This one will be short and sweet, as Tamron released just two lenses this year. This output is not far off the three lenses the company launched in 2024 and matches Tamron's pair of new lenses in 2023.
While Panasonic ignored Micro Four Thirds in 2025, OM System thankfully didn't. And that's a good thing, too, because it's OM's entire business. OM System didn't entirely allay my fears about Micro Four Thirds's ultimate fate, but at least the company did release some nice products this year.
2025 was an excellent year for Panasonic's full-frame Lumix S system and an eerily quiet one for Micro Four Thirds. The year was headlined by the Lumix S1 II, a dynamite full-frame hybrid camera, and the S1R II, the long-awaited high-res update.
Chinese smartphone makers are all-in on photography. Xiaomi's latest Leica-infused phone, the 17 Ultra by Leica, features incredible camera specs, the famous Leica Red Dot logo, and, most interestingly, a manual lens zoom ring.
Viltrox has released promised firmware updates for lenses to improve performance and ensure compatibility with the brand-new Sony a7 V.
Fujifilm is going to be very difficult to grade this year, not because the company didn't do anything, but because it delivered such an eclectic mix of products, ranging from fun but bad to good but boring. Fujifilm always does things a bit differently, but this year was especially odd.
Leica counted down the days to Christmas in style, delivering daily videos that showcase "the most special things" in the company's archives. As is tradition, the photographic advent calendar of sorts concluded yesterday, Christmas Eve, and we thought a nice little Christmas present to our passionate readers was a recap of Leica's Christmas countdown.
Sony has long been the top dog in the full-frame mirrorless camera space, but the gap has closed dramatically in recent years. Did Sony do enough to stave off the competition in 2025?
Since veteran astronaut and fantastic photographer Don Pettit returned from his record-setting fifth expedition to space in April, he has been regularly sharing photos he captured aboard the ISS. His most recent one is a remarkable portrait of his fellow astronaut, Sunita "Suni" Williams, floating in space during her ninth spacewalk. The International Space Station's (ISS) solar array is in the background, delivering an incredible sense of scale.
When Nikon announced the RED-fueled ZR cinema camera in September, it also unveiled a companion shotgun microphone, the ME-D10. This new mic is now finally available in stores.
Just ahead of Christmas, here's an inspiring story about David Hurn, a 91-year-old photographer who has captured some of the most iconic images of the past century, including the instantly recognizable portrait of Sean Connery as James Bond.
Nikon's 2024 acquisition of RED bore its first major fruit this year, but the RED-infused Nikon ZR is far from the only great product the legendary Japanese company released in 2025. Nikon launched three cameras and five lenses, nearly all of which proved impressive.
The first public trailer for Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan's upcoming epic, "The Odyssey," has arrived. The movie, shot on Kodak 65mm film and IMAX film cameras, is slated to make cinematography history and required the use of over two million feet of Kodak film.
The National Park Service is seeking information on a pair of visitors, including a photographer, who were recently caught on camera throwing rocks at resting seals at Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced late Monday that it would add DJI to its "Covered List," effectively banning all future DJI drones from the United States. A disappointed DJI says it remains committed to the U.S. market despite the ban.
This was a busy year for Canon, highlighted by a very good video camera in the Canon EOS C50 and an even better hybrid camera in the EOS R6 Mark III, PetaPixel's Camera of the Year. But Canon's 2025 included much more than just these two cameras, so let's take a deeper dive into Canon's year, how it transformed the EOS R landscape, and how it sets the stage for more excellence from Canon in 2026 and beyond.
After an uncharacteristically prolific 2024, Hasselblad slowed down in 2025 in terms of quantity but reached new heights when it comes to quality.
We're kicking off our annual recap series with a look back at the best and most interesting Chinese lenses of 2025. From 7Artisans to Viltrox, let's remember some great Chinese glass that hit the scene in 2025.
Award-winning South African photographer Shem Compion's latest photography book, "The Rift: Scar of Africa," features nearly 300 photos from Compion's more than 20 years of exploring and photographing the Great Rift Valley in Africa.
Fujifilm Corporation announced this week that it will invest approximately 5 billion yen (nearly $31.8 million at current exchange rates) into expanding its production capabilities for Instax film. Fujifilm says this move is in response to growing global demand for Instax film products amid a broader increase in demand for analog photography overall.
Canon's promised slate of massive firmware updates for its EOS Cinema cameras arrived this week, bringing things like open-gate recording to the Canon EOS C400 and improved operability to the C80. The Canon EOS R5 C, C400, C80, and C70 all received firmware updates this week.
Chinese company and TikTok owner ByteDance has signed a deal to transfer the majority of its U.S. operations to a group of investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. This deal arrives after months of stops and starts, deadline extensions, and even failed deals.
Benro has unveiled the NE1, an adjustable electronic neutral density (ND) filter system designed for photographers and videographers. Without rotating the filter, users can adjust the ND filter strength from about ND3 to ND64.
Despite Apple's impressive and successful efforts to give the iPhone 17 series of smartphones a much better front-facing camera, some iPhone 17 Pro users would still prefer to use their device's rear cameras. However, this has the drawback of not allowing you to see how a photo looks. Selfix, "the ultimate selfie case for iPhone," aims to overcome this limitation.
Blackmagic Camera 10.0 has arrived, bringing new features and improved performance to numerous Blackmagic Design camera models, including the Pyxis 12K, Pyxis 6K, and Ursa Broadcast G2.
Around 4,100 photographers from 123 different countries entered over 23,000 photos into the World Sports Photography Awards 2026 competition. While the winners won't be revealed until next month, the finalists across the contest's 24 categories have been selected, and every single photo is incredible.
The HiRISE camera inside NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured its 100,000th image, marking a momentous occasion for the nearly 20-year mission.
Lensrentals has shared its top photography and videography rentals of 2025, continuing the company's annual tradition of recapping the cameras, lenses, and accessories customers want the most. Yet again, the list is dominated by Canon and Sony equipment across the board.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) has been fully assembled, a momentous occasion for the scientists, engineers, and technicians who have spent years working on the telescope. It is also a significant achievement for humanity at large. Once the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope takes flight, it will peer into the cosmos and capture images and data of 80,000 supernovae, 100 billion stars, billions of galaxies, and hundreds of black holes, helping unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter.
Viltrox announced the 35mm f/1.2 LAB lens for Sony E-mount earlier this year, and it's excellent. It is now available for full-frame and APS-C Nikon Z-mount mirrorless cameras, costing less than half the price of Nikon's own Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S prime.
As promised, the Ricoh GR IV HDF is coming very soon. Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation announced today that the GR IV HDF will be showcased at the company's GR Space retail locations starting tomorrow, December 17, and will begin shipping to customers next month.
Last year, astronomers discovered the brightest Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT) ever observed. A complete understanding of this type of event, an exceptionally bright blue flash that quickly fades, has long eluded scientists. However, a new analysis of the brightest burst last year has unlocked key insights into the event, and scientists now believe the blue cosmic outburst is caused by black holes shredding massive cosmic companions, like stars.
YouTube creator and do-it-yourself enthusiast Penguin DIY recently built a secret camera hidden inside a walnut shell, and it's an excellent, albeit nutty, example of what creative people with engineering skills can do with miniaturized camera technology.
Adobe launched Firefly Video back in February to criticism. In the months since, the company has continued to update its platform and today unveiled new AI video editing features and partner AI models inside Firefly.
The prestigious Hasselblad Masters photography competition is back again, and the 2026 edition is now open for entries. Photographers compete across seven categories, with each category winner earning a valuable Hasselblad camera kit and €5,000 in cash. An overall winner will also be named a "Hasselblad Master," joining an elite group of photographers.
Nikon has announced firmware version 5.30 for its full-frame flagship mirrorless camera, the Z9. The free firmware promises across-the-board improvements, including enhanced autofocus, better Auto Capture functionality, and workflow improvements.
The Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) released its latest data detailing global digital camera and lens shipments from Japanese manufacturers. After a terrible August, shipments bounced back in September. This bounce back continued in October, the most recent dataset available, which was the most prolific month for digital camera and lens shipments in the past three years.
Some photographers love taking pictures of trains. In many cases, that is fine. However, in Japan, this passion can go too far. Beyond "menacing society," Japanese train photographers, known as "toritetsu," are engaging in increasingly dangerous behaviors to get the best shots, and railway companies are working hard to educate and protect photographers from themselves.
Map Camera, one of Japan's largest photography retailers, has released its monthly sales charts for brand-new and used camera models. The Canon EOS R6 Mark III, PetaPixel's Camera of the Year, delivered an outstanding debut, topping the November sales charts "far ahead" of second-place.
The ongoing battle of the latest superb mid-range cameras has a new chapter. Photons to Photos has published Canon EOS R6 Mark III dynamic range test results, enabling pixel-peeping photographers to see how the Canon R6 III stacks up against the Sony a7 V. Both cameras employ 33-megapixel full-frame sensors and target similar audiences at nearly identical prices, but they do many things differently, including image sensor technology.
Another day, another Sony a7 V dynamic range update. Our initial speculation has proven correct, and the new a7 V is employing Dual Gain Output (DGO) to achieve outstanding dynamic range when using its mechanical shutter at base and low ISO settings. Further, building upon research by Adam Horshack, William "Bill" Claff of the excellent Photons to Photos has revised his a7 V testing to indicate that the camera is not using baked-in noise reduction with its RAW files. What initially appeared to be evidence of noise reduction is, in fact, DGO.
After popular YouTuber Kai Wong reviewed the a7 V last week and mentioned potential issues with third-party lenses, concerns about whether the a7 V is taking a different approach to E-mount's famous openness spread like wildfire. However, while there is always the chance that certain lenses, particularly third-party ones, may have compatibility issues with new cameras, there is no reason to believe that the Sony a7 V represents any departure from Sony's longstanding view toward third-party optics.
Just one day after publishing his dynamic range tests for the Sony a7 V using its mechanical shutter, show exceptional dynamic range performance that rivals medium-format cameras -- William "Bill" Claff of Photons to Photos is back with a7 V electronic shutter testing. The story the results show is an interesting, albeit predictable one.
As exciting as the latest and greatest cameras are, the best-selling models are, by and large, entry-level cameras with older, worse technology. Photographers love to talk about cutting-edge flagship cameras, but when it comes to consumer spending habits, entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras rule the day, as BCN+R's latest data from Japan shows.
Leica Camera AG has announced a new strategic partnership with leading photography software company, Capture One. The partnership is focused on delivering "the most powerful and reliable tethered shooting experience and editing tools for Leica photographers," whether they are professionals in the studio or creators on the go.
William "Bill" Claff of Photons to Photos has published his Sony a7 V photographic dynamic range (PDR) results. They are fascinating for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that the a7 V's dynamic range performance is superb, rivaling, at least on paper, medium-format cameras with much larger image sensors.
As promised, Nikon and RED have launched their new Imaging Recipes for compatible Nikon Z Series cameras, including the Z6 III, Z5 II, Z50 II, Zf, and the most recent Nikon Z camera, the video-oriented ZR. There are nine new RED-developed Imaging Recipes, plus a trio of new ones from professional creators.
When the Sony ZV-E10 II launched in July 2024, it did so with the promise of significant improvements over its predecessor and high-level content creation ambitions. One of the biggest improvements was finally delivering 4Kp60 video, something the original ZV-E10, puzzlingly, could not. Now, with a free upgrade released today, the ZV-E10 II can do one better: 4Kp120 recording.
Adobe has brought tools from Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat into OpenAI's widely used conversational AI platform, ChatGPT. Adobe's new apps for ChatGPT promise to combine ChatGPT's straightforward conversational AI with Adobe's "industry-leading" creative tools. Adobe says it is now even easier for everyone to edit photos and transform documents, all without leaving ChatGPT.
Viltrox has been busy so far in December. Alongside wide-angle and telephoto conversion lenses for Fujifilm X100 Series cameras, the Chinese lens maker has also launched a new 2x teleconverter for Sony E-mount cameras. The new teleconverter works with the expected Sony lenses, plus Viltrox's 135mm f/1.8 prime.