Against a backdrop of component shortages and price hikes, 2026 has been a challenging year for camera companies, and it's been a quieter year for new gear as a result. That being said, we were still treated to some cracking cameras — but standing tall above them all was the Sony A7R VI, with a new 66.8MP full-frame stacked sensor, Bionz XR 2 processor, Sony's latest subject-detection autofocus, and its first new battery for 10 years.

It's a formidable camera whatever your genre of photography, and won both our Best Professional Camera and overall Camera of the Year awards for 2026 at the TechRadar Product of the Year Awards 2026. Here's what makes the A7R VI so special, in my opinion.

Can a camera really be ‘perfect’?

It's possible that I got carried away slightly when I said the A7R VI “had no weaknesses”, but after weeks testing the full-frame mirrorless camera across landscape, portrait and wildlife photography, I had no doubt in my mind that it deserved a perfect 5-star rating.

I’ve been reviewing cameras for almost two decades, and the A7R VI genuinely feels like peak camera. In my A7R VI review, I was even compelled to say “Sony can stop making cameras now.”

First up, I must point to the new sensor, which had an admittedly modest bump in pixels from the already class-leading A7R V’s 61MP sensor, to 66.8MP. But that’s not the exciting part about this sensor — it’s also a ‘stacked’ type with a faster read-out speed.

Faster read-out speeds can improve a camera’s performance in multiple ways, not least by reducing rolling shutter (an ugly distortion effect that appears when recording video and taking photos of high-speed subjects).

For me, I preferred having the smaller bump in resolution and a greater emphasis on speed, as opposed to an even bigger bump in resolution but no speed improvement. The A7R VI is a powerful all-rounder, as opposed to a pure pixel monster.

The camera packs Sony’s Bionz XR 2 processor, which combines two chips, including one that’s tasked with subject-detection autofocus. Whether I was photographing small birds or large mammals in a nature reserve, or taking portraits, the A7R VI never skipped a beat.

Then there’s the camera’s handling. Historically, for me Sony's design and user experience haven't matched those of other leading mirrorless camera brands — I’m a sucker for Nikon in particular. But the A7R VI is spectacularly well designed.

There’s a tilt-and-flip touchscreen, meaning the screen can be pulled out and used as a tilt screen for waist-level shooting, or flipped out and rotated for selfies — traditionally you’d have to pick either / or (or have neither). It’s the most versatile design on the market, and one which you can also find on the latest Lumix S1 II cameras. If I had one wish, it would be that Sony increased the size of its 3-inch display in the future, even if only to 3.2-inches like Nikon.

The viewfinder is big, bright and highly detailed class-leading 9.36m-dot display, while the button layout makes perfect sense, and the camera’s grip is nice and deep and comfortable to hold.

Housed inside the grip is an all-new battery — Sony’s first for 10 years since the legendary NP-FZ100. The new unit has a higher capacity, and increases shot life by 20%; not bad, considering the previous battery already delivered class-leading power.

The downside to the new battery is that it’s not forwards / backwards compatible with the NP-FZ100, so upgraders are going to have to splash out on additional batteries should they need them.

Video specs are decent, though arguably not as strong as those of some lower-resolution rival cameras. For example, Sony again omitted open-gate recording (this would finally appear later in the yet-to-go-on-sale FX5 cinema camera).

But if photography is your beat, and you need a high-resolution sensor with huge scope for cropping — the A7R VI’s Super 35 (APS-C / 1.5x crop) mode is still a healthy 28MP — and don’t need the absolute top speed and buffer performance of cameras like the A9 III and A1 II, there really is no better camera.

The A7R VI was so good, in fact, that it put the (much) pricier A1 II’s position in doubt, given that it can do 90% of what that camera can, while boasting a higher-resolution sensor.

I reviewed some fabulous cameras in 2026, but my absolute favorite was without doubt the A7R VI — it’s the camera I wish I owned, along with some of Sony’s spectacular recent pro GM lenses. It was the crowning achievement for Sony in a year in which it also scooped our Brand of the Year award, and comfortably maintained its #2 market position behind Canon.

Sony A7R VI image gallery

If I was to pinpoint one special lens in my photography career, it would have to be the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for Nikon F-mount.

I picked mine up just before I moved to East Africa where I would work in photo journalism. Sigma had just burst onto the scene with its new ‘Art’ lens in 2012, for a much lower price than Nikon’s proprietary 35mm f/1.4 for its DSLRs, and so I bought one to pair with my Nikon D800 camera.

Over four memorable years living in Kenya and travelling the region and neighbouring countries, I estimate that I took more than 75% of my photos with this one lens, many my all-time favorites of people in their environment.

More recently, I switched to a mirrorless camera made by the same company — the Z-mount Nikon Z6 II, which has been updated with the Z6 III but remains my primary camera.

Viltrox then offered a review sample of its shiny new AF 35mm F1.4 Pro lens, which was unveiled this week in Nikon Z-mount and Sony E-mount versions, but with no word on an L-mount version yet. I’ve already tested Viltrox’s pricier 35mm F1.2 from its flagship ‘Lab’ series, but the latest f/1.4 pro is a specs match to my old lens, so I was keen to see how the two compared.

I tried both lenses in various scenarios, shooting like-for-like photos with them using the Z6 II camera (the Sigma lens attached via the Nikon F-mount to Z-mount adapter).

Along the way I was asking myself — is mirrorless all that it’s cracked up to be, or could I happily continue with my decade-old-and-more DSLR optic? Here’s what I learned.

Handling of each lens

I'll start with handling, and Sigma’s lens by itself is physically smaller than Viltrox’s. However, the necessary F-mount to Z-mount adapter to use it with my Z6 II adds bulk and evens matters out.

And if I were to use the Sigma lens with my D800 DSLR, well, that's a much bigger camera than the Z6 II. The adapter essentially addresses flange depth (the distance between the camera sensor and the rear of the lens — which is deeper in Nikon's F-mount), while maintaining full autofocus performance.

As such, there was no real size or weight advantage to either lens, whatever camera system was used. Nikon also has an affordable 35mm f/1.4 Z-mount lens, mind you, which is smaller than both of these lenses, but in my experience it doesn't match the quality of either lens here.

My Sigma lens has taken a beating over its almost 15 years of use in harsh conditions, and it's still going strong. Sure, it looks well-used, but it performs like it did on day one. I wouldn't hold the same hope for the Viltrox lens, aesthetically speaking, at least. It's one of the many Viltrox lenses that I've tested with an exterior that scratches easily. That doesn't affect optical quality, but it did make me mindful of taking care of the lens.

Autofocus is a fraction snappier and smoother with the Viltrox lens, but not enough of a reason alone to opt for it. I don't believe that using an F-mount lens through the adapter with a Z-mount mirrorless camera has any adverse affect on autofocus performance.

Optical quality: any obvious progress?

I regularly want to make use of the bright maximum f/1.4 aperture with a lens such as these, in order to decrease depth of field and blur surroundings so that my subjects standout, and for working in dim light with no supplementary lighting. It’s at this setting in particular that the differences in optical quality between the two lenses are acute.

The Viltrox lens is optically sharper at f/1.4. Not by much, I must say, and you won't necessarily see the difference even when viewed on a laptop — I'd still class the Sigma lens as very sharp. However, when pixel peeping, the difference is there.

And it's when pixel peeping that chromatic aberration (CA) in the Sigma is way more pronounced. The Viltrox lens isn't immune to it, but it handles the distortion much better. The Sigma lens shows longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA) at times, too — a lens distortion that is harder to correct. I expected vignetting (where corners are darker) to be worse in the Sigma lens, but in reality performance was roughly on par.

• Check out my round-up of the best Nikon Z-mount lenses

And what about bokeh (the out-of-focus quality, typically observed in dappled light)? From my sample images, I'd have to say it's a tie. Both lenses can render buttery smooth bokeh, with similar characteristics; roundish in the center of the frame, becoming slightly more cats-eye in shape towards the corners.

The optical quality observations above are made with the lens aperture wide open at f/1.4. In all the situations above, I took sequences at f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8, f/4 and f/5.6 and compared the differences.

Stop aperture down to, say, f/4 and f/5.6, and most of the above differences are negligible; sharpness evens out, and lens distortions reduce — only does chromatic aberration remain more pronounced in the Sigma. I've included closeups of images shot at f/5.6 which prove how the quality evens out, below.

Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro vs Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art: the bottom line

For photographers, there is surprisingly little to choose between what is an excellent Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro lens and the 15-year-old Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art.

Optical quality differences are more acute at f/1.4; with aperture at its maximum setting, the Viltrox lens is slightly sharper and handles chromatic aberration better. However, you'll only really spot those differences when pixel peeping, and closing down each lens to f/4 and lower, the end results level out.

Bokeh is essentially the same in both lenses, although there's a touch of LoCA in the Sigma lens in certain backlit scenarios.

The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro joins a growing list of lenses from the Chinese company that I can highly recommend. However, comparing it to a 15-year-old Sigma legend, that's designed for a mostly discontinued camera system, has only shown me that DSLRs and their best optics are still a decent option today. I for one will happily continue using my Sigma lens for photography.

Way back in January, we wrote about how retro cameras were making an unexpected resurgence. Now we're nearing the end of the year, and that trend is showing no signs of slowing — and I've rounded up some of our favorite old-school styled cameras of 2026.

'Retro' is a broad term, and these cameras span a wide spectrum too. Leica and Ricoh's dedicated black-and-white cameras are serious snappers optimized for monochrome photography, while the OM System PEN and Fujifilm X-T30 III have retro designs that'll beginner photographers will love.

At the more frivolous end of the market we have Camp Snap's basic, screen-free point-and-shoot, and a fuss-free film camera from Kodak that managed to produce some charming, characterful shots in our tests. And no retro camera roundup would be complete without the viral Kodak Charmera — a dinky keychain snapper that our Cameras Editor hates to love.

Scroll down to learn more about all of these retro wonders, and hit the View Details button for more info and links to our reviews.

Retro snappers

It's been an excellent year for tech releases, with the arrival of everything from new TV panel developments, to groundbreaking drones, to awesome spatial audio speakers, to a new breed of AI-connected screenless fitness wearable.

It's also been a really difficult year in tech, though, due to the component crisis and rising prices across nearly all products. In the middle of that tension, it only makes sense for us to find out which companies navigated the challenges best by asking the community of tech lovers out there — and so here are the first TechRadar Readers' Choice Awards.

The results are in, so below we've listed the TechRadar Readers' Choice Awards 2026 winners winners in every category, all 100% voted by you!

Phones & tablets

Phone of the Year

Phone Brand of the Year

Phones Innovation of the Year

Best Value Phone

Best Mid-Range Phone

Best Folding Phone

Best Flip Phone

Best Camera Phone

Best Gaming Phone

Best AI Phone

Best Phone Accessory

Best Tablet

Best eReader

Cameras & drones

Camera of the Year

Camera Brand of the Year

Camera Innovation of the Year

Best Beginner Camera

Best Mid-range camera

Best Professional Camera

Best Compact and Instant Camera

Best Action and Vlogging Camera

Best Camera Lens

Best camera accessory

Best drone

Computing

Computing Brand of the Year

Best Computing Innovation

Best Value Laptop

Best AI Laptop

Best Gaming Laptop

Best PC Gaming Handheld

Best Gaming Keyboard

Best Gaming Monitor

Best Gaming Mouse

Gaming

Gaming Device of the Year

Gaming Brand of the Year

Gaming Innovation of the Year

Best Console Accessory

Best Gaming Service

Best Gaming Controller

Best Gaming Headset

Best Gaming Chair

TV & home theater

TV of the year

Home Entertainment Brand of the Year

Home Entertainment Innovation of the Year

Best Gaming TV

Best TV for Sound

Best OLED TV

Best mini-LED TV

Best Value TV

Best Projector

Best Soundbar

Best Wireless Home Theater Speakers

Streaming

Streaming Service of the Year

Best Streaming Service for Movies

Best Streaming Service for Documentaries

Best Streaming Service for TV Series

Best Free Streaming Service of the Year

Audio

Headphones of the Year

Audio Brand of the Year

Audio Innovation of the Year

Best Wireless Headphones

Best Wireless Earbuds

Best Open Earbuds

Best Value Headphones

Best Value Earbuds

Best Value Open Earbuds

Best Wired Headphones

Best Wired Earbuds

Best Bluetooth Speaker

Best Wireless Speaker

Best Portable Audio Player

Best Turntable

Best DAC

Best Stereo Speakers

Health & Fitness tech

Health and Fitness Device of the Year

Health & Fitness Brand of the Year

Health and Fitness Innovation of the Year

Best Smartwatch

Best Running Watch

Best Fitness Tracker

Best Smart Ring

Best Electric Toothbrush

Best Connected Fitness Tech

Home tech

Home Device of the Year

Home Tech Brand of the Year

Home Tech Innovation of the Year

Best Home Light Tech

Best Home Security Device

Best Robot Vacuum

Best Vacuum

Best Air Fryer

Best Coffee Machine

Best Value Coffee Machine

Best Fan

Canon recently unveiled its new Dual Pixel 3D, or DP3D for short — an image generation technology making use of Canon’s proprietary Dual Pixel AF technology. The new technology piggybacks off Canon’s proprietary Dual Pixel AF technology found in many of its EOS mirrorless cameras, which splits each pixel on the camera sensor into two separate light-sensitive photodiodes.

This tech has delivered reliable and snappy autofocus in recent years — if the two images on each photodiode line up perfectly, the image is in focus, if they don’t line up then the camera knows which direction to move the autofocus motor to rapidly lock on.

The new Dual Pixel 3D feature can be used to create immersive three-dimensional images via Canon’s new Dual Pixel 3D Converter app which was released in October.

While launched in tandem with the hotly-anticipated Canon EOS R8 Mark II on September 16 — a full-frame which makes use of the new feature — it’s good news for owners like myself of any Canon EOS mirrorless camera with Dual Pixel AF, stretching back to older generation models such as the EOS R5 and EOS R6 Mark II, which will be able to benefit without a firmware update (although updating the firmware is always a good idea to stay up date with the latest features and bug fixes).

I downloaded the Canon Dual Pixel 3D Converter app to put it through its paces — here’s everything you need to know to get started…

How to take photos for Canon DP3D

To begin, you’ll need a Canon EOS camera with Dual Pixel AF. It’s safe to say if you own one of Canon’s interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras in recent years, then your camera will likely feature Dual Pixel AF and be able to make use of this new tech.

This is great news for users of older Canon mirrorless cameras like myself as my older EOS R5 and previous generation Canon EOS R6 Mark II will still be able to make full use of this brand-new technology.

Your camera will, however, also need to be paired with one of the compatible Canon RF lenses. The list goes beyond specialist Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye or RF-S 3.9mm F3.5 Dual Fisheye, but it is a little limited and also won't currently work with older EF or EF-S glass. We published a full list of compatible Canon cameras and lenses that you can use to enjoy this new technology when it was first announced.

Canon says, “Specific shooting conditions and techniques are necessary to generate accurate depth information to eliminate blind spots, allow for the required depth of field, subject and background separation, subject depth and surface texture.”

In my experience the software works best when your subject is taken on a clean background (no bokeh) and without too many blind spots which make it harder for the software to create its 3D effect.

You also want an object that’s relatively flat with not too much depth; little bumps are fine such as small pieces of fruit on a tart, but large peaks in depth will cause more significant issues and make the effect much more noticeable and fake-looking.

Two of the compatible lenses Canon lists are the Canon RF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM and Canon RF 35mm f1.8 IS Macro STM, both of which are macro lenses. Yet, when I shot with both of these I later got an alert in DP3D warning me for shooting too close to my subject! The result still turned out fine, though.

To use the new software you’ll need to make sure you’re shooting not only in the RAW format, but Canon's Dual Pixel RAW (see above). This setting was found in the very first camera menu on my Canon EOS R6 Mark II.

Note that shooting Dual Pixel RAW will produce files roughly twice the size, take longer to write to your memory card, and can't be taken when using the electronic shutter.

Alongside 3D, Dual Pixel RAW can be useful for correcting minor parallax error, shifting bokeh or focus and reducing flare, but if you don't intend to utilize these capabilities within Canon's DPP, I would suggest turning it off when you don't need it to avoid compromizing the camera's performance.

Make sure your subject and focal point are in focus and that your shutter speed is fast enough to shoot handheld – if you’re in doubt shoot on a tripod. You’ll also want to make sure your exposure is correct so that the image isn’t too bright or dark. Canon recommends you don’t close the aperture down past f/5.6 and also keep the camera's sensitivity under ISO 1600 – a warning sign will be displayed on your image when you import it into DP3D otherwise and you won’t get optimal 3D results.

Installing the Canon DP3D app on Windows 11

With the image taken it’s time to open up the new Canon Dual Pixel 3D Converter app, which is currently only available for Windows PC running the latest Windows 11 operating system. Read our guide on How to plan a smooth Windows 10 to Windows 11 migration.

Canon also added “The application will initially be available free of charge”, though specifications and terms of use may change in the future – in other words, it’s initially free but you might need to pay to use it in the future.

When you're up and running with Windows 11 you’ll be able to run the installation wizard which can be downloaded from Canon’s site. Make sure that once downloaded you extract the ZIP file and then double-click the DP3dInstaller-W1.0.0.13.exe file from the unzipped folder to begin the installation.

Now you’ll need to choose which area you live in - you have the options: USA, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania. In the following screen you can choose the country you live in and also select your language. Once you’ve ticked the box to accept the license agreement you can hit next which takes you to the final setup screen, click Install here.

It’s also worth noting at the bottom of the same Canon site, you can download five sample images made up of a mix of food and flowers which you can play around with if you are yet to shoot with Dual Pixel RAW enabled, or perhaps you don’t own a Canon EOS mirrorless camera and what to see what all the fuss is about. Note, the sample files are downloaded as a DP3D _Sample.zip file and you’ll need to extract these files by right-clicking on the folder and choosing Extract before you can use these images in DP3D.

Creating 3D images in the DP3D app

The DP3D app allows users to fine-tune the degree of depth, making a more pronounced 3D effect or a more subtle ‘flat’ appearance. The technology also makes it easy to isolate your subject and remove or replace the background before outputting a 3D model or stereoscopic photo.

Dual Pixel RAW files and supported Canon EOS R8 Mark II JPEGs contain depth information derived from the slightly different views captured by the two photodiodes on each pixel. Using proprietary algorithms, Canon converts this phase-difference information into 3D shape data, which is combined with high-quality image data captured by selected EOS cameras as surface textures to create realistic and detailed 3D models.

Once you’ve loaded up DP3D you’ll need to click the folder icon at the top of the main window and then navigate to the folder where you’ve saved your Dual Pixel RAW files.

You have two main options – either create a 3D model which you can edit further in a 3D editor such as Blender, or you can create a Preview which creates a very short video with limited options, essentially doing a basic pan from left to right to show off the 3D depth effect. You also have options here to change the background, add a foreground and frame. You can also choose the quality of the video when you click Export Preview. Here you can also set the quality to High, Medium or Low quality (18, 8 or 4 Mbps), choose your own filename and where you want to save the video.

However, I found those options rather limiting within DP3D so I would instead click Export 3D Model where you’ll have the choice between OBJ and GLB files to edit further in your 3D editor of choice. You can also use Windows 3D viewer and even Preview on Mac to play around with these 3D files and explore the different angles produced by DP3D.

With the 3D file created you can use a program such as Windows 3D Viewer or Blender, which is free to download. In a program such as either of these options you’ll have way more options than DP3D for changing the angle, rotation and lighting, which is great for exporting still images. For videos, you’ll also be able to change the direction and duration of pans so you can get it looking perfect for what you need.

Conclusion

After playing around with DP3D for some time and with various pictures and subject matter, I think it’s fun and interesting that Canon has released it for free - after all, additional functionality to the cameras which we already own is certainly welcome.

However, the results have limited uses and more often than not look quite poor. Are there situations where somebody might need to get a little 3D animation from a 2D image? Sure — marketeers looking to animate food or product shots for videos and reels seems like a perfectly adequate use for Canon's new DP3D tech.

While it’s admirable that Canon is trying to squeeze the most out of the pixels taken in-camera, this is one of those situations where I sadly think AI can probably do it better.

Canon is trying to stretch and manipulate the pixels already there, whereas AI can create brand new pixels and frames based on what it thinks should be there, and that’s likely to create smoother results with fewer artefacts. For still images, the Rotate Object feature found in Photoshop Beta is likely to produce better results and is glimpse of what lies ahead in our editing futures.

Sigma FP2: One-minute review

Sigma's FP2 is a successor to the world's smallest full-frame mirrorless camera, the FP, and it's even smaller, despite coming with a bunch of handy upgrades.

The FP2 packs a partially stacked 24.5MP full-frame sensor — one we've seen before in the Nikon ZR and Lumix S1 II. And like those cameras, it shoots 6K open gate video, only with Sigma's L-Log color profile, and RAW video through an external SSD.

It comes with 70GB built-in memory, plus a higher capacity battery — the same unit found in recent full-frame Lumix models like the S1 II and Lumix S9 — and it features a 3.15-inch tilt-touchscreen. All decent upgrades.

Autofocus performance has been improved too — the hybrid phase detection system can track more subjects, with what Sigma says is a 15% boost in speed and accuracy.

And these features are packed into a diminutive and sturdy metal body with a delightfully simple design and user experience — I love how the photo and video functions are neatly distinguished. It's an attractive package, and a camera that I thoroughly enjoyed having in my hand.

When considered purely as an upgrade to the original FP, the FP2 is a solid camera. However, Sigma's mission to make the smallest full-frame mirrorless camera comes with compromises, which means the FP2 won't be for everyone. For one, the camera doesn't have in-body image stabilization, whereas the Lumix S9, Lumix S1 II and Nikon ZR do.

There's also no built-in viewfinder, though unlike some rivals, there is an optional EVF and it's a fantastically bright and detailed 5.76m-dot unit that tilts for waist-level shooting.

When shooting photos, I regularly found myself bringing the camera up to my eye, only to remember it didn't have a viewfinder – photo and video creatives will absolutely want to pick up the optional EVF.

That for me is where the FP2 comes undone, somewhat. It's starting price is reasonable, but when you factor in the cost of accessories, the package starts to feel pricey.

There is a miniaturisation premium — Sigma isn't alone in this, however. Overall, there are better value conventional alternatives, but if size and feel matters to you, then the Sigma FP2 is well worth a look.

Sigma FP2: Price and release date

• Announced on October 23, 2026, priced from $2,199 / £1,899
• Can be purchased with various kits; with the Electronic Viewfinder EVF-21 or 50mm F2 DG | Contemporary lens
• Goes on sale from November 11

At first, the Sigma FP2 feels like excellent value — it's a beautifully designed and rugged full-frame camera with impressive specs for $2,199 / £1,899. However, that body-only price is just the beginning for a camera that works best with optional accessories — and for those the cost soon stacks up.

For example, photographers will want the divine EVF-21 5.76m-dot tilt electronic viewfinder, which which adds $500 / £500 to the cost when bought with the camera, and it costs even more when purchased separately. Or how about the camera and lens kit with 50mm F2 DG | Contemporary, which I had for the review and you can see in the pictures, which costs $2749 / £2419.

Other accessories include the Hot Shoe Unit HU-21 (same flash terminal as OM System / Lumix), base plate BPL-21, LCD viewfinder LVF-21 and battery charger BC-91. Sigma is still a decent value brand, but you just need to be aware that this camera system benefits from costly extras, and if you're upgrading that the likes of the EVF are not forwards / backwards compatible with the original Sigma FP.

Sigma FP2 specs

Sigma FP2: Design

• Even smaller than the original FP, but a fraction heavier
• Modular design with handy (albeit pricey) accessories, such as the lovely EVF
• Wonderfully simple user experience and interface

The FP2 carries the DNA of the original FP, but comes with some welcome design improvements. Crucially, it stays true to Sigma's core mission with this series — make the smallest full-frame mirrorless camera available.

It's designed as a photo and video hybrid, with a chunky switch to choose between the two and a neatly arranged menu for each discipline — the settings remain unique when you move between the two.

There's a chunky exposure dial, and a line of buttons neatly arranged under the screen, including one for color profiles (there are 13 presets, Log and RAW video options).

The 3.15-inch touchscreen is a tilt-type — impressive considering the camera is thinner than the FP, which has a fixed screen. Pulling the screen out reveals vents which presumably keep the camera cool during high-resolution video recording.

We don't get an EVF, which is no surprise given the size of the camera. However, Sigma sells the FP2 in a kit with the EVF-21 electronic viewfinder.

I actually think the modular design makes perfect sense. Shooting video and don't need a viewfinder? You have the tiniest full-frame shooter. Out taking photos and want the display? Add it on.

And I really did enjoy the display — albeit my brief experience with it. It connects to the camera's side through one of the two USB-C ports, and it's a 5.76m-dot tilt type.

Sigma has added internal memory, with 70GB of usable memory, plus there's the SD card slot. I used the internal memory a lot, and had no operational issues — I wish more cameras included internal memory like the FP2 does.

And then there's the battery — the same type as used in recent Lumix cameras, for a healthy shot-life that belies the compact size of the camera. I don't think I've seen such a large battery squeezed into such a small space before — Sigma really has worked wonders to keep the FP2 this small.

Naturally, there are compromises for the handling of such a small camera, besides the lack of viewfinder and flash. For one, it's flat-fronted, meaning there's no sculpted hand grip for a secure hold. That's no such problem with small lenses, but the FP2 is so small that even compact primes feel chunky by comparison.

It's true: when stripped back to its basic setup, there is no smaller camera in this class. But to get the most out of the camera, it needs bulking out, all adding to the cost.

What I will say is that the FP2 does modular very well indeed. Its two screw mounts for accessories are handily placed, and they can host the (supplied) loops used to secure the camera's strap, which is a neat bit of design.

The FP2's design isn't for everyone, but after almost two weeks of shooting with the camera, I really did appreciate and enjoy it, and can see how it will appeal to certain users.

Sigma FP2: Performance

• 24.5MP partially stacked full-frame sensor, no stabilization
• 6K open gate video recording up to 60fps, plus 4K slow motion up to 120fps
• 13 color profile presets and Log, but RAW video must be recorded through an external drive
• Improved autofocus performance and built-in memory

We've seen the 24.5MP partially stacked sensor before in various Panasonic Lumix and Nikon models, including the Lumix S1 II and Nikon Z6 III. In the Sigma FP2, however, the sensor is not stabilized, which makes handheld video recording much trickier.

I've included a sample reel below, which demonstrates how challenging it can be to record steady video handheld, even with a steady hand. There is a solution, mind you, and that's to record gyro data which can be used to apply stabilization to footage afterwards using specialist software. Alternatively, of course, the camera can be mounted to a gimbal.

I love the photo and video quality I was able to get from the Sigma FP2 and 50mm F2 DG Contemporary lens: 6K open gate video with a choice of 13 color presets make for quick and versatile output, in various aspect ratios for social media (4K vertical video is possible), while the Log profile is a better bet for users who want to edit after the fact.

Photos can be recorded in RAW and JPEG format, and Sigma cameras use the DNG RAW format, which is universally accepted in editing software. For high-speed action, the FP2 can shoot at a rate of up to 20fps, and for sequences up to 180 frames before the buffer slows up — a decent performance.

Sigma says that autofocus performance has been improved by 15% over the FP, with a broader range of subject detection. I found autofocus snappy on people, and it was smooth and subtle enough for video, too, but haven't had the chance to try it out extensively on other subjects, including animals.

There's 70GB of usable built-in memory, which proved reliable during my test. However, it's not possible to record the memory-hungry RAW video using built-in memory or SD card — you'll need an external SSD for that.

Sigma FP2 sample photos

Sigma FP2: also consider

How I tested the Sigma FP2

• I had the camera for 1-2 weeks before its announcement, along with the 50mm F2 DG Contemporary lens
• I tried the EVF-21 electronic viewfinder
• I shot a variety of photos and videos, all handheld

Sigma introduced the camera to TechRadar a week or two ahead of its global launch, where I saw the FP2, 50mm F2 DG Contemporary lens and various accessories, including the new 5.76m-dot EVF for the FP2.

I was loaned the camera and lens only for my review, and have made the most of that time, taking the gear with me on a break to Lisbon in Portugal where I used it extensively for portraiture and travel photography.

All my images and videos were shot handheld, with no stabilization for video footage. I tried the various color profiles for video and shot in 6K and 4K.

• First reviewed: October 2026
• Read more about how we test

• First phone with three 200MP cameras
• A 50MP selfie camera completes the ultra-wide (0.6x), wide (1x) and telephoto (3x) array
• A photographer's kit includes a 300mm teleconverter lens

There's yet another Pro Max phone in our midst, and this time it's the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max that rivals the iPhone 18 Pro Max, following the Vivo X500 Pro Max and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max. For photographers, Oppo's new handset could top the lot as one of the best camera phones for 2026.

I had a good week with the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max ahead of its launch on October 21, including several days in Lisbon, Portugal, where I had the chance to really put the phones camera through its paces. Our full review by Luker Baker is already live, too.

It packs a slightly simpler camera array to last year's Oppo Find X9 Ultra — the company's flagship cameraphone — with an improved ultra-wide f/2.2 (0.6x), a wide f/1.5 (1x) and a telephoto f/2.1 (3x) camera.

Each of those cameras offers the option for 200MP images — that's right, it's the first phone with triple 200MP cameras. Of course, there's a f/2 selfie camera too, with up to 50MP stills.

Video specs impress too — up to 8K / 30fps video with O-Log 2 color profile, 4K up to 120fps, plus Open Gate video. These are formidable photo and video specs, but how good are the images the Find X10 Pro Max produces?

For me, there's an appealing natural look to most of the photos I've snapped with the Find X10 Pro Max, certainly when compared to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. I've included some of my favorite shots so far, below, with notes explaining the camera features.

The Find X10 Pro Max costs £1,499 for the 12GB + 512GB version. It's not sold in the US, while Australia availability is TBC.

Oppo Find X10 Pro Max sample gallery: portrait mode

Oppo Find X10 Pro Max sample gallery: zoom range

Oppo Find X10 Pro Max sample gallery: 300mm teleconverter lens

Oppo Find X10 Pro Max sample gallery: ultra-wide

Oppo Find X10 Pro Max sample gallery: general shots

Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle: two-minute review

When the Antigravity A1 launched in 2025 it was the world’s first 360-degree drone, and for a brief time the only such drone, until the DJI Avata 360 was released shortly after. These two models remain the only 360-degree drones currently available, with their differing designs offering slightly different propositions for drone pilots, depending on what you’re aiming for.

You can fly both drones with FPV goggles and Motion Controllers, though the Avata 360 can also be flown with a standard drone controller. The Antigravity A1’s design makes it look like a camera drone, but with top and bottom 360-degree cameras, while the standard kit's FPV goggles and Motion Controller let you fly immersively with a 360-degree view of your surroundings; you can look around as you fly, which is quite an experience.

A 360-degree drone lets you reframe photos and videos after you’ve captured them, opening up a wealth of creative potential. They're not for everyone, but they undoubtedly provide both an interesting flying experience and equally interesting editing possibilities. The Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle is designed to expand the functionality of the drone, and the creative options available to users, further.

The Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle enables hands-free shooting, and obviates the need to use the A1’s FPV goggles and Motion Controller for flight. It also improves subject tracking, and offers automated flight patterns for capturing selfies, similar to the DJI Neo 2.

The Follow Me Bundle includes several accessories, with the Watch Remote allowing you to set the flight mode, and the Ring Remote allowing you use gestures to adjust the position of the A1 when in flight.

The Watch Remote also features built-in GNSS for greater precision when the drone is tracking you during fast-paced activities such as cycling, and allows you to select the subject that will be tracked.

The Follow Me Bundle also opens up one-tap cinematic shots, which are automated flight patterns, alongside advanced subject-tracking modes. The former include Fly Away, Antigravity Line, Ascend, Oval Orbit, Spiral Ascent, Arc Shot and Arc Out, while the tracking modes include Manual Mode, Deep Track, Orbit Follow, Cycling Track and Ski Track.

The one-tap cinematic shots, like any automated flight patterns, may feel a bit 'samey' after a while, but they’re fun to try out. It’s the new subject-tracking modes that are most interesting.

The subject-tracking modes and one-tap cinematic shots can’t be faulted, and the Antigravity performs incredibly well here. I had it track me while running, skateboarding, and cycling through complex environments, including between and under trees, and the A1 didn’t miss a beat. Not to mention, you get the bonus of being able to reframe footage and add effects in Antigravity Studio.

The Watch Remote enables you to initiate take-off and landing and Return to Home, and make basic adjustments to the drone’s position, alongside setting the flight mode and selecting the subject to be tracked.

The Ring Remote offers a Drag-to-Fly feature, where you press and hold the button on the ring, and can then move your hand and arm to adjust A1’s flight position in relation to you to fine-tune its tracking distance and position.

The Watch Remote is about the same size as a smartwatch, with a 1.72-inch LCD screen. It is, however, about 1.5x the depth/thickness of your average smartwatch. The Ring Remote fits a finger circumference of 1.8-2.8 inches / 46-70mm. Both offer IP67 water resistance and, as we’ve discussed, a unique way to control your Antigravity A1 drone.

The main downside of the kit — cost aside, which we'll get to below — is that the propeller guards increase the weight of the drone. The propeller guards take the A1 from the coveted 249g weight, to 351g, meaning the A1 becomes slightly more restricted when this accessory is used.

Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle: key specs

Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle: Price and availability

The Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle is available in two kits: one that includes the Antigravity A1 drone and another that’s just the follow accessories for existing A1 owners. The Follow Me Bundle includes the Watch Remote, Ring Remote, Propeller Guards, Lens Guards, a USB-C cable and a Cross Body Bag. This costs $340 / £309 / AU$539, while the kit with all this and the A1 drone, alongside other drone accessories, costs $799 / £639 / AU$1159. The Propeller Guards can also be purchased separately, and these cost $40 / £32 / AU$70.

This is quite expensive when you consider the fact that the DJI Neo 2 only costs $259 / £209 / AU$409 for the basic kit. Sure, if you’ve already got an Antigravity drone, the new Accessory Bundle, including just the accessories, expands the functionality of what you have, but the DJI Neo 2 is smaller, lighter and can be controlled in several different ways. The main and obvious advantage of the Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle is the fact that you can capture 360-degree video, which you can’t do with the DJI Neo 2.

One thing that I would like to see with the Antigravity A1, and this could also be released as a kit and standalone accessory purchase, is a standard drone controller; one that allows you to fly the drone without the need for the FPV goggles and Motion Controller, or even the Watch and Ring Remotes. This would make flying even easier and more convenient – simply opening up yet another way to fly the A1. Anyhow, let’s get back to the Follow Me Bundle.

Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle: Also consider

Should I buy the Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle

• All functionality tested
• Tested in complex environments
• Used with different modes of transport

The Antigravity A1 Follow Me Bundle was tested over several weeks, tracking myself skateboarding, cycling and running. I also tested the one-click cinematic shots while standing to show how these look with focus on the subject.

To put the subject tracking through its paces, I chose to walk, skate and cycle under and around trees to see how the drone’s collision avoidance coped, alongside how the GNSS tracking on the Watch Remote performed.

All video footage was reframed as simply as possible, with focus on the subject maintained with a ‘normal’ field of view. I chose not to use any special effects to make the capabilities of the tracking modes apparent.

First reviewed October 2026

TT Nature Bird Feeder Station: Two-minute review

Unlike companies like Netvue (which originated as a smart security camera maker before launching the Birdfy line) or Bird Buddy (which built its platform from the ground up around a custom app experience), TT Nature uses off-the-shelf camera hardware paired with third-party software.

Its wooden Smart Bird Feeder Station is a rustic, budget-friendly alternative to the sleek, plastic-heavy smart feeders dominating the market. It’s solidly built from FSC-certified natural timber and topped with a dark metal roof, making it look more like a traditional garden birdhouse than smart home tech, and a natural fit for rustic outdoor setups. It also matches my garden office perfectly.

Beware, the camera is more like a retrofitted security device than a specialized bird snapper. After mounting the feeder to my garden fence and monitoring it for several weeks, I appreciate its physical design and reasonable cost, while also finding the basic software setup frustrating.

As mentioned, the wooden housing feels very sturdy, though it will inherently be harder to clean and maintain than all-plastic constructions. The included mounting template and accessories make locking it securely onto a fence panel or post easy, provided you have a decent drill. The external solar panel and full mounting kit are included, whereas most rivals require you to buy these as extras.

The physical assembly is minimal, but setting up the camera with TT Nature's accompanying app, PerchLens, proved to be less straightforward than the process with Birdfy models. The app refused to detect the camera automatically, forcing a manual setup that meant temporarily locking my home router to a 2.4GHz band — a hurdle I’ve never had to clear with other feeders I’ve tested. Once past that, though, the Wi-Fi connection has remained stable, even with the feeder at the far end of my garden.

The feeder captures 1080p HD video with a wide field of view and a pleasantly sharp focus on the perch itself. However, clips aren't detailed enough to see individual feathers. I found that the camera’s motion sensor is slow to trigger, so clips often start a fraction too late and catch the tail end of a visit or an empty perch. The camera lens also fogged up several times on damp mornings, muting contrast and visibility during the busiest dawn feeding hours.

You can use microSD recording (cards up to 128GB are supported) and also get three-day cloud storage without a monthly fee. However, AI species identification is locked behind an optional monthly or annual subscription. Without it, incoming alerts are just listed as 'bird'. The software is far more rudimentary than the polished, gamified ecosystems of the Bird Buddy 2 or Birdfy. If you don't mind manually spotting your visitors, though, the app does at least neatly organize your clips by date and time.

Despite its basic app and trigger lag (something I hope will be less of an issue when the birds feel brave enough to spend longer feeding), the TT Nature delivers undeniable value. It offers a nice-to-look-at wooden build and set-and-forget solar power, at a fraction of the price of most flagship competitors. If you’re a casual bird lover who wants a budget-friendly garden camera that blends in naturally, I think it can still earn a spot in your yard or garden.

• Interested in other options available besides the TT Nature Bird Feeder Station? Check out our best bird feeder cameras guide.

I found live streaming to be occasionally laggy, sometimes not loading at all, and even when I set the camera to Frenzy Mode, the AI postcard capture missed birds I could clearly see sitting on the feeder from my kitchen window. It’s not the most reliable feeder I’ve used, and not ideal if you want to capture every single bird and build a picture of their visiting habits; however, it does stop your feed from getting clogged with thousands of similar clips.

Despite these niggles and quirks, I really enjoy the core experience. The AI bird identification is almost perfect, the postcard collection system provides a handy highlight reel, and the solar roof means near-continuous use.

The Bird Buddy 2 is a sleek, low-maintenance smart feeder with strong app design and best-in-class solar performance. For now, it earns its spot in my garden (and believe me, I have four smart feeders on the go), though I can’t help thinking about its price and hope tighter bird detection lands in future updates.

TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder: Price and availability

• First created and released around mid-2024
• Available via Amazon US, Walmart, and Amazon UK
• $120-140 in US (approx. £75 in UK)

At around $140 (£75), the TT Nature smart bird feeder station sits at the affordable end of the best bird cameras, especially given its solid timber construction. It sits well below Netvue’s premium wooden options like the Birdfy Bamboo (~£199) and costs about the same as the plastic entry-level Birdfy Rookie (~£80), which doesn’t include a solar panel.

The feeder includes free AI species identification, and I like that it has a local MicroSD card slot (supporting up to 128GB) for storage, plus a free 3-day rolling cloud buffer. Not hugely generous, but enough for a freebie. Unlike rivals that lock some features under a premium membership, you don’t have to budget for recurring monthly fees here.

Availability is primarily via Amazon in both the US and UK, or directly from TT Nature in the US. The package includes the wooden feeder housing, 1080p camera module, mounting hardware, and an external 3W solar panel. Considering the full package, I think TT Nature delivers good upfront value for birdwatchers who want a complete, low-maintenance setup on a sensible budget.

Software is as important as hardware, though. I found its accompanying app lags behind Birdfy and Bird Buddy in terms of enjoyment and features, and I’d still consider paying a bit more for them.

TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder camera: Specs

TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder camera: Design

• Rustic wooden build with a black metal roof
• Mounting kit included for trees, walls, or poles
• Separate wired solar panel for charging

The TT Nature feeder, made from FSC-certified natural timber housing, immediately sets the kind of traditional, garden-friendly tone that I like over a plastic model. On its website, the brand sells two roof options, but the dark metal roof on my version feels sturdy and well-built. The packaging is neat and secure, though I found it a shame that TT Nature uses single-use plastic wrapping for some elements instead of easily recyclable cardboard—a missed opportunity for a nature-friendly product.

Assembly takes less than ten minutes and is intuitive enough that you likely won't need the instruction manual. You simply pop the perching ledge onto the front, lift the hinged wooden flap to slide in the camera module, and tilt up the roof to pour in your seed mix.

Initially, the physical assembly took about ten minutes. There are clear instructions included in the box, but I didn't find I needed them because it was all intuitive. You slot the metal perching ledge into pre-drilled holes at the end of the wooden feeding area, pull down the branded wooden flap at the front to slot the camera module in, and tilt up the roof when you want to add seed. The camera sits loosely in its designated space rather than clipping or mounting in, which is surprisingly secure even if it feels a little unanchored at first.

Though putting together the wooden unit was easy, I struggled for a while to get the camera to pair with TT Nature's accompanying app over Wi-Fi. It took me about an hour of troubleshooting to get the camera connected, as it wouldn’t find the camera automatically during scanning and I had to switch over to manual setup.

Even then, I had to temporarily set my Virgin Media home router to broadcast on a 2.4GHz network only—a step I’ve never had to take with any of the other smart feeders I’ve tested. Luckily, now that the initial connection has been established, I‘ve been able to switch my router back to a dual 2.4GHz/5GHz band without any ongoing drops.

Even with some premium smart feeders, wall or fence mounting brackets are sold as extra accessories. The TT Nature feeder has mounting options for trees, poles, walls, and fences included, and I opted to mount the feeder directly onto my garden fence panel with the supplied screws.

Once these were drilled in—made much easier thanks to an included mounting template—the feeder sat firmly on its plate with no wobbling. I do appreciate the sturdy, locked-in feel this gives you, but note that it’s far less flexible to reposition the feeder on a whim when compared to hanging designs like the Bird Buddy 2.

I found out (the fiddly way) that it’s better to mount the wooden feeder to your fence or post first, pair the camera to your phone app second, and then slide the camera module into its front slot. You’ll also need to thread the solar panel cable through a small access hole in the back of the wooden housing to connect it to the camera.

The solar panel can be mounted separately nearby, but to save drilling extra holes into my garden fence, for now I’ve chosen to rest it directly on top of the feeder’s metal roof for easy adjusting. The white trailing wires from the panel aren't the prettiest to look at, and I prefer a feeder with flush solar panels integrated directly into the roof design, but you can easily tuck the excess cable behind the wooden housing to tidy things up.

Filling the 1.5-litre hopper is quick and easy, though I found seed doesn't always flow freely down to the perch and needs some encouragement—either a nudge with your fingers or a gentle shake of the housing. There are drainage holes built into the feeding perch to allow water drainage, but these are wide enough to let smaller seeds fall straight through to the ground, which feels wasteful when you’ve bought premium bird food mix.

TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder camera: Performance

• Clear 1080p video in dry conditions and direct sun
• Consistent motion detection but a recording lag
• The app is functional, with AI species ID paywalled

It took only a few days for the local birds to grow bold enough to land on the TT Nature feeder in my garden, and soon after, my phone started pinging with initial motion alerts. Whenever I’m first testing out a new bird cameras, I also like to do a bit of an observation check out of my kitchen window to see how real-time landings translates to app notifications. More advanced software can take a few days to calibrate, but the motion sensors triggered reliably for almost every visitor I spotted.

That said, playing the clips back revealed a particularly frustrating flaw: the camera often triggers a fraction of a second too slowly. For particularly short visits, by the time the recording had started, the bird had often already flown off. Videos are capped at a fixed 20-second duration with no option in the app to adjust clip length. By default, the motion sensitivity is set to Medium (the other options being low or high); I bumped this up to High in the hope of catching birds as they first approached, but it didn’t make a noticeable difference to the trigger lag.

The camera settings are rudimentary overall, though Iappreciate that you can filter notifications to alert you to animal visitors only. This stopped my phone from pinging me every time I took out some washing or my dog sniffed past. Of course, you can leave it set to all motion if you want—at its core, this is essentially a standard security camera housed inside a wooden birdhouse.

In terms of video quality, the camera definitely needs even lighting and a dry day to perform at its best, a slight drawback when your feeder is at its busiest during the early hours. On several damp autumn mornings, the glass lens completely fogged up with condensation, making visiting birds look like blurs. There’s also no automatic white balance or HDR tone-mapping at play (I don’t know how exposure works on other cameras, but the Bird Buddy has often seemed to compensate); birds sitting in deep morning shade can also look quite dark and hard to make out.

When the weather is fair, however, the optical performance is more charming. The lens offers a crisp, fixed focal plane right on the front perch, paired with a natural, shallow depth of field that softens the garden background nicely. I also like how wide the field of view is, allowing you to watch where birds fly in from and trace their exit paths after a feed. Video playback is generally clear, if occasionally a bit juddery during fast wing-flaps.

The accompanying PerchLens app is where the TT Nature camera feels most in tune with its entry-level price. Unlike the slick, fun ecosystems of Birdfy or Bird Buddy—which feature near-flawless AI identification out of the box—the software experience here is basic.

Without paying for an optional monthly subscription (£6.10/month, processed painstakingly via PayPal or bank transfer), you don't get any automatic AI species tagging, and incoming sightings are simply labelled as "bird".

TT Nature doesn't push the camera as a heavy AI play, and personally, I don't mind manually spotting the birds coming and going since I recognise common local garden species anyway. But I think if your goal is to automatically curate a digital log, track species frequency and behaviour, or build up a solid collection of identified visitors, the app simply isn’t advanced enough for that. The camera also doesn't automatically generate shareable photo cards like the Bird Buddy 2, and if you want stills, your best bet is capturing a manual screenshot while watching the 1080p live stream.

Should you buy the TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder camera?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder camera

• Tested for several weeks in a UK garden in October
• Mounted using the included hanging hardware
• Connected to an iPhone 15 Pro running the PerchLens app

I tested the TT Nature Bird Feeder Station in my garden for two weeks, after mounting it securely onto my fence using the metal plate and screws included in the box. I powered up the camera using the wired external 3W solar panel balanced on the feeder's roof.

I connected the camera to my iPhone 15 Pro via TT Nature's app, PerchLens, so I could see how effective the Wi-Fi pairing process and motion alert notifications were. I spent time navigating the app and reading the FAQs to see what the camera's support and community were like.

I mostly followed RSPB guidance on feeding birds and left small amounts of mealworms in the base of the feeder, adding a few seeds close to the end of October. I took the camera inside once during the testing period to refill it and wipe it down, as I wanted to gauge how easy it would be to clean.

First reviewed October 2026

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: two-minute review

Smart bird feeders have quietly become one of the busiest corners of the camera world. Hang one in your yard, garden or on a balcony railing and it’ll snap and film every feathered visitor automatically, often identifing the species for you, too. We’ve tested plenty of them here at TechRadar — you’ll find the best in our guide to the best bird feeder cameras — and the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro is the latest to land in my garden.

If it looks familiar, that’s because it’s clearly a descendant of the Kiwibit Beako, which we tested last year. The headline upgrade is in the camera: Kiwibit says this is the first bird feeder camera to combine 4K HDR with phase-detection autofocus (PDAF), the kind of focusing tech you’ll find in a decent smartphone. The other big change is a roof with solar panels built into it, so there’s no separate panel to mount and wire up.

That roof turns out to be one of the feeder’s best features. After an initial charge I never needed to plug it in again during testing, and the battery hovered near full. The rest of the hardware impresses too: the plastic shell is tough and well finished, mounting it took minutes, and lifting out the two-chamber seed hopper for a refill or clean is about as easy as it gets.

The camera is a game of two halves, though. Photos and 4K clips are crisp, and the autofocus generally locks on to birds reliably — though ones that hop right into the seed tray can get too close for it focus. The biggest frustration is motion: 4K is limited to 15 frames per second, which makes footage look juddery, and the 120fps slow-motion mode currently produces clips that are little better than slideshows. The 1080p 60fps mode is the pick of the bunch.

Then there’s the app, which is cluttered and hard to navigate, and keeps its most compelling feature — AI species identification — behind a Kiwibit Plus subscription. That ID system was accurate in my testing, even if it can only name one species per clip. Taken as a whole, the Bird Feeder 2 Pro’s hardware is impressive, but its software and video modes need to catch up.

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: price and availability

• $279.99 in the US with 'lifetime AI' included, or $219.99 without
• £289.99 in the UK; launching Q1 2027
• Kiwibit Plus subscription priced from $7.99 per month

The Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro is currently on sale in the US for $219.99, or $279.99 with a lifetime subscription to the Kiwibit Plus service. It’s due to arrive in the UK in the first quarter of 2027, priced at £289.99.

That price puts it in premium territory, alongside the likes of the Bird Buddy 2. And there’s a running cost to factor in, because AI species identification and several other app features require a Kiwibit Plus subscription, which costs from $89.99 (a UK price is TBC) per year or $7.99 a month.

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: key specs

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: design

• Solar panels built into the hinged roof
• Removable 1.7l dual-compartment hopper
• IP65 rated and works in -4F to 122F (-20C to 50C) temperature range

Side by side with the Kiwibit Beako, the Bird Feeder 2 Pro is almost a dead ringer. The one key difference is up on top, with the solar panels now built into the roof. It’s a smart move that cuts down on clutter, as you don’t need to find somewhere else to mount a panel or route a cable.

The same roof also hides one of the feeder’s best design touches. Flip it up (it just requires you to press a button to release a latch) and you can lift the seed hopper straight out to clean or refill it. That hopper has two compartments, so you can offer two different seed mixes if you like, and each one has its own sliding door for shutting off the supply.

The body is almost entirely plastic, which won’t appeal to everyone. There are wooden and metal bird feeder cameras out there, and personally I’d prefer either material on something that lives in my garden. I also wonder whether the green plastic will fade in the sun over time, although I didn’t notice any change in my few weeks of testing.

On the plus side, this is solid, hard-wearing plastic, and the feeder feels sturdier than others I’ve reviewed — the hinged roof, for instance, opens and closes without a hint of rattle. It’s IP65 rated and Kiwibit says it’ll work in temperatures from -4F to 122F (-20C to 50C), so bad weather shouldn’t be a worry for the electronics inside.

My review sample came with three mounting options: a fabric strap for wrapping around a tree or lamppost, a pole mount for stick it on the top of poles up to one inch (25.4mm) in diameter, and a wall bracket. I used the bracket to fix the feeder to a trellis against the back wall of my courtyard garden, and it took no time at all. A positioning sticker in the box shows you where to drill two guide holes, then two screws (also supplied) hold the bracket in place. There are wall plugs in the box too, should you need them.

The feeder itself attaches to the bracket with four small hex screws, and the same screws secure the perch. An Allen key is included in the box, but make sure you keep it somewhere safe or have a spare, as you’ll be in a pickle without one. My sample also came with a water beaker that clips on to the perch.

Power comes from a rechargeable, removable battery that’s topped up by the solar roof panels, and the combination works very well. I fully charged the battery via USB-C before installation, as the manual instructs, and haven’t charged it manually since — weeks later, it’s still sitting at 99% capacity. To be fair, my testing took place in a sunny late summer and early autumn, and I positioned the feeder to catch a few hours of direct sun each day. I’m curious to see how it copes with the gloomier winter months here in southeast England.

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: performance

• 4K video capped at 15fps
• AI species ID requires a Kiwibit Plus subscription
• Phase-detection autofocus with a 130-degree view

Some bird feeder cameras I’ve tested have struggled to stay connected to my home Wi-Fi, but the Bird Feeder 2 Pro’s dual-band connection was stable throughout, even though the signal was rarely at full strength. The live feed kicked in from my phone without much delay, whenever I requested it.

Everything runs through Kiwibit’s app, and frankly it isn’t very well designed. There are too many sections with vague names, I regularly forgot where things lived, and getting to my photos and videos took more taps than it should. A simpler, pared-back layout would make a big difference.

There are some nice touches, mind you. Each species gets a written description, the Nature Expert section answers your bird questions, and the Collection page gives you a quick rundown of every species your camera has spotted. The catch is that many of the best features — especially the AI species identification, which feels like a core reason to buy this feeder — sit behind a Kiwibit Plus subscription. Kiwibit gave me a code for a year’s access, but for everyone else it’s an extra $89.99 on top of an already premium price, and the feeder feels noticeably less capable without it.

The identification itself was largely accurate. Only five species visited during my testing period, and the feeder correctly named four of them. That one miss was interesting, though: in a clip featuring a robin, a sparrow and a blue tit, only the robin was identified. That was the only clip containing a blue tit, so it appears the system tags just the first species it spots in each video. I’ve no doubt it would have recognized the blue tit on its own, but it’s a shame it can’t log multiple species in one clip.

Image quality is a more complicated story. 4K videos and photos generally look good, with plenty of sharpness and clarity, and the autofocus is accurate. There's even a microphone to capture sound, and it's nice to hear the birds chomping away on seeds or tweeting at each other. But 4K video is capped at just 15fps, which I found baffling. It makes clips look jerky, and it put me off using the 4K mode altogether. Why couldn't it just be 24fps or 30fps?

Shooting in 4K does have one perk: the software may automatically pull a 12MP Ultra HD “Keyshot” still from your footage. These are sharpened and upscaled for extra detail, but I found them a little over-sharpened, and they’re oddly large files at around 10MB each, given the modest resolution. You can’t pick the frame yourself, either — the software chooses for you, and it doesn’t always choose well. There’s a second type of auto photo, called SwiftShot, which is generated in Ultra Slow Motion mode and is meant to freeze birds in flight. That never happened for me; every SwiftShot I got showed a bird sitting on the feeder, and in noticeable less detail than with the Ultra HD Keyshots.

Video clips are 10 seconds long by default, but extendable to three minutes. I’d have liked to catch birds flying in more often, but my videos generally started with the visitor already perched.

There are two slow-motion modes, both 1080p: 60fps and 120fps. The 120fps mode doesn’t appear to work properly at the time of writing. Whatever settings I tried, the footage seemed to be captured at 15fps, so it plays back like a slideshow when slowed down. I was expecting something akin to the iPhone's buttery-smooth slow-motion mode, but this is in the single digits frames-per-second wise. I’ve reported this to Kiwibit and I hope a firmware update fixes it, because for now it’s useless as a video mode. It may be intended mainly for grabbing crisp stills of birds in motion, but since you can’t choose the frame yourself and have to rely on Kiwibit’s cloud processing to pick it, that’s not much consolation.

The 60fps mode is far better. Played back at half speed you get smooth 30fps slow motion, or at quarter speed you get the same 15fps as the 4K clips. It lacks the fine detail of 4K, but its smoothness at normal and half speed makes it the sweet spot of the lineup for me. One quirk to note: neither slow-motion mode records sound, even when you play clips back at normal speed.

Autofocus is generally reliable, but birds that came right into the seed tray, rather than staying on the perch, were sometimes out of focus. They seem to be inside the minimum focus distance, which was also an issue with the Beako. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s annoying when a bird’s body is sharp and its eyes and beak are soft.

Sharing and saving photos and videos is easy – you just hit the share button when viewing in the app and you get the option to download the file to your phone, or share via a variety of means. Subscribers also get cloud storage for all their files.

Should you buy the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: also consider

How I tested the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro

• Mounted on a garden trellis for several weeks in late summer/early fall
• Tested all video modes, including both slow-motion settings
• Used the app with a Kiwibit Plus subscription

I installed the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro in my garden in southeast England using the supplied wall bracket, fixing it to a trellis in a spot that got a few hours of direct sunlight a day. After fully charging the battery via USB, I left it to run on solar power for the rest of the testing period, which ran through late summer into early autumn.

I tested the feeder with the Kiwibit app on my phone, using a year’s Kiwibit Plus subscription supplied by Kiwibit to access the AI species ID and other premium features. I tried every video mode, including 4K and both 1080p slow-motion settings, compared the automatically generated KeyShot and SwiftShot stills, and checked the AI identifications against the birds I could see in each clip.

• First reviewed October 2026

Sony ECM-W5: two-minute review

Sony’s ECM-W5 is a prosumer wireless microphone system cut from the same cloth as the DJI Mic 3, Insta360 Mic Pro and Rode Wireless Pro. Like all those, it's available in a package featuring two clip-on transmitters, a receiver that plugs into your camera or phone, and a charging case to keep everything topped up. At £350 for the full kit, however, it costs more than any of them — so it needs to bring something extra to the table.

It does just that. The headline feature is in-camera 32-bit float recording, something no other wireless mic I’m aware of can do. Rivals will happily record 32-bit float files to their transmitters' internal storage, but that leaves you syncing separate audio in the edit. With the ECM-W5 mounted on a Multi Interface Shoe camera such as the Sony A7 V, that extra headroom is baked straight into your video files. Most people won’t need it day to day, but if you’re shooting somewhere unpredictable, where a sudden bang or boom could clip your audio, it’s a useful safety net.

There’s plenty more for pros to like. Each transmitter has a 3.5mm lav mic input with a screw-lock connector (a feature DJI dropped after the Mic 2), along with a generous 62.5GB of usable internal storage. There’s timecode support and an optional 96kHz/24-bit Hi-Res Audio mode, too. The claimed 500m range is the longest I’ve come across, and in my testing the signal held up flawlessly through two floors of my house — a situation where other mics have faltered.

Sound quality is clean and clear, though in fairness that’s true of every decent wireless mic these days. The noise reduction is on the gentler side and less effective than what DJI and Insta360 offer, but it doesn’t introduce any odd artifacts.

The trade-offs are size and price. The transmitters are noticeably chunkier than the DJI Mic 3’s, the receiver’s touchscreen faces backwards when it’s mounted on a camera, and Sony doesn’t even include a 3.5mm audio cable in the box. Even so, for Sony shooters in particular, the ECM-W5 is one of the most capable wireless mic systems you can buy.

Sony ECM-W5: price and release date

• $399.99 / £350 / AU$619 for two transmitters, a receiver and a charging case
• Transmitters $189.99 / £110 / AU$179 and receiver $189.99 / £180 / AU$289 individually
• Available from November 2026

The Sony ECM-W5 will be on sale from November 2026, priced at $399.99 / £350 / AU$619 for the full kit, which includes two transmitters, a receiver and a charging case. Individual transmitters are available for $189.99 / £110 / AU$179, and the receiver on its own costs $189.99 / £180 / AU$289, which is handy if you want to expand your setup or replace a lost unit.

That makes it more expensive than its closest rivals. The DJI Mic 3 launched at £259 for an equivalent two-transmitter kit, for example, so you’re paying a premium of around £90 for the Sony. Given the ECM-W5’s unique features, I think that’s justifiable for the right buyer — but it’s a premium nonetheless.

Sony ECM-W5: specs

Sony ECM-W5: Design

• Chunky transmitters with fixed clips and 3.5mm lav mic inputs
• Receiver’s touchscreen faces backwards when camera-mounted
• No audio cable included, and no room in the charging case for windshields

In terms of size, the ECM-W5’s transmitters are closer to the original DJI Mic and Mic 2 than to the much smaller (and current, at the time of writing) DJI Mic 3. Each of the ECM-W5's transmitters has a fixed clip for attaching to clothing (it can’t be removed or rotated), and Sony includes small button magnets for thinner shirts. Despite the extra bulk, the transmitters are light enough that I barely noticed them once they were clipped on. Sony also says the system is dust- and moisture-resistant, but stops short of guaranteeing full IP-level protection.

Controls are simple: a power button, a record button (double-press it to toggle noise reduction on or off) and a USB-C port for charging and file transfer. More interesting is the 3.5mm input with a screw-lock connection for plugging in an (unsupplied) lavalier mic, which pros will appreciate. The furry windshields cleverly slot into this jack too, so they sit more securely than on some rivals. Each transmitter also packs around 62.5GB of usable internal storage (64GB before formatting). That's almost double the 32GB you get in the DJI Mic 3 and Insta360 Mic Pro transmitters.

The receiver can be fitted with either a USB-C connector or a Multi Interface Shoe adapter, and the latter also slots into standard hot and cold shoes (albeit without the MI Shoe’s digital connection). There are 3.5mm audio in and mic out ports, plus a small touchscreen for adjusting settings. My one real frustration is that this screen faces backwards when the receiver is mounted on a camera, so when I was filming myself I couldn’t see it to make changes. It’s a common problem with wireless mic receivers, and I’d love to see a manufacturer make the display rotatable.

The charging case holds both transmitters, the receiver, the adapters and the magnets, but there’s no room for the windshields. Sony doesn’t include a 3.5mm audio cable in the box either, so if your camera lacks an MI Shoe you’ll need to buy one separately. A soft drawstring bag is supplied, though, and it’s big enough for the case, the windshields and a couple of cables.

Sony ECM-W5: Performance

• World-first in-camera 32-bit float recording
• Rock-solid signal and a claimed 500m transmission range
• Noise reduction is less aggressive than Insta360 and DJI rivals

The ECM-W5’s standout feature is its ability to record 32-bit float audio directly in-camera, as well as onto each transmitter’s internal storage. Rivals such as the DJI Mic 3 and Insta360 Mic Pro can only record 32-bit float files on the transmitter itself, which you then have to sync up in the edit. I don’t think many people need 32-bit float day to day, but if you’re recording in uncontrolled environments where sudden loud noises might occur, having that headroom baked into your footage is a real advantage.

There’s both automatic and manual gain control, with the latter offering a nicely granular range of -12 to +12. I mostly left it on auto and found it worked well. Sound quality is good, but then so is that of pretty much every decent wireless mic. The difference compared with the built-in mic on your phone, computer or camera is night and day, particularly outside on a windy day. Sony also offers a 96kHz/24-bit Hi-Res Audio option, which beats the maximum quality of most rivals I’ve tested, though that’s reflected in the higher price.

Sony claims a range of up to 500m between transmitter and receiver, which is much further than its rivals. I can’t think of many situations where you’d need that much, and I didn’t test it to the limit, but it’s reassuring to have in reserve. Sony also says the connection is around three times more stable than that of its predecessor, the ECM-W3.

More tellingly, when I left the camera and receiver downstairs and walked up two flights of stairs to my bedroom with a transmitter, the signal stayed crisp and clear throughout — something other mics have struggled with in my home.

The single-level noise reduction isn’t especially aggressive, and I think DJI and Insta360 offer markedly better cancellation. That said, it noticeably reduced the hum of a fan at home without adding any odd artifacts, so you can probably just leave it switched on all the time.

Sony quotes up to seven hours of battery life for the transmitters and receiver, rising to 11 hours for the transmitters if you top them up from the charging case. And when the receiver is mounted on a compatible camera’s MI Shoe, it draws power from the camera and switches on and off with it, so there’s one less battery to keep an eye on. Add up to two extra transmitters (sold separately) and you can also record up to four audio channels in-camera, which should appeal to anyone shooting multi-person interviews.

Sony also offers wireless monitoring via compatible Sony wireless headphones that support Bluetooth LE Audio, so you can keep an ear on your audio without a headphone cable, and compatible models such as the WH-1000XM6 can even be used as mics for binaural recording. I didn’t have a compatible pair of headphones to hand (and the binaural feature wasn’t available before launch), so I wasn’t able to test either feature.

The ECM-W5 also supports timecode, another feature that'll appeal to professionals.

Should I buy the Sony ECM-W5?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Sony ECM-W5: also consider

How I tested the Sony ECM-W5

• One week of testing indoors and outdoors
• Connected to Sony A7 V camera via Multi Interface shoe and OnePlus tablet via USB-C

Sony loaned me a review sample of the full ECM-W5 package along with a Sony A7 V camera for the purposes of this test, which allowed me to fully test the Multi Interface Shoe connection. I also tested the USB-C connectivity, by attaching the receiver to a OnePlus Pad tablet and recording video.

I used the mic system for about a week, recording in both 24-bit and 32-bit float modes and testing the noise reduction capabilities both indoors and outdoors in a variety of situations. I also tested its range and signal stability by leaving the receiver downstairs and walking up two floors of my house with a transmitter.

• First reviewed: October 2026
• Read more about how we test

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 winners announced
• James Lewin won the Animals in their Environment category
• He used an infrared converted Nikon Z7 II camera and budget lens for his winning shot

This week I attended the press preview of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, where I had the opportunity to absorb the winning photos on display and meet many of the photographers who took them, and discuss their work.

As fortune would have it, I got chatting with James Lewin, winner of the Animals in their Environment category, as we waited to get into the venue. The British photographer lives in Kenya, where he took his winning photo — it's a country I know well, having lived there for years myself, so naturally we hit it off.

We both know the challenges facing outdoor photographers in this region: a sunrise / sunset that's over in minutes, and an all-too-brief period of golden light that's quickly followed by typically harsh, bright sunlight.

Most seasoned photographers focus on this narrow window of best light, leaving most of the rest of the day alone. However, Lewin took advantage of the harsh light by adopting a niche photography genre: infrared. It's an unusual approach for wildlife photography, but with Lewin's infrared-converted camera, it's as the 'worst' light kicks in that the fun really begins...

Why infrared photography?

Lewin was observing from a hide near a waterhole in the Chulu Hills in southern Kenya. During dry season, this location gets incredibly congested, as you can see from Lewin's photo, below.

Working in the middle of the day, under bright sunlight and with strong reflections from the waterhole, his images looking unappealing. That's when he made the decision to switch to his infrared-converted Nikon Z7 II.

Lewin has had his Z7 II permanently converted, switching the camera sensor's regular filter with a dedicated 720nm infrared filter (monochrome), which accepts part of the spectrum of light that's invisible to the human eye.

"There would have been no image without it [infrared photography]", he told me. But with it "the skies become more dramatic, the plants reflect infrared light, and you get an otherworldly atmosphere and beautifully soft scene that you cannot produce with a regular camera. It feels more timeless."

Infrared photography warnings

Lewin shared with me a couple of warnings for infrared photography newbies. "If it's beautiful light, don't use an infrared camera because you get all kinds of weird artifacts across the across the image." Nor would he use this gear for, say, a closeup portrait of a lion — the eyes can appear particularly spooky.

He also discovered that some of the latest pro lenses, which he had spent a lot of money on, weren't suitable for infrared. Like many of Nikon's newest lenses, his pricey 24-70mm f/2.8 has protective coatings that reduce things like flare and ghosting, but disturb infrared light.

"You have to go back to having an entirely different set of inexpensive, old lenses that create beautiful infrared images, because they haven't got all of these fancy lens coatings." Indeed, James used a budget friendly 28-75mm f/2.8 for his winning shot.

TechRadar's News Editor Mark Wilson has previously unpacked converting his Fujifilm X-T3 for infrared, and in the process also discovered which Fujifilm lenses were (and weren't) suitable for infrared — you'll need to do the same for your camera system if it's a technique you'd like to try.

A cost-effective alternative to permanently converting a camera is to use a threaded infrared lens filter. However, such filters (combined with a camera's regular sensor filter) reduce light intake to such a degree that a slow shutter speed is required for an accurate exposure, which wouldn't have worked for James' comical photo of the young bull elephant spraying the zebra and giraffe with water. An infrared-converted camera, on the other hand, allowed him to "work at a fast shutter speed, and so to be able to freeze that motion and the water coming out the elephant's trunk".

Traditionally, photographers on safari look for their subjects in the golden hour, and if you haven't found a subject, you'd be waiting until evening to start photographing again. Infrared, however, says Lewin, "opens up a whole new opportunity — when the [best] light is gone [in the morning], that's just the beginning".

Lewin's winning photo is on display at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, which is open to the public from 16 October 2026 until July 11 2027 and it's well worth a visit. Tickets can be purchased on the Natural History Museum site with prices starting at £8.50 (child) / £13.60 (concession) / £17 (adult).

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. This year's 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 36' book was published on October 14 and costs £28.

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 winners announced
• Federico Veronesi takes top prize with elephant carrying a dead calf photo
• Winning photographs showcased at the Natural History Museum, London, from 16 October 2026

The winners of the 62nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year have been announced, and once again the selection gives us a fascinating insight into our planet's animal behaviour and evolving habitats.

A total of 19 young and adult category winners covered specific species and habitats, and the overall top prize has gone to the Behaviour: Mammals category winner Federic Veronesi, with his "heartbreakingly poignant" photo of an elephant carrying a dead calf, witnessed in Namibia, Africa, through a Nikon Z8 and 400mm f/2.8 lens.

Having personally witnessed a recently deceased elephant calf years back in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park, I can resonate with what Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Jury, Kathy Moran, said about the photo:

“Emotionally it’s a gut punch, heartbreakingly poignant. Intellectually it’s proof that animals have cognition. This photograph says it all!”

The contest further unpacks the image: "Behaviours centring on death have been observed in both Asian and African elephants, including vocalisations, guarding the dead, inspecting and handling bones, and carrying the deceased. Some researchers suggest these behaviours could indicate an elephant’s journey to understanding death, while others interpret these actions as possible displays of grief."

Witnessing such a moment in the flesh is something I'll never forget — the grief clearly weighed heavy on the motionless elephant herd, guarding the deceased, trunks drooped on the ground, and Federico's image of a female elephant emerging with a calf, its leg wedged between her tusk and trunk, brings that moment back for me.

I've included a selection of some of the winning images below, which will be on display along with the other winners in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, from 16 October 2026 until July 11 2027. Tickets can be purchased on the Natural History Museum site with prices starting at £8.50 (child) / £13.60 (concession) / £17 (adult).

I particularly appreciate the Natural Artistry category winner, for which photographer Michał Michalski intentionally used a slow shutter speed to capture goldfinches and bramblings taking to the sky, creating the illusion of trees still swathed in autumn foliage — really clever, and visually striking.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. This year's 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 36' book will be published on October 14 and costs £28.

WPOTY 2026 category winners

• Rumors point to a 'Nikon Z70' reveal before 2026 is out
• It's supposedly a mirrorless successor to the crop-sensor Nikon D500 DSLR flagship
• As such, expect a rugged design and high-speed photography to feature

One DSLR that Nikon is yet to give to give the mirrorless camera treatment to is the decade-old D500 — but rumors over the last few months suggest that the wait could be over soon through what's being dubbed the Nikon Z70.

The D500 was Nikon's flagship crop-sensor DSLR (APS-C, known as 'DX' for Nikon cameras), with a rugged body, dual card slots and high-speed burst shooting. In other words, it's a mini, crop-sensor version of Nikon's D6 full-frame camera that's used by professional sports, wildlife and news photographers.

We already have the Nikon Z9 as the mirrorless spiritual successor of the D6, and next there could be the crop-sensor equivalent, a rumored Nikon Z70, which sounds like a dream camera for enthusiast wildlife and sports photographers.

The long-time Z70 rumor mill still lacks firm details, and largely lists out educated guesses. The New Camera, however, spotted a Z70 listing on Apple's official ProRes and ProRes RAW Authorized Products page in August, and believes the Z70 will land in November this year.

A flagship Nikon crop-sensor camera would naturally sit above the Nikon Z50 II with a tougher pro-grade body, and likely a faster sensor (perhaps the stacked type like the Fujifilm X-H2S), in-body image stabilization, and shooting speeds we haven't seen from a Nikon camera before. New Camera also suggests video specs will be strong, and include internal ProRes Raw recording (based on the Apple listing).

These kind of features put the would-be Z70 in direct competition with the Canon EOS R7 — which could get a powerful successor soon — the Fujifilm X-H2S, and the Sony A6700, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nikon's tops the lot. Where it would currently come up short, however, is lens selection. On that front, there was concrete, promising news last week.

More good news for Nikon 'DX' shooters

While we don't know a lot about the rumored Z70, we do know that a new Z-mount lens for APS-C cameras was announced last week; the Sigma 16-300mm do-it-all travel zoom.

The lens has been around for over a year in Sony, L-mount and Canon RF versions, but it becomes the first Sigma zoom lens for Nikon's Z-mount, which is a promising sign for Nikon shooters.

Nikon has poured a lot of resources into its full-frame mirrorless camera system, but its APS-C cameras haven't received the same love. As such, it's slim pickings for any enthusiast sports/wildlife photographer wanting a high-quality Z-mount super-telephoto zoom native to its crop sensor cameras.

Sigma's 16-300mm lens, which has a 24-450mm equivalent focal length, isn't quite the bright aperture lens for demanding sports/wildlife photographers. But with the door seemingly open to Sigma, we could start to see more crop-sensor Z-mount lenses that might just scratch that itch.

And for photographers with a deep pocket (and a strong back), the Nikon Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S (with built-in 1.4x teleconverter) for full-frame cameras (which would work with crop-sensor cameras like the rumored Z70) is en route. Nikon announced its development earlier this year, and recent rumors suggest it will land soon.

Thinking of buying a drone? It can be tricky to know where to invest your money, and it's worth doing your research before you commit. Our product testers try out every major release, and in this roundup I've gathered together all our reviews from the start of 2025 onward. Tap the View Details button to see a summary of exactly what we thought of each one, plus a link to read each full, in-depth review.

It might not come as a surprise that DJI is particularly well represented — every 5-star drone of the past 20 or so months is a DJI model. The DJI Mini 5 Pro is a compact drone that's beginner-friendly yet boasts features more in line with far pricier models (including "class-leading video quality"). It's no surprise this model takes the #1 spot in our general best drone ranking.

We also loved the DJI Avata 360, calling it "wonderfully versatile and surprisingly affordable", and dubbing it "the 360 drone to beat". Professional users, meanwhile, will struggle to find fault with the stunning DJI Mavic 4 Pro.

Other drone brands are of course available, and price-conscious shoppers should take a look at the Potensic Atom 3 — this compact drone delivers an excellent feature set for a very affordable cost, and proves it's not all about DJI. (Although in the UK it does face stiff competition from the fantastic DJI Lito X1.)

Scroll down for a full roundup of the new drones we've put through their paces in recent months, and to find out exactly what we thought of them. Note: you'll only be able to see product cards for the drones that are available to buy in your region.

Flying high

Camera gear enthusiasts, myself included, can be an impatient lot at times. We want to see shiny new models with better features (whether we need them or not).

So what happens when two of the major manufacturers have had a particularly quiet year? Pandemonium (on the rumor sites' comment sections, at least)!

So far in 2026, Sony has released the 5-star A7 V and A7R VI mirrorless cameras, and revived its bridge camera range with the class-leading RX10 V. Canon has delivered another 5-star camera, the EOS R6 Mark III, and revealed an all-new design with the recent EOS R8 Mark II.

Where are Fujifilm and Nikon in this picture? Fujifilm is yet to release a single camera this year. The same was true for Nikon until recently, when it launched a viewfinder-less 'C' version of the Z5 II.

Before that, the last camera Nikon released was the Nikon Zr cinema/vlogging camera, and the Z5 II before that, marking 18 months with no truly new mirrorless camera.

Rumors heavily suggested a Fujifilm X-T6 would land in September, but one month on, we're still waiting. And it's set against this backdrop that fans with a touch of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) are getting agitated.

Well, I'm here to address those concerns with a healthy reality check.

Already ahead of the game

Yes, new is exciting. This year I've felt the buzz of testing the Ricoh GR IV, Sony A7R VI, Lumix L10, OM System PEN, Leica Q3 Monochrom and Canon EOS R8 Mark II, among others. However, it was the last camera on that list that brought a point into sharp focus for me — cameras have a pretty long shelf life.

The EOS R8 Mark II was a decent upgrade from the EOS R8 from 2023, with a new look, design improvements, and in-body image stabilization added — basically addressing key drawbacks of the original. However, it still failed to reach the entry-level full-frame camera bar set by Nikon 18 months ago with the Z5 II.

In fact, every current Nikon camera fares well against direct rivals at every level — the Z8 from 2023, for example, remains an incredible pro camera. And if you were to ask me which APS-C mirrorless camera I'd recommend in 2026, it would have to be the Fujifilm X-T5. Yes, a camera released in 2022.

Fujifilm hasn’t launched a new camera in 2026. And Nikon's only effort so far is a version of an existing camera with the viewfinder removed. But I don't think that matters.

In the case of the 2025 Z5 II, it already set the entry-level full-frame camera standard and even Canon’s new model hasn’t met it. And you won't find a better APS-C sensor than the Fujifilm X-T5's stabilized 40MP unit. If and when Fujifilm does release an X-T6, it will be improving on an already class-leading model.

Of course, there is space and a need for improvement, but a manufacturer having a quiet year isn’t quite the big deal many Fujifilm and Nikon fans currently make it out to be.

What do you think? Do camera companies need to release new products every year? Have your say in the comments below.

I'm a bit late to the party, but six months ago I picked up the Peak Design Mobile Tripod and attached it to my Pixel 8 Pro. It has lived on my phone ever since.

The tiny magnetic tripod fixes onto any MagSafe / Qi2 phone, though pretty weakly, so I also picked up Peak Design's dedicated SlimLink mobile phone case, which provides a strong, secure attachment I can trust.

It folds flat to just 0.8cm / 0.3 inches thick and neatly fits the profile of a phone when attached vertically — using the tripod in this orientation is a breeze. It's possible to rotate the phone 90 degrees for a horizontal setup, but it's slightly fiddly. You get the knack quick enough, though.

I initially picked up the Mobile Tripod for hands-free filming and photography, as it's an ideal tabletop setup. However, I quickly adopted it for hands-free watching too — perfect on the foldout tables on trains and planes.

It was liberating to give my hands a break and easily position my phone exactly how I liked, especially for long-form watching. I also regularly found its small footprint handy for creative photography techniques, such as the Pixel's long exposure mode — it'll fit on a flat-topped fence post, for example.

As such, the Peak Design Mobile Tripod has now become my most-used phone accessory. At $80 / £75 / AU$125, it's fairly pricey, as is the way with Peak Design accessories. However, you are getting a premium-quality product.

So is the Peak Design Mobile Tripod perfect?

In short, no. As I mentioned, you'll absolutely want Peak Design's compatible SlimLink phone case for a secure attachment (available for iPhone, Galaxy and Pixel). The case I picked up looks lovely. However, it blocked my phone's tap-to-pay feature, meaning I had to remove the case every time I needed to make a payment. Major frustration.

As for the tripod itself, it's wonderfully compact, but consequently its leg length (and therefore maximum height) is tiny. The leg design is smart, mind you, folding away inside the magnetic tripod plate.

The legs attach to the plate via a ball head, the tension of which can be adjusted with a tiny hex key that slots within the legs. Fine adjustments to the angle of the ball head (and therefore the phone) are a breeze, and with the proper tension, completely secure for a Pixel 8 Pro phone or larger — once you position the tripod, it won't budge.

I'd love the legs to extend a little more, but not if that resulted in a larger and less secure product. The fact that it snaps to a phone and adds just 2.7oz / 76g and 0.8cm / 0.3 inches depth is why it has stayed on my device. Any bulkier, and I would have used it less. Yes, it's still a heavier setup than no tripod at all, but I soon got used to the extra weight.

About 4 months in with the Mobile Tripod, I found that the tiny magnet that holds the hex key had come loose. However, the key remained magnetically attached to the phone, so I didn't lose it, and applying a little super glue fixed the magnet back in place.

Despite some minor niggles, the Peak Design Mobile Tripod has lived on my phone ever since I got it. It's an easy recommendation if you ever need to go hands-free for filming, photography, or simply watching videos.

And the ultimate day bag?

Another Peak Design product that I have been using over the same period is the Travel Weekender 25L. It's part of a new range of Peak Design travel bags. I was sent the Sage Green version of the bag ahead of its official release, and it truly looks the part.

One side fits my 17-inch MacBook Pro, while the main compartment is neatly divided into two open areas, with stretch pockets lining each wall for smaller accessories. The divider itself is a zipped pocket.

I've loved using it for days when I'm travelling with a laptop, a camera and a couple of lenses / accessories (stowed in one half of the bag), plus some day items and spare clothes (in the other half). It'll fit various Peak Design Camera Cubes (the smaller ones), which provide extra padded protection for gear.

The bag very much lives up to its Weekender name, but it's a slick option for commuting, too. It also features an exterior loop on one side to slot over the handle of a wheeled cabin suitcase — I've happily paired it with Peak Design's Roller Pro suitcase for a couple of city breaks. The Weekender 25L is available in three colors and costs $200 / £170.

• Sigma completes its trinity of f/2.8 zoom lenses for APS-C cameras
• The 50-120mm lens (75-180mm equivalent) comes to Sony, Canon and Fujifilm from October 22
• It weighs just 13.4oz / 380g and costs $799 / £699 (about AU$1,300)

Sigma has completed a trinity of f/2.8 zooms with the 50-120mm F2.8 DC OS Contemporary — and it proves that you don't need shoot full-frame to have access to exciting lenses.

Designed for APS-C cameras, the telephoto zoom has an equivalent focal length of 75-180mm, and sits alongside Sigma's 10-18mm F2.8 and 18-50mm F2.8.

What's particularly compelling about Sigma's latest f/2.8 zoom is just how compact, lightweight and affordable it is. It measures just 10cm / 4 inches long, weighs 13.4oz / 380g, and costs $799 / £699 (about AU$1,300).

I already own an incredible full-frame 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom, and it's my most-used lens for professional work. Portraiture, events, sports, even landscape photography — you name it, it can do it all.

That lens is a beast by comparison, however, weighing around 35oz / 1kg. For context, all three of Sigma's f/2.8 zooms for APS-C cameras combined weigh less and cost less — my full-frame lens cost me north of $2,000 / £2,000, which is around three times the 50-120mm's price.

With this new lens alone, Sigma has made APS-C cameras more compelling than before — but it's not good news for all photographers.

The f/2.8 zoom that Sony, Canon and Fujifilm cameras needed — but Nikon misses out

The Sigma 50-120mm F2.8 DC OS Contemporary goes on sale from October 22 in Sony E, Fujifilm X and Canon RF versions. Sony and Canon offer no such lens for their APS-C mirrorless cameras, while Fujifilm has the twice-as-hefty (and pricier) XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR in its range. Nikon photographers, meanwhile, miss out entirely.

There was some consolation for Nikon photographers — Sigma simultaneously announced that its 16-300mm travel zoom is coming to Nikon Z mount. However, we don't know if the new 50-120mm will make it to the Nikon Z mount.

I haven't personally tested Sigma's 50-120mm F2.8 lens, but I have high hopes for it having already tested the ultra-wide 10-18mm F2.8 zoom for Sony and being thoroughly impressed — the new telephoto zoom is seemingly built to the same standard.

Yes, it misses out out that extra reach at the telephoto end, maxing out at 180mm rather than 200mm (and sadly it won't work with teleconverters to extend the reach), but presumably the thinking behind the focal length range was to make the particularly compact design possible — and that I can get behind.

Telephoto zooms are workhorse lenses, often used on long shoot days. A f/2.8 telephoto zoom that practically fits in the hand and weighs just a third of what I'm used to makes a strong case for APS-C cameras, and it seems that APS-C fans agree — one Reddit thread is already dubbing the lens "an APS-C legend in the making".

Viltrox lenses are already excellent value — I should know having reviewed around 15 of them and been majorly impressed each time. They typically cost less than half the price of proprietary Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and L-mount equivalents — sometimes as little as a third — and that price gap just increased with a 20% reduction across its range for the Amazon Prime Day sale.

For me, the impossibly tiny yet surprisingly sharp 28mm F4.5 'pancake lens' is an easy recommendation — I awarded the 2.1oz / 60g lens a 4-star rating in my in-depth review, and you can get the Viltrox 28mm F4.5 for $79.20 at Amazon right now in Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm or L-mount versions.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Other standout Viltrox lenses on sale include the Viltrox AF 90mm F2.2 for $295 (was $369) — a bargain when you consider Fujifilm's 90mm f/2 lens is three times the price, and there are no real alternatives for Sony and Nikon cameras.

I've included links to the best Viltrox deals below and split them by each lens mount version, with options for Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and L-mount. And if you're unsure about trying a Viltrox lenses, rest assured they are the real deal. I've tested around 15 of them and each one has scored a four star rating or higher — the quality and the competitive pricing in particular are majorly impressive.

Today's best Viltrox lens deals for Sony

• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 28mm F4.5 now $79.20 (was $99)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 26mm F2.8 EVO now $239.20 (was $299)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 55mm F1.8 EVO now $296 (was $370)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Pro now $464 (was $580)

Today's best Viltrox lens deals for Fujifilm

• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 28mm F4.5 now $79.20 (was $99)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7 now $140.80 (was $176)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 90mm F2.2 EVO now $295.20 (was $369)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 75mm F1.2 Pro now $464 (was $580)

Today's best Viltrox lens deals for Nikon

• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 28mm F4.5 now $79.20 (was $99)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 14mm F4 now $159.20 (was $199)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 85mm F2 EVO now $220 (was $275)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 Pro now $439.20 (was $549)

Today's best Viltrox lens deals for L-mount

• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 28mm F4.5 now $79.20 (was $99)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 20mm F2.8 now $176 (no price reduction)
• 🇺🇸 Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Pro now $464 (was $580)

• The "eclipse of the century" takes place on August 2, 2027
• Its totality will be up to six minutes and 22 seconds
• The total eclipse track covers parts of North Africa, Southern Spain and the Middle East

This year's solar eclipse was a magical sight, but 2027's is being billed as the "eclipse of the century", with six minutes and 22 seconds of totality set for Luxor in Egypt — that's almost three times longer than this year's, and an eclipse duration which won't be matched again until 2114.

We can expect hotels and flights to peak destinations to sell out way in advance, so if you're keen to see the spectacle in person, it'll pay to arrange your travel plans ASAP if you haven't already (and start saving!).

Fortunately for eclipse chasers, the eclipse track will cover thousands of miles, meaning there are plenty of other alternatives to Luxor, including popular holiday destinations spanning Spain, Gibraltar, North Africa and the Middle East.

If you're especially keen to photograph the solar eclipse (over simply observing it), there's a major consideration beyond the length of totality, though for the full experience you will of course want to head somewhere that will experience totality. That consideration is the solar altitude — in other words, the position of the sun in the sky during totality.

Best places to photograph the eclipse of the century

To photograph the 2027 solar eclipse in all its glory, you'll need to be in a place where there is totality. Not even 99% will do, but a full 100%. And while Luxor gets the longest totality (and the headlines), the solar altitude will be approximately 82 degrees high – that's almost overhead, limiting photography opportunities.

With solar altitude so high during totality, not only will it be hard to frame the eclipse with landmarks or subjects, but even framing a closeup of the sun's corona means pointing your camera straight up, which makes composition especially fiddly.

The very best eclipse photos almost always frame the eclipse with points of interest in the landscape — Olympic skateboarder Danny León jumping mid-air on a half-pipe positioned on the horizon in rural Spain, as the moon eclipsed the sun behind him, was this year's viral solar eclipse shot.

So where is the solar altitude more favorable than Luxor? Tangier in Morocco, for one, where solar altitude will be approximately 39 degrees high. Gibraltar and parts of southern Spain will have a similar solar altitude to Tangier. Options in this region include historic Cadiz, which will have totality lasting two minutes and 56 seconds, while Tarifa (overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar) is closer to the eclipse path centerline and will experience four minutes and 40 seconds of totality. These European locations are blessed with plenty of seascapes and mountains to frame your shot.

Total solar eclipse 2027: further resources

Parts of Spain, Gibraltar, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria are in the solar eclipse pathway, while Luxor in Egypt will grab the headlines (rightly so) because it's right on the centerline and will enjoy the longest totality. Top alternative tourist locations with transport infrastructure and accommodation options to consider include Tangier (Morocco), Oran (Algeria) and Sfax (Tunisia).

If we've learnt anything from previous eclipses, sometimes the best plan is to simply look up (with the correct safety equipment) and enjoy the spectacle without getting bogged down by camera gear. That said, with a particularly lengthy totality for the 2027 eclipse, it could be possible to do both — enjoy and photograph it!

I've already shared some top tips on how to photograph a solar eclipse, a major part of which includes planning your shot. For next year's solar eclipse, try an interactive eclipse map such as Xavier Jubier’s Google Map, as well as handy apps such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris (which has a highly detailed Solar Eclipse Simulator) and PhotoPills (which is a personal favorite of mine) to discover the altitude and azimuth of the sun at any given location. Locations with totality and low solar altitude are a good place to start for eclipse photography.

For an even more detailed breakdown of the precise time and places to watch the total solar eclipse, you can visit the European Space Agency website, or consult an interactive map at the Time and Date site.

Will you be visiting a location for the solar eclipse totality on August 2, 2027? You can vote in our poll below to let us know what camera gear you plan to use to photograph the event with.