The Smart ForTwo was a much-loved microcar that came with an array of customization options over the years, but its biggest strength was its small footprint. It practically took up half of a parking spot, and I’m happy to say its successor follows that same recipe.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Smart, Electric Vehicles, Mercedes-Benz, Geely
If you’re a longtime viewer of The Simpsons, then you know at least two things about Homer: he loves doughnuts, and he’s an absolutely terrible designer of vehicles. But that doesn’t mean no one should ever combine vehicle design with doughnuts, as French company aérOnde has shown us with its aérOnde (“Air-Round”) airship that looks like a giant, flying doughnut covered in white icing.
It’s generally believed that the most complex systems of our world began from very simple things. Then, as a force of survival, evolution began to occur, and things gradually became more complex. This same perspective applies to science’s general understanding of the origin of life. The entire complexity of the molecular system, and life as we know it, all began from something very small, and has evolved into the concept of genetics and modern biology.
The Thypoch's first autofocus lens is an F2.8 for full-frame.
Photo: Mitchell Clark
Over the past few weeks, lens maker Thypoch has been teasing the release of its first autofocus lens. But rather than entering the world of autofocus with a prime, as many of its peers have done, it's introducing the first China-designed and developed zoom for full-frame. And it's an F2.8 zoom, at that.
How has the company gone from making M-mount manual-focus primes to an F2.8 zoom for full-frame? Quickly, says the company's Go-to-Market manager, Xavier Luo.
"The project began at the end of 2024," he tells me: "and it's taken almost a whole year to make the lens ready for large-scale manufacturing."
"In China, this would be considered quite a long time," he says, when I express surprise at the short timescale.
I ask him to expand on why the company decided to jump straight to zoom lenses, and why this particular specification. "We are very good at making zoom lenses," he tells me: "we have a cinema lens background and already make dozens of [manual focus] zooms. Two times, three times, even ten times zooms for full-frame, APS-C and Micro Four Thirds, so we have a lot of experience."
"It's taken almost a whole year to make the lens ready for large-scale manufacturing"And, there's a degree of pride at stake, too, he suggests: “There’s strong anticipation across Asian markets, with Chinese users in particular eager to gain a wider choice of lenses, because the Chinese brands’ prime lenses have become more and more competitive both in terms of price and optic performance. These people are hoping to get a some kind of zoom product in the market so that maybe people can buy a zoom lens with a prime lens price."
Why 24-50mm?The company settled on a 24-50mm as its first product for a number of reasons, Luo tells us:
"We know it has a lot of controversial points." he says: "The core value of the zoom lens is zoom, right? So people are arguing [about] that in the Sony 24-50mm comments. But we noticed that people are getting more and more focused on a lightweight lifestyle in recent years. People are trying to get more lightweight cameras, lightweight bags and lightweight everything. A 24-50mm can cover the daily use, or for your travel."
Shenzhen Dongzheng Optical Technology has already made a range of manual focus cinema zooms under its DZOFilm brand name.
Image: DZOFilm
The other critical factor was that they believed this range would let them make a better lens. "[we didn't want to be] too ambitious, and make a 24-70, that kind of zoom lens," Luo tells us.
"When making zoom lenses, the biggest difficulties is to have a well-controlled distortion and at the same time have a really good sharpness," he says: "We think making a 24-50 means we can control it really well both in terms of sharpness and other [factors, such as] spherical aberration and distortion."
Some of this comes from it taking a different approach: "If you shoot with the Sony 24-50mm original lens with in Raw you may notice that it has in-body distortion correction," he says: "Third-party zoom lenses can be limited by the body communication protocol."
"We think [Sony] has a more open attitude towards third parties""In-body distortion correction means you have a perfect JPEG file but you don't have that in the Raw file. So for optical designers, it gives convenience: they don't have to worry too much about distortion, and that's a big deal, because they have only focus on the sharpness side. But for us, it's totally different: our designers have to look at both factors."
"We asked Sony, but we didn't get any official confirmation," he tells us: "we actually want to pay the protocol license fee, but we couldn't get any official reply. We think they have a more open attitude towards third parties."
ChallengesWe asked what the biggest challenge was of developing an autofocus zoom for the first time: the optical design or the mechanical design. "It's the physical design," Luo tells us: " more specifically, it's the software and electronic parts because in the autofocus lens domain, the level of the electronic and software decides the maximum optic performance in the lens."
Unlike the Sony 24-50mm F2.8, Thypoch's design features internal zoom and does not requre any software distortion correction.
Photo: Mitchell Clark
"It's totally reversed, compared with manual lenses," he says: "with manual lenses, the optic performance leads the mechanical design. But, you know, [for autofocus] it's totally different: it depends on how much weight the lens motor can drive and the precision it can deliver."
The company developed its own STM motors for the task. "I think still 90% of lenses use STM focus motor," he says. The company spent a lot of time working on making sure focus speed was competitive, and that focus is precise and doesn't hunt in video. "we tested the autofocus precision in a lot of scenarios and to make sure [it performed well] whether people are using it for photography or video."
Internal zoomAs well as a design with no software distortion correction, there's another obvious difference between Sony's 24-50mm F2.8 and Thypoch's lens, despite the similar dimensions and weight: the Voyager 24-50mm is an internal zoom design.
This has a benefit beyond just retaining the lenses' compact dimensions, says Luo: "it's better for people who are trying to make vlogs or short video, when they are using the lens on gimbals or even if they are [working] handheld."
The logic of E-mountFor now, the company is focused on the E mount for two reasons, we're told: "We think Sony E-mount has the biggest user group, and [we think] this lens fits the Sony Alpha users' interests. But we are still waiting to see what's happening in this industry, but our focus is just on E-mount right now."
"Our focus is just on E-mount right now"But also, given the recent history of other manufacturers taking non-licensees to court, "Sony has a more open mind for third-party lenses."
Thypoch hasn't revealed all the details of the 24-50mm F2.8 yet. It's already publicly teased that the lens is coming, and shown it at the NAB trade show in Las Vegas. We're hoping this means we don't have to wait too long for the rest of the details, including the price, to be made public.
"I think when we reveal the price, people will be surprised by the high quality performance ratio of this product."
Thypoch Voyager 24-50mm F2.8 Sample galleryWe've been shooting with the Thypoch 24-50mm F2.8 and have produced this gallery of sample images. As always, you can download the Raw files, to see how it performs.
Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.
Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.In an astonishing mix of modern technology with traditional rural crafts, English specialist sports car company Morgan has just unveiled its fastest-ever model.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Morgan, Sports Cars, Retro, Roadster
Humans are eating more fructose than ever and it’s becoming problematic — not just for our widening waistlines but for our brains, mounting research suggests.
Tags: fructose, Sugar, Gut health, Gut Bacteria, Anxiety
Oppo’s Find X9 Ultra takes smartphone photography to the next level with a 10x optical zoom telephoto and dual 200MP cameras built around a Hasselblad-tuned system, plus an externally mounted teleconverter lens option to reach even farther.
Category: Mobile Technology, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Oppo, Hasselblad, Photography, Lens, smartphones
It doesn't take much to pick up a viral infection in spaces we share with other people – whether it's from tiny droplets in the air containing these particles, or touching doorknobs and countertops in offices and hospitals.
Category: Engineering
Tags: Materials, Virus, Silicon, Coating, RMIT University
Around 30 million Americans are living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – close to double the number of those officially diagnosed – making it one of the deadliest health conditions worldwide. While frontline treatment is generally medication to support and boost lung function, it's a surprisingly complex disease without a one-size-fits-all management plan and a good deal of conflicting advice on interventions like exercise.
Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Inflammation, Nutrition, Anti-inflammatory, Chronic illness, Age-Related, Lung disease, Antioxidant
Beneath the expansive concrete overpass amid the bustling hub of Causeway Bay, you'll find a bizarre and enduring tradition in Hong Kong – "villain hitting." Here, elderly women perform an elaborate ritual that involves bashing a name written on paper with a shoe, while chanting, to free people from someone causing them grief and encourage fortune and peace in their place.
Category: Holiday Destinations, Outdoors
Tags: History, China, Traditional medicine, Ghosts, ancient, Shoes, Fire, World's Most Powerful
“Purity” is one of the many myths of perfection, suggesting that absolute conformity is the only way to produce supreme value. Just as that claim is false for human populations, new research in physics at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) shows it’s also false for solar cells.
Category: Energy, Engineering
Tags: Institute Of Science And Technology Austria, Perovskite, Solar Cell, Photovoltaic
This 215-sq-ft (20-sq-m) tiny house may be on the smaller side, but it still manages to make room for some of life's luxuries. The non-towable home features a comfortable interior for two and even has its own sauna and hot tub nearby.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home
The theme for our April Editor's photo challenge was "Film Photography."
This month, we returned to the analog roots of photography: film. DPReview photographers made every grain count, with photos ranging from the serious to the whimsical. What made this challenge even more interesting was the fantastic variety of cameras used to capture this month's images!
As always, we received many more great photos than we can feature here. Our favorites, showcasing a diverse range of vision and talent, are presented in random order.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this photo challenge. If you'd like to participate in other photo challenges, you can visit our Challenges page to see currently open or upcoming challenges, or to vote in a recently closed challenge.
Speed from the pastPhotographer: RacingManiac
Photographer's statement: I found a box of color slides I shot back in 2006. It was never digitized, and it was basically just an experiment as I was getting into photography. I decided to try to digitize them using a DIY method. The race was an American Le Mans race at Mosport, Canada.
The camera was a Minolta Maxxum 7, probably with a Minolta AF 300 F4 G APO. The "scanning" was done with a Sony a7 IV and a Minolta 50mm F2.8 Macro, using an LED light to backlight the slide, then post-processed in DxO PhotoLab.
Film: Fujifilm Velvia 100
Equipment: Minolta Maxxum 7 + Minolta AF 300mm F4 G APO
Tiny dancersPhotographer: swald
Photographer's statement: While traveling in the old Soviet Union with a small group, I was able to visit a small ballet school in St. Petersburg. The young dancers were very excited to perform for us.
Film: Kodak T-Max 400 film
Equipment: Asahi Pentax Spotmatic + Super-Takumar 35mm
Veins of lightPhotographer: Vincent DP
Photographer's statement: A long exposure of city traffic on Rue de la Loi, Brussels, at blue hour. The saturation from the Kodak Ektar film makes the cool blues and vibrant reds pop. This is the heart of Brussels' European Quarter, with veins of light running to the horizon.
Shot with a medium-format Altissa Box camera made in the early 1950's that I inherited from my grandfather, with an ND filter duct-taped on. I developed the film at home.
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Equipment: Altissa Box + Altissar Periskop
WrestlingPhotographer: Champ42e
Photographer's statement: Shooting at ringside in Roanoke, Virginia, I experienced my first and only professional wrestling match, shooting for a long-gone local magazine. I had to dodge several wrestlers flying over the ropes.
I used an on-camera flash. The negative was scanned using an iPhone 13 Pro with a homemade negative holder/camera mount.
Film: Kodak Tri-X 400
Equipment: Olympus XA-2
Robert Plant 1977 – Led ZeppelinPhotographer: vbuhay
Photographer's statement: Best concert of my life. Led Zeppelin, April 30, 1977, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. A shot of Robert Plant singing one of their iconic songs, "Stairway to Heaven." One of the frames from that photo shoot was chosen by the band and published in their only book. I was paid for the shot and given a photo credit; my name appears in the book.
Shot handheld, fully manual, I guessed on the focus and exposure since I could not see the performer due to the large crowd at the front of the stage. I made the shot by shooting overhead without looking through the viewfinder and got lucky.
Film: Not specified
Equipment: Vivitar SL220 SLR + Vivitar 135mm F3.5
Renault 5 GT TurboPhotographer: horvat
Photographer's statement: Although this photo was taken only last year, I did my best to create it in the "period-correct" fashion. The location was Zagreb-Fair, with Yugoslav-era brutalist architecture, to suit the French hot hatchback from the '80s.
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Equipment: Nikon F65 + Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm F1.8G
Calf ropingPhotographer: Apochroma
Photographer's statement: This was my first rodeo, both as photographer and spectator. The thing about this rodeo was the location, a purposely picturesque arena built at the Old Tucson Studios, a movie set for westerns popular in the '50 and '60s. Having played and watched sports, I knew what to expect, plus the arena was not large, meaning with the Canon EOS 300mm f2.8 lens, the events were easy to focus on. Walking around with a big white lens, everyone assumed I was a pro, which I was not, but faked it. The camera was a Canon EOS 10s.
Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 exposed at ISO 320
Equipment: Canon EOS 10s + Canon EOS 300mm F2.8
Ski jumpPhotographer: BenGauthier
Photographer's statement: A son of mine in the French Alps in 1992. It was difficult at that time to shoot quickly! I had someone telling me when the jumper (my son) reached the top of the small hill.
Film: Not specified
Equipment: Canon ELPH 100 HS (IXUS 115 HS)
Venice gondoliersPhotographer: rpjallan
Photographer's statement: I believe this is one of the best photos I have ever taken. This was taken in 1985 in Venice, on a Pentax ME Super with, I think, a 50mm F1.7 lens. I saw these guys having a chat as I was crossing the bridge. I framed the shot, then shouted "Hey" and took the photo. Scanned on my Nikon Coolscan LS9000.
Film: Ilford XP1 400 Chromogenic B&W
Equipment: Pentax ME Super + SMC Pentax M 50mm F1.7
EuropanPhotographer: adlerblack
Photographer's statement: Film is an "antiquated," finicky, and less flexible medium when compared to digital. But as someone who enjoys photography for the process itself more than the end result, those restrictions, uncertainties, and quirks are exactly what draw me to film in the first place. This photo, which is my favorite I have shot on film to date, is a perfect example of all of the above.
Shot near Times Square, my Canon A-1 experienced a film advance fault for the first time, resulting in an unintended partial double exposure of two shots meant to be separate. The end result is far more interesting than either of the shots would have been on their own, and never would have been possible if I hadn't fallen in love with a 47-year-old camera that costs me $1 every time I press the shutter. But hey, who's counting when they sometimes turn out like this?
Film: CineStill 800T
Equipment: Canon A-1 + Canon FD 35mm F3.5
Icelandic waterfallPhotographer: GeffBourke
Photographer's statement: This waterscape was taken on a photo tour trip in 2017 to the southern region of Iceland. Our participants all shot digital, while I made it a challenge to shoot only medium format film on this trip. I went with 30 rolls of Ilford Delta 400 120 film and used a Hasselblad 501c and 80mm lens. I also used a Sekonic meter and spot metered on the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows, then calculated with a 10-stop filter attached. I don't remember the exposure time now, but it was a couple of minutes.
Film: Ilford Delta 400
Equipment: Hasselblad 501c + Hasselblad 80mm
Rostiger Nagel, Senftenberg, GermanyPhotographer: Andreas Stueckl
Photographer's statement: This black-and-white analog photograph captures the interior staircase of the Rostiger Nagel, or "Rusty Nail," a landmark viewing tower in Lauchhammer, Germany. It symbolizes the transformation of a former industrial mining region. From a low angle, the structure dissolves into an abstract interplay of lines, shadows, and geometry. The repeating steps and intersecting beams create a disorienting spatial rhythm, reminiscent of M.C. Escher's impossible architectures.
Film: Kentmere 100
Equipment: Pentax ME Super + Pentax SMC M 28mm F2.8
Jacob's Ladder at Glacier National ParkPhotographer: Landscape Lover
Photographer's statement: I was driving in Glacier National Park when I came across this scene of Jacob's Ladder over Lake Sherburne. I thought at the time that this would be the most spectacular scene that I would ever encounter. I told myself that I had to get this picture right. I think that I did. To this day, I have never come across a view that was this dramatic.
Film: Kodacolor VR 200
Equipment: Mamiya Sekor 500 dtl + Mamiya Sekor 50mm
Annecy-le-VieuxPhotographer: OdeonPhoto
Photographer's statement: I was strolling through the old town of Annecy, France, when I spotted this spot high up. But something was missing, so I waited until this man appeared. This photo is an 11x14 print from the '70s that I have hanging on a wall. Since I couldn't scan it, I took a picture of it with my Nikon D90. At that time, I had a black Nikon F, which I was very proud of, with a micro Nikkor 55mm and a 24mm Nikon lens.
Film: Kodak Plus-X
Equipment: Nikon F + Nikkor 24mm F2.8
Grandpa Floyd at age 93Photographer: James5601
Photographer's statement: While visiting my paternal grandfather at his home in Arlington, Massachusetts, in late May of 1981, I asked to take a photograph of him. He was pleased with my request and sat in his reading chair with the portrait of his mother on the wall behind his right shoulder. She died in 1910 when the first automobile in Huntingdon, Tennessee, scared the horse that was pulling her carriage, and it bolted, throwing her to the ground. A few months after this photo was taken, he moved to a retirement home and lived until the age of 95.
I took this photo with my trusty Canon FTb and probably a Canon 50mm F1.8 lens. No flash; light from a large window to Floyd's left provided fill light. I used slide film, probably Kodachrome, speed unknown. To produce this digital file, I photographed the slide with a Sony a7R III and a Tamron 24mm F2.8 lens as a backlight. I made color balance and highlight/shadow adjustments to the file to correct for a purplish hue and to normalize contrast.
Film: Slide film (probably Kodachrome)
Equipment: Canon FTb + Canon 50mm F1.8 lens
Analog diversPhotographer: StefCande
Photographer's statement: I live in the south of France. And not far from my place are a bunch of open submarine caves where you can paddle inside and ride through them. This time I carried my mostly waterproof Nikonos V with me, and my black and white film to go. It's quite dark inside, and the silhouette effect makes it look like a drawing.
Film: Shot on Kodak Tri-X 400
Equipment: Nikon Nikonos V + Nikonos 35mm F2.5
Statue of LibertyPhotographer: ronphoto
Photographer's statement: For the 1986 centennial and restoration celebration of the Statue of Liberty, I set up on the roof of my apartment in Brooklyn, NY.
Shot using Bulb mode at F8. A Black card was raised and lowered while the shutter was open. About two, three or four bursts were recorded without bumping the camera.
Film: Ektachrome 400
Equipment: Nikon F2 + Spiratone 600mm
PodsPhotographer: GrantsImages
Photographer's statement: Milkweed pods are one of my favorite subjects for still life. Shot on my back deck to allow the fluff to fly where it will. Wind helps to create an interesting and dynamic composition.
Film: Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100
Equipment: Mamiya RZ67 Pro II
The glory days of filmPhotographer: Fabian from Swizzy Land
Photographer's statement: This photo was shot back in 2013, when film was out of fashion and buying a Hasselblad 500CM with an 80mm lens was quite cheap. I remember that I paid 500 Euros for the set and went out to Prague to capture the beauty of the city. I decided to use slide film because I wanted to be able to hold these colorful little 6x6 slides in my hands and look at them against the light.
Digitized with a Sony a7 IV and a Cinestill CS Light source.
Film: Kodak Ektachrome 100
Equipment: Hasselblad 500 C/M + Hasselblad 80mm F2.8 CF T* Carl Zeiss Planar
River gazingPhotographer: Loose_Canon
Photographer's statement: Last December, I was in Florence. Crossing one of the bridges, I noticed a young woman gazing out over the river. Quietly, I stood behind her and caught this moody frame.
Film: Ilford Delta 100
Equipment: Leica M2 + 35mm
Imagine a device using an energy source the size of planet Earth, and offering nearly limitless electricity with no ecologically devastating mining required to get it. Science fiction? A lie from Big Battery? A fentanyl fantasy from the Energizer Bunny? No – it’s real, and it’s the ocean.
Category: Energy, Engineering
Tags: EPFL, Clean Energy, Water, Semiconductors
Volkswagen hasn’t exactly nailed the EV game yet … globally, at least. With the much hyped ID.7 sedan scrapped for North America, and cars like the ID.Buzz reporting bleak sales, VW was in a fix.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Volkswagen, Electric Vehicles, Buttons, Screens, Hot hatch
I'm pretty religious about swapping out my HVAC filter every month. When I pay rent, I change the filter. That's just how I do it. Living in a beach town means the wind is pretty much always blowing, and in my case, it's blowing in from the Gulf. The means sand and dust are a constant. And at this particular moment, it's peak pollen season here! If I leave anything outside for a day or two, it's yellow.
Category: Around The Home, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Air purifying, Air Conditioners, Filters, Home, Reviews
The Mova LiDAX Ultra 1000 was hands down the most frustrating mower I've used so far. The caster front wheels made this thing completely unusable in my sandy grass no matter what I tried. So I rage quit and took it down the street to a neighbor's house, where he and his wife spend a significant amount of time caring for their perfect lawn, perfect yard, and lovely garden. If there's any lawn this thing should, could, will, or has to work on, it'd be theirs.
Category: Around The Home, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Lawnmower, Lawnmowers, Autonomous, Mower, Reviews, Garden
A lot of tiny houses nowadays are anything but. For those who think they should actually live up to their name, the Mantra Micro Cabin is an ultra-compact dwelling that ditches the bells and whistles to sleep two for just US$17,000.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, House, Home, Micro-House, Tiny Footprint
California-based aerospace company Airhart Aeronautics recently completed test flights of its new cockpit avionics suite for small planes at the company's Long Beach facility. We sat down with Airhart President Nate Thuli to learn more.
Tags: Aircraft, Flight Tests, Interviews
I've gotten used to this camera over the last six years, but I recently learned I'm missing out on some things.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Cameras from the last handful of years are remarkably good. Most models can produce strong images, handle challenging lighting conditions and reliably get subjects in focus. Overall, they can make it simpler to get more images you like with less work. It's easy to look at what's available today and think: what's left to improve?
That said, my job puts me in an unusual position. I regularly get the opportunity to test new cameras, which means I'm constantly comparing them against my personal reference point: a Sony a7 III, a camera I've owned for six years, and that's now an eight-year-old model. Recently, I had a few weeks with the Sony a7 V, the a7 III's successor's successor, and used it the same way I use my own camera, photographing my pets, still life setups, a baseball game and a portrait session.
What I found is that the gap I'd assumed was negligible is, in certain areas, more significant than I expected. There are things about the latest generation I didn't want to give back. Certain aspects made me aware of what my eight-year-old model lacks compared to what more recent cameras bring to the table.
Image qualityImage quality gains over the past few years are only really visible in extreme situations, such as high contrast scenes, when you look closely.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Let's start with the most subtle and, therefore, most inconsequential change: image quality. While we may no longer be seeing giant leaps in image quality as we were at the beginning stages of digital photography, companies are still striving to bring improvements to the table. Often this takes the form of slight bumps in dynamic range, giving you a bit more flexibility when editing.
As expected, my most recent experience moving from an old mirrorless to a brand-new one wasn't a massive step up in image quality. In fact, it was very, very subtle. I had a few instances of photographing high-contrast and low-light situations where I saw a tiny bit more range, enabling me to get a little more from my files than I could have with my older device. But it was something I had to look closely for, not something that slapped me in the face with its obviousness. Will it matter in the day-to-day or for most shoots? Not really. But is it nice to have for certain situations? Sure.
AutofocusAutofocus is one area that shows the most drastic changes when moving from an old camera to a new one. The fact that I was able to get in-focus shots in this darkroom without much frustration was huge.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
The more substantial upgrade on modern cameras is the autofocus system. This was especially evident when moving from my DSLR to mirrorless, which uses an entirely different autofocus system. And while the jump isn't as drastic when going from a relatively old mirrorless camera, like my a7 III, to a more recent one, it still was a noticeable change that will make it a disappointment to go back to the older model.
Of course, the autofocus improvement you experience when upgrading is going to depend entirely on the model you upgrade from and to, and on what sorts of things you shoot. But broadly speaking, brands have made a handful of improvements in recent years that can make a noticeable difference in real-life situations.
First and foremost, I found the autofocus to be more reliable, especially in tricky situations. I still had misses, don't get me wrong. But I was able to use the camera in less-than-ideal conditions and still get usable shots. For example, I took photographs in a makeshift darkroom lit only with a red LED light, and still got some images in focus with relative ease. My eight-year-old personal camera likely would have struggled substantially with that, and would have at the very least been hunting for focus much more.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Another area that made a difference for me was the added subject detection modes. In my case, I went from a measly two options (human and animal) to a healthy list that includes specific types of animals and vehicles. Even more appreciated, though, is the automatic subject detection setting.
I photograph a range of subjects, with frequent switching between human portraits, my pets and still life scenes. My personal camera requires I fiddle with autofocus settings a fair amount when switching subjects in order to get reliable results. That's far from the case on the new model I used, though, and I was able to just leave it set to automatic and not think about it again. Plus, the subject detection is generally more successful at finding a subject (even with my black pets) and of sticking on them even as they move. My a7 III consistently fails at keeping a subject in focus as they move, so this is a big win for me.
Ergonomics and UII am going to miss the smoother exposure compensation dial greatly.
Photo: Abby Ferguson
I know some people who refuse to buy the first generation of any type of product. Their thought process is that the brand has too many kinks to work out, and the later generations will show advancements that make the product actually worth using.
Cameras aren't an exception to the rule, and as each model comes along, brands iterate on its design, attempting to make the ergonomics and user interface better each time. Ergonomics are inherently personal, so new designs won't always be a win for you in particular. But refinements in these areas are generally useful and can make the camera more pleasant to hold and use, especially for long periods of time.
In my case, it came down to simple things that I only noticed after living with the camera for a few days and then going back to my older model. For example, the a7 V's exposure compensation dial rotates with much less resistance than my a7 III, making it easier to use quickly in the middle of a shoot. Because of that, I used it far more often, helping me dial in my shots more in-camera than I did previously.
On the UI front, the menus were more logical. That meant I didn't avoid them nearly as much as I had in the past. Instead of just dealing with annoying things because I didn't want to find the setting in the menus, I confidently went and adjusted what I needed to when I needed to, even if it was in the middle of a portrait session. All-in-all, the camera got in my way less, so I could focus more on the shoot.
Rear displayBeing able to change the rear display position beyond tilt is hugely appreciated for my workflow.
Photo: Mitchell Clark
Camera technology involves many parts that are also used in other devices, so improvements in those parts over the past few years have naturally made their way into cameras. Electronic displays, which we see on the rear screens and in EVFs of our cameras, are a great example of this.
I never thought I had complaints about the quality of the rear display on my personal camera, but after using something newer, it's one of the things I realized I was missing out on. It features a higher resolution and has a bit more contrast, making it easier for me to judge details and focus on the back of the camera. It's also brighter, which means I could see those things more easily when at a session in bright, open sunlight. The colors also look a bit nicer.
Simply put, it makes my images look a little better on the back of the camera. While that doesn't change the actual files at all, it is a confidence builder while in the midst of a shoot, and that's never a bad thing in my book.
A bigger upgrade for me, though, is the updated rear display form factor. Many companies have switched to articulating and fully tilting screens, which provide greater flexibility. I shoot a lot of vertical images, and I also put myself in awkward positions for photos on a regular basis. On my older camera, the tilt-only screen was useful for low shots, but that's really it. The newer rear displays allow me to adjust in just about any way I need to, making it easier for me to get the shots I want without fully contorting my body.
A new "good enough"All of this isn't to say that all new cameras are inherently better than old ones. Or that you can't produce anything good with old cameras (I'd like to think my work shows that you can, but maybe that's my ego talking). I'm not here to tell everyone using an old camera that they need to upgrade as soon as possible.
And yet... using a recent camera made me aware of the (now apparent) shortcomings of my older model. There are improvements that don't really affect me because of my way of working (video specs, burst shooting features, etc.), but there are some that will be genuinely hard to live without now that I know how good it can be.
