buttons have clearer markings when pressed, and the new joystick with a wider surface is better to use in my experience.

It made no big difference that the viewfinder image has a lower resolution and a little less magnification. After all, 3.7 MP and 0.77x are visibly better than 2.36 and 0.5x for example, and the viewfinder is bright enough with good contrast and wide color reproduction.

Another thing that did give me some frustration was how soft the action of the buttons is. You press, but then you have to check if it actually gave results, because the tactile response does not give enough feedback when you press.

Autofocus

Fujifilm says that the shutter response, or shutter response, is improved by 0.2 seconds, but this is not very noticeable since the camera responds quickly to the slightest command. There were not much waiting in the first place.

I would still argue that the focus response can probably be improved. Comparede to other medium format cameras – Hasselblad or Pentax – the focus is lightning fast, but it is not as precise as we are used to from the Fujifilm X-Tt or Sony a7r IV.

But it keeps up well with the shooting rate of five frames per second, and the camera’s eye focus makes portrait photography a breeze. You can choose the size of one of the up to 425 focus points yourself, or let the camera focus on the zone if you prefer, but if you choose face / eye detection, it will be much easier to get sharp portrait images.

4K video

Like the GFX100, the camera has 4K video up to 400 Mbps from the entire image area in UHD or DCI format. You can also record 4K video remotely with 10-bit 4:2:2 with F-log for color grading, or 12-bit Apple ProRes RAW via HDMI. You can also use the camera’s film simulations on video, and select hybrid log-gamma profile (HLG).

With 4K resolution from such a large image chip, the result is a rarely high detail with very little moare, moderate rolling shutter, and an unusually good image dynamics. In other words, video recording is also of high quality.

Image quality from 102 or 400 Mp

There is no difference in image quality compared to the GFX 100. You get the same wide color saturation, the same dynamic range, and a tonal range that you rarely see from full-frame cameras.

For more on the image quality, I recommend the test of the GFX 100, but in short, the resolution from a medium format CMOS image chip of 102 Mp, is formidable.

It can be even better with multi-shot, where the camera uses the image stabilizer and image processor – X-Processor 4 – to put together 16 raw files into a 400 Mp image file. Then the image chip is moved while image data is registered from red, green and blue color channel, on each individual pixel.

Then you get not only higher detail resolution, but also better color depth and dynamics. Perfect for, among other things, repro photography, but the function can also be used on landscape subjects where there is little or no movement in the subject.

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Connections on the left side. Photo: Lasse Svendsen

Conclusion

If the Fujifilm GFX100 delivers the best picture quality we’ve tested, so does the GFX 100S. But this camera is both more convenient, lighter and cheaper, and in many ways an even better buy. Of course, this is no camera for sports and action, but the selection of lenses makes it all the more suitable for portraits, landscapes, fashion and studio photography, while being able to make professional quality video recordings. Especially if you use an external sound recorder. The Fujifilm GFX 100S is in a price range where many full-frame cameras are competitors, but the image quality from the camera is in a class of its own.

Three other lenses in the same class with shorter focal lengths – 24, 35 and 50mm, will be available later, and after testing the S 85mm f1.8, it’s just fun. For this is a lot for the money.

The lens is relatively compact for a full-frame portrait tele. It is also weatherproof, but does not have an image stabilizer. This is of no consequence, since Panasonic’s Lumix S-Series cameras have it. It is worth mentioning that the 85 can also be used on the Leica SL series, with which Panasonic shares a bayonet mount.

Apart from a focus ring and a focus switch, the lens has no other buttons and no aperture ring. However, it comes with a sun visor, lens covers. That is all.

The Panasonic lens weighs a relatively modest 355 grams, and on a Lumix S5 it is a very handy and light combination.

The other three lenses in the same series are expected to be just as light, and they will be as big as this, with a length of around 82mm without the sun visor on.

It has barely visible focus breathing, and thus it is also well suited for video recording, since you hardly notice changes in focal length when focusing.

All-round portrait lens

Although 85mm focal length is often regarded as the ‘perfect’ focal length for portraits, it is of course equally usable for all other shots where you want a denser section. With the brightness f1.8 it is also possible to reduce the depth of field significantly, for the coveted bokeh effect, which is especially effective on portraits.

With a close range of 80 cm, it is far from being a macro lens, but it holds up to very dense portraits.

The lens’ autofocus is very quiet. On a Lumix S5, it is also fast, and the handy lens fits well in the hand. A start/stop button for autofocus, or hold for that matter, does not exist as mentioned, and a aperture ring similar to that on the Lumix S PRO 50/1.4 – shines with its absence.

Fortunately, it does chromatic aberration and distortion as well. An 85 mm is not a big optical challenge, and Panasonic has not had to resort to the most expensive components to succeed with the optical performance. The Panasonic lens is very sharp from full aperture to aperture 11. From there the sharpness drops and at f16 pg f22, it is visibly lower than at f.8. Where you can see a small drop in corner sharpness, but hardly any vignetting and no distortion.

From f2.8 it is not possible to see a drop in sharpness at the edges, nor does the lens distort objects as light sources in the blurred area. They look almost perfectly spherical with minimal deviations, and there are no annoying coma or stray lights in the pictures.

Conclusion

The compact Panasonic lens for the Lumix S-Series is a successful and affordable 85 with good brightness, which is excellent as an all-round portrait lens. It has no serious shortcomings in terms of optical performance, and is easy and handy to use. Some will miss glare, others stabilization, but considering the price, we believe Panasonic has hit the mark with the Lumix S 85mm f1.8. Which is of course a portrait lens for anyone with a Lumix full-frame camera.

Then the solution is a gimbal, a handle you hold in your hand, to which you attach your mobile. A gimbal has built-in stabilization, which works much better than the mobile phone, but it is quite large, especially if the stabilization is to be powerful enough to handle the largest mobile phones.

Another solution is to simply build the camera into a gimbal, as drone specialist DJI has done with the Pocket 2. Which is a tiny, handheld camera with stabilization, just like a gimbal. An action camera if you will.

For Pocket 2 invites to action. It is not the camera you take portrait or landscape pictures with, but films skaters, cyclists, alpinists or the children with. Everything is arranged so that you can actually run after the kids, and get a noticeable result on the TV afterwards.

Stabilized camera

Pocket 2 is, as the name suggests, easily pocketed, and still, you can draw and shooting very quickly.

The camera sits in a hoop, which has stabilization in three axes, and is a 20mm wide angle, which can take 4K 60p video with stereo or surround sound, or still images up to 64 Mp. The image chip itself is not a big deal at 1/1.7 inches, ie not much bigger than what you find in a medium class mobile phone, and it should turn out that it is one of the drawbacks on the Pocket 2.

Follows the motif

Everything is small on the camera, from the stamp-sized touch screen, to the few buttons available, and while it makes the Pocket 2 very travel-friendly, it does little for ease of use.

It’s not easy to see anything on the screen, at least not in sunlight, so the subject capture is primarily based on luck, but you can plug Pocket 2 to your mobile via the charging socket, and it comes with Lightning and USB-C adapter, which is pushed in in the slot with the multi-connectors on the camera. Then you can use the DJI Mimo app on your mobile, to control the camera, change settings and edit the clips with.

A bit like the groundbreaking DXO ONE camera we tested in 2016.

Most settings can also be made on the small touch screen, and once you get used to finding the settings, the operation works satisfactorily.

The camera has up to eight times zoom – four on video, and you can easily switch between still images and video, which you can also stream live on Facebook or YouTube. There is also a glamour mode, which smooths out wrinkles on selfies, making you look better on photos than in real life.

You can set the camera to track, for example, a skater, and then it clings on to the skater and follows the movements using the gimbal. Then you can move yourself as you want in relation to the subject, and actually make very cool videos. Which you can avoid the hassle of editing by letting the AI Editor function in the app take care of the clips, or put them together in Storymode, and add the music you want.

The camera can also take timelapse, 180 degree panoramic images, and you can choose the image format yourself. It is also possible to save the images as DNG files – raw files – or jpeg, and there are a number of accessories for Pocket 2. Like a stand, underwater housing and wireless microphone.

Picture and video quality

It’s actually a lot of fun to film with Pocket 2. Once you’ve learned to aim, using the hopelessly limited screen, you end up with very cool videos. The stabilization works excellently, but it fails to compensate for running, so soft movements also apply here when filming.

With the joystick mounted and the camera in hand, you have good control over the camera angles, but make sure that the sun and other light are not sent directly into the lens. Then you get a lot of scattered light on the pictures and recordings.

The video recordings are very good in 4K resolution, with good sharpness, good color saturation and relatively few artifacts. You can easily see them on the 65-inch in the living room, but the still images are never very sharp or detailed, even with 64 Mp. Here, most mobiles are better, and an iPhone 12, for example, has much better image processing that provides sharper still images with more details.

But it’s like a camcorder you should consider the Pocket 2, and here it hangs much better, compared to video on an iPhone. With the not insignificant bonus that the tracking function and stabilization can give you spectacular recordings, which the mobile needs extra equipment to handle.

Conclusion

Although the handheld Pocket 2 is nothing special to still camera, the video features are really good. As an action camera, the small DJI camera is a very flexible tool with many useful features. Tracking focus and tracking of the subject works very well, and connected to the mobile, Pocket 2 becomes a powerhouse for those who want to make cool shots without taking a large camera rig with them.

The much smaller and almost as bright RF 50mm f1.8 STM, costs a tenth and is almost as sharp, and in that sense the affordable 50 is a much better buy. The focal length of 50mm is also very useful, and 35, 50 and 85mm lenses are not difficult to make good, sharp and affordable, and yet they can have good brightness.

In that sense, the aperture 1.8 is more than approved. Then you can make a 50mm more compact than if it had f1.4 in brightness, and cheaper, without really affecting the image quality.

This lens is so small and  light that it goes into the pocket, to be retrieved when the zoom lens falls short, for example indoors, or when you need a better close border without at the same time creating distortion in the images.

Compact and usable

There is no reason to expect that here. The affordable RF 50 f1.8 with Canon’s STM focus motor, is superbly correct, and very handy to use.

It is useful for so many things. Portraits where you do not have to go so close to e.g. For everyday life and parties, it is just as easy to photograph with, as on trips and mountain hikes. The low weight and the good brightness combined with quiet autofocus, means that you get to use it everywhere and and in all lighting conditions.

Inside it is set up with six lens elements in five groups, with a seven-blade aperture with curved slats, and outside it has a switch that allows the photographer to switch from focus ring to aperture, or another preferred function that can be programmed in the menus of the camera.

It has more than a usable close limit of 30 cm, not completely macro, but close enough to get sharp images without the distortion of small lenses. Or just when you want to create some nice effects with narrow depth of field, by sticking the lens even closer to the subject.

It is not weatherproof and does not have an image stabilizer, with the latter being found in several of Canon’s EOS R models. The autofocus is precise and quiet, but not quite as lightning fast as on an RF lens with USM motor, in our experience.

Optical performance

The compact RF version of 50mm f1-8, on paper is quite similar to the EF version that we know from before, but the RF version has an aspherical element that should be better at correcting the sharpness over larger parts of the image surface.

There is hardly any distortion here, and the vignetting – loss of light in the corners – is modest, even at full aperture. The sharpness in the corners is superb at f1.8, and very best and smoothest from f2.8 to f11, and at its highest from f4 to f11.

The lens is very well corrected in all areas, and it has good control of chromatic aberration, and the bokeh effect at full aperture is not marred by bleeding or deformed areas in the background.

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Blender 1.8, 30 cm close range. Photo: Lasse Svendsen

Conclusion

The small and sleek RF 50mm f1.8, is among Canon’s best lenses, compared to the price. Which makes it a matter of course to bring on a trip, where you can take advantage of its distortion-free performance, superb sharpness and usable brightness. Together with an EOS R6 or RP, you get a travel-friendly camera package that handles all lighting conditions, and most subjects, without experiencing any limitations. The only thing missing is weather sealing. But then both the weight and the price would make a leap in the wrong direction.

Mini 2 is DJI’s smallest and lightest drone, which sneaks below 250 grams, by one gram, and is so easy to handle that everyone can get nice pictures and great shots with it.

Since we tested the first edition of the DJI Mini, DJI has upgraded the camera, which ‘only’ had 2.7K resolution, to 4K resolution, in 30, 25 or 24p. The data stream has been increased from 40 to 100 Mbps, and the ranges are far better than before.

There are no requirements for exams in the drone class below 20 kilos grams, but as a drone operator, some of the most important points are these:

• Always make eye contact with the drone
• Do not fly over sporting events, concerts, military areas
• Do not fly over accident sites
• Do not fly higher than 120 m
• Do not fly closer to airports than five km
• Keep the safety distance of 150 meters from people and buildings
• Pay attention to people’s privacy
• You must also have liability insurance
• Observe the applicable safety distances
• All flights must take place in a considerate manner

Longer range and better camera

The upgraded Mini 2 can fly farther and withstand more wind than the previous version, and it can be purchased in two versions. Mini 2 with charger, battery and controllers. Or as the Fly More Combo, which includes a larger charger, three batteries, cables and spare propellers. Everything fits in a small shoulder bag.

The flight time has only been increased by a single minute to a maximum of 31 minutes, but the Mini 2 can withstand more wind, up to 10.5 seconds, and it can fly up to 10 km away.

Optically, the camera is the same with a 24mm wide angle, which can take still images in 12 Mp, from a 1/2.3″ CMOS image sensor, but thus upgraded with 4K video. If you need it, there is also a 4x – digital – zoom, which is easily accessible in the DJI app.

Live streaming

You can stream video from several kilometers away with OcuSync 2.0, and still images can be stored on microSD cards in the drone itself, or on the mobile – and shared on SoMe – which you connect to the included remote control. You have all the settings available in the menu on the DJI Fly app, and this is where you will find the basic settings for still images and video recordings.

Like the DJI Mavic 2, the drone is easy to control and very agile to maneuver. It does not have the object sensors that make the Mavic 2 stop in the air in front of an object, so you have to fly with a little more care. Otherwise, it also has automatic take off and landing.

When the remote control and mobile are connected and switched on, you switch on the drone and go through the checklist you have read up on. on the websites of the aviation authorities. Then you are immediately ready to activate take off in the app, which sends the drone into the air, where it waits for the operator to take control of the flight.

Afterwards, you just need to press the Return To Home button – RTH – on the remote control, then it flies straight back to the take off position. It also does this when the battery is running low.

DJI is good at airplane modes, and it also has Mini 2. Drone, Helix, Rocket, Circle and Boomerang, which do exactly what the name says, but it also has a panorama mode – and a mode called Sphere – that can provide quite spectacular landscape panoramas.

The Mini 2 does not have the follow-up modes that the Mavic 2 has, but it does have something called Fly Spots. It works by selecting a route in the Fly app, and sends the drone off and follows the route.

The remote control with which you control the drone has a shutter button and start and stop of video, and you also control the angle of the camera with a wheel in front of the controller itself.

Picture and video quality

The focal length is thus the same as the camera on the Mavic 2 has, 24mm f2.8, but with 4 x digital zoom which gives a telephoto focal length equivalent to 96 mm. The camera is suspenden in a three-axis gimbal, which stabilizes the camera when shooting video footage, and it is rare to see that wind or vibrations affect the quality of the footage.

In still images, the quality of images taken in daylight is actually quite high. 12 MP is not all that much, and landscape photographers who make a living from their photos, would probably choose a drone with an even better camera. But even with 12 Mp from a relatively small image chip (1/2.3”), the still images are very sharp, with good detail sharpness.

As expected, the camera has difficulties with highlight in bright sunlight, so take the exposures as raw files, and adjust them in the finishing. Such small image chips suffer from image noise in low light. This is fact of life, but you only notice this in pictures taken in very low light. The advice is again to choose raw files, which gives much better control of image noise in the post-processing of the images, than whether the camera should choose noise reduction even on jpeg images.

It is the quality of video recording that is the big advance compared to the previous edition of the Mini-drone. Here the range of dynamics is better, and the sharpness of detail is visibly higher. Very good, we would have preferred to be able to record 4K in HEVC format (H.265) for even better dynamics, but you can not get everything in this price range.

Conclusion

DJI Mini 2 is the camera drone for most people, who love photography, but want to take photography to new heights. It is very easy to fly, the picture quality is very good, but the main selling point is the 4K video. For about half the price of a Mavic Air 2, you get the same great maneurability, and almost the same picture and video quality. We recommend choosing the Mini 2 as the Fly More Combo package, because it contains two extra batteries and even more accessories that all fit in a small shoulder bag.

For Canon, it has been absolutely necessary to develop new lenses for the new EOS R camera system. The old EF lenses have not deteriorated since they were introduced, but the new mirrorless full-frame system places new demands on the lenses, which the old ones cannot meet to the same extent as new, optimally adapted constructions.

That’s why Canon is creating new lenses for the R-format, where the optical performance and autofocus are some of the things that have been adapted to a completely new camera system, where, among other things, the bayonet mount, register distance and focus algorithms have been changed.

Of course, all the most popular focal lengths come in RF mount, which means that Canon makes lenses such as 24-70mm, 28-70, 50, 85, 24-105, 16-35 and 70-200, from scratch for the new camera system .

The smallest 70-200 so far

The latter is available in two versions, an RF 70-200 f2.8, and the new RF 70-200 f4, which we have tested. The latter loses an exposure step in brightness, but saves you weight and money. If you can manage with aperture 4, you save thousands, the weight drops almost 400 grams and you get a 25 mm shorter and six millimeters slimmer 70-200.

But the most important thing is almost identical. The lens construction is quite similar, with 17 and 16 lens elements, but the cheaper 70-200/4, has slightly cheaper elements on the inside, but on the outside it is mostly the same.

Zoom ring, programmable setting ring, focus ring, focus area buttons, focus method – the built-in optical, five-stage image stabilizer can be turned off. It also has three stabilization modes to choose from, depending on how the photographer wants to follow the subject’s movements: 1 is general stabilization, 2 is custom panning, while 3 only activates stabilization when the shutter button is pressed.

What you do not get, not even as an option, is the swivel stand mount that comes with RF 70-200 / 2.8. The zoom can also not be used with any of Canon’s RF lens teleconverters.

If you use the compact RF 70-200/4 together with an EOS R5 or R6, you get up to 7.5 steps of stabilization, and a light and handy package for portraiture, sports, landscape and animal photography, to name a few.

Performance

The Canon zoom suited it very well. The autofocus (with EOS R6) is fast and precise as we have become accustomed to from Canon’s USM focus on newer Canon camera housings. It keeps up well with birds’ somewhat unpredictable flight, and tracks moving subjects directly towards the camera without a single mistake.

The sharpness is also not much to blame here. If you choose the largest aperture at 70mm focal length, you can see from the raw files that the sharpness falls in the corners, but it is not much. A step up to f5.6, then it evens out, and the sharpness is simply excellent all the way to f16, where diffraction occurs and attenuates the sharpness – though moderate – at each further aperture step.

Not surprisingly, the sharpness is smoother over the image area of 135 and 200mm on aperture four. But here too it is noticeably sharper from f5.6 to f16. To sum up, the sharpness of the zoom is excellent over the entire surface, even at full aperture, and you can safely shoot at f4 without having to resort to lens correction in Lightroom or Capture One, on all images.

At 70mm, there is moderate barrel-shaped distortion, which you will hardly see in the pictures, and very little vignetting, which decreases quickly when you zoom in from 70mm.

Canon has good control over chromatic aberration, which is mostly away from the images, and defocused areas – bokeh – look just right dull, and the distortion in the backgrounds, for example, from light sources, also does not show troublesome deviations.

Conclusion

Canon’s compact RF 70-200mm f4 L IS USM is an expensive lens. The joy of the near-exemplary optical performance is a bit chellenged when the price is so much higher than the ‘predecessor’ EF 70-200/4 II, for Canon’s SLRs. And which is not a bad 70-200 zoom, far from it, but for those who focus on Canon’s R-Series with mirrorless cameras, it’s natural to choose the new RF version, which is even better optically and has better autofocus and image stabilizer.

For example, how to make a wedding video shot from a bird’s eye view without a drone? Or take landscape photos from above? It says itself.

Most drones in the normal price range have a relatively humble camera, with a small image chip that is better suited for video than still images. If you are going to shoot with the SLR from above, it requires a much larger and more complicated drone in the professional class that is not for everyone at all.

The solution lies in between a place, and DJI’s Mavic Air 2 is a good example of that. The drone is larger and heavier than the very useful DJI Mini 2, and costs more, but it can also do more.

There are no requirements for exams in the drone class below 2o kilos grams, but as a drone operator, some of the most important points are these:

• Always make eye contact with the drone
• Do not fly over sporting events, concerts, military areas
• Do not fly over accident sites
• Do not fly higher than 120 m
• Do not fly closer to airports than five km
• Keep the safety distance of 150 meters from people and buildings
• Pay attention to people’s privacy
• You must also have liability insurance
• Observe the applicable safety distances
• All flights must take place in a considerate manner

Flying camera

Drones like this are more camera than toy, and the whole point of the Mavic Air 2 is to take pictures and make video recordings from the air. Then there are some points that are important to think about.

One is how high image quality one is looking for. Here it’s important to keep in mind that none of them – Mini 2, Mavic Air 2 and Mavic 2 Pro – will give you the same image dynamics, sharpness and detail that a full-frame system camera can.

The reason for this is that they all have small image chips with limited dynamics and resolution. In this case, we are talking about a half-inch CMOS image chip with a 24mm wide-angle camera, which can capture still images with up to 48 Mp, and 4K video at 60fps, which is capable of creating hyperlapse videos in 8K resolution.

You can forget about at5temptning to get the same thing with a system camera or similar, hanging under a drone, for the same price as the Mavic Air 2.

It’s going to be expensive!

Therefore, a drone like this is a cheaper and more usable alternative.

Mavic Air 2 is available in a basic package, with drone, battery charger and remote control, but also as a Fly More Combo version with some accessories in the package.

It comes with, among other things, spare propellers, three batteries and a charger with space for all three, three camera filters and a shoulder bag.

There is a third option that replaces the remote control with a DJI Smart Controller, which is a more advanced remote control for the drone, with several programmable buttons, and a 5.5-inch touch screen with 1000 cd/m2 brightness. It can also be purchased as an option for the Mavic, Zoom and Enterprise drone

It has DJI’s SkyTalk and OcuSync 2.0 built-in which gives the operator the ability to stream recordings from the drone, live to Facebook, Instagram or WeChat.

Take off

We flew the drone with both the included standard remote control, and the Smart Controller, and preferred the latter. Mostly because having the big screen with all the settings available in the menus is more convenient than connecting the phone to the other remote control, and launching the app to be able to fly.

The maneuverability is otherwise similar on the two remote controls, but the programmable buttons on the Smart Controller can be convenient to have, and the ability to play 4K video from the HDMI output to a TV is very handy.

Like the Mini 2 and Mavic 2 Pro, you unfold the rotor shafts and turn on the power of the drone and controls, before you can start the flight from the DJI app on your mobile.

When you have gone through all the checkpoints before the flight, press Take Off on the screen until the whole circle is green, then the drone slowly lifts off the ground, and hovers until you press the sticks carefully forward to rise.

Like the smaller Mini drone, there is an easy learning curve for mastering the basics. Most people quickly learn to steer the drone safely where they want, and the drone has a few practical safety tricks built-in

If you release the sticks, the drone stops momentarily, and hovers until you pull the sticks again. Unlike the Mini 2, it has front and rear sensors that prevent it from flying straight into a tree or a house wall. Then the drone stops at a safe distance even if you press the stick forward. It also has sensors on the underside, warning when it comes lower than eight meters.

If you are a brand new drone operator, you can rely on DJI’s practical training videos. Otherwise, as always, getting better with practice, but it is really very easy to control a drone in this class

Landing is as easy as take off. There is a return to home button – RTH – on the remote control, which stops the drone in the air and sends it back to the take off position. The same thing happens automatically if the battery – which lasts for up to 34 minutes – is running low. Then the drone stops before the battery level is so low that it does not have power to fly back to the starting point, and then the drone returns slowly but surely.

DJI Mavic Air 2 flight modes

The drone can be flown manually and it is very easy to maneuver. With a top speed of 68 km/h in sport mode, it is fast enough to keep up with many moving targets.

It also has some flight modes – Free, Circle, Course Lock, and Waypoint, which can be set in the app, and which give you ready-made flight patterns. Like circling 360 degrees around a selected scene and taking time lapse in 8K resolution. Waypoint and Free set a pattern with start and stop, while Course Lock is fly city in the true sense of the word.

There are also three follow modes where the drone locks the focus frame on e.g. a moving subject (ActiveTrack, POI and Spotlight), and then you fly freely while the focus is always on the selected scene.

If you select QuickShots, you get six flight modes where the drone locks the camera on a scene and flies a selected pattern.

Picture and video quality

The controller not only controls the drone, it also has a button for starting and stopping video, and a shutter button for still images. The images can be downloaded directly to the mobile phone, stored on a microSD card in the drone or online, and the drone uses both the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz band which makes it possible to live stream HD video from up to 10 km away.

But it is, of course, 4K video we are most interested in, and the still images are really good, and the quality is better than feared, considering the sensor size.

The wide-angle lens with a focal length of 24 mm, covers a wide area that is perfect for landscapes seen from the air. The camera can take still images up to 48 Mp and has a sitter on a three-axis gimbal with mechanical image stabilization, if you can tilt the camera 90 degrees with the setting knob on the remote control.

In daylight, the still images are very sharp, there is plenty of detail in the images and even with automatic exposure and white balance, the image quality is kept high. Where it is lacking is on image dynamics. The camera is unable to conserve highlights as well if it measures the light in the sky. Then the light parts burn out, so the advice is to choose manual exposure, and raw files, which are useful DNG files here.

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The Smart Controller is an expensive accessory. Photo: Lasse Svendsen

In pictures taken in low light, you quickly see that when picture noise appears in the pictures, and they do so here. DJI seems to have chosen a fairly aggressive noise reduction on the jpeg files, because the detail sharpness drops noticeably at high ISO values, so my advice is to choose manual exposure, 12 Mp resolution and max 1600 ISO if you can, when it is low light.

DJI tries to avoid the problem of combining HDR and scene recognition into image processing, with something they call HyperLight. It helps, but post-processing of the DNG files is preferable if you want optimal image quality.

On video recordings little light, the detail sharpness is preserved a little better than on still images when HDR is active, and with HEVC format you get a really good dynamic range on the recordings, and you can use DJI’s D-Cinelike color profile if the recordings are through post-processing.

Conclusion

DJI Mavic Air 2 costs more than Mini 2, but can do more and has a better camera. It is the drone you should choose if the image quality is important, but also if you need the range and flight characteristics of Air 2. It is very easy to fly, and withstands wind well. At the same time, the ease of use is impeccable, and with a little practice you master drone flying so well that it is fun to both fly and film from the air. The Fly More Combo package is the best choice, as you get two extra batteries and some equipment in a shoulder bag, which makes the Mavic Air 2 even more usable.

Meanwhile, it has been quiet from Nikon, who released two full-frame cameras in 2020. The compact Z5 and the superb SLR camera D780.

But it was obvious, of course, that an update had to come to the Z7, and Z6 – as we recently tested, and it did at the end of 2020.

Nikon has not been in the habit – fortunately you could say – of releasing Mark II and III versions of cameras in time and out of time, but now they do with the Z7 II and Z6 II, and the changes are not big. Just look here:

Z7 II

• Bursts of up to 10 frames/s with 12-bit raw files
• Two Expeed 6 processors
• Improved focus algorithm with extended face and eye focus
• Two card slots, XQD/CFexpress + SDXC
• Reduced lag in the viewfinder
• Contacts for MB-11 vertical grip
• Up to 15 minutes exposure time
• 4K/60p with 1.08 x cropping
• New EN-EL15c battery with 410 images per charge

Double card slots – at last

The Nikon Z7 II is a Z7 with so few changes that there is hardly any point in switching to the new model, but for those who are in the market for an upgrade of an older camera, the changes to the Mark II version can be decisive.

The camera has the same excellent full-frame 46 Mp image sensor as the Z7, hybrid autofocus with 493 focus points that cover 90 percent of the image area, the same tiltable touch screen and OLED viewfinder, which we tested in 2018.

The changes are only visible if you turn the camera upside down. There are connectors for the new vertical grip MB-11 (which can also hold regular AA batteries), with setting wheel and shutter button for height images.

It uses the new battery EN-EL15c, which is physically the same battery as the old one, but with better capacity, and with lower power consumption, the battery life has been extended from 330 to 420 images per charge. The camera can also be used with an external power source via the USB-C connector on the side.

The camera has finally got an extra card slot, with space for SD cards that support UHS-II, in addition to XQD or CFexpress cards. They can be configured as extended memory, or to store separate file formats.

Faster autofocus

Nikon has also updated the camera with an additional processor, and changed the focus algorithm. This has made the camera faster, and the autofocus noticeably faster and more precise.

While the firing rate has only gone from nine to 10 images per second, the number of images in series has been increased to 77 uncompressed 12-bit raw files (with only one central focus point, however), or approx. 200 jpeg images at full speed. This is a big improvement from the predecessor’s nine raw files, or just over 20 jpeg files on continuous shooting.

The number of focus points has not changed. The camera has the same hardware with 493 focus points, but now it supports face and eye focus in both Auto area focus and wide area focus. It is noticeable that the camera locks the focus much faster than before. It is also noticeably faster to recover if the subject falls outside the focus area, especially on the following focus, and the eye and face focus is far more effective than before.

The camera can also detect and track animals, not just humans, and it can work on any animal – not just dogs and cats.

Few other changes

Nikon has not made many other changes to the Z7 II. The touch screen can still only be tilted, not twisted, and the viewfinder is the same OLED type with 3.7 Mp, but with a slightly smaller lag which has meant that there is a little less flicker and shorter time between the display of picture frames.

The very well-functioning five-axis image stabilizer is the same, and the video properties are mostly unchanged, but the camera can record video in 4K / 60p with moderate 1.08 x 8-bit cropping, 144 Mbps, to the memory card in the camera.

The camera also has connections for microphone, headphones, remote control, HDMI output and USB C connector for charging.

Image quality

Nothing has changed with the image quality compared to the Z7. It is one of the few cameras with an ISO range down to 64 ISO, which reduces noise even more and expands the range of dynamics somewhat. It is useful for, among other things, landscape photographers, who can get more dynamism out of their photos, but nice to have also for portrait or wedding photographers. Which is among the most obvious users of a Z7 II.
The image quality is identical to what we got out of the Z7, and that means perhaps the best color reproduction from any full-frame camera, and dynamics right at the top:

The Jpeg files are ironed up to 6400 ISO, fully usable even if the dynamics and colors are weaker, and at high ISO the Z7 is slightly behind the performance of the A7r III. But the autumn leaves, skin tones, red, green and blue, look fantastically true to nature and set the standard in the class for color reproduction.

Competitors

The Nikon Z7 will not disappear from store shelves right away, and will for a while be a – cheaper – alternative to the Z7 II. The image quality and most of the features are the same. The Canon EOS R5 with 8K video is also a natural competitor, but with a higher firing rate and even better image stabilizer – at a higher price, while the Sony a7r IV has even better resolution and better following focus, but none of them has as satisfactory usability as the Z7 II.

Conclusion

The Nikon Z7 II responds to criticism of its predecessor through improved autofocus, dual card slots and the possibility of vertical grip. Nikon could also have given the camera an even better viewfinder, a swivel touch screen, and even better video features. But the Z7 II’s exemplary ease of use, and an image quality that is at the forefront of full-frame cameras, make the Nikon camera a very strong alternative to its competitors’ flagship cameras.

A 50mm can be used for much more than many people think. The image angle of a 50mm hardly gives any change of perspective at all, and is easy to make both light, bright and affordable.

The short focal length can be used to give portraits more life, landscape images a denser section, and with good brightness, it can also reduce the depth of field significantly, without at the same time introducing distortion or loss of light corners.

This, the Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f1.2 S, is the third 50 of Nikon’s mirrorless, full-frame camera system. The relatively inexpensive Z 50mm f1.8 is the second, and the two kilo heavy and pig animal 58mm f0.95 Noct, is the third.

Just that expensive is not the Z 50mm f1.2 S, but it costs just over three times as much as a Z 50 f1.8, and has an extra aperture step available, for photographers who want even narrower depth of field. It is like 50 / 1.8, weatherproof, but has in both focus ring and a programmable setting ring, which I usually use as a blender ring.

The lens is like the Noct, also equipped with a tiny OLED screen, which can show focus distance, among other things, and it has a programmable function button on the side.

Construction

Like both the Noct and the Canon RF 50 / 1.2, the lens is very large to be a 50mm. 150 mm length is as much as the Noct, and over four cm longer than the length of the Canon lens. Which is also lighter than Nikon’s 50 / 1.2.

The Nikon lens has a total of 17 lens elements, which are many elements for a 50mm. Three of them are aspherical, two of them are ED elements with corrected light scattering, and Nikon uses both Arneo coatings and Nano coatings on the glass surfaces, to keep dust and water droplets away, and reduce the risk of stray light, glare and ghosting.

It has threads for 82mm filter diameter, and comes with a sun visor and a simple bag in artificial leather. Like the Noct, it does not have a built-in optical image stabilizer, but all Nikon Z models have a five-axis stabilizer integrated.

The lens, which weighs close to a kilo, is weatherproof and reassuringly built, and has barely noticeable focus breathing when it focuses. Something video creators want to know to appreciate. By the way, they should choose to focus manually, because the microphones – like the built-in or external, will pick up the faint but audible sound from the focus motors.

Optical performance

There is not such a big difference between apertures 1,2 and 0.95 that it is very noticeable on the depth of field in the images. Not between f1.2 and 1.8 either, but there is a difference, and for those photographers who do not manage with 1.8, Nikon’s 50 / 1.2 is a better choice than 58mm f0.95 Noct which costs four times as much.

The expensive 58mm f0.95 Noct is slightly sharper than this one, at f1.2, but the differences are erased on smaller apertures and from f2.8 it is hardly possible to see a difference in the sharpness, which is even over the entire image surface on virtually all blenders. Bravo!

Even with the lens correction turned off in the camera, the lens has moderate and less vignetting at f1.2 than the Noct, and from aperture 2 it is gone. With the correction active, it is marginal at full opening.

There is also no distortion here that can be disfiguring on e.g. pictures of architecture, nor any chromatic aberration to speak of. All the coatings on the lens surfaces and the performance of the optical design show that the lens is well corrected on all parameters. Coma and spherical aberration are well attenuated, and it is not very sensitive to stray light either.

The bokeh effect that gives such soft backgrounds on a full aperture is almost as perfectly drawn as on the Noct at f1.2, and it looks smoother and duller than from 50 / 1.8, which is not bad at all in this discipline .

The close range of 45 cm is five cm shorter than on the Noct, but the lens is not as sharp in the corners of apertures larger than f4, as the Noct is, so close-up shooting requires smaller apertures (higher value) if you want maximum sharpness out in the corners.

Conclusion

Compared to the Nikkor Z 58mm f0.95 S Noct, the Nikkor Z 50mm f1.2 is a much better buy. It is very solidly built, with weather seal, function ring and very high and even sharpness on all blenders. Yes, the even brighter Noct is sharper, but not much sharper, but costs four times as much. The much cheaper 50mm f1.8 is the best choice if you do not need an aperture 1.2. for it is mostly just as well corrected, just as sharp and costs a third of the Nikkor Z 50mm f1.2.

Canon says that the small camera is a super zoom camera in pocket format, aimed at the many who take nature photos, and need a powerful tele to take pictures of e.g. birds and animals.

For it to work, Canon has given the camera – or should we say the monocular – a zoom lens with two focal lengths, 100 and 400mm, and if that’s not enough, it also has 2x electronic zoom to 800mm.

Behind the compact lens with built-in image stabilizer is a small 1/3 inch image sensor, which stores still images in 12 Mp resolution, and video in 1080 HD quality with 30p. If you think it sounds like specifications from a bygone era, you may be right. It’s been so long since we’ve seen such small image chips.

The small Canon camera has a pair of distinctive controls. Once you have charged the battery that holds a maximum of 150 images, you must familiarize yourself with the buttons. Which are few. Power switch, still image and video button, zoom selection and menu button are the only ones here. The camera does not have a screen, so you have to use the electronic viewfinder while scrolling through the settings with the photo and video buttons on the bottom.

There is also a wheel for dioptric adjustment so that you can see clearly in the viewfinder. The wheel cannot be locked in any way, so you often have to turn a little to see sharply in the viewfinder.

Ease of use

The lens has no cover, so bring a microfiber cloth. The camera is also not weatherproof, but it is hardly a problem for everyday nature photos in good light. For good light is absolutely necessary, if the Canon camera is to provide reasonably usable images.

But before we get to the image quality. The photos can be transferred to the mobile as you take photos or video. Press the shutter button halfway, and the camera focuses before the picture is taken when the button is pressed fully. Then there is no sound from the camera. The only way to know that a picture was taken is to follow the white frame that flashes in the viewfinder when the picture is taken. It records audio in stereo on video, but even though you can play video in the viewfinder, you will not hear anything since the camera does not have a built-in speaker.

You can also take pictures in quick succession with 10 pictures/s, serial exposure, but this is limited by the autofocus not being able to refocus after the first picture is taken.

The image quality

Although the camera in practice only has two focal lengths, 100 and 400mm, the optical construction is relatively complex. 11 lens elements sit in eight groups, and the zoom has a four-axis image stabilizer, and a close limit of one meter.

The aperture is fixed, and only changes when you zoom, which you may not need to do. The reason for this is that at 100mm the image quality is marred by grainy image noise, which only gets worse when zooming. 400mm just means even more grainy image noise, and with 2x digital zoom to 800mm, there is such coarse-grained image noise that the images are completely useless.

The worst is in low light conditions, so this is a good weather camera that must be used accordingly. In really good weather with enough light, image quality is not that bad, but even just a slight cloudiness, and the camera increases the ISO sensitivity and blurs the images.

The video quality is even worse, with unsightly mosquito noise that only gets worse when panning. Then the colors are also blurred, and what little sharpness there was, disappears in an autofocus that does not keep up.

Conclusion

It’s easy to see why Canon thought the Powershot Zoom was a good idea. Unfortunately, the result is marred by the fact that the image quality does not measure up in many situations. As a digital monocular, the Powershot Zoom is a medium-interesting product that, considered as a camera, has too many shortcomings for us to recommend the Canon camera. Or the monocular.

The compact system camera we are testing here is a bright spot in an otherwise dark market in terms of budget-friendly quality. The Fujifilm X-T200 is well equipped with lots of features that challenge creativity, it does not cost all the world, and the picture and video quality is the stroke.

The camera, which is available in silver gray combined with black, or all-black, is among the most affordable system cameras with 4K video, which is suitable for enthusiastic beginners.

It comes with a small 15-45mm zoom (equivalent to 22.5-67.5mm), which has electronic zoom and built-in image stabilizer. We know it as a reliable and sharp zoom, from the test of the predecessor X-T100, which we liked. Although we found some shortcomings with the camera.

Fujifilm has corrected these shortcomings in the X-T200, which has also been given a new 24 Mp image chip with faster data transfer, much better autofocus with as many as 425 focus points and a slightly better firing rate of eight exposures / s.

Fuji has also listened to the criticism, and updated the camera with far better 4K video, albeit only for 15 minutes at a time. But with 4K / 30p oversampled from 6K resolution, you get sharp and detailed video with very little image noise.

Digital gimbal

The camera also has Fuji’s effective film simulations, and HDR video on HD recording, but that’s not all. If you accept a little cropping of the image surface, you can also get help from the camera’s gyro sensor and use digital stabilization of HD video. But not on 4K, which uses the zoom’s optical stabilizer instead.

Better autofocus

The old camera’s autofocus was not its strongest point, but with 425 phase focus points on the image sensor, the X-T200 is far faster and more precise. It recognises faces and eyes noticeably faster, and is better at following movements, albeit not entirely in the sports camera class.

But significantly better than its predecessor.

With 4K video from 6K, the X-T200 is an excellent camcorder. The autofocus keeps track well even in low light, and there is very little rolling shutter on pannings. You can connect a separate microphone for better sound and control the recording volume from the camera, but headphones require an adapter to work.

You can shift the focus to the large swivel touch screen, but it sometimes reacts a little slowly, and then the joystick behind is better to use.

Ease of use

The camera is very compact for a system camera. With the included zoom, you get a very useful camera package that works great for almost anything. The handle is integrated into the camera, which has a large, swivel touch screen that is perfect for video recording.

The two unmarked buttons on the back can be programmed, and virtual buttons on the screen give the photographer access to, among other things, the Q menu – quick menu with the most used settings, and the unmarked setting wheel to the left of the viewfinder, can act as a shutter speed wheel on video, or you can choose movie simulation and split screen display, which shows the effect of the simulation you have chosen, black and white, sepia, Astia, Velvia, Provia, Pro-neg and Fujis Classic Chrome, among others.

The program wheel at the top has the most common settings, but also a separate night mode such as booster ISO, sports with follow focus, landscapes with greater depth of field, and several subject programs are available with a press of the menu / ok button at the back.

The built-in flash flips up with the button on the left side of the viewfinder, which is the same as on the X-T100.

Image quality

It is a very satisfying camera to use. You can let the camera take care of everything, turn it on to program automation or advanced SR +, and concentrate on choosing sections. Then the camera takes care of everything, exposure, focus, white balance, and adapts to the subject by using subject recognition.
Or you can take the control yourself, and choose the aperture according to how much depth of field we have, shutter speed according to how much or little you want, etc.

Whatever you do, the camera delivers absolutely outstanding image quality. Fuji is good at image processing, and the X-T200 is no exception.

The JPEG files from the camera are some of the best you can find, it has barely visible image noise before passing the 6400 ISO, and the color saturation, color balance and image dynamics are at the very top for a system camera with an image chip in APS-C format.

The detail sharpness is not as high as on a Fuji camera with X-Trans CMOS image sensor, and the included 15-45mm zoom is not as sharp on all apertures as the XF 18-55mm, but for a camera in this class, there are no significant complaints about the image quality.

The Nikon Z50, Canon EOS M50 II and Sony a6400 are in the same class as the X-T200, and while the Z50 is weatherproof and faster, 4K video cuts you way too much. The Canon camera does the same with 4K video, so then we end up with the a6400. Which is even faster than the Fuji camera, but does not have the same satisfactory ease of use, including a hopeless touch screen.

Conclusion

Fujifilm X-T200 is a much better camera than X-T100, unfortunately the battery life is heavily amputated, but if you can live with it, this is a perfect beginner’s camera. With perhaps the best usability in this class, and a picture quality no one will frown upon, this is an affordable system camera that can be used by anyone for almost anything. Sharp, nice pictures, fast shooting pace and very good 4K video, pulls in a clearly positive direction for the small Fuji camera.

It covers ultra-wide 122-degree image fields at one end and 84 degrees at the other, all the time with up to f2.8 in brightness. This in itself is expensive to achieve, but if you add the complex construction that is needed to make the lens behave optimally at all focal lengths, the price skyrockets.

The Sony zoom costs more than most people use on a camera, but for many, the expense pays off in the image quality that this lens delivers.

As many people know, a wide angle often has visible problems with loss of light in corners, strong barrel distortion and falling corner sharpness.

Much of this can be corrected with a lens profile in eg Photoshop or Capture One, but the best thing is that the lens is so well corrected at all focal lengths and apertures, that you do not have to fix it in processing.

Optically, this wide angle zoom is the best we have tested so far. Sony also makes other 12-24mm, with f4 in brightness, but they  have nothing in common with this, other than the focal length range and the number of lens elements.

17 elements divided into three groups, with three of Sony’s XA Extreme* aspherical elements in combination with two Super ED** and three ‘regular’ ED elements, and a normal aspherical element, and the complex polishing of all the elements are both time consuming and costly.

Extensive anti-reflective treatment with Sony’s Nano AR II coating, will reduce reflections and glare, and the large front element has a fluorine coating that makes it easier to wipe off drops or fingerprints.

It takes as many as four XD motors to focus the two groups of focus elements in the lens. Which is weatherproof and adapted to Sony’s full format cameras in the alpha series. Nine curved aperture lamellae will provide completely circular aperture apertures, which are shown in smoother drawings of bokeh – blurred areas.

The zoom comes with a sun visor and a custom lens cover, and as you can see from the pictures, it does not have a filter thread in front. Instead, use a plug-in filter that is inserted into the rear filter holder.

The lens does not have its own aperture for aperture values ​​from f4 to 22, it must be done with setting wheels on the camera, but it otherwise has a switch for autofocus or manual focus, and a programmable function button on the side.

Superb sharpness on all apertures

The almost kilo-heavy Sony lenses are excellent for landscapes, urban environments and architecture, but also well suited for northern lights photography, with its large aperture usable focal length range.

But it is also suitable for video. The autofocus is quiet, and it has minimal focus breathing that you do not want on the shots, and if you use Super 35 format (APS-C), the focal lengths increase to 18 and 36mm.

With a close range of 28 cm, you can create some pretty spectacular images with a wide angle perspective, and surprisingly, the sharpness is also very good here.

For the zoom is so well corrected that the distortion is acceptable even at 12mm, it is of course even lower at 24mm, but it is more startling that it is not worse at full aperture and 12mm. Between 12 and 18mm there is some barrel-shaped distortion, which decreases with the focal length and disappears at 24mm focal length.

On a Sony a7r IV the sharpness is good over large parts of the focal length range, and although it is better between 18-24mm and on f4 – and best between f5.6 and f11, it is far smoother than feared all the way to the corners as well at f2.8. It is only when you pass f16 that diffraction strikes and the sharpness decreases.

It is moderate with chromatic aberration here and little coma error and spherical aberration to be traced. Like all lenses with such a wide front element, it can be sensitive to stray light, so try slightly different image angles if you shoot with strong sunlight from the side.

Conclusion

Sony FE 12-24mm f2.8 GM is an expensive wide-angle zoom that is unlikely to reach a wide audience. But those who take advice will get a near-perfectly corrected lens with technical performance that is not at all common. The very solid lens is not too big or heavy to prevent it from use, but it is equally at home in the city or when traveling. Although the price may seem daunting – a Sony FE 12-24mm f4 costs half as much – the wide-angle zoom is so good that those who are only happy with the best, probably pay what it costs to get the best picture quality.

* Extremely aspherical with 0.01 micrometer surface deviation.
** Extra low refractive index reduces chromatic aberration.

But none of them are smaller than a7c. A compact version of the Sony a7 III, with some improvements, but also with some shortcomings that will frustrate the minds of many.

The camera, which is more reminiscent of an a6600 in the smaller APS-C format, is technically similar to the a7 III, which has been a donor in most parts of what is actually the world’s smallest, full-frame system camera.

Shrinkage is something Sony is very good at. They have done it with Trinitron TVs, camcorders, Walkman of course, and stereo components. They are simply masters at miniaturization.

Here they have managed to stuff in the same 24 Mp sensor chip that we know from the A7 III. They have redesigned the image stabilizer (five steps and five axes) to fit in the compact camera body. The handle is slim, and they have even updated the autofocus, which is better than ever.

The camera can be bought as a house alone, and then you add the lens you need, otherwise it can be delivered with a very compact 28-60mm f4-5.6, zoom, that can be retracted by turning it to ‘rest position’, which makes this a very compact camera package.

It also has 4K video recording, 1080 HD in slow motion, the best battery life in the class with up to 740 exposures, and the small camera is even weatherproof, too.

SONY A7C:

• 24 MP full-format BSI CMOS image chip
• BIONZ X image processor
• 4K/24p 8-bit 4:2:0 S-Log, HLG
• 693-point phase focus system
• 2.36 Mp OLED viewfinder
• Up to 10 frames / s
• 50-204800 ISO
• Five-axis image stabilization
• 2,4/5 GHz Wi-fi, Bluetooth
• SD // SDXC UHS-II card slot

With 10 shots / s shooting rate and phenomenal following focus, you can expect sharp images in most situations. All of this sounds like the perfect all-round camera, but not all is perfect.

LIMITED VIDEO FEATURES

Most people who may be in the target audience for a small camera will hardly care, as long as the camera has excellent image quality capable of 4k video. A7c has that, but there are limitations.

You can record video in 4K quality, with 25p frame rate in XAVC S format and 100 Mbps data stream, which is very good. But it is ‘only’ 8-bit video, which can be a limitation for the enthusiasts who want the best possible dynamics in the post processing of the footage.

It is also possible to record video in slow motion with HD resolution, and the camera has both a microphone and video connection.

You can choose which functions are to be in the Fn-menu on the screen, and they can be adapted to still images and video, so that the camera changes menu layout when switching from still to video recording.

The camera supports image profiles with S-Log for grading, and it also supports video with HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) which provides smoother tone range with better dynamic range.

THREE THINGS ARE MISSING

With a considerably slim camera body, compared to the a7 III on which the a7c is based, compromises are unavoidable. I have already mentioned that the handle is smaller, that is no big problem, but the viewfinder is also much smaller with only 0.59 x magnification. And not so sharp either. It looks out of place on such an expensive camera, and shows that Sony’s miniaturization has its costs.

That the joystick has been omitted would not have meant much, if only Sony had managed a better touch screen navigation. Unfortunately, they are several years behind the competition in the implementation of touch, and if you have tried a newer Canon, Nikon or Panasonic camera, it is a pain to use Sony’s touch screens.

You can move the focus point when the screen is in live view, but not when using the viewfinder. The touch screen does not work on the on-screen menu, nor when you have selected image display.

AUTOFOCUS IN THE ELITE CLASS

But, my goodness, how fast the camera is otherwise! 10 frames / s may not be impressively fast, but the camera’s autofocus is more than fast and precise enough, so that the images are sharp even on continuous shooting.

The autofocus sticks to faces and follows eyes as if it was bolted on, and even when the person in the viewfinder moves, the eye focus hangs on like a fly on a freshly painted house wall. There are 14 different focus options here where you can select focus areas and the number of focus points according to need and motive, and it works excellently on both still images and video.

TOP CLASS IMAGE QUALITY

With the same 24 Mp image chip as the a7 III, you also get the same image quality. The resolution is not on par with the Sony a7r IV, but for all practical purposes, it is more than high enough for most of the motives.

The image dynamics are excellent, there is hardly any visible image noise below 12800 ISO, the color reproduction is better than on previous generations of the a7 series, with far more saturated colors and more neutral skin tones.

The quality from 4K / 25p is very good with very good resolution and detail sharpness, moderate rolling shutter and little image noise even at dusk shooting. HD recording is not surprisingly far less resolved, and there is also more image noise and artifacts in HD.

The Panasonic Lumix S5, Nikon Z6 II and Canon EOS R6 are the closest competitors to the a7c. A comparison that may seem a little unfair, especially since the Sony camera is more of a compromise between features and size, but still. The Lumix S5 is not much bigger, and has far better video features. The Nikon camera is even faster in continuous shooting and offers better video properties, as does the Canon camera.

But none of them are quite as compact, and none of them have the Sony camera’s superior autofocus and equally large selection of lenses.

CONCLUSION

The Sony a7c is not only the smallest full-frame system camera, it also has some of the most useful all-round features. If, however, you can live with the fact that the video functions are not quite on a par with the competitors. The handy format, the smooth image quality, and an autofocus that never misses, make the Sony camera perfect for everything from weddings, portraits, travel, street photography and much more, sports and action included. The included 28-60mm zoom is actually quite good, and an obvious choice for the a7c, which can also use even better Sony lenses, and as such, the range can be greatly expanded.

It may be reminiscent of what Panasonic has done with the S1H (and to some extent Canon with its 8K camera R5 ), but unlike its competitors, Sony with the FX6 has chosen the ergonomics of a camcorder. With buttons and switches that cinematographers know them, and of course a practical carrying handle. Which makes it much easier to film steadily, than when standing and filming with a still camera.

Compact for creators on the go

FX6 forms Sony’s Cinema Line, together with the larger FX9 and the full-grown – and priced – VENICE. We are promised “the very highest cine quality from cinematography to documentaries.” Thanks to its compact dimensions, the FX6 will be able to appeal to a wider audience, with the same technology as from the other two cameras. FX6 is “the compact and flexible solution that gives great results”.

The Sony FX6 also gives you more freedom to record videos with fast and accurate autofocus, including real-time autofocus, real-time tracking and adjustable autofocus sensitivity. It also includes “a unique variable ND filter to maintain a cinematic look and change lighting environments for more creative expression”.

Sony FX6 has a detachable, smart handle and high-resolution LCD screen, heat management system for long work sessions and a good battery life of up to 3.5 hours.

4K 120 fps

The Sony FX6 has a lightweight and modular camera body that can be adapted to the accessories you want to use. We are promised that the compact camera body will not compromise on video quality, and you can film in 4K resolution up to 120 frames per second (fps). Rolling shutter is a minimal problem, it is said, and the camera can film in very low light, with up to 409,800 ISO. This is thanks to a 10.2 MP Exmor R CMOS sensor in combination with a new Bionz XR processor.

15-step dynamic range

Sony claims a dynamic range of over 15 steps (stop), if you shoot in S-Log3 aspect ratio. This is more than one step above most competitors. It doesn’t sound like much, but you actually double the light intake for each step, so it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. The color depth covers more than REC.2020 which is the largest color space used commercially today. It also means that the camera fits in almost any shooting environment.

The camera has a dual ISO circuit (Dual Base ISO), at 800 and 12,800 means, which means you can increase the sensor sensitivity without getting more noise in the image. This allows you to film in poor light conditions without losing image quality.

Great photos right out of the camera

S-Cinetone is the standard color profile of the Sony PXW-FX9, this will give “rich colors, natural face tones and a softer tone”, and is made to be able to give great pictures straight out of the camera. The same color profile is also found in the other Cinema Line cameras, including the flagship VENICE. Which means that you can use all the models in one and the same video production, and the recordings can be cut together without you having to fine-tune in post-production to match them.

Faster memory card – CFexpress Type A

CFexpress Type A is slightly smaller than CFexpress type B. Since FX6 uses type A, you will be able to use both CFexpress cards and SD cards in FX6. To support all video modes in the camera, use a CFexpress card. Then you can also film in the very highest bitstream, which is 600 Mbit / s.

Sony FX6 – availability

The Sony FX6 will be available in mid-December

Fact

• Sensor type : 35 mm full-frame CMOS image sensor with single chip
• Pixels: Approx. 12.9 megapixels (total), approx. 10.2 megapixels (efficient)
• Sensitivity: ISO 800/12800 (Cine EI mode, D55 light source)
• Built-in optical filters:  Clear, linear variable ND (1 / 4ND to 1 / 128ND)
• Media type:  CFexpress Type A / SD card (x2), Slot B can be used to store configuration data.
• LCD: 8.8 cm (3.5 type), Approx. 2.76 million dots

The Sony a7s III is one such camera.

Not only is it Sony’s most professional video camera system, it’s also one of the most sophisticated camcorders, shaped like a still camera. This is the third edition in the series of a7s models, and by far the most specialized of all Sony’s full-frame system cameras.

The very compact full-frame camera gives photographers extremely many opportunities to create video in professional quality, and therefore the still images here are of a secondary nature.

No one falls off the chair of a 12 Mp image sensor today, not even if it is backlit, extremely quiet and equipped with never so many phase focus points. But for video recording, 12 Mp holds plenty, as long as we are talking 4K and not 8K video.

In the a7s III, most are made for video, and the camera has, as indicated, far more setting options with associated options, than the Sony a7r IV has on video.

The 4K recording is so full and pure that most still photographers prefer a different camera than the a7s III. For all-round photography, the Sony a7 III, Nikon Z6 (II) or Panasonic Lumix S5 are better choices. They balance still images and video recordings so that they are well suited for both, while cameras such as Sony a7r IV, Nikon Z7 (II) and Lumix S1R, are better suited for photographers who need maximum resolution of still images, more than diverse video features.

So the a7s III is among the roughest that exists of system cameras, but first and foremost when it comes to video, and here are some of the camera’s features in brief.

Sony a7s III:

• 12 Mp full format Exmor R BSI CMOS image chip
• BIONZ XR image processor
• 4K / 100p 10-bit 4: 2: 2 ALL-I video
• 16-bit raw video via HDMI
• 759-point phase focus system
• 9.44 Mp OLED viewfinder
• Up to 10 frames / s
• 40-409600 ISO
• Five-axis image stabilization
• 5 GHz Wi-fi, Bluetooth
• 2 x SD / CFexpress A card slots

Mark III

If you see a Roman numeral on a camera, you can be pretty sure that you are looking at a camera that contains a few updates, compared to its predecessor with a lower Roman numeral.

The camera manufacturers will of course protest and claim that there are so many improvements that you can almost just throw away its predecessor, but that is never the case.

It’s not here either, but Sony should have because they have made some moves that really matter on the a7s III.

The first two things you notice are completely new on-screen menus. For the better, it must be said, and at a high time. They have a better and clearer structure, which comes into its own on such advanced and complex cameras as this.

The second is that the viewfinder is syyyyl sharp, with the most extreme resolution to date. Nearly 10 Mp resolution with up to 120 Hz, provides a viewfinder image unmatched by cameras, and is the closest you will get to a bright optical viewfinder.

Video features

You can find out the other things by reading up and starting to use the camera. The camera’s upgraded image chip does not have a higher resolution than before, but the backlit construction and two new image processors give the camera improved features in two important areas.

The image files are cleaner at high ISO, which maxes out at 409600 and can be set down to 40 ISO, the autofocus speed and precision is a huge improvement, the shooting speed is doubled and the camera can record 4K video in much higher quality than before.

First Sony a full format with swivel touch screen. Photo: Lasse SvendsenThe video resolution is the same – 3840 x 2160, but in a7s III you can record 4K up to 100 fps for up to one hour (with marginal 1.1x cropping), with 280 Mbps and in 10-bit with 4: 2: 2 colors straight to either an SD card with UHS-II, or the new CFexpress A memory card type, which the camera also supports. 4K50p provides no cropping, but uses data from the entire image chip.

For those who use external recorders, there is an option to stream 16-bit raw video via HDMI. Either alone, or to memory cards simultaneously in a selectable file format.

The camera supports several selectable video codecs, XAVC-S, XAVC-SI in 50p up to 600 Mbps with ALL-I, XAVC-HS with H265 which provides better lossless lcompression, in addition to MPEG4 and H.264. So you can choose the compression format and file quality as needed.

It does not support 4KI resolution of 4K – 4096 x 2160.

Of other things worth mentioning, support for grading, there are image profiles with S-Log3 gamma curve and S-Gamut3 Cine colors, which can also be found on professional recorders, and support for HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) which gives smoother tones with better dynamic range on TVs that support HDR with HLG.

In use

When setting up the camera, you can configure which buttons to do what, and three programmable setting wheels, a joystick and swivel touch screen, immediately make the camera more cooperative.

But it’s a mystery why Sony has omitted a switch that only switches between still images and video. It makes just that operation infinitely much easier, than having to press the lock button and turn the program wheel every time you have to change.

Another thing that quickly becomes annoying is that preferred program choices that you set up and save yourself, are also on the program wheel. It works on an a7 III, but not on such a specialized camera where you want to be able to switch quickly between your own setting choices.

Here we can only appeal to reason and suggest a switch in the eternally vacant space to the left of the applicant.

As already mentioned, no one is going to line up to buy an a7s III to use it as a still camera. Even if you can. The file quality is excellent, there is astonishingly little noise at 12800 and 25600 ISO, but grain noise and color noise quickly apply at higher ISO values.

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Another from Sony a7sIII at ISO 10000. Photo: Lasse Svendsen

It is the video quality that is something to write home about.

For example, there is no visible rolling shutter here, which flexes vertical lines as if the telephone poles were made of rubber. It is hardly visible unless it is provoked, and even then it is so marginal that it has no practical significance.

The quality of 4K is strikingly sharp with clean files free of bugs and mosquitoes, and Sony has even made the colors sit better than on the a7s II. If you do not need 6K or 8K video, the Sony a7s III is among the very best system cameras with 4K. There are no problems with overheating and the recordings can last up to an hour. The Panasonic Lumix S1H is Sony’s closest competitor, and it can shoot indefinitely and has both DCI and UHD 4K resolution in extremely high quality.

Conclusion

For videographers who need an advanced tool, and who may work a lot with multiple camcorders and place high demands on file quality and formats, the Sony a7s III is in the top three list among the best full-frame system cameras, in today’s market. Still photographers who take landscape photos, portrait and wedding photographers, or those who only want the best possible all-round camera, should forget about the a7s III. Those looking for even higher video resolution will find other alternatives, but for recording in 4K, this is as good as it can get.

Part of the reason for the sudden change in strategy is that Panasonic saw that the market was shrinking and that in many ways they had reached a saturation point technologically in the MFT format, while competitors such as Sony, Canon and Nikon worked hard to create a market for mirrorless full format cameras.

That is, with a 24 x 36 mm image chip, against the APS-C format’s 15.7 x 23.5 and the MFT format’s 13 x 17.3 mm.

To meet the competition in the growing full-frame market, Panasonic entered into an alliance with Sigma and Leica, and Panasonic created a new camera system called Lumix S. And launched the Lumix S1R with a 47 Mp full-frame image chip, the Lumix S1 with a 24 Mp image chip, and the more video-centric Lumix S1H with 24 Mp and even more advanced 4K video features.

But as usual with full format cameras, they get relatively large, but Panasonics were much larger than the competitors’ cameras. With the exception of the Leica SL. Unfortunately, the S lenses of the L system followed in the same slot and a Lumix S1 with a 24-105mm f4 zoom, is a voluminous combination of almost 1.6 kg.

Panasonic itself said that the size was related to the quality and how robust they could build the camera, and we believe that. Rarely have we had something so solid in our hands in a camera test.

But not everyone needs an armored camera, something Panasonic has realized, because here is the Lumix S5. A far more compact full-frame camera, with a handy 20-60mm zoom, where most of the technology inside is taken from the larger Lumix S1.

Compact and affordable

The Lumix S5 is not only smaller than the S1. It is also smaller than the Lumix GH5 with MFT format, and with the included Lumix S 20-60mm f3.5-5.6, this is a compact and travel-friendly camera package, at a far from deterrent price.

When you also see that you mostly get a Lumix S1 technically, this seems like a very good buy.

You get a 24 Mp CMOS image chip with a five-axis image stabilizer, and the option of 96 Mp resolution, when the camera is on a tripod. This opens up opportunities not found in many other cameras.

4K-video

Lumix S5 is a very competent camcorder with possibilities for recording of very high quality. There is even a separate, large red, shooting button on top of the camera. Just like on the professional cameras of Panasonic.

It has well-specified 4K / 25p video from the entire image area in 10-bit 4: 2: 2 (up to 200 Mbps in H-265), or 50p in APS-C format with 10-bit 4: 2: 0. These are high-level video features, which together with 10-bit HLG and Log recording provide an excellent starting point for creating professional-quality video.

The camera can record video for 30 minutes at the highest resolution and file quality, but infinitely in 4K or 1080 HD with 8-bit 4: 2: 0.

The Apple program modes also work on video, (PASM) and the camera has Panasonic’s variable frame rate – frame rate – which can be found under Slow & Quick on the program wheel. With S&Q enabled, you can control the frame rate in many steps from 1 fps (50x fast), to 180 fps (36 x slow) shooting.

You can also capture still images in 6K – or 4K resolution with 30 or 60 fps frame rate from a video stream, and thus get exactly the one image you want.

There is also a microphone and headphone connection, and you can save style photos on one of the memory cards, and video on the other. Or use both for everything.

Autofocus and continuous shooting

Panasonic has an autofocus system they call Depth from Defocus, which works great on individual still images and continuous shooting without panning, if the subject does not move fast. The contrast-based DFD system calculates the distance to the subject and floats the focus group in the lens after the subject for sharp focus.

It used to work well up to a point, but now Panasonic has improved the DFD in the S5, which has a much better focus algorithm that is far better at finding, holding and following focus on moving subjects. The autofocus is able to follow a face even when the person turns away for a second, or disappears behind an object. And that applies to both still images and video recordings.

So the autofocus is experienced as an improvement on the S5, but the shooting rate is moderate seven frames / s. Or five if you want autofocus between each image on continuous shooting. It is lower than what the Lumix S1 manages with its nine, lower than the Sony a7 III with 10 bps, and much lower than the Nikon Z6 II with its 14 bps. In other words, this is not a sharp-shot action camera.

Live composite and high resolution 96 Mp

But it can do a lot of other tricks. Som Live Composite. Nice to use if you want to take pictures of the starry sky, or just pictures in the dark. You set the camera to the number of exposures and intervals, then the camera takes the specified number of exposures on top of each other where changes in light are registered. This way you can, among other things, make star stripes or create other light effects in the pictures. Not all cameras can do that at all.

It also has time lapse for those times you want to put together a video stream of individual images taken at intervals.
Not high resolution exposure either. Here it works so that the image stabilizer moves the image chip eight times while the camera generates a 48 or 96 Mp image file. That is four times as high a resolution as the image chip in the camera has.

There are two setting options in the HR menu, one that prioritizes resolution and detail sharpness, and one that analyzes the movements in the subject, and uses data from the first shot to reduce motion blur.

Panasonic Lumix S5 image quality

You absolutely do not have to worry about the image quality from the S5. It is on par with the best full-frame cameras, and delivers excellent image dynamics with very little image noise at high ISO.

The sharpness of detail with sharp lenses like the Lumix S 50 is almost on par with the S1R’s 47 Mp, and the image dynamics are almost at the same level, and even better than the reference Sony a7 III at all ISO values ​​at least up to 3200. On A2 prints , you do not see the difference, and it says a bit about how much it is to pick up on the image chip in the camera. Which is without a low-pass filter, so that being said.

I think that Panasonic has been honored by color, and the depth of color reproduction in the photos from the S5, is on a par with the best in full format class. Like the Canon EOS R5 and Nikon Z7.

The video quality of 4K must be mentioned. You will not find it better in this class. 4K video has very good sharpness without visible image noise, and there are moderate amounts of rolling shutters or panning artifacts here. Even the sound from the built-in microphones is good.

In use

The compact Lumix S5 is an excellent camera for those who need a tool for portrait photography, because the image dynamics in combination with the color reproduction, favor natural skin tones with a tonal range that is as created for finishing raw files.

Although smaller than a Lumi’x S1, the handle is of comfortable size.

Buttons and steering wheel are larger than on many of the competitors’ cameras, and the only thing we have to complain about in daily use is that the viewfinder’s resolution, size and brightness / contrast are not on a par with the best.

Some may prefer a separate switch between still and video, which with a flick switches between the two, taking with it all the preferred settings. Here you have to use the program wheel to change. Or, you can just press the red record button, then a recording starts with the last used settings.

Otherwise, who realized that the joystick does not need to be able to move diagonally? It only works vertically and horizontally. Fix it Panasonic.

Conclusion

Panasonic Lumix S5 is an extremely successful camera in terms of user enjoyment and image quality to do. Not to forget the video quality. In this class you will hardly find a better all-round camera. Unlike some of the competitor’s cameras, it comes with a very sharp and compact zoom lens. The S5 is a camera that does not stand in the way of creativity with overly complex functionality, and apart from the moderate shooting pace, the Lumix S5 is a camera that is suitable in most arenas. A great camera for enthusiasts who are going to replace the old SLR, with a better camera with good video properties, and the stroke still image quality.

While some can manage with a small binocular with eight times magnification that goes in the pocket, others need one with 10 x magnification and much larger aperture (mm). An 8 x 25 mm binoculars are handy for trips in the woods and fields, but for hunting an 8 or 10 x 40 or 50 mm binoculars is preferable.

Olympus’ new S-Series with affordable binoculars is available in both 8 x 40 and 10 x 50, but the compact 8-16 x 40 with zoom, expands the range considerably.

It weighs less than 800 grams and provides a field of view of 87-59 meters at a distance of 1000 meters, or between 38.5 and 50.8 degrees, and with 40 mm brightness it is a nice all-round binoculars. The near limit is 10 meters.

The binoculars in the Olympus S-Series have anti-reflective coating, diopter adjustment and aspherical lens elements. The prices are favorable.

All three are available during October.

Thus, one can get very close to the events, for example at a sports arena, in the theater, to bird watching or in the mountains.

The camera has four times zoom, where you can switch between 100 and 400 mm optical zoom, or 800 mm digitally when 400 mm is not enough. The focal lengths are f5.6 and 6.3.

The Powershot camera weighs only 145 grams and has a 1/3 inch CMOS image chip with 12 megapixels, and it can record 1080 / 30p video with stereo sound, and still images in 12 Mp.

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It also has an optical image stabilizer that will make it easier to get sharp images at long focal lengths, and continuous autofocus face recognition and one-point focus, which according to Canon will provide sharp images on moving subjects.

The camera will not be available until the beginning of 2021, the price will be around $ 300.

Canon PowerShot ZOOM: Spesifications:

• 12.1 Mp 1/3 »image chip
• Zoom in three steps between 100, 400 and 800 mm focal length
• Optical 4-axis image stabilizer
• Full HD movie in 1080p with 24/25/30 frames / sec
• USB Type-C® USB-PD compatible devices
• Wi-Fi og Bluetooth

Panasonic Lumix BGH1 measures less than 10 cm in all directions, and weighs just over 500 grams plus lens. In other words, it is small enough to be able to use many places. Drones are one option, but it can also be connected up to 12 pieces and controlled centrally, and stream recordings live.

Inside is a 10.2 Mp image chip in Micro Four Thirds format, which has up to 51200 ISO sensitivity, 13-step dynamic range with V-LogL, and it can record 4: 2: 0 10-bit C4K / 50p on up to two SD memory card, or send out C4K 4: 2: 2 10-bit output via HDMI to an external recorder.

The camera has the same Dual Native ISO technology that Panasonic uses on the professional cameras in the Varicam series, which use two different ISO values ​​to reduce noise.

It also supports gamma curves that fit with the ITU-R BT.2100, it has Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) available in the menu under Photo Style, and can shoot Cinema 4K or 4K HEVC / H.265 with HLG with reduced bit rate.

The camera also has a variable frame rate, up to 2340 fps in Full HD, and it has got deep learning technology that recognizes objects such as animals, humans, especially faces, eyes and body, for more precise autofocus during shooting.

From the press release:

・Supporting anamorphic lens (4:3)
・Tally lamps (front 1 and rear 1), a network connection lamp
・Φ3.5 Audio (in/out) jack compatible with XLR microphone DMW-XLR1
(sold separately)
・Generic remote control unit φ2.5mm
・2.4GHz Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth 4.2 (BLE)
・Bundled accessories including a Cable lock band, AC adapter and AC cable
・Remote camera control using application software (LUMIX Tether for
Multicam*² and LUMIX Sync)
・Tethered photo shooting with LUMIX Tether for Multicam*² software
・A SDK*³ (Software Development Kit) for camera control via USB will be
provided for free.

The two models, TLC200Pro with recording in 720p and TLC2020 which records in 1080p HD, are relatively favorably priced with a starting price of NOK 2400 for the simplest camera.

The cameras should be easy to set up, and the battery lasts for up to 40 days on a TCL200Pro, and up to 82 days on a TLC2020. There are also accessories such as clamps, tripods, weatherproof camera housings, etc., and both cameras will also be available in packages with much of this equipment included.

It is thus the usage time that primarily distinguishes the Brinno cameras from others, in that they can be used weekly, either to make time lapses of sunsets, or to document construction projects or other things that will later be shown as video.

Brinno has also made an online calculator that will make it easy to set up the cameras so that you get the most out of them. You can find it here .

The cameras available now.

The camcorder has the same bayonet mount as the R cameras, 0g can use all RF lenses but autofocus and everything. The camera is relatively compact and lacks a viewfinder, but has a swivel touch screen.

It also has a Cinema 4K DCI image chip in Super 35 format with 17: 9 aspect ratio, and then we realize that we are at APS-C level, and not full format here.

The C70 also has Canon’s Dual Pixel autofocus, which in our experience works flawlessly on video recording. It also has Dual Gain Output that increases the dynamic range in up to 4K / 60p resolution, by reading the information from the pixels with two different gain levels, and Canon claims it can provide a dynamic range in excess of 16 steps. The heat must be kept in check with internal fan cooling.

It can also record video in 2K / 120 or 180p, it has internal storage of 10-bit 4: 2: 2 Long GOP recordings on SD card, it supports All-Intra, Intra-Frame, XF-AVC and h .265 video codecs. The camera can also record video in vertical format.

There is no mechanical stabilizer, instead the camera uses an electronic stabilization on shooting, which gives a small 1.2x crop.

The C70 also has a 10-step ND filter in selectable steps, as well as C-Log2 / C-Log3, PQ, HLG-gamma that provides higher dynamic range – HDR, it has 13 programmable buttons, dual card slots, and two mini XLR connectors for microphones, and it uses Canon video batteries located on the outside of the camera.

You can also use Canon’s huge range of EF lenses, with a Canon Mount Adapter called the EF-EOS R, which has a 0.71x crop that acts as a speed booster, where the lens’ focal length angle is preserved – and where the aperture scale is shifted in favor of one step better brightness.

Because in the Nikon Z5, Nikon has not exaggerated either the level of function or the price, beyond what is relatively affordable for a compact, full-frame system camera.

The camera is the third and most affordable among Nikon’s new generation full-frame cameras in the Z-Series, and can in many ways be seen as a scaled-down Nikon Z6 with an external layout heavily inspired by the Nikon Z50 with APS-C format.

The price and the level of function mean that the camera’s closest competitors are the Canon EOS RP, and the Sony a7 III, but it also has strong competition in its own ranks in the form of the Z6.

But as we shall see, with some limitations. After all, we’re talking about a notch below the Z6 on features. With one exception. The Nikon Z5 has two card slots. Not for XQD or CFexpress cards, but two fast UHS-II compatible SD cards.

It’s not the only thing that separates a Nikon Z5 from a Z6.

Striped to the most necessary

The camera is not ribbed to the skin. It has everything most people need. A full-frame 24 MP image sensor, hybrid autofocus with 273 focus points that cover about 90 percent of the image area, touch screen and high-resolution OLED viewfinder, and built-in image stabilizer.

There are specifications that hint at a user-friendly camera for all-round use, but perhaps not for landscapes that often require even more resolution, and definitely not for sports.

Not because the autofocus does not stick. It is actually both fast and precise, with good hanging on eyes and faces, but the shooting rate of 4.5 images / s limits the opportunities to capture fast sports and wildlife in motion. In comparison, the Nikon Z6 manages 12 bps, the Sony a7 III 10 bps, while the EOS RP is a bit slower with 4 bps.

But for travel, portrait photography, family, children, weddings and most other things, the Nikon Z5 is a very suitable camera. But we have to talk about video.

Nikon has provided the camera with both a microphone input and a headphone output. It also has USB charging and and HDMI output, and it can record video in true 4K UHD with 30 progressive frames per second. With a cropping factor of 1.7, just like the Canon EOS RP. This means that the included 24-50mm zoom is a 34-85mm zoom, and then you lose a wide angle, but gain a little on telephoto.

If you think it’s just an advantage, then please. The video quality is otherwise good, much better at 4K than at 1080 HD, which does not give any cropping. But if video is important, the Z6 is a better choice.

Ergonomic considerations

What the camera has that makes it interesting, especially for still photographers, is a very intuitive and clear exterior with excellent ergonomics. The grip is large and the camera is weatherproof and solidly built. The 8 cm large touch screen can be tilted 45 degrees down and 90 degrees up, the large viewfinder has a full 3.7 Mp resolution – best in class, and the battery life is good (470b).

Inside, it has a five-axis image stabilizer, with up to five steps of compensation, fast shutter with 1 / 8000s as the shortest shutter speed, and there is an electronic shutter for those times when you have to take pictures without sound.

Like the Z6, you can also program several of the buttons here. The two in front for example, but also the function ring on the Z lenses. Which can be aperture ring or focus ring, or something else. You can move focus with your finger on the touch screen, or the joystick at the back, and you can choose from five different focus fields:

A tiny pin field, or a selected focus area in three sizes, and the camera’s autofocus has face and eye recognition – and animal recognition. But these only work on still images.

Otherwise, the camera is very easy to operate. It is compact and light with the included 24-50mm zoom. Fast responses, lightning-fast autofocus, an excellent OLED viewfinder and the security of a backup card make the Z5 an excellent travel camera.

Nikkor Z 25-50mm f4-6.3

The compact zoom that comes with one of the available sets – the others are with the FTZ lens adapter as well, or you can choose the Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 – is of the tip you pull together by turning the zoom ring past the 24mm mark. Then the camera becomes even more compact, and when using it, just turn back to the left towards the 24mm mark.

With twice the zoom and moderate brightness, it does not seem like all the world’s lens, but the sharpness is actually very good. Even at full aperture. The jpeg files do not show any distortion or vignetting to speak of, and even the raw files show that there is little light loss in the corners at full aperture, and a moderate drop in sharpness in the corners.

Image quality

Apart from the shooting pace and cropping of 4K video, there is nothing reminiscent of a premium product in the Nikon Z5. Exemplary ergonomics and a solid camera body that seems built to last speak for themselves, and the image quality is second to none in this price range.

The camera does not have exactly the same image chip as the Z6, but it shares the same processor and seems to be adjusted equally in terms of colors, contrast and tonality of jpeg files. Which means the image quality is on par with the Canon EOS RP and Sony a7 III, but better in some areas.

Compared to the Sony a7 III, the color reproduction from the Z5 on the jpeg is preferable. Skin tones look more natural, and complementary colors are better and more realistically muted. The white balance is more precise on the Z6, which also turns out to have almost one step better image dynamics than the EOS RP.

Just like on the Z6, the image noise is superbly controlled up to 6400 ISO, and in fact usable at 12800 ISO as well, but higher ISO gives significantly more image noise. In video, the limit is 3200 ISO, higher than that, and the mosquito noise becomes far too annoying.

The video quality of 4K is impeccable. Sharp, clean, good dynamics and few artifacts, but a little rolling shutter must be expected on fast pans.

Conclusion

One might suspect Nikon to come on 4K video way too late, on the Z5, and whoever found out that it was a good idea to throttle the firing rate to just 4.5 bps, we would like to know. Maybe you were at Nikon, afraid that the camera would be too similar to the Z6. Which we rather recommend to those who think video is important. Or sports. But if you put the most emphasis on still images and a simplest possible camera that can rather grow with the skills of the photographer, then the Nikon Z5 can be the perfect camera.

Then we have those who were first with video in a still camera, first with HD video and first with 4K video. There are so many ‘firsts’ at all that the list is endless.

Canon has also been first. Many times. This time, they are the first with 8K video in a system camera: the Canon EOS R5, which is the flagship of Canon’s new generation of system cameras.

And what a camera it has become!

Canon EOS R5 is the groundbreaking camera EOS R did not become, when they were launched as Canon’s first flagship among mirrorless full-frame cameras.

This is the mirrorless version of the SLR camera EOS 5D Mark II (2008), the camera that was groundbreaking in its time with 1080p HD video, and which has since been embraced by video creators worldwide.

The same can happen with the EOS R5, which is Canon’s most advanced camera, but not exclusively aimed at professional video creators. It also has other features, such as a shooting speed of 20 frames / s, a 45 Mp high-resolution CMOS image sensor, built-in image stabilizer, extremely fast autofocus, and yes, it can record high-quality 4K video. In itself, it is not sensational in this price range. The Panasonic Lumix S1R, Nikon Z7 and Sony a7r IV have many of the same features, but none of them have 8K video recording.

But first let’s look at some of the key features of the EOS R5:

• 45 MP full format CMOS image chip with Dual Pixel II autofocus
• Fast firing speed of 12 (mechanical shutter) and 20 bps electronically
• 5940 dots autofocus covers 100% image area
• 8-step image stabilizer with selected lenses
• ISO 100-102,400
• 10 bit HDR still in HEIF format
• 8K DCI el. UHD video, 10-bit 4: 2: 2, RAW, C-Log, HDR PQ
• Full 1080p HD 120 fps in upcoming firmware
• CFexporess + SDHC / SDXC UHS-II slots
• 5.76 Mp OLED viewfinder
• Swivel 2.1 MP touch screen
• Wi-fi and Bluetooth integrated, FTP transfer
• Hosted camera housing
• BG-R10 optional battery grip
• WFT-R10 battery grip with Wi-fi optional

Some of the same features are also found in the EOS R and EOS R6. But the EOS R5 has more of everything, and combines extreme resolution with furiously fast 20 bps shooting rate, 8K RAW video and 10 HEIF (better than 8-bit jpeg), in a solidly built and weatherproof camera housing, we have hardly seen before.

The resolution of the camera’s image chip is excellent for landscape photography, shooting speed and fast autofocus, making the R5 perfect for sports, action and wildlife photography.

But the camera is also excellent as a portrait camera. With Canon’s wide range of quality optics and the camera’s dynamic range, both portrait, wedding and fashion photographers have a lot to go on in finishing. There is almost nothing this camera can not, but that does not mean that there are no restrictions in the EOS R5.

360 degree ergonomics

Canon has almost always succeeded with the ergonomics of its cameras. The cursed touchpad on the EOS R has fortunately been replaced with a joystick on the R5. Buttons and the three adjustment knobs naturally fall into place when you grab the camera. Maybe the status screen at the top could have been bigger, and an extra programmable button on the front, could have been nice to have, but otherwise the camera is exemplary clear and easy to use, after a little run-in time.

The camera has two card slots. One for the fast CFexpress cards, the other for SD cards with UHS-II support. The former is absolutely necessary to store 8K video, which can not be stored on a regular SD card.

If you turn the camera to the other side, you will find connections for microphone, headphones, remote control, HDMI, flash, and USB charging.

Several of the buttons can be deactivated with a lock button on the top, and you can control all menu selections and settings also on the rotating touch screen. Which can also be used to shift focus when e.g. uses the screen during video recording.

Like the others in the R-Series, the camera has an M-Fn button where you can quickly change ISO sensitivity, continuous shooting, servo / oneshot autofocus, white balance and flash compensation.

Even more setting options are available with the Q button on the back. Press and scroll with the setting wheel or your finger to the setting you want to change.

The mode button on the top and the setting wheel around it are used to change program automation. All common program options are available, you can put together your own preferred setting options, and the camera has one program option you can hardly find on other cameras: Fv.

As simple as that, a flexible variant of full program automation where the camera controls everything, but with the option to change the aperture, shutter speed or ISO whenever you want.

To switch between still images and video recordings, press the Mode button first, and then the Info button on the back. Then you can scroll through the many automatic programs, including manual exposure, with the setting knob on top. A separate button to switch between still images and video would have been preferable. There is space to the left of the viewfinder, Canon.

But the nice thing is that the camera remembers all setting options on still, and video, independently.
120 hz OLED viewfinder

The large OLED viewfinder has a full 5.76 Mp resolution, and if you do not need to save power, it can be set to 120 Hz for faster response than the usual 60 Hz. and it makes the viewfinder much better to use, with silky smooth image and high detail sharpness.

Image stabilizer

The built-in image stabilizer works with all lenses, but best with some Canon lenses, where you can achieve up to eight exposure steps with compensation for instability. Like holding the camera at long shutter speeds, or moving the camera a lot during shooting.

While an RF 70-200mm f2.8L IS provides 7.5-step compensation together with R5, you get 8-step with 24-70 f2.8L and 85mm f1.2L, which we tested the camera with, but also with 24- 105f4 and 24-105 f4-71, 28-80 f2L and the new 85mm f2 Macro.

The wide-angle zoom RF 15-35 f2.8L, 35 f1.8 IS and 50 f1.2L, provides 7-step image stabilization together with R5.

Focus selection

The photographer has several options for selecting autofocus as needed. You can also choose to fine-tune the autofocus with a deep dive into the extensive on-screen focus menus. Parameters such as tracking sensitivity, acceleration and deceleration speed can be adjusted in several steps, and there are ready-made groups of parameters – which can also be changed, in the on-screen menus.

This is how the photographer should find the most suitable focus method for the subject. Photographing wild animals is less predictable for autofocus – and the photographer, than sports and portrait photography, and requires different settings.

Canon says they have worked hard on advanced machine learning to make the R5 behave as well as possible on demanding subjects, and the camera’s focus tracking is the best on any Canon camera to date, and in most cases on par with our reference camera from Sony.

The photographer can select focus and follow focus on eyes, faces, or animals, and the photographer can select point focus, one-point focus, extended focus area in cross or square, zone focus, and vertical or horizontal grouping of focus points in one zone.

8K-video

That being said, the Canon camera delivers very high video quality in 4K. Up to 100 fps with 1800 Mbps bit rate, and 10-bit depth with 4: 2: 2 in either All-Intra compression. It also has 4K at 50, 25 and 24 fps and you can choose DCI or UHD pixel width in 4K.

The camera has barely visible rolling shutter at 4K, but you should drive the highest possible 4K quality at 100 fps, if you are going to record video with a lot of panning, to avoid jerky movements.

It is also possible to select 4K from a cropped section corresponding to the APS-C format with sampling from 5.1K resolution.

But of course they are 8K which is the big talk here. Because while 4K video can give you 10-bit depth and a resolution equivalent to 8.3 Mp, which many are used to from Netflix on TV, Apple TV 4K and many other video sources, 8K is something completely different.

In every way.

First of all, the amount of data is huge. With 33.2 Mp resolution in 10-bit depth and 8K RAW (2600 Mbps!), The GigaBytes crash quickly, the memory card fills up quickly (7 min and 30 sec on a 128 GB CFexpress) and the camera gets hot. Very hot. Our test specimen was over-nervous and quickly came up with an on-screen warning of overheating on 8K recordings.

Although Canon initially claimed up to 20 minutes of 8K shooting – 30 minutes in 4K – the camera could not stand many minutes in the scorching sun, before warning that it would turn off to cool down. The same applies, albeit to a lesser extent, to 4K HQ video. If you shoot many sequences in sequence, the camera becomes hot, which reduces the recording time.

The short recording time mainly applies when you make the memory card, if you use an external recorder, the case is different for you, but Canon had to come up with an update to R5.

Because online, rumors quickly spread that the camera was completely useless on 8K video, not only because there was a risk that the camera cut my recording, but also a cooling period of up to half an hour, where the camera was completely useless.

A new firmware in version 1.1.0 contained some minor fixes, but more importantly, better temperature control and longer recording times, with shorter cooling phases.

It can also record video in 8-bit 4: 2: 0, it also has Canon Log 1 (C Log 3 is coming), it can take 10-bit HDR still images in HEIF format, which gives much better quality than 8- bits jpeg, and it supports All-I or IPB compression of 4K – and as mentioned 8K RAW.

It is also possible to retrieve still images from 33.4 MP from 8K DCI video, 8.8 from 4K DCI video, or UHD if desired.

Computer power

Many people may have upgraded their fleet of computers that can handle 4K video processing. It has guaranteed cost. Not only does 4K in the highest quality take up a lot of storage space. It also requires a lot of processor, graphics card, memory (both speed and quantity), and the user.

To pull 8K through the same processing, even more power is required. Much more. Even if you shoot 8K compressed in either All-I or IPB, it requires an even more powerful multi-core processor, much more powerful graphics engine, and much more memory than the 32 GB I had on a five-year-old, quad-core iMac, with 2 GB of graphics memory.

I also tried a brand new iMac with the newer eight-core processor generation, and a much more powerful graphics processor with 8 GB of memory. It went much better on 8K ALL-I and IPB, but not on 8K RAW. Not tjangs. It would have worked better with even more memory, but 8K is so processor intensive that it will cost to upgrade to something that can be used for post-processing of 8K video. Especially 8K RAW.

Shooting rate and autofocus

High-resolution still images and 8K video are not all Canon cameras can. The firing rate of 12 frames / s with mechanical shutter, holds up to most assignments, but with as much as 20 bps with electronic shutter available, the R5 is a raw paw in sports. This is largely due to the fact that the camera’s Dual Pixel II autofocus is so lightning fast and at the same time precise, that you are left with an enormous number of images in focus. Far more than from the EOS R, and Sony a7r IV for that matter, and the R5 is more in line with the professional camera EOS 1DX Mark III here. Although the firing rate of the SLR is lower.

The autofocus works down to -5 to – 6 exposure steps, depending on the lens, and the camera is well suited for action photography in low light.

Picture and video quality

Let there be no doubt, this is not only Canon’s best image quality, it’s on par with the best we’ve seen from any camera. Medium format included. The image dynamics from the EOS R5’s 45 Mp image chip are second to none from the Sony a7r IV with 61 Mp, or the Panasonic Lumix S1R with 47 Mp.

The color reproduction is more appealing than from the a7r IV, in my opinion, because skin tones look more natural, blue is not a little extra blue, and red is muted to a more believable level, compared to the Sony camera reproduction. I emphasize that this is jpeg against jpeg, but you can also see that the cameras are ‘tuned’ differently on the raw files.

The Canon camera’s 10-bit HEIF files – which can be converted to jpeg in the camera – give the photographer much more to go in highlights and shadows than jpeg will ever do. and shows why HEIF should become a standard on all cameras from now on. That’s certainly a good argument for choosing Canon, at least.

The detail resolution is much better than from the EOS R6, but also the EOS R, and the camera delivers better sharpness in all conditions, than the SLR EOS 5DS manages with 51 Mp.
If you look at the noise level here, there is good control up to 6400 ISO where weak grain noise can apply, while even 12800 ISO is not so cloudy that it is critical, but remember that color noise can often be even more visible at high ISO, at photos taken in low light = longer shutter speeds.

How about 8K versus 4K, you ask? Video is increasingly important, we hear. But it will probably be a long time before 8K becomes important. This does not mean that 8K does not have the right to life, because there is a noticeable quality difference between 8 and 4K resolution. Even on a screen that cannot display 8K video.

Without drawing the conclusion too far, I can at least say that everyone sees the difference. Whether it is large enough to be significant is another matter. The first time I checked the video quality from the EOS R5, it was on a Panasonic TV with 4K resolution. Even there, there was visibly better sharpness of detail on 8K versus 4K recording.

On an LG TV with 8K resolution, of course, the quality difference was even greater. Here you could clearly see how much more information there was in 10-bit 8K video, because the colors had more depth, contours were rendered sharper, the image got more depth, and of course a much better detail resolution.

Small print signs were barely legible in 4K, but fully legible in 8K, and details in the image were far more clearly rendered in 8K. So it definitely has something to do with (K-video. Especially if you can use the recording as a starting point to edit with several sections from the same feed, and crop when necessary. But also try to scale down 8K to 4K, it will also be better than filming only in 4K.
So yes, 8K in a camera has something to offer, but it may come a little early for many of us.

Conclusion

The Canon EOS R5 is one of the roughest cameras we have tested, and the first with 8K video recording. This makes the camera unique among system cameras, and opens up opportunities many photographers have not yet seen the range of. Maybe it’s a little too early for 8K to gain a foothold in the (professional) market, but the seed has been sown and now it’s up to the photographers to embrace it. Or not. If the answer is no, the EOS R5 is still a fantastic camcorder even on 4K video, not to mention how enormously good it is as a still camera, almost no matter what you need it for. Sports, action, portraits, landscapes, architecture, the Canon camera fixes everything. Competitors should be concerned.