FStoppers

Testing lenses is not about chasing perfection or comparing specs on a screen. It’s about knowing whether a lens solves a real problem in your workflow. When you shoot high-end commercial work, even small flaws can become huge headaches on set. Knowing how and why to test a lens before buying is the difference between spending wisely and wasting money.

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Micro Four Thirds has been quietly evolving while most attention has gone to full frame cameras. The question is no longer whether the smaller format can compete, but what unique strengths it offers. For anyone shooting both landscapes and wildlife, the conversation around weight, reach, and practicality has become impossible to ignore.

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AI is changing how you edit and deliver real estate images, but it’s also creating new legal headaches. The line between an enhanced photo and a misrepresentation of a property is getting blurry, and that can cause serious issues for both you and your clients.

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50mm is the workhorse focal length because it balances reach with context and keeps distortion low. If you care about lifelike rendering and consistent results across bodies and brands, check out this helpful comparison of three excellent options.

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The DJI Mavic 4 Pro promises speed, safety, and image quality that rivals ground-based cameras. After real-world testing in demanding conditions, I discovered where this flagship drone excels and where it still leaves room for improvement.

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Your camera can connect to Wi-Fi. It can pair with Bluetooth. It can talk to your phone, your computer, and your cloud storage through various cables, dongles, and apps that work half the time. But here's what it can't do natively: connect directly to cellular networks the way your phone, your tablet, your smartwatch, and even your car already can.

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Move over compact point-and-shoots. There’s a new in-demand camera on the scene — and it’s so small it fits in the palm of your hand. The hype surrounding the Kodak Charmera is real. Pre-orders have sold out not once, not twice, but three times in the last month. On the second-hand market, they’re selling for 2–5 times retail price, and camera stores are begging people to stop messaging them.

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Choosing between the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM and the RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS USM can feel like trying to choose between power and practicality. One gives you reach that borders on absurd, while the other makes every outing lighter and easier. The decision isn’t just about specs; it’s about how you shoot and what kind of day you want in the field.

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Headshots live or die on small posture cues and what you do with hands. If you shoot people for business or branding, avoiding a few common posing traps saves you time and retouching headaches.

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The Sony FE 100mm f/2.8 Macro GM lens gives you something few lenses do: true macro precision with portrait-level rendering. It’s not just a tool for bugs and textures but a versatile upgrade that replaces one of Sony’s most beloved lenses, the 90mm Macro. If you’ve relied on that classic lens and started feeling its age, this new version brings back the excitement.

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You want a single answer on the “best” Sony APS-C lens, but the right choice depends on what you shoot and how you shoot. This video sorts the chaos into real scenarios and shows what actually works when you’re moving fast or building a small kit.

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Peakto is releasing a 2.5 update to its excellent media management tool that frees it from the cloud while allowing robust search of all your media assets and enabling team sharing.

With new server and web features, the Peakto Mac application enables teams and creators to collaborate, search with local AI, and share media libraries—without sending files to the cloud.

Here's what the company says about this new version:

Traditionally, creatives faced a dilemma: choose the cloud to enable remote...

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How good is a $40 flash? We kick the tires on the Powerextra DF-400, a budget hot-shoe flash intended for DSLR and mirrorless shooters who want more power and flexibility than a built-in flash without breaking the bank. It offers only manual control plus a couple of simple wireless trigger modes.

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The photography community is in the midst of an existential crisis. Open any photography forum, Facebook group, or Reddit thread, and you'll find photographers convinced that artificial intelligence is about to obliterate their careers. Meanwhile, others dismiss these concerns entirely, insisting that "real photography" will always matter. The truth, as usual, lives somewhere in the middle.

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At the end of 2024, SmallRig, in collaboration with YouTuber Potato Jet, released a unique hydraulic video tripod. This tripod now has a successor, the Second Edition. You can read more about this tripod in this review.

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Today, we’ll have a look at the brand-new color calibration tool from Datacolor: the Spyder Express.

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The right edits can turn a dull sunset into a showstopper. Color, light, and local adjustments all work together to create warmth and contrast that feel alive. This tutorial walks through how to transform a flat raw file into a vibrant sunset image with rich tones and clean detail.

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The release of the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 lens for the Nikon Z mount completes something people have been waiting on: a full f/2.8 G2 zoom lineup that covers everything from wide to telephoto. You get the range, the light, and the stabilization that makes handheld shooting easier across situations from portraits to wildlife.

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Masks in Lightroom Classic are no longer niche tools. If you shoot wildlife, landscapes, or portraits, smart masking decides whether an edit looks polished or clumsy.

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JPEGs are having a moment again, and not just on small sensors. When you shoot fast, deliver same day, or want a clean preview without a laptop, dialing in color in-camera changes how you work on set and what you hand off later.

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