The Artemis II mission, which will return US astronauts to lunar space, has run into problems that have critics demanding NASA remove the crew from the flight for safety reasons. The bigger question is, why do we have astronauts at all?
Tags: Mars, Moon, Orion Spacecraft, artemis, International Space Station, Apollo
I photographed this pup during an event called "Barktoberfest," where people dressed their pets for Halloween and brought them to work. He was fascinated by my camera, and followed me around peering into the lens, just begging me to take his photo. Some dogs just love being in front of the camera.
Photo: Dale Baskin
Our February Editors' photo challenge theme is "Canine Capers."
This month, our Editor's challenge has gone to the dogs. Literally. We want to see your most impressive dog photography. Whether you've captured a soulful portrait, an action shot of a pup in flight, or your furry sidekick in an embarrassingly bad Halloween costume, we want to see it. Our favorites will be featured in an article on the DPReview homepage.Photos can be submitted between Sunday, February 15, and Saturday, February 21 (GMT). The challenge is open to photos captured at any time.
Important: Images MUST include a title and a caption of at least 25 words to be eligible. We need to be able to share the story behind your photo. We will consider both photos and captions when selecting our winners, so make sure to tell us that story!
Visit the challenge page to read the full rules and to submit your photos for consideration as soon as the challenge opens.
The KTM saga is perhaps one of the most intriguing stories we’ve seen unfold in the automotive world in recent times. It’s been a relentless rollercoaster, and just when we thought things were nearing normalcy, another bump appears.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
It turns out your mouth may know more about your metabolism than your bathroom scale. New research shows that people with obesity host a distinct oral microbiome compared to individuals at a healthy weight. Rather than zeroing in on the gut microbiome, the study turns our attention to the mouth as a potential biological signal of metabolic health. It’s a shift that could challenge long-held assumptions about where obesity-related biomarkers can be measured.
Category: Obesity, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind
Tags: Obesity, metabolism, Oral bacteria, Insulin
Zinc oxide remains one of the best forms of sun protection thanks to its ability to block both UVB and UVA rays. However, few really appreciate its thick white look – except, maybe, lifeguards in the '80s. UCLA researchers believe they have a solution.
Category: Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
The BeerPAN may be the entry point for photographers seeking an affordable alternative to vintage medium-format panoramic cameras that usually sell for several thousand dollars. It's a 35-mm film camera that's compatible with Bronica Zenza ETR lenses.
Category: Photography, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Film Cameras, Kickstarter, Panorama
In its time, Sea-Doo’s RXP-X has built a reputation as the company's most aggressive, race-inspired personal watercraft – one designed for explosive acceleration, tight cornering and supreme control even at high speed. In 2026, the RXP-X RS 325 takes Sea-Doo's flagship model to a new level, getting a huge technology boost – and more – all for the rider's enjoyment.
Category: Boats and Watersports, Toys, Outdoors
Tags: SeaDoo, Jetski, Water Sports, High-speed, Smart technology
A gigantic fin whale gently breaking the water's surface. What do you feel about the top-down shooting angle in this image? How does it compare to other top-down shots you've seen? (Disko Bay, Greenland)
DJI Mavic 3 Classic | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F4
Aerial photography has always offered a unique perspective, and recent technological advances have made this genre of photography more accessible than ever. But what are the implications for the wildlife we're trying to capture?
In this article, I'd like to share my thoughts about wildlife photography from the air, namely, using a manned aircraft (helicopter or light plane) or a drone. Photographing animals from the air is a somewhat controversial subject, both in terms of how the images look and the moral implications.
"A photographer shouldn't shoot wildlife from the air if doing so causes any serious distress or harm to the animals."Let's address the second controversy first, since people tend to have strong feelings about it.
A photographer shouldn't shoot wildlife from the air if doing so causes any serious distress or harm to the animals. This means, for example, that if a bear is hunting, disturbing it with a buzzing drone and ruining the chase – and potentially depriving it of its prey – is wrong and shouldn't be done.
However, this does not mean that all aerial wildlife photography is wrong. Some animals simply aren't bothered by aircraft at a distance, so if photography is done responsibly and the animal's well-being is taken into account, there's no problem with shooting it from the air.
A family of walruses having a sleepover on a flat iceberg in Svalbard. These lazy blobs couldn't care less about my drone hovering above them. To make sure of that, my guide was monitoring their responses at all times using binoculars. (Magdalenefjord, Svalbard)
DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F6.3
Shooting from far away allowed me to show the shapes a flock of flamingos creates in flight. I was so far away that there's no way they would have been disturbed. (Sandwich Harbor, Namibia)
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | Canon EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS II USM | ISO 400 | 1/1000 sec | F8
Now that we have this out of the way, let's talk about the actual photography. Aerial wildlife photography is awesome. Aircraft can fly to places the photographer can't reach by other means. It can offer a different perspective, for better or worse, and generally opens up the options, which is what we want, assuming we are interested in creating original, interesting art.
That's the good part, but there is a bad part. Using an aircraft means that we almost surely cannot shoot the animal at eye level. This is detrimental in the sense that the photographer is very limited in the kind of connection they can create between the viewer and the subject.
"Wildlife photography is all about bringing the beauty of animals to life and immersing viewers in their habitats."Wildlife photography is all about bringing the beauty of animals to life and immersing viewers in their habitats. Shooting from the air limits how close you can get and the shooting angle, which is a very serious disadvantage.
The way to overcome this disadvantage is to create a connection to the wildlife by other means. Namely, use the aircraft to create an interesting composition that shows the animal in its natural habitat in a visually appealing way.
Take, for example, the image below. This is a good example of an animal-in-landscape type of shot, which means a landscape image with a wildlife element. Here, the compositional 'punch' comes from the shapes of the broken sea ice. The pair of walruses is just the cherry on top – the element that breaks the pattern and injects interest into the flat, somewhat repetitive landscape.
A pair of walruses chilling on sea ice. While the wildlife is the main subject, the broader context of the animals in their habitat and the way I composed the landscape are what make this image work. To achieve this composition, I had to use a drone. (Yoldiabukta, Svalbard)
DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/240 sec | F6.3
I have a bit of a problem with top-down aerial photography, but there are instances where it just works.
Last summer, I shot lunge-feeding fin whales during my Greenland photo workshop, and the drone proved to be the perfect tool for this. Not only did it allow me to get a good view of the whale, free of reflections and close enough to show detail, but since the whales often swim turned to their sides, the drone allowed me to capture the full view of the animals' bodies and behaviors.
Fin whales lunge-feeding in Disko Bay, Greenland. The whales feed by driving krill to the surface, then taking huge gulps and filtering the tiny crustaceans with their baleen. (Disko Bay, Greenland)
DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F3.2
Since the whale is on its side, this high angle was actually perfect to show all the desired detail. See the tiny krill? Am I the only one who thought of Shai Hulud (the sand worm from Dune)? (Disko Bay, Greenland
DJI Mavic 3 Classic | 24mm F2.8 | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F4
The fact that the whales feed turned to the side is exactly why I could shoot top-down (more or less) and still get the interesting parts of my subjects to show in the images.
Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, guide and traveller. You can follow Erez's work on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.
If you'd like to experience and shoot some of the world's most fascinating landscapes and wildlife with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in Zambia, China, Colombia, Vietnam, Madagascar and more.
Erez has recently published his first e-book, Solving the Puzzle, thoroughly explaining his views about composition in landscape photography and beyond.
Selected Articles by Erez Marom:This week, we published our review of the Fujifilm X-T30 III, the company's entry-level, SLR-shaped camera with a now venerable 26MP APS-C sensor. It's shown up in enough of the company's cameras that there are few surprises left when it comes to the image quality, but we still like to share some of the images we take with a camera during the review process.
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.
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Buy at Amazon.comBuy at AdoramaBuy at B&H PhotoWhile AI certainly has its issues – such as rotting your brain and making you stupid – there is little doubt that it excels in medical diagnostics. The technology repeatedly proves itself when it comes to looking at – and into – the human body and predicting disease risk. Some examples of AI's diagnostic prowess include looking at chest X-rays , staring deeply into our eyes to detect diseases, reading MRIs to spot fat around our hearts, and even examining our tongues to detect conditions including asthma and anemia. Now, apparently, it can improve upon the humble stethoscope as well, according to a new study in the journal, Digital Health.
Category: Heart Disease, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind
Tags: Medical conditions, Cardiac, Artificial Intelligence, Diagnostic devices
A few years ago, if you’d told me Ducati’s sub-500cc street-legal enduro was on the cusp of a global release, I’d probably have thought you’d lost it. Fast forward to 2026, though, and that’s exactly what’s happening, with the Desmo450 EDS all set for launch.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Ducati, Off-road, Enduro, Dirtbikes, KTM, Honda Motorcycles
Ever since Kia looked into the crystal ball of off-road mini-camping with its epic, little PV5 WKNDR concept, the world has waited patiently to see what it would drum up as a retail camper van built aboard its highly flexible Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) EV architecture. It waits no more. While Kia has not (yet) developed a fully integrated PBV camper van, it has introduced an officially branded camper kit for the PV5 electric van, which itself launched just a few months ago. Interestingly, the flat-pack IKEA-like (I-Kia?) assemble-yourself kit was developed in the USA, which has not even been confirmed as a PV5 market.
Category: Campervans, Adventure Vehicles, Outdoors
Tags: mini-campervan, Campervan, camper-in-a-box, RV, Kia, Camping, Modular, electric-camper, Outdoors and Camping
If you've long been a fan of the film look on your digital photos, there's a good chance you're familiar with the VSCO Film desktop presets. They were quite popular at one time, but VSCO discontinued them in early 2019, much to the frustration of many photographers. Now, the company is bringing one of its preset packs back, albeit with some caveats.
The VSCO Film 02 presets are available for Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw and feature looks inspired by real films from Kodak, Fuji and Ilford. They aim to translate each film's highlights, shadows, and grain into your digital files. The lineup includes Fujifilm Neopan 1600, Fujifilm Superia (100, 400, 800 and 1600), Ilford Delta 3200, Kodak Portra 160 (NC and VC) and Kodak Portra 400 (NC, VC and UC).
Film 02 includes multiple film looks.Each preset offers the standard look along with variations to further customize the end result. VSCO clarifies that these do more than just change the strength of the preset. They range from a cleaner, more subtle version to stronger looks with dramatic hue shifts that mimic vintage film processes.
The presets come in standard and camera-specific profiles. VSCO says the standard profiles are designed to adapt across a wide range of cameras, while camera-specific profiles are available for popular models from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Ricoh and Leica. They are designed to work with Raw files, so photographers can maintain full editing control, but the standard versions also work with JPEGs.
Each film preset offers additional variations for dialing in your preferred look.For many photographers, the return of VSCO Film 02 presets is a welcome sight. Unfortunately, they’re only available for a limited time, and VSCO hasn’t specified how long. Another critical detail: they are only available for VSCO Pro members. If you want them, you'll need a paid subscription, which costs $5 per month. Having a free trial of the Pro membership does not unlock the presets, though VSCO says you can reach out to the support team to get help expediting your upgrade if you would like access.
This release doesn't cover all the options VSCO previously offered, either. In the website's FAQ section, VSCO addresses whether more could be coming: "We know how much the original preset packs meant to photographers, and we’ve heard the requests. While we don’t have details to share yet, we’re actively exploring what comes next. If and when more preset packs return, VSCO Pro members will be the first to know."
You can find more details about the presets and how to install and use them on the VSCO website.
For most of us, it’s hard to fit our workflows onto a single laptop screen – not efficiently, at least. Whether you’re coding across multiple windows, tracking live markets and news, or juggling messaging, emails, and documents, constantly having to switch windows is just a hassle. Portable triple-display add-ons have attempted to solve this before, giving remote workers and travelers a way to make use of multi-monitor productivity on the go.
Category: Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Kickstarter, Display, Screen, Portable, Productivity
Frustration during repair jobs often comes from not having the right tool or bit size at hand, or from the tool’s battery suddenly dying mid-task. These are the inconveniences that Hong Kong-based company FixBuddy set out to address with the FixBuddy Ratchet. The team describes it as “the ultimate everyday screwdriver” intended for DIY enthusiasts, engineers, and designers.
Category: Around The Home, Lifestyle
Tags: Tools, Kickstarter
If you've ever dreamed of zipping through urban streets or effortlessly biking up a hill in the countryside, Velo De Ville has you covered. The German bike maker has launched the Revo-C, an urban ebike powered by a revolutionary motor developed by the Chinese drone and camera giant DIJ that's so far featured almost exclusively in electric mountain bikes such as the Amflow PL series.
Tags: ebikes, Pedal-assisted, DJI Innovations, Luxury, urban transport
An Italian optics research firm might have just tackled literally the biggest issue I face while motorcycling: the sun in my eyes.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Helmet, Helmet Visor, Road Safety, Glare, Sunlight
Setting up any new camera can be an overwhelming experience because of the extensive number of settings and options. Making matters worse, every brand has its own quirks in default settings and button functionality. Canon cameras are no exception, but the guide below highlights some of the most important settings to adjust on your new Canon camera to help you hit the ground running.
Some settings apply no matter what brand of camera you have, which we've covered in a separate article. You may want to start there, especially if you're a beginner. It's also important to remember that each shooting style and genre has different needs; the items below apply to most photographers rather than to specific niche settings. If you're setting up a new Canon camera, these will give you a good place to start before you fully customize it to your needs.
Engage Raw files Canon provides two primary Raw types: Raw and compressed Raw (called CRaw).To gain the flexibility of shooting Raw (or Raw + JPEG), access the "Image quality" option at the start of the Camera menus. Alternatively, you can also adjust image quality in the Q menu. It's important to note that when changing this setting in the main menu, you'll need to hit OK to approve, though you don't need to hit OK in the Q menu.
Like other camera brands, Canon offers a choice of Raw file formats. The primary Raw option provides uncompressed files, which is what we'd suggest for most people. CRaw applies lossy compression, particularly in deep shadows, limiting your processing latitude. Dual Pixel Raw is available on some cameras in a separate menu option, though we wouldn't recommend using it as it adds file size for little, if any, benefit.
Password settingsCanon has implemented a password feature, apparently to comply with international regulations, to prevent unauthorized access to other devices your camera may be connected to. Note that it's not intended to prevent or deter theft. It is present on all new models and has been added to many older ones with firmware.
If you have an older mirrorless camera without updated firmware, you will not encounter this (until you update the firmware). But if you turn on a new Canon camera that comes with this tool, or one with updated firmware, you'll see a screen requiring you to set a six-digit PIN, which you cannot bypass. The camera will then require that password whenever you start it up or when it wakes from sleep mode. While some may appreciate the slight increase in security, for most, it's just an annoyance, and we'd recommend turning it off right away.
On subsequent startups, your camera will display a box labeled "Do Not Ask Again." If you check that box, as you may guess, you won't be asked to enter the password again. You can also turn it off in the Manage Password menu (found in the yellow Setup menu) by accessing the "Pword Request" option.
You can also change your password in the Manage Password menu and see a log of password changes. If you forget your password, you can reset it using the "Clear entered information" option on the "Manage Password" screen. Be aware, though, that selecting that will conduct a full factory reset of the camera.
Keep track of AF trackingCanon's recent R-series cameras have a menu option called ">Whole Area Tracking Servo AF" in the AF section of their menus. This prompts the camera to track whatever is under your chosen AF point (using the whole area of the screen) and can be engaged for any AF area mode, so long as the camera is set to continuous AF (Servo AF in Canon speak).
The easiest way of engaging this tracking mode is to bring up the Q menu and go to the autofocus area option (typically at the top left). You can engage and disengage tracking by pressing the Info button.
The Q menu makes it easy to toggle AF tracking on and off, particularly on more recent cameras. But remember that if your camera says 'Enable' it means it's already enabled, not that you need to press INFO to enable it.One word of warning, though: on all but the most recent models, the Q menu screen will say "Enable" next to the icon representing tracking. This does not mean you need to press the 'Info' button to enable the function; it actually indicates that the function is already enabled. Don't be confused by this grammatical error. On the most recent models, this has been fixed, and the screen indicates whether tracking is On or Off.
On first-generation R-series cameras (EOS R, EOS RP, EOS R6 and EOS R5), setting the camera to track the subject of your choice is a little more complicated. First, you need to engage Face + Tracking as your AF area (called "AF method" in the main menus), then change another menu setting called "Initial Servo AF pt for Face + Tracking." This gives you an AF target in AF tracking mode, letting you specify what you want the camera to track.
This menu option will be in the AF section of the menus, if your camera has one, or the Custom Function setting section, if it doesn't.
Flexible Priority mode Parameters with an underline are controlled automatically by the camera. If the underline is not present, that means you are controlling that setting. In this screenshot, the user is controlling shutter speed and aperture, while ISO is set to auto.Many of Canon's mirrorless cameras offer an exposure mode called Fv mode that behaves similarly to Program, Av (aperture priority), Tv (shutter priority) and Manual all rolled into one, much like Pentax's Hyper Control System. On Canon EOS R‑series cameras (except the EOS R100, R50 and R50V, which lack Fv mode), you select Fv from the standard mode list via the Mode button or the mode dial, depending on the body. The feature lets you control the parameters most important to you, while the camera automatically sets the rest. It also makes it faster to adjust which setting you're controlling; you can simply twist the control ring to gain control over aperture, rather than having to switch to aperture priority mode.
When set to Fv mode, the camera automatically controls shutter speed, aperture, and ISO by default. However, the camera lets you change any combination of those three settings, as well as apply exposure compensation to adjust the camera's metering. You can control which setting the main dial controls, and also choose whether you want to have access to a second setting using the control ring built into RF lenses. From there, you're able to adjust them, just as you would in Tv, Av, or Manual mode. To hand control back to the camera, you can press a button that will reset either selected parameter or all of them to auto; which button does this depends on your camera.
While we like the idea of a mode that lets you control shutter and/or aperture, it also allows you to inadvertently set a manual ISO value, with the camera automatically setting aperture and shutter speed to match. This sort of ISO priority mode is never a sensible outcome, because it's a setting that should always follow from aperture and shutter speed, as they determine how much light your camera gets.
Maximum ISO If you don't want the camera to use extremely high ISO values, you can set your own maximum.A fairly common user complaint with Canon cameras is that they tend to use quite high ISOs in low light conditions when ISO is set to auto. This risks leaving newer users frustrated and confused by noisy images. To help with this, Canon, like other brands, lets you set a maximum Auto ISO value in the ISO settings menu, so the camera won't exceed the limit you choose. If you're annoyed by your camera using high ISOs and you're prepared to deal with the camera hitting its ISO limit, you may want to set a lower Max ISO value. It's not something we'd recommend for everyone, but it is worth considering based on your preferences and shooting style.
Shooting HDR photosAlmost all of Canon's EOS R cameras are able to shoot true HDR images that will look more vibrant and lifelike when viewed on an HDR-capable TV, computer monitor or phone (it's only EOS R, RP and R100 users that miss out). However, it's worth noting that Canon offers two similarly-named options: "HDR Shooting (PQ)" that captures a single image and renders it so that it looks good on HDR devices, and HDR Mode, which shoots three images and merges them into a heavily-processed looking image for playback on standard dynamic range (SDR) displays. The first of these modes can be really good; the second, we'd suggest avoiding.
HDR (PQ) files are captured in the HEIF format, but the cameras will let you shoot HEIF + Raw, so you can process a standard JPEG later, if you want, either in-camera or in desktop software.
If you capture a Raw file with HDR Shooting engaged, you can reprocess it as an HDR HEIF or an SDR JPEG, but you cannot process a Raw shot in standard mode into HDR.On some models, the camera will recommend enabling "Highlight Tone Priority" (HTP), which reduces exposure to capture additional highlight information. More recent models automatically engage HTP (though you can override this in the Highlight Tone Priority menu, if you insist). We would strongly recommend using HDR Shooting and HTP together: the results look great.
Customize your camera for your needs Custom buttonsAs you might expect, all Canon models also let you customize the functions assigned to several of their buttons. This is typically done via either the "Customize buttons for shooting" in the green, Customized Controls section of the menu on newer cameras or "Customize buttons" in the orange, C.Fn section on older models.
All Canon R series cameras let you customize their buttons, it's just a question of where you find the settings.It's more deeply hidden in the R100, but it is there (Function settings / Custom Functions / Custom controls).
M-Fn buttonCanon cameras give you a couple of ways of getting semi-fast access to the settings you might want to change regularly. Most R models (except the R100, R50 and R50V) have an M-Fn button next to the shutter that lets you access up to 10 functions, controlled with the front and rear dials.
The M-Fn button brings up a selection of settings that can be controlled with the front and rear dials. This can be extensively modified from a page hidden deep in the Customize buttons menu. It includes the option to disengage settings so you only have the options you want on the dial you prefer.This can be customized by going your camera's Customize buttons menu, as described above. If you then select M-Fn or assign its "Dial Func" function to any other button, then press INFO, it'll take you into a sub-sub-sub-menu called "Dial function settings" that lets you choose which functions are assigned to which dial, in which order.
Q menu The Q menu can be customized on most R series cameras (though not the original R6 and R5).As well as this, there's the Q menu, which arrays up to eleven settings down the left and right of the live view display. On most of the last two generations of models, this can be customized, so that you can just have the settings you most often change populating the menu. The menu option, typically called either "Quick Control customization" or "Customize Quick control" found in the red, Camera menu. You may, for instance, decide that you would prefer quick access to the HDR PQ settings, rather than having full-time access to the image quality settings.
These are the settings we usually adjust, and the ones recommended by our community. Are there any others you'd recommend changing?
Downsizing to a tiny house usually requires some serious compromises. However, the English Garden has a remarkably roomy and stylish interior that feels more like an apartment than a traditional tiny house.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home
This new piece of camping kit is designed to not only make it way easier to start a fire, but also keep your site free of smoke. That means you can comfortably enjoy the warmth from the flames, and even get a cookout going with minimal effort.
Tags: Camping, Fire, Grilling, Kickstarter
