The persistent rain outside the windows made me search my archives for photos this week instead of going outside. But it wasn't a nostalgic trip back in time - it was a focused search for sample images from a particular lens, a review of which you'll soon be able to...
Photographing the Ring-Billed Gull: A Rarity No More
In North America, the most commonly-known birds are probably the Rock Dove, Mallard, and Ring-billed Gull. The Ring-billed Gull is also one of the most photographed birds in the world, being #21 in eBird’s library with over 120,000 photos! But did you know that the Ring-billed Gull was once fairly rare?
Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena Review
Our review of the Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena is fully updated! This review was a collaboration between Libor Vaicenbacher, Spencer Cox, and Nasim Mansurov. Today’s update not only includes lab tests, but also a head-to-head shootout between four of Nikon’s top Z-series portrait lenses.
Nikon Z8 Firmware Version 2.0 Released: Bird AF, Auto Capture, Pixel Shift
Nikon just announced a major firmware update for the Nikon Z8, bringing it some highly-anticipated features from the Z9 and Zf cameras. The headlining features are a dedicated bird-detection autofocus option, the addition of Auto Capture (borrowed from the Z9) and a Pixel Shift shooting mode that allows capture up...
Ice Crystal Photography Documenting an Ephemeral World
Winter is often regarded as the doldrums for nature and wildlife photographers here in Michigan. Despite the unusually warm weather this year, opportunities for outdoor photography have been quite limited, often resulting in gloomy two-hour long outings in the wild yielding little more than a few images of withered brown...
Photography News: OM System News, Rumored Nikon Z6 III Specs
Coffee on the table, down jacket, and hat. In the room where I've just opened my computer, it's barely 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius). The fire behind my back started crackling cozily just a few moments ago. Slowly and reluctantly, the spruce logs are beginning to release the solar...
XPPen Deco Pro and Artist Pro 14 Pen Tablets Reviewed
A pen tablet can be an amazing control interface for editing photos, especially with Photoshop. But with the variety of pen tablets available, choosing the right one can feel like a guessing game. Today, I'll review two options from XPPen's lineup, both featuring their latest X3 chip for 16K pressure...
How to Do Urban Wildlife Photography
"Urban wildlife." Put together, those two words sound like a contradiction. Something like a "square circle," "hot ice," or "honest politician." But cities really are full of life, and not the just two-legged kind of hairless primates. There is also a wide variety of animals to photograph. I recently returned...
The Two Opposing Theories of Mirrorless
It's been apparent for a while that Nikon and Canon have all but killed off the DSLR. Recent reports of Nikon shutting down their F-Mount assembly lines may have been greatly exaggerated, but with each passing year, the odds that we see a new Nikon or Canon DSLR (or even...
Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S Review
Our Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S review is fully updated! We’ve added complete lab tests, including sharpness, vignetting, and chromatic aberration (tested with and without Nikon’s 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters). Likewise, a full comparison with other supertelephotos has been added to the review. Enjoy!